Quiet Move

Chess by the official rules: castling, en passant, promotion to any piece, checkmate and stalemate, and a draw at once when too little is left to checkmate, such as king against king and bishop. Pick up a piece and every square it can reach lights up, a dot for a move that takes nothing and a ring for a capture. A quiet move is chess's name for a move that takes nothing and gives no check, and it is often the strongest move on the board.

A piece that can't move shakes, the panel says why, and the reason lights up: the piece pinning it to your king, the piece giving check, or the pieces guarding its squares. If it is simply blocked, the pieces that can move light up instead.

Draws apply themselves: the same position three times, or 50 moves each with no capture and no pawn move. Before either rule ends a game, the panel warns that a draw is coming.

Play the computer, or sit two people at opposite ends of one phone or tablet; with two people, each side's pieces face their owner. The computer chooses by searching the same rules, with no move list of its own, and how far it looks is counted in positions, never in seconds, so it plays just as well on a slow tablet as on a fast one. It has four levels, and it gets stronger after you win and gentler after you lose.

No ads, no account, and nothing is stored on your device.

HOW TO PLAY

Tap the board to sit down at the near end, playing white. Tap one of your pieces to pick it up, then tap a lit square or drag the piece there; tap the piece again to put it back. To castle, move the king two squares, or tap the king, then the rook. When a pawn reaches the far end, tap the piece it becomes, or tap the square again for a queen. A second person taps Two players? Tap here at the other end, and that panel turns to face them. In a rematch the loser plays white, and after a draw the colours swap. To resign, tap Resign, then tap again.

With a mouse, click or drag the same way. On a keyboard, the arrow keys move a ring around the board, Enter or Space picks a piece up and puts it down, and Escape puts it back. 1 and 2 take the near and far seats, and M turns the sound on and off.

More free games from Launchway, playable in your browser:

https://launchwaygames.com