View source for Free Internet Chess Server

{{Short description|Volunteer-run Internet chess server}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Partida no FreeChess.png|thumb|upright=1.5|A chess game on '''FICS''' using an interface named [[Jin (chess interface)|Jin]]]]

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.<ref name=":1" />

==History==
{{stack|[[File:Free Internet Chess Server (banner).jpg|thumb|250px|FICS Banner.]]}}
On {{start date and age|1992|1|15|df=y|paren=y}}, Michael Moore of the [[University of Utah]] and Richard Nash started the first [[Internet chess server]], named the American Internet Chess Server (AICS), but generally known as simply the Internet Chess Server (ICS). The initial release was hosted at the [[Colorado School of Mines]], but it was moved to [[Carnegie Mellon University]] later the same year.<ref name="fics10year"/>

The software was coded, supported, and operated by volunteers until {{start date and age|1995|3|1|df=y|paren=y}}, when administrators{{who|date=April 2024}} began charging players for membership and changed the name to the [[Internet Chess Club|ICC]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.edcollins.com/chess/fics-icc.htm |title=Pawns Call King a Rook |first=Brad |last=Stone |access-date=2010-05-10 |date=2006-05-11 }}</ref>

Several former ICS programmers saw the commercialization of ICS as an exploitation of their work. This group, led by Chris Petroff and Henrik Gram, developed FICS as an alternative to the paid model, giving users free, unrestricted access. The server debuted on {{start date and age|1995|3|3|df=y|paren=y}}, just two days after the ICC announcement.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://members.cox.net/cpetroff/FICS/ |title=History of the Internet Chess Server – Part I |first=Chris |last=Petroff |date=2009-03-05 |access-date=2010-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313150500/http://members.cox.net/cpetroff/FICS/ |archive-date=2010-03-13 }}</ref><ref name="fics10year">{{Cite web|url=http://www.freechess.org/Events/Anniversary/2005/index.html |title=FICS 10th Anniversary Celebrations  |access-date=2010-05-10}}</ref>

In 1998, the Free Internet Chess Organization (FICS) was organized as a [[nonprofit organization]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://gambiter.com/chess/online/Free_internet_chess_server.html|title=Free Internet Chess Server|website=gambiter.com|language=en|access-date=2017-09-28}}</ref>

In 2007, the legal entity was involuntarily dissolved.{{clarifyme|date=April 2024}} The server is still maintained and administered by volunteers.<ref name=":0" />

As of August 2014, FICS had over 650,000 registered accounts.<ref name=":0" />

In 2016, 50,000 active players played a total of 23 million games.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ficsgames.org/2013_stats.html |title=FICS Games Database – Statistics for 2013 |access-date=2014-08-03 }}</ref>

==Usage==

===Connecting===
[[File:babaschesssmallcrop.jpg|thumb|250px|FICS using BabasChess interface]]
Playing chess on FICS requires connecting to the server either through a web-based applet on the [http://www.freechess.org FICS website] or else by using a [[client (computing)|client]] program, which could be as simple as a [[telnet]] client, but is usually an [[graphical user interface|interface]] designed specifically for playing Internet chess.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freechess.org/Help/QuickGuide/index.html |title=FICS QuickGuide : Graphical Interfaces |access-date=2010-05-10}}</ref> Users can log in either as an anonymous guest or else by registering for a free account. Each user is permitted only one account. The server maintains rating and game statistics for registered users. FICS uses the [[Glicko rating system]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freechess.org/Help/HelpFiles/glicko.html |title=Vek-splanation of the Glicko Ratings System |author=vek/glickman|access-date=2010-05-10}}</ref>

===Gameplay===
Players can watch for game requests by other users broadcast or create their own seeks and wait for someone to respond. Seeks include time controls and frequently an optional ratings limit. Seeks can be programmed to require manual acceptance by the user, or they can automatically be accepted by the player. Users can challenge specific players to a game by using the match command. Moves are made with a mouse on an image of a chess board or users can type in moves in [[algebraic chess notation]]. All games played by registered users are recorded by a computer and made publicly available.<ref name=":0" />

=== Time controls ===
Since the mechanics of play are simplified, chess games played online tend to use faster time controls than in over-the-board (OTB) play. Longer games (i.e., usually 15 or more minutes per player) are called standard and are also common on the server. Separate ratings are maintained for lightning (under 3 minutes), blitz (usually 5 or 10 minutes), and standard (over 15 minutes). Irregular variants, such as Fischer Random, are grouped together into a handful of formats like Wild, and these are not further classified by time controls.<ref name=":0" />

[[Time control#Compensation (delay methods)|Fischer delay]] is popular: the time control is specified by two numbers, the minutes each player is allotted at the start of the game, and the seconds added to a player's clock after making a move (the ''increment''). For example, in the popular 2–12 time controls, each player receives 2 minutes at the beginning of the game, and 12 seconds are added to a player's clock after they make a move. Since all games are assumed to last 40 moves for format classification purposes, 2–12 is grouped with 10-minutes-per-player (10 minutes = (60s per minute * 2 minutes) + (12s * 40 moves) / 60s per minute).{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

The timeseal is a utility which allows the server to adjust for the effects of internet [[lag (video games)|lag]]. Each move is time-stamped locally and the time it takes for each command to travel to the server is not deducted from the player's clock. This method of time stamping each move is helpful for players with slow internet connections. FICS does not track lag centrally and does not permit users to exclude persistent laggers.<ref name=":0" />

{|
! Format || Popular Controls (minutes and optional increment)
|-
| lightning (x<3) || 1
|-
| blitz (3<=x<15) || 3, 5, 2–12
|-
| standard (15<=x) || 15, 45-45
|}

===Interfaces===
[[File:Mobila Chess Layout.png|thumb|300x300px|Mobile Interface]]
FICS is designed to be accessed by a chess interface designed to connect to Internet chess servers. Interfaces are created independently. FICS does not have an official interface and does not endorse any interface. The most popular interfaces for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] are [[BabasChess]], Jin, [[XBoard]], [[Thief (chess)|Thief]], and Raptor.<ref name=":0" /> Mobialia Chess is the most common platform for mobile operating systems Android and IOS.

On other operating systems (mainly Unix-type boxes based on Linux or macOS), eboard, [[XBoard]], [[PyChess]], Jin, JavaBoard, and Raptor are popular choices. JavaBoard, JinApplet, and QXBoard are web interfaces that run in a web browser.<ref name=":0" />

In 2017, the [https://www.freechess.club Free Chess Club] open-source project released a web-based client targeted towards modern web browsers using [[JavaScript]], [[HTML5]] and [[WebSockets]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.freechess.club/ |title=Home |website=freechess.club}}</ref> In addition to a web interface, Free Chess Club provides a cross-platform desktop application that runs on [[Linux]], [[macOS]] and [[Windows]].

===Channels===
FICS has a number of very conservatively censored chat channels numbered 0 through 255. Many of the channels are reserved for administrators and bots.<ref name=":0" />

Some of the more popular channels include:

*channel 1 – general help; questions asked in channel 1 are usually answered by FICS admins or Service Representatives (SRs)
*channel 4 – helping guests
*channel 50 – general chat
*channel 53 – guest chat
Registration is required for all channels except channels 1,4 and 53.

Some channels are used for FICS staff and cannot be seen by regular users:

*channel 0 – the admin channel
*channel 5 – the service representatives channel
*channel 48 – the mamer manager channel
*channel 63 – the chess advisor channel

A user can listen and send tells to up to thirty channels simultaneously. Another form of mass communication available to registered users is "shouts" which can be seen by all connected users who haven't turned shouts off.<ref name=":0" />

===Variants===
Currently, the following [[chess variants]] are available on FICS, besides regular chess:

*[[Losing chess|Suicide]] – capturing is compulsory, a player wins by losing all his pieces; the king has no special significance
*Loser's chess – like suicide, but with additional rules pertaining to the king and check
*[[Atomic chess|Atomic]] – pieces "explode" when captured, removing all adjacent pieces except pawns
*Wild – Nine different variants similar to regular chess but with different types of starting positions, including [[Chess960]]
*[[Bughouse chess|Bughouse]] – fast-paced, four player game, in which two teams of two players face each other on two boards
*[[Crazyhouse]] – two player version (like in regular chess) of bughouse, where captured pieces reenter the game

===Tournaments on FICS===
Tournaments are regularly organised or relayed on FICS. The popular [[Lichess]] platform obtains its tournament relays via FICS.

====Mamer tournaments====
Most tournaments are organised by "Mamer," an automated tournament director. Mamer is run by tourney managers who organize and supervise tournaments. Mamer announces tournaments through channel 49 and through tells and "tshouts." Tournaments organised by Mamer range in time controls and include variants.<ref name=":0" />

====Other tournaments====
Other regular conducted tournaments on FICS include tournaments featuring slow time controls (STC) of typically more than 45 minutes. Two of the most popular of these are FICS Teamleague, which uses 45 45 controls, and the Online Chess League (OCL), which uses 60 15 time controls. Both are team events with teams of 4 competing against each other, and each player typically plays one game per week. In addition, the STC Bunch, or the Slow Time Control Bunch, organised several tournaments with slow time controls.<ref name=":0" />

===Relay===
FICS relays major chess events. A bot takes the moves in ongoing games and relays them to special demo accounts on FICS. These demo accounts bear the names of the [[Grandmaster (chess)|grandmasters]] playing in the event. Users and guests on FICS can watch the games in progress and chat about the games with each other. The relay has covered every single World Chess Championship since its inception. Other major relays include the yearly relay of [[Tata Steel Chess Tournament|Wijk aan Zee]], Morelia-Linares and Amber Melody.<ref name=":0" />

==See also==
*[[List of Internet chess servers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website|http://www.freechess.org/}}
* [http://www.freechess.org/Events/Scheduled/index.html Scheduled tournaments]
* [http://www.ficsgames.org FICS Game Database] – database of all games played
* [http://apps.brrm.ru/lightfics/ FICS Mac OS app]
* [http://www.bughouse-db.org/ FICS Bughouse Database]
* [http://www.freechess.org/interfaces.html FICS interface comparison]
* [http://www.teamleague.org/ FICS TeamLeague]

[[Category:Internet chess servers]]
[[Category:Chess websites]]
[[Category:1995 in chess]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1995]]