Chess

How to play

• White moves first, then the players take turns, one move each.
• Each piece moves its own way: pawns advance (and capture diagonally), knights jump in an L, bishops move diagonally, rooks in straight lines, the queen does both and the king moves one square.
• You can never leave your own king in check: the game only offers you legal moves.
• Castling: the king moves two squares toward an unmoved rook, as long as nothing is in between and the king is not in, passing through or landing in check.
• En passant: if an enemy pawn advances two squares and lands next to yours, you may capture it as if it had moved one, but only on the very next move.
• Promotion: a pawn that reaches the last rank becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight, your choice.
• You win by checkmate, or when your opponent resigns or runs out of time while you have enough material to mate.
• The game is drawn by stalemate (the side to move has no legal move and isn’t in check), threefold repetition, fifty moves without a capture or pawn move, insufficient material or agreement.

Controls

Move

Tap or click the piece, then the target square

Drag

On a computer, drag the piece to its square

Keyboard

Arrows to move around the board, Enter or Space to select, Escape to cancel

Review

Use the move list buttons, or tap a move to see that position

Description

Chess is the most played strategy game in the world: two armies of 16 pieces, an 8×8 board and a single goal, checkmating the enemy king. On Vexply it’s free in your browser, against a four-level AI or with two players on the same device, with an optional clock and no sign-up.

Vexply’s chess follows every official rule: illegal moves are impossible, and it knows checkmate, stalemate, castling, en passant, promotion, threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule and insufficient material. The AI has four levels that genuinely play differently, from Easy (makes beginner mistakes) to Expert (calculates several moves ahead). You can play two players, flip the board, use a clock and replay the game move by move. Your stats, history and achievements are saved only in this browser.