Chess Normal

Controls Goal: checkmate the computer's king (a check it cannot escape). You play White and move first. Controls: click one of your pieces and the squares it can reach get a dot (a ring if it can capture); click a square to move there (clicking another of your pieces switches the selection). On a keyboard, the arrow keys move between squares and Enter/Space picks. Captured pieces appear above the board (with +points for the side ahead) and the move list below. Rules: full rules including castling (not allowed while in check or through an attacked square) and en passant; a pawn reaching the last rank always becomes a queen. Stalemate, the 50-move rule (50 moves without a capture or pawn move), threefold repetition and insufficient material are draws. Scoring: the number of moves you made in a game won by checkmate (fewer ranks higher, 3 at the very least); a loss or draw is not recorded. There is no pause, undo or hint. Tips: take the centre, develop your knights and bishops, then castle to protect your king. Before moving, check whether the opponent can capture on that square. Bringing the queen out early gets it chased around. The computer looks only a few moves ahead (further on higher levels), so it is weak against forks that attack two things at once.