Sets used for play are commonly made of Wood or Plastic, although ornamental sets exist made of stone, Glass, or Metal, which are often used to decorate homes. Ivory was fairy commonly used at one time. Likewise, the chessboards themselves can be made of Wood, Cardboard, Leather, stone, Glass, or any other material that the design can be placed on. Chess tables (either of wood or stone) are sometimes made with a chess board designed into the surface. Many travel boards fold into a box that the pieces fit into.
The board is placed so that a light-colored square is in the lower-right corner; a dark one in the lower-left. Each player controls sixteen pieces: [image]
[image] At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged as shown in the diagram to the right.
Popular phrases used to remember the set-up, often heard in beginner's clubs, are "queen on color" and "white on right." The latter refers to setting up the board so that the square closest to each player, but furthest to each player's right, is white.
To describe moves and locations on the board, either Algebraic chess notation or the almost obsolete Descriptive chess notation is used.
After the initial move by white, play continues by players alternating moves. When a piece is moved it might capture another piece and the captured piece is removed from the board. Play continues until a draw is called or a king is "captured" by means of a checkmate (see below).
| Chesspieces | |
|---|---|
| [image] | King |
| [image] | Queen |
| [image] | Rook |
| [image] | Bishop |
| [image] | Knight |
| [image] | Pawn |
Unlike the rest of the pieces, the knight can jump over other pieces when moving. Pieces capture opposing pieces by replacing them on their square, except for the En passant rule.
If a player having the move touches one of his pieces then he is under compulsion to move it provided that it can be legally moved. If a player touches a hostile piece then he must capture it provided that the piece can be captured. This rule is of no effect if the touched piece cannot be moved or captured, respectively. So long as the hand has not left the piece to be moved, the latter can be placed on any accessible square. If a player wishes to touch a piece with the sole intention of adjusting its position on a square, he must first apprise his opponent of his intention by saying "J'adoube" or "I adjust." Only the player whose turn it is to move may adjust a piece.
A player who makes an illegal move with a piece must retract that move and make another one, if possible, with the same piece. If the mistake is only noticed later on, the game should be restarted from the position in which the error occurred. However, if blitz chess is being played (where both players have a limited time, e.g. five minutes) and the player who has made a mistake has pressed his/her clock, the other player may call the illegal move and win the game.
Two of the most commonly misunderstood moves are castling and En passant. In addition, a pawn reaching the final rank becomes a queen (or, if the player prefers, a rook, bishop or knight, that is called "Underpromotion") in a process known as "queening" or "promotion".
Castling is treated as a move of the king rather than a move of two pieces. The king must be touched before the rook in order to perform castling, or the king and rook can be touched at the same time. If the rook is touched first, then the rook must be moved if possible. (Current USCF rules allow the rook to be touched first when castling, with only a warning issued to the offender.) If a player has castled illegally, rook and king must be moved back, and the king must make another move, if there is a legal one. If not, any other move can be played. If a player moves his king two squares to the left or right, removes his hand from the king, and castling on that side is legal, the castling move must be completed.
Since the pawn can only move away from the owning player, it has to move to a diagonal square to capture a piece. It cannot move orthogonally to capture a piece - only diagonally.
The player who "captures" the opponent's king (by checkmating it, see below) wins the game.
A player may never leave his king in check at the end of his move.
[image] In informal games, it is customary to announce "check" when making a move that puts the opponent's king in check. However, in formal competitions this is not only unnecessary but may be considered annoying or distracting.
If a player's king is placed in check and there is no legal move that player can make to escape check, then the king is said to be checkmated, the game ends, and that player loses. The diagram to the right shows a typical checkmate position. The white king is under attack by the black queen; every square to which the king could move is also attacked; and he cannot capture the queen, because he would then be attacked by the rook.
The game ends in a draw on one of these conditions:
Either player may claim a draw by indicating that one of the following conditions exists:
Various tournament rules have been devised to prevent players from playing on with no practical chances of winning on the board, intending merely to win when their opponent runs out of time. For example, a king and rook versus a king, bishop, and pawn cannot be won by either player 99% of the time, even though both sides theoretically have enough material to checkmate. The player with more time might play quickly in hopes of inducing a blunder or running out the opponent's clock. If a player believes his opponent is attempting to win a drawn position on time, he may appeal to a tournament official, who may impose a result or a penalty in accordance with whatever rules are in effect for that tournament.
In formal competition, each player is obliged to record each move as it is played in order to settle disputes about illegal positions and overstepping time control. Algebraic chess notation is presently used for this, though some players still use Descriptive chess notation.