How to set up the pieces on a chessboard

Care for a game of chess? The starting position.

   To begin the game, the 32 chess pieces are placed on the board as shown in the diagram. This diagram uses the conventional symbols that are used for the pieces in printing.

  The rook is sometimes called castle. The word piece is often used to designate a chessman other than a pawn. Note how all of the pieces are set up on the row nearest the players; in front of them is a row of eight pawns. The king and queen go on the central squares of the first row. The traditional rule as to which goes where is "queen on her color", meaning that the Black queen goes on the dark square, the white queen on the light square. The central pieces are flanked (going outwards) by bishops, knights, and rooks.

   Different manufacturers use different designs for their chess pieces. The printed symbols as shown above are based on the Staunton pattern. Plastic chessmen are usually modeled on severely simplified designs, but certain features are preserved so that each piece can be identified:

The stars of chess, in the Staunton design. From left to right: king, queen, bishop, knight, rook and pawn.

Ready to learn how the pieces move?  Start here with pawns.