Best Free Chess Games to Play in the Browser

Chess is one of the few genres where the browser is genuinely the best place to play. WebAssembly engines run a near-grandmaster opponent on any laptop. The move set is unambiguous, the game state fits in a URL, and saving a game in progress is trivial. The chess picks below run instantly without a signup, support adjustable AI strength, and let you save mid-game.

Beyond straight chess, the picks include puzzle modes (mate-in-N, tactical positions), opening trainers, and a couple of variants — chess960, three-check, atomic — for when you've grown bored of the standard rules. A few support two-player local play if you want to share a laptop.

All HTML5, all free, all instant-play. If you've been meaning to learn chess properly, picking one of these and playing five games against the easy AI is the right way in.