How to Play Chess: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Learn how to play chess step by step: set up the board, move every piece, castle, give checkmate and play your first game. Free, with interactive boards.

To play chess, set up the board with a light square in each player's bottom-right corner, let White make the first move, and then take turns moving one piece at a time. Each of the six kinds of pieces moves in its own way, and the goal is to checkmate your opponent's king: attack it so that it has no escape. You can learn all of this in under an hour, and the ten steps below take you from an empty board to your first complete game.

Each step has an interactive board. Click "Show me" to watch a move, and when you see "Your turn", make the move yourself. If you already know how to play and only need to look up a rule, use our complete list of chess rules instead.

Step 1: Understand the goal of chess

Chess is a game for two players, White and Black, each controlling an army of 16 pieces. The goal is to checkmate the opponent's king: to attack it in such a way that it cannot escape. You never actually capture the king; the game ends the moment checkmate happens.

You can also win if your opponent resigns (gives up) or, in timed games, runs out of time. If nobody can win, the game ends in a draw.

Step 2: Place the chessboard correctly

Chess is played on a square board of 64 squares in 8 rows and 8 columns, alternating light and dark. Place the board so that each player has a light square in the bottom-right corner ("light on the right").

The columns are called files and are labeled a to h; the rows are called ranks and are numbered 1 to 8, starting from White's side. Every square has a name, like e4 or h8. You do not need the names to play, but they help you follow books, videos and our guides on chess notation.

Step 3: Set up the pieces

Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. Set them up like this:

1. Rooks in the corners.
2. Knights next to the rooks.
3. Bishops next to the knights.
4. Queen on her own color: the white queen on the light square d1, the black queen on the dark square d8.
5. King on the last remaining square, next to the queen.
6. Pawns on the whole second row in front of the pieces.

For more detail and the most common mistakes, see how to set up a chessboard.

Step 4: Decide who moves first

White always moves first. Then the players take turns, one move each. You cannot skip a turn. In casual games you can decide colors any way you like; a common method is hiding a white and a black pawn in your hands and letting your opponent pick one.

Step 5: Learn how each chess piece moves

Each type of piece moves in its own way. A piece captures by moving onto a square occupied by an enemy piece, which is then removed from the board. You can never capture your own pieces, and only the knight can jump over other pieces.

The king

The king moves one square in any direction. It is the most important piece: if it is checkmated, you lose. The king can never move into a square where it would be attacked.

The queen

The queen is the most powerful piece. She moves any number of squares in a straight line or diagonally, in all eight directions, as long as the path is clear.

The rook

The rook moves any number of squares along a rank or file (up, down, left or right). Rooks are strongest on open files and work well in pairs.

The bishop

The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally. Each bishop stays on one color for the whole game, so each player has a light-squared and a dark-squared bishop.

The knight

The knight moves in an L-shape: two squares in one direction, then one square to the side. It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. Try it: capture the black rook with your knight.

The pawn

Pawns move one square straight forward, or two squares on their first move. Unlike every other piece, a pawn captures diagonally, one square forward to the left or right. Pawns can never move backward.

All the details, with a board for every piece, are in how do chess pieces move.

Step 6: Learn the three special moves

Three rules surprise many beginners. They are rare compared with normal moves, but you need to know them.

Castling

Once per game, you can move your king two squares toward a rook and put the rook on the other side of the king, all in one move. Castling gets your king to safety and brings your rook into play.

You can only castle if neither the king nor that rook has moved, there are no pieces between them, and the king is not in check, does not cross an attacked square and does not land in check. Read the full castling rules.

En passant

If a pawn moves two squares and lands right beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square, but only on the very next move. It is called en passant, French for "in passing".

Pawn promotion

When a pawn reaches the far end of the board, it is promoted: you replace it with a queen, rook, bishop or knight of your color. Almost everyone chooses a queen. Yes, you can have two queens. See pawn promotion.

Step 7: Learn check, checkmate and stalemate

When a piece attacks the enemy king, the king is in check. The player in check must get out of check immediately, in one of three ways: move the king to a safe square, block the attack with another piece, or capture the attacking piece. You are never allowed to make a move that leaves your own king in check.

If the king is in check and none of these is possible, it is checkmate, and the game is over. Find the checkmate here:

Stalemate is different: the player to move is not in check but has no legal move. Stalemate is a draw, even if one side has much more material, so be careful when you are winning. Learn more in check, checkmate and stalemate.

Step 8: Know how a chess game ends

A game can end in three ways:

• Win: checkmate, the opponent resigns, or the opponent runs out of time.
• Draw: stalemate, the same position repeated three times, 50 moves by each side without a capture or pawn move, not enough pieces left to checkmate (for example, king against king), or both players agree to a draw.
• Loss: the same events, the other way around.

All the draw rules are explained in draw rules. When you start playing in a club or tournament, our complete list of chess rules covers the official details, such as the touch-move rule, clocks, illegal moves and the differences between FIDE and US Chess rules.

Step 9: Learn what the pieces are worth

To decide whether a trade is good, players use a simple point system:

• Pawn = 1
• Knight = 3
• Bishop = 3
• Rook = 5
• Queen = 9

The king has no point value, because losing it means losing the game. Trading a knight (3) for a rook (5) is good for you; giving up your queen (9) for a bishop (3) is usually a disaster.

Step 10: Play your first game

Knowing the rules is one thing; knowing what to do is another. Follow these steps in your first games:

1. Start with a center pawn. Move your e-pawn or d-pawn two squares (1.e4 or 1.d4).
2. Bring out your knights and bishops. Aim them toward the center.
3. Castle early to get your king safe, usually within the first ten moves.
4. Connect your rooks and move them to open files.
5. Look for captures and threats on every move, for both sides.
6. Trade when you are ahead in material, and push your pawns to promote in the endgame.

Here is a classic start that follows the plan, called the Italian Game:

More good first moves are in chess openings for beginners.

Beginner tips to win more games

• Think before you move. Ask: "What is my opponent threatening?" before every move.
• Do not leave pieces undefended. Most beginner games are lost by giving away pieces for free.
• Do not bring your queen out too early. It gets chased around and you lose time.
• Learn the basic checkmates, especially with a queen and a rook. See basic checkmates.
• Watch out for stalemate when you are far ahead.
• Solve a few puzzles every day. They teach you to spot tactics like forks and pins.
• Review your games, especially the ones you lose.

When you want a full training plan, read how to get better at chess.

Where to play chess online and in person

You can play chess on a physical board with a friend, at a local club or school, or online. On Chessyo you can play for free against the computer at any level, against players around the world, or against a friend with a link. Online games are timed, so it helps to understand chess time controls such as 10+5 or 3+2, and the rating system that matches you with similar opponents.