This is list of 42 chess websites, where you can play chess online. It is an antidote to the Best Places to Play Chess Online List’s that come up when you search, which these days only seem to share the same few sites, often missing out most of the smaller hobbyist sites. The only sites I can recommend are the two highlighted in blue which are the ones that I play on, that doesn’t mean to say the others are not worth playing at, so you should take a look for yourself. I’ve tried to gather some information on the type of chess played and the membership available for each site, as available as 13th May 2023, but please take the information with a pinch of salt and do your own investigations.
bdf-schachserver.de
Correspondence chess
brainking.com
Multi board game platform, 4 levels of membership ranging from free to €36 https://brainking.com/en/PaidMembership
caissa.com
Real time and correspondence, includes some variants, 2 levels of membership free and subscription (cost unknown)
chess.com
Real time 4 levels of membership, 7 day trial, £45, £70.20 , £110.04
chess.net
Real time and some variants (seems very similar to lichess)
chessanytime.com
Real time and correspondence, includes some variants, 3 levels of membership, free, £24 £42 https://www.chessanytime.com/subscribe.html
chessarena.com
Real time chess FIDE approved, 2 levels of membership free & €25 https://chessarena.com/?popup=registration
chessbymessage.com
Correspondence site, free membership https://chessbymessage.com/faq.php#cbm
chessclub.com
ICC, 2 levels of membership free & $69.95 https://store.chessclub.com/memberships
chesscorner.net
2 levels of membership free & subscription (cost unknown)
chessfriends.com
Real time and correspondence.
chesshere.com
Real time and correspondence, 2 levels of membership free & subscription (cost unknown) https://www.chesshere.com/support/
chesskid.com
For younger children
chessmaniac.com
Real time and correspondence
chessmoon.com
Real time with some variants, 2 levels of membership free & subscription (cost unknown) https://www.chessmoon.com/help/
chessontheweb.com
Correspondence chess, https://www.chessontheweb.com/help
chesstempo.com
Real time & Correspondence, 4 levels of membership £16.07, £29 & £64
chessworld.net
Correspondence chess, levels of membership free (games unlimited) & subscription (cost unknown)
chess-mail.com
Correspondence chess, free membership
chess2play.com
Real time, chess betting site
evochess.com
Real time & correspondence, many variants.
ficgs.com
Correspondence chess + variants and other games, free membership
freechess.org
Real time chess free membership https://www.freechess.org/Help/index.html
flyordie.com
Multi board game platform 2 levels of membership free, £19.99 https://www.flyordie.com/subscribe.html
gamecolony.com
Multi board game platform.
gameknot.com
Correspondence (maybe real time as well), free and subscription memberships (cost unknown)
goldtoken.com
Multi board game platform.
itsyourturn.com
Multi board game platform Free and subscription (no details available) possibly defunct?
lichess.org
Real time and correspondence chess and variants, free membership
littlegolem.net
Multi board game platform, including chess and some variants, 2 levels of membership free & €19 https://littlegolem.net/jsp/info/m2.jsp
mychess.de
Correspondence chess (chess & 960) 2 levels of membership free & €0.99 per month
mychess.eu
Real time, free membership
net-chess.com
Correspondence chess, free membership https://net-chess.com/stepbystep.shtml
nothingbutchess.com
Correspondence chess, free membership https://nothingbutchess.com/faqs/
play.chessbase.com
Real time chess 3 levels of membership free, €34.90 & €49.90 https://account.chessbase.com/en/matrix
playchess.de
Correspondence chess, 2 levels of membership free & €26 http://playchess.de/membership/offline
playmagnus.com
Real time chess, subscription $170
queenalice.com
Correspondence chess, free membership
redhotpawn.com
Correspondence chess, 2 levels of membership free & subscription (cost unknown)
schemingmind.com
Correspondence, many chess variants, 3 levels of membership guest, trial, £20 https://www.schemingmind.com/users/membership.aspx?referrer_id=417
sparkchess.com
Real time, 2 levels of membership free and Premium (cost unknown)
webschach.eu
German based chess server