How do you set up a chessboard?
Place the board with a light square at each player’s bottom-right corner. Put rooks in the corners, then knights and bishops. The queen starts on her own colour; the king takes the remaining square. Pawns fill the row in front. White moves first.
How do the pieces move?
Rooks move straight along ranks and files. Bishops move diagonally. Queens combine rook and bishop movement. Knights move two squares in one direction and one across, and can jump over pieces. Kings move one square in any direction, but never into attack.
What about pawns?
Pawns move one square forward and capture one square diagonally forward. From their starting square, they may advance two squares if both squares are empty. A pawn that reaches the far end becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight.
What is check, and what is checkmate?
Check means the king is under attack. You must escape by moving the king, capturing the attacker or blocking the attack when possible. If none of those is legal, it is checkmate. The king is never captured.
Can a game end without checkmate?
Yes. If a player has no legal move and is not in check, the game is a draw by stalemate. Games can also be drawn by repetition or other rules.
Are there special moves?
Castling moves a king two squares towards its rook and brings that rook to the square the king crossed. Neither may have moved; the path must be clear, and the king cannot castle out of, through or into check. En passant lets a pawn capture an opposing pawn immediately after it advances two squares to stand beside it, as if it had moved only one.
What should I try next?
Explore the piece guide in CHEZZIES, then try a short challenge. The board checks legal moves while you practise. Take your time and look at what the other side is threatening.