Chess rules
Chess is a game for two players on a board of 64 squares. White moves first and players alternate turns. The goal is to checkmate the opponent's king.
Goal of the game
You win by checkmate: the opponent's king is attacked (in check) and no legal move can remove the attack. A king is never actually captured.
Starting position
Each player has sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. The board is set up with a white square at each player's right-hand corner, and the queen stands on her own color.
How the pieces move
- King: one square in any direction.
- Queen: any number of squares in a straight line or diagonal.
- Rook: any number of squares horizontally or vertically.
- Bishop: any number of squares diagonally, always on the same color.
- Knight: two squares in one direction and one square at a right angle. It is the only piece that jumps over others.
- Pawn: one square forward, or two squares from its starting square. It captures one square diagonally forward.
Check and checkmate
A king under attack is in check, and the player must respond at once by capturing the attacker, blocking the line or moving the king. You may never make a move that leaves your own king in check. If there is no escape, it is checkmate and the game ends.
Castling
Once per game, the king moves two squares towards a rook and that rook jumps to the other side of the king. You cannot castle if the king or that rook has already moved, if there are pieces between them, if the king is in check, or if the king would pass through or land on an attacked square.
En passant
If a pawn advances two squares and lands beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square. This must be done immediately on the next move or the right is lost.
Promotion
A pawn that reaches the far end of the board must become a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same color. Most players choose a queen.
Draws
- Stalemate: the player to move has no legal move and is not in check.
- Insufficient material: neither side can possibly deliver checkmate.
- Threefold repetition: the same position occurs three times.
- Fifty-move rule: fifty moves by each side pass without a capture or a pawn move.
- Agreement between the players.
Notation
Moves are recorded in algebraic notation. Files are letters a to h and ranks are numbers 1 to 8. A move like Nf3 means a knight moves to f3; x marks a capture; O-O is castling on the king's side and O-O-O on the queen's side; + means check and # means checkmate.