Chess Moves: How Every Piece Moves, Square by Square
Six pieces, 64 squares and a few rules that trip up every beginner. Here is how each piece actually moves.
Chess uses 64 squares, 32 pieces and six movement patterns, and once you know those six you can play a legal game. A pawn steps one square forward (two on its first move), a knight jumps in an L, bishops and rooks slide in straight lines, the queen does both of those jobs, and the king crawls one square at a time. That's the short version.
The long version is what this page is for. I've walked maybe a dozen friends through their first game at club night, and not one of them got through the first evening without parking a knight on the wrong square. Two evenings, not two hours, is the realistic learning curve for the moves alone.
The six pieces, one at a time
| Piece | How it moves | Distance | What catches beginners |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pawn | Straight forward, captures diagonally forward | 1 square, or 2 from its starting square | It can never move backward |
| Knight | Two squares one direction, then one square at a right angle | Fixed L shape | The only piece that jumps over others |
| Bishop | Any diagonal | Any distance | Stuck on one color for the whole game |
| Rook | Along ranks and files | Any distance | Stops at the first piece in the way |
| Queen | Ranks, files and diagonals | Any distance | Not a knight. She can't jump |
| King | One square in any direction | Exactly 1 | Can't step into check |
Each side starts with 16 pieces: eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen, one king. Count the back rank and you'll find eight pieces; the pawns fill the row in front of them. If you want the shapes and names nailed down first, the chess pieces page covers what each one looks like and where it starts.
One habit makes the table stick faster than anything. Put a single knight on an empty board and walk it from a1 to h8 in as few moves as you can. Six moves is the target. You'll learn the L shape cold in about ten minutes, and the same trick works for the bishop's diagonals.
Reading the board so the moves make sense
The board is 8 by 8, which is 64 squares, 32 light and 32 dark. Files are the columns and run a through h from White's left. Ranks are the rows and run 1 through 8 from White's side. That gives every square a name, and a1 is always a dark square at White's left hand. The full layout is on the chess square names page if you want it charted out.
You'll see moves written as Nf3 or exd5 in books and on club scoresheets. The letter tells you the piece, the square tells you where it landed, and a lowercase x means a capture. That shorthand is all chess notation is, and it's worth half an hour of your time because it lets you read any game ever recorded.
Practice trick: say the square name out loud every time you move. "Knight to f3." Sounds silly for a week. Then it stops sounding silly.
The three special moves that need warning labels
Castling is the one that wins games by accident. The king slides two squares toward a rook, and that rook hops over to the square the king crossed. You can only do it if neither piece has moved, nothing sits between them, the king isn't in check, and he doesn't pass through or land on a square an enemy piece attacks. Do it early in most games. Your king belongs somewhere safer than e1 by move ten.
En passant is the rule nobody believes. If a pawn tries to sneak past an enemy pawn by jumping two squares, the enemy pawn can capture it as though it had only moved one. The catch: you have to take it immediately, on that exact move. Wait a turn and the right is gone forever.
Promotion is the payoff. Any pawn that reaches the far rank becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight of your color. Take the queen nine times out of ten. This is why tournament sets ship with extra queens, and it's why the WE Games set below carries 34 pieces instead of 32. All three rules live in the chess rules section in more detail.
How many pieces sit on the board, and what each one is worth
Thirty-two at the start, 16 per player, and games regularly finish with six or eight pieces left shuffling around.
| Piece | Rough value in pawns |
|---|---|
| Pawn | 1 |
| Knight | 3 |
| Bishop | 3 |
| Rook | 5 |
| Queen | 9 |
| King | The game |
Those numbers are a currency, not a law. Yes, a queen is worth nine pawns on paper, but I've watched plenty of club games where a knight parked on a strong outpost outplayed a queen stuck defending pawns all evening. Use the chart to decide whether a trade is sane. Don't use it to decide whether a position is good.
Mistakes I see at club night over and over
- Trying to move a pawn backward. It can't. Eight pawns, one direction, no exceptions.
- Castling out of check, or through a square that's attacked. Both are illegal and both get attempted weekly.
- Leaving the king in the center until move 15. Three pieces develop faster than one king runs.
- Trading a bishop for a knight on move 5 for no reason. Both are worth about 3, so the trade is even, but you've handed over the bishop pair for nothing.
- Forgetting the touch rule in a real event. Touch a piece, you move it.
If you're still at the stage where these keep happening, the chess rules for beginners walkthrough covers each one without assuming anything. And if you'd rather build the whole thing from zero, the learn chess path starts at the board and ends at your first checkmate.
Spin Master Games Cardinal Classics Chess Teacher
- Includes: Chessboard, 32 Chess Pieces, Instructions
The Cardinal Classics Chess Teacher prints each piece's name and movement directly on the piece, comes with the board, 32 pieces and instructions, and is aimed at ages 8 and up. It looks like a kids' toy on the table, and honestley it is, but the labels are the entire point and they do the teaching job a book can't.
The HI-Q set keeps it plain: flat-bottomed plastic pieces, a folding cardboard board, ages 6 and up, nothing printed anywhere. I'd buy this one for a household that already knows the moves and just needs 32 pieces on a board.
The WE Games set is the tournament-shaped option: 34 pieces including two extra queens, a 3.75 inch king, a 19.75 inch roll-up vinyl board with 2.25 inch squares, plus a bag and equalizer dice. Those figures sit right inside the US Chess ranges for king height and square size, so it's the one I'd pick if you plan to play in a club or a tournament hall.
Here's your next step. Tonight, set up the board with kings and pawns only, nothing else. Play three games from that position. You'll learn pawn moves, the king's one-square shuffle, and how promotion actually works, all in about twenty minutes.
Questions people ask me
How many pieces are in a chess game?
A chess game starts with 32 pieces on the board, 16 per side. Each player gets eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king, spread across the 64 squares. Captured pieces leave the board, so the count drops as the game goes on.
Which chess pieces can move backward?
Every piece except the pawn can move backward. Rooks, bishops, knights, queens and kings all move in both directions along their allowed lines. Pawns only ever move forward and capture diagonally forward, which is why pawn structure matters so much.
What is the hardest chess move for beginners to learn?
En passant causes the most confusion, because it only works on the single move right after an opponent pushes a pawn two squares. Castling is second, since the king jumps two squares and the rook hops over it, and neither piece can have moved earlier in the game.