Chess

A two-player strategy game on an 8×8 board — checkmate the enemy king before your own falls.

📐chessboard⏱~120 min🌤indoor

What is Chess?

Chess is one of the world's oldest and most-studied strategy games. Its ancestor, chaturanga, emerged in India around the 6th century and evolved through Persian shatranj into modern chess in 15th-century southern Europe. Two players — White and Black — command 16 pieces each and alternate moves on a 64-square board. Governed by FIDE, chess is now considered a mind sport by the IOC, played at professional level with time controls ranging from 1-minute bullet to 7-hour classical games.

Quick facts

How it works

Objective

Checkmate your opponent's king — put it under attack with no legal move to escape.

Match structure

White moves first; players alternate one move per turn. A game ends by checkmate, resignation, draw by agreement, stalemate, threefold repetition, the 50-move rule or timeout.

Rules

Basic rules

Movement
Rook: any number of squares in a straight line. Bishop: diagonals. Queen: rook + bishop combined. Knight: L-shape (2+1), jumps over pieces. King: one square any direction. Pawn: one square forward (two on first move), captures diagonally.
Check & checkmate
'Check' is a direct threat to the king. 'Checkmate' is a check the king cannot escape — game over.
Castling
The king moves two squares toward a rook and the rook jumps to the king's other side. Only allowed if neither piece has moved, no squares between are occupied, and the king is not in / does not pass through check.
En passant
A pawn that advances two squares can be captured 'in passing' by an enemy pawn on the very next move.
Promotion
A pawn reaching the last rank promotes — most commonly to a queen, but any piece except a king is allowed.
Draw conditions
Stalemate (no legal move but not in check), threefold repetition, 50-move rule (no capture / pawn move), insufficient material or mutual agreement.

Scoring

1 point for a win, ½ for a draw, 0 for a loss. Round-robin totals decide tournament standings; Swiss pairings and tiebreaks handle everything else.

Win condition · Checkmate, resignation, or opponent's flag falling on the clock (win on time).

Playing area

Called

chessboard

Dimensions

8 × 8 = 64 alternating light and dark squares.

The board is oriented so each player has a light-coloured square in the bottom-right corner.

Chess starting position

The classical setup. Queens on their own colour (white queen on light, black queen on dark). Files a–h left to right, ranks 1–8 bottom to top.

Light squareDark square

Equipment

Chessboard
8×8 grid, 64 squares in two alternating colours.
32 pieces
Each side: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights, 8 pawns.
Clock
Two-faced clock, mandatory in competitive play; players press it after each move.
Scoresheet
For notating games in algebraic notation.

Positions & roles

King
×1
Must be protected — game ends if it is checkmated.
Queen
×1
Most powerful piece — moves like a rook and bishop combined.
Rook
×2
Moves any number of squares in a straight line.
Bishop
×2
Moves diagonally — one per colour of square.
Knight
×2
L-shaped move; only piece that can jump.
Pawn
×8
Slow but many; promotes at the last rank.

Officiating

In official play a certified arbiter oversees the game; players may summon the arbiter at any time.

Arbiter — enforces rules, resolves disputes, monitors clocks

Penalties & fouls

Penalties

Illegal move
First illegal move → opponent gets extra time. Second → automatic loss.
Touch-move
Touch a piece, you must move it. Touch an opponent's piece, you must capture it — if legal.

Terminology

Fork: A single move that attacks two enemy pieces at once — typically by a knight.
Pin: A piece is 'pinned' if moving it would expose a more valuable piece behind it.
Zugzwang: A position in which any move a player makes worsens their position.
Zwischenzug: An 'in-between move' that ignores an apparent obligation to force a stronger reply.
Endgame: The final phase of the game, typically with few pieces left.
Elo: The rating system used to measure a player's strength — introduced by Arpad Elo in 1960.

Major competitions

World Chess Championship
biennial · worldwide · since 1886
Chess Olympiad
biennial · worldwide · since 1927
Candidates Tournament
biennial · worldwide
Winner challenges the World Champion.
Grand Chess Tour
annual · worldwide · since 2015

Where it is played

Governing bodies

Fédération Internationale des ÉchecsFIDE
Founded 1924 · Lausanne, Switzerland
Official site ↗

Famous names & records

Famous athletes

Emanuel Lasker
José Raúl Capablanca
Bobby Fischer
Garry Kasparov
Viswanathan Anand
Magnus Carlsen
Judit Polgár
Ding Liren

Records

Highest Elo rating in history
Magnus Carlsen — 2882 (May 2014) (2014)
Youngest chess grandmaster
Abhimanyu Mishra — 12 years, 4 months, 25 days (2021)

Learn this sport

beginner

1
How the pieces move
Learn king, queen, rook, bishop, knight and pawn movement.
2
Check, checkmate & stalemate
The three states that decide the game.
3
Castling & en passant
The two special moves every beginner should know.
4
Basic opening principles
Control the centre, develop your knights and bishops, castle early.

advanced

1
Tactical motifs
Forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, back-rank mates.
2
Positional play
Weak squares, outposts, pawn structure, minority attacks.
3
Endgame technique
King and pawn endgames, opposition, Lucena and Philidor positions.

Frequently asked

Is chess considered a sport?+

Yes — the IOC recognises chess as a mind sport, and FIDE is a recognised international federation.

How long does a chess game last?+

From 1 minute (bullet) to over 7 hours (classical world-championship). Casual games can be as short or as long as you like.

What is the highest chess title?+

Grandmaster (GM), awarded for life once a player passes 2500 Elo and achieves 3 GM norms.

Sources & provenance

FIDE Handbook — Laws of Chess— FIDE
Britannica — Chess— Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last verified 2026-08-20.verified