Did you know that Facebook has been hiding a function in Messenger that allows you to do more than just send private messages and make calls? It has been revealed that you can also play a friendly game of chess within the app and it just takes one simple step to unlock the feature.

As reported on BetaNews, all you need to do to play chess is type a phrase in Facebook Messenger during a conversation and a chess board will appear.

Follow the instructions below to unlock the chess game feature and get started on this ancient game of war strategy.

Type @fbchess play in a conversation in Facebook Messenger to bring up a new game and your friend will be able to make the first move.

The following characters allow you to select a piece on the board:

K – King

Q – Queen

B – Bishop

N – Knight (afterall, the “k” is silent)

R – Rook

P – Pawn

The rows and columns of the chess board are labeled with letters and numbers. To move a piece, determine the letter and number of the square you want to move to.

For instance, to start the game, your friend might want to make an assault on you by moving the fifth Pawn directly into enemy territory.

They would have to type the following:

@fbchess Pd3

"P" indicates that the Pawn will move and d3 shows where that Pawn will be placed.

Of course, if your friend makes this particular move, you can very easily take it out of the game by moving your own Pawn in for the kill.

If you need more Facebook Chess tips, you can also type @fbchess help.

Sure it's not as flashy or sophisticated as other chess game apps out there, but it's pretty nifty and hassle-free since most people already have Messenger installed in their mobile phones anyway.

Photos: Don Juan Triunfante | Flickr