Chess

How to play Chess

Chess is the whole game against an engine that runs in your browser. Every rule is in: castling on both sides, en passant, promotion to any piece, check, checkmate and stalemate, and the draws by the fifty-move rule, threefold repetition and insufficient material. The move list keeps the game in short algebraic notation as you play.

Before the first move you choose how deep the engine searches. Casual looks two plies ahead and plays a little loosely, Club looks three, and Strong looks four with a full capture search at the end of every line, so it rarely leaves a piece hanging and finds short mates. The engine spreads its thinking across frames, so the board never freezes while it works.

You play White. Your choice of engine is remembered for next time, beating a deeper one is worth far more, and a draw still scores. Every capture you make adds to the score along the way.

Objective

Checkmate the engine you chose, or at least hold it to a draw.

Features

• Every rule, including castling, en passant, underpromotion and all the draws
• An alpha-beta engine with a capture search at two, three or four plies
• Legal moves shown for the piece you pick up, with check highlighted
• A running move list in short algebraic notation
• Scores that rise with the depth of the engine you beat

Scores are saved in this browser only. There is no global ranking and nothing is uploaded.