Free Internet Chess Server

The Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) is a volunteer-run Internet chess server. It was organised as a free alternative to the Internet Chess Club (ICC), after that site began charging for membership.

The first Internet chess server, named the Internet Chess Server (ICS), started in January 1992. The software was coded, supported, and operated entirely by volunteers until 1995, when administrators began charging players for membership and changed the name to ICC.

Many of the ICS programmers saw the commercialisation of ICS as an exploitation of their work. This group, led by Chris Petroff, developed FICS as an alternative to the paid model, giving users free, unrestricted access. The server debuted on 3 March 1995.

In 1998, the Free Internet Chess Organization (FICS) was organized as a nonprofit organization.

In 2007, the legal entity was involuntarily dissolved . However, the server is still maintained and administered by volunteers. It continues to have an actively operating and growing its user base.

In 2013, over 80,000 players were active, playing a total of over 29 million games.

As of August 2014, FICS had over 650,000 registered accounts.

Playing chess on FICS requires connecting to the server either through a web-based applet on the FICS website or else by using a client program, which could be as simple as a telnet client, but is usually an interface designed specifically for playing Internet chess. Users can log in either as an anonymous guest or else by registering for a free account. In theory, each user is permitted only one account. The server maintains game statistics and ratings for registered users. FICS uses the Glicko rating system.

Users can watch for seeks, game requests other users broadcast, or put out their own seeks and wait for someone else to respond. Seeks can include the proposed time controls as well as an optional ratings limit. Seeks can be set to manual, so that the requestor can screen potential opponents before starting a game. Users can also challenge a specific player to a game by using the match command.

...
Wikipedia