You do not need to memorise every exception before your first game. Start with the objective, how the pieces move and keeping your king safe. This guide builds those foundations step by step.
In this guide
The goal: checkmate, not capturing the king
White moves first, then the two sides alternate one move at a time. You win when the opposing king is attacked and no legal move can remove that attack. That is checkmate. The king is not taken off the board.
An attack on the king is check. You must answer immediately by moving the king to safety, capturing the attacker or placing a piece between them. Not every option exists in every position; a knight check, for example, cannot be blocked by interposing a piece.
Set up the board and read coordinates
The board has eight ranks and eight files. From White’s side, the bottom-right square is light: h1. Files a to h run left to right, and ranks 1 to 8 run from White towards Black. A square name such as e4 is therefore unambiguous for both players.
The back rank contains rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight and rook. White’s queen starts on d1 and king on e1; Black uses d8 and e8. Eight pawns stand in front of each side. “Queen on her own colour” prevents a common setup mistake.
How the six piece types move
Apart from the knight, pieces cannot jump over others. You cannot move onto a square occupied by your own piece. A capture replaces an opposing piece on its square; pawns have a special capturing move.
- King: one square in any direction. It may not enter an attacked square. That also prevents the two kings from standing next to one another.
- Queen: any distance in straight or diagonal lines, provided the path is clear.
- Rook: any distance horizontally or vertically.
- Bishop: any distance diagonally. A bishop therefore always stays on the same square colour.
- Knight: two squares in one direction and one perpendicular to it. It can jump over other pieces; only its destination must be empty or occupied by an opponent.
- Pawn: one empty square forwards, or two empty squares from its starting square. It captures one square diagonally forwards and never moves backwards.
Understand three special moves
Castling moves the king two squares towards a rook, then places that rook on the crossed square. Neither may have moved before, and the space between them must be empty. The king cannot castle out of, through or into check.
Promotion: a pawn reaching the last rank immediately becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own colour. Your choice is not limited to previously captured pieces.
En passant: after an opposing pawn’s two-square advance, an adjacent pawn may capture it as though it had moved one square. This is available only on the immediately following move and only if your own king remains safe.
Stalemate is not checkmate
In the diagram, Black is to move. The king on h8 is not attacked, but every square it could reach is controlled by the white king or queen. Black has no legal move: the game is drawn by stalemate.
Before an apparently final winning move, check both questions: is the opponent in check, and do they have a legal move? A large material advantage alone does not prevent stalemate.
Position as text
White: king f7, queen g6. Black: king h8. To move: Black.
How GameFinder.pro applies the rules
Our local chess game offers three computer strengths and two people on one device. The online edition uses a private live room. The optional timer measures duration; it is not a tournament clock with a time limit.
The browser version ends threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule automatically. In FIDE tournament chess these normally require a claim; automatic limits are higher. Tournament rules therefore should not be read as a promise of identical browser behaviour.
Further reading: FIDE Laws of Chess (2023)