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Best FREE Chess Resources?

Best FREE Chess Resources?

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I posted a topic like this a few months back, but it really bears repeating. In the ether or otherwise, what are your favorite free chess resources?


As far as books go, a good public library system is priceless. [No pun intended.]


On the internet, some favorites are:

-RedHotPawn [Obviously.]

-www.chess.fm [Phenomenal free video lectures and annotated games. Google the cache of it for the full listing of videos, then google the particular video, as only the Varuzhan Akobian, Larry Christiansen, Pete Tamburro, and John Federowicz lectures are visible on the front page now for some reason.]

-www.chessbase.com [For news, and searchable games database. Also, free ChessBase Light software, with a weaker old Fritz engine.]

-www.chessninja.com/dailydirt [For news and wit.]

-www.chessgames.com [For a daily chess problem, huge searchable database, and fun kibitzing.]

-www.balestris.com/chess [Brian Balestri's Daily Chess Challenge, a reason to check one's e-mail every day.]


An account on the Free Internet Chess Server is also a great thing to have. The best FICS client I've used so far is BabasChess, which is very user-friendly and cuts out all of the confounding command prompts.


Anyone have any other good ones?

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www.chessville.com

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Your brain?

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I don't know of any other ones, but thanks for the Balestris recomendation. Great site!

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Also,

www.chesslab.com - good games database

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In addition to some of the excellent recomendations made already, check out the Exeter Chess Club's tutorial page at http://www1.physik.tu-muenchen.de/~jfranosc/chess/

Also, Jeremy Silman has put together plenty of instructive articles from top authors on his homepage http://jeremysilman.com/

Also http://www.chesscafe.com/ is worth bookmarking. Top chess writers have monthy columns which are archived. There is also a long list of book reviews. I especially like Dan Heisman's "Novice Nook" column. Don't let the title fool you; it's not just for rank beginners. Probably anyone up to about 1800 Elo would benefit. While we're on the subject, check out Dan's homepage too at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/danheisman/Main_Chess/chess.htm .

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Good ones, thanks.

On the subject of tutorials, I also forgot to mention US Correspondence Champion Jon Edwards' 'Chess is Fun', which walked me through my baby steps. [http://www.princeton.edu/~jedwards/cif/intro.html]

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Hans Ree's excellent Chess Curiosities:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess/chess.html

The Campbell Report (about CC):
http://correspondencechess.com/campbell/

For king's pawn players only:
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~goeller/urusov.html

The Week in Chess:
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html

The British Chess Problem Society:
www.bcps.knightsfield.co.uk/index.html

Usenet chess discussion groups:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.chess.misc
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.chess.computer
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.chess.analysis

Also http://www.chessvariants.com/

.

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I play on another site: itsyourturn.com. It doesn't have as much
generic chess information as redhotpawn.com but I like the interface
much better for reviewing games.

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I would add for real time play (excellent for blitz!) FICS (www.freechess.org). They also have lectures and game analysis exchange program.

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Originally posted by THUDandBLUNDER
Hans Ree's excellent Chess Curiosities:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess/chess.html

The Campbell Report (about CC):
http://correspondencechess.com/campbell/

For king's pawn players only:
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~goeller/urusov.html

The Week in Chess:
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html

The British Chess Problem Society:
ww ...[text shortened]... groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.chess.analysis

Also http://www.chessvariants.com/

.
Excellent sites,thanks,just to add one
www.chesskids.com

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Aside from caissa.com does anybody know any live (free) sites where you can play behind a firewall?

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Originally posted by demonseed
Aside from caissa.com does anybody know any live (free) sites where you can play behind a firewall?
try pogo.com

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Originally posted by EinZweiDrei
-www.chessbase.com [For news, and searchable games database. Also, free ChessBase Light software, with a weaker old Fritz engine.
Why not get the full ChessBase for free?

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