Rules of Chess

Object of the Game

To capture your opponent's king, by threatening the king (check) and any square it can move to (mate).

Movement Rules

Standard chess is played on an 8x8 board. The initial position is shown below.

              a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+    Black
                      8 |*R*|*N*|*B*|*Q*|*K*|*B*|*N*|*R*|  8
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
                      7 |*P*|*P*|*P*|*P*|*P*|*P*|*P*|*P*|  7
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
                      6 |   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|  6
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
                      5 |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |  5
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
                      4 |   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|  4
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
                      3 |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |  3
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
                      2 | P |:P:| P |:P:| P |:P:| P |:P:|  2
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
                      1 |:R:| N |:B:| Q |:K:| B |:N:| R |  1
                        +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+    White
                          a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h

White moves first. On your turn, you move one of your pieces to another square. The square must either be empty or occupied by your opponent. In the latter case, the opponent's piece is 'captured' and removed from play.

The pieces move as follows:

K (king)

One square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. You are not allowed to move your king into check (to a square where it could be captured).

Q (queen)

Any number of squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The intervening squares must be empty.

R (rook)

Any number of squares horizontally or vertically. The intervening squares must be empty.

B (bishop)

Any number of squares diagonally. The intervening squares must be empty.

N (knight)

In an L.

P (pawn)

One square forward (two on the first move). Capture is allowed as one square diagonally forward.

In addition to the standard move a pawn can make, occasionally, a special situation arises due to the fact that pawn can normally move forward two on its initial move. If you have a pawn positioned such that it could have captured the moving pawn if it had only advanced one space (instead of two), you have to option to capture it En Passant ("in passing"). To do so, simply move the pawn to the square through which the other pawn moved. But it must be done that turn.

Also, Kings and Rooks have a special relationship. If the king and a rook have not yet been moved and there are no intervening pieces, you may move the king 2 spaces towards the rook, and move the rook to the other side of the king. This is called "castling". The restriction is that the king can not currently be in check, and none of the squares through which the king moves can be in check.

If a pawn moves into the last rank, it can be promoted to any of the other pieces (except king).

A move that leaves the opponent's king threatened is called 'check'. The opponent must then move to avoid check, either by moving the king out of check, moving a piece to block the threat, or by capturing the threatening piece. If this is impossible, the game is over-- checkmate.