Setting up the board
Place the board with a light square in each player’s near-right corner. White’s two rooks sit on a1 and h1; the knights, bishops, queen, and king fill the back rank in that order. The white queen starts on d1, the white king on e1. Black mirrors this on rank 8.
The second rank holds eight white pawns; the seventh rank holds eight black pawns. White moves first. In a standard game, White is the player with the lighter pieces, regardless of who is sitting where.
How a turn works
Players alternate moves, one piece per turn. A piece may move to an empty square or capture an enemy piece on its destination. You may not skip a turn, move an opponent’s piece, or make a move that leaves your own king in check.
In tournament chess, the touch-move rule applies: if you deliberately touch a piece, you must move it if a legal move exists. Online chess enforces its own move rules. Casual games often ignore touch-move, so agree before you start.
Check, checkmate, and stalemate
Check means the king is under attack. Checkmate means the king is in check and no legal move can remove the attack. The game ends immediately; the king is never captured. A player who cannot move but whose king is not in check is stalemated, which is a draw.
A common beginner error is to announce “check” with a move that actually leaves the king safe, or to miss that a blocking piece is itself pinned. Before every move, ask three questions: is my king safe, is my opponent’s king safe, and what is my opponent threatening?
The movement rules in one table
Learn these six patterns before anything else. The value column is a rough guide to trading, not a scoreboard. Position and king safety can matter more than material.
| Piece | Movement | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Pawn | One square forward; two on its first move; captures diagonally forward. | 1 |
| Knight | Two squares one way, then one square across; jumps over pieces. | 3 |
| Bishop | Any distance on a diagonal; stays on its starting colour. | 3 |
| Rook | Any distance on a rank or file. | 5 |
| Queen | Any distance on a rank, file, or diagonal. | 9 |
| King | One square in any direction; may not move into check. | ∞ |
Three rules beginners often miss
Castling, en passant, and promotion are part of the normal rules, not optional extras. Castling moves the king and rook together. En passant lets a pawn capture an enemy pawn that has just advanced two squares. Promotion turns a pawn into a queen, rook, bishop, or knight when it reaches the far rank.
Each has conditions that must be met exactly. The dedicated guide covers the details, common mistakes, and the notation you will see in games.
How a game can end without a winner
Not every game ends in checkmate. A game is drawn by stalemate, agreement between the players, threefold repetition of the same position, the fifty-move rule, or a dead position where neither side can possibly deliver mate. Insufficient material is the usual example of a dead position: king versus king, or king and bishop versus king.
In tournament chess, a player may also lose on time if the opponent has enough material to mate. Online platforms handle this automatically. Resignation is a voluntary loss, not a rule about the position.
Rules that are easy to misremember
A king may not castle out of check, through check, or into check. A pinned piece still attacks the squares it could otherwise attack for the purpose of the king’s safety. A pawn may not move forward into an occupied square. A bishop never changes colour, and a knight always does when it moves.
When a rule feels ambiguous, check the official FIDE Laws rather than a comment thread. The complete laws are linked below.
Beginner questions
Can a king capture a protected piece?
No. A king may capture any enemy piece that is not protected and may not move to a square attacked by an enemy piece. The king can never move into check.
Can a pawn move backwards?
No. Pawns move forward only. This is why pawn structure is permanent: every pawn move changes the terrain for the rest of the game.
Is stalemate a win?
No. Stalemate is a draw. It happens when the player to move has no legal move but their king is not in check.
Do you have to say check?
In casual play, players often announce it. FIDE rules do not require a verbal warning in standard tournament play, but the opponent is responsible for noticing an illegal move.
Source & review
Rules are checked against the FIDE Laws of Chess (2023). This page is a beginner’s explanation, not a substitute for the official laws.
- FIDE Laws of Chess (2023) (opens in a new tab)FIDE
The official rules for over-the-board play, including castling, promotion, en passant, and the drawing rules.
Last reviewed October 2026.