Quick Walkthrough
1. The Battlefield (Board & Setup)
- The Grid: The board consists of 64 squares—32 light and 32 dark.
- Rule of Thumb: When setting up the board, always ensure the bottom-right square facing you is a light-colored square (remember: "White on right").
- The Armies: One player commands the White army, the other commands the Black army. White always makes the first move.
2. The Pieces (Your Army & How They Move)
Each player starts with 16 pieces. Every piece has a strict rule for how it can move across the board:
- Pawn (8 pieces): Movement: Pawns only move forward, never backward. On their very first move, they can choose to advance 1 or 2 squares. After that, they can only move 1 square at a time.
Capture: Unlike their normal forward movement, pawns capture enemy pieces diagonally (one square forward to the left or right).
Special Power (Promotion): If a pawn successfully marches all the way to the opposite end of the board, it is "promoted" and can immediately be swapped for a Queen, Rook, Bishop, or Knight. - Rook (2 pieces): Movement: The Rook moves in straight lines—either horizontally (left/right) or vertically (up/down). It can move as many squares as it wants, as long as its path is not blocked by another piece.
- Knight (2 pieces): Movement: The Knight moves in an 'L' shape. This means it moves two squares in one direction (horizontal or vertical) and then one square sideways.
Special Power: The Knight is the only piece on the board that can jump over other pieces (both yours and your opponent's). - Bishop (2 pieces): Movement: The Bishop moves exclusively diagonally. It can travel as many squares as it wants along unblocked paths. One Bishop will stay on light squares for the entire game, and the other will stay on dark squares.
- Queen (1 piece): Movement: The most powerful piece on the board! The Queen combines the powers of the Rook and the Bishop. She can move in any straight line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) for as many unobstructed squares as she wants.
- King (1 piece): Movement: The most important piece. The King can move in any direction (straight or diagonal), but only 1 square at a time.
3. Core Rules & Winning the Game
The entire logic of the game revolves around one goal: Protect your King and trap the opponent's King.
- Check: When an enemy piece directly targets your King, your King is in "Check." On your very next turn, you must save your King. You can do this by moving the King to a safe square, blocking the attack with another piece, or capturing the attacking piece.
- Checkmate: When a King is in Check and there is absolutely no legal move to escape, block, or capture the threat, it is "Checkmate." The game is over, and the player who delivered the Checkmate wins.
- Stalemate (Draw): If it is a player's turn to move, their King is not in Check, but they have absolutely no legal moves left on the board, the game ends immediately in a draw. This is called a Stalemate.
Interactive Example
Open the Play screen and try a match against the AI. It's the best way to master the movements!