How to play chess: your first complete game

Chess is played by two people who alternate moves, with White moving first. Your goal is checkmate: attack the opposing king so that no legal response removes the attack. Capturing every piece is unnecessary, and a king is never actually captured.

Learn the pieces through their jobs

Rooks move along ranks and files; bishops use diagonals; queens combine those movements. A knight jumps in an L shape: two squares in one direction and one sideways. Kings move one square in any direction, provided the destination is safe.

Pawns move forward into empty squares and capture one square diagonally forward. From their starting square they may advance two squares if both squares are empty. On reaching the farthest rank, a pawn must promote to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of its own colour.

Start a game you can explain

Set up the board with a light square on your right. Put each queen on her own colour. Try 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 and explain each move: occupy the centre, answer in the centre, develop with an attack, develop with a defence.

Do not worry about memorizing a long opening. Bring pieces into play, protect your king, and look for what your opponent threatens. Read castling and en passant separately; those special moves deserve their own examples.

Use a three-question turn

Ask: “Am I in check? What did that move attack? What will my opponent do after my move?” If you are in check, you must escape it immediately. Otherwise, choose a move that solves a problem or improves a piece.

A player with no legal move whose king is not attacked is stalemated: the game is drawn. Before delivering your first queen-and-king checkmate, check both the attack and every escape square.

Play the first seven moves with a reason

Try covering the move list. After 1.e4, ask what Black should do about White’s new space. Black’s 1…e5 is understandable as an answer to that question. After 2.Nf3, Black has a more immediate problem: the e5 pawn is attacked. 2…Nc6 develops a knight and solves that problem together. A useful move often does two jobs.

Now compare 3.Bc4 with a second move by the f3 knight. The bishop brings another piece into the game. Moving the knight again might be justified by a threat, but there is no need to spend another turn on it merely because it is already active. Development means building a team, not giving one piece all the work.

This is an example of sensible play, not a compulsory script. If your opponent chooses different moves, inspect the resulting position. Do not play the next memorized move without looking at what changed.

Finish a game without confusing attack and capture

When a queen attacks your king, you cannot ignore the attack to capture a rook elsewhere. You must remove the check. When the same queen attacks an ordinary piece, you may sometimes answer with a stronger threat. The king’s special status explains the difference.

For your first practice game, use enough time to name the threat after every opposing move. Write down one moment when you changed your plan because of it. A completed game with one understood correction teaches more than a fast sequence you cannot explain.