How to Set Up a Chess Board

The short answer

Turn the board so each player has a light square in the right-hand corner. Put the rooks in the corners, the knights beside them and the bishops beside the knights. The queen goes on the centre square of her own colour (white queen on light d1, black queen on dark d8) and the king takes the last square next to her. Eight pawns go on the row in front. White moves first.

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

Step by step

1. 1

   Turn the board so the light square is on your right

   Each player should have a light square in the corner nearest their right hand. Remember it as "light on the right". For White that corner is h1; the dark corner on White's left is a1.

2. 2

   Put the rooks in the corners

   White's rooks go on a1 and h1. Black's rooks go on a8 and h8.

3. 3

   Put the knights next to the rooks

   White's knights go on b1 and g1. Black's knights go on b8 and g8.

4. 4

   Put the bishops next to the knights

   White's bishops go on c1 and f1, Black's on c8 and f8. Each player gets one bishop on a light square and one on a dark square.

5. 5

   Put the queen on her own colour

   The two centre squares of the back row are left. The queen takes the one that matches her colour: the white queen on d1, a light square, and the black queen on d8, a dark square.

6. 6

   Put the king on the last square

   The kings go on e1 and e8, next to their queens. The two kings face each other along the e-file and the two queens along the d-file.

7. 7

   Fill the second row with pawns

   White's eight pawns go on a2 to h2, Black's on a7 to h7, one in front of every piece.

8. 8

   White moves first

   The player with the white pieces always makes the first move. After that, players take turns, one move each.

The back row, piece by piece

Most mix-ups happen on the back row. Set the pieces from the outside in and the order takes care of itself.

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

Starting squares in notation

Every square has a name: a letter for the column (the file, a to h from White's left) and a number for the row (the rank, 1 to 8 from White's side). Learning the starting squares is the quickest way into chess notation.

Each side has 16 pieces: 8 pawns, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 1 queen and 1 king. Computers write the whole starting position as one FEN string, rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1. Paste any FEN into the chess calculator and it sets that position up for you.

Common setup mistakes

Three memory aids

• "Light on the right." The corner square nearest your right hand is light.
• "Queen on her colour." White queen on a light square, black queen on a dark square.
• R N B Q K B N R. The back row from White's left: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. The FEN string above spells White's back row exactly this way, RNBQKBNR.

After the setup

With the pieces in place, learn how each chess piece moves, then the special moves: castling, en passant and pawn promotion. Your first moves should usually push a centre pawn (e4 or d4) and bring out the knights and bishops. The chess openings guide shows how strong players start.

One variant changes the setup on purpose. In Chess960 (Fischer Random) the back row is shuffled into one of 960 starting positions, with the bishops always on opposite colours and the king between the rooks. The pawns stay where they are, and Black mirrors White.