How to set up a chess board

• Light square bottom right. Turn the board so that the nearest right-hand corner square is light. «White on the right» is the phrase people remember it by.
• Pawns on the second row. Eight of them, filling the rank in front of you.
• Back row from the corners inwards: rook, knight, bishop - then king and queen in the middle.
• Queen on her own colour. White queen on a light square, black queen on a dark one. The king takes the square beside her.
• The two kings face each other, as do the two queens - a quick way to check you got it right.

1. 1
   Orient the board

   Light square in the near right corner. If it is dark, turn the board ninety degrees. Getting this wrong flips the whole position and quietly breaks castling later
2. 2
   Place the rooks

   In the four corners of the back rows
3. 3
   Place the knights

   Immediately beside each rook
4. 4
   Place the bishops

   Beside the knights, leaving the two central squares free
5. 5
   Place the queen

   On the central square of her own colour - white queen on light, black queen on dark
6. 6
   Place the king

   On the remaining central square, next to the queen
7. 7
   Place the pawns

   A full row in front of everything else

In algebraic terms: White's rooks stand on a1 and h1, knights on b1 and g1, bishops on c1 and f1, the queen on d1 and the king on e1, with pawns along the second rank. Black mirrors it on the seventh and eighth - how the squares are named.

Both stand in the middle of the back row, and the only question is which way round. The answer is the same on both sides of the board:

It follows that the two sides are not mirror images of each other piece for piece: from White's view the queen stands to the left of the king, from Black's view to the right. That is correct, and it surprises almost everybody the first time.

Sixteen per side, thirty-two in total:

A set missing one piece is a set you cannot play with - which is why clubs keep a spare and bag each set separately - storing and carrying sets.

All four are caught by one look before the clocks start: light square on the right, queens facing each other. At a tournament that check is the players' own responsibility - once the game has begun a wrong setup is usually played out as it stands.

• White moves first. Then the players alternate; passing is not allowed.
• Set the clock if you are using one. Both sides on the same control, started by the player with Black - about time controls.
• Agree who plays which colour. At an event the pairing decides it; casually, hide a pawn of each colour in your hands.
• Shake hands. The customary start to a game.

If the rules themselves are still new - the rules of chess. And after the game the pieces go back to the starting position: at a club that is simply good manners, because the next round begins sooner - etiquette.