How do you win at chess?
You win by checkmating the enemy king. Checkmate means the king is under attack (in check) and no legal move can get it out of check.
Chess is played on an 8 by 8 board, and each side starts with 16 pieces. White always moves first, and each turn you move one piece. Moving onto a square with an enemy piece captures it and removes it from the board. The king itself is never actually captured: when you are in check you must escape it on your very next move, and if there is no way to do that, the game is over. This site follows the standard FIDE Laws of Chess.
How does each chess piece move?
There are six kinds of pieces: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight and pawn. Only the knight can jump over other pieces. Every other piece stops when something blocks its path.
| Piece | Count | Movement |
|---|---|---|
| King | 1 | One square in any direction. It can never move onto an attacked square. |
| Queen | 1 | Any distance along ranks, files and diagonals |
| Rook | 2 | Any distance along ranks and files |
| Bishop | 2 | Any distance diagonally, so it stays on its starting square color all game |
| Knight | 2 | An L shape: two squares one way, then one square sideways. Jumps over pieces. |
| Pawn | 8 | One square forward (two on its first move). Captures one square diagonally forward. Never moves backward. |
What are castling, en passant and promotion?
They are the three special moves of chess. Castling moves the king and a rook in one turn, en passant lets a pawn capture an enemy pawn that just jumped two squares past it, and promotion turns a pawn that reaches the last rank into a stronger piece.
- Castling: the king moves two squares toward a rook, and that rook hops to the square on the king's other side. Neither the king nor that rook may have moved before, and every square between them must be empty. You also cannot castle while in check, through a square the enemy attacks, or onto an attacked square. Here you castle by moving your king two squares sideways.
- En passant: when an enemy pawn advances two squares from its starting square and lands right beside your pawn, you may capture it as if it had moved only one square. You must do it immediately on the next move or the chance is gone.
- Promotion: a pawn that reaches the far rank becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight of your choice. Most players pick a queen, but sometimes a knight gives checkmate, so the game lets you choose.
When is a chess game a draw?
The most common draws are stalemate (no legal move but not in check), the 50-move rule, threefold repetition and insufficient material.
| Draw | When it happens |
|---|---|
| Stalemate | The player to move is not in check but has no legal move |
| 50-move rule | Each side has made 50 moves with no capture and no pawn move |
| Threefold repetition | The same position (same pieces, same player to move, same castling and en passant rights) occurs three times |
| Insufficient material | Nobody can checkmate, such as king vs king, or king and one bishop or knight vs king |
In over the board tournaments, a player has to claim a draw under the 50-move rule or threefold repetition. On this site the game ends in a draw automatically as soon as the condition is met.
What are the best chess tips for beginners?
- Fight for the center. Opening with the e-pawn or d-pawn two squares eyes the central squares d4, e4, d5 and e5 and opens lines for your pieces.
- Develop knights and bishops first. Bring out a new piece each move instead of moving the same one again. An early queen just gets chased around and loses time.
- Castle early. A king left in the middle is easy to attack along open files. One castling move tucks the king into a corner and brings a rook into play.
- Check every capture and check before you move. The number one reason beginners lose is leaving a piece unprotected.
- Count material before you trade. Use the values below and avoid trades that lose points.
| Piece | Pawn | Knight | Bishop | Rook | Queen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value (approx.) | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
How do I choose the computer's rating?
If you are just learning, start at about 400 or 600. If you know the rules well, start at about 1000 and move up a step after a win.
The computer has seven levels labeled by approximate rating: 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and 1800. Lower levels sometimes play a random move and read only a little ahead; higher levels think for about a second and read several moves deep. In computer vs computer tests each level beats the ones below it, but the numbers are rough guides, not official ratings from a chess site or federation.
At about 1800 the computer thinks for about one second, reads several moves ahead and calculates every capture sequence to the end. Start lower and practice not giving away free pieces. The computer opens with a different common first move each game.
How is chess different from Janggi (Korean chess)?
Chess pieces sit inside the squares, while Janggi pieces sit on the points where lines cross. Chess uses an 8 by 8 board, and Janggi uses a board of 9 vertical by 10 horizontal lines (90 points).
- The Janggi general must stay inside its palace, while the chess king can walk anywhere on the board.
- Chess pawns promote on the last rank. Janggi soldiers never promote.
- Janggi has no piece like the chess queen, but it has the cannon (Po), which must jump over another piece to move.
- In Janggi each player chooses how to arrange the horses and elephants before the game. The chess starting position is always the same.
How do I play on this page?
- Move: tap one of your pieces. Dots show where it can go, and rings show pieces it can capture. Tap a marked square to move.
- Drag and drop: with a mouse you can also drag a piece to its square.
- Promotion: when a pawn reaches the last rank, pick a queen, rook, bishop or knight. Tap outside the picker to cancel.
- Undo: against the computer, Undo takes back the computer's move and yours together.
- Flip board: if you play Black, Black is at the bottom automatically. The button turns the board around any time.