How to play Sky Chess

Sky Chess is classic chess against the computer — with aircraft for pieces. Your king is a jumbo jet with a little crown, the queen a stealth fighter, the rooks flying-wing bombers, the bishops fighter jets, the knights attack helicopters and the pawns propeller fighters. They move exactly like chess pieces: tap one of your aircraft, then the square it should fly to.

Three levels

Beginner is a forgiving opponent for learning the game: it shows your legal moves and offers hints. Intermediate sees common threats and plans ahead. Expert is a strong chess engine thinking deeply on every move. Choose to fly White and move first, Black, or let the toss decide. Beginner is free for everyone; Intermediate and Expert come with a Premium account.

Weekly leaderboard

Sign in with a free account before you play and every game you win or draw is scored: the stronger the AI, the more points — a quick win and material ahead add a bonus, and undos and hints take some off. Your best game goes on this week’s leaderboard and the all-time one.

Full chess rules

Check, checkmate and stalemate, castling, en passant and pawn promotion all work as in real chess. Draws come by stalemate, when neither side can checkmate any more, by threefold repetition or the fifty-move rule (which you can claim), and automatically at fivefold repetition or seventy-five moves. Your game is saved on your device, so you can come back to it later.

More games

Sky Chess is part of the Fun Zone of the ATC Radar Simulator, where you control real arrivals on a radar scope. Try Runway Madness, Flappy Pilot and the ATC card maker too.