Protocol and Access
The ICS protocol is a simple, text-based variant of the TELNET protocol. It is sparsely documented and not standardised, although a few reference implementations and several clients exist.
In theory, an ICS can be accessed from any TELNET client. That said, almost all users choose to play using a graphical client, called an interface. Currently, the most popular interface is XBoard (and its Windows counterpart, WinBoard). In recent years, however, it has lost ground to newer interfaces like Pychess and eboard.
In addition to standalone clients, many servers also offer Java interfaces that can be used directly from a Web browser. These are popular with new users and users of public computers.
Read more about this topic: Internet Chess Server
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