Chess is a very appealing game that is played by millions of people all around the world.

Chess is a game for two players and is played on an 8×8 checkered board, with a dark square in each player’s lower left corner. White, the player of the light colored pieces, moves first. Then Back has to move a piece. Each player has to move in turn and a move cannot be skipped.

Each game starts in the position shown in the diagram above in which each player has 1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights and 8 pawns. Please note that in this starting position the Queens are placed on their own color next to the Kings on the center files.

The goal in the chess game is to checkmate the opponent’s King. Checkmate happens if the king is under attack (in check) and no legal move can be made to solve this. When you have checkmated your opponent’s king you have won the game.

More about the (movements of the) chess pieces and the rules of chess can be found in the next lesson.