How to Play Chess: 7 Rules To Get You

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Updated: Nov 28, 2022, 6:49 AM|485|For Beginners
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It's never too late to learn how to play chess—the most popular game in the world!
Learning the rules of chess is easy:

1. Set Up The Chess Board

2. Learn To Move The Pieces
3. Discover The Special Rules
4. Learn Who Makes The First Move
5. Check Out The Rules On How To Win
6. Study The Basic Strategies
7. Practice Playing Lots Of Games

Here's a video of IM Danny Rensch explaining all the rules you need to know to start
playing chess.

Step 1. How To Setup The Chessboard

At the beginning of the game the chessboard is laid out so that each player has the
white (or light) color square in the bottom right-hand side.
The chess pieces are then arranged the same way each time. The second row (or rank) is
filled with pawns. The rooks go in the corners, then the knights next to them, followed
by the bishops, and finally the queen, who always goes on her own matching color
(white queen on white, black queen on black), and the king on the remaining square.
 Set up the pieces at the beginning of the game will be really easy.

Recommended Tool -> Train your vision of the board

Step 2. How The Chess Pieces Move

Each of the 6 different kinds of pieces moves differently. Pieces cannot move through
other pieces (though the knight can jump over other pieces), and can never move onto
a square with one of their own pieces. However, they can be moved to take the place of
an opponent's piece which is then captured. Pieces are generally moved into positions
where they can capture other pieces (by landing on their square and then replacing
them), defend their own pieces in case of capture, or control important squares in the
game.

How to Move the King in Chess

The king is the most important piece, but is one of the weakest. The king can only move
one square in any direction - up, down, to the sides, and diagonally.
The king may never move himself into check (where he could be captured). When the
king is attacked by another piece this is called "check".

How To Move The Queen In Chess

The queen is the most powerful piece. She can move in any one straight direction -
forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally - as far as possible as long as she does not
move through any of her own pieces.

And, like with all pieces, if the queen captures an opponent's piece her move is over.
Notice how the white queen captures the black queen and then the black king is forced
to move.
How To Move The Rook In Chess

The rook may move as far as it wants, but only forward, backward, and to the sides.

The rooks are particularly powerful pieces when they are protecting each other and
working together!
How To Move The Bishop In Chess

The bishop may move as far as it wants, but only diagonally. Each bishop starts on one
color (light or dark) and must always stay on that color.

Bishops work well together because they cover up each other's weaknesses.
How To Move The Knight In Chess

Knights move in a very different way from the other pieces – going two squares in one
direction, and then one more move at a 90-degree angle, just like the shape of an “L”.

Knights are also the only pieces that can move over other pieces.
How To Move The Pawn In Chess

Pawns are unusual because they move and capture in different ways: they move forward
but capture diagonally. Pawns can only move forward one square at a time, except for
their very first move where they can move forward two squares.

Pawns can only capture one square diagonally in front of them. They can never move or
capture backward. If there is another piece directly in front of a pawn he cannot move
past or capture that piece.
 Recommended Tool -> Solitaire Chess (capture all your pieces)

Step 3. Discover The Special Rules Of Chess

There are a few special rules in chess that may not seem logical at first. They were
created to make the game more fun and interesting.

How To Promote A Pawn In Chess

Pawns have another special ability and that is that if a pawn reaches the other side of
the board it can become any other chess piece (called promotion) excluding a king (or
pawn, for that matter).

A pawn may be promoted to a knight, bishop, rook, or queen. A common

misconception is that pawns may only be exchanged for a piece that has been captured.
That is NOT true. A pawn is usually promoted to a queen. Only pawns may be
promoted.
How To Do "En Passant" In Chess

The last rule about pawns is called “en passant,” which is French for “in passing”. If a
pawn moves out two squares on its first move, and by doing so lands to the side of an
opponent's pawn (effectively jumping past the other pawn's ability to capture it), that
other pawn has the option of capturing the first pawn as it passes by.
This special move must be done immediately after the first pawn has moved past,
otherwise the option to capture it is no longer available. Click through the example
below to better understand this odd, but important rule.

How To Castle In Chess

One other special chess rule is called castling. This move allows you to do two important
things all in one move: get your king to safety (hopefully), and get your rook out of the
corner and into the game. On a player's turn he may move his king two squares over to
one side and then move the rook from that side's corner to right next to the king on the
opposite side. (See the example below.) However, in order to castle, the following
conditions must be met:

 it must be that king's very first move

 it must be that rook's very first move
 there cannot be any pieces between the king and rook to move
 the king may not be in check or pass through check

Notice that when you castle one direction the king is closer to the side of the board.
That is called castling "kingside". Castling to the other side, through where the queen
sat, is called castling "queenside". Regardless of which side, the king always moves only
two squares when castling.

Step 4. Find Out Who Makes The First Move In Chess

The player with the white pieces always moves first. Therefore, players generally decide
who will get to be white by chance or luck such as flipping a coin or having one player
guess the color of the hidden pawn in the other player's hand. White then makes a
move, followed by black, then white again, then black, and so on until the end of the
game. Being able to move first is a tiny advantage that gives the white player an
opportunity to attack right away.

Step 5. Review The Rules Of How To Win A Game Of

Chess
There are several ways to end a game of chess: by checkmate, with a draw, by
resignation, by forfeit on time...

How To Checkmate In Chess

The purpose of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king. This happens when the
king is put into check and cannot get out of check.

There are only three ways a king can get out of check:

 move out of the way (though he cannot castle!)

 block the check with another piece or
 capture the piece threatening the king.

If a king cannot escape checkmate then the game is over. Customarily the king is not
captured or removed from the board, the game is simply declared over.

Checkmate can happen in the early stages of the game if one of the players does not act
carefully. Below, you will find an example of the Fools mate, a checkmate that happens
in just 2 moves.

How To Draw A Chess Game

Occasionally chess games do not end with a winner, but with a draw. There are 5
reasons why a chess game may end in a draw:

 The position reaches a stalemate where it is one player's turn to move, but his
king is NOT in check and yet he does not have another legal move:
With the move Qc7, black is not threatened and can't move. The game is declared a draw
by stalemate.

 The players may simply agree to a draw and stop playing

 There are not enough pieces on the board to force a checkmate (example: a king
and a bishop vs. a king)
 A player declares a draw if the same exact position is repeated three times
(though not necessarily three times in a row)
 Fifty consecutive moves have been played where neither player has moved a
pawn or captured a piece

Step 6. Study Basic Chess Strategies

There are four simple things that every chess player should know:

Protect Your King

Get your king to the corner of the board where he is usually safer. Don't put off castling.
You should usually castle as quickly as possible. Remember, it doesn't matter how close
you are to checkmating your opponent if your own king is checkmated first!

Don't Give Pieces Away

Don't carelessly lose your pieces! Each piece is valuable and you can't win a game
without pieces to checkmate. There is an easy system that most players use to keep
track of the relative value of each chess piece. How much are the chess pieces worth?

 A pawn is worth 1
 A knight is worth 3
 A bishop is worth 3
 A rook is worth 5
 A queen is worth 9
 The king is infinitely valuable

At the end of the game, these points don't mean anything—it is simply a system you
can use to make decisions while playing, helping you know when to capture, exchange,
or make other moves.
Control The Center Of The Chessboard

You should try and control the center of the board with your pieces and pawns. If you
control the center, you will have more room to move your pieces and will make it harder
for your opponent to find good squares for his pieces. In the example above white
makes good moves to control the center while black plays bad moves.

Use All Of Your Chess Pieces

In the example above white got all of his pieces in the game! Your pieces don't do any
good when they are sitting back on the first row. Try and develop all of your pieces so
that you have more to use when you attack the king. Using one or two pieces to attack
will not work against any decent opponent.

Recommended Article -> 10 Common Mistakes Among Beginners

Step 7. Practice By Playing Lots Of Games

The most important thing you can do to get better at chess is to play lots of chess! It
doesn't matter if you play at home with friends or family, or play online, you have to
play the game a lot to improve. These days it's easy to find a game of chess online!

How To Play Chess Variants

While most people play standard chess rules, some people like to play chess with
changes to the rules. These are called "chess variants". Each variant has its own rules:

 Chess960: In Chess960 (Fischer Random), the initial position of the pieces is set
at random. Pawns keep their normal initial position but the rest of the pieces are
arranged randomly.
 King Of The Hill: In this format, the goal is to get your king to the center of the
board or "top of the hill."
 Bughouse: This format is played in pairs. When one player captures a piece from
the opponent, this piece will become available to his or her teammate. For
example: If I play as White and my teammate, who is Black, takes a white knight
from her opponent, in my turn I will have a knight that I can put on any free
square on my board. I can do so in any of my future turns.
 Crazyhouse: This is a very exciting format since it allows you to use the pieces
you take from your opponent. That is, if I play as White and I take a black pawn
 from my opponent, that pawn will turn into a white pawn that I can put on the
board as part of my army. I can do so in any of my future turns.
 3-Check: In this format, the first player who checks the opponent's king three
times, wins.

Enjoy chess with these amazing chess variants.

Recommended Article -> 5 Amazing Chess Variants

How To Play Chess960

Chess960 follows all the rules of standard chess, except for the starting position of
pieces on the back rank, which are placed randomly in one of 960 possible positions.
Castling is done just like in standard chess, with the King and Rook landing on their
normal castled squares (g1 and f1, or c1 and d1). 960 plays just like standard chess, but
with more variety in the opening.