How to play Chess

Chess is a two-player game of pure calculation. You win by trapping the enemy king so that it cannot escape capture — checkmate.

How the pieces move

Rooks move in straight lines, bishops diagonally, the queen both, knights in an L-shape, the king one square in any direction, and pawns one square forward (two on their first move), capturing diagonally.

Special rules

Castling tucks your king to safety behind a rook, en passant captures a pawn that just leapt past yours, and a pawn reaching the last rank promotes — almost always to a queen.

Check and checkmate

When your king is attacked you are in check and must answer it. If no legal move removes the attack, it is checkmate and the game ends.

Draws

Games are drawn by stalemate, repetition, insufficient material or the fifty-move rule — worth knowing when you are defending a bad position.

Tips from the table

Open by taking central squares with pawns and developing knights and bishops before anything else.
Castle early; a king stuck in the centre is the most common cause of quick losses.
Before every move, ask what your opponent's last move threatened.
In the endgame, push your king forward — it becomes a strong attacking piece.

More free card games

Same table, no loading screens — pick your next hand.