♛ How to play Chess
By Miguel Arechaga
Chess is the strategy game par excellence: no dice, no luck, just your decisions against your opponent's. If you've never played a full game, here's the basics to understand the board and start playing with a clear head from the very first move.
What is Chess?
It's a strategy game for two players on an 8x8 board. Each player controls 16 pieces (a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns), and the goal is to checkmate the opponent's king: corner it so it can't escape an attack.
How each piece moves
- Pawn: advances one square forward (two on its first move) and captures diagonally.
- Rook: moves in a straight line, horizontally or vertically, as many squares as it wants.
- Bishop: moves diagonally, as many squares as it wants.
- Knight: moves in an "L" shape (two squares in one direction and one perpendicular) and is the only piece that can jump over others.
- Queen: combines the rook's and bishop's moves; it's the most powerful piece.
- King: moves one square in any direction. If threatened it's in check, and if it can't escape, it's checkmate and the game ends.
Strategy: the three opening principles
To start any game well, forget complicated plans and stick to three classic principles: control the center of the board with your pawns and pieces (the central squares give every piece more mobility), develop your minor pieces (knights and bishops) before moving the queen or launching premature attacks, and castle early to get your king safely tucked behind the pawns.
Avoid moving the same piece several times in a row in the opening without a reason, and never move a piece to a square where it can be captured without you being able to recapture afterward: always check which enemy pieces "see" the square before you move.
Quick tips
- Before moving, ask: what would my opponent respond, and does that response work in my favor?
- Don't bring out your queen too early: it's easy to attack and you'll waste time defending it.
- Always count attackers and defenders before capturing a piece so you don't lose material by mistake.
With these basic principles you can already play your first games while avoiding the most common beginner mistakes.
Play online with 2 players
You can play Chess against another person in several ways: press "🌐 Online" and create a room to share a 4-letter code with whoever you want to challenge, use "🔍 Find opponent" to have the system instantly match you with another available player, or add a friend by their username from the 👥 Friends panel (while signed in) and press "Challenge" next to their name to invite them directly to a match. You can also both play on the same device by pressing "👥 2 players": you take turns, with white and black.
🏆 Wins ranking
All your online Chess matches are recorded on your account: every win (and every loss) adds to your history. Go to Ranking, the 🎮 2 Players tab, choose "Chess" from the dropdown, and check your position against other players, synced across all your devices. For your result to count you need a free account on MundoSudoku (just a username and password, no email required): you can play without one, but without signing in your score isn't saved to the ranking.
