Full-rule chess on your phone or computer. Play the computer at 6 levels or take turns with a friend. No account, nothing to install.
This page opens a game against the computer, the way most people search for it: you want an opponent right now, without signing up, and you want to be able to win. Level 1 looks one move ahead and plays a random move about 3 times in 10, so it leaves pieces hanging. Level 2 looks two moves ahead. Levels 3 to 6 never play at random and search deeper, up to a budget of about 1.5 seconds a move at level 6. Start at level 3 if you know the rules and want a fair game, drop to 1 or 2 if you are learning, and move up when you are winning most games. Your wins, losses and draws are counted for each level on this device only. Undo takes back your last move and the reply, so you can test an idea. Play as White, Black or a random side from the menu. The engine runs in a background worker where the browser supports it, so the board stays smooth.
To play chess online here, tap one of your pieces and tap a highlighted square, or drag the piece to where it should go. The computer answers in your browser, so there is no account, no sign-up and no upload. Small dots mark the squares a piece can move to and a ring marks a capture. The last move is tinted and a king in check glows red. Pick Play as White, Black or a random side from the menu, and a level from 1 to 6. When a pawn reaches the last rank a small panel asks for queen, rook, bishop or knight. The board turns around when you play Black, and the flip button turns it by hand. Undo takes back your move and the computer's reply together. Nothing is timed. If you want a clock for a game on a real board, the chess clock page on this site does that.
All the rules of the FIDE Laws of Chess that matter for play are in the code. Pieces move as usual and you can never leave your own king in check. Castling works on both sides, and the board refuses it if the king or that rook has moved, if a piece stands between them, if the king is in check, or if the king would cross or land on an attacked square. En passant is offered for one move only. A pawn promotes on the last rank to any piece you choose. The game ends in checkmate, in stalemate, when neither side has enough pieces to mate (king against king, or king and one knight or bishop against a king, or bishops that all sit on one colour), after 50 moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move, or when the same position, with the same moves available, appears for the third time. FIDE lets a player claim the 50-move and threefold draws. This page ends the game for you at once, because there is no one to claim to. It does not offer draws, and you can resign from the menu (if the other side could never checkmate, a resignation counts as a draw).
The computer is our own engine, not a download. It searches ahead with alpha-beta pruning, keeps positions it has already seen in a table, looks at captures first, plays out capture sequences at the end of a line, and scores a position by material and by where the pieces stand. It runs in a background worker, so the page stays smooth while it thinks. Level 1 looks one move ahead and plays a random legal move about 3 times in 10, so it hangs pieces and a new player can win. Level 2 looks two moves ahead and plays a random move about once in 10. Level 3 looks about 3 moves ahead, level 4 up to 5, level 5 up to 8, and level 6 searches as deep as it can inside a budget of about 1.5 seconds per move. In our own test games each level beat the one below it. We have not measured a chess rating for it, so do not read one into the numbers. It is a good practice opponent, not a rival for the strongest engines. On a browser with no worker support the engine searches for at most about 80 milliseconds per move on the main thread, so the strongest levels play weaker there.
The move list under the board uses standard algebraic notation: Nf3 is a knight to f3, exd5 a pawn capture, O-O short castling, e8=Q a promotion, a plus sign check and a hash mark checkmate. When two identical pieces can reach one square the name adds the file, the rank or both, as in Nbd2 or R1a3. Copy PGN gives the whole game in the format that chess databases and apps import. Copy FEN gives the current position as one line of text, which is how analysis boards store a position. To set up a position, paste a FEN into the box in the panel under the move list and press Set up position; you play the side that is to move, and a FEN that cannot be a real position is refused with the reason. You can also type a move instead of dragging it: e2e4, e7e8q or Nf3 all work. The game is saved in this browser, so closing the tab does not lose it. Wins, losses and draws per level are kept on this device only.
Start at level 3 if you know how pieces move and want a real game. Levels 1 and 2 are for learning: level 1 plays a random legal move about 3 times in 10, and level 2 about 1 time in 10. Raise the level after you win 3 games in a row at the current one; the record under the move list shows your wins, losses and draws per level.
Yes. Press Undo and the board removes your last move and the computer's reply, so it is your turn again in the same position as before your move. You can undo back to the start of the game. After a game has ended, Undo is switched off and New game starts again.
No. There is no sign-up and no login. The game, the computer and your saved game all stay in your browser. The page counts visits with Google Analytics, but a move, a position or a PGN is never sent anywhere. Clearing this site's data in your browser removes the saved game and the win record.
Level 1 sees one move ahead and plays a random legal move about 3 times in 10, so a new player can win by simply not blundering. Level 2 sees two moves and plays randomly about once in 10. Levels 3 to 6 never make random moves and search deeper, up to a budget of about 1.5 seconds per move at level 6. We have not measured a rating.
Draw offers and clocks are not included, and the computer never offers a draw. The 50-move rule and threefold repetition end the game at once instead of waiting for a claim, and the 75-move and fivefold rules therefore never come up. Chess960 start positions are not offered, although you can paste any normal FEN, including positions with no castling rights.
Move the king two squares toward the rook: e1 to g1 for short castling, e1 to c1 for long, and e8 to g8 or c8 for Black. The board allows it only if the king and that rook have never moved, the squares between are empty, the king is not in check, and the king does not cross or land on an attacked square. The rook may be attacked, and the rook may cross an attacked square on the long side.
No. Both players use one screen and take turns, so this page is for a game on one device. There is no online room and no link to share. Choose 2 players, one screen from the menu, hand the device over after each move, and use the flip button if the other player sits opposite. The game is saved on the device between visits.
Open the panel under the move list and press Copy PGN. The text starts with the seven standard tags and lists the moves, for example 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6. Paste it into a chess database or analysis app. Copy FEN gives only the current position, such as rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq e3 0 1 after 1. e4.