Piece of CakeThe object of the game
Two players, White and Black, each command sixteen pieces on an eight-by-eight board. White moves first and the players alternate, one move each. The aim is to checkmate the opposing king: attack it so that no legal move can get it out of danger. The game ends the instant that happens. Nothing is captured, no points are counted, and there is no second phase; checkmate is the whole objective, and everything else in chess is a way of getting there or avoiding it.
Setting up the board
Place the board so that each player has a light square in the bottom-right corner. Rooks go in the corners, knights beside them, bishops next, and the king and queen in the middle two squares — with the queen on her own colour: the white queen on the light square, the black queen on the dark one. The eight pawns fill the row in front.
Columns are called files and are lettered a to h from White’s left; rows are ranks, numbered 1 to 8 from White’s side. Every square has a name, from a1 in White’s bottom-left to h8 in the far corner, and that is how moves are written down.
How each piece moves
| Piece | Each side has | Move |
|---|---|---|
| King | 1 | One square in any direction. May never move into a square attacked by an enemy piece. |
| Queen | 1 | Any number of squares in a straight line: along a rank, a file or a diagonal. |
| Rook | 2 | Any number of squares along a rank or a file. |
| Bishop | 2 | Any number of squares along a diagonal. Each bishop stays on its starting colour for the whole game. |
| Knight | 2 | An L-shape: two squares in one direction and one at right angles. The only piece that jumps over others. |
| Pawn | 8 | One square straight forward, or two on its first move. Captures one square diagonally forward. Never moves backwards. |
Apart from the knight, no piece may pass through an occupied square. Capturing is not compulsory, and you may not capture your own pieces. The pawn is the only piece that moves one way and captures another, and that single oddity produces two of the three special moves below.
Check, checkmate and stalemate
A king is in check when an enemy piece attacks the square it stands on. You are never allowed to leave your own king in check, so if it is attacked you must deal with it immediately, in one of three ways: move the king to a safe square, capture the attacking piece, or put a piece between the attacker and your king (which does not work against a knight, because knights jump).
The rule everything else hangs off. You may never make a move that leaves your king attacked. Not to castle, not to capture, not to escape something worse. Pins, discovered attacks, the castling conditions and every kind of draw all follow from this one restriction, so if a position confuses you, start by asking whether a king is in check.
Checkmate is check with no legal way out. The game ends at once; the king is never actually captured. Stalemate is the opposite case: the player to move is not in check but has no legal move at all. That is not a loss. It is a draw, and it is the most common way a beginner throws away a won game, by hemming in a lone king without checking it.
What is castling?
Castling is the one move in which two pieces move at once. The king moves two squares towards a rook, and that rook jumps to the square the king passed over. It tucks the king into a corner and brings a rook into play in a single move. You may castle on the king’s side (short) or the queen’s side (long). All of these must be true:
- Neither the king nor that rook has moved earlier in the game.
- Every square between them is empty.
- The king is not currently in check.
- The king does not pass through, or land on, a square attacked by an enemy piece.
The rook may be attacked, and it may pass over an attacked square on the queen’s side. Only the king’s path matters. Having been in check earlier does not stop you castling later, as long as the king never moved to get out of it.
En passant and promotion
En passant exists because of the pawn’s two-square first move. If an enemy pawn advances two squares and lands directly beside one of your pawns, you may capture it as though it had moved only one square, moving your pawn diagonally forward onto the square it skipped. You must do this immediately, on the very next move; the right disappears otherwise.
Promotion happens when a pawn reaches the far end of the board. It is immediately replaced by a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour, your choice, and it does not matter whether that piece has already been captured — you may have two queens, or three. A queen is almost always the right choice, but promoting to a knight occasionally delivers a check or a fork the queen cannot.
The five ways a game is drawn
- Stalemate — the player to move is not in check and has no legal move.
- Threefold repetition — the same position, with the same player to move and the same castling and en passant rights, occurs three times. A player may claim the draw; it need not be three moves in a row.
- The fifty-move rule — fifty consecutive moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move. A player may claim the draw.
- Insufficient material — neither side has enough to force checkmate: king against king, king and bishop or king and knight against a bare king, and similar.
- Agreement — one player offers a draw and the other accepts. You offer after making your move and before pressing the clock; making a move in reply is a refusal.
A game can also end by resignation, when a player concedes a hopeless position, or on time when a clock is used, which the time-controls guide explains.
Basic etiquette
Over the board, the rules of conduct are as old as the rules of play. Touch-move: if you deliberately touch one of your pieces you must move it, and if you touch an opponent’s piece you must capture it, where a legal move exists. Say “j’adoube” or “adjusting” before straightening a piece. Offer a draw once, not repeatedly. Resign by tipping your king or offering a hand rather than walking off. And shake hands at the end whatever the result.
How does Piece of Cake play it?
Piece of Cake plays full standard chess for two players with no rule variants, so everything above applies. Where it differs from a wooden board is in enforcement. Only legal moves are offered: tap a piece and its legal squares light up, and the board will not let you move into check, leave your king in check or play into an illegal position. Castling on both sides, en passant and promotion are all there; when a pawn reaches the last rank you tap to choose a queen, rook, bishop or knight.
Draws are called for you. Stalemate, threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule and insufficient material are detected automatically, so a drawn game ends as a draw rather than shuffling on. Draw by agreement works through an Offer draw button; your opponent accepts or declines, making a move declines it too, and only one offer can be outstanding at a time. Colours are dealt at random when the game starts, with White moving first as always, so a rematch on the same table usually swaps you over. Games are untimed unless you add a clock when creating the table. If you have no opponent handy, an AI opponent can be added from the table settings; it plays a real game and will accept a draw when it judges itself to be worse off. Every move is validated server-side. The full rules are under Profile, then Rules, then Chess.
The guides that sit next to this one are Gin Rummy rules and Switch rules.
Frequently asked questions
Which way round does the chess board go?
Each player should have a light square in the bottom-right corner, and each queen starts on a square of her own colour: the white queen on a light square, the black queen on a dark one. If the queens are not facing each other on the same file, the board or the pieces are set up wrong.
Can the king capture a piece?
Yes, like any other piece, one square in any direction — provided the square it captures on is not attacked by another enemy piece. A king can never move onto an attacked square, whether or not it captures in doing so.
What is the difference between checkmate and stalemate?
Checkmate is when the king is in check and there is no legal move to escape it: the game is lost. Stalemate is when the player to move is not in check but has no legal move at all: the game is a draw. Piece of Cake detects both automatically.
Can you castle out of check?
No. You may not castle while in check, and the king may not pass through or land on an attacked square. Having been in check earlier in the game does not stop you, as long as the king itself has never moved.
Does Piece of Cake let you make an illegal move?
No. Only legal moves are offered on the board, and every move is validated server-side. Automatic draws for stalemate, threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule and insufficient material are detected for you.
Play it with friends, tonight
Piece of Cake plays these games in real time with friends or against AI opponents, with every move validated server-side so nobody can cheat. One subscription covers every game in the catalogue, with a 7-day free trial.
Independent guide: the rules described here are the traditional versions of each game; where Piece of Cake plays a variant, the guide says so explicitly. TritonApps is not affiliated with any games publisher.