Chess is the strategy game par excellence, with fifteen centuries of history behind it. Two armies of 16 pieces face each other on an 8×8 board with a single goal: checkmate the enemy king.
This game is constantly evolving: new features and improvements are added regularly. If something doesn't work as expected or you have suggestions, write to postmaster@lucianomanenti.com — your feedback is precious!
| Piece | Name | Movement |
|---|---|---|
| ♙ | Pawn | Moves one square forward (two from its starting position). Captures only diagonally, one square forward. |
| ♘ | Knight | Moves in an "L": two squares in one direction and one perpendicular. The only piece that can jump over others. |
| ♗ | Bishop | Moves diagonally, any number of squares. |
| ♖ | Rook | Moves horizontally or vertically, any number of squares. |
| ♕ | Queen | Combines rook and bishop: moves in any direction, any number of squares. The strongest piece. |
| ♔ | King | Moves one square in any direction. It may never move to an attacked square. |
Once per game, king and rook may move together: the king moves two squares towards the rook and the rook "jumps" to the other side of the king. It is only allowed if neither the king nor the rook has moved, the squares between them are empty, and the king is not in check nor passes through attacked squares. In the game, just click the king and then its destination square (two squares sideways).
If an enemy pawn advances two squares and lands beside one of your pawns, you may capture it as if it had advanced only one square — but only on the very next move.
A pawn reaching the last rank is transformed into a piece of your choice: Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight (the Queen is almost always best). The game opens a panel for you to choose.
The opponent's strength corresponds to Stockfish's "Skill Level", a scale from 0 to 20. The three buttons are just shortcuts — Easy = 0, Medium = 8, Hard = 20 — but with the slider on the start screen you can pick any value in between.
It helps to understand how the engine is weakened: at low levels Stockfish does not "think less" — it deliberately plays, with a certain probability, moves worse than the best one. At level 0 it goes as far as giving pieces away, and that is intentional: it is meant for players who are just learning the moves. As the level rises, the mistakes become rarer and subtler, disappearing entirely at 20. Thinking time also grows: from 0.2 seconds per move at level 0 up to 1.2 seconds at level 20.
| Level | Roughly corresponds to |
|---|---|
| 0 (Easy) | Absolute beginner: makes deliberate serious mistakes, leaves pieces hanging. |
| 1–5 | A beginner who knows the rules: still errs often, but punishes the most obvious blunders. |
| 6–10 (Medium = 8) | Amateur / club player (≈ 1600–1900 Elo): solid, only yields to real tactical mistakes. |
| 11–15 | Experienced / competitive player (≈ 2000–2300 Elo): demands a serious, clean game. |
| 16–19 | Master level (≈ 2300–2500 Elo): nearly impossible for an amateur to beat. |
| 20 (Hard) | Full-strength Stockfish (over 2600 Elo): beats practically anyone, champions included. |
What is Elo? It is the rating used worldwide to measure a chess player's strength (named after its inventor, professor Arpad Elo). It measures relative strength: with equal Elo the game is even, with a 200-point gap the stronger player wins about 3 times out of 4, and with 400 points there is almost no contest. As a guide: 1200 is a beginner, 1600 a good club amateur, 2200 a master, 2500 a Grandmaster; the human record is Magnus Carlsen's 2882 — and full-strength Stockfish is rated above 3500.
A good rule of thumb: play at the level where you win about half your games, and move up once you start winning consistently. The win/loss/draw record is grouped by band (0–5 Easy, 6–13 Medium, 14–20 Hard). Note: the Hint button always uses the engine at full strength, whatever the opponent's level.
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