HOW TO THE PIECES MOVE
Knight | Rook | Bishop | Queen | King
White RookWhite KnightWhite BishopWhite QueenWhite KingWhite Pawn Black RookBlack KnightBlack BishopBlack QueenBlack KingBlack Pawn

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How Pawns Move

At the beginning of the game, white's pawns are lined up on the second rank, and black's are on the seventh:

From this position, you can chose to move any pawn one or two squares forward.

After they leave their initial position, pawns are restricted to moving directly forward one square at a time. If the square immediately in front of a pawn is occupied by another piece, then the pawn cannot move:

The white pawn on far right can move forward to the dark square directly ahead of it. The two on the left can't, because they are blocked by an enemy knight and pawn.

Pawns are the only pieces that move differently than normal when they capture. Pawns capture by moving one square diagonally forward, and not by moving straight ahead:

The pawns can capture on "X" but not straight ahead.

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How the Knight Moves

The knights are easily recognizable as the pieces that look like horses. At the beginning of the game, they are to be found one square in from the corners:

While the other pieces slide from one spot to another in straight lines, knights are the only ones that jump from one spot to another. And when they jump, they don't follow a straight line or a diagonal.

It's easiest to use a picture to show how the knight moves. The knights in the image below can hop to any one of the squares with a "dot" on it:

To try to put it in words, knights can move two squares forward or back, and then one square to the left or right, or, two squares left or right, and then one square forward or back. I know it sounds confusing, but try it this way: move the Knight one square forward and then one square diagonal either left or right.

Also, notice that knights NEVER fall on the same color squares: it's either dark or light.

Because knights hop, they are the only pieces that aren't stopped by other pieces in their path. However, they can't land on a square that's occupied by another, same-colored piece.  The black knight on the above image can hop over his friendly pieces.

So, in the picture above, the knight can leap over the wall of pieces to get to the square with the black "dots."

Knights capture by landing on squares that have enemy pieces on them.

Here (on the left board), the white knight can capture the black queen. After the white knight moves and captures (right board),  it sits on the square where the black queen was, and the queen is taken off the board.  The black "dot" represents where the knight was.

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How the Rook Moves

Rooks are the pieces that look like the turrets of a castle. At the beginning of the game, they are to be found here:

Rooks can move an unlimited number of squares to the right, to the left, straight forward, or straight backward:  

The rook cannot jump over its fellow pieces.

Like the other pieces, when a rook captures an opponent's piece, the enemy unit is removed and the rook stops on the square the captured piece occupied.

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How the Bishop Moves

At the beginning of the game, the bishops are to be found here:

Bishops can move an unlimited number of squares diagonally. This means that a bishop that begins on a dark square will never sit upon a light square.  Similarly, a bishop that starts the game on a light square will only ever be able to operate on the dark squares:

A bishop cannot jump over its fellow pieces.

Like the other pieces, when a bishop captures an opponent's piece, the enemy unit is removed and the bishop stops on the square the captured piece occupied.

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How the Queen Moves

The queens are the large pieces topped with crowns or coronets. At the beginning of the game, the queens are to be found here:

Queens move with the combined power of bishops and rooks. They can move an unlimited number of squares diagonally, plus they can move an unlimited number of squares forward, backward, left or right. This makes the queen the most mobile piece of all:

For all its power, a queen cannot jump over its fellow pieces.

Like the other pieces, when a queen captures an opponent's piece, the enemy unit is removed and the queen stops on the square the captured piece occupied. 

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HOW THE KINGS MOVES

The kings are the large pieces topped with crosses. At the beginning of the game, the kings are here:

Kings can move one square at a time in any direction:

 

Kings can also carry out a special maneuver called castling, which we deal with separately on the next section.

Kings can't move when they are blocked by their own pieces. In fact kings spend most of their time hemmed in with little mobility.

Note that the two kings are not allowed to sit on adjacent squares. Kings simply don’t meet. Else they'll be "checking" each other.  Hence, neither king can move to the squares marked with black "dots":

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