How To Play Chess For Kids & Chess Rules
Welcome to chess, a game played by millions worldwide!
In this article, we will help you learn to play.
Let's start learning:
- How To Set Up The Chess Board
- How The Chess Pieces Move
- How Special Chess Moves Happen
- How A Chess Game Ends
- How To Focus On The Rules
- How To Begin A Game
- How To Record A Game
- How To Keep Improving At Chess
How To Set Up The Chess Board
First, it’s important to know how to set up the board so you can play.
The setup of pieces is very important. The major pieces (rook and queen), minor pieces (bishop and knight), and the king are all on the last row of a chess board.
The rooks occupy the corner squares. Next to the rook is a knight. The bishop takes the other square next to the knight. The queen is always placed on her color (white queen on white square), and the king is placed next to her.
Your eight pawns occupy the next row all in a straight line. Your opponent’s pieces reflect the same positions as yours, including the queen that occupies a square that matches her color.
To start a game, White always moves first.
Any pawn may move but the strongest initial moves by pawns are by the middle ones to control the center of the board. In addition, a knight may move. Because the other pieces are blocked by the line of pawns, they may not move yet. Before we discuss opening moves more, let’s get to know each piece and how it moves.
How The Chess Pieces Move
Learning the chess pieces is very important. Let’s see how each one moves, too:
The King
The king is the most important piece because you lose the game when he is attacked and can't get to safety. This is called checkmate, and it is how a game is decided.
The King can move just one square at a time.
When your king is threatened by being placed in check, you must remove the threat. A king can move one square in any direction (except it moves two squares when castling, which is discussed as a special move below), but it cannot move into check or next to the enemy king. It can capture any enemy piece except the king. Because of its weakness, the king rarely plays an active role until the endgame.
The Queen
The queen is the most powerful piece because it can move in any straight-line direction: vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. It also can move any number of squares.
The queen can control 27 squares from the center.
Although you start with only one queen, you may gain another one when a pawn promotes (see special moves below). Because the queen is slightly stronger than a rook and bishop together, exchanging the queen for a single piece other than the enemy queen is usually not a good idea.
The Rook
You have two rooks; each one starts on a corner square. It may move vertically or horizontally through any unoccupied square.
The rook controls 14 squares from the center.
It participates with the king in a special move called castling. A major piece, the rook is stronger than a bishop or knight. Rooks are very powerful in the endgame when they can control many squares and move without being blocked by pawns.
The Bishop
You also start with two bishops, one on a light square and one on a dark square. Like a rook, a bishop may move through any unoccupied square, but each one moves only diagonally.
The bishop controls 13 squares from the center.
Because it always stays on the same color, it has access to only half of the squares on the board.
The Knight
Unlike other pieces, the knight moves in two directions at once. This tricky piece moves in an "L"-shaped pattern (two squares in one direction and then one square in a different direction).
From its square, the knight can control up to eight squares.
In the center of the board, it can dangerously attack many squares and is well-suited for a tactic known as a fork. Although a minor piece, the knight is useful in “closed” games when many pieces clutter the board because it alone has the special ability to jump over any piece.
The Pawn
Each player begins with eight pawns, each one in a line in front of the other pieces.
The game starts with 16 pawns, eight white and eight black.
Until a pawn advances across the board to the final rank when it can be promoted, it is the weakest piece in most situations, but it can be valuable to block enemy pieces. Unlike other pieces, a pawn moves only forward unless it is capturing an enemy piece, which it does by moving diagonally one square to the left or right. It moves only one square except on its first move when it may move one or two squares forward. A surprising move of the pawn is the en passant capture (described in special moves below).
Special Chess Moves
Does chess have unusual moves? You bet! Three special moves may occur in a game:
Castling
Normally you may move just one piece at a time. However, castling involves moving two pieces at the same time: your king and a rook if they have both not been moved yet.
There are two types of castling: short (kingside) and long (queenside).
The king moves to two squares laterally—kingside or queenside—and the rook moves next to it on the other side. The king cannot be in check before or after castling or move through check.
En Passant
If an enemy pawn advances two squares as its initial move and lands next to one of your pawns, your pawn may capture it on your next move (but not a later move) as if it had moved just one square. Known as an en passant capture, this special move is lost if not played immediately after the enemy pawn moves.
"En passant" is a French term that means "in passing."
Promotion
When a pawn reaches the other end of the board, you may turn it into any piece other than a king. Remember that the queen is the most powerful piece.
A pawn can promote into a bishop, knight, rook or queen.
A queen typically is the choice when a pawn promotes, but another piece may be more valuable (such as a knight to gain an advantage with a fork) depending on the board position. You may get more than one queen.
How A Chess Game Ends
Checkmate
A game is won when one player can checkmate the other. Checkmate occurs when a player who is next to move is in check and cannot move the king out of check.
White's queen is threatening the black king, and it can't escape.
Game over! 
A game may also end when a player resigns. 
Although we want to win, playing a game with a hopeless position is frustrating and discouraging. When you become experienced, it’s best to resign and start a new game in that situation, but in your first few years of playing, you should play it out as your opponent might not know how to win, or may make a big mistake.
Draw
Games do not always end with a win or a loss. They may also end in a draw (a tie), which is the result of neither player winning. Both players can agree to a draw, and a draw also results when a stalemate—a player on the next turn cannot make a legal move and is not in check—occurs.
A draw also occurs when neither player has sufficient pieces to checkmate an opponent, or when an event known as threefold repetition occurs (the same position occurs three times with the same player to move), or when the 50-move rule is met (the last 50 moves by each player doesn’t result in a capture or a pawn move).
How To Focus On The Rules
Rules For Making Moves
How many chess rules are there? Almost 300—but only a third relate to the game itself (most relate to tournament play and other details). As you begin to play, focus on the rules explained above for moving pieces (so you already know many rules).
Touch-Move And Capturing Rules
During a game, you and your opponent take turns making moves. An important rule to know is the “touch-move” rule, which states that a player must move a piece when touched if the piece has a legal move (this doesn't apply to online chess). When you move a piece and occupy the square where an opponent’s piece is located, you capture it. To capture means that you take the opponent’s piece off the board and move your piece to that square.
How To Begin A Chess Game
Opening Moves
Although you already know many important rules, you also need to understand chess strategy. The first moves are known as opening moves, or the opening.
Goals of the opening in Chess.
In this part of a game, you want to begin to control an area of the board, and the center is very important to control. During this time, keep your king protected and look for opportunities to capture your opponent’s pieces or threaten them.
Chess Strategy For Beginners
Initially keep pawn moves to a minimum—just enough to stake out the center. Develop other pieces and improve their mobility. A good strategy is to avoid moving the same piece twice in the opening, so that you develop several pieces initially. Before you make too many moves, consider castling to keep the king safe.
First Moves
For a beginning player, a first move often is advancing the pawn in front of the king or queen. This move helps to control the board’s central squares; it also frees a bishop to move. No pawn has to be moved to put a knight into action because it can jump over the starting line of pawns.
Positions of White's pieces after a successful start.
As you move, make sure that your pieces are protected and look for where you can place your pieces to work together. When your opponent moves, try to understand why that move was chosen and how it affects your pieces, particularly the safety of your king. (My favorite opening move is e4. What does that mean? Read next about chess notation.)
How To Record A Chess Game
Identifying Squares
To improve at chess, record your games, replay them, and evaluate the moves both you and your opponent made. The diagram of a board at the start of this article shows how to set up pieces. Look at the following diagram and observe that each square can be identified by a letter and number. For example, for White’s position, the lower-left corner is a1 and the upper-right corner is h8.
The board has 64 squares, and each one has a number and a letter.
Recording Moves
In recording moves, pieces are identified by capital letters: R (for rook), N (knight), B (bishop), Q (queen), and K (king). A pawn, however, is not identified by a letter but by the square where it is moving, such as e4 for an opening move. Another early move for White is Nf3 (the initial of the piece and the square where it lands). Can you use the board above to see how this move would occur?
Special Annotations
When a piece takes an opponent's piece, the move is recorded by the capturing piece’s initial, an x, and the square when the capture occurs, such as Rxf5. An exception: when a pawn captures, only the files (or columns) involved are recorded. A pawn on the e-file capturing an opponent’s piece next to it on the f-file is simply exf. Castling involves more notation: o-o means the king castled on the kingside, and o-o-o designates castling on the queenside. Two important characters in chess notation are + to indicate check and # to indicate checkmate. Very simply, you have now learned the basics of algebraic chess notation. A few other annotations are used, but these basics get you started.
How To Keep Improving At Chess
The best way to get better is to play—and play regularly. Don’t be concerned when you lose. Be more interested in understanding the game. You can also improve by playing others more experienced than you—learn from their play and ask questions when a game is over. As you develop your skills, learn more on ChessKid.com by watching the videos, studying the lessons, and practicing the puzzles (the puzzles are fun and teach you tactics)—and be patient. Every successful player was once a beginner.
Final Thoughts
You’re ready to play. Are you excited? 
You and your opponent take turns making moves.
Remember to safeguard your king throughout each game. When your king is in check, you must remove the king from check in one of three ways:
- Capture the attacking piece (if not being checked by two pieces).
- Move the king to a square not under attack (castling is not permitted when the king is in check).
- Interrupt the threat by putting a piece between the attacking piece and your king.
Finally, where are the referees? Unlike soccer, volleyball, and softball, you usually can't depend on a referee or umpire to enforce any rule. One of the international laws of chess is that “players shall take no action that will bring the game of chess into disrepute.” It’s important for you to follow the rules of chess and to behave ethically.
Now you know the basics and are ready to begin. 
As you play and gain experience, check out the interactive lessons and other instructional articles, videos, and materials on ChessKid.com.