How to Play Chess
Chess has a reputation for being difficult, but the rules themselves are not. Six kinds of pieces, each with its own way of moving, and one goal: trap the other king. Many of us learned the moves from a parent or grandparent and then forgot a detail or two. This page explains the standard rules step by step, exactly as our free online chess game plays them. If your family played a little differently, have a look at our page of chess variations and house rules as well.
Setting Up the Board
Chess is played on a board of 64 squares, 8 by 8, with 16 pieces for each player. The sides are called White and Black, whatever the actual colors of your set. Turn the board so that each player has a light square in the bottom-right corner. An easy way to remember it: "light on the right". Then set up the back row, from the corners inward:
- Rooks (the castles) go in the two corners.
- Knights (the horses) go next to the rooks.
- Bishops go next to the knights.
- The queen goes on the middle square of her own color: the white queen on a light square, the black queen on a dark one.
- The king takes the last square, beside the queen.
The eight pawns fill the row in front. When you are done, the two queens face each other across the board, and so do the two kings.
Naming the squares
Every square has a name made of a letter and a number. The columns, called files, are lettered a to h from White's left to right. The rows, called ranks, are numbered 1 to 8 starting from White's side. So White's king starts on e1 and Black's king on e8. Our board shows these letters and numbers along its edges.
Taking Turns
White always moves first. After that the players take turns, and each turn you move exactly one piece (castling, explained below, is the one move where two pieces travel together). You may not pass, even if every move you have is a bad one.
How the Pieces Move
Apart from the knight, no piece may jump over other pieces. A piece may never move onto a square occupied by one of your own pieces. To capture, you move onto a square occupied by an enemy piece, and that piece leaves the board. Capturing is never required in chess.
The king
The king moves one square in any direction: forward, backward, sideways or diagonally. It may never move onto a square where it could be captured.
The queen
The queen is the most powerful piece. She moves any number of squares in a straight line along a row, a column or a diagonal, as long as nothing is in her way.
The rook
The rook moves any number of squares along a row or a column, never diagonally.
The bishop
The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally. Because of this, a bishop stays on squares of one color all game long.
The knight
The knight moves in an L shape: two squares in a straight line, then one square to the side. It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces, its own or the enemy's.
The pawn
The pawn is the odd one out. It moves straight forward one square, onto an empty square, and never backward. On its very first move a pawn may move two squares forward instead, if both squares are empty. But a pawn captures diagonally: one square forward to the left or right.
The Pieces at a Glance
| Piece | How it moves | Rough value |
|---|---|---|
| King | One square in any direction | Priceless: lose it and you lose the game |
| Queen | Any distance along a row, column or diagonal | 9 pawns |
| Rook | Any distance along a row or column | 5 pawns |
| Bishop | Any distance along a diagonal | 3 pawns |
| Knight | An L shape, jumping over anything in between | 3 pawns |
| Pawn | One square forward (two on its first move); captures one square diagonally forward | 1 pawn |
The Three Special Moves
Castling
Once per game, each player may castle: a single move that tucks the king into a corner and brings a rook toward the middle. The king moves two squares toward a rook, and that rook jumps over to stand on the square right beside the king, on its other side. You may castle only when all of these are true:
- neither the king nor that rook has moved yet in the game;
- every square between the king and the rook is empty;
- your king is not in check right now;
- the king does not pass through or land on a square that an enemy piece attacks.
Worked example: castling both ways. White's king is on e1 and the rooks are still on a1 and h1. If f1 and g1 are empty, White can castle on the king's side: the king goes to g1 and the rook from h1 to f1. If b1, c1 and d1 are empty, White can castle on the queen's side: the king goes to c1 and the rook from a1 to d1. On the queen's side, it doesn't matter if b1 is attacked, because the king never crosses it; only the rook does. On this page, tap your king, then the square two steps to the side, and the rook follows by itself.
En passant
This French phrase means "in passing". It is a pawn capture that exists so a pawn can't use its two-square first move to slip past an enemy pawn unchallenged. If an enemy pawn moves two squares forward and lands directly beside one of your pawns, your pawn may capture it as though it had moved only one square, by moving diagonally onto the square it skipped over. You must do it on your very next move, or the chance is gone.
Worked example: en passant. White has a pawn on e5. Black moves a pawn from d7 to d5, two squares, so it now stands right beside White's pawn. On the very next move, White may capture it en passant: the white pawn moves diagonally to d6, the square the black pawn skipped, and the black pawn on d5 is removed. If White makes any other move instead, the chance is gone for good.
Pawn promotion
When a pawn reaches the far row, it must be promoted: it is replaced at once by a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same color, chosen by its player. Nearly everyone picks a queen. You may promote even if your original queen is still on the board, so it is possible to have two or more queens. On this page a box opens with big buttons for all four choices, with Queen first.
Check
When a king is attacked, meaning an enemy piece could capture it on the next move, the king is in check. Players often say "check" aloud; our game shows a red ring around the king and the status box says Check! A player in check must get out of it immediately, in one of three ways:
- Move the king to a safe square;
- capture the piece giving check; or
- block the check by putting a piece in the way (this is not possible against a knight, which jumps, or a pawn, which attacks from right next to the king).
You may never make a move that puts or leaves your own king in check. If you try on this page, the game explains why the move isn't allowed.
How the Game Ends
Checkmate
If a king is in check and there is no way out, it is checkmate and that player loses. The king is never actually captured; the game ends one move before that would happen.
Worked example: a back-row checkmate. Black has castled, and the king sits on g8 behind its three pawns on f7, g7 and h7. White moves a rook all the way to e8. The black king is in check along the back row. It can't step forward, because its own pawns are in the way, and it can't step sideways, because the rook covers the whole row. If no black piece can capture the rook or block on f8, it is checkmate.
Resigning
A player may resign (give up) at any time, and the other player wins. On this page the Resign button does that.
Stalemate
If the player whose turn it is has no legal move but is not in check, the game is a stalemate, and a stalemate is a draw. This catches out many players who are far ahead and simply take away every square the enemy king has.
Worked example: stalemate by accident. Black has only a king, on h8. White has a king and a queen, and moves the queen to g6. The black king is not in check, but every square it could go to (g8, g7 and h7) is covered by the queen, and Black has no other piece to move. That is stalemate: a draw, even though White was a whole queen ahead. Some families count stalemate as a win; our game offers that as a house rule called Stalemate wins.
Draws
Besides stalemate, a game is drawn when:
- Neither side can checkmate. With too few pieces left, such as king against king, king and bishop against king, or king and knight against king, checkmate is impossible and the game is drawn.
- The same position comes up three times, with the same player to move and the same moves available.
- Fifty moves pass by each player with no capture and no pawn move.
- Both players agree. Against our computer, tap Offer a Draw; it accepts unless it thinks it is ahead.
In tournaments, the repetition and 50-move draws have to be claimed by a player; they are not automatic. On this page they happen automatically, so nobody has to know the rule to benefit from it. Our draw rules section explains the difference in more detail.
Endings at a Glance
| Situation | Result |
|---|---|
| A king is in check and cannot escape (checkmate) | The checkmating player wins |
| A player resigns | The other player wins |
| The player to move has no legal move and is not in check (stalemate) | Draw |
| Too few pieces left to checkmate | Draw |
| Same position three times | Draw (automatic on this page) |
| 50 moves each with no capture and no pawn move | Draw (automatic on this page) |
| Both players agree | Draw |
Reading Chess Notation
Our status box describes each move in words, and also shows the short form that chess books use. The short form is easy once you know the letters: K king, Q queen, R rook, B bishop and N knight (K was already taken). Pawns get no letter. The letter is followed by the square the piece moves to.
- Nf6 means a knight moved to f6. e4 means a pawn moved to e4.
- An x means a capture: Bxc6 is a bishop capturing on c6.
- A + means check and # means checkmate.
- O-O is castling on the king's side, and O-O-O on the queen's side.
- e8=Q is a pawn promoting to a queen on e8.
Common Questions About the Rules
Can I castle after my king has been in check?
Yes, as long as the king never moved. Only being in check right now stops you.
What happens if I touch a piece?
In tournaments, a piece you touch on purpose must be moved. On this page nothing happens until you confirm a move; see touch-move and one tap to move.
Once you have the rules, the chess strategy guide covers openings, keeping pieces safe and finishing off a lone king. You might also like checkers or Reversi.