How To Play Chess: Learn All The Rules Of The Royal Game

Learn how to play chess, one of the most popular games on the planet! In this video, IM Danny Rensch will teach you all the rules of the game.

Chess does not need to be complicated. This video will show you all the rules you need to learn to start playing chess. From setting up the board to how each piece moves, Danny will give you hints to remember every rule. Here’s a summary of what you’ll learn in this video:

The pieces

Rooks: rooks move up and down, left and right, for as many squares as they want;
Bishop: bishops move diagonally as many squares as they want;
Queen: queens move to all directions, as many squares as they want;
Knight: knights move like a capital L and jump over other pieces;
Pawn: pawns move up the board one square (or two on their first move) and capture diagonally one square. Pawns also have a special capture called “en passant.”
King: kings move one square in every direction and can’t move into check.

Checks and Checkmate. Draws

When a king is under attack, the king is in check. If the player under attack can’t move their king out of the way, block the attack, or capture the attacking piece, the king is in checkmate, and they lose the game. The game ends in a draw if a king is not under attack and can’t move anywhere (because it would move into check), and there are no other legal moves to make.

Castling

There’s another special rule in chess called “castling.” That rule allows players to move their king and one of the rooks at the same time. The king goes two squares to the side of the rook, and the rook jumps over the king and lands next to it. However, players can only castle under certain conditions.

Setting Up The Board

Finally, Danny will teach you how to set up the board, so you can start playing chess over the board!

Do you want to play chess online with your friends or other people from all over the world? Or maybe you would like to improve, so you can be the best among your friends? Then create your free account on the number one chess site in the world, Chess.com!

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:39 The rook
01:05 The bishop
01:44 The queen
02:23 The knight
03:44 The pawn
04:56 Pawn captures
05:30 Pawn promotion
06:25 En passant rule
08:34 The king
09:39 Check
10:30 Getting out of check
11:50 Checkmate
13:27 Stalemate
14:31 Castling
15:54 Two final notes about castling
16:59 Setting up the board

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134 Comments

  1. It may be redundant to state… But one rule you forgot to mention is that the starting player plays white first.

  2. It’s so nice to be able to refresh our brains on the basics of playing chess every so often

  3. If rook is the proper word, why isn't It called rookling?

  4. cant the black or the white do the vice versa when castling, as in short end castling for the black and the long end for the white?

  5. If your confused about En passant, this is my conclusion:

    En passant can be done when your opponent’s pawn passed beside your pawn on their pawn’s first move. by then, you can capture their pawn while moving forward.

  6. when he said "any time" at 4: 42 it means we can choose to not play two squares the first time but leave it an other time

  7. Great instruction! I am looking forward to getting started! Now let's hope I remember everything!

  8. if you still don't get en passant, here's how you can understand it with gamer terms:
    when a pawn moves 2 spaces forward, it leaves an extra hitbox behind it that can only be attacked by enemy pawns and lasts for 1 turn

  9. En passant is optional. Pawn promotion is required

  10. I always thought the whole point of castling is to get out of check?

  11. I just wanna know how to play chess on cool math games

  12. Can the king take any piece that's always within its movement range? Whatever the circumstance

  13. This is the best guide for beginners I found so far

  14. Yeah because
    he’s not a real chess player

  15. insane tutorial man really easy to understand

  16. Love this . I cannot wait to start playing and learning more 🙂

  17. Oh now I unterstood stalemate, if the king is not under attack or checked and the player doesnt have any move left then it will be stalemate

  18. This was the only video that i find easy to understand.

  19. Can anyone tell the actual name of the pawns when they were invented. These knights rook are all western names try finding them out.

  20. what if i move my queen to checkmate the opponent but then my king is under check
    is it leagal?

  21. Thank you very much for the explanation.
    Last time I played chess was in a primary school 1986!
    Now In 2023- I m tempted to order a chess board:)

  22. Thank you for explaining on how to set up a chess board whenever i play on a chessboard we play a game of rock paper scissors to see who moves first.

  23. you explain better than all other videos i watch on yt

  24. I am sending it to my friends so we can play together in the school, Although we are all beginners it is better than being bored in the last class 😃

  25. An excellent video for demonstrating the game! 40 years ago, my dad brought chart paper home from work to draw out all this information; he worked so hard to try to help me master the game. I'm still a beginner, but this video has helped refresh my understanding of en passant and castling. Thank you!

  26. The beauty of chess,i played 6 games and won 4,drew 1 and lost 1 in school,i placed second in an interschool competition

  27. So let's se if i understand. So you can take the precise only if there on the square your about to do the next move?

  28. In the beginning can I move 2 ponds in a same time ?

  29. It is good to know the knight can jump pieces, but it can also move one up and two over as well as capital L as you say. One up two over, or two up ond one over.

  30. Can the kings both white and black castle both ways or only to the right?

  31. thank you so much I didn't know about en passant

  32. Six hundred years after dinosaurs d*** that's a long time ago i've got to be like four billion years ago

  33. almost three decades of playing experience and yet the most effective explanation to have. Two thumbs up!

  34. Hey, I already knew the rules of chess, but I just wanted to leave positive feedback. This is one of the best tutorials I've seen for the rules of any game, ever. The way you speak is clear and concise. The pacing is absolutely perfect. The idea to progress with ascending levels of complexity was also genius. The hand movements to demonstrate possible moves as well as the visual overlay with those arrows was a perfect touch that aids in cementing your understanding. Really, I am just chuffed because of how impressive the quality of this video is. I've honestly never used the youtube comment section to leave positive feedback before and I wish I could pay you to explain the rules of any board game I may want to learn. Great job!

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