Chess Free

How to Play Chess Free

Your First Moves to Victory

For anyone new to the board, Chess Free offers a perfect and accessible starting point to master the classic game. This guide simplifies the basic rules and controls so you can focus on building your winning strategy.

1. The Goal: The King's Final Stand

The single objective in chess is to achieve checkmate. This occurs when your opponent's King is under immediate threat of capture (in check) and has absolutely no legal move to escape that threat.

2. Getting Started: Choosing Your Match

When you open Chess Free, you can choose how to play:

• Against the Computer (AI): Ideal for practice. You can select from 18 difficulty levels, from "Beginner" to "World Champion."
• Online Multiplayer: Compete against real players around the world.
• Local 2-Player: Play against a friend using the same screen.

If you are a beginner, make sure to enable the interactive hints and handicap features to help guide your moves and give you a slight advantage while learning.

3. Understanding Movement and Capture

The core of the game is moving your pieces. Each piece has a unique path:

• Pawn: Moves one square forward (two squares on its first move), but captures diagonally.
• Rook: Moves any distance horizontally or vertically.
• Knight: Moves in an "L" shape (two squares in one direction, then one square perpendicular). This is the only piece that can jump over others.
• Bishop: Moves any distance diagonally.
• Queen: The most powerful piece; moves any distance in any direction (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal).
• King: Moves only one square in any direction. Protect it at all costs!

Controls: Moving a piece is simple: use your mouse to drag the piece you want to move and release it on the target square.

4. The End of the Game (Beyond Checkmate)

While checkmate is a win, games can also end in a draw (tie). Key draw conditions include:

• Stalemate: The King is not in check, but the player whose turn it is has no legal moves.
• Threefold Repetition: The exact same board position occurs three times.
• Insufficient Material: Neither player has enough pieces left to mathematically force a checkmate.

5. Recovering from Mistakes

A great feature for new players is the ability to cancel your last move. Use the move cancel feature to undo a bad decision and rethink your strategy. Post-match analysis is also available to review errors and learn better tactics for the next game.

More Games Like This

If you are a board game fiend, we have you covered! Play more chess games or browse our puzzle game category for popular titles like 2 Player Games or Strategy Games for more fun.

Release Date

March 2024

Platform

Web browser (desktop and mobile)