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Rules for beginners

Chess

How the pieces move, check, mate, stalemate and the special moves.

What coaches agree on

  • If an enemy pawn advances two squares on its first move and lands right beside your pawn, you can capture it “en passant” by moving diagonally onto the square it skipped over — but only on your very next move, or the right disappears.
  • Castling moves your king two squares toward a rook and brings that rook to the square beside it, but only if neither piece has moved yet, the squares between them are empty, and the king is not in check, does not cross an attacked square, and does not land on one. That last condition is about the king only — the rook itself may be attacked or cross an attacked square.
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  • A pawn that reaches the far end of the board must immediately become a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of your choice, no matter what's already on the board — so you can end up with a second queen.
  • Checkmate is a check with no way out — no legal move can get the king to safety, block the attack, or capture the attacking piece — and the game ends right there, without the king ever actually being captured.

Common mistakes

  • A huge material lead can still end in a draw: if the player to move is not in check but has no legal move at all, that's stalemate, and it cancels out even an overwhelming advantage like a lone king facing a queen.