Editing Free Internet Chess Server (section)

== Usage ==
[[File:Partida no FreeChess.png|thumb|A chess game on FICS using the Jin interface]]
FICS is accessible via [[telnet]] and was text-only by default. Before graphical interfaces, users would see a board created by [[ASCII]] characters, with the lines of the board created by [[Hyphen|hyphens]] and [[Vertical bar|pipes]], and pieces represented by letters.<ref name="Doggers-2024" /> Whereas ICC has dedicated, proprietary graphical interfaces, several have been developed for FICS, with none having official status. The earliest were XICS and [[XBoard]], with subsequent programs including [[XBoard|WinBoard]], BabasChess, Jin, Thief, Raptor, eboard, [[PyChess]], and JavaBoard.<ref name="Fernández Slezak-2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Fernández Slezak |first1=Diego |last2=Etchemendy |first2=Pablo |last3=Sigman |first3=Mariano |date=2010 |title=Rapid chess: A massive-scale experiment |url=https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/152631 |journal=High-Performance Computing Symposium (HPC 2010) |language=en |archive-date=10 September 2024 |access-date=24 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910175016/http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/152631 |url-status=live }}</ref> Though built with pre-web technology, which typically requires a dedicated client, there are also web-based interfaces. Users can play using an anonymous guest account or register for an account with a username. Registered users can play games rated using the [[Glicko rating system]], with separate ratings based on time control and chess variant.<ref>{{Cite web |author=vek/glickman |title=Vek-splanation of the Glicko Ratings System |url=http://www.freechess.org/Help/HelpFiles/glicko.html |access-date=10 May 2010 |archive-date=25 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625235115/http://www.freechess.org/Help/HelpFiles/glicko.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Once connected, discussion takes place in a wide number of function-specific or subject-specific chat channels numbered 0 through 255. For example, channel 0 is for administrators only, 1 is for general help, 50 is general chat, and 49 is for tournaments. Though based in the US, FICS, like the ICS before it, was notable for its international diversity. Early descriptions of using the servers highlight playing against and talking with people from around the world, which was a rare experience in the 1990s.<ref name="Doggers-2024" />

=== Variants ===
In addition to standard chess, FICS hosts several [[Chess variant|chess variants]], including [[Losing chess|suicide]], [[Losing chess|loser's]], [[Atomic chess|atomic]], wild (including [[chess960]]), [[Bughouse chess|bughouse]], and [[crazyhouse]].<ref name="Hurst-1999" /> It became known for the popularity of its variants and the strength of its variant players. In particular, ''Chess Daily News'' said it is "well-known for featuring the best bughouse and crazyhouse play in the world".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=William |date=23 June 2011 |title=ChessCube vs. Chess.com vs. FICS vs. ICC - An objective comparison. |url=https://chessdailynews.com/chesscube-vs-chess-com-vs-fics-vs-icc-an-objective-comparison/ |access-date=23 December 2024 |website=Chess Daily News by Susan Polgar |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Relay ===
FICS relays major live chess events. A bot takes the moves in ongoing games and relays them to special demo accounts bearing the names of players in the event. Users watch and comment on the games in progress. The relay has covered several [[World Chess Championship|World Chess Championships]] as well as [[Tata Steel Chess Tournament|Wijk aan Zee]], [[Morelia-Linares]] and [[Amber Melody]].<ref name="Hurst-1999" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Free Internet Chess Server Relays |url=https://www.freechess.org/Events/Relay/index.html |access-date=16 January 2025 |website=Free Internet Chess Server |archive-date=12 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412221926/https://www.freechess.org/Events/Relay/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The web-based [[Lichess]] platform obtains its tournament relays via FICS.

=== Archive ===
All games played by registered users are recorded and made publicly available for free. The FICS game archive has been used in [[chess opening]] studies,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kennedy |first=Rick |date=20 December 2015 |title=The Jerome Gambit: Lots of Practice, Some Theory |url=https://jeromegambit.blogspot.com/2015/12/lots-of-practice-some-theory.html |access-date=16 January 2025 |website=The Jerome Gambit |archive-date=23 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123032518/https://jeromegambit.blogspot.com/2015/12/lots-of-practice-some-theory.html |url-status=live }}</ref> academic studies on memory,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nagy |first1=David G. |last2=Török |first2=Balázs |last3=Orbán |first3=Gergő |date=15 October 2020 |title=Optimal forgetting: Semantic compression of episodic memories |journal=PLOS Computational Biology |language=en |volume=16 |issue=10 |pages=e1008367 |doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008367 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7358 |pmc=7591090 |pmid=33057380|bibcode=2020PLSCB..16E8367N }}</ref> decision-making,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Slezak |first1=Diego Fernandez |last2=Sigman |first2=Mariano |last3=Cecchi |first3=Guillermo A. |date=2 March 2018 |title=An entropic barriers diffusion theory of decision-making in multiple alternative tasks |journal=PLOS Computational Biology |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=e1005961 |doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005961 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7358 |pmc=5851639 |pmid=29499036|bibcode=2018PLSCB..14E5961F }}</ref><ref name="Fernández Slezak-2010" /> and user interface design.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Picussa |first1=Juliano |last2=Garcia |first2=Laura S. |last3=Bueno |first3=Juliana |last4=Ferreira |first4=Marica V. R. |last5=Direne |first5=Alexandre I. |last6=de Bona |first6=Luis C. E. |last7=Silva |first7=Fabiano |last8=Castilho |first8=Marcos A. |last9=Sunye |first9=Marcos S. |chapter=A user-interface environment solution for an online educational Chess server |date=June 2008 |title=2008 Second International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/rcis.2008.4632106 |publisher=IEEE |pages=179–186 |doi=10.1109/rcis.2008.4632106|isbn=978-1-4244-1677-6 }}</ref> The server and its archive have been used to train [[Chess engine|chess engines]] and chess-related [[machine learning]] projects,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cheng |first1=Isaac |last2= |date=2023 |title=Machine Learning to Study Patterns in Chess Games [thesis] |url=https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.30894.52807 |journal=[[University of Exeter]] |language=en |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.30894.52807}}</ref> while the FICS code has been used to launch similar regional or thematic chess servers as well as influencing the design of other chess projects.<ref name="Bouman-2012">{{Cite web |last=Bouman |first=Egbert |date=2012 |title=Tribler-G: A Decentralized Social Network for Playing Chess [Master's Thesis] |url=https://egbertbouman.github.io/tribler-g/publications/Tribler-G%20A%20Decentralized%20Social%20Network%20for%20Playing%20Chess%20Online%20(MSc%20thesis).pdf |website=Delft University of Technology}}</ref>