What are the rules of chess? The chess board consists of 64 squares over eight horizontal ranks and eight vertical files.Every player has 16 chess pieces – one side white, the other black.These include pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, queens, and kings.In total, each side has eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and a single queen and king.The pawns are situated on the second rank in front of your other chess pieces. The rooks sit in the corners, next to them the knights, then the bishops.The queen sits on the square of her own colour, and the king stands next to her.
Learning the basic rules of chess is surprisingly easy! Most people have seen somebody playing the game of chess or a chess board on TV, or maybe heard some news about the famous chess Grandmasters.
Did you ever want to know how to play this seemingly complicated board game? Are the chess rules a closed book to you? Don’t worry – help is at hand!
In many respects, chess is just like any other game. Before playing a soccer match, you have to learn what an offside is, and once you’ve understood all those rules, they’ll stick with you forever.
It’s the same with chess – you learn the chess rules once and then what used to be a closed book will be open to you all your life.
In the following article, we’ll explain the rules of chess you need to understand to start playing chess games yourself! The Chess Board
To start, we need to understand the fundamental tool we need to play chess – the chess board. The chess board consists of 64 squares over eight horizontal ranks and eight vertical files.
The horizontal ranks are numbered one through eight while the vertical files are labeled with the letters ‘a’ to ‘h. A number and a letter (a coordinate) is matched to each of the 64 squares on the chess board, (see the diagram on the left): Chess Board and Chess Pieces
But on this empty chessboard, there is still something essential missing – the chess pieces! Every player has an army of 16 chess pieces – one side White, the other Black – at the beginning of a chess game.
These include pawns (the humble foot soldiers), knights ( jumping pieces inspired by medieval knights on horseback), bishops (which look like a bishop’s hat), rooks (castle-like pieces that represent ancient chariots, or perhaps tanks in modern-day warfare) queens (powerful chess pieces that can dominate the chess board) and the all-important kings, who command their armies but whose loss is the end of the chess game.
In total, each side has eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and a single queen and king.
All the pawns are situated on the second rank in front of your other chess pieces. The rooks sit in the corners, next to them the knights, then the bishops.
The queen sits on the square of her own color, and the king stands next to her.