How does the king move?: One square in any direction
How does the queen move?: Any number of squares in any straight line: sideways, forward, backward or diagonal
How does the rook move?: Any number of squares forward, backward or sideways
How does the bishop move?: Any number of squares diagonally, staying on its color
How does the knight move?: In an L shape: two squares one way and one square the other. It can jump over pieces
How does a pawn move?: Forward one square; on its first move it may go two
How does a pawn capture?: One square diagonally forward
How many squares are on a chessboard?: 64, in an 8 by 8 grid
How many pieces does each player start with?: 16
Who moves first in chess?: White
What is the goal of chess?: To checkmate the other player's king
What is check?: When a king is under attack
What is checkmate?: A king in check with no escape; the game ends
What is stalemate?: A player has no legal move but is not in check; the game is a draw
What is castling?: Moving the king two squares toward a rook, with the rook jumping to the other side
What is promotion?: A pawn reaching the far end becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight
What is en passant?: A special pawn capture of a pawn that has just moved two squares
Which piece can jump?: The knight
Which pieces start on the back row?: Rooks, knights, bishops, queen and king
Where does the queen start?: On her own color: white queen on a light square, black queen on a dark square
What is a draw?: A tie game
What are some ways a game can be drawn?: Stalemate, agreement, repeating positions, or not enough pieces
What is a fork?: One piece attacks two or more pieces at once
What is a pin?: A piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it
What is a skewer?: A valuable piece is attacked and when it moves, a piece behind it is captured
What is the touch-move rule?: If you touch a piece you must move it if you can
How many points is a pawn worth?: 1
How many points is a knight worth?: 3
How many points is a bishop worth?: 3
How many points is a rook worth?: 5
How many points is the queen worth?: 9
What are the files?: The columns of the chessboard, labeled a to h
What are the ranks?: The rows of the board, numbered 1 to 8
What is the center?: The four middle squares: d4, e4, d5, e5
What does 'J'adoube' mean?: French for 'I adjust'; said when fixing a piece without moving it
What is a gambit?: An opening where a player gives up a pawn for an advantage
What is the endgame?: The late stage when few pieces are left
What is the middlegame?: The part after the opening when most fighting happens
What is the opening?: The first moves, used to develop pieces
Why develop pieces early?: To get knights and bishops into the game and prepare to castle
What is a blunder?: A bad mistake
What is a sacrifice?: Giving up material to gain something better
What does 'resign' mean?: To end the game by giving up
What is a tempo?: A move or a unit of time in the game
What is a passed pawn?: A pawn with no enemy pawns blocking its path
What is a doubled pawn?: Two pawns of the same color on the same file
What is the fool's mate?: The shortest checkmate, in two moves
What is scholar's mate?: A quick four-move checkmate that beginners should watch for
What is a discovered attack?: Moving one piece reveals an attack from another
What is zugzwang?: When every move a player can make makes things worse
What is a rank mate or back-rank mate?: A checkmate on the back row when the king is trapped by its own pawns

Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/fun-chess-pieces-rules