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Chess

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Awards for Chess

  • Grandmaster Beat the chess computer on level four or higher. Needs: level four or higher Locked

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About Chess

Updated 21 Sept 2026

Five levels, legal moves shown, no account.

Chess has been played in roughly its current form since the fifteenth century, and the rules have not needed a patch since.

The version here plays a real game: it looks ahead, it takes what you leave hanging, and it knows every rule including the awkward ones. Pick a level that loses to you sometimes and move up when it stops.

Also searched for as

  • chess online
  • play chess
  • chess vs computer
  • free chess

Whichever name you know it by, it is the same game: it runs in this browser, with no download and no sign-up.

Think a rule is wrong?

Tell us and we will check it against the published rules.

How to play Chess

5 steps
  1. Tap or click one of your pieces. Every square it can legally move to is marked with a dot, and a capture is marked with a ring.
  2. Tap the square you want to move to. Illegal moves are simply not offered — you cannot leave your own king in check.
  3. Each piece moves differently: rooks in straight lines, bishops diagonally, the queen both, knights in an L that jumps over anything, and the king one square at a time.
  4. Pawns move forward one square, or two from their starting row, and capture diagonally. A pawn reaching the far rank is promoted, and you choose what to: queen, rook, bishop or knight.
  5. The game ends when a king is attacked and cannot escape. That is checkmate.
Full guide How to Play Chess Every pile named, every legal move, the score, and where this version makes a choice.

Strategy that actually helps

5 tips
  • Control the four centre squares early. A knight on the rim reaches eight squares from the middle and two from the corner, and that difference decides most beginner games.
  • Develop Move a piece off its starting square to somewhere it covers more ground. every piece once before moving any piece twice. Bringing the queen out early feels aggressive and usually just loses time as your opponent attacks it.
  • Castle The king’s one special move: it steps two squares towards a rook and the rook hops to its far side. by move ten unless you have a concrete reason not to. A king in the centre is the single most common cause of a lost game below club level.
  • Before every move, ask what your opponent's last move threatens. Most games at this level are decided by someone taking a piece that was simply left hanging. Left undefended, so it can be taken for nothing in return.
  • Trade pieces when you are ahead on material The pieces themselves, counted by value. Ahead on material means you have more left to work with. and avoid trades when you are behind. Every swap makes an extra piece count for more.

Controls

Mouse, keyboard, touch

Mouse and keyboard

  • Click a piece, then click its destination.
  • Pick a level from the 1–5 control under the board at any time — it takes effect on the computer's next move. Choose White or Black there too.
  • Undo takes back your move and the computer's reply together.

Touch

  • Tap a piece, then tap where it should go.
  • Legal squares are marked as soon as you tap, so nothing is hidden.
  • The board fills the screen width and never needs pinching.

Questions

5 answered

Is this chess free to play?
Yes, entirely. No download, no account, no payment. The game starts as soon as the page loads and the computer opponent runs in your own browser.

How strong is the computer?
Five levels. Beginner plays loosely and will miss things. Steady looks three moves ahead. Hard searches five moves deep with a quiescence search, so it will punish any piece you leave undefended rather than grabbing it and losing it back.

Can I play chess on my phone?
Yes. Tap a piece and tap where it should go. Legal destinations are marked as soon as you select a piece, and the board scales to your screen without pinching or scrolling.

Does it know all the special rules?
Yes — castling on both sides, en passant, pawn promotion, stalemate, the fifty-move rule and draws by insufficient material. The move generator is verified against the standard reference positions used to test chess engines.

Can I take a move back?
Yes. Undo steps back your move and the computer's reply together, so it is your turn again in the same position you were thinking about.