How to Set Up a Chess Board

TL;DR

Board orientation: “Light on Right”: the bottom-right square must be light-colored.
Pawns: Fill your entire second row.
Back row: Rooks in the corners, then Knights, then Bishops.
Royalty: “Queen on Color”: she always starts on the square matching her color.
King: Takes the final remaining square next to the Queen.

A fully set up Chess board showing the starting position of a regular game of Chess.

Starting from scratch

If you’ve never held a Chess piece before, start here. We’ll look at the board from White’s perspective, but the placement is identical for Black on the other side.

Meet the pieces

A standard Chess set has 32 pieces: 16 for the White (Light) side and 16 for the Black (Dark) side. Here’s how to tell them apart:

The King: The tallest piece, usually topped with a cross. He is the most important piece but has limited movement.
The Queen: The second tallest, featuring a coronet or pointed crown. She is your most powerful piece.
The Bishop: Medium height with a slit in the top (representing a liturgical headdress or mitre).
The Knight: Easily identified as a horse’s head.
The Rook: Shaped like a castle tower or turret.
The Pawn: The shortest and most numerous pieces. You have 8 of these to act as your front-line infantry.

Step 1: Orient the board

The board must be positioned so both players have a light-colored square in their bottom-right corner. Remember it with the rhyme: “Light on Right.” If your board has coordinates printed on the side, White sets up on the side numbered 1 and 2, Black on 7 and 8.

An empty Chess board from the perspective of the White player. The ranks and files are labelled 1–8 and a–h respectively, starting from the bottom left square.

Step 2: Place the Pawns

The pawns are your front line of defense. Take all eight of your pawns and place them in a straight horizontal line across the second row (the second “rank”) from your side. This creates a wall that protects the pieces behind it.

The Chess board is filled with pawns in their starting configuration. The White pawns are placed across the second rank, and the seventh rank has the Black pawns placed on it.

Step 3: Place the Rooks, Knights, and Bishops

Now we fill the back row, starting from the outside and working toward the center:

Rooks: Place one in each of the two far corners.
Knights: Place these immediately next to the Rooks.
Bishops: Place these next to the Knights.

You should now have two empty squares left in the center of your back row.

The Chess board with all pieces but royalty placed on it. The rooks in the corners, followed by the knights and bishops from the outside in.

Step 4: Place the Queen and King

The final step is where most beginners make a mistake. To get it right, remember: “Queen on Color.”

The Queen: If you are playing as White, place your Queen on the light-colored center square. If you are playing as Black, place her on the dark-colored center square. She always prefers to stand on a square that matches her own color.
The King: Place the King on the final remaining square next to the Queen.

That’s it. Done! Here’s another look at the completed board:

Ready to play

White always goes first

Once both sides have followed these steps, the board is a perfect mirror image. The White and Black Queens face each other directly, as do the Kings. White moves first, always. Good luck!

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How to set up a Chess board