How do I castle on mobile?
Two-finger taps, king-takes-rook, and the king-jump gesture.
Castling on phones works the same as any other move — you move the king two squares toward the rook. The platform handles the rook automatically.
1. Touch and hold your king. 2. Drag it two squares left (queenside) or two squares right (kingside). 3. Release.
The rook jumps to its castled square on its own.
1. Tap your king to select it. 2. Tap the square two squares left or right of the king.
Castling can be blocked for several reasons:
- Your king or that rook has already moved. - A piece is in the way between king and rook. - Your king is in check. - The king would pass through or end on an attacked square.
These are the rules of chess, not bugs — the board will simply refuse the move.
On learning surfaces (vs Dawn, puzzles, lessons) you can enable Show legal moves :
1. Open Settings. 2. Go to the Preferences tab. 3. Under Appearance & Gameplay , turn on Show legal moves .
When you tap your king, every legal destination — including the castling square — appears as a dot.
Rated PvP and tournaments : legal-move dots are always off in rated games against other players, regardless of this setting. This is intentional.
- How do I promote a pawn? - How do I change the board theme or piece set?
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