9/20/25, 9:19 AM Chess - Wikipedia
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden
information and no elements of chance. It is played on a square board consisting of 64 squares
arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to as "White" and "Black", each control
sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns, with
each type of piece having a different pattern of movement. An enemy piece may be captured
(removed from the board) by moving one's own piece onto the square it occupies. The object of the
game is to "checkmate" (threaten with inescapable capture) the enemy king. There are also several
ways a game can end in a draw.
The recorded history of chess goes back to at least the emergence of chaturanga—also thought to be
an ancestor to similar games like Janggi, xiangqi and shogi—in seventh-century India. After its
introduction in Persia, it spread to the Arab world and then to Europe. The modern rules of chess
emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by
the end of the 19th century. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, with millions of
players worldwide.
Organized chess arose in the 19th century. Chess competition today is governed internationally
by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), the International Chess Federation. The first
universally recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; Gukesh
Dommaraju is the current World Champion, having won the title in 2024.
A huge body of chess theory has developed since the game's inception. Aspects of art are found
in chess composition, and chess in its turn influenced Western culture and the arts, and has
connections with other fields such as mathematics, computer science, and psychology. One of the
goals of early computer scientists was to create a chess-playing machine. In 1997, Deep
Blue became the first computer to beat a reigning World Champion in a match when it
defeated Garry Kasparov. Today's chess engines are significantly stronger than the best human
players and have deeply influenced the development of chess theory; however, chess is not a solved
game.
Rules
The rules of chess are published by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs; "International
Chess Federation"), chess's world governing body, in its Handbook.[2] Rules published by national
governing bodies, or by unaffiliated chess organizations, commercial publishers, etc., may differ in
some details. FIDE's rules were most recently revised in 2023.
Setup
Chess sets come in a wide variety of styles. The Staunton pattern is the most common, and is
usually required for competition.[3] Chess sets come with pieces in two colors, referred to
as white and black, regardless of their actual color; the players controlling the color sets are
referred to as White and Black, respectively. Each set comes with at least the following 16 pieces in
both colors: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns.[2]
The game is played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks) and eight columns (called files).
Although it does not affect gameplay, by convention the 64 squares alternate in color and are
referred to as light and dark squares.[2]
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9/20/25, 9:19 AM Chess - Wikipedia
Setup at the start of a chess game
To start the game, White's pieces are placed on the first rank
a b c d e f g h
in the following order, from left to right: rook, knight,
8 8
bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. Pawns are placed
on each square of the second rank. Black's position mirrors 7 7
White's, with equivalent pieces on every file.[2] The board is 6 6
oriented so that the right-hand corner nearest each player is 5 5
a light square; as a result the white queen always starts on a
4 4
light square, while the black queen starts on a dark square.
3 3
This may be remembered by the phrases "white on the
right" and "queen on her color".[4] 2 2
1 1
In competition, the piece colors are allocated to players by a b c d e f g h
the organizers. In informal games, colors may be decided Initial position: first row: rook, knight,
either by mutual agreement, or randomly, for example by a bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight,
coin toss, or by one player concealing a white pawn in one rook; second row: pawns
hand and a black pawn in the other and having the
opponent choose.
Movement
White moves first, after which players alternate turns. One piece is moved per turn (except
when castling, during which two pieces are moved). In the diagrams, dots mark the squares to
which each type of piece can move if unoccupied by friendly pieces and there are no intervening
piece(s) of either color (except the knight, which leaps over any intervening pieces). With the sole
exception of en passant, a piece captures an enemy piece by moving to the square it occupies,
removing it from play and taking its place. The pawn is the only piece that does not capture the way
it moves, and it is the only piece that moves and captures in only one direction (forwards from the
player's perspective). A piece is said to control empty squares on which it could
capture, attack squares with enemy pieces it could capture, and defend squares with pieces of the
same color on which it could recapture. Moving is compulsory; a player may not skip a turn, even
when having to move is detrimental.
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