Chess

Play Chess

About the game

Chess is the classic strategy board game where you use each piece's movement to checkmate your opponent's king. Play against an AI with three levels (Easy, Normal, Hard) or with a friend on the same device. All standard rules apply, including castling, en passant, and promotion.

How to play

  • Mobile: tap one of your pieces to highlight its legal squares, then tap a highlighted square to move.
  • Desktop: click a piece and then the destination square. You can also move between squares with Tab and select with Enter.
  • Tap the same piece again to deselect it, or tap another of your pieces to switch selection.
  • When a pawn reaches the last rank, a window lets you promote it to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight.
  • Use Undo to take back a move (against the AI, the AI's reply is taken back too), Restart for a new game, and Resign to concede.
  • The 🔊 button at the top toggles sound and the 📳 button toggles vibration.

Tips

  • In the opening, push your center pawns and develop your knights and bishops quickly to control the center.
  • Castle early to tuck your king into safety and avoid sudden checkmates.
  • Before each move, check whether you're leaving a piece hanging. If you slip up, Undo lets you take it back.
  • The Easy AI moves at random, Normal looks 2 moves ahead, and Hard looks 3 moves ahead. Work your way up from Easy.
  • When you're winning, watch out for stalemate (your opponent has no legal move but isn't in check) — it ends in a draw.

FAQ

Is it free? Do I need to install anything?

It's free and plays right in your browser with no installation, on both mobile and desktop.

Which color do I play against the AI?

Against the AI you always play White and move first; the AI plays Black. In Local 2P mode, two players take turns as White and Black on one device.

How does a game end?

A game is decided by checkmate or resignation. Draws by stalemate, the 50-move rule, threefold repetition, and insufficient material also apply.

Is my record saved?

Total games, White wins, Black wins, draws, and your fastest checkmate time are saved in your browser (localStorage), along with your sound and vibration settings. A game in progress is not saved.