8x8 Board • Staunton Pieces • Sicilian & Ruy Lopez • 60 Research Topics
An 8x8 grid of 64 dark and light squares. Remember: "White on right" (bottom-right square h1/a8 is always light)!
White Queen starts on light square d1; Black Queen starts on dark square d8.
Rooks occupy a1, h1 (White) and a8, h8 (Black).
Files run vertically (a-h); Ranks run horizontally (1-8).
Click on any piece to inspect moves, legal captures, and special maneuvers (Castling & En Passant)!
Moves 1 square in any direction (orthogonally or diagonally). Must be kept safe from Check!
Special move where King slides 2 squares towards Rook and Rook hops over King. Neither piece can have previously moved, and no squares in between can be under attack!
Select remaining active pieces for White and Black to compute material advantage!
Castling is ILLEGAL if: (1) Either the King or the chosen Rook has already moved in the game; (2) The King is currently in Check; (3) The King passes through any square that is under attack by an enemy piece; or (4) There are pieces between the King and Rook.
Kingside Castling (0-0) slides King 2 squares to g1/g8 and Rook to f1/f8. Queenside Castling (0-0-0) slides King 2 squares to c1/c8 and Rook to d1/d8.
When an opponent moves a pawn 2 squares forward from its starting rank and lands directly adjacent to your pawn, you can capture it 'in passing' on the VERY NEXT TURN ONLY as if it moved 1 square forward. If you do not capture it immediately on that turn, the right is permanently lost!
The Sicilian Defense is the most popular and sharpest response to 1. e4, fighting asymmetrical control over the d4 central square.
**Stockfish 16** uses NNUE neural evaluations with ELO rating >3500. **Syzygy Tablebases** contain 100% mathematical win/draw solution trees for all positions with 7 or fewer pieces on the board!
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5. The classic grandmaster opening pressuring the Nc6 defender.
Offering a side pawn to gain dominant central control over d4 and e4.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxf7! Sacrificing Knight to rip open the Black King!
Attacking King + Queen simultaneously with a Knight (guarantees winning the Queen!).
An Absolute Pin pins a piece to the King (cannot move). Relative Pin pins a piece to a Queen/Rook (moving causes loss of material).
Placing your King directly facing the enemy King with 1 empty square in between forces their King to step aside, allowing your pawn to promote!