How to Play Chess: the Rules in Plain English
Setting up the board, who moves first, check, checkmate and stalemate, and the three special moves that trip beginners up: castling, en passant and promotion.
Updated October 26, 2026 · By Tiny Builder
Quick answer
Set the board with a light square on each player's right, white moves first, and both players alternate. Pieces capture by landing on an enemy piece. The aim is checkmate: attacking the enemy king so that no legal move saves him.
Chess has fewer rules than its reputation suggests. There is the board, six pieces with six ways of moving, one aim, and three special moves that exist because of historical tidying up. Here is the lot.
Setting up the board
- Turn the board so that each player has a light square in the bottom right corner.
- Fill the second row in front of you with eight pawns.
- On the back row, from each corner inwards: rook, knight, bishop.
- The queen goes on her own colour: the white queen on a light square, the black queen on a dark one. The king takes the last square beside her.
If the kings and queens end up facing each other across the board, you have it right. If they are diagonal, the queens are swapped.
How a turn works
White moves first, then black, and so on. You must move something on your turn, and you may only move your own pieces. You capture by moving onto a square occupied by an enemy piece and taking it off the board. You may never capture your own piece, and you may never make a move that leaves your own king in check.
Each piece moves its own way, covered in how the pieces move.
Check, checkmate and the point of the game
When a piece attacks the enemy king, that is check. The player in check must do one of three things immediately: move the king to safety, block the attacking line with another piece, or capture the attacker. If none of those is possible, it is checkmate and the game is over. The king is never actually taken.
The three special moves
Castling
The king steps two squares towards one of his rooks, and that rook hops over him to the square he passed. It is the only move that shifts two pieces, and the only way to get your king somewhere safe in one go. It is legal only when:
- neither that king nor that rook has moved yet in the game;
- the squares between them are empty;
- the king is not in check right now;
- the king does not pass over, or land on, a square an enemy piece attacks.
The rook may be attacked, and the rook may pass over an attacked square. Those restrictions apply to the king alone.
En passant
When a pawn makes its two-square first move and lands directly beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square, landing on the square it skipped over. The capture has to be made on the very next move or the chance is gone for good. The rule exists so that the two-square move cannot be used to sneak a pawn past one that was already guarding the square.
Promotion
A pawn that reaches the far end of the board is immediately replaced by a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own colour. You are not limited to pieces you have already lost, so two or three queens on the board is perfectly legal. Choosing anything other than a queen is called underpromotion, and it is nearly always a knight, because a knight reaches squares a queen cannot.
The ways a game is drawn
| Draw | What happened |
|---|---|
| Stalemate | The player to move has no legal move and is not in check |
| Agreement | Both players agree to split the point |
| Threefold repetition | The same position, with the same player to move, happens three times |
| Fifty-move rule | Fifty moves each with no capture and no pawn move |
| Insufficient material | Neither side has the pieces to force mate, for instance king and bishop against king |
Stalemate is the one that stings. If you are winning easily, give the enemy king a square to move to, or check him rather than quietly taking his last option away.
Your first ten moves
You do not need an opening repertoire to play a decent game. Three ideas will do: take some of the centre with a pawn, bring out your knights and bishops, and castle to get your king out of the middle. There is more in openings for beginners, and the shapes that finish games are in checkmate patterns.
Questions people ask
Which colour goes first in chess?
White always moves first, and then the players alternate. You must move on your turn: passing is not allowed, which is the rule behind stalemate.
How do you set up a chess board?
Turn the board so each player has a light square in their bottom right corner. Pawns fill the second row. Behind them, from the corner inwards: rook, knight, bishop, then queen on her own colour, king beside her, then bishop, knight, rook.
What is castling and when can you do it?
The king moves two squares towards a rook and the rook jumps to the far side of him. It is only legal if neither piece has moved yet, the squares between them are empty, and the king is not in check, does not pass through an attacked square, and does not land on one.
What is en passant?
If a pawn uses its two-square first move to land beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as though it had only moved one square. The capture must be made immediately, on the very next move, or the right is lost.
What is the difference between checkmate and stalemate?
Checkmate is a king in check with no legal way out, and the game is won. Stalemate is a player with no legal move who is not in check, and the game is drawn. Same empty board, completely different result.
How does a chess game end in a draw?
Stalemate, agreement between the players, threefold repetition of the same position, fifty moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move, or not enough pieces left to force mate, such as king and bishop against king.
