DGT Rules of Chess Instructions
- June 11, 2024
- DGT
Table of Contents
Rules of Chess
Venture into the world of chess with this comprehensive booklet as a
guide.
Chess: the game and the rules
Chess is a wonderful game that connects people from all over the world,
fosters mental development and is just plain fun. It’s like a language without
words that anyone can learn, creating a space without boundaries that is about
encouraging inclusivity.
With this book, “Rules of Chess”, our goal is to contribute to the joy and
unity of the world by teaching as many people as possible how to play chess.
To achieve this goal, DGT cooperates closely with FIDE, the world’s largest
international federation for chess.
Together with FIDE, we work hard to promote and revolutionize the game of
chess. We do this from Enschede, a city in the Netherlands. Here we develop
and produce an extensive range of products such as digital chess clocks,
electronic chessboards and chess computers that connect players from all
corners of the globe in one large chess playing community.
We wish you lots of fun learning chess. Share the knowledge. If you have any
questions, please contact us.
Let’s play!
Moving pieces on the board
Board
A chess board is divided into 8 x 8 squares.
The horizontal lines are called ranks and are denoted with letters a to h. The
vertical lines are called files and are denoted with numbers 1 to 8. Sets of
squares along cross lines are called diagonals. Each square has its own name.
For example the highlighted square is called f5.
King (K)
The king can move one square in any direction sideways, forwards, backwards or
diagonally.
The king is the most important piece. The player, who attacks the opponent’s
king without a possible defence wins the game! 
Queen (Q)
The queen can move in any direction, sideways, forwards, backwards or
diagonally and over any distance.
The queen is by far the strongest piece.
Rook (R)
The rook can move in straight lines along a file or a rank. It can move
sideways, backwards or forwards but never diagonally.
It can move until it reaches another piece or the edge of the board.
Bishop (B)
The bishop can move along the diagonals at any distance till it reaches
another piece or the edge of the board.
The bishop that starts on the white or black square will always stay on that
specific colour.
Knight (N)
The knight moves in an ‘L-shaped’ jump, that is 2 squares horizontally and 1
square vertically or 1 square horizontally and 2 squares vertically. It is the
only piece that can jump over other pieces.
Pawn
The pawn is a small piece that can only move straight forward one square per
move. When it is still in its starting position, it can move one or two
squares ahead.
Exceptionally, the pawn moves in a different way when it captures another
piece because the pawn captures by going one step forward diagonally in a left
or right cross direction.
So:
- pawns move straight ahead
- pawns capture diagonally
- pawns move only one square at the time (except on their first move they can move two squares)
- pawns never move backwards, only forwards
For example in Fig 8 the white pawn on e4 can capture the black pawn on d5 or
it can move forward to square e5. The white pawn on h3 can capture the knight
on g4 or it can move to h4.
The white pawn on d2 is still on its starting square so it can move one or two
squares, either to d3 or to d4. Looking from the other side, the white rook is
under attack from the pawn on a6 and the white pawn on e4 could itself be
taken by black’s pawn on d5.
Value of the pieces
As a rule of thumb, a pawn is worth 1 point, a knight and bishop are each
worth 3 points, a rook is valued at 5 points and the queen as the strongest
piece is worth 9 points.
Starting position
In the starting position only pawns and knights can move. It is recommended to
start with a central pawn on the d- or the e-file so the bishops can also join
the game. Later the queen can enter the attack. The most popular opening move
is e2-e4 but d2-d4 is also very common. The first phase of the game is called
the Opening. In the Opening, the players normally move a few centre pawns and
develop their pieces by moving them to good squares.
Now you can already start playing a game!
Attack and Capture
When you know how to move your pieces on the board, it is not difficult to
understand how you can attack and capture your opponent’s pieces.
If a square where your piece can move to is occupied by one of your opponent’s
pieces, then you are attacking your opponent’s piece. If it is your turn, you
can simply take the opponent’s piece, capture it and remove it from the board,
and put your own piece on that square.
For example in Fig 10 the white rook on c3 attacks the black knight on c7. If
it is white’s turn to move, the rook can capture the knight. 
If it is black’s turn to move first, then black can defend against the attack
by moving his knight away from the attack to another square. Often there are
other ways to defend a piece that is under attack, for example by capturing
the piece that attacks you, or by making sure you can re-capture the piece
that attacks you after it has taken your piece. You will learn about these
possibilities by playing and through trial and error.
Please note that the rook on c3 cannot move to the square c8 behind the
knight, because rooks cannot jump over other pieces. For the same reason the
white rook cannot move to g3 and h3. And neither is it allowed to capture the
white knight on f3, as it is the same colour.
Object of the game
The goal of the game is to attack your opponent’s king and make sure it has no
way to escape.
When you attack your opponent’s king, this is called check. When you attack
your opponent’s king, and your opponent has no way to defend against the
attack, it is called checkmate, and the game is already won. The game is
finished when the king is in check and nothing can be done to get out of the
check.
Checking the king
In the situation of Fig 11 the black king on g8 attacks the white knight on
f7. If the black king moves to the corner square h8 it would put itself under
attack by the white knight.
It is not allowed to move your king in check. Black can capture the knight on
f7 or black can move the king to f8, g8 or h7. But black cannot move the king
to h8 because on h8 it would be in check. If a player places his king in
check, the king should not be captured by the opponent but instead the move
must be taken back.
If in Fig 11 it is white’s turn to move, then white could give a check with
the knight by moving it to h6, placing the black king under attack.
Checkmate
Only when the attack on one’s king is impossible to defend, one is lost. So
the goal is not to capture the king, but to attack it without the possibility
to escape: checkmate! Very often the queen as the most powerful piece,
delivers the mate by a check to the opponent’s king.
A common way to checkmate the opposing king is to put the queen right next to
it. The queen does need help from other pieces. In Fig 12 the white queen can
move to g4 putting the black king in check. The black king cannot capture the
queen, as the white king supports the queen and would recapture on g4. The
black king has no moves to get out of the check and it is checkmate! The game
is over and no further moves are played.
It is also possible in Fig 12 for the white queen to check the black king on
h6. There the queen cannot be taken by black. There are no black pieces to
interpose on h5 between the white queen and the black king. The black king
has no squares to escape to, as g5, h5 nd h3 are covered by the white queen
and g4 and g3 are covered by the white king. Again, there are no squares for
the black king to escape to and there is no way to stop the king from being
under attack: it is checkmate!
In the position of Fig 13 white can attack the black king by playing the rook
to c8. Black cannot take the rook, nothing can be interposed (black cannot put
any piece between his king and the attacking rook).
The black pawns prevent the king from moving to the seventh rank: it’s a
checkmate on the back-rank!
Advanced example of Check and a Mating Attack
In Fig 14 the white king is checked by the black bishop and could move to g1
to escape the check. But then black checks again by moving the rook to a1.
White can interpose rook and bishop to postpone the mate, but both will be
captured and eventually black wins.
To get out of the check it is better for white to capture the bishop on b7. In
addition to preventing checkmate, taking the bishop on b7 has the additional
advantage that it wins material ánd that the rook now defends the knight on
f7.
This knight on f7 can now no longer be taken by the black king as the rook
covers the knight and the black king would move itself into check if it took
the knight.
Special Rules
Stalemate
When it is a player’s turn to move but the player cannot make any legal moves
and there is no check on the king, then the game ends in a draw.
In Fig 15 the white pawn cannot move, because it is blocked by the black king.
The white king cannot play, because he would move into a check by the black
queen.
The king is not in check at the moment, so this position with white unable to
make any legal move finishes in a draw by stalemate.
So it is a tie even though black is eight points ahead and would win if it was
black’s move for example with the move Kb5-c4 (but not with Kb5xb4). Stalemate
often happens accidently with unexperienced players.
Castling
Castling is the only move in chess where two of your pieces are moved in one
turn. When you castle, you move your king and you move one of your rooks at
the same time! This helps you to put your king in a safer spot and to develop
your rook. Castling is done by moving the king two squares sideways left or
right, and putting the rook from that side right next to the king on the
other side. Castling is only allowed if:
- All squares between the king and rook are empty and not occupied by any pieces.
- Both the king and rook have not yet moved at all during the game.
- The king is not under attack (not in check) at the moment.
- The king would not be under attack (not in check) on the empty square where it passes during castling.
- It is not allowed to castle if your king will be in check after you made the castling move.
Promotion
When a pawn reaches the back-rank, the other side of the board, it will
immediately turn into another piece. It will be promoted on that square to a
queen, a rook, a bishop or a knight.
Normally players select to have another queen because it is the strongest
piece, but it is allowed to select any piece you wish.
Move repetition
If the exact same position is repeated several times, then the game can end in
a draw. A player may claim a draw, if he will make a move that will result in
the exact same position (including possibilities as castling rights) for the
third time. A game is considered a formal draw if a position arises for the
fifth time. DGT Centaur will then declare a draw.
Fifty-move rule
If during fifty moves no pieces are captured and no pawns are moved, a player
can claim a draw. A game is formally drawn after seventy-five moves without
captures or pawn moves when Centaur will declare a draw. This is a very
exceptional way to draw a game of chess.
Insufficient material
When there are not enough pieces on the board to ever deliver a checkmate,
then the game ends in a draw. For example if white has the king and a single
bishop and black only has the king, then it is not possible to ever give a
checkmate and the game is drawn.
En passant
When a pawn moves two squares ahead from its starting position, then it can be
captured by a pawn next to it, as if it would have moved one square ahead.
This ‘en passant’ capturing can only be done on the very next turn, just
after the double pawn move. It’s a rare move in practice, but it happens.
FIDE
The official rules of the game are written by the World Chess Federation FIDE
in the FIDE Laws of Chess and can be found at their official website:
FIDE.com
Enschede, The Netherlands
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