How to play chess or chess rules

A game for two, chess is played on a checkered board with pieces that are generally white for one player and black for the other. Each player has one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to break through your opponent’s defense and capture his king.

Position the chessboard so that black corner squares are at your left. Arrange the pieces on the board.

Arrangement of pieces at start of game
Each kind of playing piece has a unique move. Generally, except for the knight, no piece can jump over or pass through another piece on the board. But any piece can capture any opponent’s piece by landing on the same square with it. A captured piece is removed from the game.

The king can move in any direction, but normally only one square at a time. A king cannot move to a square that would put it in check-that is to where it could be captured with the next move.

The queen can also move in any direction. It can also move over as many unoccupied squares as is advantageous, making it the most
powerful piece on the chessboard.

A rook can move forward, backward, or sideways any number of unoccupied squares, but not diagonally. If you want to bring your two rooks closer together for an attack or move your king to a more protected area, you may castle. This can be done only if neither the king nor the rook in question have moved and the squares between the two pieces are unoccupied. In castling, the king moves two squares closer to the chosen rook, and the rook then jumps over the king and onto the square jumped by the king. Castling counts
as one move and is the only case in which a king moves more than one square or in which a piece other than a knight jumps over another piece.

A bishop can move diagonally forward or backward over any number of unoccupied squares. Each bishop is thus confined to squares of one color throughout the game.

A knight can move three squares in two directions: one or two squares forward, backward, or sideways and the remaining one or two squares in a direction at right angles to the first. A knight can jump over any pieces in its path.

A pawn can move only forward.

From its original position it can advance either one or two squares; otherwise it can advance only one square at a time. A pawn can not capture a piece in its path (it will be blocked by such a piece), but it can capture a piece that is diagonally in front of it one square to the left or right. If you maneuver a pawn to your opponent’s rear row, you can declare the pawn a piece of higher rank usually a queen because of its power.

Moves alternate; white moves first. Only one piece can be moved per turn, except when castling. You must warn your opponent when you put his king in danger by saying, “Check.” He must then move his king out of check or block the attack with another piece. If he cannot, it is checkmate, and the game ends. A game also ends if a player cannot move on turn without endangering his king or because of lack of space. This is a stalemate.