Play Chess Online Against the Computer

Play chess against the computer engine, and grow your chess skill. You can challenge a strong chess engine Stockfish. Please select the engine's playing difficulty level from 1 to 14 (1 - the weakest, 14 - the strongest).

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How to Play vs. Computer – Instructions

The intellectual combat of chess excites our minds. The traditional way is to play against a human opponent. But what if your human opponent is not up to your level? Or an opponent is not readily available. In this age of computers, play chess against the computer anywhere anytime. These computers stand ready to challenge your every move.

Choose any level of opposition that you wish to battle. Here you choose from Level 1 to Level 14. Level 1 is the weakest opponent and Level 14 is the strongest opponent—the Levels in between follow a linear power scale. Level 2 is stronger than Level 1, Level 3 is stronger than Level 2, and so on.

Basic Chess Rules: How to Play

Here you can play chess with a computer for free. The Chess computer you will be facing is Stockfish. Stockfish has been the strongest chess engine for many years now.

To start playing against the computer first choose the color. You can choose colors by clicking on this button.

play chess against computer

If you choose to play white, then play the first move and the chess computer will respond. If you choose to play Black then the computer will start the game automatically.

Now choose the level you want to play against. Select the option as shown in the diagram to choose the level.

play chess against computer

If you’re not sure which level to start then we suggest starting with Level 7. Based on the chess game against level 7 you can adjust the levels accordingly.

The game is not timed. A player can take as much time as possible to make a move.

Chess Board Setup

The Chess Board setup has 64 pieces that are ready to march into battle. You command 32 pieces that are eager to start warfare against your silicon opponent. Each player has 8 pawns, 2 Bishops, Knights and Rooks, One Queen and King.

The pawns are set up on the 2nd rank. The pieces are set up on the first rank. In this chess board setup, you play without any odds.

To play without odds is that you have all the pieces and pawns at the start of the game.

Chess Pieces Names and Moves

Similar to a game against a human opponent the chess pieces have the same abilities. The chess piece ability is the same for you and the computer.

The names of the chess pieces are also the same when playing chess with a computer. The moves are recorded on the side panel. You can view the game history whenever you want. When playing against the computer, a player also has the option for a take-back move. A takeback works in the following way.

If you opt for a takeback then your move and the previous computer move will be taken back.

The Aim of the Game

In general, the aim of the game is to beat the chess computer. Depending on the level of the computer it may be easy to impossible. The strongest level of Stockfish plays at a high level. It is difficult for the World’s best player to beat Stockfish.

Another aim you can have is to play against the computer to train a specific opening variation.

Openings and Tactics

Tactics

Chess computers excel at tactical positions. Their ability to calculate far and wide helps them to assess any tactical position. Players to use this to their advantage and improve their tactical play.

One way of training tactics against the computer is to play complicated tactical positions. You can select any tactical position; it doesn’t matter if you know the moves or not. This is because the computer will usually deviate from the game moves. Select positions where one side has a winning advantage.

Tactical chess training against the computer is useful in such positions This way you can improve the skill of converting advantages in tactical positions. The computer forces the player to play exactly and have good calculations.

Openings

  • Computers unlike most humans play all the openings. Computers can play the main lines as well as dubious lines with high accuracy. You can use Chess computers to train openings in various ways.
  • You can use the computer to play from a certain opening variation. This is a useful method to know the ideas and plans in an opening line.
  • You can use the computer to train against dubious sidelines. The way to do it is as follows.
  • Choose the opening you want to train against and then play from the opposite side. For example, let’s say you want to play against the Halasz gambit.
  • Make the computer as Black and you choose the white side. As you go through multiple games in this line you will learn how the computer punishes a dubious opening. Now you can adopt these ideas to your repertoire.
  • You can match two chess computers against each other and force them to play the opening of your choice. This will show you the most accurate way to play. However, it is important to remember that the most accurate may not be the best way to play against a human.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the hardest chess computer?

All chess computers or engines are hard to play against. Even the weakest chess computer that competes at the highest level can beat the world’s best chess player.

Does playing computer improve chess?

Yes, playing against chess computer can improve your chess. Use Chess computers in the correct way to train and improve at chess.

What happens when two chess computers play each other?

The result depends on the strength of the two chess computers. If they are equally strong then the games will most probably end in a draw. If one is stronger then it will win most of the games. In the chess computer world, it is nearly impossible for a significantly weaker chess computer to win against a stronger chess computer.

Can Computers beat humans at chess?

Computers will almost always beat humans at chess. Computers can perform extreme calculations and will out-calculate humans at any stage.

What is the fastest chess computer?

Stockfish is currently ranked as the top chess computer/engine. It has an estimated Elo rating of 3550.

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