Chess

Chess is the greatest strategy board game of all time, free to play online against the computer. Play as White, choose an easy, medium or hard bot, and outmanoeuvre it all the way to checkmate. No download and no sign-up — enjoy a full game on phone or desktop.

How to play

• You play White and always move first, from the bottom of the board.
• Tap one of your pieces to see its legal moves highlighted.
• Tap a highlighted square to move there or capture the piece on it.
• Pick easy, medium or hard from the difficulty menu to set the bot strength.
• A pawn reaching the far rank promotes — choose the piece it becomes.
• Deliver checkmate to win; stalemate and other cases end in a draw.

In the opening, fight for the four central squares, develop your knights and bishops before the queen, and castle early to tuck your king to safety. Look for undefended pieces and forks each move — the bot will punish loose pieces, and so can you.

More about Chess

Chess traces back to the 6th-century Indian game chaturanga, reaching Europe through Persia and the Arab world, where the queen and bishop gained their modern long-range moves in the 15th century. Today it is governed by FIDE and played by hundreds of millions, from park benches to the World Championship. Learning a couple of opening principles and the basic checkmate patterns will already lift your results against the bot.

Love Chess on screen? A weighted tournament chess set makes the real-board game even better. As an Amazon Associate, izn.games earns from qualifying purchases.