Movement

White always moves first. After the initial move, the players alternately move one piece at a time (with the exception of castling, when two pieces are moved simultaneously). Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square, or one occupied by an opponent's piece, capturing it and removing it from play. With the sole exception of en passant, all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies.

Each chess piece has its own style of moving.

* The king moves one square in any direction, including diagonally. A player may not make any move which allows the king to be captured. If such a move is not possible the game ends with a checkmate. Along with the rook, the king is also involved in castling move.
* The rook can move any number of squares along any rank or file, but may not leap over other pieces. Along with the king, the rooks is also involved during the castling move.
* The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but may not leap over other pieces.
* The queen combines the power of the rook and bishop and can move any number of squares along rank, file, or diagonal, but it may not leap over other pieces.
* The knight moves to any of the closest squares which are not on the same rank, file or diagonal, thus the move forms an "L"-shape two squares long and one square wide. The knight is the only piece which can leap over other pieces.
* The pawn usually moves one step straight forward, but it may move two steps straight forward on its first move unless its path is obstructed. However, the only way a pawn may capture is by moving one square diagonally forward. The pawn has two special moves, the en passant capture, and pawn promotion.

In the diagram, the Xs mark the squares where the piece can move if no other pieces (including one's own piece) are on the Xs between the piece's initial position and its destination.