The board and setting it up
The 64 squares and where every piece starts.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Can explain The board and setting it up
The lesson
A chess board has 64 squares in an 8 by 8 grid. The squares take turns being light and dark. Half of them are light and half are dark.
Each player starts with 16 pieces on the two rows closest to them. The back row holds a rook in each corner, then a knight, then a bishop, then the queen and king in the middle. The eight pawns stand in a line in front.
When you sit down, make sure a light square is in your right-hand corner. People say "white on the right" to remember it.
Set up your pieces, then check that your queen sits on a square of her own color. The white queen starts on a light square and the black queen on a dark square.
The board has 64 light and dark squares, and each side sets up 16 pieces with the queen on her own color.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.