Play against Pikafish
One click starts a game. You get a colour, a clock, and Pikafish on the other side, searching three million positions a move. No account needed.
Three million positions a move is a lot. Below Pikafish sits an eight-level ladder of Fairy-Stockfish bots, level 1 for someone who learned the moves this week, level 8 close to the top. Every level has a measured rating from playing the others, anchored at 1500 to an engine that picks random legal moves.
| Opponent | Rating on the ladder |
|---|---|
| Fairy-Stockfish level 1 | 1637 |
| Fairy-Stockfish level 4 | 1922 |
| Fairy-Stockfish level 8 | 2304 |
| Pikafish | 2334 |
Pick one from the play menu, win a few games there, and move up.
Pikafish at jieqi
Jieqi is xiangqi with every piece face-down. The engine here is PikaJieQi, our build of Pikafish for the hidden game, and it gets the same face-down board you do: a test fails the build if a piece identity ever leaks into what it is sent. Jieqi on Mistboard covers the rest.
Game review, built for xiangqi and for flip games
Every finished xiangqi game on the site can be sent for review. Pikafish runs over it on the server, and the move list shows where the evaluation moved, what it preferred instead, and which moves lost the game. The post-game review chess players are used to, for xiangqi.
For banqi, jieqi and flip jungle the review does something no chess review needs: it prices every flip, so you see what you chose apart from what you drew. Separating skill from luck explains how.
The analysis board is for a position you set up yourself. It runs Pikafish in your browser at full strength, on its own net, so nothing you analyze leaves your machine. The net is 51 MB and downloads once.
Questions
- Can I play Pikafish online?
- Yes, here, in the browser. One click on the Pikafish page starts a game against it; the play menu offers eight easier levels.
- Is it free?
- Yes. Playing, the ladder, jieqi, game review and the analysis board are all free. An account is optional.
- Do I need to download anything?
- No. The game runs in the page. On a phone, open the site in the browser and play.
- How strong is it?
- The Pikafish bot searches three million positions a move, about four seconds, on the server. That is beyond any human. The ladder above it goes down to a level a beginner can beat.
- Does the jieqi engine see my hidden pieces?
- No. It receives the same face-down board you see, and the deal is known to nobody, not you, not the engine, not your opponent.