ChessWorld.net, founded in 2000, is an online chess site.
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The History of Online Chess: From PLATO to the Modern Web

Today, playing chess online is as simple as opening a browser. But the roots of online chess go back to the very dawn of the internet. It is a story of innovation, the transition from text-based terminals to graphical interfaces, and the enduring appeal of correspondence play.

1. The Stone Age: PLATO and Mainframes (1970s)

Before the World Wide Web, there was PLATO. In the 1970s, this educational mainframe system hosted the first multiplayer chess games. Users sat at orange-glowing terminals to move graphical pieces, marking the first time two humans played chess remotely via computer.

2. The Telnet Era: ICS and FICS (1990s)

In 1992, the Internet Chess Server (ICS) was launched. It was text-based (via Telnet). Players typed coordinates (e.g., "e2-e4") and saw an ASCII text board. This era defined the "Blitz" culture, but it was technically difficult for the average user to access.

3. The Correspondence Revolution (The 2000s)

While "Real-Time" chess struggled with slow dial-up internet speeds (leading to lag and disconnections), Turn-Based (Correspondence) Chess flourished.

Historically, correspondence chess was played by mail (postcards), taking months per move. The internet changed this forever. Pioneering sites like ChessWorld.net (founded in the early 2000s) moved correspondence chess to the web browser. This allowed for:

Conditional Moves: Programming "If he does X, I do Y."
Database Integration: Accessing opening books while playing.
Social Communities: Forums and teams that lasted for years.

4. The Modern Browser Era (2010s-Present)

As internet speeds increased (Broadband/Fiber), technology shifted from Java Applets to HTML5. This allowed for "lag-free" Bullet and Blitz chess directly in the browser, without downloading software. While real-time chess exploded in popularity, the turn-based format remains the "purist's" choice for deep strategic study without the stress of the clock.

5. The AI & Streaming Boom

The modern era is defined by the integration of super-human AI (Stockfish running in the browser) and the "Esportsification" of chess via video streaming. However, the core appeal remains unchanged: two minds connecting across the globe over 64 squares.