Chess is a board game that has been played for centuries and is still enjoyed by millions of people around the world. It is a game of strategy, skill, and patience, and it can be played by people of all ages and skill levels. If you’re new to the game, or if you want to improve your skills, this article will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to play chess.

The Chess Board and Pieces To play chess, you will need a chessboard and 32 pieces. The chessboard consists of 64 squares, arranged in eight rows and eight columns. The squares are alternately colored black and white. The pieces consist of two sets: black and white, each with 16 pieces. The pieces are:

• Eight pawns
• Two knights
• Two bishops
• Two rooks (also called castles)
• One queen
• One king

Each piece has its own unique way of moving, which we will explain in detail below.

Setup To begin the game, the pieces are set up on the board as follows:

• The rooks are placed in the corners of the board.
• The knights are placed next to the rooks.
• The bishops are placed next to the knights.
• The queen is placed on the square that matches her color (white queen on a white square, black queen on a black square).
• The king is placed on the remaining square next to the queen.
• The eight pawns are placed on the second row of each player’s side of the board.

Starting the Game The player with the white pieces always moves first. After the first move, the players take turns moving their pieces. Each turn consists of moving one piece to a new square on the board. There are three things you can do on your turn:

• Move a piece to a new square
• Capture an opponent’s piece by moving one of your pieces to the square occupied by the opponent’s piece
• Castle your king (we will explain this later)

Moving the Pieces Each piece moves in a unique way. Here are the basic rules for each piece:

• Pawns can only move forward, one square at a time. On their first move, they can move two squares forward. Pawns capture diagonally, one square forward and to the left or right.
• Knights move in an “L” shape, two squares in one direction and then one square perpendicular to that direction.
• Bishops move diagonally, any number of squares in one direction.
• Rooks move horizontally or vertically, any number of squares in one direction.
• The queen can move in any direction, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, with any number of squares in one direction.
• The king can move one square in any direction.

The objective of the game is to put your opponent’s king in “checkmate,” which means that the king is under attack (in “check”) and cannot escape capture on the next move (mate). When a king is in checkmate, the game is over.

Capturing Pieces When a player moves a piece to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece, the opponent’s piece is captured and removed from the board. Captured pieces are not placed back on the board.

Castling

Castling is a special move that involves moving the king two squares towards a rook, and then moving the rook to the square on the other side of the king. This move is only allowed if the following conditions are met:

• The king and rook have not moved yet in the game
• There are no pieces between the king and rook
• The king is not in check or moving into check

En Passant

En passant is a special pawn capture that can only be made under specific

“En passant” is a special move in the game of chess that involves a pawn capturing an opponent’s pawn that has just advanced two squares from its starting position, as if it had only moved one square forward.

The en passant rule is based on the idea that a pawn that advances two squares from its starting position could be vulnerable to attack by an opponent’s pawn that is located on an adjacent file. Therefore, the en passant rule allows the opponent’s pawn to capture the advancing pawn as if it had only moved one square forward.

To execute the en passant capture, the capturing pawn moves diagonally to the square immediately behind the opponent’s pawn, and the captured pawn is removed from the board. The en passant capture must be made immediately after the opponent’s pawn has advanced two squares and before any other moves are made. If the capturing player fails to make the en passant capture when it is legal to do so, the opportunity to capture “en passant” is lost.