How to Play Chess: A Beginner's Guide, Step by Step

Setting up the board

A chessboard has 64 squares in eight rows, called ranks, and eight columns, called files. Place it so that each player has a light square in the bottom right corner. A handy rhyme: light on the right. Files are labelled a to h and ranks 1 to 8, so every square has a name such as e4.

White sets up on ranks 1 and 2, Black on ranks 7 and 8. The eight pawns go on the front rank. Behind them, from the outside in, come rook, knight and bishop, with the queen and king in the middle. The queen goes on her own color: the white queen on the light square d1, the black queen on the dark square d8. White always moves first.

How each piece moves

Learn the pieces one at a time and try each one out on the board right away. No piece may move to a square occupied by one of its own pieces. If an enemy piece stands there, it is captured and removed from the board.

• King: moves one square in any direction and may never step onto a square the opponent attacks.
• Queen: moves any number of squares straight or diagonally, as long as the path is clear. She is the strongest piece.
• Rook: moves any number of squares horizontally or vertically.
• Bishop: moves any number of squares diagonally, so it always stays on its starting color.
• Knight: jumps in an L shape, two squares straight and one to the side, and is the only piece that can jump over others.
• Pawn: moves one square forward, or two from its starting square, but captures one square diagonally forward.

The three special rules

Almost every beginner trips over these three rules at some point. They make sense once you have seen them in action.

Castling moves the king and a rook in a single turn: the king steps two squares toward the rook, and the rook jumps over to the square next to it. You may only castle if neither piece has moved yet, every square between them is empty, your king is not in check, and the king does not pass through or land on an attacked square.

Promotion happens when a pawn reaches the far rank. It immediately becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight, nearly always a queen. En passant only concerns pawns: if a pawn advances two squares and lands right beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved just one square. This is only allowed on the very next move.

Check, checkmate and stalemate

When a piece attacks the king, the king is in check. You must deal with it at once: move the king, block the attack, or capture the attacker. If none of these work, it is checkmate and the game is over. The king is never actually captured.

Stalemate is the opposite situation: the player to move is not in check but has no legal move at all. The game then ends in a draw. Beginners with a big material advantage fall into this surprisingly often, so before each move ask yourself whether your opponent can still move. A game is also drawn when neither side can possibly mate, such as king against king, or when the same position occurs three times.

Piece values and first strategy

A common rule of thumb: pawn 1, knight and bishop 3 each, rook 5, queen 9. The king is priceless. These numbers help you judge whether a trade is worth it. Giving up a rook for a knight is usually a bad deal.

Three principles are enough to start with. First, control the center with pawns and pieces, because that is where they are most active. Second, bring out your knights and bishops early instead of moving the same piece again and again. Third, castle soon so your king is safe. And the single most useful habit: before every move, ask yourself what your opponent's last move was trying to do.

Your practice plan for the first weeks

Knowing the rules and being able to play are two different things. What closes the gap is regular play, ideally in short sessions rather than one long marathon a month.

A computer opponent is perfect for this: it always has time, never gets impatient and can be set to your level. In Schach der Zauberer you play real chess with every rule, including castling, promotion and en passant, against the computer on Beginner, Normal or Master difficulty. On top of that you can cast spells paid for with mana. You earn mana each turn and for every capture, using exactly the piece values above, so you pick up those values without even trying.

• Week 1: learn the pieces and special rules, then practise simple mates with king and queen against a lone king.
• Week 2: play one short game a day on the easiest level, then look for your biggest mistake.
• Week 3: consciously apply the three opening principles and watch out for stalemate.
• After that: move up a level as soon as you win most of your games.