Chess against the computer – play free online
Play a full game of chess against the computer right in your browser. Every rule is included – castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate, stalemate and the draw rules. Choose white, black or a random colour and pick a level from Easy to Hard.
Moves
How to play
Chess is played on a board of 8 × 8 squares. Each side starts with sixteen pieces: a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns, and white always moves first. Tap one of your pieces to select it – dots show every legal move, and a ring marks the squares where you can capture. Tap a target square to make the move. The last move is highlighted, and a king in check glows red. The aim is checkmate: the opponent's king is attacked and has no legal way to escape.
All the special rules are built in. Castling moves the king two squares towards a rook, which jumps over to the other side – it is only allowed if neither piece has moved, the squares between them are empty and the king is not in check, does not pass through an attacked square and does not land on one. En passant lets a pawn capture an enemy pawn that has just moved two squares past it, but only on the very next move. A pawn that reaches the last rank is promoted, and you choose a queen, rook, bishop or knight in the small picker. A game is drawn by stalemate (the player to move has no legal move but is not in check), insufficient material, threefold repetition of the same position or fifty moves by each side without a capture or a pawn move.
Easy plays loose, almost random moves and is a good place to learn how the pieces move. Medium looks a couple of moves ahead and counts both material and piece placement, while Hard searches deeper, examines captures to the end and thinks for at most about one and a half seconds per move. You can undo your last move, flip the board and follow the game in algebraic notation in the move list. Your wins, losses and draws are saved per level in your browser – no account, nothing to install.
Would you rather face a friend? Tap "Play a friend (link)", choose your colour and, if you like, type your name, and you get a link to send by text message, chat or email. When your friend opens the link you play the same game, each on your own device, and the board is turned so that your own pieces are always closest to you. Moves are passed across automatically, a green dot shows whether your opponent is connected, and you can offer a draw or resign. The game is kept for 14 days, so you can carry on later with the same link, and after the game "New match" starts a fresh one with the colours swapped. Games against friends are not counted in your statistics against the computer.
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Free and no account · The game runs entirely in your browser · About Metodai