If you regularly use Facebook Messenger to communicate with your friends and co-workers, you wI’ll be glad to know that it now has more to it than just a way of sending text and media content. The widely used Facebook Messenger comes with a secret and hidden game of chess that you can play with your Facebook contacts.
While you may not see Facebook promoting this game or even giving you a hint that a game actually exists in your messenger, the game has been uncovered by many tech sources. The following guide shows how you can go about playing this game with your friends in Messenger.
Enabling the Hidden Chess Game in Facebook Messenger
You do not need a third-party app or anything like that to unhide the game; all you need to do is fire-up a command, and it will activate the game for you.
1. Launch a conversation with a friend you would like to play the game with.
2. When the conversation panel opens, send them a message that says “@fbchess play” (without quotes), and the game of chess will begin.
3. As soon as you send the above message to your friend, the conversation window will immediately show you the chess board to play the game.
It will also tell you whose move it is; making a move is not as difficult as you may think. For instance, if you wish to move the Queen, simply use the letter Q, and the tile where you want to move it to. To move the Queen to B4 tile, use the following command:
@fbchess Qb4
Similarly, you can move the other pieces you wish by using the first letter of the piece’s name and the location of the tile you want to move them to.
If you would like to maximize the chess board, then you can do so by clicking on the Settings icon in the chat window and selecting the “See Full Conversation” option. That should help you get a little larger view of the game.
While many of us may not be experts in making a chess move, Facebook also helps you with that by letting you view the full information about how you can make a move. You can get access to that helpful information by typing in the command “@fbchess help” (again, without quotes), and that should show you all the related information about the secret game you are playing.
If things are not working well and you wish to offer a draw, you can do so by sending in the command “@fbchess draw offer” and the opponent will receive your request. Lastly, if you do not want to play the game anymore and wish to resign, then send in the command “@fbchess resign.”
Conclusion
If you happen to have friends who are always ready to play games with you, the above is a nice way to challenge them to a chess game on Facebook Messenger.
Mahesh Makvana is a freelance tech writer who’s written thousands of posts about various tech topics on various sites. He specializes in writing about Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android tech posts. He’s been into the field for last eight years and hasn’t spent a single day without tinkering around his devices.
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