Chess rules

How to play chess.

The complete rules of chess, from setup to checkmate — clear, beginner-friendly, and with diagrams. Learn how each piece moves, what a check is, the special moves (castling, en passant, promotion), and the three ways a chess game can end.

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The starting position.
The board How pieces move Captures Special moves Check & checkmate Draws Beginner mistakes What's next
1. The board and the pieces

Set up the board.

Chess is played on an 8×8 board with 64 alternating light and dark squares. Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns.

Two simple rules to set up the board correctly:

  • "Light on the right." The bottom-right corner closest to each player must be a light square.
  • "Queen on her colour." The white queen starts on a light square (d1); the black queen on a dark square (d8).

White always moves first. After that, players alternate turns — one move per turn, no skipping.

2. How each piece moves

Six pieces, six personalities.

Every piece has its own way of moving. Select a piece below to see its range and action on the board.

👑

The King

Moves one square in any direction — up, down, left, right, or diagonally.

The most important piece. The king can never be captured. If it is under attack, you must move out of check. If the king has no way to escape, the game ends in checkmate (you lose).

Value: Priceless (the game ends if checkmated).

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King movement options.
3. Captures

How you take pieces.

To capture an enemy piece, move one of your own pieces onto its square. The captured piece is removed from the board. Your piece stays where the captured one was.

Two important things to remember:

  • You can never capture your own pieces, only the opponent's.
  • You can never capture the enemy king. If you could, you'd checkmate first — the game ends one move earlier.

Pawns are the only piece whose capture rule differs from their movement rule: they move straight forward but capture diagonally forward.

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Pawn capture options: e5 (move dot) vs f5 (capture ring).
4. Special moves

Three rules every beginner forgets.

Most of chess is the basic moves. But three special situations have their own rules — and they come up in almost every game.

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Castling

Move two pieces in one turn.

Castling is the only move that lets you move two pieces at once. The king jumps two squares toward a rook, and that rook hops to the king's other side.

Castling kingside (O-O): king to g1, rook to f1.
Castling queenside (O-O-O): king to c1, rook to d1.

You can't castle if the king or that rook has already moved, if any piece is between them, if the king is currently in check, or if the king would pass through a square attacked by the enemy.

En passant

"In passing" — the pawn capture rule.

When a pawn advances two squares on its first move and lands directly next to an enemy pawn, the enemy pawn can capture it "in passing" as if it had only moved one square. This capture is only legal on the **very next turn**.

Step 1 Setup: White has a pawn on e5 (Pawn 2). Black's pawn on d7 (Pawn 1) is ready to move.
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Step 1: Starting Position.
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Pawn promotion

A pawn that reaches the end becomes anything.

When a pawn reaches the opponent's back rank (the 8th rank for White, the 1st for Black), it must be promoted. You replace it on the same square with a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of your colour — your choice.

Almost every promotion is a queen (the strongest piece). Occasionally, promoting to a knight is right because of an L-shaped check the queen can't give. This is called under-promotion.

5. Check, checkmate, and stalemate

The three king situations.

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Check

Check

The king is being attacked. The player whose king is in check must respond — by moving the king, blocking the attack, or capturing the attacker.

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Checkmate

Checkmate

The king is in check, and there is no legal way to escape. The game ends immediately — the player giving checkmate wins. This is the goal of every game.

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Stalemate

Stalemate

The player to move has no legal moves but is not in check. The game ends in a draw — nobody wins. A common rescue when you're losing.

The rule about your own king: you can never make a move that leaves your own king in check — even if it would otherwise be legal. The king is sacred; you must always keep it safe.

6. How a game ends

Win, lose, or draw.

Ways to win

  • Checkmate. Trap the opponent's king.
  • Resignation. Your opponent gives up.
  • Time-out. In timed games, your opponent's clock runs to zero.

Ways the game can be drawn

  • Stalemate. No legal moves, no check.
  • Mutual agreement. Both players agree to a draw.
  • Threefold repetition. The same position appears three times.
  • Fifty-move rule. Fifty moves without a capture or pawn move.
  • Insufficient material. Neither side has enough pieces left to checkmate (e.g. K vs K, K+B vs K).
7. Common beginner mistakes

Avoid these and you'll already be ahead.

Hanging pieces

Leaving a piece undefended where the opponent can capture it for free. Before every move, check what your opponent is attacking. Just glancing.

Bringing the queen out too early

Strong players will chase your queen with knights and bishops, gaining time and development while you waste moves running away.

Forgetting to castle

An exposed king in the centre is a magnet for attacks. Castle within your first ten moves — almost always.

Pushing pawns in front of your king

After castling, those pawns are your shield. Every pawn move there opens a crack the enemy can exploit.

Falling for Scholar's Mate

A four-move attack on f7 by an early queen-and-bishop combo. Defend f7 (often with …Nf6 or …Qe7) and you've nullified it.

Trying to memorize before you understand

Don't memorize twenty opening moves. Learn the principles — control the centre, develop your knights and bishops, castle early, connect your rooks.

A starter's compass

The three opening principles.

If you forget every opening, just remember these three rules. They're enough to play a respectable game against anyone.

  1. 1
    Control the centre.
    Push a central pawn (e4, d4, e5, d5) and aim your pieces at the four central squares. Pieces in the centre have more options.
  2. 2
    Develop your minor pieces.
    Knights and bishops first. Get them off the back rank into active squares. Don't move the same piece twice in the opening unless you must.
  3. 3
    Castle and connect your rooks.
    Tuck your king away with castling. Once the back rank is clear between your rooks, they support each other and dominate the open files.

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