- Players2 players
- Play time30 to 90+ minutes
- DifficultyAdvanced
- OriginNorthern India, roughly the 6th century CE
- You'll needA chessboard with 64 alternating light and dark squares, and 32 pieces (16 per side): 8 pawns, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 1 queen, and 1 king.
Overview
Chess is a two-player strategy game played on an 8-by-8 grid of squares, with each player commanding an army of sixteen pieces. Unlike games of chance, chess has no dice, no hidden information, and no shuffled deck — both players see the entire board at all times, and the outcome depends entirely on the decisions each side makes. That transparency is part of what has made chess endure for well over a thousand years: every game is a puzzle both players are solving in real time, move by move.
The game traces its roots to an Indian game called chaturanga, which spread through Persia and the Islamic world before arriving in Europe, where the modern moves for the queen and bishop were established by around the late 15th century. Since then, the rules have stayed essentially fixed, which means a game recorded five hundred years ago can still be replayed move for move today.
What You Need
You need a chessboard with 64 squares in an 8-by-8 grid, alternating between light and dark colors, and a full set of 32 chess pieces split evenly between two colors, traditionally white and black. No other equipment is required, although many players like to use a clock for timed games.
Setup
Place the board so that each player has a light-colored square in the bottom-right corner. Each player's pieces occupy the two rows closest to them. The back row, from left to right, is: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook — remembering that each queen starts on a square matching her own color makes this easier to check. The entire second row in front of the back row is filled with eight pawns. White always moves first, and turns alternate strictly from there.
How to Play
Each type of piece moves in its own distinct way. Pawns move forward one square (two squares on their very first move) and capture diagonally rather than straight ahead. Rooks move any number of squares in a straight line, horizontally or vertically. Bishops move any number of squares diagonally, always staying on squares of the same color. Knights move in an "L" shape — two squares in one direction and then one square perpendicular — and are the only piece that can jump over others. The queen combines the movement of a rook and a bishop, making her the most powerful piece on the board. The king moves only one square in any direction, but must be protected at all costs, since losing him ends the game.
Players alternate turns, moving exactly one piece per turn (except for a special two-piece move called castling, which repositions the king and a rook together to improve the king's safety). A player captures an opposing piece by moving one of their own pieces onto the square that piece occupies, removing it from the board. Games typically unfold across an opening phase (developing pieces and controlling the center), a middlegame (tactical exchanges and maneuvering), and an endgame (fewer pieces remain, and king activity and pawns become critical).
How to Win
The goal is to checkmate the opponent's king: to threaten it with capture (a state called "check") in a way the opponent cannot escape, block, or resolve by capturing the threatening piece. A game can also end in a draw, which happens if neither side can checkmate, if a position repeats three times, if fifty moves pass without a pawn move or capture, or if a player has no legal move but their king is not in check (a "stalemate").
Tips
- Develop your knights and bishops early rather than moving the same piece repeatedly.
- Control the four center squares — pieces posted there influence more of the board.
- Keep your king safe by castling within the first ten moves when possible.
- Look for your opponent's threats before making your own move, not just after.
- Trade pieces when it improves your position, not simply because a trade is available.
Common Mistakes
- Moving the queen out too early, where it can be chased around by minor pieces.
- Forgetting that a move is illegal if it leaves your own king in check.
- Chasing a single tactic while ignoring your opponent's counterplay.
- Neglecting king safety in favor of attacking too aggressively.
Variations
Chess960 (also called Fischer Random) shuffles the starting position of the back-row pieces randomly at the start of each game, which removes the advantage of memorized opening theory. Blitz and bullet chess use very short clocks — sometimes just a few minutes per player for an entire game — turning the emphasis toward speed and instinct. Correspondence chess allows days per move and is traditionally played by mail or, today, through slower-paced online formats.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The game ends the moment checkmate is reached, meaning the king is under threat with no legal way to escape it. The king is never actually removed from the board.
It's a special pawn capture: if an opposing pawn moves two squares forward and lands beside your pawn, you may capture it as though it had only moved one square, but only on your very next move.
Yes. When a pawn reaches the far end of the board, it must be promoted to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color, regardless of what has already been captured.