Chess Rules

Chess is played on a square board of 8 rows (called ranks) and 8 columns (called files) of squares. The 64 squares' colors alternate between light and dark, and are referred to as "light squares" and "dark squares".

Each player begins the game with 16 pieces which can move in defined directions, and in some instances, limited range, and can remove (capture) other pieces from the board: each player's pieces comprise 8 pawns, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 2 rooks, 1 queen and 1 king. One player controls the white pieces and the other player controls the black pieces; the player that controls white is always the first player to move. The players alternate moving one piece at a time (with one important exception) to either an unoccupied square, or one occupied by an opponent's piece, capturing it; with one rare exception, all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies.

When a king is directly threatened with capture by one or more of the opponent's pieces, the player is said to be in check. When in check, only moves that remove the threat of the king's capture are permitted. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and no move can be made that would subsequently prevent the king's capture. Normally a checkmate will require the cooperation of several pieces, but can also be achieved with one. A player who deems checkmate is inevitable may concede the game (resign) to the other player. A drawn result (a tie) is also possible.