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How To Enable Premoves on Chess.com

Learn how to enable premoves on Chess.com’s website and mobile app, use and cancel queued moves, understand the five-premove limit and 0.1-second time cost, and troubleshoot disappearing or unexpected premoves.
Length5 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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To enable premoves on Chess.com, turn on Enable Premoves in Settings > All Settings > Gameplay on the website, or in Home > Settings > Play > Live Chess on Android and iOS. Premoves then execute automatically, use 0.1 seconds, and can be queued up to five deep.

Premoving is mainly useful in fast Live Chess games such as Bullet and Blitz. Because Chess.com may execute a legal premove after an unexpected opponent move, premoves should be reserved for moves that remain safe across likely replies.

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Key takeaways

  • On the Chess.com website, enable premoves through Settings > All Settings > Gameplay.
  • In the Android or iOS app, enable premoves through Home > Settings > Play > Live Chess.
  • A premove executes automatically when your turn begins and uses 0.1 seconds of your remaining time.
  • Chess.com allows up to five queued premoves when the moves remain legal.
  • An opponent’s unexpected move can make a premove a blunder, so cancel queued moves when the position changes.

How do I turn on premoves on Chess.com?

To turn on premoves on Chess.com, open the Gameplay settings on the website or the Play > Live Chess settings in the mobile app, then switch on Enable Premoves. The menu path depends on whether you play in a browser or in Chess.com’s Android and iOS apps.

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Website

  1. Open Chess.com and click the Settings gear in the bottom-left corner.
  2. Choose All Settings.
  3. Select Gameplay.
  4. Find Enable Premoves and turn the setting on.

Chess.com’s official instructions place the website premove control under Gameplay settings.

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Android or iOS app

  1. Open the Chess.com app and go to Home.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Choose Play.
  4. Select Live Chess.
  5. Turn on Enable Premoves.

The mobile path is different from the browser path: Chess.com documents the setting under Play > Live Chess in the app.

How do you use a premove during a game?

To use a premove, move one of your pieces during your opponent’s turn as though it were already your turn. Chess.com queues the move, highlights it in red, and plays it automatically when your turn begins. Chess.com describes premoving as making a move before the opponent takes their turn, a technique commonly used in fast Bullet and Blitz games; see the official premove explanation.

A premove does not wait for you to confirm it after the opponent moves. The queued move is sent automatically if the move is still legal, which makes premoves useful for forced recaptures, routine king moves, or other positions where the opponent has very few meaningful replies.

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Can you queue multiple premoves on Chess.com?

Chess.com lets you queue up to five premoves during the opponent’s turn, subject to the moves remaining legal and the feature’s other limitations. Multiple premoves can save time in a forced sequence, but every queued move assumes that earlier moves and the opponent’s reply will produce the expected position.

Platform Where to enable premoves How to cancel a premove
Website Settings gear > All Settings > Gameplay > Enable Premoves Right-click the premoved piece
Android or iOS app Home > Settings > Play > Live Chess > Enable Premoves Tap the premoved piece

How fast are premoves, and how much time do they use?

Each premove uses 0.1 seconds of your remaining time according to Chess.com’s current Help Center documentation. Premoves therefore help most in fast games, where saving time matters, but the time advantage comes with a higher risk of moving automatically before you can reassess the position.

Chess.com’s documented premove limit is up to five queued moves. Chess.com may change exact settings, labels, timing behavior, or limits in future product updates, so the interface should be checked again if you are publishing or following these instructions substantially later than the research date of August 17, 2026.

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Why did a premove disappear or play the wrong move?

A queued premove disappears when the opponent’s move makes that premove illegal; Chess.com cancels an illegal premove automatically. For example, an opponent’s move may capture the piece you intended to move, block the destination square, or otherwise change the position so the queued move can no longer be played legally.

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A legal premove can still be strategically wrong. Chess.com says a premove can execute even when the opponent makes an unexpected move, so an automatic move may become a blunder if the position changes without making the move illegal. Avoid premoving speculative moves, tactical responses, or moves that depend on a particular opponent reply.

If you cannot find the setting, confirm that you are using the correct path: Gameplay on the website, or Play > Live Chess in the mobile app. Premoves belong to Chess.com’s Live Chess gameplay settings, not to a physical chessboard or chess-clock configuration; Chess.com’s Live Chess move documentation provides the related gameplay context.

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How do you turn off premoves on Chess.com?

To turn off premoves on Chess.com, return to the same setting and switch off Enable Premoves: use Settings > All Settings > Gameplay on the website, or Home > Settings > Play > Live Chess in the Android or iOS app.

To cancel a premove that is already queued without disabling the feature, right-click the premoved piece on the website or tap the premoved piece in the app. Canceling is especially important after an opponent makes an unexpected move.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I turn on premoves on Chess.com?

On the website, click the Settings gear, choose All Settings, open Gameplay, and turn on Enable Premoves. In the Android or iOS app, go to Home, tap Settings, choose Play, select Live Chess, and turn on Enable Premoves.

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How do I cancel a premove on Chess.com?

On the Chess.com website, right-click the premoved piece to cancel a queued premove. In the Android or iOS app, tap the premoved piece.

How many premoves can you queue on Chess.com?

Chess.com allows up to five queued premoves, provided the moves remain legal.

Do premoves use time on Chess.com?

Chess.com premoves use 0.1 seconds of your remaining time. A legal premove can still execute after an unexpected opponent move, so premoves can cause blunders.

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The Bottom Line

Enable Enable Premoves in the Gameplay settings on Chess.com’s website or under Play > Live Chess in the mobile app. Use premoves cautiously: each one uses 0.1 seconds, up to five can be queued, and a legal queued move can still execute automatically into a blunder.

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