How to Play Chess

Object of the Game

The object of chess is to attack the enemy King in such a way that it cannot escape capture.

Whenever a King is under attack it is in “check” and must escape that attack before the game can go on.

A player can escape “check” in 3 ways, 1) move the King away, 2) capture the attacking piece, 3) block the attack with a friendly piece.

If it cannot do either, this is “checkmate” and the game is over.

The Board

Chess is played by 2 players on a board that has 64 squares, 8 rows of 8 squares, alternately colored light and dark. The players sit on opposite sides of the board oriented with a light square in the bottom right corner.

The horizontal rows are called “Ranks” and are labeled 1-8. The vertical columns are called “Files” and are labeled a-h. Each square has its own coordinate address e.g. “a1” “f6” etc. like the game “Battleship”. White starts on the 1st and 2nd ranks and Black starts on the 8th and 7th ranks. More on this later.

Starting Position

Each player starts with an “army” of 16 chess pieces. The two armies are of contrasting colors and referred to as “White” and “Black”.

Each army has 1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights, and 8 Pawns arranged like this: Pawns in front, and behind them from outside in: Rooks, Knights, Bishops, King & Queen. In diagrams, White is usually shown on the bottom:

Note: a) the setup is a mirror image, the King and Queen are in the center, and the Queens are “on their color.” b) When playing chess in person, you’ll also notice that the standard pieces are arranged by height.

Moving and Capturing

Chess is a turn based game of logical piece movement. White moves first.

To Move : transfer one of your pieces from it’s current square to another open square.

To Capture : move one of your pieces to a square that is occupied by the opponent, remove their piece from the board, and put yours there.

Note: a) You cannot move or capture any piece through any occupied square. b) You may be able to make a capture, but you are not required to. c) You cannot capture your own pieces.

To complicate things, each piece has a unique movement and range.

All pieces can capture an opponent in their range. A piece with long range must stop at the point of capture. You cannot capture more than 1 piece per turn.

The queen may move to any of the indicated squares, or capture 1 of the indicated pieces, but cannot access the yellow squares or the pieces on blue.
The King

The King can move one square in any direction and capture any opponent in range.

The King can never occupy, or move to, a square that is being attacked where it can be captured by the opponent. This is the most critical rule in chess. It is the driving force behind the game’s strategies.

The king can step to any of the 8 squares around it. This rook happens to be too close and can be captured by the king.
The King is being attacked and it must move to one of the blue squares, the bishop must capture the attacker, or the rook must block the attack.
The bishop and rook are attacking squares in the king’s range. It does not have to move, but it cannot move to the red squares either.
The Queen

The Queen can move and capture horizontally, vertically or diagonally, any number of squares, in a straight line.

The fastest and most agile piece.
Can target up to 8 pieces at the same time. Can only capture 1 piece at a time, and must stop where it captures.
Cannot pass or move to blocked squares.
The Rook

The Rook can move and capture horizontally or vertically in a straight line.

Can move up, down, left, or right.
Can target up to 4 pieces. Must stop where it captures.
Cannot pass blocked squares.
The Bishop

The Bishop can move and capture diagonally in a straight line.

Moves diagonally.
Can target up to 4 pieces. Must stop where it captures. Cannot pass blocked squares.
Each bishop is confined to one color square. They are known as light and dark squared bishops.
The Knight

The Knight jumps from square to square. It does not move in a straight connected line, so it is not blocked by occupied squares.

The knight can jump to 8 nearby squares.
The knight can target up to 8 pieces at the same times.
The knight can jump over blocked squares, but it cannot land on occupied squares.

Here are 3 ways to describe Knight movement:

The Knight can move to the 8 nearby squares via an “L” shape by counting 2 squares up, down, left, or right, and 1 square to the left or right.
The Knight can move to the 8 nearby squares via a “Y” shape by counting 1 square diagonally and 1 square horizontally or vertically.
The Knight can move to the 8 nearby squares which are NOT horizontal vertical or diagonal from its location. In other words, the knight fills in the “gaps” of the queens movement.

Note: the knight always lands on the opposite color of the square it just left, and the pattern resembles a circle. The Knight is tricky. Always consider where the knight can go next and restrict their movement.

The Pawn

A pawn, on it’s first move, has the option of advancing 1 or 2 squares. Then it moves forward 1 square at a time. It cannot go backwards.

It captures diagonally, one square forward to the left or right. It continues forward on this new path until it captures again.

A pawn with a piece in front of it cannot move unless it can capture diagonally.

A pawn moves forward 1 square at at time. On its first turn it can move 1 or 2 squares. A pawn cannot advance if blocked.
Pawns capture diagonally forward.

A pawn travels on the new file it has captured until it captures again. Pawns cannot move through a blocked square but can capture around it.

Special Moves

Castling

Castling is a special King move. The King moves 2 squares toward a Rook and that Rook jumps to the other side of the King. It is the only move that involves moving two pieces. It can only be done once and only under special circumstances.

King side/Short Castle
Queen side/Long Castle

Castling may not be played if a) the King or Rook have already moved, b) there are pieces between the King and Rook, c) the King is in check, d) the King passes or lands on squares that are under attack.

The King has moved. Can’t castle.
The king has moved, but is back on the starting square? Can’t castle.
1 rook moved but the king and the other rook didn’t. They can castle.
Pieces in the way. Can’t castle.
King is under attack. Cannot castle to get out of check.
All squares that the king must pass are attacked. Note the green square is NOT one the King must pass or land on. This would allow castling.
Pawn Promotion

When any pawn reaches the opposite end of the board it may promote to a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight.

Climbing the Ranks.
Pawn promoted to a queen. It can also be a knight, bishop or rook. That’s called “under-promotion.” This is smart sometimes.
You can have 9 queens, or 10 bishops, knights, or rooks… theoretically.
Capturing En Passant (in passing)

If a pawn chooses to move 2 squares on its first move and lands next to an enemy pawn in the process, the enemy pawn has the option to capture as if the pawn had advanced only 1 square. This must be done now or the moment passes, but is not required.

White advances 2 squares and lands next to a pawn.
Black can ignore this or capture as if white moved 1 square. It’s now or never.
Black has captured En Passant.

Strategic Concepts

Domination

Checkmate is the goal, but getting there is hard. You and your opponent have the same pieces and can both see the board. It is very rare they will not see your threats. Chess requires chipping away at the defenses and building an advantage until an opportunity presents itself. Think more about the squares your pieces can access than the pieces themselves. Consider where the opponent can move, and try not to let them move there. Take up space by guarding squares. Limit their options. Force them to make a bad move.

Consider the consequences of each step before you take it. Coordinate your pieces to protect each other and guard the squares you want to move to. Win the battles over space and gradually overpower the opponent.

Relative Value

Chess has no score, but to help a player determine the difference between a good move and a better move, one can consider the relative value of the pieces as such:

Pawn = 1, Bishop = 3, Knight = 3, Rook = 5, Queen = 9, King = Infinity (no king, no game.)

Threaten the opponent’s higher value pieces with your lower value pieces, and try not to lose yours the same way. Combine piece values to determine the logic of complex situations.

Pawn is 1, Knight is 3. This knight should move to escape. Attack with less valuable pieces to force the enemy away.
Capture with less valuable pieces first. Bishop is 3, rook is 5. If Bishop takes knight, pawn takes bishop, rook takes pawn then 3+1 > 3. Good idea. If Rook first then 3+1 < 5. Bad idea.
The Bishop(3) is attacking the knight(3). If the Knight leaves, the Rook(5) is attacked! But the knight can attack the queen(9)! Black will lose the queen if it takes the rook. 9 > 5…bad idea. Black will move the queen and white escapes the attack!
Control the Center

The center is the most important zone of the board. Every piece can maximize its potential coverage in the center and has the best access to the other parts of the board. Dominate it.

The center includes the four middle and the surrounding 12 squares. Try to occupy or otherwise dominate these squares
White’s lone knight can access 8 squares from a central position, while BOTH of Black’s knights only access 6 combined.
White’s Bishop can attack 13 squares from the center to Black’s 7.
In this common position White’s well supported pieces are covering more than half the squares dominating the center with additional support from the queen and rook.
Two powerful bishops aiming through the center.
The queen in center vs. corner.
Developing

Since the center is so important it’s imperative to target those squares as quickly as possible. Get your pieces off the back row and into the game! But do it carefully. Don’t over-extend. Guard squares you’d like to move to and move to them. Aim multiple pieces at the same squares from multiple directions. There are only 64 squares. Take up space.

A pawn protects the square the knight would like to move to so it can attack the yellow squares.
These pieces support each other and combine their attacking power towards the corner.
White is ahead in development. All the minor pieces are out, the king is castled, the rooks are connected, and there is a lot of power aimed at the center. Black moved pawns instead of developing the queen, and bishop. This could be a problem later.
Tempo

Tempo is the concept of time in chess. Not minutes and seconds, but turns. Chess is a turn-based game and most games last 30-60 turns. You can’t afford to waste time especially in the beginning. Besides taking up space and controlling squares, you can gain an advantage by taking time away from your opponent. If you develop faster you can dictate what happens next and make moves that force the the enemy to respond. This wastes their time. It’s like getting multiple turns in a row.

Checkmate

The king takes up 9 squares. It stands on 1 and has 8 it can go to. You must take them all away. Use your pieces to attack it and cut off its escape, and use the opponent’s pieces as barriers. That’s Checkmate.

All 9 squares are attacked or otherwise blocked. Checkmate. The pawn cannot be captured because the King may not expose itself to attack. A defended piece is invincible against the King.
The King only has 6 squares on the edge. 5 are blocked by it’s own pieces. The Knight makes the final blow. Checkmate.
This one is pretty straight forward. All 9 are covered. Checkmate.
Stalemate

If you take away all the kings squares but do not attack him directly and he cannot make a legal move, this is a draw called “Stalemate.” Avoid this mistake if you have the advantage. Force it if possible if you are losing.

Whoops. White cut off the king’s movement but didn’t attack the king. Black is stuck. It’s their turn but he can’t move and isn’t in check. The game is a draw. No one wins.

Basic Tactics

The previous concepts were strategic. To make a strategy work you need tactics. Tactics are interesting ways to use the pieces to apply the strategies.

Free Pieces

If you find a piece that is just sitting there, capture it! Try not to leave your pieces free for the taking. This goes for pawns too.

The black knight is not protected from capture like white’s is. It will get captured for nothing in return. It has been left “hanging.”
Attackers vs. Defenders

Your pieces can’t fight alone. If you lost a piece for every one you captured you wouldn’t gain any advantage and it would be harder to win. You need to combine your pieces. Very often a battle will build over a square. The player who can add more pieces will win the battle.

There is a battle over the e5 square. White wants to take that pawn and is attacking with three pieces. But Black has three defenders. White will not win the exchange. It will go white, black, white, black, white, black- 3 moves each. White will lose all three pieces and Black will only lose 2 and be the last one standing.
Here white will win. White has three attackers. Black has 2 defenders. The moves will go white, black, white, black, white- 3 to 2 easily conquering the square.
If you can’t add more attackers/defenders you’ll need to try to remove one of theirs or otherwise divide their forces. We know we can win against 2 defenders so we threaten the third with a pawn and force it to move away from the battle.
Mate in 1

Recognizing when you (or your opponent) have checkmate on the next move is very useful. When you know what to look for, you can learn to set it up. Here is a very small selection of patterns to think about.

Checkmate usually needs two pieces. The bishop helps the queen because the king can’t capture if the queen is defended.
1 piece can be enough if the king is trapped by its own pieces..
The rook attacks the king with help from the bishop.
Three pieces work together using a black pawn to cut off the kings 9 squares.
The bishop and the queen again. Line up queens with bishops and rooks. Very powerful.
The king can help too.
Fork

A fork is when one piece attacks twice or more at the same time. Every piece can create a fork. One piece will have to move and the other will be captured.

Check! King must move. Queen will be captured.
One of these rooks is going.
Check! King must move. Rook will be captured.
Rook will move. Knight is a goner.
Check! King must move, Rook will be captured.
Can’t save both pawns.
Pin

A pin threatens a more valuable piece behind the one you are attacking. You can use pins to keep a piece in place, or simply force a capture.

The rook is pinned to the king. It cannot move or the king will be in check. The rook will be captured. This is an “absolute” pin.
The queen is pinned to the king. It will be captured by the rook. It can capture the rook, but it will be recaptured by the other rook. No matter what black will lose the queen(9) for a rook(5)… not good.
Here the rook is pinned to the queen. Either piece can move, but the queen should move and the rook(5) will be lost for a bishop(3). This is a “relative” pin.
Skewer

Attack a valuable piece, usually the king or queen, to make it move so you can capture another piece behind it.

The king must move and allow the bishop to win the rook.
The king must move and the Queen is lost.
The king must move and the rook is lost.
Discovery

Move your piece to reveal an attack from another piece behind it.

White will move the bishop and attack the King.
This reveals an attack on the queen. The king must react. White gives up its bishop(3) for the queen(9)- very good idea.
Black thinks it has the queen. White moves the knight “discovering” a check on the black king. Black must move the king. White captures the bishop(3), the black knight(3) captures back, and the queen takes the black knight(3). 3<3+3= good save!

There’s tons more but this is enough to get you started! Check out our resources page for more great chess related content to help you build on these basics.