Chess is a board game in which two armies of 16 chess pieces compete against each other. It is played on a board with 64 squares.
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Game rules chess
The chess pieces
There are 6 different chess pieces that each move in a different way.
The king may move one square and capture in any direction. The king must never be attacked. So if an opponent's piece can attack the king, it must run away. If not, you are checkmate and lose.
The queen (aka queen) of several squares run and capture in all directions.
The rook may move and capture multiple squares. But only in straight lines, so not diagonally.
The bishop may run and capture multiple squares. But only in the diagonal direction.
The knight always makes a jump and can therefore jump over other pieces. It walks and always takes one step straight and 1 diagonally.
Pawns can only move 1 step forward. Only the first move with a pawn may be 2 steps forward. A pawn can only move diagonally forward.
Start of the game
At the start of the game, the pieces are in the following arrangement:
The player with the white pawns starts and then the players alternately move a pawn.
Attack and Defend
Chess is a game of attacking and defending. Any pawn can capture any other. But this makes it difficult for an opponent's pawn to capture your pawn.
Special rules
Castling
This is the only move that moves two pieces at once and is to get the king to safety in an emergency. The king and rook must not have moved before it, and there must be no pieces between the king and rook. The king moves to the side until next to the rook, then the rook jumps over the king.
To promote
If a pawn makes it across, it may change to any other piece except the king. Usually that will be a lady.
Check
Chess is when the king is attacked and has to leave in order not to be captured.
Checkmate
Checkmate is when the king is in check and can no longer flee. In that case, the player has won.
Keep score for Chess
On this site you can keep track of your played games of chess. Also you can view the statistics of all your played games. You can share the results with your fellow players, family and friends via mail and other social media.