CHESS
CHESS is a free web game of full-rules chess, with ivory and ebony pieces on a marble board, alone against the computer or two players on one screen. It runs in your browser with no download.
Press START and you play white. Tap a piece and it lifts, its legal moves appear as dots and any enemy piece it can take gets a red ring. Tap a square and the piece slides over with the soft thud of a felt-bottomed piece on the board. Captured pieces pile up in the tray beside the board, and the side ahead on material shows a plus number.
Castling, en passant and promotion are all in. When a pawn reaches the last rank a window asks whether you want a queen, rook, bishop or knight. When a king is attacked its square glows red, the word check appears and a voice calls it out. In check with no legal move is checkmate; not in check with no legal move is stalemate and a draw. Threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule and insufficient material also end the game as a draw.
The opponent has 27 levels from 18 kyu to 9 dan. Low ranks read shallowly and sometimes miss things; the dan levels read deep and think for one to three seconds. A win moves you up a level, a loss or draw keeps you there. From 1 dan you alternate between white and black each game, and as black the board turns to face you. Press 2 PLAYERS to share one screen.
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- Type
- Board game · Strategy game · Indie game
- Built in
- 1 day
- Tech
- Canvas 2D · alpha-beta search with a transposition table in a Web Worker · Web Audio · rules verified against python-chess
- Players
- 1 · 2 on one screen
- Plays on
- Phone · PC
- Status
- Finished · 27 levels from 18 kyu to 9 dan · castling, en passant, promotion · 4 draw rules
- Released
- 2026-10-03
- Last updated
- 2026-10-03
Good for — anyone who wants to play chess against a computer that grows with them, beginners who want the legal moves shown while they learn, and two people sharing one phone for a quick game.
Frequently asked questions
Can I play without knowing the rules of chess?
Yes. Pick up a piece and every square it can move to is shown as a dot, and enemy pieces it can capture get a red ring. Tapping anywhere else does nothing. When your king is attacked its square glows red and a voice calls check, and only moves that get out of check are allowed.
How do I castle?
Pick up the king. When castling is legal, a dot appears two squares to the side. Tap it and the king and rook move together. No dot appears if the king or that rook has already moved, if the king is in check, or if a square the king passes through is attacked.
What happens when a pawn reaches the last rank?
A promotion window opens and you choose a queen, rook, bishop or knight. The pawn becomes that piece on the spot. When the computer promotes it picks one of the same four.
Is en passant included?
Yes. When an enemy pawn advances two squares and lands beside your pawn, on your very next move a red ring appears on the square behind it, and moving there captures the pawn beside you. The chance is gone after one move.
When is a game a draw?
Four ways: stalemate, when you are not in check but have no legal move; threefold repetition of the same position; fifty moves without a pawn move or a capture; and insufficient material, such as king against king, or king and one knight or one bishop against a lone king. The screen shows DRAW with the reason.
How do the ranks work?
You start at 18 kyu. A win moves you up one rank; a loss or a draw keeps you where you are. After 1 kyu comes 1 dan, and 9 dan is the top. From 1 dan you play white and black in alternate games, and when you are black the board turns to face you.
What is the number next to the captured pieces?
Captured pieces pile up in the tray beside the board, and the side ahead on material shows a plus number: pawn 1, knight and bishop 3, rook 5, queen 9. It is there so you can see who is ahead at a glance and has no effect on the result.
