Play Arkadium Chess Online Free

About Arkadium Chess

Chess needs no introduction: two players, sixteen pieces each, and a game deep enough that people have spent lifetimes on it without exhausting it. This browser version plays the full standard rules — castling, en passant, promotion, stalemate and threefold repetition — against a computer opponent at several strengths.

For a beginner the value is in the lower difficulties: an opponent that punishes real mistakes without being unbeatable is exactly how you learn. For everyone else it's a chess board that's always available.

How to play Arkadium Chess

Move a piece

Click it, then the target square (or drag)

Difficulty

Choose before starting

Undo / hint

The buttons beside the board, where offered

1. White moves first; alternate turns.
2. Each piece moves in its own way; legal moves are highlighted when you select a piece.
3. Castle to bring your king to safety, and promote a pawn that reaches the far rank.
4. Checkmate the opposing king to win; stalemate is a draw.

Arkadium Chess tips

• Control the centre in the opening. The four central squares are worth more than a pawn early.
• Develop knights and bishops before moving the same piece twice.
• Castle within the first ten moves in most openings.
• Before every move, ask what your opponent's last move threatened.

Arkadium Chess — questions