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If you’re a regular user of Facebook Messenger, especially on desktop as described in Now Facebook has a Messenger website for your Desktop, then you’re gonna love this latest bit of info.

Turns out you can play Chess in Facebook Messenger! Albeit it just being discovered by the Internet, subreddit /r/chess  had noticed it back in December 2015. Chess aficionados this is sure to make FB Messenger conversations a lot more exciting and entertaining than playing Farmville and Candy Crush.

To play this wonderful strategy game while chatting with your friends, simply type “@fbChess play”. A game will instantly pop up in your conversation and you can start playing with the person you’re chatting with.

Alas, that’s the easy part; making moves is not as simple as using a mouse to drag and drop the prices like most Chess software. You have to be very familiar with the pieces and the references for the rank (horizontal column with numbers) and file (vertical column with letters) location on the board as shown below.

Geezam - How to play the Secret Chess Game in Facebook Messenger - 02-06-2016 LHDEER

Just be clear, however, the code for the Chess pieces (which I assume dear reader, is a game you’re familiar with), are as follows:

  • K is for King
  • Q for Queen
  • B for Bishop
  • N for Knight
  • R for Rook
  • P is for Pawn
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So how exactly do you play Facebook Messenger Chess?

Playing Facebook Messenger Chess – Know your Rank and file

To make a move use the standard algebraic expressions preceded by the command “@fbChess” e.g.  “@fbChess Pe4” moves the pawn to location E4, once it clear and a valid move for that piece.

Pawns occupy a single file, so their moves are as simple as entering the location just before the pawn. In the case of your other pieces, you’ll need to specify the location of the piece as well as where you wish to move it.

For example, if you wish to move the Knight in the B file, which makes an L-shaped move to square D2, the command is as follows: “@fbChess Nbd2”. To take a piece you have to use the notation x e.g. B2xc5 will move your bishop in the second rank to square C5.

Please note that you can use either the rank or file to specify the location of a piece, as they can logically only be one piece at a particular location on the board. In cases where two (2) similar pieces e.g. two (2) Knights, Rooks or Bishops are side by side, you’ll need to specify the full location. Other notable commands include:

  • @fbChess e8=Q – Promotes a pawn reaching E8 to queen
  • @fbChess 0-0-0 – Castle between King and Rook
  • @fbChess resign – Resign or end a match
  • @fbChess stats – Brings up playing stats between you and your friend
  • @fbChess play white – Choose to play White pieces
  • @fbChess play black – Choose to play Black pieces
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If you need help just type “@fbChess help” in the conversation’s text field and a list of commands and instructions will pop out of nowhere to help you.

Not sure about y’all, but if Facebook is planning to replace your smartphone OS with Facebook Messenger in 2016 as predicted in How Facebook Messenger will replace your smartphone in 2016  this is the best way to do it, Gary Kasparov vs Deep Blue Style!

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