How to play chess: the rules explained for beginners

Learn how to play chess step by step: set up the board, how each piece moves, check and checkmate, castling, en passant, draws and tips for your first game.

Updated 9 November 2026 · 9 min read

Chess is a game for two players on a board of 64 squares. Each player starts with 16 pieces, and White always moves first. You win by checkmating your opponent's king: attacking it so that it has no way to escape. This guide explains every rule you need for your first game, with diagrams and links to short interactive lessons where you can try each idea yourself.

The board

The board has 8 rows and 8 columns of light and dark squares. The columns are called files and are named with letters, a to h. The rows are called ranks and are numbered 1 to 8, starting from White's side. So every square has a name, like e4 or g7. Practise the names in the lesson the board and squares.

Each player has 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights and 8 pawns. One player has the light pieces (called White) and the other has the dark pieces (called Black).

Setting up the pieces

1. Turn the board so that each player has a light square in the bottom-right corner. An easy way to remember: "light on the right".
2. Put the rooks in the corners, the knights next to them, then the bishops.
3. Put the queen on her own colour: the white queen on the light square d1, the black queen on the dark square d8.
4. The king goes on the last empty square of that row, next to his queen (e1 for White, e8 for Black).
5. Fill the row in front with the eight pawns.

White moves first. Then the players take turns, one move each. You cannot skip your turn. In friendly games you can decide who plays White by hiding a white pawn in one hand and a black pawn in the other and letting your friend pick. The lesson how a game starts goes through all of this on a real board.

How each piece moves

Only the knight can jump over other pieces. All the others must stop when another piece is in the way.

• King: one square in any direction. The king may never move to a square where it could be captured. Lesson: the king.
• Queen: any number of squares in a straight line, sideways, forwards, backwards or diagonally. She is the strongest piece. Lesson: the queen.
• Rook: any number of squares in a straight line along a rank or a file. Lesson: the rook.
• Bishop: any number of squares diagonally. Each bishop stays on its own colour for the whole game, so you have one light-squared and one dark-squared bishop. Lesson: the bishop.
• Knight: an L-shape, two squares in one direction and then one square to the side. It jumps over anything in its way and always lands on a square of the other colour. Lesson: the knight.
• Pawn: one square straight forward. On its very first move it may go two squares instead. Pawns never move backwards. Lesson: the pawn.

Capturing

To capture, move your piece onto a square where an enemy piece stands and take that piece off the board. You can never capture your own pieces. Every piece captures the same way it moves, except the pawn: a pawn moves straight forward but captures one square diagonally forward. The king is the one piece that is never actually taken off the board, because the game ends before that can happen. Try it in capturing, and see what each piece is worth in piece values.

Check, checkmate and stalemate

When a king is attacked, it is in check. The player in check must get out of it straight away, in one of three ways: move the king to a safe square, block the attack by putting a piece in between, or capture the attacking piece. You are never allowed to make a move that leaves your own king in check. Lesson: check.

If a king is in check and there is no way out, that is checkmate, and the game is over. The player who gives checkmate wins. Lesson: checkmate.

The fastest possible checkmate is called Fool's Mate. It takes just two moves by each side: 1. f3 e5 2. g4 Qh4#. White's pawn moves have opened the diagonal to the king, and the black queen gives a check that cannot be blocked or escaped.

Stalemate is different. It happens when the player whose turn it is has no legal move, but their king is not in check. Stalemate is a draw, not a win. It often happens when one player is far ahead and forgets to leave the losing king a square to move to, so be careful when you are winning.

The special moves

Castling

Castling is a once-per-game move that tucks your king into safety and brings a rook into play. Move the king two squares towards one of your rooks, then put that rook on the square the king just crossed. Castling towards the h-file rook is called "kingside" (written O-O); towards the a-file rook it is "queenside" (O-O-O). You may castle only if:

• neither the king nor that rook has moved yet in the game,
• there are no pieces between them,
• your king is not in check right now,
• the king does not pass through, or land on, a square attacked by an enemy piece.

Practise it in castling.

En passant

This is the rule that surprises most beginners. If a pawn moves two squares forward from its starting square and lands right beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square. The capture must be made on the very next move, or the chance is gone.

Here is a real example, from a game Steinitz against Fleissig, Vienna 1882. After 1. e4 e6 2. e5 d5, Black's pawn has just jumped from d7 to d5, right past the white pawn on e5. White can now play 3. exd6, taking the pawn "in passing" and landing on d6. Try it yourself in en passant.

Promotion

When a pawn reaches the far end of the board (the 8th rank for White, the 1st for Black), it must immediately become a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour. Almost everyone picks a queen. You can have two queens or more at the same time, because the new piece does not have to be one that was captured.

How a game can be drawn

Not every game has a winner. A game is a draw when:

• Stalemate: the player to move has no legal move and is not in check.
• Agreement: both players agree to a draw.
• Threefold repetition: the same position appears three times with the same player to move. The player must claim the draw.
• The 50-move rule: each player has made 50 moves with no pawn move and no capture. Again, the draw must be claimed.
• Not enough pieces to checkmate: for example king against king, or king and one bishop or one knight against a lone king. No series of legal moves can lead to checkmate, so the game ends at once.
• Time: in a game with a clock, the player who runs out of time loses, unless the opponent could not possibly checkmate. Then it is a draw.

Under FIDE's rules, the game also ends automatically in a draw if the same position appears five times, or after 75 moves each without a pawn move or capture. Lesson: stalemate and other draws.

Reading chess notation

Chess players write moves using the square names. Each piece has a capital letter: K king, Q queen, R rook, B bishop, N knight. Pawns have no letter. A few signs complete the system:

Moves are numbered in pairs: "1. e4 e5" means White played e4 and Black answered e5. Here is a famous trap you can read with these signs, Scholar's Mate: 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Qxf7#. The queen and bishop both aim at f7, the weakest square near Black's king, and the queen captures there with checkmate.

To stop it, Black could play 3... g6, which blocks the queen's path to f7. More mating patterns are in mate-in-one patterns.

Five tips for your first game

1. Start in the centre. Moving a centre pawn to e4 or d4 gives your pieces room to come out.
2. Bring out your knights and bishops early, before your queen. A queen that comes out too soon gets chased around. See opening principles.
3. Castle early to keep your king safe behind its pawns.
4. Before every move, check for danger. Ask yourself what your opponent's last move threatens, and whether any of your pieces are left unprotected. This one habit wins more games than anything else. Practise it in don't hang pieces.
5. Play lots of short games and learn from them. You can play bots from 250 to 3200 on ChessMess, or play in coach mode to get feedback on every move while you play.

If you are curious where the pieces and their names came from, read the history of the chess pieces.

Sources

• FIDE Laws of Chess (in force since 1 January 2023): board set-up, moves, castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate and draws
• FIDE Rules Commission: 2023 Laws of Chess
• Fool's mate, Wikipedia: move order
• Scholar's mate, Wikipedia: move order and defences
• En passant, Wikipedia: the example from Steinitz against Fleissig, Vienna 1882

Checked in November 2026.

Questions and answers

Who moves first in chess?

White always moves first. After that the players take turns, one move each, and nobody may skip a turn.

Can a pawn move backwards?

No. Pawns only ever move forward. They move straight ahead but capture one square diagonally forward.

What is the difference between checkmate and stalemate?

Checkmate means the king is in check and has no way out, so the game is won. Stalemate means the player to move has no legal move but is not in check, and the game is a draw.

Can you castle when you are in check?

No. You cannot castle out of check, through a square that is attacked, or onto a square that is attacked. The king and the rook must also not have moved before.

Can you have two queens in chess?

Yes. When a pawn reaches the far side of the board it can become a queen even if your first queen is still on the board, so you can have two or more.