The Rules of Chess
Everything you need to know to sit down and play — from board setup to the special moves most beginners miss. All rules illustrated with animated diagrams.
1. The board and starting setup
The chessboard has 64 squares in an 8×8 grid. Columns are files (a–h, left to right from White) and rows are ranks (1–8, nearest to White = 1). Place the board with a light square in the bottom-right corner. Each player starts with 16 pieces: 1 king · 1 queen · 2 rooks · 2 bishops · 2 knights · 8 pawns. White moves first.
Queen on her own colour · king beside her · pawns fill the second rank
2. Objective
The goal is to checkmate the opponent's king — place it under attack with no legal escape. The king may never move to a square under attack. If the king is in check with no legal move to remove it, the game ends immediately: the attacking player wins.
3. How the pieces move
A piece may not move to a square occupied by a friendly piece. It captures an enemy by moving to its square and removing it. Only the knight may jump over pieces.
Rook · any distance, straight only
Bishop · any distance, diagonals · stays one colour
Queen · rook + bishop combined
Knight · L-shape · jumps over pieces · always changes colour
King · one square any direction · never moves into check
Pawn · forward one (two first move) · captures diagonally
4. Special move: Castling
Once per game the king and a rook may castle — both move in a single turn. The king moves two squares toward the rook; the rook jumps to the square the king passed through.
Castling is illegal if:
• The king or rook has moved previously.
• Any square between them is occupied.
• The king is currently in check.
• The king passes through or lands on an attacked square.
5. Special move: En passant
When a pawn advances two squares on its first move and lands beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had only moved one square — moving diagonally to the square it passed through. This must be done immediately or the right is lost permanently.
6. Special move: Pawn promotion
When a pawn reaches the far end of the board it must be replaced immediately by a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same colour. You may have two queens. Players almost always choose the queen.
7. Check, checkmate, and stalemate
Check: the king is under direct attack. The player must move the king, block the attack, or capture the attacker. No other move is legal.
Checkmate: the king is in check with no escape — game over, the checkmated player loses.
Stalemate: no legal move and the king is not in check — the game is a draw. The most common trap beginners fall into.
8. How a game ends
| Ending | Winner | When |
|---|---|---|
| Checkmate | Attacker | King in check with no escape |
| Resignation | Opponent | Player concedes voluntarily |
| Timeout | Opponent* | Clock expires (*if sufficient mating material) |
| Stalemate | Draw | No legal move, not in check |
| Threefold repetition | Draw | Same position three times |
| Fifty-move rule | Draw | 50 moves each with no pawn move or capture |
| Agreement | Draw | Both players agree to draw |
9. Piece values
10. Algebraic notation
Every square is named by file (a–h) + rank (1–8). Moves: piece letter + destination. Pawn letter is omitted.
e4 — pawn to e4Nf3 — knight to f3Bxe5 — bishop captures e5O-O — kingside castleO-O-O — queenside castlee8=Q — pawn promotes to queenPiece letters: King · Queen · Rook · Bishop · Night (N avoids clash with K)