How to Set Up a Chess Board: The Complete Guide

Setting up the chess board: the first step

Before placing a single piece, you need to orient the chess board correctly. This is a very common mistake among beginners.

The chess board has 64 squares arranged in 8 columns (from a to h) and 8 rows (from 1 to 8). White occupies rows 1 and 2, Black occupies rows 7 and 8. All the major pieces go on the first row, with the pawns on the second.

How to place the pawns in chess

Pawns are the most numerous pieces: each player has 8 of them. They’re also the smallest pieces in the set. They form the first line of defence in front of your major pieces.

This is the first thing to do: placing the pawns first clears the view and makes it easier to position the other pieces behind them.

How to place the rooks in chess

Each player has 2 rooks. These are usually the tallest pieces after the king, shaped like a castle turret.

Rooks are powerful pieces that move in a straight line — horizontally and vertically — across as many squares as they wish. Their position in the corners will matter later for castling.

How to place the knights in chess

Knights are the pieces shaped like a horse’s head. Each player has 2. They’re the only pieces able to jump over others.

Knights move in an “L” shape: two squares in one direction, then one square perpendicular to it (or vice versa). It’s the only piece that can jump over the pawns on the first move.

How to place the bishops in chess

Bishops are the pieces with a pointed top (or rounded, depending on the style). Each player has 2: one that stays on the light squares throughout the game, and the other on the dark squares.

Bishops move only diagonally, across as many squares as they wish. They never change the colour of square they’re on throughout the game.

How to place the queen in chess

The queen is the most powerful piece in the game. Each player has only one. It’s often the tallest piece after the king, topped with a crown.

The queen combines the moves of the rook and the bishop: she can move in any direction (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) across as many squares as she wishes.

How to place the king in chess

The king is the most important piece in the game — if your king is checkmated, the game is over. Each player has only one. It’s recognisable by the cross on top (unlike the queen’s crown).

The king moves one square at a time in any direction. Despite his limited mobility, the whole game revolves around protecting him. He’s the only piece that can never be captured — when he’s trapped (checkmate), the game ends.

Summary: position of all the pieces

Here’s a summary table showing where each piece goes for both players:

The FEN notation for the starting position, explained simply

The starting position is written in FEN (Forsyth-Edwards Notation): rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1. This short string of characters describes the location of every piece and allows an electronic chess board or a training app to reconstruct the position instantly.

• The letters: each piece has an initial (r = rook, n = knight, b = bishop, q = queen, k = king, p = pawn).
• Upper or lower case: White’s pieces are written in capitals, Black’s in lower case.
• The forward slash “/”: it separates each row, from the 8th (Black’s pieces) to the 1st (White’s pieces).
• The number 8: it indicates eight empty squares in a row, as on rows 3 to 6, which are entirely free at the start.
• “w KQkq – 0 1”: “w” indicates that White plays the first move, “KQkq” that both kingside and queenside castling remain available for both sides, and the final figures count the moves played.

This reading is especially useful with an electronic chess board or a game app: it lets you check at a glance that the position shown does correspond to the official start of the game.

Check your set-up

Before you start playing, get into the habit of checking these points:

• Both sides must be a mirror image of each other — each white piece faces its black equivalent.
• The white queen faces the black queen, and likewise for the kings.
• If your queen and king are swapped, the whole symmetry is thrown off. Check the “queen on her colour” rule.
• White always plays first. Once you’ve checked the set-up, the player with the white pieces opens the game.

The most common set-up mistakes

Swapping the king and queen

This is beginners’ mistake number one. The king and queen go in the centre of the first row, on the d and e files. If you swap them, your whole set-up is wrong. Remember: the queen always goes on the square of her own colour.

Orienting the board incorrectly

If the square in the bottom right corner is black, your board is turned 90° the wrong way. All your pieces will technically be misplaced. Check before you start: bottom-right corner = white square.

Confusing the knight and the bishop

The knight (horse’s head) goes next to the rook, the bishop next to the knight towards the centre. The order from the corner is always: Rook — Knight — Bishop — Queen/King.

Ready to play? Choose your chess board

Now that you know how to place the pieces, all you need is a beautiful chess board to put it into practice! Discover our selection:

• ♔ Complete chess setsMatching pieces and board, ready to play
• ♖ Chess boardsSolid wood, marble, leather
• ♕ Chess setsFrom the classic Staunton to original designs
• ♘ Folding chess setsPractical for beginners and travel

For more, take a look at our complete guide to the rules of chess, covering how each piece moves, special moves, and the most frequently asked questions.