Chess is a two-player strategy game that is played on a square board divided into 64 squares of alternating colors. Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The goal of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, which means to place the king in a position where it is under attack and cannot escape capture.

The chess board is set up with the rooks in the corners, the knights next to them, the bishops next to them, the queen on her own color (white queen on a white square, black queen on a black square), and the king on the remaining square of the queen's color. Pawns are placed in front of the other pieces.

Each piece has its own unique way of moving: the king can move one square in any direction; the queen can move any number of squares in any direction along a rank, file, or diagonal; the rook can move any number of squares along a rank or file; the bishop can move any number of squares diagonally; the knight moves to any of the squares immediately adjacent to it, then makes a 90-degree turn and moves to an adjacent square on that line, basically moving in L shape; pawns can move forward one square, but capture diagonally.