The objective in a game of chess is to win by Checkmating an opponent whilst avoiding being checkmated yourself. This is not always the outcome though, and games can end in a Draw through a number of possibilities.
¹This is actually The King’s Pawn opening and commonly just recorded as 'e4'.
Starting Position
Be sure to align the board correctly in front of you - the board should have a lighter square in the bottom right corner of the board (H1 square is white or lighter in color.) If not, rotate the board. The white pieces are placed on ranks 1 and 2, whilst black pieces are placed on ranks 7 and 8.
The Rooks are placed in each corner, then knights next to the Rook, and then Bishops next to the Knights. Then the Queen is placed on the square that matches her color. For example, a white Queen is placed on the light square, and the black queen vice versa. Finally, the King is placed on the remaining file.
Pawns are then placed on each file (rank 2 for white, 7 for black) in front of the already populated home rank.
White starts play by making the first move. In response, black will make a move, and so on until the games conclusion
The starting position. Selecting white pieces will show available opening moves.
Move the white King to see all legal moves
Rook
The Rook can move freely both horizontally and vertically to any unoccupied square.
Move the white Rook to see all legal moves
Bishop
The Bishop is confined to diagonal movements, but can move freely to all unoccupied squares. The game starts with 2 bishops, each starting on a different color square. The bishop will remail on the same color as it started from for the rest of the game.
Move the white Bishop to see all legal moves
Queen
The Queen, the most powerful piece on the board, combines movements from both the Bishop and Rook, resulting in unmatched mobility. The Queen can move an unlimited number of squares horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.
Move the white Queen to see all legal moves
Knight
The Knight is a unique in the game of chess – a jumping piece which moves in an “L” shape. A Knight can move vertically two squares, then one horizontally, or, two squares horizontally and one square vertically.
Move the white Knight to see all legal moves
Pawn
The Pawn has very limited movement, but also has some unique traits. The Pawn can only move one square forward unless it is the Pawn’s first movement, in which case it can optionally advance two squares at once. The Pawn is unable to retreat - only advance - and is therefore unable to return to a square it has visited previously.
The Pawn cannot capture by moving to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece – it can only do so by advancing one square diagonally. If a pawn cannot advance forward due to an opponent's piece occupying the square ahead, then the pawn is blocked.
¹The Pawn can also can capture by a special move, En Passant.
Move the white Pawns to see all legal moves
No move can leave the King in check.
Pawn Promotion
As a Pawn reaches the 8th rank (the opposite side of the board) it is promoted to either a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight. A player will commonly choose the Queen, and in some circumstances, a Knight, but very rarely a Rook or Bishop. Promotion to a Rook or Bishop is called underpromoting, as the Queen can perform as both of these pieces combined.
After promotion, it is common to have more than one Queen on the board. This is legal, and the reward for a Pawn advancing so far into the opponent's half of the board.
You cannot promote to a King, and the promotion is mandatory.
Promotion happens when a Pawn moves to the 8th rank
Castling
Castling is the only move that involves two pieces moving at once. Once per game the King can move two squares kingside (castling short) or queenside (castling long), and then place the rook on the opposite side of the King, protecting the King .
You can only castle if the squares between the King and Rook are empty, the King and Rook have both not moved, and the King or the squares it will move through are not under attack.
Move the King 2 squares horizontally - long, to the left, or short, to the right.
Whilst the King cannot move through an attacked square when castling, the Rook can.
The King is unable to castle short, but can long. Only the King must not pass through an attacked square.
En Passant
French for 'In Passing', this special pawn capturing move results from Pawns being able to advance two squares on their initial move. If an opponent's Pawn should do so, and pass your own Pawn, then you can optionally capture your opponent's Pawn as if it had moved only one square.
Black has advanced two sqaures, and white can choose to capture by En Passant.
Check and Checkmate
Check is an attack on your King. If you attack an opponent’s King, then they are in Check, if they attack your King, then you are in Check. Once in Check, a player must immediately attempt to escape Check, either by capturing the attacking piece, blocking the attack or moving away to escape the attack.
The white King is in check - attacked by the black Rook at E8- and can only move out of the line of attack.
If you are unable to escape Check, then it is Checkmate. To win, your opponent’s King must be placed in Checkmate.
Black is to move, but it is in check and unable to escape - this is Checkmate¹ and white wins.
¹Scholar's mate shown - a common Checkmate for new playerProfiles.
If you or your opponent are unable to make a further legal move, despite not being in Check, then this is a Stalemate and a DrawBlack is not in check but is next to move. White has more pieces but black is unable to move from H8 resulting in a Stalemate.
¹Not only the placement of the pieces need to be considered, castling availability must also be the identical too.
The game is won by CheckmateFootnote
Chess has a long history running back at least 1500 years, from India, Persia, Arabia, and subsequently, in to Europe where the rules we know now developed. The rules described here describe the most popular and orthodox form of chess.
Further variants of the game can be played, some which aim to fix perceived problems with the classic game, and others just to create a unique game to play using similar pieces and boards.
All Chess Variants will have a modification of the above rules, so a familiarization with the standard Chess rules are important before progressing to Chess variants.
Enjoy your games!