Chess · Rules guide
Chess rules: how to play chess
Every rule in one place: how the six pieces move, castling, en passant and promotion, check and checkmate, all five ways a game can be drawn, and how to read chess notation.
The short answer
- Set the board with a light square on the right and the queen on her own colour; White moves first.
- The king moves one square, the queen any distance in any line, and the knight jumps in an L.
- Pawns move forward but capture diagonally — the only piece that does.
- Castling, en passant and promotion are the three special moves.
- Checkmate wins; stalemate — no legal move while not in check — is a draw.
The board, the pieces and the object
Chess is played on an 8×8 board by two players with sixteen pieces each. The object is not to capture the enemy army — it is to trap the enemy king so that it cannot escape capture. That is checkmate, and it ends the game immediately.
- Board orientation: a light square in each player's right-hand corner. "Light on the right."
- Queen on her colour: the white queen starts on a light square, the black queen on a dark one.
- White moves first, then players alternate. You must move; passing does not exist.
How each piece moves
Five of the six pieces move the same way whether or not they are capturing. The pawn is the exception, and nearly every beginner mistake involves it.
| Piece | Value | Movement |
|---|---|---|
| ♔ King | — | One square in any direction. Never moves into check. |
| ♕ Queen | 9 | Any distance in a straight or diagonal line. |
| ♖ Rook | 5 | Any distance along a rank or file. |
| ♗ Bishop | 3 | Any distance diagonally — so it never leaves its starting colour. |
| ♘ Knight | 3 | Two squares one way and one the other, jumping over anything in between. |
| ♙ Pawn | 1 | One square forward (two from its start), captures one square diagonally forward. |
The pawn in detail
- Moves one square forward, or two from its starting square.
- Captures one square diagonally forward — never straight ahead.
- It can never move backwards. Every pawn move is permanent, which is why pawn moves deserve more thought than piece moves.
The three special moves
Castling
Once per game each side may move the king two squares towards a rook, and that rook jumps to the far side of the king. It is the only move where two pieces move at once, and it does two jobs: the king reaches safety and the rook reaches the centre.
Castling is legal only if all five conditions hold:
- Neither the king nor that rook has moved.
- The squares between them are empty.
- The king is not in check.
- The king does not pass through an attacked square.
- The king does not land on an attacked square.
En passant
If a pawn advances two squares and lands beside an enemy pawn, that pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one — but only on the very next move. Miss the chance and it is gone.
Promotion
A pawn that reaches the far rank is replaced at once by a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own colour — your choice, regardless of what has been captured. You may have two queens, or nine. Almost always take the queen; the rare exception, underpromotion to a knight, exists because a knight reaches squares a queen cannot.
Check, checkmate and stalemate
Check means the king is attacked. You must answer it, in one of three ways: move the king, capture the attacker, or block the line. If none of those is possible, it is checkmate and the game is over.
Stalemate is the trap that ruins more winning positions than any other rule: if the player to move is not in check but has no legal move, the game is a draw. A player with a queen and a rook to the good can still throw away the win by taking away every square.
All the ways a game can be drawn
- Stalemate — no legal move, not in check.
- Agreement — both players accept a draw.
- Threefold repetition — the same position, with the same player to move and the same rights, occurs three times.
- Fifty-move rule — fifty moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move.
- Insufficient material — for example king versus king, or king and bishop versus king. Neither side can possibly mate.
Reading and writing chess notation
Algebraic notation is the universal language of chess, and it takes ten minutes to learn.
- Files are lettered a–h from White's left; ranks numbered 1–8 from White's side. Every square has a unique name: e4, g7, a1.
- A move is the piece letter plus the destination:
Nf3,Bb5,Qd8. Pawns have no letter:e4. - Captures take an
x:Nxe5, and a pawn capture names its file:exd5. +is check,#is checkmate,O-OandO-O-Oare castling,=Qis promotion.- If two identical pieces could reach the same square, add the file or rank of the one that moves:
Nbd2,R1e2.
So the most famous opening in chess — 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 — is the Ruy Lopez,
and now you can read every chess book ever written.
Clocks, touch-move and tournament rules
Casual chess needs none of this. It is worth knowing anyway, because online chess uses the same conventions.
- Time controls. Classical games give each side an hour or more; rapid is 10–60 minutes; blitz 3–5 minutes; bullet one or two. An increment adds a few seconds per move so you are never lost purely on time.
- Flag-fall. Running out of time loses — unless your opponent has no way to mate with the material left, in which case it is a draw.
- Touch-move. Touch a piece and you must move it if it has a legal move; touch an enemy piece and you must capture it if you legally can. To adjust without moving, say j'adoube or "I adjust" first.
- Ratings. The Elo system converts results into a number — roughly 800 for a new club player, 1500 for a decent one, 2500 for a grandmaster.
Common questions
Which colour square goes on the right?
A light square. "Light on the right" — and then the white queen automatically starts on a light square and the black queen on a dark one.
Can a pawn capture straight ahead?
No. Pawns move straight forward but capture one square diagonally forward. A pawn directly blocked by any piece cannot move at all.
What is en passant?
If a pawn moves two squares and lands beside an enemy pawn, that pawn may capture it as though it had moved only one square — but only immediately, on the next move.
When can I castle?
When neither the king nor that rook has moved, the squares between them are empty, you are not in check, and the king neither passes through nor lands on an attacked square.
Is stalemate a win?
No, it is a draw — and it is the single most common way to throw away a won game. If your opponent has no legal move and is not in check, the game ends half a point each.
Can I have two queens?
Yes. Every pawn that reaches the far rank promotes, and you may choose a queen each time regardless of what has been captured.
What is the fifty-move rule?
If fifty moves by each player pass with no capture and no pawn move, either player may claim a draw. It exists to stop endless shuffling in endgames that cannot be won.
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