Chess for beginners is mostly about one thing: not giving pieces away. Against a computer there is no clock and nobody watching, so it is a good place to build habits. This guide gives you a short plan for your first games, a check to run before every move, and a way to decide when to raise the difficulty.
Start with a game you can finish
Pick the lowest difficulty and play one full game before changing anything. Ultimate Chess asks for a difficulty in its Player vs AI mode before move one, and Easy is the forgiving place to rehearse good habits. Another Chess 3D also offers Easy, Medium and Hard, on the standard 8x8 board with standard rules.
Both games show where a selected piece can go, so illegal moves are not your problem. Your problem is choosing moves that are safe, and that is what the rest of this page covers.
An opening checklist for the first ten moves
Opening advice from most coaching sites agrees on the same few ideas. Treat them as guidelines, not laws, but follow them until you know why you would break them.
- Take space in the middle. Push one of the two central pawns (the pawn in front of the king or the queen) two squares. Central pawns give your pieces room.
- Bring out knights, then bishops. Develop each minor piece once. Knights usually go toward the center, such as the squares in front of the bishops.
- Castle early. Move the king two squares toward a rook, which tucks the king away and brings the rook into play. Neither piece may have moved before, the squares between them must be empty, and the king cannot start in check, cross an attacked square or land on one.
- Keep the queen at home. A queen that comes out early is chased by knights and bishops, and you lose time retreating.
- Do not move the same piece twice without a reason. The reason can be a real threat: if your bishop is attacked, deal with it.
- Avoid edge pawn moves. A pawn push on the far left or right file does little for development or the center.
Sources disagree on how long the opening lasts. Some say about ten moves, others say it ends when all your minor pieces are developed and your king is safe. The second answer is more useful, because it tells you what to do rather than when to stop.
The three blunders that lose most beginner games
Leaving a piece where it can be captured for free
This is the big one. A piece is loose if nothing of yours protects it. Before ending a turn, glance at each of your pieces and ask what the opponent can take.
Capturing a defended pawn with a valuable piece
Imagine your knight can take a pawn, but a second pawn stands behind it. You win one pawn and lose the knight, which is worth about three. In Another Chess 3D, red dots mark enemy pieces you can take, yet a dot sitting on a defended pawn may cost you a knight for a single pawn. Always check what could recapture first.
Ignoring a check or a threat to the king
When your king is in check, you have exactly three answers: take the piece giving check, put something in its path, or step the king aside. When none is possible the game is over by checkmate. Beginners also forget that a pinned piece, one standing between its king and an attacker, may not be free to move.
A three-question check before every move
This takes ten seconds and removes most of the blunders above.
- What did my opponent's last move attack?
- Is any of my pieces unprotected?
- After my move, can the opponent capture something, and would I be able to take back?
A computer notices short tactics reliably, so assume it will take whatever you leave loose, on any level above the lowest.
Climbing from Easy to Medium to Hard
A simple test for moving up: once a whole game on one level passes with no piece handed over for free, try the next level. Ultimate Chess points to Medium and Hard for the stage when you stop leaving pieces unprotected.
| Level | What to aim for |
|---|---|
| Easy | Practice the checklist. On Another Chess 3D, Easy sometimes leaves its own pieces loose, which gives you room to learn how pieces cooperate. |
| Medium | Expect the computer to contest the center and go after a king left exposed. Castle early. |
| Hard | Expect it to look several moves ahead, and to defend against early queen attacks. Rushing out your queen gets nowhere. |
If a level feels impossible, drop back down. Winning a few games at a lower level teaches more than losing ten at a higher one.
What to do after a loss
Skip the final move before checkmate. Hunt instead for the first turn where your position started to slip. It often sits well back in the game, for instance a piece parked on a square the opponent could attack. Ultimate Chess keeps a move history you can go back over, which makes this easy: step back through it, find the turn where something was left loose, and make a note.
Its Restart button starts a fresh game with the same mode and difficulty, so you can test your fix at once.
Simple goals for the endgame
- Keep your king safe in the middlegame, then bring it toward the center once queens are off.
- Protect a pawn that is close to the far rank. A pawn reaching the last rank is promoted, which can swing the game.
- If you are far ahead, leave the lone enemy king at least one legal move. Stalemate is a draw.
Questions beginners ask about playing the computer
How many openings do I need to learn?
None to begin with. The checklist above works as a first plan. Names and move orders become useful once you notice the same positions turning up.
Why does the computer always capture my loose pieces?
Spotting free material is easy for a program. Making sure nothing is free is the habit you are training.
Can I play a person instead?
Yes. Both games have a two-player option on one device. If you want something different afterward, Turkish Draughts uses the same 64 squares with pieces that move straight, and the board games and strategy pages list more.