smiles warmly, they're not really magic words, just chess stuff. FICS is "free internet chess server" and im acrotarded, so no worries- i dont know what half of the stuff people tell me is, ever. literally always have to ask. :D xboard is a linux chess client, that you can use on your computer and from there it connects to the FICS thing, and whiz bang you have a local program connected to internet chess, which is cool cuz ...tis a much more comfy experience than say using a web browser and some poorly designed user interface. plus you can do all the stuff you'd expect. seek games, watch others play, etc