An interactive openings board
Learn chess the way masters do — one move at a time.
Play a real game against a friend or the computer, then pick an opening and watch it unfold move by move. No account, nothing to install.
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.
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.
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 |
|---|
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.
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.
Promotion
Push a pawn to the far rank and it becomes any piece you choose — almost always a queen. Yes, you can have two.
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.
Questions