Chess Rules for Complete Beginners: Everything You Need to Start Playing
A clear, friendly explanation of every chess rule, from how each piece moves to castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate and draws.
Chess has a reputation for being difficult, and at the highest level it certainly is. But the rules themselves are not complicated. A determined beginner can learn every rule in an afternoon. What takes a lifetime is learning how to use them well.
This guide covers every rule you need to play a full, legal game. Read it once, then try a few games against the computer on our 3D chess board, where illegal moves are blocked and legal ones are highlighted for you.
The board and setup
Chess is played on an eight by eight board of alternating light and dark squares. The board is placed so that each player has a light square in the bottom right corner. A simple memory aid is "light on the right".
The columns are called files and are labelled a to h from White's left to right. The rows are called ranks and are numbered 1 to 8 from White's side. Every square therefore has a name, such as e4 or g7.
Each player starts with sixteen pieces: eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king. The back rank, from left to right for White, is rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. Pawns fill the second rank. Black mirrors this setup. The queen always starts on her own colour: the white queen on a light square, the black queen on a dark one.
White moves first, and players then alternate, one move at a time.
How the pieces move
The king moves one square in any direction. It is the most important piece, because the whole game revolves around attacking it, but it is not very powerful on its own.
The queen moves any number of squares in a straight line, horizontally, vertically or diagonally, as long as nothing blocks her path. She is the most powerful piece.
The rook moves any number of squares horizontally or vertically.
The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally. Because of this, each bishop stays on its starting colour for the whole game.
The knight moves in an L shape: two squares in one direction and then one square at a right angle. It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.
The pawn moves forward one square, but captures diagonally forward one square. On its very first move, a pawn may move forward two squares instead of one, provided both squares are empty. Pawns never move backwards.
Capturing
You capture an opponent's piece by moving one of your pieces to the square it occupies. The captured piece is removed from the board. You cannot capture your own pieces, and you cannot jump over pieces to capture, except with the knight, which ignores anything in between.
Check, checkmate and the goal of the game
The goal of chess is to checkmate the opponent's king. A king is in check when it is attacked by an opposing piece. A player in check must get out of check on their next move. There are three ways to do this:
- Move the king to a safe square.
- Capture the attacking piece.
- Block the attack by placing a piece in between, which only works against queens, rooks and bishops.
If none of these is possible, the king is in checkmate and the game is over. The king is never actually captured. Checkmate ends the game the moment it happens.
You are also not allowed to make any move that puts or leaves your own king in check. On our board, such moves are simply not offered.
Castling
Castling is a special move that involves the king and a rook. The king moves two squares towards a rook, and that rook jumps over to the square on the king's other side. It is the only time you move two pieces at once.
Castling is allowed only if:
- Neither the king nor that rook has moved before in the game.
- There are no pieces between the king and the rook.
- The king is not currently in check.
- The king does not pass through or land on a square that is attacked.
Castling on the king's side is called short castling. On the queen's side it is long castling. Castling is useful because it tucks the king behind pawns and brings a rook towards the centre.
En passant
En passant, French for "in passing", is a special pawn capture that confuses many beginners. Here is how it works.
If a pawn moves two squares forward from its starting position and lands directly beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square. The capturing pawn moves diagonally to the square the first pawn skipped over.
This capture must be made immediately, on the very next move. If you wait, the chance is gone.
The rule exists because the two-square first move was introduced later in chess history, and en passant prevents pawns from using it to slip past enemy pawns without risk.
Promotion
When a pawn reaches the far side of the board, it must be promoted. It is replaced by a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour. Almost everyone chooses a queen, which is why our board promotes to a queen automatically. You can have more than one queen this way.
How a game can end in a draw
Not every game ends with a winner. A game is drawn in these situations:
- Stalemate: the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves at all.
- Threefold repetition: the same position appears three times with the same player to move.
- Fifty-move rule: fifty moves by each side pass with no capture and no pawn move.
- Insufficient material: neither side has enough pieces left to deliver checkmate, for example king against king.
- Agreement: both players agree to a draw.
Stalemate is a common surprise for beginners. If you are winning easily, be careful not to leave the opponent's king with no legal moves while it is not in check, or you will throw away the win.
Resigning
A player may resign at any time, which gives the win to the opponent. Experienced players often resign when the position is clearly lost, rather than playing on to checkmate.
Piece values
Although not a rule, it helps to know the rough value of each piece when deciding whether a trade is good:
- Pawn: 1
- Knight: 3
- Bishop: 3
- Rook: 5
- Queen: 9
The king is priceless, since losing it means losing the game.
Your first games
Start with games against the computer. Focus on three simple ideas: develop your knights and bishops early, castle your king to safety, and before each move, check whether any of your pieces can be captured for free. Those three habits will carry you a long way.
When you feel ready, invite a friend with a private link and enjoy one of the oldest and richest games humans have ever created.
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