How to set up chess pieces? Setting up the chessboard step by step

Set up the chessboard so that each player has a white square in the lower right corner. The pawns occupy the entire second row, the pieces stand behind them, and the queen always lands on a square of her own color: the white queen on white d1, the black queen on black d8.

In short: three rules are enough to never make a mistake. First: the white box in the right corner. Second: the queen in his own suit. Third: from the corner to the center there are rook, knight and bishop. Below you will build the entire setup step by step on an interactive board.

Build a formation on the board

Click through the steps to see the board fill up group by group, from kings to a complete set of 32 pieces.

Step by step setup

1. Rotate the board correctly: the white (light) field must be in the lower right corner of each player. This is the most common mistake - an inverted board spoils the entire arrangement.
2. Piony: the entire second line from your side (for white, line 2, for black, line 7).
3. Towers: in the corners of the board (a1 and h1 and a8 and h8).
4. Skoczki: next to the rooks (b1 and g1 and b8 and g8).
5. Messengers: next to the knights (c1 and f1 and c8 and f8).
6. Queen on his suit: white queen on a white square d1, black queen on a black square d8.
7. King: on the last free square next to the queen (e1 for white, e8 for black). Kings always face each other.

Two mistakes almost everyone makes

• The hetman and the king have swapped places. The saving grace is the "queen on his color" rule: if the white queen stands on a black square, it is bad.
• The board is rotated 90 degrees. If you have a black square in the lower right corner, rotate the board - otherwise the queens and kings will be on the wrong columns even with the correct order of the pieces.

How many squares does the chessboard have?

The chessboard has 64 squares: 8 columns (a to h) times 8 lines (1 to 8), including 32 light squares and 32 dark squares. Columns are marked with letters, lines with numbers - hence field names such as e4 or d8, used in the game notation. With the board rotated correctly, white always plays from lines 1 and 2, and black from lines 7 and 8 - if the numbering does not match, go back to step one.

Chess pieces and their value

Each side starts with 16 pieces: 8 pawns, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, queen and king. The conventional point value helps you evaluate trades:

• Pion: 1 point.
• Skoczek: 3 points.
• Goniec: 3 points.
• Tower: 5 points.
• Hetman: 9 points - the strongest piece on the board.
• King: priceless - his checkmate ends the game, so he has no exchange value.

Board set? The next step is to move the pieces and special rules - you can try them all live on the website rules of chess. The guide will guide you along the complete path from scratch how to play chess, and you will start systematic learning in free course.

The course works offline after your first online visit on this device. Application installation is not required.