Rules Main article: Rules of chess The official rules of chess are maintained by the World Chess Federation.

Along with information on official chess tournaments, the rules are described in the FIDE Handbook, Laws of Chess section. Setup Pieces at the start of a game a 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Initial position: first row: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, and rook; second row: pawns Chess is played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks and denoted with numbers 1to 8) and eight columns (called files and denoted with letters a to h) of squares. The colors of the 64 squares alternate and are referred to as "light squares" and "dark squares". The chessboard is placed with a light square at the right-hand end of the rank nearest to each player, and the pieces are set out as shown in the diagram, with each queen on its own color. The pieces are divided, by convention, into white and black sets. The players are referred to as "White" and "Black", and each begins the game with 16 pieces of the specified color. These consist of one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eightpawns. Movement White always moves first. After the initial move, the players alternately move one piece at a time (with the exception of castling, when two pieces are moved). Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square or one occupied by an opponent's piece, which is captured and removed from play. With the sole exception of en passant, all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies. A player may not make any move that would put or leave his king under attack. If the player to move has no legal moves, the game is over; it is either a checkmate (a loss for the player with no legal moves)if the king is under attackor a stalemate (a draw)if the king is not. Each chess piece has its own style of moving. In the diagrams, the dots mark the squares where the piece can move if no other pieces (including one's own piece) are on the squares between the piece's initial position and its destination.

The king moves one square in any direction. The king has also a special move which is called castling and involves also moving a rook. The rook can move any number of squares along any rank or file, but may not leap over other pieces. Along with the king, the rook is involved during the king's castling move. The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but may not leap over other pieces. The queen combines the power of the rook and bishop and can move any number of squares along rank, file, or diagonal, but it may not leap over other pieces. The knight moves to any of the closest squares that are not on the same rank, file, or diagonal, thus the move forms an "L"-shape: two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically. The knight is the only piece that can leap over other pieces.

The pawn may move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file; or on its first move it may advance two squares along the same file provided both squares are unoccupied; or it may move to a square occupied by an opponent's piece which is diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file, capturing that piece. The pawn has two special moves: the en passant capture

Castling

Examples of castling Main article: Castling Once in every game, each king is allowed to make a special move, known as castling. Castling consists of moving the king two squares along the first rank toward a rook (which is on the player's first rank
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) and then placing the

rook on the last square the king has just crossed. Castling is permissible only if all of the following conditions hold:

Neither of the pieces involved in castling may have been previously moved during the game. There must be no pieces between the king and the rook. The king may not be in check, nor may the king pass through squares that are under attack by enemy pieces, nor move to a square where it is in check.

En passant

Examples of pawn moves: promotion (left) and en passant (right) Main article: En passant When a pawn advances two squares from its starting position and there is an opponent's pawn on an adjacent file next to its destination square, then the opponent's pawn can capture it en passant (in passing), and move to the square the pawn passed over. However, this can only be done on the very next move, otherwise the right to do so is forfeit. For example, if the black pawn has just advanced two squares from g7 (initial starting position) to g5, then the white pawn on f5 may take it via en passant on g6 (but only on white's next move). Promotion Main article: Promotion (chess) When a pawn advances to the eighth rank, as a part of the move it is promoted and must be exchanged for the player's choice of queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. Usually, the pawn is chosen to be promoted to a queen, but in some cases another piece is chosen; this is called underpromotion. In the diagram on the right, the pawn on c7 can be advanced to the eighth rank and be promoted to an allowed piece. There is no restriction placed on the piece that is chosen on promotion, so it is possible to have more pieces of the same type than at the start of the game (for example, two queens). Check a 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

a Black's king is in check from the rook. Main article: Check (chess)

When a king is under immediate attack by one or two of the opponent's pieces, it is said to be in check. A response to a check is a legal move if it results in a position where the king is no longer under direct attack (that is, not in check). This can involve capturing the checking piece; interposing a piece between the checking piece and the king (which is possible only if the attacking piece is a queen, rook, or bishop and there is a square between it and the king); or moving the king to a square where it is not under attack. Castling is not a permissible response to a check. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and there is no legal way to remove it from attack. It is illegal for a player to make a move that would put or leave his own king in check

a 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a

h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

White is in checkmate. He cannot escape from being attacked by the Black king and bishops. End of the game

Stalemate if it is Black to move. It isnot checkmate, and since Black cannot move, the game is a draw.

Although the objective of the game is to checkmatethe opponent, chess games do not have to end in checkmate either player may resign which is a win for the other player. It is considered bad etiquette to continue playing when in a truly hopeless position.
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If it is a game with time control, a player may run out of time and lose, even with a much

superior position. Games also may end in a draw (tie). A draw can occur in several situations, including draw by agreement, stalemate,threefold repetition of a position, the fifty-move rule, or a draw by impossibility of checkmate (usually because of insufficient material to checkmate). As checkmate from some positions cannot be forced in fewer than 50 moves (such as in the pawnless chess endgame and two knights endgame), the fifty-move rule is not applied everywhere, Phases Opening Main article: Chess opening A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a game (the "opening moves"). Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defence. They are
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particularly in correspondence chess.

catalogued in reference works such as the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings. There are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet positional play (for example, the Rti Opening) to very aggressive (the Latvian Gambit). In some opening lines, the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to more than 30 moves.
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Professional players spend years studying openings and continue doing so throughout

their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve. The fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar:
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Development: This is the technique of placing the pieces (particularly bishops and knights) on useful squares where they will have an optimal impact on the game. Control of the center: Control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily, and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent. King safety: It is critical to keep the king safe from dangerous possibilities. A correctly timed castling can often enhance this. Pawn structure: Players strive to avoid the creation of pawn weaknesses such as isolated, doubled, or backward pawns, and pawn islands and to force such weaknesses in the opponent's position.

Most players and theoreticians consider that White, by virtue of the first move, begins the game with a small advantage. This initially gives White the initiative.
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Black usually strives to neutralize White's advantage and

achieve equality, or to develop dynamiccounterplay in an unbalanced position. Middlegame Main article: Chess middlegame The middlegame is the part of the game which starts after the opening. There is no clear line between the opening and the middlegame, but typically the middlegame will start when most pieces have been developed. (Similarly, there is no clear transition from the middlegame to the endgame; see start of the endgame.) Because the opening theory has ended, players have to form plans based on the features of the position, and at the same time take into account the tactical possibilities of the position.
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The middlegame is the phase in which most combinations occur.

Combinations are a series of tactical moves executed to achieve some gain. Middlegame combinations are often connected with an attack against the opponent's king; some typical patterns have their own names; for example, the Boden's Mate or the LaskerBauer combination.
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Specific plans or strategic themes will often arise from particular groups of openings which result in a specific type of pawn structure. An example is the minority attack, which is the attack of queenside pawns against an opponent who has more pawns on the queenside. The study of openings is therefore connected to the preparation of plans that are typical of the resulting middlegames.
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Another important strategic question in the middlegame is whether and how to reduce material and transition into an endgame (i.e.simplify). Minor material advantages can generally be transformed into victory only in an endgame, and therefore the stronger side must choose an appropriate way to achieve an ending. Not every reduction of material is good for this purpose; for example, if one side keeps a light-squared bishop and the opponent has a dark-squared one, the transformation into a bishops and pawns ending is usually advantageous for the weaker side only, because an endgame with bishops on opposite colors is likely to be a draw, even with an advantage of a pawn, or sometimes even with a two-pawn advantage. Endgame Main article: Chess endgame
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a 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a

h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

An example of zugzwang: the side having to move is at a disadvantage. The endgame (or end game or ending) is the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board. There are three main strategic differences between earlier stages of the game and endgame:
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During the endgame, pawns become more important; endgames often revolve around attempting to promote a pawn by advancing it to the eighth rank. The king, which has to be protected in the middlegame owing to the threat of checkmate, becomes a strong piece in the endgame. It is often brought to the center of the board where it can protect its own pawns, attack the pawns of opposite color, and hinder movement of the opponent's king.

Zugzwang, a disadvantage because the player has to make a move, is often a factor in endgames but rarely in other stages of the game. For example, the diagram on the right is zugzwang for both sides, as with Black to move he must play 1...Kb7 and let White promote a pawn after 2.Kd7; and with White to move he must allow a draw by 1.Kc6 stalemate or lose his last pawn by any other legal move.

Endgames can be classified according to the type of pieces that remain on board. Basic checkmates are positions in which one side has only a king and the other side has one or two pieces and can checkmate the opposing king, with the pieces working together with their king. For example, king and pawn endgames involve only kings and pawns on one or both sides and the task of the stronger side is to promote one of the pawns. Other more complicated endings are classified according to the pieces on board other than kings, such as the "rook and pawn versus rook endgame".