How to play
- Goal
- Capture until one chess relic remains; every move must take another piece.
- How it ends
- A chamber is won with one piece left; if no capture remains, Undo or Restart continues the attempt without a loss.
- Record
- Your first solve time is kept for each chamber, and the fastest verified first solve appears with its holder.
- Every piece belongs to you. Select a relic, then tap one of its lit capture targets. Rooks take along a row or column, bishops along a diagonal, queens either way, knights in an L and kings one square in any direction. Pawns capture one square diagonally upward. Sliding pieces cannot pass through another relic. There is no check or move to an empty square. The worked picture shows the real first chamber: the king at B2 takes the knight at C1, leaving a knight still to capture.
- One capture removes one piece and moves the capturer into its square. Keep capturing until one piece remains. If no capture is possible with two or more pieces left, Undo or Restart to try a different path. Every chamber can be replayed from the same starting position.
- The first-solve clock begins when a chamber opens and continues through Undo, Restart and reload. A verified first clear can set the named best time; later clears are practice. All chambers are open from the start.
Controls
| Tap / click a relic | Select it and light the pieces it can capture |
|---|---|
| Tap / click a lit target | Capture that piece and move into its square |
| Arrow keys | Move the board cursor |
| Enter / Space | Select or capture at the focused square |
| Z / Y | Undo / Redo a capture |
| R | Restart the same chamber without resetting the first clock |
| Escape | Clear selection or close a panel |
| Gamepad | D-pad moves the cursor and reaches controls; A selects/captures; B clears or backs out; X/Y undo/redo; Start opens rules |
Tips for Solitaire Chess
- Read the next capture After a candidate move, check which pieces could still take each other.
- Use the lit targets They show legal captures, not which one wins.
- Undo a dead end A stranded pair never ends the attempt; try another branch.
Every chamber has a fixed starting position and exactly one independently enumerated winning capture route. Private proof routes stay out of the browser bundle. Progress uses morass.solitaire-chess.v1; Music and Effects follow the arcade-wide switches. Only the first clear can rank. No ads or analytics run inside the game.
Watch how to play
About Solitaire Chess
In the Moonlit Reliquary, carved chess relics stand on a brass-edged board. Every turn must capture another relic, and one survivor seals the chamber.
Explore 160 fixed chambers across four shelves, from tiny three-piece lessons to six-piece puzzles. Each position has exactly one winning capture sequence, independently checked against every legal route.
Your first clear time stays with its chamber. The named best time appears beside the board and on each chamber card; replays are untimed practice.
