How to play chess: the basic rules to get started
Chess takes an afternoon to learn and a lifetime to enjoy. This guide covers everything you need for your first full game: the board, the pieces, the goal and how a game ends.
· 3 min read
Play Chess1. The board and the pieces
The board has 64 squares, alternating light and dark, in 8 ranks (numbered 1 to 8) and 8 files (lettered a to h). It goes down so that each player has a light square in their right-hand corner.
Each player starts with 16 pieces: a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. White fills ranks 1 and 2, Black ranks 7 and 8. The queen starts on her own colour: the white queen on a light square (d1), the black queen on a dark one (d8).
2. How each piece moves
White moves first, then the players take turns, one move each. No piece can jump over others except the knight. You capture by moving onto a square held by an enemy piece, which leaves the board.
- King: one square in any direction.
- Queen: any number of squares in a straight line or diagonally.
- Rook: any number of squares in a straight line (ranks and files).
- Bishop: any number of squares diagonally; it always stays on its own colour.
- Knight: in an L shape (two squares one way and one at a right angle), jumping over anything in between.
- Pawn: one square forward (or two on its first move), capturing one square diagonally forward. It never moves backwards.
3. Check and checkmate
A king is in check when an enemy piece attacks it. The player in check must get out of it on their move: move the king, capture the attacking piece or block the attack. A move that leaves your own king in check is not allowed.
If the king is in check and no move can save it, it is checkmate and the game is over: the player who gave mate wins. The king is never actually captured; mate is the end.
4. When the game is a draw
A game can also end in a draw:
- Stalemate: the player to move is not in check but has no legal move.
- Threefold repetition: the same position occurs three times with the same player to move.
- Fifty-move rule: fifty moves by each player go by without a capture or a pawn move.
- Insufficient material: neither side can checkmate (for example king against king, or king and bishop against king).
- Agreement: both players accept a draw.
5. Your first game
In the opening, take the center with your king and queen pawns, bring out knights and bishops before the queen and castle early to keep the king safe. Before every move, check what your opponent is threatening.
On Vexply the board only lets you make legal moves and shows the possible squares when you pick a piece, so you can focus on thinking. Start against the AI on Easy and move up a level once you beat it regularly.