How to play
Chess is played on an 8 × 8 board by two players, White and Black. You play White, at the bottom, and move first. Each side starts with 16 pieces: a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. Tap one of your pieces to see where it can go, then tap a highlighted square.
How the pieces move
- King: one square in any direction.
- Queen: any number of squares in a straight line or diagonally.
- Rook: any number of squares along a row or column.
- Bishop: any number of squares diagonally. Each bishop stays on its own color.
- Knight: in an L shape: two squares one way, then one square to the side. It is the only piece that jumps over others.
- Pawn: one square forward, or two from its starting square. It captures one square diagonally forward.
A piece captures by moving onto a square held by an opponent’s piece. Only the knight can jump; every other piece needs a clear path.
Check and checkmate. When a king is attacked, it is in check, and the board shows it in red. A player in check must get out of it at once: move the king, block the attack, or capture the attacker. You may never make a move that leaves your own king in check. If there is no way out, it is checkmate and the game is over.
Special moves
- Castling: the king moves two squares toward a rook, and the rook jumps to the square the king crossed. Tap the king, then the square two steps to the side. You can castle only if neither piece has moved yet, 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: if an opponent’s pawn moves two squares and lands right beside your pawn, you may capture it on your very next move as if it had moved only one square.
- Promotion: a pawn that reaches the far row becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight. You choose from the pieces that appear.
Draws. The game is drawn by stalemate (the player to move has no legal move but is not in check), when neither side has enough pieces left to checkmate, after 50 moves by each player without a capture or pawn move, or when the same position appears three times.
Tips
- Control the center. Pawns and pieces on the four middle squares reach more of the board.
- Develop your pieces early. Bring out knights and bishops before moving the queen around.
- Castle to keep your king safe. A king in the middle of the board is easy to attack.
- Count before you capture. Pieces are worth roughly: pawn 1, knight 3, bishop 3, rook 5, queen 9. Do not give up a rook for a knight unless you win more.
- Look for checks, captures and threats on every move, for both sides.
- In the endgame, use your king. Once the queens are gone the king becomes a strong piece.
