Q&A for How to Set up a Chessboard

White always goes first, but the player black has the advantage of choosing which side of the table to sit on and on which side should the clock be. I good way to decide who plays white and who plays black is to have one person takes one pawn of each color, put them behind his back, mixes them, and the other player chooses a hand. The color that player picked is the color he gets to play with. After the first game, the player who lost plays white.

Castling is a defensive tactic involving moving your king and one of your rooks at the same time. If castling to the king's side, the king moves two squares to his right, and the rook moves two squares left to stand to the left of and next to the king. If castling to the queen's side, the king moves two squares to the left, and the rook moves three squares to the the right to stand to the right of and next to the king. Castling can be done only when there are no pieces between the king and the rook you will move. The king and rook cannot have moved previously. You cannot castle if your king is in check or if doing so would move your king through or to a square where he would be in check.

No. Only the king and rooks can castle.

This is known as a "promoted pawn." A pawn that reaches the eighth (or back) row can immediately become any other piece (except a king). This includes uncaptured pieces. This means that after promotion a player could have two queens or three rooks, bishops or knights. Typically a player would promote his/her pawn to a queen but can choose another piece instead (if doing so would be advantageous in a particular situation).

She is placed on the square where your promoted pawn was when it was promoted.

No, you cannot castle if your king is in check. You can castle only under these circumstances: (1) Your king is not in check; (2) You have not previously moved either your king or the rook you want to castle with; (3) There are no pieces standing between your king and that rook; and (4) Your king will not move through or to a square in which the king would be in check. Also, as a matter of chess etiquette, if your opponent is inexperienced, you should make him/her aware of the possibility of castling before the game begins.

Yes. Every chess piece can move backward except the pawns.

Yes. You can have two queens -- the one you started with, and the promoted pawn. In fact, you could wind up with more than two queens if you promote more than one pawn.

The queen can move one or more spaces in a straight line in any direction. This makes her a payer's most powerful attacking piece. She must stop before reaching a space occupied by a piece of her color. She may not move beyond a space in which she captures a piece of the opposite color. (She, of course, must stop at any edge of the board.)

No. A knight may jump over other pieces of either color. The knight may not finish its move by landing on a square already occupied by a piece of the knight's color. It may, however, land on a square occupied by a piece of the opposite color (in which case the knight captures that piece).

To eliminate a check, you can move your king out of check, capture the attacking piece, or block the attacking piece with one of your own pieces. (If the attacking piece is a knight, since you can't block a knight, you'd have to move or capture.)

Yes, but only on its first move, in which it may move either one or two spaces forward.

One king can never be adjacent to the other king. Moving one's king to a square adjacent to the opponent's king would mean moving one's king into check, which not a legal move.

No. If you're in a position in which you could capture a piece, you may decline to do so.

White is on A1. The queen goes on her own color.

As soon as a player makes a move, he/she restarts the clock for the opponent.

At the start of a game, white queen will be on a white square and black queen on a black square. All pawns can be promoted as queens if they reach the eighth (back) rank.

No. The black king must be on the white square, and the white king must be on the black square.

The queen starts on her own color, white on white, black on black.

No, only one piece can be on a square at any given time.

A pawn is promoted when it reaches the last rank in its file. It immediately becomes any other piece of the player's choice (except a king).

Yes. In fact you can have 9 queens in total, 8 promoted from pawns and the original one.

A knight moves three spaces, one in one direction and two in a perpendicular direction (an "L" shape).

If you can move one of your pawns to your eighth rank (the row closest to your opponent), you can immediately convert ("promote") the pawn to a queen or any other piece of your choice (except a king). See Part 3 Step 2 of Play Chess .

To promote a pawn, you have to get it to the opponents' side of the board without being captured. You then can choose any piece (other than a pawn) and turn the pawn into that.

Yes, if you still meet the “requirements” and rules for castling. Check out our article on Castle in Chess for the rules for castling.

Actually, after your pawn is promoted, it is replaced with the piece. For example, if your pawn is now a Queen, you replace it with a Queen. If it is your second Queen, however, you can replace it with an upside-down rook.