Just found this playing site. Open source developed. I feel like it has taken over what FICS used to do (free chess with variants, etc). So far I haven’t encountered all the rubbish and smack talk encountered in FICS or ICC. Some very cool features across the desktop and mobile app (including a kid mode that disables communications). Invite someone to play with a shortlink. Some “regular joe” internet league possibilities here without the cost of ICC.
The lichess.org iPhone app simply destroys the chess.com app. Very fast (where chess.com is sooo slooow) and time is tracked down to a tenth of a second. Cool offline features in the app too.
One of our younger, college age players put me on to the site. It is quite good and very active with Bullet and Blitz players. Last time I looked, there didn’t seem to be too much Rapid or slower time control chess. I haven’t used their mobile app, but the chess.com app leaves much to be desired.
They do have a 45-45 league of a couple hundred players that is pretty active.
They also have in my mind the best database tools and instant game analysis. It’s probably the equivalent of a mid-level premium chess.com membership and while there aren’t a ton of GMs there I’ve played i think 3 GMs and 1 super gm.
They also have a few special events every three months.