The rules of chess
The object of the game
Trap the opponent's king so that it is under attack and has no way to escape. That is checkmate, and the game ends immediately - regardless of how much material either side has left.
White moves first, then the players alternate. Passing is not allowed: on your turn you must make a legal move, and that rule creates one of the strangest situations in chess - see stalemate below.
The king is never captured
A common beginner's misunderstanding. You may not move into check, and you may not leave your king in check - so the game ends one move before a capture would happen.
How the pieces move
Except for the knight, no piece may jump over another: a rook stops where the first piece stands in its way.
How pieces capture
Every piece captures the way it moves - you move onto the enemy piece's square and remove it from the board. There is exactly one exception.
- The pawn. It moves straight forward but captures one square diagonally forward. This is the single most common source of confusion in a first game.
- You never have to capture. Chess has no compulsory capture: taking is a choice.
- You cannot capture your own pieces, and you cannot capture the king.
A pawn blocked by a piece directly in front of it is stuck: it cannot move forward, and it cannot capture straight ahead either.
What the pieces are worth
Not a rule but a convention that tells you whether a trade is good. The values are approximate and widely used:
| Piece | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pawn | 1 | the unit of measurement |
| Knight | 3 | stronger in closed positions |
| Bishop | 3 | stronger on an open board; a pair of bishops is worth a little more than the sum |
| Rook | 5 | wants open files |
| Queen | 9 | roughly a rook and a bishop together |
| King | — | cannot be traded, but in the endgame it fights like a strong piece |
Use them as a guide, not as law: an active knight can be worth more than a passive rook, and a pawn one square from promotion is worth a great deal more than one.
Check and checkmate
Check is an attack on the king. Responding is compulsory, and there are exactly three ways to do it:
- 1Move the king to a square that is not attacked
- 2Block the line between the attacker and the king with another piece
- 3Capture the attacking piece
If none of the three is available, it is checkmate and the game is over. Note that against a double check only the first option works - blocking and capturing cannot answer two attackers at once.
Learning to deliver mate with a queen or a rook is the first practical skill after the rules themselves - how to checkmate a lone king.
The three special moves
Promotion to something other than a queen is rare but real: occasionally a knight gives check where a queen would not, and occasionally a queen would force stalemate while a rook wins.
When a game is drawn
Six ways, and two of them take effect automatically while the others must be claimed:
- Stalemate. The side to move has no legal move but is not in check. An immediate draw regardless of material - and the most common way beginners throw away a winning position.
- Insufficient material. Neither side can deliver mate: king against king, king and bishop against king, king and knight against king.
- Threefold repetition. The same position has occurred three times with the same side to move and the same options.
- The fifty-move rule. Fifty consecutive moves with no capture and no pawn move.
- Perpetual check. An endless series of checks - formally resolved through repetition.
- Agreement. The players simply agree.
Each of these is covered in detail, with how to claim them at an event, in the article on draws.
Where a beginner should start
Knowing the rules is not the same as being able to play. The shortest useful path afterwards:
- 1Learn to checkmate with a queen and with two rooks - otherwise won positions end in draws
- 2Solve tactical puzzles daily: forks, pins and double attacks decide almost every amateur game
- 3Follow three opening principles - take the centre, develop your pieces, castle early - and skip opening theory entirely
- 4Learn two endgame ideas: the rule of the square and opposition
- 5Play, and review the games you lose
A full plan with realistic timescales - learning chess as an adult; for children - what age to start.
Rules are learned by playing
Frequently asked questions about the rules
How do the chess pieces move?
The king one square in any direction; the queen any distance in any direction; the rook along ranks and files; the bishop diagonally, always staying on its starting colour; the knight in an L shape, jumping over other pieces; the pawn one square forward, or two on its first move.
Why does the pawn capture differently?
It is the one exception in chess: pawns move straight forward but capture one square diagonally forward. A pawn blocked directly in front cannot move or capture ahead at all.
What are the special moves?
Castling, where king and rook move together and the king shelters in the corner; en passant, where a pawn that has just advanced two squares can be captured as if it moved one; and promotion, where a pawn reaching the far rank must become a queen, rook, bishop or knight.
What is the difference between check and checkmate?
Check is an attack on the king that must be answered - by moving the king, blocking the line or capturing the attacker. Checkmate is a check with none of those three available, and the game ends immediately.
How can a game end in a draw?
Six ways: stalemate, insufficient material, threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule, perpetual check and agreement. Stalemate and insufficient material apply automatically; the others have to be claimed.
Can a pawn promote to a piece that is still on the board?
Yes. Promotion is not limited to captured pieces, and there is no limit on the number of queens. Occasionally promoting to a knight or a rook is better - a knight may give check where a queen cannot, and a queen can force stalemate where a rook wins.
A tournament without a paper crosstable
Everything people usually keep in a spreadsheet is already in the app: pairings, points, tie-breaks, round order. Free, with no subscriptions and no cap on the number of players.
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More than a bot: the app, FIDE rules and a TRF report
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What to read next
Start here - setting up the board, basic checkmates, tactics, glossary.