All games played by registered users are recorded by a computer and made publicly available. Moves are made with a mouse on an image of a chess board or users can type in moves in algebraic chess notation. Users can challenge specific players to a game by using the match command. Seeks can be programmed to require manual acceptance by the user, or they can automatically be accepted by the player. Seeks include time controls and frequently an optional ratings limit.

Players can watch for game requests by other users broadcast or create their own seeks and wait for someone to respond. The server maintains rating and game statistics for registered users. Users can log in either as an anonymous guest or else by registering for a free account.

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.

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