Chess Guide — How to Play Satranç

This guide summarises the rules used in North Sultan: Satranç. The game follows the Laws of Chess of the International Chess Federation (FIDE); the few extra rules that online play needs (automatic draws, clocks, disconnections and aborted games) are set out separately below. The rules are enforced automatically and equally for everyone by our server; an illegal move cannot be made, the app only lets you play moves that are allowed. The game is for entertainment only: virtual chips have no monetary value and nothing of real-world value can be won. North Sultan: Satranç uses the same North Sultan account as North Sultan: 101 Okey and North Sultan: Batak; for their rules see the Game Guide and the Batak Guide. The Turkish version of this guide is Satranç Rehberi.

1. Board, pieces and set-up

• Chess is played by two players on a board of 8 × 8 = 64 squares. The files are named a to h, the ranks 1 to 8.
• Each player has 16 pieces: 1 King (Şah), 1 Queen (Vezir), 2 Rooks (Kale), 2 Bishops (Fil), 2 Knights (At) and 8 Pawns (Piyon). In the North Sultan world the King is drawn as the palace Sultan, the Rook as an Ottoman fortress and the Pawn as a janissary; the shapes of the pieces stay those of classic chess pieces.
• The light pieces are White, the dark pieces Black. White sets up on ranks 1 and 2, Black on ranks 7 and 8; each Queen starts on a square of her own colour. The bottom-right corner square (h1) is light.
• Colours are assigned by the server at the start of the game. White moves first; the players then move in turn. The board is always shown with your own pieces at the bottom.
• In the English app the move list uses the English letters K, Q, R, B and N; in the Turkish app Ş, V, K, F and A. Pawn moves have no letter.

2. How the pieces move

• Apart from the Knight, no piece may pass over an occupied square. A piece that moves onto a square occupied by an enemy piece captures it; the captured piece is removed from the board.
• A move that leaves or puts your own King in check is not allowed.

3. Special moves

1. Castling: the King moves two squares towards one of its Rooks and that Rook jumps to the square the King crossed. Castling on the King's side is short castling (O-O), on the Queen's side long castling (O-O-O). Castling is allowed only if all of the following hold: neither the King nor that Rook has moved during the game; all squares between them are empty; the King is not in check and neither the square it crosses nor the square it lands on is attacked by the opponent. It does not matter whether the square the Rook crosses is attacked.
2. En passant: if a pawn advances two squares from its starting square and lands right next to an enemy pawn, the enemy pawn may capture it diagonally as if it had advanced only one square. This right exists only on the very next move.
3. Promotion: a pawn that reaches the last rank is replaced, as part of the same move, by a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight of the same colour; the choice is yours and promotion is compulsory. The app shows the four pieces with the Queen pre-selected.

4. Check, checkmate and stalemate

• A King attacked by an enemy piece is in check. A player in check must get out of check with their next move (by moving the King, capturing the attacking piece or blocking the attack).
• If the player in check has no move that gets out of check, it is checkmate and the player who gave mate wins.
• If the player to move is not in check but has no legal move, it is stalemate and the game is a draw.

5. Draws

The game is drawn in the following cases:

1. Stalemate (see section 4).
2. Threefold repetition: when the same position (the same pieces on the same squares, the same player to move, the same castling and en passant rights) occurs for the third time, the game is drawn automatically; you do not need to claim it.
3. 50-move rule: if both players have each made 50 consecutive moves without any capture and without moving a pawn, the game is drawn automatically. If the move that reaches this limit gives checkmate, the checkmate stands.
4. Insufficient material: if neither side can possibly checkmate, the game is drawn at once: King against King; King and one Bishop against King; King and one Knight against King; King and Bishop against King and Bishop with both Bishops on squares of the same colour.
5. Agreement: once both players have made at least one move you may offer your opponent a draw; no offer can be made before that. If your opponent accepts, the game is drawn; if they decline, play continues. If your opponent makes a move without answering, the offer lapses.

6. Clocks

• Each player has their own clock; only the clock of the player to move is running. When you make your move your clock stops and the per-move increment is added to it.
• Time controls:

• The server keeps the clocks; the clock on your screen is corrected to the server's. Your clock keeps running while your connection is lost.
• A player whose time runs out loses. However, if their opponent does not have enough material to checkmate (only a King, or a King with a single Bishop or Knight), the game is a draw.

7. Ways to play and virtual chips

• In the lounges the stake per player is 500, 2,500, 10,000, 50,000 or 250,000 virtual chips (Kahvehane, Kapalıçarşı, Saray Bahçesi, Has Oda, Divan-ı Hümayun). To sit in a lounge you need at least 10 times the stake in your balance. Has Oda is open to female players and VIP members.
• In a staked game both players' stakes form the pot. The winner receives the pot after the table fee (5% for regular members, 3% for VIP members) is deducted. If the opponent is the computer, the game covers its stake.
• If the game is drawn or aborted (see section 8), both stakes are refunded without any fee.
• Same opponent again: the 4th and every further staked game between the same two accounts within 24 hours counts as unstaked: stakes are refunded, Elo ratings do not change and no tournament points are scored. This rule prevents collusion and chip passing.
• Virtual chips have no monetary value, cannot be cashed out and cannot be transferred between players. Your chip balance is shared across all North Sultan games.

8. Resigning, leaving, disconnections and aborted games

• You may resign at any time; the player who resigns loses.
• A player who leaves the table, or who does not come back within 45 seconds after losing their connection, loses the game. Your clock keeps running while you are disconnected.
• Aborted games: a game that ends (by resignation, leaving or time running out) before either player has made 2 moves is aborted: stakes are refunded, Elo ratings do not change, and the game does not count towards statistics or tournaments.

9. Computer opponents

• In practice games your opponent is the computer at the level you choose (Easy, Medium, Hard).
• On public tables (Quick Play and lounges), if no other player is waiting, the empty seat may be filled after about 6 seconds with a computer-controlled player ("bot") so that players do not have to wait long. To keep the atmosphere of the table, bots are not individually labelled.
• Bots play by the same rules and with the same clock; they know only the position on the board and cannot influence the result in any other way.
• Computer opponents have fixed Elo ratings (Easy 800, Medium 1300, Hard 1700) that do not change with results; your own rating is calculated against that fixed rating.
• Bots never win anything of real value; chips won by a bot are not transferred to any real person but leave the game. Bots are not used to push players towards purchases.

10. Elo rating, leaderboard and tournaments

• Everyone starts with an Elo rating of 1200. Your rating changes only in games on public tables (Quick Play and lounges) that are played to the end; practice games, private games, aborted games and games that count as unstaked (see section 7) do not change it.
• After a game your rating is updated by the difference between your actual result (win 1, draw ½, loss 0) and the result expected from the two ratings: new rating = old rating + K × (result − expected result), where expected result = 1 / (1 + 10^((opponent's rating − your rating) / 400)). K is 40 for your first 30 rated games and 20 after that. The result is rounded to the nearest whole number.
• The leaderboard (Sıralama) ranks players by Elo rating. The weekly league and level/XP are shared on your North Sultan account.
• Tournaments: the Daily Chess Cup (Günlük Satranç Kupası) and the Weekly Chess League (Haftalık Satranç Ligi). Tournament points come only from public, staked games played to the end (3 points for a win, 1 point otherwise). Prizes are only virtual chips and cosmetic digital items: Tournament Rules.

11. Chat, voice chat and cosmetics

• Table chat is relayed only to the players at that table. Everyone in voice chat can listen; speaking is a VIP feature; voice chat is never recorded. Rules: Community Guidelines.
• Cosmetic items such as chess boards and piece sets, and the frames shared by all games, only change appearance; they do not affect the rules or the result of a game.

12. Fair play

The server runs the game; every move is checked against the rules on the server and nobody can influence the result from outside. When playing on public tables, using a chess engine, analysis software or help from another person, collusion (e.g. losing on purpose, passing rating points or chips) and chip dumping are prohibited; if detected, results and ratings may be corrected and the account may be restricted: Terms of Use, Community Guidelines.

Questions: [email protected] · Support