Chess against the computer at five levels, or two players on one device. Online ranked games are in the lobby.
What is chess?
Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on an 8x8 board of 64 squares, where each side commands sixteen pieces and tries to checkmate the opponent's king, attacking it so that it has no legal way to escape. White moves first, and the players then alternate one move at a time. There is no hidden information and no luck: every position is decided by the moves the two players choose.
Each piece type moves in its own way, so the game is easy to start and very hard to master.
How to play chess
Setup: the board is placed with a light square in each player's right-hand corner. Each side has a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. Rooks go in the corners, then knights, then bishops; the queen stands on her own colour, the king beside her, and the pawns fill the second row.
Piece moves: the king moves one square in any direction. The queen moves any distance in a straight line or diagonal. The rook moves any distance along a rank or file, the bishop any distance diagonally. The knight jumps in an L shape, two squares one way and one square to the side, and is the only piece that can jump over others. A pawn moves one square forward, or two from its starting square, and captures one square diagonally forward. Pieces capture by moving onto a square held by an enemy piece.
Special moves: castling moves the king two squares toward a rook and places that rook on the other side of the king. It is allowed only if neither piece has moved, 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: when a pawn moves two squares and lands beside an enemy pawn, that pawn may capture it as if it had moved one square, but only on the very next move. Promotion: a pawn that reaches the last row becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight of your choice.
End of the game: a king under attack is in check, and you must get out of check on your move. If you cannot, it is checkmate and you lose. If the side to move is not in check but has no legal move, it is stalemate, a draw. The game is also drawn when the same position appears three times, when 50 moves pass on each side without a capture or a pawn move, or when neither side has enough material left to checkmate.
Chess strategy for beginners and improving players
Opening principles: fight for the centre with pawns on e4, d4, e5 or d5. Develop knights and bishops toward the centre before moving the same piece twice. Castle early, usually within the first ten moves, so your king is safe and your rooks can connect. Keep the queen at home in the first few moves, where enemy pieces cannot chase it with tempo.
Count material: a pawn is worth about 1, a knight or bishop 3, a rook 5 and a queen 9. When you are ahead in material, trade pieces, since a simpler position makes the extra material count. When you are behind, keep pieces on the board and look for activity.
Learn the basic tactics: the fork attacks two pieces at once, and knights are the classic forking piece. A pin holds a piece in place because moving it would expose something more valuable behind it. A skewer is the reverse, attacking a valuable piece that must move and leave a lesser one behind. A discovered attack moves one piece to unmask another's attack.
Before every move, check three things: what your opponent's last move threatens, which of your pieces are undefended, and what checks, captures or threats you have yourself. Most games between club players are decided by a piece left hanging.
Endgame basics: bring your king into play; in the endgame it is a strong piece. Push passed pawns, and put rooks behind them. In king and pawn endings, learn the opposition, where the kings face each other with one square between them and the side not to move holds the key squares. When you are winning, watch for stalemate, which turns a won game into a draw.
Time controls and chess variants
Our game against the computer has no clock, so you can think as long as you like. Faster formats are named by time per player: bullet games last a minute or two, blitz a few minutes, and rapid around ten minutes or more. The page also has an online lobby for timed games against other people.
Many variants exist, such as Chess960, which shuffles the back-row pieces at the start, and games with extra pieces or other boards. The rules on this page are standard chess.
History of chess
Chess grew out of chaturanga, played in India around the sixth century. It passed to Persia as shatranj, spread through the Arab world and reached Europe in the Middle Ages. The modern moves of the queen and bishop appeared in southern Europe in the late fifteenth century and made the game much faster. The first official world championship was held in 1886. In 1997 a computer, Deep Blue, beat the reigning world champion Garry Kasparov in a match.
Playing chess on Hevagames
Chess on Hevagames runs in the browser on phones and computers, with no download. Play against the computer at five levels, from Beginner to Expert, as White, Black or a random colour, or play two players on one device. Lower levels choose from a wider range of moves, so they make mistakes you can punish.
Tap a piece and then its destination, or drag it. Legal moves are shown as dots and possible captures as rings, and the last move and any check are highlighted. A promotion picker lets you choose the piece. The move list uses standard notation, and captured pieces with the material balance are shown beside the board. You can flip the board, use the arrow keys, and undo, which against the computer takes back your move and its reply.
The game detects checkmate, stalemate, threefold repetition, the 50-move rule and insufficient material. Your current game is saved on your device, along with your best result at each level.
How to play
- 1Choose Vs computer (level 1 to 5, play White, Black or random) or 2 players in New game.
- 2Tap a piece and then a highlighted square, or drag the piece. Dots show the legal moves, rings show captures.
- 3When a pawn reaches the last rank, pick the piece it becomes.
- 4The game ends on checkmate, stalemate, threefold repetition, the 50-move rule or insufficient material.
Controls
Tips
- Start at level 1 or 2 and move up once you win regularly.
- The move list shows the game in standard notation, and the bar beside each player shows captured pieces and the material lead.
- The game is saved in your browser, so you can close the page and continue later.
