Chess — Robots vs Aliens
Classic chess with a sci-fi paint job: a battalion of chrome robots faces an invading alien hive across the 64 squares. Under the hood it's powered by Stockfish, the same engine that out-thinks human world champions — but you decide how hard it hits. Slide the strength from a wobbly 100-rated beginner all the way up to a ruthless 2500+ grandmaster.
How to Play
The rules are standard international chess. White (the Robots) always moves first; the goal is to checkmate the enemy king — trap it so it cannot escape capture.
- Tap or click one of your pieces to select it. Legal destinations light up as dots; squares you can capture on show a ring.
- Tap the destination to move. Tap another of your own pieces to switch your selection.
- Promotion: push a pawn to the far rank and a picker lets you choose a queen, rook, bishop, or knight.
- Undo takes back your last move (and the AI's reply). Hint asks a strong engine for the best move. Flip rotates the board.
Setting the Difficulty
The AI strength slider is measured in approximate ELO rating, the standard chess strength scale:
- 100–800 · Beginner: hangs pieces and misses threats — perfect for learning the moves.
- 800–1200 · Casual: plays sensibly but punishes nothing; a relaxed game.
- 1200–1600 · Club player: solid tactics, will exploit your blunders.
- 1600–2000 · Expert: sharp, consistent, hard to outplay.
- 2000–2400 · Master: near-flawless calculation.
- 2400+ · Grandmaster: full-strength Stockfish. Good luck.
You can change the strength at any time — the new setting takes effect on the AI's next move. Choose to command the Robots (white) or the Aliens (black) before the game begins.
Tips & Strategy
- Control the center. Pawns on d4/e4 (or d5/e5) give your pieces room to operate.
- Develop early. Get your knights and bishops out before launching an attack, and castle your king to safety.
- Don't hang pieces. Before every move, check what your opponent can capture for free.
- Use the Hint button when you're stuck — it's a great way to learn how a strong engine evaluates the position.
About This Game
This chess game runs entirely in your browser — the Stockfish engine is a WebAssembly build that thinks locally on your device, so nothing you play is sent anywhere. It works offline once loaded. It's part of the free puzzle collection at Misunderstood Games. Engine: Stockfish (GPL). Move rules: chess.js (BSD).