Chess ¶

Chess is a board game in which your objective is employ smarts and strategy to checkmate your opponent.

Getting Started¶

You can challenge someone to a chess game with /chess challenge.

/chess challenge: Challenge someone to a game of chess.

Option	Type	Description	Limited To	Required	Default
`opponent`	@mention	The player you want to challenge.	Server members	Yes	N/A
`saving`	boolean	Whether to enable game saving.	True/False	No	True

Once you issue your challenge and your opponent accepts, a thread will be created for you to play in.

Game saving? What's that?

At the end of a chess game, 3515.games can give you the option to save a record of that game. You can watch replays of saved games and export them as PGN¹ files (see Replaying Games).

When you save a game, basic information about it, like the usernames of its players and the server it took place in, is stored in a database accessible by 3515.games' developer. Game saving can be disabled on a per-game basis in case this extra information collection makes you uncomfortable.

The game begins after you and your opponent both use /chess ready in the thread.

Playing the Game¶

Making Moves¶

When it's your turn, you can make a move with — you're not gonna believe this — /chess move.

/chess move: Make a move in a chess game.

Option	Type	Description	Limited To	Required	Default
`move`	text	Specify a move using algebraic or UCI notation. If you're confused, leave this blank.	≤4000 characters	No	None

/chess move pulls up an menu where you'll select the piece you want to move and the square you want to move it to. Once you confirm your move, your opponent will do the same, and then you, and then your opponent, and then you, and then your opponent, and then your opponent, and then you, and then duck season, rabbit season, rabbit season, duck season, fire. What were we talking about, again?

Oh, right. So basically, just use /chess move ad nauseam until you win. Or lose. Not my problem. You can remember that much, right?

Moving with notation

As you may have noticed, /chess move has an (optional) option called move. If moving with the menu is too slow for your tastes, you can type an algebraic² or UCI³ notation move into this option and skip all of that hassle. 3515.games understands both notations perfectly and can automatically tell which one you're using. Now you're playing with power!

Viewing the Board¶

You can use /chess board to view the current, past, and future states of the board. Okay, maybe not that last one, but you can definitely view the board at present and the entire move history up to the point you used /chess board.

While browsing through the move history, you can use the buttons to highlight the move made on a particular turn, flip the board to see things from your ~~enemy's~~ opponent's perspective, and choose whether to show or hide the board coordinates. Pretty cool, right?

Giving Up¶

If you feel like you're at a disadvantage and you're ready to throw in the towel, you can do just that with /chess forfeit. This will end the game and award your opponent a win.

If you don't like that, maybe you'd rather opt for /chess draw. /chess draw proposes to your opponent that you both agree its time to wrap things up. If your opponent accepts your offer by using /chess draw themselves, the game will end in a draw. If they don't, well...good luck!

Replaying Games¶

When you finish a game, 3515.games will usually give you the option to save it. But just what happens when you do that?

Enter /chess replay. Use it, pick one your saved games from the menu, and browse through your games move history in a /chess board-like interface. If that wasn't enough, you can even export your games as PGN¹ files! And if that wasn't enough, you can even import PGNs (1) and replay them! The future is now, folks.

You can save up to 25 games at a time. If you save more, your oldest games will be deleted to make room.

They have to be 4000 characters or fewer, though. Blame Discord. 😡

Abbreviation for "Portable Game Notation". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Game_Notation ↩↩
https://www.chess.com/terms/chess-notation ↩
Abbreviation for "Universal Chess Interface". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Chess_Interface ↩