The Board

On the chess board there are 64 squares arranged as an eight-by-eight square. These form 8 vertical lines called files, labelled from “a” to “h”, and 8 horizontal lines called ranks, labelled from 1 to 8. The first rank is the closest one to the white pieces and the eight one is closest to the black side. Moreover, the position of the king and queen separate the board into “queen’s side” and “king’s side”.

Initial Setup

At the start of the game both players arrange their pieces as follows:

• All pawns arranged in a line filling the second rank (2 and 7)
• The rest of the pieces on the first rank (1 and 8)
• The queen is placed on the central square (file “d”) with the same colour as the piece (white queen on white square)
• The king is placed on the central square (file “e”) next to the queen
• The bishops are placed on files “c” and “f”
• The knights are places on files “b” and “g”
• The rooks are places in the corners of the board on files “a” and “h”

Castling

This is a special move that the king can perform with one of the two rooks. He moves two squared towards the rook and the rook jumps over the king to the other side, thus protecting him. It is only possible under a set of conditions:

• If the king has not moved since the start of the game
• If the rook has not moved since the start of the game
• If the king is not currently in check or does not pass through (or end up on) a square where he would be checked

Pawn Promotion

Even though the pawn is the weakest and least valuable piece, if he manages to reach the other side of the board (the last rank), he is promoted to one of the other pieces, except the king. Thus, the pawn can become a queen, a rook, a bishop, or a knight. Most commonly, the pawn is promoted to a queen, as she is the strongest piece.

En Passant

The pawn has another special move that he can perform in a game of chess. If at one point in the game, a player moves his pawn two squares for the first time, and an enemy pawn in positioned on an adjacent file, next to it, the enemy can capture the pawn as if it were a normal diagonal capture.

Check & Checkmate

“Check” happens when the king is under attack and in immediate danger of being captured. This event forces the player whose king is attacked to move it immediately or capture the attacker. If the player has no moves that could save the king, then his king is “checkmated”, and the game is lost.

Draws

A draw is when neither of the two players have won, and it can happen in chess in a number of ways:

• When draw is offered by a player and accepted by the other
• When the game is in a dead position (king against king, king against king and bishop, king against king and knight, king and bishop against king and bishop - when both bishops are on squares of the same colour)
• When the player that has to move isn’t checked but has no options that would not put his king in check. This situation is called “stalemate” (shown in the picture).