How to Play
Everything you need to know to step into the Arena — controls, symbols, and what the engine is telling you.
Moving Pieces
Tap any of your pieces. The square lights up cyan and every legal destination shows a dot.
Tap a highlighted dot to play the move. A ring means a capture is possible there.
You can also drag pieces with the mouse or your finger. Both styles work at any time.
Special Moves
Move your king two squares toward an unmoved rook. The rook jumps over to the king's other side. Cannot be done through or out of check.
Push a pawn to the last rank and choose a new piece — usually a queen.
If an enemy pawn jumps two squares past your pawn, you may capture it diagonally on the very next move only.
A red glow on the king means check — you must respond. No legal response means checkmate.
Board Cues
Reviewing Moves
Use the arrows under the board to jump to the first, previous, next or last move. You can also click any move in the history bar to jump straight to it.
Symbol Legend
Every glyph you'll see during and after a game.
MOVE QUALITY
After each move Stockfish evaluates the position and assigns a class based on how much winning chance you gained or lost.
GAME STATES
How a game ends — and the warning signs along the way.
GAME PHASES & SUMMARY
Used in the post-game stats panel.