How Each Piece Can Move & Capture Other Pieces

Before you can play a game of chess, you need to know how to move the pieces (legally) and how they can capture other pieces. A chess piece’s power is tied to its mobility. The more mobile a piece is, the more powerful it is. Here's how the various pieces can move and capture other pieces.

• Pawns: A pawn may move one square directly forward, but it may move two squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward.  They can only move diagonally when capturing an enemy piece.  In a rare circumstance, when the other opponent pawn moves two spaces as its first move and lands adjacent to one of your pawns you can capture that pawn by moving to the space that it skipped.  This capture is called en passant and click here to see an illustration. Most importantly, if the pawn moves all the way to the other side of the board, you can choose to make it any other piece and most of the time you would choose to make it a queen!  So, then, if the other queen is still on the board, you would have two queens!  Some sets have extra reserve queens, or can use a previously captured upside down castle, or designate anything else on hand such as a penny or eraser. 

• Bishops: Bishops can move any number of squares diagonally and capture pieces in their way!

• Knights: Knights can move only in an L-shape, one square up and two over, or two squares over and one down, or any such combination of one-two or two-one movements in any direction.  So they can capture any piece that is on those spaces to which it can move.

• Rooks: Rooks can move any number of squares, up and down and side to side.  They can capture any piece that is in its way.

• Queens: Queens can move any number of squares in any direction (sideways, forward, backward and diagonals).  She can capture any piece that is in her their way.

• Kings: Kings can move one square at a time in any direction.  They can capture any piece that is on one of those squares where it is seated but they can't capture the other King.  There is a special way to move the King and the Rook at the same time and it is called castling - click here for when and how you do this.

• click on the link below for a short video of how to caslt

youtu.be/SXSyvaI0AP4?si=VJqUiy_KfN0gEiIG