The rules of Chess.
Chess is a strategy game for two players, on a board of 64 squares, with 16 pieces each: whoever checkmates the opposing king wins. Here it’s played by FIDE rules, with a chess clock — 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, 10 minutes plus 5 seconds, or no timer — with castling, en passant and pawn promotion. A draw comes by itself on stalemate, on the third repetition of a position and after 50 moves with no capture, or by agreement.
House rules, checked against the engine that applies them · updated
- Players
- 2
- Length
- 5–30 min
- Difficulty
- Strategic
- Leaderboard
- Yes
How to play.
Sixteen pieces on each side and one goal: checkmate.
- 01♠
The board and the pieces
- Played on an 8-by-8 board of white and black squares. Each player has 16 pieces: a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns.
- The big pieces sit on the first rank — rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook — with the queen on her own color, and the pawns on the second rank. The board is always shown from your side: your pieces are at the bottom.
- White moves first, then players take turns, one piece at a time. You can’t skip your turn.
- In the first match between two players, White is drawn at random. At each rematch between the same two, colors swap.
- 02♥
How the pieces move
Piece How it moves King (K) one square, in any direction Queen (Q) any number of squares, along a rank, file or diagonal Rook (R) any number of squares, along a rank or file Bishop (B) any number of squares, along a diagonal Knight (N) in an L: two squares one way and one to the side; jumps over pieces Pawn one square forward; from its starting rank, two as well; captures only diagonally, one square forward - A piece can’t pass over other pieces — except the knight — and can’t stop on a square held by one of your own.
- You CAPTURE an opposing piece by moving onto its square: the captured piece leaves the board. You are not forced to capture.
- The pawn is the only piece that captures differently from how it moves: it advances straight ahead but captures diagonally. It never moves backward.
- 03♦
Castling, en passant and promotion
- CASTLING: the king moves two squares toward a rook, and the rook hops over it to the square next to it. It’s the only move in which you move two pieces. You can do it only if neither the king nor that rook has moved at all, there is no piece between them, the king is not in check, and it doesn’t cross or land on an attacked square. You castle by moving the king those two squares.
- EN PASSANT: when an opposing pawn advances two squares and lands next to a pawn of yours, you can capture it as if it had advanced only one — your pawn moves diagonally onto the skipped square, and theirs leaves the board. Only on the very next move.
- PROMOTION: a pawn that reaches the last rank changes at once into a queen, rook, bishop or knight, your choice — however many queens you already have. The table asks you which.
- 04♣
Check, checkmate and stalemate
- The king is IN CHECK when an opposing piece attacks it. You must get out of check on your next move: move the king, capture the attacking piece or put a piece between them.
- You can’t make a move that leaves or puts your king in check. The table shows you only the legal moves.
- CHECKMATE: the king is in check and no move gets it out. The match is over and whoever gave checkmate wins.
- STALEMATE: the player to move is not in check but has no legal move. The match is a draw.
- 05♠
Draws
When it’s a draw How it comes about Stalemate by itself Neither player can give checkmate any more by itself The same position appears for the third time by itself 50 moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move by itself By agreement one offers, the other accepts - Not enough material to checkmate means: king against king, king and bishop against king, king and knight against king, or kings with bishops that all travel on the same square color.
- A position repeats when the same pieces stand on the same squares, the same player is to move and the same moves are available — the same castling, the same en passant capture. The repeats don’t have to come one after another.
- A DRAW BY AGREEMENT can be offered any time after each player’s first move, even on your opponent’s turn. Your opponent accepts or declines; if they move without answering, the offer lapses. After offering, you can offer again only after 5 more moves of your own.
- 06♥
The clock
Clock Each player’s time Added per move Blitz 3 minutes 2 seconds Rapid 10 minutes 5 seconds No timer as long as you like — - The host picks the clock when opening the table. It’s a chess clock: each player has their own time for the WHOLE match, and it runs only on their turn. After each move you make, you get the seconds shown in the table.
- White’s clock starts when the match starts.
- Whoever runs out of time LOSES the match. The server’s clock is what counts: a move sent at the last instant that arrives after the flag falls is not played.
- The exception: if the opponent of the player who ran out of time could no longer have given checkmate with what they have on the board, it’s a draw. A player can’t give checkmate with a lone king; with king and one knight, if you have only your king or only queens beside it; with king and bishops on the same color, if you have no knight, no pawn and no bishop on the other color.
- 07♦
Resigning and leaving the table
- You can RESIGN at any time, even on your opponent’s turn: the match goes to your opponent. If they could no longer have given checkmate, it’s a draw.
- If you stand up or leave the table during the match, you lose it, however the pieces stand on the board.
- At a ranked table with no timer, a player who closes the page on their turn and doesn’t come back loses the match after a few minutes.
- 08♣
Move notation
Written Means e4 the pawn moves to e4 Nf3 the knight moves to f3 Bxe5 the bishop captures on e5 exd5 the pawn on the e-file captures on d5 Rad1 the rook on the a-file moves to d1 (when the other rook could too) O-O / O-O-O kingside castling / queenside castling e8=Q the pawn promotes to a queen + / # check / checkmate - Each move is written beside the board, with the standard piece letters: K — king, Q — queen, R — rook, B — bishop, N — knight. The pawn has no letter.
- Files are named a to h, from White’s left, and ranks 1 to 8, starting from White’s side.
Rules differ from one place to another. The tables here play the version written above, so everyone plays by the same rules.
Do you play it differently?
The most common variants of Chess, and what happens with each one at the tables here.
Claimed drawsnot played here
Under tournament rules, the third repetition and the 50 moves only give you the right to claim a draw; the match stops by itself only at the fifth repetition and at 75 moves. Here it ends at the first, without anyone claiming.
Clock with added secondsplayed here
Played here too: after each move you get 2 or 5 seconds. Without them, a won endgame can be lost on the clock alone.
Touch-movenot played here
On a real board, a piece you’ve touched must be moved. Here you can pick one piece and then another: the move happens only when you pick the destination square.
Taking back a movenot played here
Not played: a move made stays made, as in a tournament.
Chess 960not played here
The variant where the pieces on the first rank are set up at random. Here you always start from the classic setup.
How to play better.
Bring out your pieces and castle
In the first moves, take the center with your pawns, bring out the knights and bishops and tuck the king away by castling. A queen brought out early gets chased by pieces that develop while chasing her.
Before you move, look at what your opponent attacks
Most matches are lost through a piece left hanging, not through a wrong plan. After each of your opponent’s moves, ask what it threatens now and what it left undefended.
Count your trades
A pawn is worth 1, a knight or bishop 3, a rook 5, a queen 9. A rook given up for a knight is a loss, even if it looks like a trade.
The king comes out in the endgame
While queens are on the board, the king stays hidden. Once they’re traded off, it’s a strong piece: bring it to the middle, next to its pawns.
Watch for stalemate when you’re winning
With queen against lone king, always leave the king a square to move to until you give checkmate. A king with no moves that isn’t attacked means a draw.
Play the clock too
At 3 minutes, a good move made quickly beats a perfect one found late. The seconds you get with each move keep you alive only if you don’t wait for the last instant.
Questions about Chess.
- How many players can play Chess?
- Exactly 2. The table doesn’t seat more.
- How many pieces does Chess use?
- 16 per side, on a board of 64 squares: a king, a queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights and 8 pawns. White moves first.
- How long does a match of Chess take?
- About 5–30 min. The host picks the clock: 3 minutes each, plus 2 seconds per move or 10 minutes each, plus 5 seconds per move, or no timer at all.
- Can I play Chess against the computer?
- Yes. The host can seat bots in the empty seats, at two skill levels. But the moment the first bot sits down, the table drops off the leaderboard: a bot has no rating to put at stake.
- Do Chess matches count toward the leaderboard?
- Yes, as long as everyone at the table is human. Each game has its own leaderboard, with an Elo-style rating that starts at 1000.
- Do I need an account to play Chess?
- To sit at a table, yes. The rules above, the catalog and the leaderboards can be read without one, and you can watch an open table from the sidelines.
- Does it cost anything to play Chess here?
- No. The site is free: no subscriptions, no in-game payments and no playing for money. The account is free too.
Now you know the rules.
Create a table and play — no account needed.