--- title: "Chess rules: how to play chess, step by step" description: "Chess rules in order: setting up the board, how each piece moves, castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate and stalemate. Then play free in your browser." url: https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/ canonical: https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/ type: zasady language: en author: klyo organization: Klyo Illia Krasnopolskyi (NIP 7822656871), Łódź, Poland contact: kontakt@klyo.pl updated: 2026-10-18 llms: https://games.klyo.pl/llms.txt --- # Chess rules Chess is a game for two players on an 8 by 8 board. White moves first, players take turns, and the goal is checkmate: an attack on the king that cannot be stopped. Below are all the rules in order, from setting up the pieces to a draw. [Play chess](https://games.klyo.pl/chess/) [All game rules](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/) - [![Szachy: gra w przeglądarce od twórcy Klyo](https://games.klyo.pl/foto/zrzut-gra-szachy-800.041d5151.webp) 10–30 min **Chess** 2 player 10–30 min portrait & landscape Free online chess vs computer, 2 player and chess puzzles.](https://games.klyo.pl/chess/) ## In short 1. White moves first, and players take turns. 2. The goal is checkmate: a check the king cannot escape. 3. Each piece moves in its own way; only the knight jumps over others. 4. The special moves are castling, en passant and pawn promotion. 5. Stalemate, no legal move without being in check, is a draw. ## How do you set up a chessboard? Place the board so that each player has a light square in the bottom right corner. The back row holds, in order: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight and rook. The queen starts on her own colour, so the white queen stands on a light square and the black queen on a dark one. The second row holds eight pawns for each player. *Starting position: white at the bottom, black at the top. The white queen stands on the light square d1, the black queen on the dark square d8.* ## How does each chess piece move? Every piece has its own way of moving. You capture by moving onto a square held by an opponent's piece, which then leaves the board. You can never capture your own piece. - King: one square in any direction. It may not move onto a square attacked by the opponent. - Queen: any number of empty squares across, up and down or diagonally. - Rook: any number of empty squares across or up and down. - Bishop: any number of empty squares diagonally, so it stays on one colour for the whole game. - Knight: in an L shape, two squares one way and one square to the side. It is the only piece that jumps over others. - Pawn: one square forward, or two from its starting square. It captures differently from how it moves: one square diagonally forward. ## What is castling and when is it allowed? Castling is the only move in which you move two pieces at once: the king moves two squares towards a rook, and the rook jumps over the king to stand right next to it. It is allowed when neither the king nor that rook has moved yet, the squares between them are empty, the king is not in check and it does not pass through or land on an attacked square. Short castling goes towards the nearer rook, long castling towards the farther one. More: [Castling in chess](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/castling/) ## What are en passant and pawn promotion? When an opponent's pawn moves two squares from its starting square and lands next to your pawn, you may capture it as if it had moved only one square. This is en passant, and it is only allowed on the very next move; after that the chance is gone. A pawn that reaches the last row immediately becomes a queen, a rook, a bishop or a knight, whichever you choose. Most players choose a queen because it is the strongest piece, but sometimes a knight gives a checkmate the queen could not. More: [En passant](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/en-passant/) ## Check, checkmate and stalemate: how does a chess game end? Check is an attack on the king. A player in check must get out of it at once: move the king, block the attack with another piece, or capture the attacking piece. You may never make a move that leaves your own king in check. Checkmate is a check with no defence, and it ends the game with a win for the attacker. Stalemate is when the player to move is not in check but has no legal move: the game is then a draw, even if one side has far more pieces. More: [Stalemate in chess](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/stalemate/) ## When is a chess game a draw? A game ends in a draw in several cases: - stalemate, when the player to move has no legal move and is not in check, - both players agree, - the same position appears three times with the same player to move, - fifty moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move, - not enough pieces left to checkmate, for example king against king. ## How should a beginner start a game of chess? Start in the centre: move the pawns in front of the king and the queen, then bring out the knights and bishops and castle before you attack. Do not bring the queen out too early, because your opponent gains time by chasing it with minor pieces. Before every capture, check how your opponent can answer. On klyo you can play chess against the computer on eight levels, with a friend by link, or with two people on one device. When you select a piece, the game shows the squares it can move to, and castling, en passant and promotion work exactly as described above. More: [Chess openings for beginners](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/openings/) ## How to play chess at master level: tactics and combinations Games between strong players are decided by tactics: short, forcing sequences of moves. A combination is such a sequence, often with a sacrifice, that ends in checkmate or a gain of material. To spot one, check on every move, in this order: checks, captures and threats, yours and your opponent's. The usual piece values help you judge a trade: pawn 1, knight and bishop 3 each, rook 5, queen 9. The king has no value, because losing it ends the game. - Fork: one piece attacks two at once, most often a knight. Your opponent can save only one. - Pin: a piece cannot move because it would expose a more valuable piece or the king behind it. - Skewer: an attack on a valuable piece with another one behind it; once it moves away, you take the one behind. - Discovered attack: moving one piece opens a line of attack for another. When both give check at once, it is a double check, and only a king move can answer it. - Sacrifice: you give up a piece to open the king, drag a piece onto a bad square or deliver checkmate. ## How to plan a game: opening, middlegame and endgame In the opening, development matters: bring out the knights and bishops, take the centre, castle and connect the rooks. In the middlegame, look for open files for your rooks, weak squares your opponent can no longer cover with a pawn, and an attack where you have more pieces. The bishop pair is usually stronger than bishop and knight once the position opens up. In the endgame the king becomes an attacking piece: march it to the centre. Two rules decide many pawn endgames. The rule of the square: draw a square from the pawn to its promotion square; if the opposing king, with the move, can step into it, it catches the pawn. The opposition: when the kings face each other with one square between them, the side that does not have to move has the advantage. ## The most common mistakes of beginner chess players - A piece left undefended: before every move, check what your opponent can capture. - The queen brought out too early: your opponent chases it and develops pieces at the same time. - No castling: a king left in the centre quickly comes under attack. - Moving one piece several times in the opening instead of developing them all. - Pushing the pawns in front of the king without need, which opens a diagonal to it. ## Play Chess for free You know the rules, now play. Chess runs free in your browser, on a phone and a computer, with nothing to install and no account. [Play chess](https://games.klyo.pl/chess/) [![Szachy: gra w przeglądarce od twórcy Klyo](https://games.klyo.pl/foto/zrzut-gra-szachy-800.041d5151.webp)](https://games.klyo.pl/chess/) ## Read next - **[Castling in chess](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/castling/)**: Castling is the move in which the king moves two squares towards a rook and the rook jumps over it to stand right next to it. - **[En passant](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/en-passant/)**: En passant is a special pawn capture. - **[Stalemate in chess](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/stalemate/)**: Stalemate is when the player to move is not in check but has no legal move. - **[Chess openings for beginners](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/openings/)**: The opening is the first phase of a game. ## Similar free games - [![Nardy: gra w przeglądarce od twórcy Klyo](https://games.klyo.pl/foto/zrzut-gra-nardy-800.54bfde89.webp) new **Backgammon** 2 player portrait & landscape Play backgammon or Long Nardy on a carved wooden board.](https://games.klyo.pl/nardy/) - [![Statki: gra w przeglądarce od twórcy Klyo](https://games.klyo.pl/foto/zrzut-gra-statki-800.861079ed.webp) 5–10 minutes **Sea Battle** Board 5–10 minutes portrait & landscape Battleship game online for free: play the computer, a friend or by link.](https://games.klyo.pl/statki/) - [![Kółko i krzyżyk: gra w przeglądarce od twórcy Klyo](https://games.klyo.pl/foto/zrzut-gra-kolko-i-krzyzyk-800.d594bf13.webp) new 30 seconds to 1 minute, a run up to 10 minutes **Tic Tac Toe** Puzzle 30 seconds to 1 minute, a run up to 10 minutes portrait & landscape Tic Tac Toe on squared paper: against the computer, with a friend or online.](https://games.klyo.pl/tic-tac-toe/) - [![Mahjong Sanctuary: gra w przeglądarce od twórcy Klyo](https://games.klyo.pl/foto/zrzut-gra-mahjong-sanctuary-800.e8ff51f5.webp) 5–15 minutes **Mahjong Sanctuary** Mahjong 5–15 minutes portrait & landscape Free Mahjong Solitaire online: 144 tiles, hints, undo and a daily board.](https://games.klyo.pl/mahjong-sanctuary/) ## Rules of other games - [Sudoku rules](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/sudoku/) - [How to play solitaire](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/solitaire/) - [How to play Minesweeper](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/minesweeper/) - [Checkers rules](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/checkers/) - [How to win at Tic Tac Toe](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/tic-tac-toe/) - [Mahjong rules](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/mahjong/) - [Spider Solitaire rules](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/spider-solitaire/) - [FreeCell rules](https://games.klyo.pl/rules/freecell/) --- Source: https://games.klyo.pl/rules/chess/ · Built and run by klyo, a Polish technology company (Łódź) · Contact: kontakt@klyo.pl · Index for language models: https://games.klyo.pl/llms.txt