Moving Pieces Online on the Board

Chess pieces have got to be moved on the board to have results in the game. How do we move them when playing chess online? Things may seem complicated on screen with all the instructions and options and graphics, but it's really easier than it seems.

With land-based chess we move pieces by picking them up from a square and moving them to another. With chess online, we click on a piece and put it on another square.

When we click on it the piece sticks to the arrow so we can drag it effortlessly on any square according to its correct move. To place it on a square we click on it again to make it stay there.

Chess pieces online move exactly the same as pieces played on land-based boards. Thus, online, pawns move forward a square at a time and capture pieces diagonally. Rooks move either horizontally or vertically several squares at a time. Knights also do L-shape moves online every direction. Bishops do diagonal moves covering several squares at a time. Queens do horizontal, diagonal, and vertical moves several squares at a time, and kings make a step at a time in any direction.

All pieces except knights cannot jump over or bypass other pieces in their way. Thus, all pieces online except knights are limited in movement by a piece that stands in their way—very much the same as played in land-based chess. But when playing chess online making an illegal move unnoticed is impossible.

In land-based chess it is easy to get away with an illegal move. We may use two turns successively and not be noticed by our opponent. But online, the software easily detects illegal moves and promptly issues a warning that the move was illegal. The software quickly puts the pieces back to their previous locations.

So we should make certain that we move chess pieces correctly each time we do. In some online games, illegal moves deducts from our points. Each win and good move we make earn points but illegal moves and bad moves sometimes deduct from them.

We may fool other players by making our king jump several squares when the opponent is looking the other way, making our king escape a checkmate, but not the computer software. It will quickly report the error and the opponent will surely discover our foible.

To move pieces on the board when playing chess online, we simply click and drag to desired destination—with an ounce of honesty.