Chess For 2

Like blitz chess? Well, we do; and it's nearly impossible to play it while traveling (e.g. on the airplane, in a minivan, or anywhere with a tiny travel set). Fear not; now you can blitz on-the-go!

To hook up:

1. On phone A, start "network play (server)", click "yes" when asked to make the phone discoverable.

2. On phone B, start "network play (client)", wait until you see phone A then click it.

The two phones will do a brief handshake and start the chess game.

Note: if there's a problem with connection, just restart the whole process. I know there are bugs (it's reused old code); but over the years, it's never high enough to get fixed.

You may try OTB when only 1 device is available (recommend unlimited time). Yes, the chessmen aren't flipped (it is actually done on purpose because my son wants to see all right-side-up images).

There are 2 ways to move the chessmen:

1. Drag and drop, which requires only a single touch gesture. This works great for a 4.5-5" phone in blitz.

2. Touch-select source and touch-select destination.

For en passant capture, the destination square is the square where your pawn should end up.

For castling, move your king.

If your chessman doesn't move, then it means the move was illegal: check king safety, etc.

FIDE rules allows draw on 3-repeat situations either at the beginning or end of a player's move. If the pre-move board has been repeated >= 3 times at the beginning of the player's turn, a "3" is displayed below the move indicator. When "3" is displayed, the player may request a draw immediately. Otherwise, if the player wishes to engage 3-repeat draw at the end of the move (i.e. post-move board repeated >= 3 times), proceed by making a draw offer. If the 3-repeat is valid, that draw offer will be automatically accepted. (The 50-move draw is similarly selected.)

All games are automatically archived in PGN format. You may review and edit them in "Game Archives". Note: You must type in PGN format, which isn't hard (because that format was designed for hand editing in the first place). Anyway, as a quick hint: commentaries are put inside braces. E.g. If I want to say something about "1. e4", I'd put something like "1. e4 {king pawn open}".

You may also import your favorite games (or an opening that you want to study). To import a game, select "Import Games", then copy-and-paste the PGN and click "Import". The imported game will appear in the game archives.