Chess rules: how to play
Chess is played by two players on an 8×8 board, each starting with sixteen pieces: a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. The goal is to checkmate the opponent's king — attack it so that it has no way to escape.
BN-games plays by the standard FIDE rules, including castling, en passant, promotion and every draw rule. Play free in your browser against a bot, with a friend on the same device, or online by sending a room code — with or without a clock.
Standard chess (FIDE rules)
Setup
The board has 64 squares and is placed so that each player has a light square in the right-hand corner. Rooks go in the corners, then knights, then bishops; the queen stands on her own colour (white queen on d1, black queen on d8) and the king next to her. Each side's eight pawns fill the row in front. White moves first, and the players then alternate one move at a time.
King
The king moves one square in any direction. It may never move onto a square attacked by an enemy piece.
Queen
The queen moves any number of squares in a straight line — along a row, a column or a diagonal — but cannot jump over other pieces.
Rook
The rook moves any number of squares along a row or a column, without jumping.
Bishop
The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally, without jumping, so it stays on squares of one colour for the whole game.
Knight
The knight moves in an L shape: two squares in one direction and then one square sideways. It is the only piece that jumps over others.
Pawn
A pawn moves straight forward one square, or two squares from its starting row if both are empty. It captures differently: one square diagonally forward. Pawns never move backwards.
Capturing
A piece captures by moving onto a square occupied by an enemy piece, which is removed from the board. Capturing is never compulsory.
Castling
Once per game, the king may move two squares towards a rook, and that rook jumps to the square the king crossed. It is allowed only if neither piece has moved yet, the squares between them are empty, and the king is not in check, does not pass through an attacked square and does not land on one.
En passant
When a pawn advances two squares and lands beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square. The capture must be made immediately, on the very next move, or the right is lost.
Promotion
A pawn that reaches the far row must be exchanged for a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour — the player's choice, regardless of which pieces are already on the board.
Check
A king that is attacked is in check. The player in check must get out of it at once — by moving the king, capturing the attacker, or blocking the line of attack. A move that leaves your own king in check is not allowed.
Checkmate
If a king is in check and there is no move that gets it out, it is checkmate and that player loses. A player may also resign at any time.
Stalemate
If the player to move is not in check but has no legal move at all, the game is a draw by stalemate.
Other draws
The game is also drawn when neither side has enough material left to checkmate (for example king against king, or king and bishop against king), when the same position occurs three times with the same player to move, when fifty moves in a row by each side pass without a pawn move or a capture, or when both players agree to a draw.
Playing with a clock
With the clock on, each player has a fixed amount of time for the whole game, and only the player to move has their clock running. A player whose time runs out loses — unless the opponent has no way left to checkmate, in which case the game is a draw.