The chess board is made up of 64 squares (eight rows and eight columns) and the colors of the squares alternate (dark and light squares). The pieces which are comprised of a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns are in sets black and white. To start the game, white moves first. The pieces are moved one at a time to an occupied square by an opponent's piece, thereby removing it from play or to a square that is not occupied. However, two pieces are moved simultaneously when castling.

Each chess piece has its own style of moving. The pawn moves one or two steps forward to an unoccupied square but one forward diagonal step to an occupied square. The Knight moves in "L" pattern. The bishop moves diagonally. The rook moves horizontally or vertically with as many steps as possible. The queen moves in all directions covering as many squares as possible. And the king moves one step at a time in all directions.

The king is permitted to make a move called castling. The king makes two squares towards the rook of the same color and the rook moves onto the square over which the king crossed. The following are the prerequisites to castling:
- The king and the rook must be on the same color
- The king and the rook involved in the castling may not have been previously moved
- There must be no pieces between the king and the rook
- The king may not currently be in check

Pawns could be promoted to any of the following: a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color when it advances to the eighth rank. Most chess players choose to promote the pawn to a queen. Also, a pawn can capture another pawn that is on an adjacent file next to it via en passant. En passant is when a pawn moves two squares ahead and if the opponent’s pawn is on an adjacent file next to the destination of the pawn.

The king is being checked when it is exposed to an attack from one of the opponent’s piece. The best response to a check is to get rid of the piece checking the king by capturing it. Another method is to create interference by bringing in a piece to shield the king from the attack. The last method is to move the king. However, a move that would put the king in check is not allowed in the game.

To win the game, the opponent must be checkmated. Checkmate is when king is in check has there is no way to escape. There are occasions that the chess games do not end with a checkmate. Other way the game ends are: draw by agreement, stalemate, threefold repetition of a position, and the fifty-move rule.