Looking for somewhere to play online chess with likeminded individuals? Want to compete against other players with a similar skill level as yourself? Need help improving your strategy?

Maybe it’s time to reach out and join an online chess community! Here are a selection of just a few of the most popular, helpful and easily accessible online chess sites. You can play games any time any place for free.

Play online at ChessBase

Create a free Chessbase account and login to play against other same experience level players. You can also access free video tutorials, and pick different timed games including bullet, blitz and slow games against Fritz, the computer program. There is an option to subscribe to professional level to gain additional features. Click here to have a look at the site.

Chess.com Online Chess

Chess.com offer a huge online community of players, so you’re guaranteed to find someone to play with 24/7! It has a nice clean interface and learning guides. If you have no clue how to play at all, you can follow the video tutorial. For those looking for a challenge you can play puzzle games and score a place on the leaderboard. Choose a range of game times and difficulty levels.

There is also a large community with an active blog presenting the latest chess related news. Plus forums with general discussions you can participate in. This site is a great all round hub for information and community. Visit Chess.com here

Lichess.org

Totally free, open source and ad-less chess resource Lichess is highly popular. It’s easy to see why this site is so attractive to chess fans around the world. Featuring a range of games to play, an active community and many chess variations are available. If you want to take part in tournaments you should register a free account. But for a quick game you can just jump straight in.

These are only 3 options to choose from online but they are widely regarded as the best resources. But don’t take my word for it, have a look yourself and decide where you feel most comfortable to play and remember you do not need to pay any money or give your credit card details to anyone in order to have a great game of chess online.