Crea una regla
- Inventar, predecir, probar
- Ages 10 and up
- About 10 minutes
The story behind it
Every chess piece was invented by somebody, and the rules were changed many times before they settled. Here you invent one yourself. Then the lab examines every possible position — about half a million — to tell you whether your piece, with its king, can force checkmate.
Read the full story: The machine that counted →How to play
- Tap the squares your piece may jump to. Add slides if you like.
- Press “Test my piece”.
- Read the three results, change the piece, and test again.
Levels
For teachers and coaches
Build a rule — Invent, predict, test
Ages 10 and up · about 10 minutes · 8by8verse Chess Lab
What it teaches
The scientific habit: make a prediction, test it, change one thing, test again.
The story to tell first
Every chess piece was invented by somebody, and the rules were changed many times before they settled. Here you invent one yourself. Then the lab examines every possible position — about half a million — to tell you whether your piece, with its king, can force checkmate.
Three questions to ask
- Before you pressed Test, what did you expect? Were you right?
- You changed one jump and the result flipped. What does that tell you?
- A bishop cannot force checkmate but a rook can. What can the rook do that the bishop cannot?
Without a screen
Pupils draw their invented piece’s move on squared paper and give it a name. Play a short game where each side swaps one knight for the new piece.
Siguiente
Finish
Hint
Step back
Start again
Play again
Next level
Back to the lab
Right.
Not quite.
Not yet — have another go.
Question {n} of {total}
{right} out of {total} right.
Three stars. Clean work.
Two stars. Well played.
One star. Level done.
king
queen
rook
bishop
knight
pawn
Mission: build a piece that reaches exactly 8 squares from the middle of the board.
Mission: build a piece that can never leave the colour it starts on.
Mission: build a piece that can force checkmate with its king — using jumps only, no slides.
Mission: build the weakest piece you can that still forces checkmate. Fewer squares is better.
Tap the squares your piece may jump to. Ashta copies each jump in every direction.
Slides in straight lines
Slides diagonally
Test my piece
Give your piece at least one move first.
From the middle it reaches {n} squares. From the corner, {m}.
It can get to every square on the board.
It can only ever get to {n} of the 64 squares.
It never leaves its own colour.
Testing every position against a lone king… {n}
With its king it can force checkmate — never more than {n} moves.
It can force checkmate only from some positions: about {p} in every 100.
With its king it cannot force checkmate. The lone king always gets away.
A good piece — but the mission is not done yet. Change it and test again.
Exactly 8 squares from the middle.
Your piece is tied to one colour for ever, like a bishop.
A jumping piece that forces checkmate. Nobody told you which one — you found it.
It forces checkmate while reaching only {n} squares from the middle.