How the Chess Pieces Move

Chess is played on an 8x8 board between White and Black. White always moves first, and the players then take turns, one move each. The board is set up so that each player has a light square in the right-hand corner. Columns are called files (a to h) and rows are called ranks (1 to 8), so every square has a name such as e4 or g7. Learning those names early pays off, because every book, video and analysis tool uses them.

The six pieces

Each side starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns.

King

The king moves one square in any direction. It can never move onto a square that an enemy piece attacks. The king is not worth points in the normal sense, because losing it means losing the game.

Queen

The queen moves any number of squares in a straight line: along a rank, a file or a diagonal. It cannot jump over pieces. It is the strongest piece and is usually counted as 9 points.

Rook

The rook moves any number of squares along a rank or a file. Rooks are worth about 5 points and become very strong once files open up, especially in the endgame.

Bishop

The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally. Each bishop stays on one colour for the whole game, which is why you have a "light-squared" and a "dark-squared" bishop. Worth about 3 points.

Knight

The knight moves in an L shape: two squares in one direction and then one square to the side. It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. A knight always lands on a square of the opposite colour to the one it started on. Worth about 3 points.

Pawn

Pawns move straight forward one square. On its first move a pawn may move two squares instead, if both squares are empty. Pawns capture diagonally, one square forward to the left or right, and they can never move backwards. A pawn is worth 1 point.

The point values are a guide, not a rule. A knight on a strong central square can be worth more than a rook stuck in the corner.

Capturing

You capture by moving a piece onto a square occupied by an enemy piece; the captured piece is removed from the board. Every piece captures the same way it moves, except the pawn, which moves forward but captures diagonally. You can never capture your own pieces.

Castling

Castling is the only move where two pieces move at once. The king moves two squares towards a rook, and that rook jumps to the square the king crossed.

• Kingside castling (written O-O): the king goes from e1 to g1 and the rook from h1 to f1.
• Queenside castling (written O-O-O): the king goes from e1 to c1 and the rook from a1 to d1.

Black castles the same way on the eighth rank.

You may castle only when all of these are true:

1. Neither the king nor that rook has moved before in the game.
2. All squares between the king and the rook are empty.
3. The king is not in check.
4. The king does not pass through or land on a square attacked by the opponent.

A common misunderstanding: the rook may be attacked, and in queenside castling the b1 (or b8) square may be attacked too, since the king does not cross it. Only the king's path matters.

En passant

En passant ("in passing") is a special pawn capture. If a pawn moves two squares forward from its starting square and lands right beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square.

In the diagram, Black's pawn has just moved from d7 to d5, passing the d6 square that White's e5-pawn attacks. White can reply exd6: the pawn lands on d6 and the black pawn on d5 is removed. The right to capture en passant lasts for one move only. If White plays something else, the chance is gone.

Promotion

When a pawn reaches the last rank (the eighth rank for White, the first for Black) it must be promoted. You replace it with a queen, rook, bishop or knight of your own colour. You are not limited to pieces you have lost, so it is possible to have two or more queens.

Almost always you choose a queen. Choosing anything else is called underpromotion. It is useful in rare cases: a knight promotion that gives check, or a rook instead of a queen to avoid stalemate.

Check

A king is in check when an enemy piece attacks it. You must get out of check at once, and there are only three ways:

1. Move the king to a safe square.
2. Capture the checking piece.
3. Block the check by putting a piece between the king and the attacker (not possible against a knight or a pawn, or a piece directly next to the king).

You may never make a move that leaves your own king in check. Such a move is illegal, and it also means a piece that shields your king from attack is pinned: it may not move off the line if that would expose the king.

Checkmate

Checkmate happens when the king is in check and none of the three escapes works. The game ends at once and the side that delivered mate wins. The king is never actually captured.

This is the fastest possible checkmate. The queen checks along the diagonal h4-g3-f2-e1. White's king has no safe square (f2 is on the queen's line and every other neighbour is occupied by its own pieces), nothing can capture the queen on h4, and no white piece can reach g3 or f2 to block. Every way out is closed.

Stalemate and other draws

If the player to move has no legal move and is not in check, the game is a draw by stalemate. This often saves the losing side in the endgame, so when you are winning, always check that your opponent has a move.

A game is also drawn when:

• the same position occurs three times with the same player to move (threefold repetition);
• 50 moves pass on each side with no capture and no pawn move (the fifty-move rule);
• neither side has enough material to mate, for example king against king, or king and bishop against king;
• the players agree to a draw.

How to practise

Reading the rules is the first step; using them under pressure is the second. Short exercises help you see checks, captures and escapes quickly.

• Work through the beginner lessons in our courses.
• Solve easy mates and captures in puzzles.
• Play a slow game against the computer at /play and then look at it again in the free game review, where every mistake is explained.

Once you know how the pieces move, the next step is learning how to start a game well: get your pawns into the centre, bring out your knights and bishops, and castle early. The openings trainer lets you practise exactly that.

Published 2026-11-01 · 22Softwares