How to play chess for novices and beginners

Chess is a game of strategy played by kings, queens, bishops, knights, rooks, and pawns. It has existed for more than 1,500 years — and despite its long history, it remains unsolved.

Chess is easy to learn, yet challenging to master. Every game is a battle of ideas, planning, and decision-making, played on a battlefield called the chessboard.

The chessboard

Before playing, it’s important to understand the board.

A chessboard is a square made up of 64 smaller squares, arranged in 8 rows and 8 columns.Half the squares are light, and half are dark.

The board is made up of:

• Files (vertical lines)

• Ranks (horizontal lines)

• Diagonals (slanted lines)

These directions shape how the pieces move and how strategy develops.

Diagonals

Diagonals run corner to corner across the board. There are many diagonals of different lengths, and pieces like bishops rely on them.

Files

Files are vertical lines that run from top to bottom. There are 8 files on the board.

Ranks

Ranks are horizontal lines that run from left to right. There are 8 ranks on the board.

The Big Goal!

Jessy is 18 moves into a friendly game. Her position looks difficult. Suddenly, she finds a clever move. Checkmate!

The goal of chess is to checkmate your opponent’s king. This means the king is under attack and cannot escape.

The game is not about capturing every piece, it’s about planning, coordination, and timing.

How the pieces move.

Each piece has its own unique movement. Once you understand the board, learning the pieces becomes much easier

Bishop: You start with two bishops.

They move diagonally for as many squares as you like.

One bishop stays on light squares, the other on dark squares.

Rooks: You also start with two rooks.

They move horizontally along ranks and vertically along files, for any number of squares.

Queen: The queen is the most powerful piece.

She moves like a rook and a bishop combined, along ranks, files, and diagonals

King: The king moves one square at a time in any direction: forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally.

Because the king can be checkmated, it is usually protected rather than used aggressively early on.

Knight: The knight moves in a unique L-shape:

• Two squares in one direction, then one square to the side

• Or one square, then two to the side

Knights are the only pieces that can jump over others

Pawn: Pawns move forward only, one square at a time.On their first move, they may move two squares forward.

Pawns capture diagonally forward, not straight ahead.

When a pawn reaches the far end of the board, it is promoted to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight.

Example of promoting a pawn

Board Setup

To start a game correctly:

1. Make sure the bottom-right corner square is white

2. Rooks go in the corners, knights next to them, then bishops

3. The queen starts on her own colour

4. The king takes the remaining central square

5. Pawns line up in front of the other pieces

Important rules to know

• White always moves first

• Pieces cannot move through other pieces (except knights)

• You may not capture your own pieces

• If you touch a piece, you must move it

• Illegal moves must be corrected

• Shake hands before the game

• Always show good sportsmanship

Chess is a game of ideas, planning, and patience. By learning the board, the pieces, and how they move, you’ve built the foundation every chess player needs.

From here, improvement comes through practice and understanding why moves matter. Every game teaches something new, and every mistake is part of the learning process.

This is just the beginning of your chess journey.

Now that you know how the pieces move, it’s time to understand how games are actually won.

In the next blog, we’ll explore check and checkmate:

• What it means to give check

• How to protect your king

• Common checkmating patterns for beginners

• How to recognize when the game is over

Understanding check and checkmate turns chess from a set of rules into a purposeful game.