The game of chess is played on a square board made of 64 alternating light and dark squares, arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. Think of it as a map. To find your way around, you need to know the coordinates.

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. Every square has a unique name, like a street address, by combining its file and rank. For example, the bottom-left square for the player with the light-colored pieces (White) is 'a1'.

Before starting a game, make sure the board is oriented correctly. Each player should have a light-colored square in the bottom-right corner. It’s a simple rule, but it's important!

Each player starts with an army of 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. Each piece has its own unique way of moving across the board.

Pawns are unique. They move forward, never backward. From its starting square, a pawn can move either one or two squares forward. After that, it can only move one square forward at a time.

Pawns also capture differently than they move. They capture one square diagonally forward. If there's a piece directly in front of a pawn, the pawn is blocked and cannot move.

Next up is the knight. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. It moves in an 'L' shape: two squares in one direction (horizontally or vertically) and then one square at a 90-degree angle. This means a knight always lands on a square of the opposite color from where it started.

Bishops move any number of squares diagonally. They are restricted to squares of the color they start on. This means you have one light-squared bishop and one dark-squared bishop, and they can never cross paths.

Rooks move any number of squares horizontally or vertically. They are powerful pieces, especially when they can control open files and ranks.

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

Finally, we have the king. The king is the most important piece, but it's not the most powerful. It can move one square in any direction. The entire goal of the game is to protect your king while attacking your opponent's.

Now that you know the board and how each piece moves, you have the foundational knowledge for playing the game. The next step is to understand the rules that govern how these pieces interact.

Time to test your knowledge.

Understanding how the pieces move is the first and most crucial step. With these basics, you're ready to learn the rules of the game.