How do you set up a chess board, step by step?
Setting the board up takes seven steps, and only two of them go wrong. Get those two right and the rest is easy.
1. Turn the board so that the corner square nearest your right hand is a light square.
2. Put the eight pawns along the second row in front of you.
3. Put a rook in each corner of your back row.
4. Put a knight next to each rook.
5. Put a bishop next to each knight.
6. Put the queen on the square that matches her own colour. The white queen goes on the light square, the black queen on the dark one.
7. Put the king on the last free square, next to the queen.
Both players do the same thing. When you are finished, the white king and the black king face each other, and the white queen faces the black queen.
Which way round does the chess board go?
The rule is often said as white on the right. The corner square closest to your right hand must be a light square.
FIDE is the world chess federation, and its Laws of Chess say the same thing in article 2.1. The board is placed so the near corner square to the right of the player is white.
If you turn the board a quarter turn, the light square moves to your left. Then the rooks in the corners sit on the wrong colours, and every square name is wrong too.
Where does the queen go on a chess board?
The queen goes on the square of her own colour. That is the simplest check there is.
- The white queen goes on d1, which is a light square.
- The black queen goes on d8, which is a dark square.
- The king takes the square next to her, on e1 and e8.
This is a teaching phrase rather than a sentence FIDE writes down. FIDE's article 2.2 only lists the pieces, and the placing is shown in a picture. The picture always shows the queen on her own colour.
An easy way to remember it is to say it out loud as you place her. White queen on a white square. Black queen on a black square.
What is the most common chess setup mistake?
The most common mistake is swapping the king and the queen. It looks almost right, so nobody notices until much later.
Two things break at once.
- Castling stops working. Castling moves the king from e1 or e8, and on a swapped board the king never stood there.
- Every opening you have read about points at the wrong pieces, because d1 and e1 have changed places.
Check the queen's colour before the first move. It takes two seconds.
How do you check the board in five seconds?
Use these three checks in order. If all three pass, your board is right.
1. Light square on the right. Look at the corner by your right hand.
2. Queen on her own colour. White queen on light, black queen on dark.
3. Bishops on different colours. Each player's two bishops must start on one light square and one dark square.
The third check is useful because it also catches a bishop and a knight that have been swapped by mistake.
What about the clock and the captured pieces?
In a game with a chess clock, the clock sits beside the board. The player with the black pieces normally chooses which side it goes on.
Pieces you capture come off the board and sit next to it. They never come back. The only piece that arrives during a game is a promoted pawn, which becomes a new queen, rook, bishop or knight.
If you promote a pawn and your queen is still on the board, you may need a second queen. Turning a captured rook upside down is a common home fix, but in a real tournament you ask for a proper spare queen.