Links that I really use  !

the best places to play in real time

Internet Chess Club (ICC or ICS)
Free Internet Chess Club (FICS)
Chessnet
Free Chess Club (FICS)
InstantChess

the best places to play by mail

Chess Maniac
CowPlay
It's Your Turn
Gold Token
Red Hot Pawn
Stan's Chess Net
Game Knot
ChessWorld
Play Chess
ChessHere.com

Games and Databases

Chessgames.com
Chessbase
Chesslab
University of Pittsburgh Chess Club

Learning

Exeter Chess Club Coaching Page
ChessOps - Openings
Adam's Openings
Logical Chess - Endings
Great Pawn Hunter- Tutorial
"1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate"
Thomas Johansson's KG site
World Chess Solving Championship
"1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate"
FIDE Laws of Chess

just plain good sites!

Chess Café
Tim Krabbé's Chess Curiosities
TWIC
Pakistan Chess Player
The Chess Goddess
Susan Strahan's 1001 Knights
Chess by Robert Byrne (NY Times)
The Washington Post Chess Column
The 65th Square Club
A.J. Goldsby's Chess Page
WIM Sanja Petronic homepage
IM Jovan Petronic homepage
Martha Fierro WGM

That's Entertainment!

Chandler Cornered


Flying Rook
frontpage


Chess History and Biographies

Mark Weeks' Chess History on the Web
The Essential Nimzowitsch
On Nimzowitsch
Robert J. Fischer
Chess Tournament and Match History
Super Tournaments of the Past
Bill Wall's Chess Page
Biography of Siegbert Tarrasch
Chess History Newsgroup
Hebrew Chess
Frank Marshall Archive
El Sabio's Book of Chess
Cambridge Springs
Champions of Chess
About.com Forum
Vistula Chess Monthly
Old Games
Chess Journalists of America
Chess Matches 1835-1863
Ossimitz Chess Collections
Canadian Chess
Chess Articles
La Grande Storia degli Scacchi