Staunton pieces
Staunton pieces are the standard design of chess set used in tournaments, with a distinct silhouette for each piece, and the design the Laws name for the specially made boards used by visually disabled players.
Also called: Staunton set
When people picture a chess set, they are usually picturing the Staunton design, which became the standard in the middle of the nineteenth century and replaced the more ornate regional styles of the time. Its strength is clarity. The pawn is a small round figure, the knight is a carved horse head, the bishop has a notch, the rook is a castle turret, the queen has a coronet and the king a cross. Because each piece is instantly recognizable even from the other side of the table, the design reduces mistakes in long games, and tournament organizers prefer it. The Laws show the pieces in this form and require that the pieces on the special board for blind and visually impaired players are of Staunton design, with the black pieces specially marked and a peg that fits a hole in each square. Training tip: practice with a real set at home, because moving a Staunton piece by hand is part of the skill of over-the-board play.
Once "Staunton pieces" 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
Chess pieces are the sixteen units each side starts with: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns; in everyday speech, though, piece usually means everything except the pawns.
The chessboard is the playing field for every game of chess, a large square divided into eight rows and eight columns of light and dark cells that alternate, set so the corner nearest each player's right hand is light.
The starting position is the fixed arrangement at the start of every standard game: pawns on the second and seventh ranks, pieces behind them, queens on their own color, and a light square at each player's right.
The rules of chess are the Laws of Chess, the document FIDE publishes that sets out how pieces move, how a game ends, how clocks and records work, and how arbiters handle problems.
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.
The knight moves to one of the nearest squares that is not on its own rank, file or diagonal, an L-shaped jump, and it is the only piece that can leap over other pieces.
Guides that go further
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.
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), Article 2.2, read Oct 21, 2026.
- FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Appendix D.1.4, read Oct 21, 2026.
Want to spot this in your own games?
A first lesson starts with your games: George reviews them and builds a study plan around what he finds.