The classic game, complete rules
Chess
Play against a computer with eight levels or a friend at the same screen. Full FIDE rules, legal-move hints, move list, FEN and PGN. Free, no sign-in.
How to play
- The goal. Checkmate the opposing king: attack it so that no legal move can rescue it. A player may also resign, and a game can be drawn.
- Moving. Click or tap a piece, then its destination, or drag it. Dots mark every square the piece may move to and rings mark the pieces it may capture. The last move and a king in check are highlighted.
- Special moves. Castle by moving the king two squares towards a rook (the rook jumps over). A pawn that reaches the last rank opens a picker for a queen, rook, bishop or knight. En passant is offered automatically when it is legal.
- The computer. Choose one of eight levels in New game and play White, Black or a random colour. The engine thinks in a background thread; a pulsing dot shows while it does.
- Draws. Stalemate, a dead position, fivefold repetition and the seventy-five-move rule end the game on their own. Threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule are yours to claim: the Offer draw button turns into Claim draw when a claim is available.
- Review and records. Click any move in the list, or use ← and →, to look back; the board greys out until you return to the live position. FEN copies or sets up a position, PGN copies or imports a whole game.
What is replicated
- The complete FIDE Laws for moving: castling with all four conditions, en passant only on the very next move, promotion to any of the four pieces.
- Check, checkmate and stalemate; the dead-position rule (king v king, king and minor piece v king, same-colour bishops).
- Threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule as claims, fivefold repetition and the seventy-five-move rule as automatic draws, draws by agreement, resignation.
- Result strings the way a scoresheet writes them: 1-0, 0-1 and ½-½, each followed by the reason.
- The board conventions every chess site uses: click or drag, legal-move dots and capture rings, last-move and check highlights, coordinates, flip board.
- A move list in standard algebraic notation with correct disambiguation (Nbd2, R1a3, Qh3f1), promotion as e8=Q, castling as O-O and O-O-O.
- Computer opponent levels 1 to 8, from nearly random to a two-to-three-second full search, and a two-player mode at one screen.
- Takeback (one full move against the computer), resign, offer and claim draw, material difference next to each player.
- FEN and PGN import and export following the published specifications; PGN comments, variations and glyphs are stripped on import.
- Move, capture, check, promotion and game-over sounds, synthesized in the browser, with a mute toggle.
Additions of this page, labelled as such: the game in progress survives a reload, statistics are kept per computer level, and links such as chess.skillsafe.ai/#5-b open a new game at level 5 as Black (#2 for two players, #fen=… for a position).
Computer levels
| Level | Name | How it plays |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beginner | Picks at random among moves that do not lose much material. |
| 2 | Casual | One move ahead with plenty of noise: makes real mistakes. |
| 3 | Club | Two moves ahead, occasional slips. |
| 4 | Strong club | Three moves ahead, rare slips. |
| 5 | Expert | Four moves ahead, no deliberate mistakes. |
| 6 | Master | Up to six moves ahead, about a second. |
| 7 | Grandmaster | Up to eight moves ahead, about two seconds. |
| 8 | Engine | Full search for two to three seconds per move. |
Keyboard
| ← / → | Step back and forward through the moves | Home / End | Start of the game / back to live |
|---|---|---|---|
| N | New game | F | Flip the board |
| Ctrl+Z | Take back | S | Sound on or off |
| Q R B N | Choose the promotion piece | Esc | Deselect, back to live, close a dialog |
Questions
How do I move a piece?
Click or tap a piece and then its destination, or drag it there. The board shows a dot on every square the piece may legally move to and a ring on every piece it may capture. A pawn reaching the last rank opens a small picker for the queen, rook, bishop or knight. Castle by moving the king two squares towards the rook.
How strong is the computer?
There are eight levels. Level 1 plays nearly at random among reasonable moves and level 8 thinks for about two to three seconds per move with a full search, which beats most casual players. Levels 2 to 4 add a little deliberate noise so they make human-like slips. The engine runs in a background thread, so the page never freezes while it thinks.
Which draw rules are implemented?
All of the FIDE ones: stalemate, dead positions such as king against king or king and bishop against king, threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule (which you claim with the Claim draw button), fivefold repetition and the seventy-five-move rule (which end the game automatically), and draws by agreement. The result line always says why, for example ½-½ · Draw by stalemate.
Can I set up a position or save a game?
Yes. The FEN button copies the current position or lets you paste a FEN to start from any legal position. The PGN button copies the game in Portable Game Notation and can import a PGN you paste, comments and variations stripped. The game in progress is also saved in this browser and comes back when you reload.
Can I take a move back?
Yes. Against the computer, Takeback (or Ctrl+Z) removes your last move and the computer's reply; in two-player mode it removes the last move. Click any move in the list or use the arrow keys to review earlier positions; the board greys out until you click Back to live.
Is anything sent anywhere?
No. The rules, the computer opponent, your statistics and the saved game all live in your browser. There is no sign-in, no account and nothing to install.