Learning to play
In brief
Start with a two-player game on the same device, or against the computer at the lowest level. The app only allows legal moves, so you learn how the pieces move as you play. The tips at the end of this page can help you improve; they are advice, not rules.
Getting to know the app
- Making a move: tap a piece, then its destination square, or drag it there. Dots show the squares it can move to.
- Promotion: when a pawn reaches the last rank, the app asks which piece you want.
- Reviewing the game: tap the move list to go back to a position; the buttons at the bottom go to the start, the previous move, the next move or the end. With a keyboard, the arrow keys do the same.
- Game menu: flip the board, undo the last move, offer or claim a draw, resign, save, export the game in PGN format, start a new game.
- Comfort: light or dark theme with the moon-shaped button, reduced motion in the menu, portrait or landscape.
- Saving: the game is saved on the device after every move, with no account.
Playing against the computer
Choose a level from 1 to 8 and your side: White, Black or random. Level 3 is the default. The higher the level, the longer the computer takes to search for its move.
| Level | Maximum thinking time | Random moves |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 ms | 35 % |
| 2 | 100 ms | 15 % |
| 3 | 200 ms | none |
| 4 | 300 ms | none |
| 5 | 500 ms | none |
| 6 | 1,000 ms | none |
| 7 | 2,000 ms | none |
| 8 | 4,000 ms | none |
Against the computer, "Undo last move" also removes its reply, so you can try again. The strength of each level has not been measured, so no rating is claimed.
Playing with a friend
- On the same device: the board is shared and can flip after every move.
- Remotely, move by move: after each move, the app shows a QR code, a link or a code to send by whatever means you like. Your friend opens it in the app, plays, and sends you theirs back. No server is used.
- On the same Wi-Fi: one player creates the game and shows a QR code, the other scans it; the game is played live.
- Receiving: a move or a game opens with the camera, a QR image, a pasted code, a link or a game file in PGN format.
Exchanges between two devices are still being fine-tuned: they have not yet been tried on real phones.
Importing a game or a position
The home page offers "Import PGN or FEN". The PGN format describes a whole game, move by move; the FEN format describes a single position. Only the main line of a game is kept: variations and comments are ignored.
A few tips for playing better
These tips hold most of the time; they depend on the position and are not rules.
- Occupy the center. Pawns and pieces in the center control more squares and hinder your opponent.
- Develop your pieces. Develop knights and bishops before moving the same piece several times; a queen brought out too early often gets chased away.
- Get your king to safety. Castling, played fairly early, protects the king and brings a rook into play.
- Watch for threats. Before each move, ask yourself what your opponent's last move is attacking.
- Count the material. Convention: piece values a pawn is often counted as 1, a knight and a bishop as 3, a rook as 5 and a queen as 9; each side starts with 39. The king has no value: it cannot be captured.