Click one of your pieces, then click a highlighted square to move it.
Green dots are squares you can move to, red frames are captures, yellow marks the last move and red means your king is in check.
Castling: move the king two squares towards the rook. A pawn that reaches the last rank is promoted – you choose the new piece.
The QTP chess clock only shows the time played – nobody loses on time. It starts after White’s first move and can be hidden with HIDE CLOCK.
PAUSE stops the clock and opens the coffee break. Online it stops the game for both players, and it goes on when both press READY.
FLIP turns the board around. UNDO takes back your last move (and the robot’s reply).
The game ends by checkmate, a draw (stalemate, repetition, the 50-move rule or too little material) or when a player resigns.
Play with a friend: choose HUMAN GAME and your pieces, press INVITE A PLAYER, then COPY INVITATION and send it to your friend. When your friend presses SIT DOWN, the game starts.
Watching: with the gates open, guests can watch and chat – they can never move, pause or resign. Close the gates and the game is private again.
Play at your own pace – there is no time limit, and nobody loses on time. The QTP chess clock only shows the time played; you can hide it.
Click a piece, then a highlighted square to move it.
Be kind: good chess, good people, good coffee. No insulting names or messages. Someone behaves badly? Use MORE → Report opponent.
NEW GAME (one device or robot) restarts the game with the same settings. In an online game the same button reads RESIGN and gives the game to your opponent. BACK TO SALON returns to the main menu.
TOP VIEW shows the board from above with the clocks, captured pieces and the last moves.
WHO SITS WHERE
In a HUMAN GAME the left buttons say how you look: I AM A WOMAN or I AM A MAN. The right buttons say your colour: I PLAY WHITE or I PLAY BLACK. The side panels then show YOU · WHITE · WOMAN and OPPONENT · BLACK · MAN, with the player names. Guests see only WHITE and BLACK.
Two players, one device (HUMAN GAME → PLAY GAME): your opponent always has the opposite look.
Two devices (INVITE A PLAYER): every player chooses his or her own look. Until the first move you can switch with MORE → CHANGE LOOK.
Every online table has a table number (for example TABLE 1234), shown in the chat header. Players and guests see the same number.
PAUSE
The coffee cup, the clock’s ▶‖ button and the PAUSE button on your panel all stop the game for both players.
Each player then presses READY (“I am back in my seat”). Both of you see who is SEATED and who is AWAY.
When both are seated, either player presses ▶ on the clock and the game goes on. Until then the clocks and moves stay stopped.
If a player disconnects, the game pauses again and he or she must press READY again.
YOUR TABLES
An unfinished game waits for you. WELCOME BACK shows your 5 newest unfinished tables. Need more? Press ARCHIVE.
In the ARCHIVE you can page through the rest, or type a return code into the search box to find one table.
HIDE removes a table only from your lists. Your opponent sees nothing, the game is not ended, and the return code still works. SHOW HIDDEN TABLES brings it back.
DELETE (robot game or one-device game) removes the game from this browser for good.
Robot and one-device games are saved only in this browser: not in a private window and not on another device.
How long a game waits: an unfinished online game is kept for 60 days after the last move or pause of a player (watching does not count). After that it is deleted, together with its chat and return code. A finished game is kept for 30 days. A table nobody sat down at closes after 6 hours.
Your return code (MORE → My return code) brings you back from any device. It looks like S1234-AB: the digits are the table number, the first letter is only decoration, and the last characters are your secret – tell them to nobody. Keep your return link private as well: whoever has it can sit in your seat.
NAME AND GUESTS
Your chess name is shown to everyone at the table. CHANGE NAME is on the HUMAN GAME menu (or in the invitation window). The old name stays reserved for 30 days, a name cannot be changed while you are in an unfinished online game, and old games keep the old name.
Guests may watch and chat only while the gates are open – they can never move, pause or resign. OPEN THE GATES lets guests in (then MORE → Copy watch link); CLOSE THE GATES makes the game private again.
NEED HELP?
The RULES button is always there. Your table buttons (invite, gates, MORE, …) stand in one column at the lower left.
