Thanks to the pandemic and hit Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit, interest in virtual chess has spiked. More Americans now play chess than tennis and golf combined, and most of that is online. In the past, chess players used snail mail to play their correspondence games, some lasting two years as they sent moves one at a time across the world. Now we can access partners anywhere with one click of our mouse, and games can begin right away.
I first fell in love with chess when I was 5 years old—in 1982, before AOL had even been invented—when I saw a beautiful wooden board across the room. My father caved to my obsession, buying a red and black cardboard set from CVS. We learned to play together on the living room floor of our rent-stabilized Manhattan apartment. Neither of us knew that chess would end up becoming my livelihood (I still teach to this day) or that a short time later I’d become a scholastic champion. During the pandemic my classes have moved, like everything else, to the virtual world. Here are the sites I recommend for players of all experience levels.
With 77 million users, this is the most popular site. It’s subscription-based, which means your daily puzzles, lessons, and more are limited without a paid membership. For $14 per month or $99 per year, Diamond accounts offer everything included in Basic, Gold, and Platinum accounts plus unlimited lessons in all sections.
Here you can access the daily puzzles and chess lessons mentioned above, but you’ll also find coaches, tournaments, computer analysis of your games, and human opponents and bots to play against.
- Pros: Everything you need is right here, and there’s always someone available to play live.
- Cons: Advertisements abound, and there’s the membership fee. You may also experience the very occasional glitch (if that happens, open chess.com in your browser rather than the app).
With approximately 20 million users, Lichess is not as well known. An open source chess server powered by volunteers and donations, it is completely free (and the server software is free as well, so you can run it on your own) and has no ads or trackers. Lichess tends to rate players' strengths a little higher than chess.com does, which doesn't result in easier games, but once your rating stabilizes, you'll be playing competition at your own level. Like chess.com, there are also tournaments, puzzles, lessons, analysis, and games with humans or bots.
- Pros: I find the layout more user-friendly. I also like Lichess’s analysis board better than chess.com’s (it has a more in-depth move-to-move analysis), as well as the lesson section. Plus I’m partial to the lack of advertisements or fees. Having the space around the board or puzzles free of adverts helps me focus. Additionally, when you click on your piece to move it, a series of green dots shows you all the squares the pieces can go to. This might annoy more experienced players, but it is helpful for beginners.
- Cons: Occasionally it’s hard to find someone to play, but you can always play the bot until a player shows up.
One of the few child-safe chess sites out there, Chesskid is owned by chess.com. There’s a fun study section with video tutorials, as well as everything offered by the other two sites. Chesskid includes online report cards that allow me to easily track my students' progress. This is what I use when I teach my scholastc classes. It also offers the ability to form clubs (as do the other two sites), so you can create a group for your kids and their friends, or for your students. There’s also a weekly teaching guide and a more video game-like subsection called Chess Adventure for early players.
- Pros: It’s kid-friendly, safe, educational, and fun.
- Cons: Occasionally glitchy, I was advised that opening it in my browser can work better than in the app. Sometimes there’s no one to play—but the bot is always available.
Practice: I generally advise my students that learning chess is like learning a language: Practice is key. Doing a few puzzles a day is important. So is playing.
Avoid Speed Chess: A little speed is all right. But playing blitz (which consists of five-minute games or shorter) or simply doing a puzzle rush instead of a site’s untimed daily puzzle is going to give you bad habits. Treat these like a decadent dessert; a little will go a long way. Try to play fewer, longer games instead to develop your skills and strategies. Consider 15 minutes per side a generally healthy time control.
Play Humans: The temptation to skip playing humans and simply play bots is totally, well, human.
“I can’t play humans too close to night.” One student, an ER doctor, admitted to me during our lessons, “If I win, my heart rate goes up and I start panicking, knowing it’s only a matter of time before I lose again. If I lose, I can’t go to sleep until I win, and then the whole cycle starts again.”
I only play computers, my students, aged 5 to 65, repeatedly say. Their reasons vary, but it ultimately comes down to the same thing: Playing against other people is just too high stakes.
The problem with only playing computers is that most humans aren’t trying to learn to play chess like a computer; they’re trying to play like humans. Computers look for the “best” move. But best means something different depending on whether you’re a computer or human. For instance, Magnus Carlssen, the top player in the world—and some chess experts say ever—looks for moves that will psychologically throw his opponents, rather than the computer’s best-move pick.
If playing against a person is too stressful for you, try to sprinkle the games into your chess life, playing at least one game against a human for every three computer games.
Tips for Timers: Whereas playing against bots can be untimed, games with other humans will be timed (unless you’re playing Lichess’ Correspondance Chess, where one move can take up to 14 days). Don’t freak out; timers can be your friend. Like anything unfamiliar, they simply require getting used to.
If you’re new to playing chess online, ignore the timer at first while you focus on the game and develop your playing skills. Then switch it up—practice focusing on the timer at the expense of the game. Ideally, you’ll find a happy balance between the two. Meanwhile, you remove the stress of focusing on just winning.
While you can now play chess games on your phone on the subway, in a Lyft, or waiting in line at the checkout counter, I advise my students to take a few deep breaths before they begin their games and, if possible, have a glass of water at hand. We tend to hold our breath when concentrating, which doesn’t help with the nerves that often accompany games against human players. Setting an intention can also help.
While it’s natural to want to win, a more helpful intention might focus on something you want to work on that day, so that regardless of what happens with your opponent, you can still have a win. Some useful intentions could be:
- Really pay attention to where your opponent has moved before you make your own move.
- Piece safety!! Spend a little time making sure your pieces are safe before you move.
- Keep your hand from circling around and around on the mouse as you play. This actually distracts your brain from the deep thinking it needs to find your move and leaves you with the feeling of a cat chasing a string toy.
- Avoid bringing your queen out too early.
- Get your king to safety (learn how to castle here).
- Develop your knights and bishops at the beginning of the game. (See: Opening Theory.)
It’s OK to make mistakes—you’re only human! When you make a mistake (which you will) the most important thing is to slow down. We tend to run away after making mistakes, but that is when we need to be the most careful and deliberate.
Don’t freak out! Pause. Take a breath. Remember that glass of water? Now’s the time to sip it.
While you come up with your plans, your opponent will be doing just that too! The cool thing here is that trying to figure out what they’re up to can be challenging, but it actually helps develop empathy. You’re practicing what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes—or in this case, chess moves.
Not only does chess develop (and appeal to) logical thinkers, it also aids (and appeals to) creative thinkers. While a lot of players are math or logic whizzes, most of us (myself included) are not.
It’s exciting to develop the skills to make plans or combinations, but try not to get too attached. Some plans should be broken. Plans simply get you to the next right place where another plan will soon arrive.
I’ve seen players fixate on their plans to the extent that they lose the game. Chess games demand that you pivot quickly and adjust. So does life! The most important thing is to make the first move and start your game. If it feels overwhelming, I recommend practicing with puzzles and checkmating techniques, then try a full game again.
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