Play chess vs computer
Stockfish 16.1 ยท runs in your browser
Play a move by typing it, like e4, Nf3 or e7e8q, then press Enter.
Make your first move.
Play as
Stockfish strength
Club. Stockfish is limited to 1900 on its own strength scale, which is not a FIDE or chess.com rating.
What you can do on this page
You play Stockfish 16.1 at a strength you choose, and every move you play gets a label from brilliant to blunder.
- Six levels, from 1320 to full strength
- Hint shows the best move, Undo takes your last move back
- Free, no account, nothing to install
Play chess against the computer in three steps
Pick your color and a strength, make your first move, and Stockfish answers.
- 1
Choose color and strength
Press White, Black or Random, then pick one of six strengths. You can change both before your first move.
- 2
Make your move
Drag a piece or tap it and then its square. Illegal moves are refused, and a pawn that reaches the last rank becomes a queen.
- 3
Use Hint and Undo
Hint draws the move Stockfish would play at full strength. Undo takes back your last move and the reply.
Stockfish strength levels
Six levels limit how well Stockfish 16.1 plays, from 1320 to full strength.
The limit is Stockfish's own UCI_Elo option, which this build accepts from 1320 to 3190. The numbers are on Stockfish's scale, not FIDE or chess.com ratings, so a level can feel easier or harder than the same number elsewhere. A lower limit makes Stockfish choose weaker moves in many positions, but it still takes a piece that is simply left hanging.
- Beginner
- 1320
- 0.4 s
- Casual
- 1600
- 0.5 s
- Club
- 1900
- 0.6 s
- Strong
- 2200
- 0.8 s
- Expert
- 2600
- 1 s
- Full strength
- No limit
- 1 s
How to beat the computer at chess
Against any level, check what each of your moves leaves undefended before you play it, because Stockfish still takes a piece that is simply left hanging.
Before each move, look at what the last move attacks and what your move leaves behind. If you are ahead in material, trade pieces. Fewer pieces mean fewer ways to lose the lead.
When a move goes wrong, press Undo and try another. When you win a game, move up one level. Against full strength, treat the game as a study and play it through to the end.
Worked example: a game with labeled moves
You play White against Stockfish. These are your first four moves of a sample game, each with the label Chessvia gave it.
1. e4King's Pawn Game.- 2. Bc4Bishop's Opening.
3. Qh5White's winning chances: 53% to 48%. Best was Nf3.
4. Qxf7#The engine's top choice.
Every move you play gets a label from brilliant to blunder, with the change in your winning chances behind it. Hint plays at full strength whatever level you chose, and it finds the final move here, Qxf7, checkmate in one.
Example, not a live game: Stockfish 16.1, captured Oct 16, 2026. The labels come from the classifier Chessvia uses for game review.
Try the next move calculatorFrequently asked questions
Is it possible to beat Stockfish?
Not at full strength, in practice. Magnus Carlsen's peak FIDE rating is 2882, and the CCRL 40/15 list of 16 October 2026 rates Stockfish 16.1 (64-bit, desktop build) at 3620, on a different scale built from games between engines. The lower levels on this page exist so you can start where you are: pick one and move up when you win.
Carlsen's rating historyCCRL 40/15 rating list (all versions)
How to play against Stockfish
Choose White or Black and a strength on this page, then make your first move. Stockfish runs in your browser, so there is nothing to install or sign up for.
How do chess engines work?
A chess engine searches the moves and replies from a position and scores the end positions, then plays the move with the best score. Stockfish uses a neural network for the scoring.
Analysis runs on Stockfish 16.1 in your browser, compiled to WebAssembly by stockfish.js. Stockfish is free software under the GNU General Public License v3; its source code is on GitHub.