How to play Chess
The classic game of strategy for two. Capture pieces and trap the other side's king.
The rules, step by step
- Each side starts with 16 pieces: a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. White moves first. Choose White or Black in the game.
- Pieces move differently. The rook moves in straight lines, the bishop diagonally, and the queen both ways. The knight jumps in an L shape. The king moves one square. Pawns move forward one square (two from their starting square) and capture diagonally.
- Tap one of your pieces. The squares it can move to are marked. Tap one of them to move. You capture by moving onto an enemy piece.
- If your king is attacked, that is check, and you must get out of it. The game only lets you make legal moves.
- Special moves: castling moves the king two squares towards a rook, which hops over it; a pawn can capture another pawn "in passing" (en passant); and a pawn reaching the far side becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight of your choice.
- You win by checkmate: the enemy king is attacked and cannot escape. If a player has no legal move but is not in check, that is a stalemate, and it is a draw. Other draws are repeating the same position three times, fifty moves without a capture or pawn move, and too few pieces left to checkmate.
An example
Fool's mate is the shortest checkmate. White plays f3, Black plays e5, White plays g4, and Black plays Queen to h4: checkmate in four moves. It only happens if White plays very badly.
Tips
- Control the centre early with your pawns, and bring your knights and bishops out before moving the queen.
- Castle early to keep your king safe.
- Before every move, check what the computer is attacking, and what your move leaves undefended.
- Choose Easy while you learn. Press Hint to see a good move, and Undo as often as you like.