Chess is played on a square board with 64 squares arranged in an 8x8 grid of alternating colors. The horizontal rows are called ranks and are numbered 1 to 8. The vertical columns are called files and are labeled 'a' through 'h'. Every square has a unique coordinate, like a battleship grid, from a1 to h8.

When setting up the board, always make sure each player has a light-colored square in their bottom-right corner. The player with the light-colored pieces, referred to as White, always moves first. The player with the dark-colored pieces is Black.

Each player starts with an army of 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The back rank is for the major pieces, and the rank in front of them is for the pawns.

Each piece in chess moves in a unique way. Understanding these movements is the first step to playing the game.

The Pawn Pawns are the foot soldiers. On their first move, they can advance one or two squares forward. After that, they can only move one square forward at a time. Pawns capture diagonally, one square forward. They are the only piece that captures differently from how they move.

The Rook The rook is a powerful piece that moves in a straight line, horizontally or vertically, for any number of empty squares. Think of it like a plus sign (+).

The Knight The knight is the trickiest piece. It moves in an 'L' shape: two squares in one direction (horizontally or vertically) and then one square at a perpendicular angle. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.

The Bishop The bishop moves diagonally for any number of empty squares. Each player starts with two bishops, one on a light square and one on a dark square. A bishop always stays on the color it started on.

The Queen The queen is the most powerful piece on the board. She combines the powers of the rook and the bishop, meaning she can move any number of empty squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

The King The king is the most important piece, but also one of the weakest. He can move one square in any direction: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

The goal of chess isn't just to capture pieces. The ultimate objective is to achieve checkmate.

This happens when a player's king is under attack (in "check") and there is no legal move to get it out of check. If a king is in check, the player must make a move to get it out of danger. This can be done by moving the king, blocking the attack with another piece, or capturing the attacking piece. If none of these are possible, it's checkmate, and the game is over.

Players take turns making one move at a time. A move can consist of moving a piece to an empty square or capturing an opponent's piece. A capture happens when you move one of your pieces to a square occupied by an opponent's piece. The opponent's piece is removed from the board.

1. Castling This is a special move that involves both the king and one of the rooks. It's the only time in chess you can move two pieces in one turn. The goal is to move the king to a safer position and bring the rook into the game.

You can castle if:

• Neither the king nor the chosen rook has moved yet.
• There are no pieces between the king and the rook.
• The king is not currently in check.
• The king does not pass through or land on a square that is under attack by an enemy piece.

2. En Passant French for "in passing," this is a special pawn capture. If your opponent moves a pawn two squares forward on its first move and lands right next to one of your pawns, you have the option to capture it as if it had only moved one square forward. This option is only available on the very next turn.

3. Pawn Promotion If a pawn reaches the other side of the board (the 8th rank for White, or the 1st rank for Black), it gets a promotion! You can exchange the pawn for a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. You can't promote it to a king or keep it as a pawn. Most of the time, players choose to promote to a queen, as it's the most powerful piece.

Now that you know the rules, you're ready to start playing. The best way to learn is by doing.

Ready to test your knowledge?