Play Chess Online
Join a vibrant community of chess players. From beginners to experts, find your match and engage in casual games, tournaments or team play.
What is Red Hot Pawn Chess?
Not only a great platform for online chess, but a large and active chess community.
Daily Chess
Rather than complete a game in one session, play chess at your own pace by playing our correspondence style game. Receive optional move notifications by email.
A Chess Community
Leaderboards, ladders, chess clubs, public forums, blogs and private messaging - there are multiple ways you can learn, interact and compete with other players.
Team Play
Join a chess 'clan' and challenge rival clans in competitive team matches to battle for position in the clan leaderboard.
Chess Tournaments
Regularly scheduled open tournaments where you can test your mettle against players worldwide. Or join a club to play tournaments exclusively for club members.
And More...
Play live chess, with variant support. Or practice unrated games against an AI. Study openings, puzzles or the vast games explorer to improve your game.
Est. 2001 - 23 years of online chess
Some features are not available to standard members
Play Chess Anywhere, Anytime
Enjoy chess on your terms
With our seamless platform, play on your desktop, tablet, or mobile. No boards to set up, no pieces to lose. Unadulterated stress free chess. Your next move is always just a tap away.
Sign up on the web or scan to get the app for your device.
What People Are Saying
If your looking for an App that offers a break from the norm of Blitz or Quick play chess, an App for good friendly chess with decent longer time controls then this is it, great interface play 7 day with 3 day countdown great App for a leisurely game at your own pace 5 stars.
I love chess and really enjoy this website. I've played over 600 games so far. I've made friends & acquaintances from all over the world.
I have been a member for around twenty years and a subscription member for most of those years. The website and app are great, I've played other apps but found the quality and friendliness of this site best. Highly recommend and well worth the subscription fee.
Great site to play with ppl around the world ! Every challenge is a new learning experience ! LOVE the games!
I've been using this app for years top notch the best out there.
Definitely the best chess app for online play. Easily the slickest and best chess app I've used, with lots of regular updates to improve the ui and features.
Common Questions
When I complete games, will I have a rating?
After joining each player has a provisional rating until 20 rated games have been completed. Once your rating is established your rating will update as rated games are completed. Rating calculation details can be found in the site FAQ.