

The king can be put in check but cannot be captured (see below). The captured piece is thereby permanently removed from the game. A piece is captured (or taken) when an attacking enemy piece replaces it on its square ( en passant is the only exception). A piece moves to a vacant square except when capturing an opponent's piece.Įxcept for any move of the knight and castling, pieces cannot jump over other pieces. The pawn on c6 can also take either black rook.Įach type of chess piece has its own method of movement. The pawns can move to the squares marked " ×" in front of them. A common method is for one player to conceal a piece (usually a pawn) of each color in either hand the other player chooses a hand to open, and receives the color of the piece that is revealed. a Swiss system tournament or round-robin tournament) or, in the case of non-competitive play, mutual agreement, in which case some kind of random choice is often employed. Instead, this decision is left open to tournament-specific rules (e.g. The official chess rules do not include a procedure for determining who plays White. In addition, if the game is being played under a time control a player who exceeds the time limit loses the game. Play continues until a king is checkmated, a player resigns, or a draw is declared, as explained below. Making a move is required it is not legal to skip a move, even when having to move is detrimental. White moves first, then players alternate moves.

The player controlling the white pieces is named "White" the player controlling the black pieces is named "Black". Procedures for resolving irregularities that can occur during a game are provided as well.Ī game in a public park in Kyiv, using a chess clock A game can also end in a draw in several ways.īesides the basic moves of the pieces, rules also govern the equipment used, time control, conduct and ethics of players, accommodations for physically challenged players, and recording of moves using chess notation. Games do not necessarily end in checkmate a player who expects to lose may resign. The object of the game is to checkmate (threaten with inescapable capture) the opponent's king. Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. There are variations of the rules for fast chess, correspondence chess, online chess, and Chess960.Ĭhess is a two-player board game using a chessboard and sixteen pieces of six types for each player. Slight modifications are made by some national organizations for their own purposes.

Today, the standard rules are set by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), the international governing body for chess. The rules also varied somewhat from place to place. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. The rules of chess (also known as the laws of chess) are rules governing the play of the game of chess. Left to right: king, rook, queen, pawn, knight, bishop
