Rules of chess

Chess is a strategic game for two people on an 8×8 board, in which the goal is to checkmate the opponent's king - to checkmate him so that no move will remove the threat. Each of the six pieces moves differently, and the full rules also include three special moves: castling, passing capture, and pawn promotion.

In short: we play on 64 fields, white starts. You win by checkmate, and the game ends in a draw due to stalemate, lack of material to checkmate, triple repetition of the position or the 50-move rule. Below, you'll try out each of these moves - including castling, passing capture, and promotion - on an interactive board, without registration or downloading anything.

Goal of the game: checkmate on the king

Every game is about one thing: checkmate your opponent's king before he checkmates yours. The king is in check when he stands on a square captured by an opponent's piece - then in the same move you have to remove the threat: capture the attacking piece, cover yourself with another piece or escape with the king to a safe square. Checkmate is a check that cannot be removed by any of these three methods - the game ends immediately. The king is never physically beaten: the game ends before this can happen.

How the figures move

Before the pieces move, the board must stand correctly: a white field in the lower right corner, the queen on its own color. Full setting the chessboard step by step we show in a separate guide with an interactive board.

• Pionek: one square forward (two from the starting position), beats diagonally one square.
• Skoczek: letter L (two squares in one direction and one to the side) - he is the only one who jumps over other figures.
• Goniec: any number of diagonal fields, always fields of the same color.
• Tower: any number of fields vertically or horizontally.
• Hetman: combines the moves of the rook and bishop - the strongest piece on the board.
• King: one square in any direction, never onto a square occupied by the opponent.

Try the moves live

Click the box with the figure and then the target box - or drag the figure with your mouse or finger. You play both sides alternately, just like in a real game: the board itself makes sure which moves are legal. Select a ready-made item to immediately see a specific rule in action.

The three special moves they ask about most often

• Roszada: the king and rook move in one move - the king moves two squares towards the rook, the rook stands right behind him. Condition: neither of the two pieces has moved before, the squares between them are empty, and the king is not in check or passing through a square occupied by the opponent. Select "castling ready" above and play the white king to g1 - the rook will jump to f1 by itself. We discuss the full terms (and pitfalls) in the article about roszadzie.
• Beating in passing: when a pawn immediately moves two squares and stands next to an opponent's pawn, the latter can capture it as if it had only moved one square - but only in the immediate next move. Select "Flying Capture" and capture the black pawn with e5-f6 to see it live. We break down the details of the principle into parts in the article about beating in passing.
• Promocja: a pawn that reaches the last rank immediately becomes a queen, rook, bishop, or knight - it never becomes a pawn. Select "Pawn Promotion", play a7-a8 and select your piece in the window that appears.

Check, checkmate, stalemate and draw - just to be clear

• Check: the king is attacked and you need to react immediately.
• Matt: a check that cannot be removed - end of the game, victory. More in the article about you're in check.
• Pat: The moving side is not in check, but there is no legal move - the game ends in a draw. This is the most common beginner's mistake: an accidental stalemate turns a certain win into a draw - check it out live in the article about stalemates and draws.
• The remaining ties: insufficient material for checkmate (e.g. king alone against king alone), triple repetition of the same position and the rule of 50 moves without capturing and without moving a pawn.

Be honest about the limitations

• This page shows you the rules and allows you to try them out in the sandbox - it is not a full course or game mode.
• The sandbox above does not save games or progress: it is a demonstration of the rules, not memorized gameplay.
• Full learning from the basics, with 43 lessons and tasks to solve at every step, can be found in the chess learning course.

Already know the rules? See how to play chess step by step — a beginner's guide that links to the entire course, training and playing with the computer. Do you want to practice specific tactical themes? W chess tasks There are 213 tasks in 38 categories. And if you prefer to play straight away, challenge yourself komputerem on one of 10 difficulty levels.

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