The best places to play chess online

Chess continues to reach new heights of popularity as inspirations as wide-ranging as Twitch streamers or The Queen’s Gambit drawing newcomers to the royal game. From fun competitions like PogChamps to the cutthroat affairs of the world championship matches, there is something for everything, both to play and watch, when it comes to chess—and this includes a wide variety of platforms to play on.

Here are the best places to play chess online in 2023 and everything you need to know about them.

Chess.com

Chess.com is by far the most popular place to play chess online, with a massive user base and the largest company in the business behind it. The biggest players and content creators like Hikaru Nakamura, Levy Rozman, and the Botez sisters all play here.

In December 2022, Chess.com acquired the Play Magnus Group, and with it, the chess24 platform. It is still around at the time of writing as a standalone entity, but it’s only worth visiting for the tournament relays at this point: if you’re looking for the main chess-playing experience from the company, go to Chess.com.

Chess.com is also super strong on the content side, with a large amount of well-produced tournament broadcasts and original events like PogChamps or the Bullet Chess Championships making them a juggernaut in the space.

Related: PogChamps returns: xQc, Tyler1, QTCinderella, more to star in next big streamer chess spectacle

But all this comes at a cost, which is why some of the features are paywalled, with multiple membership tiers available depending on your needs. If you can tolerate some ads and you’re only looking to play, you’ve got everything you need here. Puzzles and lessons, however, are capped to just a few a day as a free user, and most importantly, the computer analysis tools available to you are also severely limited, with deep engine evaluations only available in limited amounts as a free user.

In terms of player base (especially on the higher levels of play) and the sheer volume of content on offer, Chess.com has no alternative. But for the rest, you might want to check out.

Lichess

Lichess is an open-source nonprofit chess website that is widely considered to be the second-best option for enterprising players. Some even prefer the cleaner interface and the easier availability of analysis tools to chess.com’s many bells and whistles. In fact, even some of the accomplished players use Lichess’ somewhat faster and more powerful game analysis and database tools—especially in the case of free users.

Every feature is free for all users on Lichess, and for most levels of play, you won’t have to wait to find an opponent, with around one hundred million games played each month in 2023 on the platform. But, for the highest levels of play and opportunities to play the greatest grandmasters in the world, you’ll have a better chance over on chess.com.

Personally, as a fairly high-level player (in comparison with my online compatriots), I split my playtime between these two platforms depending on the format I’m looking to play. For rapid time control games at higher ranks, it can be easier to find an opponent on chess.com. For practice and game analysis, often use Lichess.

Chessbase

Nowadays, Chessbase is best known for its powerful offline analysis software and gigantic yearly database of over-the-board games, both of which are must-haves for tournament-level players. But they also offer their own client for a fairly vanilla chess-playing experience, with a couple hundred to a thousand players online at any time, a perfect way to play if you’re in love with the Chessbase interface.

FIDE Online Arena

There’s also the world chess federation’s own platform, a recent addition to the world of online chess. Here, it’s the prestige of a “real” rating and the chance to compete in meaningful tournaments that serve as an attraction. You can earn yourself FIDE-recognized titles by earning and maintaining high enough ratings (you can find a breakdown here), and prize money competitions and strong qualifier events to big tournaments also provide added appeal to an otherwise somewhat barebones platform.

Go beyond: Play chess over the board

It’s worth mentioning that chess is an entirely different beast when you have an opponent facing you on the other side of a real-life chessboard, especially with slower time controls—and a great way to make new acquaintances, too. If that is something that might catch your interest, here’s a handy guide on how to get started with your first tournament, from practice tips to some small rules that are specific to over-the-board play.