How to Play Chess

Checkmate your opponent's king. A king is in checkmate when it is under attack (in check) and cannot escape to a safe square, block the attack, or capture the attacking piece. The game can also end in a draw through stalemate, insufficient material, or the fifty-move rule.

Chess is played on an 8×8 board with alternating light and dark squares. Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. White pieces occupy ranks 1-2, black pieces occupy ranks 7-8. The queen starts on her own color.

White moves first, then players alternate turns. Each piece moves differently: the king moves one square in any direction; the queen moves any number of squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally; rooks move horizontally or vertically; bishops move diagonally; knights move in an L-shape and can jump over pieces; pawns move forward one square (or two from their starting position) and capture diagonally.

The game ends when one player checkmates the opponent's king. If a player cannot make any legal move and is not in check, the game is a stalemate (draw). Other draws include threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule, and insufficient material to checkmate.