Once you enter live chess, look above the chat box and you will see a button marked "New Game." Click on that button to create a new game challenge.
A box will appear that lets you decide what games you want to play, what color and how long for. The box at the top says easy presets . you can use the drop down box to set times to play –
* Initial time; is for the minutes you want to play (up to 120 minutes per game)
* Bonus time; this is for seconds - if you use this, a game will show as, for example 3|10 this means, 3 minute game, with 10 seconds bonus time
(After every move you make, you get 10 seconds added to your time, then after your opponent moves, he gets 10 seconds added to his time)
In the seconds box, you can use anything up to 60 seconds
* Min rating; is for you to type in the lowest rating of a player you are willing to play
* Max rating; means, you don't want to play anyone above the rating you enter
* I Play As; use the drop down box to choose whether you want to play as black or white
* Rated; rated games means you play for ratings points. Win/lose or draw, rated game will affect your ratings.
* Unrated; does not affect ratings/points whether you win/lose or draw
Once you've set up the game, click seek and it will appear in the seeks challenge box for others to accept.
If you change your mind about the game, you can view your own challenge in the main seeks box and there is a cancel option next to your seek but only before someone accepts it.
You can end / abort a rated game before white has made its 4th move and it won't affect your ratings
This page has the FAQ's for live chess
I've never played live chess online. How fast does it go? And can I play unrated games? What if I have to take a break due to things here at home?
stwils