Play Chess Online Free vs AI
Play chess against the AI right away, no sign-up needed. Your opponent is the open source Stockfish engine.
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How to play Chess
- Goal: Checkmate the opposing king so it cannot escape capture. White moves first.
- Board and pieces: An 8×8 board. Each side starts with 16 pieces: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights and 8 pawns.
How the pieces move
| Piece | Movement |
|---|---|
| King | One square in any direction |
| Queen | Any number of squares in any direction |
| Rook | Any number of squares horizontally or vertically |
| Bishop | Any number of squares diagonally |
| Knight | An L-shape (two squares, then one to the side). Can jump over pieces |
| Pawn | One square forward (two on its first move). Captures one square diagonally forward |
Special rules
- Castling: Move the king and a rook together in one move to tuck the king away safely.
- En passant: If an enemy pawn advances two squares and lands beside your pawn, you may capture it on the very next move as if it had moved only one square.
- Promotion: A pawn that reaches the far rank becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight.
Draws
A game is drawn by stalemate (no legal move but not in check), threefold repetition, insufficient material to checkmate, or agreement.