Chess is played on a square board with 64 squares, arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. The squares alternate between light and dark colors. When you set up the board, make sure each player has a light-colored square in their bottom-right corner. The board is a world of its own, with a simple language for describing any location.

The vertical columns are called files and are labeled with letters from 'a' to 'h'. The horizontal rows are called ranks and are numbered from '1' to '8'. By combining a file letter and a rank number, you can name any square on the board. For example, the bottom-left square for the player with the white pieces is 'a1'.

Each player starts with an army of 16 pieces. One player commands the white pieces, the other commands the black pieces. White always moves first. Let's meet the soldiers.

The pawn is the most numerous piece, but it's also the most complex. It moves forward one square at a time. The only exception is on its very first move, when it has the option to move forward one or two squares. Pawns are unique because they capture differently than they move. They capture one square diagonally forward.

The rook is a straightforward piece. It moves any number of squares horizontally or vertically, as long as its path isn't blocked by another piece. Think of it as a castle tower, controlling the straight lines of the battlefield.

The knight has the most unusual move. It moves in an 'L' shape: two squares in one direction (horizontally or vertically) and then one square at a 90-degree angle. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces, making it tricky and unpredictable.

The bishop glides diagonally across the board. It can move any number of squares, but it must stay on squares of the same color it started on. You have one bishop that moves on light squares and one that moves on dark squares.

The queen is the most powerful piece. She combines the moves of the rook and the bishop. She can move any number of squares in any straight line: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Finally, the king. The king is the most important piece, but also one of the weakest. It can move one square in any direction: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The king can never move into a square that is under attack by an opponent's piece.

The objective in chess isn't just to capture pieces. The ultimate goal is to win the game by trapping the opponent's king. This situation is called checkmate.

When a king is in check, it must get out of the attack on the very next move. There are three ways to do this:

1. Move the king to a safe square.
2. Block the check by placing another piece in the way.
3. Capture the piece that is giving check.

If a king is in check and cannot escape by any of these three methods, the game is over. The player who delivered the checkmate wins.

The most common way a game ends in a draw is through a stalemate. This happens when a player whose turn it is to move is not in check, but has no legal moves they can make. The game immediately ends in a draw. No one wins, no one loses.

Now that you know the rules, let's test your understanding.

These are the fundamental building blocks of chess. With this knowledge, you are ready to play your first game.