Does Chess 3D support all the special moves?

Yes - castling, en passant and pawn promotion are all implemented, along with stalemate, threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule.

Can I play against a friend?

Yes, locally on the same device, as well as against the computer at several strengths.

Yes, in the browser, with no download and no account.

Chess 3D: free to play in your browser

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Classic chess with premium 3D graphics and smart AI.

A highly polished 3D Chess game featuring precise logic and dynamic lighting. Outsmart the CPU or play local multiplayer against your friends.

Free to play, no download, no sign-up. Hosted with ❤ by GamerX.

How to play Chess 3D

Standard chess, on a 3D board you can read at a glance. Click or tap a piece to select it and the squares it can legally reach light up; click one of those to move. All the ordinary rules are implemented, castling, en passant and promotion included, and illegal moves are simply not offered rather than being rejected after the fact. You can play the computer at a range of strengths or hand the device back and forth for a local two-player game. The camera and lighting are there to make the board readable rather than decorative - the pieces are distinguishable by silhouette from the default angle, which is the thing most 3D chess sets get wrong.

Tips

Develop pieces before you attack. Knights and bishops out, king safe, and only then look for something to hit.
Control the centre. The four central squares decide how much of the board your pieces can reach for the rest of the game.
Castle early. It is the cheapest safety you will ever buy, and it connects your rooks at the same time.
Against the computer, avoid early queen raids. It defends them accurately and you lose time you never get back.

About Chess 3D

Chess 3D is a full implementation of the rules with a presentation budget spent on legibility. The hard part of a 3D chess set is not the modelling, it is that a perspective view makes pieces ambiguous - a knight and a bishop at the far end of the board can read as the same object - so the set here is chosen for distinct silhouettes and lit so that pieces cast readable shadows onto their own squares. The move generator handles the whole rule set including the corner cases people forget, and because legal moves are highlighted on selection there is no way to attempt an illegal one. The computer opponent plays a real search rather than a set of heuristics, and offers several strengths.

What you need

Graphics: WebGL, which every browser from the last decade has switched on already
Controls: Touchscreen, or a mouse
On a phone: Yes
Install: Nothing. It runs in this tab.

Questions

Does Chess 3D support all the special moves?: Yes - castling, en passant and pawn promotion are all implemented, along with stalemate, threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule.
Can I play against a friend?: Yes, locally on the same device, as well as against the computer at several strengths.
Is it free?: Yes, in the browser, with no download and no account.