The eight horizontal rows of squares are called ‘ranks’. These pieces are as follows:Ģ.3 The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows:Ģ.4 The eight vertical columns of squares are called ‘files’. The chessboard is placed between the players in such a way that the near corner square to the right of the player is white.Ģ.2 At the beginning of the game White has 16 light-coloured pieces (the ‘white’ pieces) Black has 16 dark-coloured pieces (the ‘black’ pieces). Leaving one’s own king under attack, exposing one’s own king to attack and also ’capturing’ the opponent’s king is not allowed.ġ.4.2 The opponent whose king has been checkmated has lost the game.ġ.5 If the position is such that neither player can possibly checkmate the opponent’s king, the game is drawn (see Article 5.2.2).Īrticle 2: The Initial Position of the Pieces on the ChessboardĢ.1 The chessboard is composed of an 8 x 8 grid of 64 equal squares alternately light (the ‘white’ squares) and dark (the ‘black’ squares). Member federations may ask FIDE to give a ruling on matters relating to the Laws of Chess.Īrticle 1: The Nature and Objectives of the Game of Chessġ.1 The game of chess is played between two opponents who move their pieces on a square board called a ‘chessboard’.ġ.2 The player with the light-coloured pieces (White) makes the first move, then the players move alternately, with the player with the dark-coloured pieces (Black) making the next move.ġ.3 A player is said to ‘have the move’ when his/her opponent’s move has been ‘made’.ġ.4 The objective of each player is to place the opponent’s king ‘under attack’ in such a way that the opponent has no legal move.ġ.4.1 The player who achieves this goal is said to have ‘checkmated’ the opponent’s king and to have won the game. It is recommended that competitive games not rated by FIDE be played according to the FIDE Laws of Chess. FIDE appeals to all chess players and federations to accept this view.Ī necessary condition for a game to be rated by FIDE is that it shall be played according to the FIDE Laws of Chess. Too detailed a rule might deprive the arbiter of his/her freedom of judgement and thus prevent him/her from finding a solution to a problem dictated by fairness, logic and special factors. The Laws assume that arbiters have the necessary competence, sound judgement and absolute objectivity. Where cases are not precisely regulated by an Article of the Laws, it should be possible to reach a correct decision by studying analogous situations which are regulated in the Laws. The Laws of Chess cannot cover all possible situations that may arise during a game, nor can they regulate all administrative questions. The English text is the authentic version of the Laws of Chess (which were adopted at the 93 rd FIDE Congress at Chennai, India) coming into force on 1 January 2023.

Approved by the FIDE General Assembly on įIDE Laws of Chess cover over-the-board play.

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