Chess Rules
Two players control 16 pieces each. White moves first. The goal is to checkmate the opposing king: attack the king in a position where no legal move can escape the attack.
1. The pieces
| Piece | How it moves |
|---|---|
| ♔ King | One square in any direction. A king may never move into check. |
| ♕ Queen | Any number of open squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. |
| ♖ Rook | Any number of open squares horizontally or vertically. |
| ♗ Bishop | Any number of open squares diagonally. |
| ♘ Knight | In an L shape: two squares one direction and one square perpendicular. Knights can jump over pieces. |
| ♙ Pawn | Moves one square forward, or two from its starting square if unobstructed. Captures one square diagonally forward. |
2. Capturing, check, and checkmate
- Except for pawns, a piece captures by moving onto a square occupied by an opposing piece.
- A king is in check when an opposing piece attacks its square.
- You must immediately get out of check by moving the king, capturing the attacking piece, or blocking the attack when possible.
- Checkmate ends the game. The checked king has no legal escape, and the player delivering mate wins.
3. Castling
Castling moves the king two squares toward a rook and places that rook on the square the king crossed. You may castle only if the king and that rook have never moved, every square between them is empty, the king is not currently in check, and the king does not cross or land on a square under attack.
4. En passant
If an opposing pawn advances two squares from its starting position and lands directly beside your pawn, your pawn may capture it as though it had moved only one square. En passant is available only on the immediately following move.
5. Pawn promotion
When a pawn reaches the farthest rank, it must be promoted. On this site you choose a queen, rook, bishop, or knight. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have already been captured.
6. Draws
- Stalemate: the player to move is not in check but has no legal move.
- Insufficient material: neither player has enough material remaining to force checkmate.
- Threefold repetition: the same position occurs three times.
- The standard fifty-move draw rule is also enforced by the game engine.
How to play on this site
Click one of your highlighted pieces, then click a green legal destination. The board prevents illegal moves automatically. If a pawn promotes, choose the new piece from the promotion window. Live games update automatically between players; CPU games return the computer move after it finishes thinking. There is no chess clock in this version.