Links
United States Chess Federation The official sanctioning body of chess in the USA
CalChess Promoting chess in Northern California
Berkeley Chess Club
Mechanic's Institute Located at 57 Post in San Francisco, this is the Bay Area's premier chess club. Open seven days a week, it's located on the fourth floor with fifty boards and sets, and four computers. The chess room is on the fourth floor of a private library which contains over a thousand chess books. Several events are held throughout the week, as well as frequent weekend tourneys.
The Week In Chess Updated daily, this site provides news and games of the week regarding top level events. Every Monday a database of all the game is made available.
The Chess Cafe Articles written by Grandmasters and other titled players.
La Mecca Chess Encyclopedia This site is a wealth of chess information and history.
Parents, these clubs cannot fully control the behavior of their members. Should any member act inappropriately, notify an administrator. Users of obscene language or inappropriate comments can lose their membership.
The Berkeley Chess School Chess Server - open to BCS students
Internet Chess Club (ICC) Considered the best by most chessplayers due to the numerous Grandmasters and other titled players that play there. It is a commercial site, so an annual membership fee is due, although one can log on as a 'guest' for free and play unrated chess. Annual membership is $20.00 for children and $49.00 for adults. More titled players play here than anywhere else, several tournaments held weekly, and chess variants offered.
Internet Game Zone A free site offered by Microsoft, you must have MS Internet Explorer to access it. The level of play here is nowhere near the ICC, but it is fine for the beginning chess player.
Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) Like the ICC, tournaments and chess variants are offered, however one does not need to pay a membership fee to play rated chess. Stronger players than the Game Zone.
Chessnet No annual fee here, but they charge $40.00 for the interface. They do offer a 'lite' version of the interface for free, which will allow you to play. A few variants offered, but not the most popular ones. A few titled players do play here.
Parents, as in the Chess Servers, your children will be corresponding with other people, who's behavior cannot be controlled. It would be prudent to use a free email box, such as Yahoo or Hotmail, to correspond and to monitor the emails. We have not heard of any problems with correspondence chess, but it is wise to be cautious, and to report any indecent behavior.
International Email Chess Club (IECC) Tournments and matches are offered free, as is membership. Considered by many to be the best of the email chess clubs.
International Email Chess Group (IECG) Basically the same as the IECC, however slower to respond to requests, problems, and rating of games.
- BCS Partner Site -
Mephisto Chess Computers by Saitek -- UK company offers a line of desktop and travel chess computers.
10% of each sale at Saitek's online store goes to support Berkeley Chess School programs!
Chessbase Regarded as the best chess database on the market, you can either purchase the full program here or download the free version Chessbase Light here, which is just fine for most players. In Chessbase you can store your games and annotate them. You can also study over games of strong players that can be downloaded off the Internet. Note: Chessbase Light will not read the old Chessbase format, only CB6 or pgn.
Pitt University ftp site Pitt University has an ftp site where you can download thousands of chess games of strong players and tournaments. Chessbase Light users can download from the CB6 or PGN folders. There are also utilities and programs that can be found here.