Board games
Chess
- players
- 2
- minutes
- 30-90
- years
- 6+
In the box
1 chessboard of 64 squares · 32 pieces: 16 white and 16 black
Official rules (federation's site)
Box details
- Origin
- Traditional game, with no specific designer or publisher
- Mechanics
- Grid MovementOnce-Per-Game AbilitiesPattern MovementSquare GridCapture
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Put the opposing king in check with no way to escape it: checkmate. White moves first, then each player makes one move in turn: the pawn moves forward and captures diagonally, the rook moves along lines, the bishop along diagonals, the queen both, the knight jumps in an L and the king takes one step, never staying in check. Checkmate wins at once, resigning loses, and stalemate, agreement or a dead position give a draw.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
64 squares, 8 pawns and 8 pieces, White moves first
- A 64-square chessboard, with a light square in each player's bottom right-hand corner.
- Each side lines up eight pawns on its second rank, and on the first: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook.
- The queen goes on a square of her own colour. White moves first.
How to play
Castling, En passant capture, King never left in check
- A pawn moves forward one square, two on its first move, and captures diagonally.
- The rook moves along lines, the bishop along diagonals, the queen both, the king one square.
- The knight jumps in an L shape, over the other pieces.
- Two special moves: castling, which tucks the king away to safety, and en passant capture.
- You may never put or leave your own king in check: a check must be dealt with at once.
Scoring
Win 1 point, Draw ½, loss 0
- A win is worth 1 point, a draw a half, a loss zero.
- The piece values — pawn 1, knight and bishop 3, rook 5, queen 9 — help to assess a position, not to keep score.
End of the game
Checkmate wins at once, Stalemate or agreed draw
- Checkmate: the game is won immediately. A player may also resign, and then loses the game.
- Stalemate, a dead position where no checkmate is possible any more (for lack of material, for instance) or agreement between the players: the game is drawn. Threefold repetition of the position or fifty moves without a capture or a pawn move: drawn if a player claims it (it becomes automatic at the fifth repetition or after seventy-five moves).
- With a clock, a player who runs out of time loses, unless the opponent can no longer checkmate by any series of legal moves: the game is then drawn.
House rules and pitfalls
A pawn reaching the last rank is promoted to a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own colour…
- A pawn reaching the last rank is promoted to a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own colour, as the player chooses; almost always to a queen.
- Touch-move: deliberately touching one of your own pieces means you must move it, if it has a legal move. To simply straighten it on its square, say "j'adoube" (or "I adjust") first.
- In Chess960, the back rank is drawn at random but stays symmetrical between the two sides, with the bishops on squares of different colours and the king between its two rooks: opening theory no longer helps.
Going further
Variants · Frequently asked questions · Rules on video · In the same family
Variants
Time control
Classic
Blitz
Ten minutes or less per player (often three to five).
Rapid
More than ten and less than sixty minutes per player.
Fischer Random (Chess960)
The back row is drawn at random, the same for both sides.
Match to
3 wins
5 wins
No limit
choose them when you start a game: the scorer adapts
Frequently asked questions
What is stalemate in chess?
A player is stalemated when they have no legal move left while their king is not in check. The game is then drawn, even if the other side has a crushing advantage.
Can you castle after being in check?
Yes, as long as neither the king nor the rook in question has moved since the start of the game. However, you cannot castle while in check, nor move the king across or onto an attacked square, nor if there is a piece between the king and the rook.
Rules on video
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.