Rules of Chess

Objective

The objective of chess is to checkmate the opponent's king, placing it under threat of capture with no way to escape, or flag lol.

Pieces

Each player controls a set of 16 pieces, including:

• 1 King
• 1 Queen
• 2 Rooks
• 2 Knights
• 2 Bishops
• 8 Pawns

Movement

Each type of piece has specific rules for movement:

• The King moves one square in any direction.
• The Queen moves any number of squares diagonally, horizontally, or vertically.
• The Rook moves any number of squares horizontally or vertically.
• The Knight moves in an L-shape: two squares in one direction and then one square perpendicular to that direction.
• The Bishop moves any number of squares diagonally.
• The Pawn moves forward one square, but captures diagonally. On its first move, a pawn may move two squares forward. Pawns promote to any other piece upon reaching the opponent's back rank.

Check and Checkmate

When a player's king is under threat of capture, it is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and there is no legal move to escape, it is checkmate, and the game ends.

Draws

Chess games may end in a draw under various conditions, including stalemate (when a player has no legal moves and their king is not in check), insufficient material to checkmate (when neither player has enough pieces to force checkmate), or by agreement between the players.

Special Moves

There are several special moves in chess, including castling (moving the king two squares towards a rook and then placing the rook on the square over which the king crossed) and en passant (capturing a pawn that has moved two squares forward from its starting position).