How to Play Chess: A Beginner's Guide to Rules, Pieces and Strategy

Chess is a two-player strategy game played on a checkered board of 64 squares, with each side controlling 16 pieces: eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king, according to the FIDE Laws of Chess, the rulebook maintained by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

According to FIDE's Article 1.4, 'the objective of each player is to place the opponent's king under attack in such a way that the opponent has no legal move.' A player who achieves this is said to have delivered checkmate and wins the game.

Setting Up the Board

Chess.com's beginner guide describes the standard setup: pawns fill the second rank in front of each player, rooks go in the corners, knights sit beside the rooks, bishops stand next to the knights, and the queen and king occupy the two remaining central squares, with the queen on the square matching her own color. Each player must have a light-colored square in their bottom-right corner.

How Each Piece Moves

The FIDE Laws of Chess set out the legal movement for every piece. The bishop moves diagonally, any distance, along the diagonal it occupies (Article 3.2). The rook moves any distance along the file or rank it occupies (Article 3.3). The queen combines both movements, travelling along a file, a rank or a diagonal (Article 3.4). The knight jumps to the nearest square that is not on the same rank, file or diagonal, producing its characteristic L-shaped move (Article 3.6). Pawns move forward one square, or two squares from their starting position, and capture diagonally (Article 3.7).

The point values above, published by Chess.com, are not part of the official rules but are a common teaching tool to help players judge whether a trade of pieces is favorable.

Check, Checkmate and Stalemate

Under FIDE Article 3.9.1, a king is considered in check whenever it is directly attacked by an opponent's piece. A player in check must make a move that removes the threat, either by moving the king, blocking the attack, or capturing the attacking piece. If no such move exists, the position is checkmate and the game ends immediately, per Article 1.4.1.

Stalemate is a separate outcome. Under FIDE Article 5.2.1, the game is declared a draw when the player to move has no legal move available and that player's king is not currently in check. Unlike checkmate, stalemate ends the game as a draw rather than a win for either side.

Special Moves: Castling, En Passant and Promotion

Castling is a single move involving the king and one rook. Under FIDE Article 3.8.2, the king moves two squares toward the rook, and that rook then moves to the square the king crossed. Castling is only legal if neither piece has moved before, no pieces stand between them, the king is not in check, and the king does not pass through or land on a square under attack.

En passant is a special pawn capture. Under FIDE Article 3.7.3.1, if an opponent's pawn advances two squares from its starting position and lands on a square adjacent to one of a player's own pawns, that pawn may capture it on the very next move, with the capture treated as though the opposing pawn had advanced only one square.

Pawn promotion is covered in FIDE Article 3.7.3.3: when a pawn reaches the far rank of the board, it must be immediately exchanged, as part of the same move, for a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same color.

Basic Opening Strategy for Beginners

Chess.com's beginner guide lists four priorities for the opening phase of a game, summarized here:

1. Control the center of the board with pawns and pieces to maximize mobility and limit the opponent's options.
2. Develop pieces early so that knights, bishops, the queen and rooks are all brought into active play rather than relying on one or two pieces.
3. Protect king safety by castling relatively early, moving the king toward a corner where it is harder to attack.
4. Avoid losing pieces carelessly, since pawns, knights, bishops, rooks and the queen are all needed to build an attack or defense.

White moves first, and players alternate turns, one move each, as set out in the FIDE Laws of Chess.

Learning to Play: Step by Step

1. Learn the board orientation: each player's bottom-right square must be light-colored.
2. Memorize the starting position of all 16 pieces per side.
3. Practice how each piece moves individually before playing a full game.
4. Learn the special rules: castling, en passant and pawn promotion.
5. Understand check, checkmate and stalemate so you recognize when a game ends.
6. Apply opening principles: control the center, develop pieces, and keep the king safe.
7. Play full games against another beginner or a computer to reinforce the rules in practice.