1. The Chessboard
A chessboard is an 8 by 8 grid of 64 squares, alternating between light and dark. Before placing a single piece, orientation matters: the bottom-right square from each player's perspective must be a light square. A common way to remember this is "light on right." If you set the board incorrectly, every piece is on the wrong square and the game's spatial logic breaks down.
Columns are called files (labelled a to h from White's left) and rows are called ranks (numbered 1 to 8 from White's side). Every square has a unique coordinate — the square in White's bottom-right corner is h1, and Black's equivalent corner is a8.
2. Setting Up the Pieces
Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The setup is symmetrical.
Place pieces along the back rank (rank 1 for White, rank 8 for Black) in this order from left to right: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. The queen always goes on her own colour — White's queen starts on a white square, Black's queen starts on a black square. The king fills the remaining central square. Your eight pawns then occupy the entire second rank directly in front of the pieces.
Learning on a genuine Staunton chess set makes this intuitive. The pieces were designed in 1849 specifically to be instantly distinguishable by touch and silhouette — the queen's crown, the king's cross, the knight's horse head, the bishop's mitre. No other design has matched this clarity in 175 years of use.
3. How Each Piece Moves
King
The king moves one square in any direction: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The king can never move onto a square where it would be under attack, and it can never move off the board. Protecting your king is the central discipline of chess.
Queen
The queen is the most powerful piece on the board. It moves any number of squares in any direction — horizontally, vertically, or diagonally — as long as the path is unobstructed. The queen combines the movement of the rook and the bishop.
Rook
The rook moves any number of squares horizontally or vertically. It cannot jump over pieces. Rooks are particularly powerful in open files (columns with no pawns blocking them) and in the endgame when fewer pieces crowd the board.
Bishop
The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally and always stays on its starting colour. Each player begins with one bishop on a light square and one on a dark square. A bishop on an open diagonal can control much of the board; a bishop hemmed in by its own pawns is said to be a "bad bishop."
Knight
The knight moves in an L-shape: two squares in one direction and then one square perpendicular to that, or one square then two squares. Crucially, the knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. It always lands on a square of the opposite colour to the one it left. Knights are most powerful near the centre of the board, where they have up to eight possible squares to move to.
Pawn
Pawns move forward only and can never retreat. On its very first move, a pawn may advance one or two squares. After that it may only move one square forward at a time. Pawns capture diagonally one square forward — they do not capture in the direction they move. This makes pawns the only pieces that attack differently from how they move.
4. Special Moves
Castling
Castling is the one move in which a player moves two pieces at once. The king slides two squares toward a rook, and that rook jumps to the square the king passed over. Castling can be performed on either side (kingside or queenside), but only if: neither the king nor that rook has previously moved; all squares between them are empty; the king is not currently in check; and the king does not pass through or land on a square controlled by the opponent. Castling is the primary method of tucking the king to safety in the early game.
En Passant
En passant (French for "in passing") is a special pawn capture. If a pawn uses its opening double-step advance and lands beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had only moved one square. This capture must be made immediately on the very next move — the right expires if not taken at once.
Pawn Promotion
When a pawn reaches the far end of the board (rank 8 for White, rank 1 for Black), it must be promoted. The player replaces the pawn with a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of their own colour. Promotion to a queen is almost always the strongest choice, and it is entirely legal to have two or more queens on the board at once.
5. Check and Checkmate
Your king is in check when it is under direct attack by one or more enemy pieces. You must resolve check immediately on your next move — you cannot ignore it. There are three ways to escape check: move the king to a safe square, block the attacking piece with one of your own pieces, or capture the attacking piece.
Checkmate occurs when a king is in check and none of those three escapes is possible. The game ends immediately when checkmate is delivered. The player who delivers checkmate wins.
6. Draws
Not every game ends in checkmate. A game is drawn (neither player wins) in these situations:
- Stalemate: The player whose turn it is has no legal move but their king is not in check. This is the most common drawing trap for beginners to fall into when pressing a large advantage.
- Threefold repetition: The same position on the board occurs three times with the same player to move and the same legal moves available. Either player may claim the draw.
- Fifty-move rule: If fifty consecutive moves are made by both sides with no pawn advance and no capture, either player may claim a draw.
- Insufficient material: Neither player has enough pieces to force checkmate (for example, king versus king, or king and bishop versus king).
- Mutual agreement: Either player may offer a draw at any point during their turn; if the opponent accepts, the game is drawn.
7. How to Win
You win by delivering checkmate or by your opponent resigning (choosing to concede rather than play to checkmate). At higher levels, the vast majority of games end in resignation once one player sees that checkmate is inevitable. There is no penalty for resigning — it is a courtesy that acknowledges the opponent has outplayed you.
8. Three Fundamental Opening Principles
Chess theory fills entire libraries, but three principles alone will improve your first games immediately.
Control the Centre
The four central squares — e4, d4, e5, d5 — are the most valuable squares on the board. A piece in the centre has more influence than one on the edge. Opening moves like 1.e4 or 1.d4 claim central territory immediately and are played at every level of the game.
Develop Your Pieces
Development means moving your pieces from their starting squares to active positions. Aim to develop knights and bishops before moving your queen, and avoid moving the same piece twice in the opening unless it is necessary. Each undeveloped piece is a piece that is not contributing to the game.
Keep Your King Safe
Castle early. Once you have developed the pieces between your king and rook, castling takes one move and moves your king behind a wall of pawns where it is much harder to attack. An exposed king in the early and middle game is the single most common cause of quick defeats for beginners.
Jaques of London — Making Chess Sets Since 1849
In 1849, Jaques of London designed the Staunton chess set in collaboration with the leading chess player of the day, Howard Staunton. The design was revolutionary: each piece had a distinct, instantly recognisable silhouette, making learning the game dramatically easier. Within a year it was endorsed by every serious chess player in Britain and was adopted as the world standard. Today, all tournament chess is played with Staunton-pattern pieces. Learning the moves on a genuine Staunton set means your first experience of chess is with the same piece designs used from club beginners to world championships. Explore our full range of handcrafted chess sets, made by the company that invented the standard.
Shop Staunton Chess Sets →For a deeper look at official chess rules, including FIDE tournament regulations, or to explore the first moves of the game in more detail, see our guide to chess openings. If you are choosing your first set, our chess buying guide covers materials, sizes, and what to look for at every budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do you set up a chess board?
Place the board so a white square sits at the bottom-right corner from each player's perspective — this is the "light on right" rule. Along each back rank, position the pieces in this order from the corner inward: rook, knight, bishop. Then place the queen on her own colour (white queen on a white square, black queen on a black square) and the king on the remaining central square. Fill the entire second rank with your eight pawns. The setup is perfectly symmetrical: the white and black pieces mirror each other across the board.
Q: What is checkmate in chess?
Checkmate occurs when a king is in check (directly attacked by an opposing piece) and has absolutely no legal way to escape. The three escape routes — moving the king, blocking the attacker, or capturing the attacker — must all be impossible. The game ends the moment checkmate is delivered: there is no further play. Checkmate is the winning condition in chess, and the goal of every game is either to deliver it or to force your opponent to resign in the face of its inevitability.
Q: What is castling in chess?
Castling is a special defensive move that allows the king to move two squares toward a rook on the same rank, while that rook simultaneously jumps to the square the king crossed. It is the only move in chess where two pieces move at once. Four conditions must all be met: neither the king nor the chosen rook has moved previously in the game; every square between them is empty; the king is not currently in check; and the king does not travel through or end up on a square under attack. Castling is available on both sides of the board (kingside and queenside) and is the primary way to secure the king in the opening.
Q: How does the knight move?
The knight moves in an L-shape: two squares along a rank or file, then one square at a right angle to that direction (or equivalently, one square then two squares). The knight is unique as the only piece that can jump over any pieces standing between its starting square and its destination — the contents of those intermediate squares are irrelevant. A knight always lands on a square of the opposite colour to the one it started on, which means it alternates between light and dark squares with every move. Placed in the centre of an empty board, a knight has eight possible squares it can reach.