1. Board and starting position
A chessboard has 64 squares in an 8×8 grid. From White’s side, the lower-right corner is light, and White’s eight pawns begin on the second rank.
The first-rank order is rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. Queens begin on their own color: White on light d1 and Black on dark d8.
- White always moves first.
- Players alternate one move at a time.
- A player may not pass a turn.
2. How the pieces move
Piece movement is easier if you separate “line pieces” from “jumping pieces.” Rooks move horizontally and vertically, bishops move diagonally, and queens do both. These three cannot pass through another piece.
Knights move in an L-shape and can jump over pieces. Kings move one square in any direction, and pawns move forward but capture diagonally forward.
- Trace the line a piece uses before choosing a square.
- If one of your pieces blocks the path, the squares behind it are not available.
- The king may never move onto an attacked square.
3. Check and checkmate
Check means your king is under attack. When you are in check, every other plan must wait; your move must solve the check first.
There are three answers: move the king, capture the attacking piece, or block a rook, bishop, or queen line. If none of those answers exists, it is checkmate.
- A knight check cannot be blocked.
- A double check can only be answered by moving the king.
- Notation uses + for check and # for checkmate.
4. Castling, en passant, and promotion
Special rules feel unusual at first, but each one follows from king safety or pawn movement. Castling moves the king toward safety and brings the rook closer to the center.
En passant is available only on the move immediately after an enemy pawn advances two squares beside your pawn. Promotion rewards a pawn that reaches the final rank by turning it into a stronger piece.
- For castling, the king and rook must not have moved and the squares between them must be empty.
- You cannot castle out of check, through check, or into check.
- Most promotions become queens, but knight promotion can be the best exception.
5. Draw conditions
A draw happens when neither side can win or when the side to move has no legal move without being in check. The most confusing example is stalemate: the king is not attacked, but there is no legal move.
Too little mating material, threefold repetition, and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture are also draw mechanisms.
- King versus king and king plus bishop versus king cannot force mate.
- When you are far ahead, make sure the enemy king still has at least one legal move before the final mate net.
- Stalemate is a draw, not a win.
6. Read algebraic notation
Notation is a compact way to write chess moves. Read the piece letter first, then the destination square. Nf3 means a knight moved to f3.
Pawns use no letter, so e4 is simply a pawn move. Captures use x, check uses +, and checkmate uses #. Once you can read notation, you can review your own games and follow lesson lines.
- Use K, Q, R, B, and N for the pieces.
- Pawn moves use only the square name, such as e4.
- Castling is O-O or O-O-O.
Frequently asked questions
Do you actually capture the king?
No. The game ends as soon as an unavoidable checkmate is established.
May the rook be attacked during castling?
Yes. Only the king’s starting, transit, and destination squares must be safe.
When may a pawn move two squares?
Only from its starting rank, and only when both squares in front are empty.
Test the idea on the board
Play the computer with one lesson from this guide as your game goal.