Chess is a game for two players. The player with the white pieces moves first.
The board has 64 squares. Some are light and some are dark; each player starts with 16 pieces.
Turn the board so each player has a light square at the right. Pawns go on the second row. Rooks go in the corners, with the knights next to them.
The queen starts on her own color. The white queen goes on a light square; the black queen goes on a dark square.
The king moves one square at a time. A rook moves in straight lines; a bishop moves along slants.
A queen moves in a straight line in any direction. A knight jumps in an L shape; it can jump over other pieces.
A pawn moves forward, one square at a time. It captures one square on a slant; a pawn can never go back.
A pawn may reach the far side of the board. Then it is swapped for a new queen, rook, bishop or knight.
A king that is attacked is in check. If it cannot get out, that is checkmate; the goal is to checkmate the other king.
Chess began in northern India. It is a very old game.
Words to know
- checkmate: trapped king
- bishop: slant piece
- knight: jumping piece
- pawn: small piece
- rook: castle piece
