Chess

The classic two-player strategy game on an 8×8 board. White and Black take turns moving pieces; the goal is to checkmate the opponent’s king — to attack it so that it cannot escape capture.

How to play

Click one of your pieces to select it — the squares it can legally move to are highlighted. Click a highlighted square to make the move. White moves first, and players alternate turns.

Rules

Standard chess movement:

• Pawn — moves forward one square (or two from its starting rank), captures one square diagonally.
• Knight — moves in an “L”: two squares one way and one square perpendicular. Jumps over pieces.
• Bishop — any distance diagonally.
• Rook — any distance horizontally or vertically.
• Queen — any distance in any straight line (rook + bishop).
• King — one square in any direction.

And the special moves:

• Castling — the king moves two squares toward a rook, and the rook jumps to the square the king crossed. Click the king, then the square two away. Only if neither piece has moved yet, the squares between them are empty, and the king isn’t in check, doesn’t pass through an attacked square, and doesn’t land on one.
• En passant — when a pawn advances two squares and lands beside one of your pawns, your pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one — on the very next move only.
• Promotion — a pawn reaching the far rank becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight: pick one from the choice that appears.

You may not make a move that leaves your own king in check. The game ends in:

• Checkmate — the king is in check and has no legal escape. The attacker wins.
• Stalemate — the player to move has no legal move but is not in check. Drawn.
• Insufficient material — checkmate has become impossible for both sides, no matter how anyone plays (king against king, or a lone bishop or knight against a king). Drawn.
• Threefold repetition — the same position appears for the third time. Drawn.
• 50-move rule — fifty moves by each player without a capture or a pawn move. Drawn.

Match setting: draws

When you start a match you can choose how repetition and the 50-move rule work:

• Automatic (the default) — the game ends in a draw as soon as either happens.
• By claim (FIDE) — as in over-the-board tournaments, they only let the player to move claim a draw, with the Claim draw button. If nobody claims, play goes on until the position appears a fifth time or 75 moves by each player pass without a capture or a pawn move, which ends the game in a draw by itself.

Strategy

A few timeless principles for newcomers:

• Control the center — central pawns and pieces influence more of the board.
• Develop your pieces — get knights and bishops off the back rank early; don’t move the same piece repeatedly in the opening.
• King safety — keep your king sheltered; castling early usually helps.
• Don’t give pieces away — before each move, check what your opponent can capture in reply.