How to solve the chess puzzle in Destiny 2

The chess puzzle in Destiny 2 is just the first piece in an all-consuming puzzle the Destiny community is rapidly trying to solve ahead of the The Edge of Fate expansion reveal for Destiny 2 on May 6. 

If you don’t complete this chess puzzle, released in the twilight of the “Heresy” episode, you can’t help the community solve the larger picture. So we’re here to help explain it and give you the answers you need to find the solution — and we’ll help you get some great Heresy weapons along the way.

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll walk you through how to start the chess puzzle, explain how the puzzle works, and show you how to solve the chess puzzle.

How to reach the chess board in Destiny 2

To reach the chess puzzle in Destiny 2, you need to load into Eris’ apartment in The Last City. Use the Eris’ Flat waypoint to drop in and then use the Hive portal to teleport into Eris’ Throne World.

Once inside, carefully drop off the side of the platform, looking for a doorway that leads to a chamber under where Eris is standing. You’ll find a chess board sitting on the table. When you approach, it’ll ask: “Pick up the King?” Interact with the board and you’ll be teleported onto it.

When you land on the chess board, you’ll unlock the ability to fly in at any time via The Last City menu, using the Unknown Antechamber waypoint either at Middlegame (before you’ve completed the puzzle) or Endgame (where you can collect information to help the community after the puzzle).

HoHowever, to actually solve the puzzle, you’ll first need to find all 60 chess pieces hidden around the Sol system. For the exact locations, we recommend you check out Esoterickk’s video above, which will show you exactly where to find all 60 chess pieces. If you want to have some fun hunting yourself first, keep an eye on your radar as you do the following:

• Visit Eris’ apartment
• Visit The Tower
• Visit the EDZ
• Visit Europa
• Explore the first four areas of The Nether
• Solve “secrets” in The Nether
• Explore the Court of Blades
• Experiment with the Path of Ambition and Path of Resolve
• Speak to The Drifter

You can track your progress via “The Opening” Triumph, and the Triumphs that come after it (“Drifter’s Pieces,” “Nether Secrets,” and so on).

Once you’ve found all the pieces — or you’re able to party up with a friend who’s found them already — return to the chess board to begin the puzzle.

How the chess puzzle works in Destiny 2

In the Unknown Antechamber, you’ll see a massive chess board with pieces on it, as well as symbols on the white side of the board denoting the various pieces you’ve collected, including the “Deletion” and “Take” symbols on either side (more on those last two later).

The idea here is that you need to create a board where, on the next turn, you (white) will win the chess game by achieving checkmate on the enemy (black) without putting your own king into checkmate.

To achieve checkmate, you’re able to use the pieces you’ve collected by standing on their symbol pillar and then shooting the place on the board where you’d like them to appear. The first puzzle, for example, is solved by standing on the pawn pillar and shooting a pawn to the position just back and to the left or right of the white queen — which is straight ahead of the black king. 

That’s simple enough if you understand the rules of chess (which is mandatory for this puzzle, so brush up on the rules if you can’t remember), but it definitely gets more complicated as you go. Remember, this isn’t just chess — it’s Destiny chess.

In addition to placing pieces, you can also destroy pieces — either your own or the black pieces — with “Deletion” or you can “Take” pieces, which turns the black enemy pieces into white ally pieces. The other catch here, and what makes this puzzle quite difficult, is that you must complete 27 chess puzzles (of varying complexity) with the 60 chess pieces you’ve collected. This means you must be extremely efficient with the pieces you use and be mindful of when you use them.

Before you get started, here are two quick tips as you’re trying to solve the chess puzzle: 

1. ,The board is labeled like a standard chess board, with A-H on the bottom side of the board and 1-8 on the left. Use this to keep track of which pieces you use and when and where you use them.
2. While standing on one of the pillars that allows you to place a piece, you can aim with your weapons to make the chess pieces dissolve and instead show their symbol on the board’s floor. This makes placing pieces on a crowded board much easier.

We recommend you try a few boards on your own, as these big Destiny puzzles don’t come around very often. (The last one this size was way back in early 2020!) If you mess up a move, you can undo it via the green computer-thing at the back of the room. If you mess up a lot, you can interact with the book behind you to start over. And when you’re ready for a step-by-step move walkthrough, check out the section below.

What is the solution to the chess puzzle in Destiny 2

One of the cool parts about this puzzle is that it can technically be completed in multiple different ways, and not every successful solution will require the same number or types of pieces. You may even have moves left over, depending on what you choose.

The answers we’ll list out below are those discovered by friend of Polygon Skarrow9, a Destiny YouTuber known among the game’s community for solving puzzles. You can see his video above, or check out another puzzle source like Datto if you want another set of moves to try.

You can read the following moveset by following the piece or action (Pawn) followed by “to” and the board space (C-3). Some puzzles require multiple steps, which will be broken up by commas. You’ll know you completed the puzzle correctly when “Absolute Pin” appears on the left side of your screen. We’ve also denoted when you’ll receive rewards as you solve the puzzles.

1. Pawn to E-6
2. Rook to H-8
3. Pawn to E-5 (Heresy weapon reward)
4. Pawn to E-4, Pawn to F-4, Knight to D-4
5. Knight to D-5, Pawn to E-6
6. Pawn to D-1 (Heresy weapon reward)
7. Pawn to F-4, Pawn to D-7, Bishop to E-5, Knight to G-7
8. Knight to C-6, Rook to D-2
9. Deletion to F-6 (Heresy weapon reward)
10. Knight to D-7, Pawn to E-4, Bishop to F-5
11. Pawn to C-6, Pawn to E-6, Pawn to D-7
12. Take to E-4 (Heresy weapon reward)
13. Bishop to E-5
14. Pawn to B-7, Pawn to F-7, Knight to H-8,
15. Knight to D-7, Knight to E-7 (Heresy Adept weapon reward)
16. Destroy to F-2, Knight to F-2
17. Take to C-3, Take to E-7
18. Bishop to C-5, Knight to D-3, Knight to F-5 (Heresy weapon reward)
19. Deletion to D-7, Deletion to E-2
20. Bishop to E-8
21. Bishop to E-2 (Heresy weapon reward)
22. Knight to E-5
23. Knight to E-3
24. Deletion to D-5, Knight to C-4, Knight to H-3, Pawn to B-6, Pawn to B-7 (Heresy weapon reward)
25. Bishop to D-2, Deletion to E-4, Deletion to H-4, Queen to D-7, Take to F-5
26. Knight to B-4, Queen to E-7, Bishop to D-5
27. Take to F-5, Take to E-3, Take to D-6, Take to C-4 (two Heresy Adept weapon rewards)

With puzzle 27 solved, you’ll have completed the initial chess puzzle and can join the community in figuring out what comes next.

What to do with the information you get at the end of the chess puzzle

When you solve the final chess puzzle in Destiny 2, you’ll unlock a bowl of water that you can peer into on the right side of the board, allowing you to see a strange chess board with symbols all around it and — potentially — a color in the middle. You’ll also see a signal number denoted on the left side of your screen.

This is a community-wide puzzle, where players need to come together and share their images together to make a code. Players have already spent hours submitting to this big form, and this special website, which has led the community to a new Bungie-made code input. This code hasn’t been fully cracked yet, so you can still submit your findings to the links above to help the community solve the Aion Network v4.2.4 puzzle. 

It’s currently unclear where this puzzle will eventually lead (or what the reward will be), but once there is a solution, we’ll publish a new guide and link to it here. For now, you can use the JGN-PX4-DFN code at Bungie.net (or follow this link to auto-complete the code) to unlock the Secret Signal emblem that players have already found hidden in the Aion Network puzzle.

If you’re looking to help follow along and contribute, you can follow creators like Skarrow9, FalloutPlays, Datto, MrRoflWaffles, BogOnMyDog, and subreddits like r/raidsecrets for updates.