Initial Setup

Chess is played on a chessboard, a square board divided into 64 squares (eight-by-eight) of alternating color, which is similar to that used in draughts (checkers). No matter what the actual colors of the board, the lighter-colored squares are called "light" or "white", and the darker-colored squares are called "dark" or "black". Sixteen "white" and sixteen "black" pieces are placed on the board at the beginning of the game. The board is placed so that a white square is in each player's near-right corner. Horizontal rows are called ranks and vertical rows are called files.

Each player controls sixteen pieces:

PieceKingQueenRookBishopKnightPawn
Number of Pieces112228
Symbols Whiteking_wqueen_wrook_wbishop_wknight_wpawn_w
Symbols Blackking_bqueen_brook_bbishop_bknight_bpawn_b

At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged as shown in the diagram: for each side one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns.

The pieces are placed, one on a square, as follows:

  • The rooks are placed on the outside corners, right and left edge.
  • The knights are placed immediately inside the rooks.
  • The bishops are placed immediately inside the knights.
  • The queen is placed on the central square of the same color of that of the player: white queen on the white square and black queen on the black square.
  • The king takes the vacant spot next to the queen.
  • The pawns are placed one square in front of all the other pieces.

Popular mnemonics used to remember the setup are "queen on her own color" and "white on right". The latter refers to setting up the board so that the square closest to each player's right is white.