How to Play Chess — Beginner's Guide

Chess·10/12/2026·1 min read

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The Goal

Checkmate the opponent's king — attack it so it cannot escape. If your king is attacked, that's "check" and you must get out of it.

King (Vua): moves one square in any direction. The most important piece — lose it and the game ends.
Queen (Hậu): moves any number of squares in any direction. The strongest piece.
Rook (Xe): moves in straight lines — horizontally and vertically.
Bishop (Tượng): moves diagonally.
Knight (Mã): moves in an L-shape — two squares one way, then one square sideways. The only piece that jumps over others.
Pawn (Tốt): moves forward one square (two on its first move), captures diagonally. Reaching the far rank promotes to queen, rook, bishop, or knight.

Castling (Nhập thành): king moves two squares toward a rook, and the rook jumps over. Only if neither has moved and the squares between are empty and not attacked.
En passant (Bắt tốt qua đường): if an enemy pawn moves two squares landing beside your pawn, you can capture it as if it moved one square — only on the very next move.
Promotion (Phong cấp): a pawn reaching the last rank becomes a queen (usually), rook, bishop, or knight.

Control the center with pawns and knights.

Develop knights and bishops before moving the queen.

Castle early to keep your king safe.

Don't move the same piece twice in the opening without reason.

Practice against the computer at increasing levels — start at Level 1 and work your way up!