Board & Setup

The game of Chess is played by 2 players who oppose each other on a square board of 64 alternate white and black squares. Each player has 16 men: 1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights and 8 pawns. The men of one side are called White. Those on the other side are called Black.

To start with, the board must be placed so that both players have a white square in the bottom right-hand corner. The Rooks occupy the corner squares; next to them stand the Knights; then the Bishops and in the center the King and the Queen.

The white Queen must be on a white square and the black Queen must be on a black square. These 8 men are commonly known as "pieces" in distinction from the pawns. Pawns occupy the line of squares immediately in front of the Pieces.

The lines of squares occupied by the men and the other 4 vacant horizontal lines between them are called ranks. The vertical lines of squares running perpendicularly to the ranks are called files. The lines of squares which connect squares of the same color, are called diagonals.

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