An interactive openings board
Learn chess the way masters do — one move at a time.
Play a friend from a link, or play the computer
Play a real game: against the computer, hot-seat on one board with a friend next to you, or online — two people on two devices, paired by a link one of them sends, with no account on either side. Then pick an opening and watch it unfold move by move. Nothing to install.
The link-paired game comes with a chat box, and the chat runs directly between the two browsers when that connection can be established; when it cannot, the board is unaffected and the game carries on without chat. In that game the moves themselves travel through our relay to reach the other player, and the board page spells out exactly what the relay sees.
The computer plays at three strengths, and you choose. Pick the computer on the board page and a Computer strength control appears beside it with three buttons — Easy, Normal and Hard. It opens on Normal, so a beginner can set it to Easy before the first move, and it can be changed again part-way through a game. The setting is how far ahead the engine searches: one half-move at Easy, two at Normal, up to three at Hard. Whichever level you played is written into the PGN header when you export the game, so a saved game records which one it was.
The repertoire
Ten openings worth knowing
Every game starts here. These are the reliable main lines — the ones behind most games you'll ever play. Click any card to load it onto the board above.
Every line on these cards is written in the standard shorthand for chess moves, called algebraic notation — the same shorthand modern chess books, recorded games and the boards on this page all use. It works because every square has a name. The eight columns are files, lettered a to h starting from White's left; the eight rows are ranks, numbered 1 to 8 starting at White's end of the board. A square is its file letter then its rank number, and the board above prints the letters along its bottom edge and the numbers down its left edge. So e4 is the square four rows up the e-column — and it is also a move, because a move is written as the square the piece lands on.
What goes in front of that square is the piece. K is the king, Q the queen, R a rook, B a bishop and N a knight — N, because the king already has the K. A pawn gets no letter at all, just the square, which is why e4, e5 and c6 are pawn moves while Nf3 is a knight going to f3 and Bc4 a bishop going to c4. Everything else is punctuation. An x before the square means the move captures whatever was standing there: Nxd4 is a knight taking on d4, and cxd4 is a pawn taking on d4, where the lone c is the file the pawn came from, since pawns have no letter of their own. A + on the end means the move gives check, as in Bxc3+ in the French Defence below. A # means checkmate, which is why the two mating answers among the tactic cards further down this page are written Re8# and Nf7#. Castling is the one move that names no square: O-O, two capital letter O's, and the Italian Game line below ends O-O O-O with both players tucking their king away.
Two things catch people out. When either of two identical pieces could reach the same square, the notation squeezes in where the mover started, so Nbd2 in the London System below means the knight on the b-file, not the other knight that could also get to d2. And the numbers with full stops are move numbers, not squares: one number covers a White move and Black's reply, so the Italian Game's third pair is written 3. Bc4 Bc5 — White's bishop to c4, then Black's to c5. Read the cards left to right and White always moves first.
Pattern recognition
Six tactics that decide games
Most games below master level are won and lost on tactics, not strategy. Learn to spot these shapes and you'll win material out of thin air — and stop hanging your own pieces.
These six diagrams are boards you can play, not pictures. Click a piece to select it, then click the square it goes to; the card redraws and names the move it just played. Try an illegal one and the card says so in words and leaves the position exactly where it was. Reset puts a card back to the position published here. Five of the six end in a winning move you play yourself: the fork and the discovered attack are on the board right now, the skewer arrives once the checked king steps aside, and the two mates are published one ply before the finish, so you play Re8 and Nf7 yourself and the card announces the checkmate. The pin is the exception — it is a shape, not a move: try to move the pinned knight and the card refuses it in words, which is exactly the lesson.
01Fork
The knight on c7 hits the king on e8 and the rook on a8 at once. The king must step aside — then the rook falls. A knight can't be blocked, which makes its forks brutal.
02Pin
The bishop on b5 pins the c6-knight to the king: it literally cannot move without exposing the king to check. Pin a defender, then pile up on the square it can no longer guard.
03Skewer
The bishop checks the king along the long diagonal. The king must move — and the queen sitting behind it drops. A skewer is a pin flipped: the bigger piece is in front.
04Discovered attack
The knight on e5 masks the bishop on b2. Play Nxd7 and two threats fire at once — the knight grabs the rook, and the unblocked bishop checks the king. You can only answer one.
05Back-rank mate
Black's king is walled in by its own pawns. Re8 checks down the back rank with no escape. The antidote is luft — nudge a pawn (h6) early to give the king air.
06Smothered mate
The knight lands on f7 with check. The king is smothered by its own rook and pawns and nothing can take the knight. The prettiest mate in chess, often set up by a queen sacrifice.
Back to basics
How the pieces move
A quick, honest refresher. Point values are a rule of thumb for trading — a good position often beats a pawn count.
| Piece | Moves | Value |
|---|---|---|
| King | One square in any direction. Lose it and you lose the game, so it hides early and fights late. | — |
| Queen | Any number of squares in a straight line or diagonal. The most powerful piece — don't bring her out too early. | 9 |
| Rook | Any number of squares in a straight line. Loves open files and the 7th rank. | 5 |
| Bishop | Any number of squares diagonally — forever on one colour. The pair is worth keeping. | 3 |
| Knight | An L-shape: two squares then one across. The only piece that jumps. Strongest in closed positions. | 3 |
| Pawn | Forward one (or two from its start), captures one square diagonally. Promotes on the far rank. | 1 |
Castling
Once per game, slide your king two squares toward a rook and hop the rook to the king's other side. Only if neither piece has moved, the squares between are empty, and your king isn't in, through, or into check.
Do it: White to move, both back-rank gaps clear. Click the king on e1, then g1 for the short castle or c1 for the long one — the rook moves by itself.
En passant
If an enemy pawn springs two squares and lands beside yours, you may capture it as if it had moved one — but only on the very next move.
Do it: play Black's pawn d7 to d5, springing past the white pawn. Then take it with e5 to d6 — the white pawn lands behind it and the black pawn comes off.
Promotion
Push a pawn to the far rank and it becomes any piece you choose — almost always a queen. Yes, you can have two.
Do it: push the white pawn c7 to c8 and watch what stands there afterwards. This board always takes the queen; a real game lets you pick rook, bishop or knight instead.
Checkmate vs. stalemate
Checkmate: the king is attacked and has no legal escape — game over. Stalemate: the side to move is not in check but has no legal move — it's a draw.
Do it — the stalemate half. Black's king is stuck on a8 behind White's a7 pawn, and White's pawn cannot move either. Step the white king b5 to b6 and Black has no legal move and no check.
Questions
Chess, briefly answered
What's the best opening for a beginner?
Start with the Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4) or the London System (an easy d4 setup). Both give you clear, repeatable plans instead of memorised traps, so you actually understand your positions.
How do the chess pieces move?
The king moves one square any direction; the queen any distance straight or diagonally; rooks straight; bishops diagonally; knights in an L and they jump; pawns forward one (two on their first move) and capture diagonally. See the “How the pieces move” table above for the details. If your browser runs scripts, the board under that table marks every move the rules engine allows whichever piece you pick.
What is castling and when can I do it?
Castling tucks your king to safety and activates a rook in one move. It's legal only if neither the king nor that rook has moved, the squares between them are empty, and your king is not in check, does not pass through an attacked square, and does not land on one.
What is en passant?
If an opponent's pawn advances two squares and lands directly beside one of your pawns, you may capture it on the very next move as though it had moved only one square. Miss the chance and it's gone.
What's the difference between checkmate and stalemate?
In checkmate the king is under attack and has no legal way out — that side loses. In stalemate the side to move is not in check but has no legal move to make — the game is an immediate draw. Watch for it when you're winning.
How do I get better at tactics?
The six tactic boards further up this page are playable, not pictures: click a piece, then click the square it goes to. Five of the six end in a winning move you play yourself — the fork and the discovered attack are there straight away, the skewer arrives once the checked king steps aside, and the back-rank and smothered mates are published one move short so you deliver Re8 and Nf7 — while the pin is a shape rather than a move: try to move the pinned knight and the card refuses it in words, which is the lesson. Try a wrong move on any of them and watch it get refused without the position moving. Then, in a real game, ask one question before every move: what is my opponent threatening? That single habit prevents most blunders.
Is DankChess free?
Yes. DankChess is a free, static study board with no account, no ads and no tracking wall. Pick an opening, step through it, and go. The rules engine runs in your browser, so the openings, the tactics and a game against the computer involve no server round-trip. The one exception is Play a friend on the board page, which has worked since 5 August 2026: those moves travel through our relay so they can reach the other person's browser, and the relay sees which two addresses paired and when. Chat in that mode goes browser to browser instead, so each player's browser learns the other's IP address.