how to play chess

Chess is a two-player game where you aim to checkmate the opponent's king by trapping it so it cannot escape capture.

Board Setup. Set up the board with a light square in the bottom-right corner. Arrange pieces with rooks in corners, knights next to them, bishops next to knights, and the queen on her own color (white queen on light, black queen on dark). The king takes the remaining square, and pawns fill the second rank.
Gameplay Basics. White always moves first. Players take turns moving one piece at a time, except for castling. You capture an opponent's piece by moving onto its square, removing it from the board. You cannot move into a position that leaves your own king in check.
Winning and Drawing. Checkmate occurs when a king is under attack and has no legal move to escape. If a player has no legal moves but is not in check, the game ends in a draw called stalemate. Other draws include agreement, threefold repetition, and insufficient material.
Special Moves. Special moves include castling (moving king and rook for safety), pawn promotion (turning a pawn into another piece at the far end), and en passant (a special pawn capture). These rules add depth to standard movement.