Learn with Orion

Rules of Chess

Set up the board, learn how each piece moves, and see what checkmate looks like on the same board you’ll play on.

Objective

Checkmate the opposing king.

Win by attacking the opponent’s king so that it is in check and no legal move can make it safe. Kings are never captured—the game ends as soon as checkmate is reached.

Setup

Place the queen on her own color.

Each side begins with eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen, and one king. The back rank reads rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook from left to right for White.

The lower-right corner must be a light square. White moves first, then turns alternate.

The starting position, with the white queen on d1 and the black queen on d8.

Piece movement

Six pieces, six movement patterns.

The knight can jump.

At the start, the knight on b1 can reach a3 or c3 even though its own pawns are in the way. Trace two squares up, then one to either side.

The knight on b1 can jump to either outlined square, a3 or c3.

King

Moves one square in any direction, but never onto a square attacked by the opponent.

Queen

Moves any number of open squares along a rank, file, or diagonal.

Rook

Moves any number of open squares horizontally or vertically.

Bishop

Moves any number of open squares diagonally and stays on one square color.

Knight

Moves in an L shape: two squares in one direction and one perpendicular. It can jump over pieces.

Pawn

Moves forward one square, or two from its starting square, and captures one square diagonally forward.

Check and checkmate

A checked king must be made safe.

Answer check immediately by moving the king, capturing the attacking piece, or blocking the attack when possible. A move that leaves your own king in check is illegal. If none of those replies works, the king is checkmated and the game is over.

Checkmate. The white queen on g7 checks the black king on h8 and covers both exits. The white king on f6 protects the queen.

Special moves

Castle, capture en passant, and promote.

Castling

With an unmoved king and rook, move the king two squares toward the rook, then place that rook on the square the king crossed. The squares between them must be empty, and the king cannot be in check, cross an attacked square, or land in check.

The king follows the arrow from e1 to g1. The rook moves from h1 to the other outlined square, f1, on the same turn.

En passant

When an opposing pawn advances two squares and lands beside your pawn, your pawn may capture it as though it had moved only one square. This option exists only on the immediately following move.

Black just played d7 to d5. White can move from e5 to d6 and remove the black pawn on d5.

Promotion

A pawn reaching the farthest rank promotes. Choose a queen, rook, bishop, or knight from the promotion picker.

The white pawn on a7 promotes when it advances to a8.

Ending the game

Checkmate wins; stalemate draws.

Checkmate gives the attacking player the win. LarkSpark declares a draw by stalemate when the player to move has no legal move but their king is not in check. Timed online matches also end when a player’s clock expires.

Quick reference

Your turn in four checks.

01 Meet every threat If your king is checked, make it safe before doing anything else.
02 Look for forcing moves Consider checks, captures, and direct threats first.
03 Protect every piece Before moving, check what your opponent can capture next.
04 Improve king safety Develop pieces, control the center, and castle before launching an attack.