So here's my standard advertisement-

The BEST place to play Chess on the web and to chat and meet new friends from around the world. Welcome to Chess.net members enjoy the benefits of the best chess client on the internet, planned tournaments, and all levels of play from beginners to Grandmaster, with no annoying banner ads! The Chess Net graphical interface enables you to play, watch and examine games online. Subscribe now to join a great online community!

But seriously everyone, I've noticed at least a few posts here talking about how chess.net doesn't deliver. Please remember that there is a 14-day free trial option, so you're under no obligation to subscribe. All I ask is that you find out for yourself whether you like Chess.net or not. If you do happen to like it, you can always subscribe to the service, but if not, you don't have to.

Just go to Welcome to Chess.net if you're interested, and just click on the free trial option on the front page or on purchase membership at the top of the page.

Thanks!

I used to play on chess.net when they were completely free. When they started charging money, I switched to FICS (freechess.org). I don't know if chess.net has added any new features in the 5 or 6 years since I was there, but I can't think of anything it had when I played there that FICS doesn't also have, but for free.

My standard recommendation is that everyone should play on FICS, unless you're a master or grandmaster, because there won't be enough strong competition on FICS to keep you occupied. In that case, you'll probably have to find a pay site with stronger competition, which probably means ICC, but perhaps chess.net or another site.

--Fromper

Chess.net? Wow, what an original name.