The Board

The chessboard is an 8×8 grid of 64 alternating light and dark squares. Every game of chess, from beginner to world championship, is played on this same board.

The board is set up so that each player has a light square on their right-hand corner. Remember: "light on right."

Every square on the board has a unique coordinate called algebraic notation. Files (columns) are labeled a–h from left to right, and ranks (rows) are labeled 1–8 from bottom to top.

So the bottom-left square from White's perspective is a1, and the top-right is h8. Learning to read coordinates is the first step to understanding chess moves.

White always moves first. Both sides start with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns.

White's pieces start on ranks 1 and 2; Black's pieces mirror them on ranks 7 and 8. The queen always starts on her own color — white queen on d1, black queen on d8.

The four central squares — d4, d5, e4, e5 — are the most important squares on the board. Pieces placed in the center control more of the board and are harder to attack.

One of the most fundamental goals in chess is to occupy or influence the center early in the game. This is why the most common opening moves are 1.e4 or 1.d4.