The Board and the Pieces

A chessboard has 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. White always moves first.

Setting up: rooks go in the corners, knights next to them, bishops next to the knights, then the queen on her own colour (white queen on a light square, black queen on a dark square), and the king on the remaining centre square. Pawns fill the entire second rank.

How Each Piece Moves

King — one square in any direction. The king is the most important piece; if it is trapped with no escape, the game is over.

Queen — any number of squares in any direction: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. She is the most powerful piece on the board.

Rook — any number of squares horizontally or vertically. Two rooks working together on open files are devastating.

Bishop — any number of squares diagonally. Because of this, each bishop is permanently locked to one colour of square. That is why keeping both bishops for as long as possible is generally good.

Knight — in an L-shape: two squares in one direction and then one square at a right angle (or vice versa). The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. Its movement trips up beginners more than anything else, so spend a few minutes moving one around an empty board until the pattern clicks.

Pawn — one square forward, except on its very first move, when it may advance two squares. Pawns capture one square diagonally forward — they cannot capture straight ahead. This is the rule that confuses most newcomers.

Three Special Rules

Castling

Once per game, if neither the king nor the chosen rook has previously moved, and there are no pieces between them, and the king is not currently in check, you may castle. Move the king two squares toward the rook; the rook jumps to the square the king crossed. Kingside castling (toward the h-file) is written O-O; queenside (toward the a-file) is O-O-O. It is the fastest way to get your king safe.

En Passant

When a pawn advances two squares from its starting position and lands beside an opponent’s pawn, that opponent’s pawn may capture it as if it had only moved one square. This capture must happen immediately on the next move or the right is lost forever. En passant catches almost every beginner off guard the first time.

Promotion

When a pawn reaches the far end of the board (the eighth rank for White, the first rank for Black), it must be promoted to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight. Almost everyone promotes to a queen.

Winning and Drawing

Check means the king is under attack. You must resolve it immediately: move the king, block the attacking piece, or capture it.

Checkmate is check from which there is no escape — the game ends instantly.

Games can also end in a draw: by agreement, by stalemate (the player to move has no legal move but is not in check), by threefold repetition of position, or when there is insufficient material to deliver checkmate.

That is the whole ruleset. Everything else in chess — strategy, tactics, openings — is built on these foundations.