Ī king is in check when it is under attack by at least one enemy piece. Black can also parry the check by moving the bishop to e5 or the knight to f4 to block the check, or by capturing the white bishop with the knight. It can get out of check by moving to an unattacked square. The pawn is also involved in the two special moves en passant and promotion. It cannot move to those squares when vacant except when capturing en passant. A pawn can capture an enemy piece on either of the two squares diagonally in front of the pawn. A pawn, unlike other pieces, captures differently from how it moves.

If it has not yet moved, a pawn also has the option of moving two squares straight forward, provided both squares are vacant. A pawn moves straight forward one square, if that square is vacant.Pawns have the most complex rules of movement:.in an 'L' pattern.) The knight is not blocked by other pieces it jumps to the new location. (This can be thought of as moving two squares horizontally then one square vertically, or moving one square horizontally then two squares vertically-i.e. A knight moves to one of the nearest squares not on the same rank, file, or diagonal.The queen moves any number of vacant squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.(Thus a bishop can move to only light or dark squares, not both.) A bishop moves any number of vacant squares diagonally.A rook moves any number of vacant squares horizontally or vertically.A special move with the king known as castling is allowed only once per player, per game (see below). The king moves exactly one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.The king can be put in check but cannot be captured (see below). The captured piece is thereby permanently removed from the game. A piece is captured (or taken) when an attacking enemy piece replaces it on its square. A piece moves to a vacant square except when capturing an opponent's piece.Įxcept for any move of the knight and castling, pieces cannot jump over other pieces. The pawn on c6 can also take either black rook.Įach type of chess piece has its own method of movement. The pawns can move to the squares marked ' ×' in front of them. A common method is for one player to conceal a piece (usually a pawn) of each color in either hand the other player chooses a hand to open and receives the color of the piece that is revealed. a Swiss system tournament or round-robin tournament) or, in the case of non-competitive play, mutual agreement, in which case some kind of random choice is often employed. Instead, this decision is left open to tournament-specific rules (e.g. The official chess rules do not include a procedure for determining who plays White. In addition, if the game is being played under a time control, a player who exceeds the time limit loses the game unless they cannot be checkmated. Play continues until a king is checkmated, a player resigns, or a draw is declared, as explained below. Making a move is required it is not legal to skip a move, even when having to move is detrimental. White moves first, then players alternate moves. The player controlling the white pieces is named 'White' the player controlling the black pieces is named 'Black'. Gameplay A game in a public park in Kyiv, using a chess clock Procedures for resolving irregularities that can occur during a game are provided as well. There are variations of the rules for fast chess, correspondence chess, online chess, and Chess960.īesides the basic moves of the pieces, rules also govern the equipment used, time control, conduct and ethics of players, accommodations for physically challenged players, and recording of moves using chess notation. Slight modifications are made by some national organizations for their own purposes. Today, the standard rules are set by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), the international governing body for chess. The rules also varied somewhat from region to region. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. A game can end in various ways besides checkmate: a player can resign, and there are several ways a game can end in a draw. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king checkmate occurs when a king is threatened with capture and has no escape.

Each type of piece moves in a distinct way.

Each player controls sixteen pieces of six types on a chessboard. Chess is a two-player abstract strategy board game. The rules of chess (also known as the laws of chess) govern the play of the game of chess. Left to right: king, rook, queen, pawn, knight, bishop

Origin of chess piece names