If you’re an occasional chess player but don’t own a chess set at home, chances are you’ve tried using mobile apps to play either against a computer or other players online. But did you know that for a month now, you can actually play chess against your Facebook friends through its Messenger app? There wasn’t any big announcement but some users have already spotted it the last month or so and yes, it really does work and hopefully, it will stay for good.
But it’s not an app that you can install on your Messenger. You actually need to type the “secret code” (which won’t be secret anymore of course) @fbchess play in order to start the game against an opponent. You will see a chess board pop up and this means a game is afoot (or a table?). However, the bad news is that you will need to type out text commands in order to make your moves and you don’t have any drag and drop play here.
You use Standard Algebraic Notation to move the pieces: P is pawn, N is knight, B is bishop, R is rook, Q is queen and K is king. So the code would be something like “@fbchess Pb4” if you wanted to move your pawn. There are also other commands like “@fbchess draw offer” if you think neither of you can make any more moves, “@fbchess undo” if you made a mistake, “@fbchess resign” if you want to quit, and many other commands that you can see if you type in “@fbchess help”.
You probably won’t expect any big announcement about this simple feature, but that won’t stop us from wishing that Facebook would do a drag and drop version soon. Try out the not-so-secret codes when you use your Messenger.
VIA: Mashable
