About Chess Checkmate

Chess Checkmate is a free chess website: you can play the computer at ten strength levels, play a friend with a shared link or on one device, solve daily and rated puzzles, analyse any game with the Stockfish engine, and read lessons that take you from the rules to real endgame technique. Nothing requires an account, and your games, settings and puzzle rating are stored only in your own browser.

Who we are

The site is published by Fire Empire LLC, a small independent company based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, which also runs the Chess Checkmate Facts YouTube channel. We are chess players first: the lessons are the material we wish we had been given when we started playing seriously, written in plain language and built around concrete positions rather than vague advice.

How our lessons are made

Every lesson in the Learn section is written for this site. Each diagram position and every move sequence is checked with the open-source chess.js rules library before it is published, so the moves you see are legal and the mates really are mates. Each diagram also has a link to our analysis board, so you can check any claim with Stockfish yourself. Historical facts (players, dates, tournaments) are only included when they are well documented. If you find a mistake, please tell us and we will correct it.

What is on the site

• Play the computer: ten levels from beginner to very strong.
• Play a friend: send a link and play live, peer to peer, or use pass and play with chess clocks.
• Puzzles: a daily puzzle, rated tactics and Puzzle Rush, using positions from the open Lichess puzzle database.
• Analysis board: paste a PGN or FEN and see the engine's best line.
• 37 lessons on openings, tactics, checkmates, endgames, strategy and the practical side of chess.

How the site is funded

Chess Checkmate is free to use. It is supported by advertising (Google AdSense), by a small number of clearly marked affiliate links, and by our chess merch store. Advertisers and affiliate partners have no say in what we write. Details are in our privacy policy and terms of use.

Open-source software

The site is built on open-source projects, including the Stockfish engine, chess.js and the Lichess piece sets and puzzle database. Full attributions and licenses are on the credits page.