How to play chess: how the pieces move, check, checkmate and special rules

TUREFF• •0

Chess is two players, one board and thirty-two pieces, and the rules fit on a page or two. This guide covers everything you need for a complete game, including the three special moves that surprise most beginners. It follows the international rules set by FIDE, the world chess federation, which are the ones used in tournaments and on the major chess sites.

The board and setup

The board has 64 squares in 8 rows (ranks) and 8 columns (files). Place it so each player has a light square in the bottom right-hand corner.
Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns.
The back row, from left to right for White: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. The pawns stand on the row in front.
The queen goes on her own colour: White's queen on a light square, Black's on a dark square. The kings face each other.

White always moves first, then the players take turns, one move each.

How each piece moves

King: one square in any direction. It may never move to a square where it would be attacked.
Queen: any number of squares in a straight line, along a rank, file or diagonal.
Rook: any number of squares along a rank or file.
Bishop: any number of squares diagonally. Each bishop stays on its starting colour for the whole game.
Knight: in an L-shape, two squares in one direction and then one square at a right angle. It is the only piece that jumps over others.
Pawn: moves straight forward one square. On its very first move it may go forward two squares. It captures differently: one square diagonally forward. A pawn never moves backwards.

Apart from the knight, no piece can jump over another. You capture by moving onto a square occupied by an opposing piece, which is removed from the board.

Check and checkmate

A king that is attacked is in check. You must get out of check immediately, in one of three ways:

move the king to a safe square
capture the attacking piece
block the attack by putting a piece in between (not possible against a knight)

You may never make a move that leaves your own king in check. If a player is in check and has no legal way out, that is checkmate, and the game is over: the player who gave checkmate wins. The king is never actually captured.

Castling

Castling is a special move of the king and a rook, and the only time you move two pieces at once. The king moves two squares towards a rook, and that rook jumps to the square the king passed over. It can be done on either side. You may castle only if:

neither the king nor that rook has moved yet in the game
there are no pieces between them
the king is not in check
the king does not pass over or land on a square attacked by the opponent

Moving the king or the rook loses that right permanently; being in check only prevents it for now.

En passant

If a pawn moves two squares forward from its starting square and lands beside an opposing pawn, that opposing pawn may capture it as though it had moved only one square. The capturing pawn moves diagonally to the square the first pawn passed over. This capture is allowed only on the very next move; if you do not take it then, the chance is gone.

Promotion

When a pawn reaches the far end of the board, it must be exchanged on the same move for a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own colour. Most players choose a queen. You may choose a piece even if you still have the original, so a player can have two or more queens.

Draws

Not every game has a winner. A game is drawn when:

Stalemate: the player to move is not in check but has no legal move. This is a draw, not a win, which catches out many beginners who are winning easily.
Agreement: both players agree to a draw.
Threefold repetition: the same position occurs three times with the same player to move; a player can claim a draw.
The fifty-move rule: if each player has made fifty moves with no capture and no pawn move, a player can claim a draw.
Not enough material: neither side has enough pieces left to checkmate, for example king against king.

The repetition and fifty-move draws normally have to be claimed. Under FIDE rules the game is drawn automatically if the same position occurs five times, or after seventy-five moves each without a capture or pawn move. Online, the site usually handles all of this for you.

Touch move

In over-the-board play under FIDE rules, if you deliberately touch one of your pieces, you must move it if it has a legal move, and if you touch an opponent's piece you must capture it if you can. To adjust a piece on its square, say "I adjust" first. Learning the rules, or still unsure about one of them? Ask in the comments, and share your first game too.