Did those songs that you were hearing end? Do you want to hear them again?

The Starting Position

Ok, we've finally gotten to the point where we can set up the board, so let's do it.

Although a lot of other things in chess have changed in chess like how the pieces move, or what the pieces look like and the different types of chess sets, the position of the board has stayed relatively the same in its over 1900 years of history. Here's how it works:

We're going to be setting up the white side of the board first, and then you can try to set up the other side yourself.

1. The very first thing before you do anything is to make sure that there is a light square on the right side of the board. Never, ever forget...ever. It has to be set up this way every time you play. Am I stressing this enough? Light on right. Dieters and chess players alike, light is right.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   <----- Light Square

2. Ok, now take your two white rooks and place them on each corner, like so:

3. Now place your two white knights directly beside them:

4. Now place your two white bishops beside the knights:

5. Now all that's left are the queen and the king, but which square does each of them go on? As long as you remember this simple saying: "Queen on her own colour". Pretty easy to remember, eh? The queen is privileged enough to get to stay on her own colour. That saying goes for both sides, so which square does the black queen start on? Hopefully you said d8, making use of your knowledge of notation and didn't just say, "That one".

   So our position now looks like this:

6. Ok, where do you think the king goes? Put it on that one empty square on the 1st rank. The position now looks like this:

7. Now take your eight pawns and place them on the second rank so that it looks exactly like my setup:

8. Set up black, starting on the eighth rank, exactly like white's setup, remember that the queen goes on her own colour:

You've now set up the board in the starting position. You should set the board up like this every single time you play. You this as a reference if you forget it.

Now let's move on (finally) and learn how the pieces move.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page

lucky individuals have learned how to play better chess since this page hit the web on 06/28/97.