Chess Pane
The chess you know, on boards you don't. Play around a hole in the centre, across a river, on a 5 × 5 or a 10 × 10, with the back row shuffled, or with four armies at once. Then design your own board and share it with a friend.
Same pieces. New ground.
Fifteen Ways to Play Chess
Chess Pane plays classic chess properly: every rule, a computer opponent from beginner to master, clocks, puzzles. Then it takes you somewhere memorised openings can't follow.
Knock four squares out of the middle of the board and the centre pawns are stuck. Run a river across it and the armies can only cross in four places. Shrink the board to 5 × 5, stretch it to 10 × 10, shuffle the back row, or start every pawn a row further up. Play three or four at once on a T- or cross-shaped board, every army for itself or two against two.
Every board comes with a "How it plays" page worked out from the board itself, and the computer plays them all. When you've tried them, make your own: pick the size, paint in gaps and water, set out the pieces, choose the rules, and send it to a friend as a code.
Same Pieces, New Ground
Every board is in the free app, and the computer plays all of them.
🕳 Holes and Water
Hollow centre: the four middle squares are gone. Potholes: four squares missing, e4 and d5 among them, so the usual openings don't work. River: nine rows with water across the middle and only four crossings. Clipped corners: 10 × 8 with the corners cut off. Nothing stands on a gap or water and nothing slides across; knights jump over.
👥 Three and Four Players
Four players on a cross-shaped 14 × 14 board, every army for itself; Three players on a T-shaped board; and Two against two, with partners sitting opposite. A checkmated player is out and their pieces stay as walls; last one standing wins. In Two against two you choose whether a checkmated player's partner plays on or the team loses.
✏️ Your Own Boards
Pick a width and height from 4 to 12, start empty or from any built-in board, paint squares, gaps and water, and set out the pieces, with a mirror switch that copies each change to the other side. Choose the rules: castling, pawns stepping two, what pawns promote to. The engine checks it can be played, and "Try it" opens a game straight away. Share it with a friend as a code.
Classic
The game as everyone knows it: 8 × 8, the usual pieces and rules, castling, en passant, promotion, and draws by stalemate, repetition, the fifty-move rule and too few pieces.
New Starts
Same board, different armies. Shuffled: the back row is shuffled every game, the same for both sides, so opening theory is out. Pawns forward: every pawn starts a row further up. Knights against bishops: White swaps its bishops for knights, Black its knights for bishops.
New Sizes
Tiny (5 × 5, one row of pawns), Mini (6 × 6, no bishops, quick and sharp), Nine files (9 × 8 with a second queen) and Big board (10 × 10 with four knights each and a long way to march).
What It Does
Six real, shipped features — not roadmap copy.
A Computer That Plays Every Board
Six levels, from Beginner (who blunders like a beginner) to Master (who thinks for a few seconds and rarely misses a tactic). It plays every built-in board and every board you make, with you as White, Black or random.
Check My Moves
After a game, the engine goes over every move and marks the mistakes (?) and blunders (??) for both sides. Tap a marked move to see what it cost, then "Show better" for the move it should have been, drawn on the board.
Daily Puzzle and Practice
A new puzzle every day, the same for everyone, with a streak for solving them on the day, and 277 practice mates in one, two or three on twelve different boards. Stuck? The hint shows the piece first, then the move.
Speed Chess
Play without a clock or with one: 1 + 0 bullet up to 30 + 20, with seconds added per move. Each side's first move is free, the clock turns red when time is short, and on one phone you can pause it.
Play a Friend Nearby
Two phones in the same room play over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, no internet needed: host a game, your friend finds it. Offer a draw, ask to take a move back, and carry the game on later from Saved.
Learn As You Play
A "How it plays" page for every board, a hint button that draws the engine's move as an arrow, dots on the squares a piece can reach, and step back through the moves any time without touching the game.
From Opening the App to Your First Move
No account, no sign-up. Open Chess Pane, pick who you're playing and on which board, and you're playing.
Pick Who Plays
Pass and play on one phone, the computer (your colour and its level), or a friend's phone nearby. Add a clock if you like.
Pick a Board
Swipe through Classic, New starts, New sizes, Holes, Three and four players, and Custom. Tap ⓘ on any board to see how it plays.
Play
Tap or drag your pieces. The board turns for whoever is to move in pass and play, and every game saves itself after each move.
Look Back
When it's over, check your moves, share them, or play again. Stats keep your wins, draws and losses, by computer level and by board.
A Look Inside
Real screenshots, captured on an Android emulator — not mockups. They're shown without the ad banner; the stats screen uses sample games.
Chess That Makes You Think Again
Theory Doesn't Reach Here
On a board with a hole in the middle or a river across it, nobody has memorised the first twenty moves. You and your opponent start equal and have to think.
One Engine, Every Board
The rules, the computer, the hints, the puzzles and the move check all come from one engine that understands any board shape, so every board plays properly, including the ones you make.
It Teaches While You Play
A "How it plays" page for every board, hints that show the engine's move, a puzzle hint that shows the piece first, and a check after every game that finds where it turned.
Nothing Leaves Your Phone
No account, no sign-up. Your games, stats and boards stay on the phone. A nearby game talks straight to the other phone. The only thing that goes online is the ad banner that keeps the app free.
Five board colours, and the board set up the way you like it.
Chess Pane is free, with one small banner ad and no account needed. If you'd like to, you can support future TRK Studios apps directly:
The chess engine, boards, puzzles, pictures and sounds were made for Chess Pane. Chess itself belongs to everyone. Android and Google Play are trademarks of Google LLC.