Instructions For Beginners on How to Play Chess

Setting Up

• 1

  Set each of the pawns (the small, most-common pieces on the board) on the second row facing you.

• 2

  Set each of the rooks (the castle-shaped pieces) on either end of the first row facing you.

• 3

  Set each of the knights (the horses) next to the rooks.

• 4

  Place each of the bishops (the remaining piece that is not a king or a queen) next to the knights.

• 5

  Place the king and queen on the remaining squares. If your pieces are black, your queen should go on the black square; if your pieces are white, she should go on the white square.

Moving

• 6

  Move a pawn one or two spaces forward if it has not yet moved in the game. If it has, then it can only move one space forward at a time. Pawns can capture other pieces one space diagonally to their left or right, but cannot capture pieces that are in front of them. They also cannot move backwards.

• 7

  Move a rook as many spaces to its left, right, front or back as you want. If there is an enemy piece on any of these squares, you can take its place and remove it from the board.

• 8

  Move your knight one space left, right, forward or backwards and another space diagonally. Knights can jump over other pieces, which is a unique quality they have.

• 9

  Move your bishop as many spaces you want in a diagonal. This means that bishops never leave the color square they started on.

• 10

  Move your king one space in any direction and your queen as many spaces as you want in any direction.