I have been playing online turn-based chess (previously at GameKnot,
now at QueenAlice) for over two years.

I also play in OTB tournaments occasionally.

Three months later, I will be participating in a very important OTB
tournament. However, since I play turn-based chess every day, and OTB
only occasionally, I'm concerned that the time control (25 minutes per
player per game) will work against me.

Do you know any websites where I can play free, rated, browser-based,
real-time chess?

I've given up on Yahoo! Chess - too much cheaters and lag. I tried
signing up for FICS, but they apparently don't welcome Gmail users. (My
ISP doesn't offer e-mail, and I'm a minor, so I can't pay for e-mail.)

P.S. The most popular websites are not neccesarily the best. By
steering clear of the most popular websites, I've often found
little-known, but excellent, websites. For example, I play turn-based
chess at http://queenalice.com. It's little-known, with 8,000 members
compared to GameKnot's 500,000, but offers a great community and plenty
of features for free.

Caissas Web( caissa.com) the best chess site ever! youll like it.

I've given up on Yahoo! Chess - too much cheaters and lag. I tried
signing up for FICS, but they apparently don't welcome Gmail users. (My
ISP doesn't offer e-mail, and I'm a minor, so I can't pay for e-mail.)

Create a mail account at sify.com (http://www.sify.com/). It is free.
Try to register at FICS using the same

For real-time chess I recommend to use InstantChess at:
http://www.instantchess.com/

Very easy and free.

Thomas - www.playchess.de