Chess: rules, first moves and safer decisions
Chess is a two-player game on an eight-by-eight board. Each side begins with sixteen pieces. White moves first, then turns alternate. Your objective is checkmate: attack the opposing king so that no legal move can remove the threat. Capturing the king is not a move in chess.
Set up and read the board
The files run from a to h and the ranks from 1 to 8. From White’s side, a1 is the bottom-left square. Place the board with a light square at the bottom right. Queens start on their own colour: the white queen on d1 and the black queen on d8. Coordinates help you discuss moves even when you play from Black’s view.
How the pieces move
- King: one square in any direction, provided the destination is not attacked.
- Queen: any clear distance along a rank, file or diagonal.
- Rook: any clear distance horizontally or vertically.
- Bishop: any clear distance diagonally; it stays on one square colour.
- Knight: two squares along one direction and one across. It can jump over intervening pieces.
- Pawn: one square forward into an empty square, or two from its starting square if both squares are clear. It captures one square diagonally forward.
With the exception of the knight, pieces cannot jump over occupied squares. You cannot capture your own piece, leave your king in check or move your king next to the opposing king.
Check, checkmate and a drawn position
If your king is in check, you must capture the attacking piece, block its line where possible, or move the king to safety. If none of these is legal, it is checkmate. If a player has no legal move but their king is not in check, the position is stalemate and the game is drawn. Repetition, insufficient mating material and other draw rules can also end a game.
Three special rules
Castling moves the king two squares toward a rook and places that rook beside it. Both pieces must be unmoved, the path clear, and the king cannot start in check or cross or land on an attacked square. En passant is an immediate pawn capture available after an opposing pawn advances two squares beside your pawn. Promotion occurs when a pawn reaches the farthest rank. Go Play Daily’s current board interface automatically promotes to a queen.
Worked example: spot a knight fork
Moving the knight to c7 attacks e8 and d7 at the same time. Black must answer the check on the king, which may let White capture the queen next. Before playing it, check whether Black can capture the knight as part of escaping check. A pattern is a candidate move, not a guarantee.
A checklist for your opening
- Contest the centre with a pawn or a developed piece.
- Bring knights and bishops into useful squares rather than moving the same piece repeatedly.
- Keep your king safe and consider castling when it is legal.
- Before every move, look for checks, captures and threats for both sides.
A common beginner mistake is bringing the queen out early and losing time when smaller pieces attack it. Another is capturing a pawn without noticing a threat to the king. In your next practice game, pause before each capture and ask what becomes undefended when the piece leaves its current square.