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How to Play Chess: A Complete Beginner's Guide

Everything you need for your first game — the board, how each piece moves, how to win, and the three special rules that trip up new players.

Setting up the board

Chess is played on an 8×8 grid of 64 squares that alternate light and dark. Orient the board so that each player has a light square in the near-right corner ("light on right"). Each side starts with sixteen pieces. The back row, from the corner inward, is rook, knight, bishop, then queen and king in the middle, then bishop, knight, rook. The eight pawns sit on the row in front. A simple memory aid for the centre: the queen goes on her own colour — the white queen on a light square, the black queen on a dark square. White always moves first, and players then alternate turns.

How the pieces move

Every piece captures by moving onto an enemy piece's square and removing it, with one exception (the pawn) explained below.

• Pawn — moves straight forward one square, or two squares from its starting position. It captures diagonally forward, never straight ahead. Pawns cannot move backward.
• Rook — moves any number of empty squares horizontally or vertically.
• Bishop — moves any number of empty squares diagonally. Each bishop stays on one colour for the whole game.
• Queen — the most powerful piece: any number of squares in a straight line in any direction (rook + bishop combined).
• King — moves one square in any direction. The king is never captured; the game is about trapping it.
• Knight — moves in an "L": two squares in one direction and one square at a right angle. The knight is the only piece that jumps over other pieces, which makes it tricky and deadly in crowded positions.

Check, checkmate, and stalemate

When a king is attacked, it is in check. You must immediately get out of check on your next move — by moving the king to safety, blocking the attack, or capturing the attacking piece. You may never make a move that leaves your own king in check.

Checkmate ends the game: the king is in check and there is no legal way to escape. The player delivering checkmate wins. If a player has no legal move but is not in check, the game is a stalemate — a draw. Stalemate is a classic way for beginners to throw away winning positions, so when you are far ahead, always give the losing king a safe square.

The three special rules

Castling

Once per game, each side may castle to tuck the king into safety. The king moves two squares toward a rook, and that rook jumps to the king's other side. You may castle only if neither the king nor that rook has moved, the squares between them are empty, and the king is not in check, does not pass through check, and does not land in check. Castling kingside (toward the nearer rook) is the most common move in chess for good reason — a safe king is worth a great deal.

En passant

If your opponent pushes a pawn two squares so it lands directly beside one of your pawns, you may capture it "in passing" — but only on the very next move. Your pawn moves diagonally to the square the enemy pawn skipped over, and the enemy pawn is removed. It feels strange at first but follows logically from how pawns capture.

Promotion

When a pawn reaches the far end of the board, it is immediately promoted to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of your colour (your choice — almost always a queen). You can have more than one queen at a time. Promotion is what makes a single extra pawn matter in the endgame.

Your first-game checklist

1. Control the centre with a pawn (the squares in the middle are the most valuable).
2. Develop your knights and bishops toward the centre before moving them twice.
3. Castle early to get your king safe.
4. Don't give pieces away for free — before every move, ask "is this square defended?"
5. Look at your opponent's last move and ask "what is it threatening?"