How to Set Up a Chess Board

Step 1: turn the board the right way

The board has 64 squares, alternating light and dark. Sit with the board in front of you and check the corner on your right. It must be a light square. If it is dark, turn the board around. This rule is called "white on the right", and it decides where the king and queen go, so check it before you place a single piece.

A simple memory aid is that the lower right square is light. If your board has letters and numbers around the edge, a1 is the lower left corner for White and it is a dark square.

Step 2: place the rooks

Put a rook on each of the two corner squares of your first row. The rooks are the tall pieces with a flat battlement top. A rook guards its corner at the start of the game, because castling later brings the rook toward the king.

Step 3: place the knights

Next to each rook goes a knight, the horse's head. The knights stand on the second and seventh squares of the first row, which are b1 and g1 for White. Knights are the only pieces that can jump over the pawns on move one, so they stand where they can do it.

Step 4: place the bishops

Beside each knight goes a bishop, the piece with the pointed top and a slit. They stand on c1 and f1 for White. Each bishop starts on a different color of square, one light and one dark, and stays on that color all game.

Step 5: place the queen on her color

The queen goes on the square of her own color: the white queen on the light square, the black queen on the dark square. For White the queen stands on d1 and for Black on d8. A saying helps: the queen loves her color.

Step 6: place the king

The king takes the last empty square in the first row, next to the queen. For White it is e1 and for Black e8. You can tell the king from the queen by the cross on top of the king and the crown with points on the queen.

Step 7: fill the second row with pawns

Put one pawn on each of the eight squares of the second row in front of every player. The pawns protect the pieces behind them and, on the first move, the pieces move around them. After this step, each player has sixteen pieces, and the two armies face each other with four empty rows between them.

Step 8: check the position

Before you play, run through a short checklist.

1. A light square is in the right-hand corner for both players.
2. Rooks are in the corners, then knights, then bishops.
3. Each queen is on her own color and each king beside her.
4. The two kings face each other, the white one on a dark square and the black one on a light square, and the two queens face each other too.
5. Eight pawns stand in each second row.

If all five are true, the position is right. If the queens are not facing each other, you almost certainly swapped the king and queen. A last quick test is to look at the long diagonal from the lower left corner to the upper right corner: for White it begins on a dark square, and each bishop sits on a square of a different color from the other.

The mistakes beginners make most

Three mistakes account for nearly all bad setups, and they are easy to fix.

• The board is turned the wrong way. A dark square in the right-hand corner swaps the places of the king and queen. Always check the corner first.
• The king and queen are swapped. Remember the saying: the queen goes on her own color. White queen on a light square, black queen on a dark square.
• The bishops and knights are mixed up. The knight has a horse's head and stands next to the rook. The bishop has a slit and stands next to the king and queen.

For a parent setting up a board for a child, here is a short routine that works: say the order out loud while you place the pieces. "Rooks, knights, bishops, queen on her color, king, pawns." After three or four times the child will do it alone, and you can swap roles and let the child check your setup, which is a good way to find out whether the pattern has stuck.

After the setup: what to do first

Once the pieces are placed, the player with the white pieces moves first. Each side moves one piece per turn. A good first move is to push the pawn in front of the king two squares, 1.e4, or the pawn in front of the queen, 1.d4. Both take space in the center and open lines for the bishops and the queen.

The pages on how to play chess and chess pieces show how each piece moves and what each is worth. The page on chess strategies for beginners explains what to do in the first ten moves.

A printable checklist for parents

Parents who teach a child often find it helpful to put the rules on a card. Copy the five checks above onto an index card and keep it in the box. For a younger child, draw the board and mark the queen's squares with a small crown, so the child sees at once where each queen goes. When the child can set up the board without the card, the card has done its job.

Lessons

A new player learns fastest when someone plays alongside. If your child or you are new to the game, one lesson on the starting position and the first ten moves saves weeks of confusion. See the packages below.