The Chessboard

Squares, files, ranks and the starting position

In this lesson you will learn

How to place the board
Files, ranks and diagonals
The name of every square
How to set up the pieces

Every board on this page is live. Move the pieces by tapping or dragging, click any move in the lines to see that position, and press ↺ to start again.

1.1 Sixty-four squares

Chess is played on a board of 64 squares: 8 rows of 8 squares, light and dark one after the other. Two players sit on opposite sides. One plays with the White pieces, the other with the Black pieces.

Light square on the rightAlways put the board so that each player has a light square in the right-hand corner (h1 for White, a8 for Black). Remember: “light on the right”.

1.2 Files, ranks and diagonals

The board has three kinds of lines. The pieces travel along them, so learn their names now.

A fileA file is a column going up the board from White’s side to Black’s side. There are eight files, named with the letters a to h. This is the e-file.

A rankA rank is a row going across the board. There are eight ranks, numbered 1 to 8 from White’s side. This is the 4th rank.

A diagonalA diagonal is a slanting line of squares of the same colour. This is the long diagonal from a1 to h8.

1.3 Every square has a name

Each square is named by its file and then its rank: first the letter, then the number. The square where the e-file and the 4th rank meet is e4. The letters and numbers are printed on the edge of every board on this site.

Three squaresThe highlighted squares are c6, e4 and g2. Find each one: go along the bottom to the letter, then up to the number.

1.4 The pieces

Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns.

♔ King: The most important piece. If it is checkmated, the game is lost.
♕ Queen: The strongest piece.
♖ Rook: Moves in straight lines. Looks like a castle tower.
♗ Bishop: Moves along diagonals.
♘ Knight: The horse. Moves in an L-shape and can jump.
Pawn: The smallest piece. There are eight of them in front of the others.

1.5 Setting up the pieces

The starting positionThis is how every game begins. White’s pieces are on ranks 1 and 2, Black’s on ranks 7 and 8.

The rooks go in the corners.
Next to them come the knights, then the bishops.
The queen goes on the square of her own colour: the white queen on the light square d1, the black queen on the dark square d8.
The king goes on the last square next to the queen (e1 and e8).
The eight pawns stand on the row in front.

RememberWhite always moves first. Then the players take turns, one move each. You may not skip a turn.

Diagram 1.1White to move

Diagram 1.1 · Your first move

A very popular first move is to push the pawn in front of the king two squares forward.

Move the pawn from e2 to e4.

Remember

Light square on the right.
Files are columns (a–h), ranks are rows (1–8).
A square is named letter first, then number: e4.
Queen on her own colour.
White moves first.

Exercises · Lesson 1

Answer the questions and play the moves on the board. Each one checks that you can find your way around the chessboard.

Solve these 17 exercises on the boardCreate a free account to check your moves, open hints and solutions, and save your progress.

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