Chess

How to play chess (rules)

Each side starts with sixteen pieces in the standard position, and White moves first. Whoever opens the table plays White in the first game, and in a rematch the colours swap. Pawns step forward and capture diagonally, knights jump in an L, bishops slide diagonally, rooks slide along ranks and files, the queen does both, and the king steps one square. To move, tap or click a piece: the squares it can legally go to are marked with dots, and captures with a ring. Tap one to move, or drag the piece there.

Three special moves work as in any tournament game. Castling moves the king two squares towards a rook and the rook jumps over it: tap the king, then its castling square, on either side if the squares between are empty and neither piece has moved. En passant lets a pawn capture an enemy pawn that has just stepped two squares past it. A pawn that reaches the far rank is promoted, and a picker offers a queen, rook, bishop or knight. A king in check is highlighted red, the last move is highlighted, and captured pieces are shown beside the board.

Checkmate, a king in check with no way out, wins the game. Draws are declared automatically: stalemate, threefold repetition (the same position with the same player to move three times), the fifty-move rule (fifty moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move) and insufficient material, such as king against king, king and a single bishop or knight against king, or kings with bishops on the same colour. There is no draw button and no chess clock, and either player may resign at any time.

Modes and difficulty

Play the computer: it searches a few moves ahead, then follows every capture to the end, judging material and where the pieces stand. It thinks for about a quarter of a second a move and never leaves a piece hanging, so it beats most casual players, but someone who plans and knows basic tactics can beat it. Play a friend: open a table and send the invite link; anyone else who opens it can watch. 2 players, 1 phone: two people share one device, passing it back and forth, and nothing is recorded or paid there. There are no levels or rankings. A table with a friend has no clock, but a turn left for a whole day loses the game; a game against the computer that nobody touches for an hour is closed.

Playing Chess on Matsuri

The server keeps the board and checks every move, so only legal moves can be played, and it decides checkmate and every kind of draw. A game pays a little candy once at least 20 moves have been played: against a friend 15 for a win, 8 for a draw and 5 for a loss, against the computer 6 for a win, within the day's candy budget. The board comes in a classic look, with a wooden board and standard pieces, and a candy look where Mocha, who runs the hall, is the opponent and cheers you on.

A little history

Chess grew out of chaturanga, a game played in India around the 6th century, and travelled to Persia, where it was called shatranj, and on to the Arab world and Europe. The modern queen and bishop, which made the game much faster, took shape in Spain and the rest of Europe in the late 15th century. Wilhelm Steinitz is counted as the first official world champion, in 1886. In 1997 the computer Deep Blue beat the reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a match, a landmark for chess and for computers.