Capture

Capturing is how material changes hands. A piece captures by moving to the square of an opponent's piece, following its usual movement rules, and the captured piece is removed from the board at once. You cannot capture your own piece. Most pieces capture the way they move, but pawns capture diagonally, one square forward, and not straight ahead, and they have the extra en passant capture. Captures are never forced in the Laws, although touch-move can make them compulsory if you have touched an enemy piece with the intention of taking it. The king is the exception to everything: it can be attacked, and attacks on it must be answered, but the Laws forbid capturing it; the game ends at checkmate instead. A capture also resets the count for the fifty-move rule. In notation an x is optional between the piece and the square, as in Nxf3, and a pawn capture shows the file the pawn came from, as in exd5. Practical habit: before you capture, check what the capture gives up. Is the capturing piece safe afterwards, and does the recapture change the structure? Beginners should always look at the whole sequence of captures on a square.

Also worth reading is Check. Check is the state of a king that stands attacked by one or more opposing pieces; the player whose king it is must end the attack with the very next move, because no legal move may leave one's own king attacked.

Also worth reading is Pawn. The pawn moves one square straight forward, or two from its starting square, captures one square diagonally forward, and is exchanged for a queen, rook, bishop or knight on the far rank.

Also worth reading is Touch-move rule. Touch-move is the over-the-board rule that binds a player to a piece once it has been deliberately touched: your own piece has to be moved and an opponent's piece has to be captured, wherever a legal move exists.

Once "Capture" is familiar, the next question is what to work on at your rating, which the improvement plans by rating band answer with game and puzzle data.

Related terms

• Pawn

  The pawn moves one square straight forward, or two from its starting square, captures one square diagonally forward, and is exchanged for a queen, rook, bishop or knight on the far rank.

• En passant

  En passant is a pawn capture that exists for one move only: after an enemy pawn leaves its starting square by two steps and stops beside your pawn, you may take it by moving to the square it skipped.

• Check

  Check is the state of a king that stands attacked by one or more opposing pieces; the player whose king it is must end the attack with the very next move, because no legal move may leave one's own king attacked.

• Touch-move rule

  Touch-move is the over-the-board rule that binds a player to a piece once it has been deliberately touched: your own piece has to be moved and an opponent's piece has to be captured, wherever a legal move exists.

• Fifty-move rule

  The fifty-move rule lets the player on move claim a draw once fifty moves by each side have been completed with no pawn move and no capture, so a game that makes no progress cannot run on forever.

• Algebraic notation

  Algebraic notation is the standard system for recording chess moves, naming each square by file letter and rank number and each move by the piece letter and destination square, as in Nf3 or exd5.

Guides that go further

• How to choose a chess coach

  What to decide first, the questions to ask, what a first lesson should show and the red flags to avoid.

• How much does chess coaching cost?

  Published rates for private, group and subscription chess coaching, with the source and the date of each.

• The first lesson

  A game review, a read on your level and a written study plan from George Li.

Sources

• FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Articles 3.1 and 3.1.1, read Oct 21, 2026.
• FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Article 1.4.1, read Oct 21, 2026.
• FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Appendix C.9, read Oct 21, 2026.