How the board is built
A chessboard is a square of 64 squares, 8 by 8. The squares alternate between light and dark, 32 of each colour. They are called white and black squares even if the board is brown or blue.
- Ranks are the rows of squares running from left to right. There are eight of them, numbered 1 to 8, starting from White's side.
- Files are the columns running from bottom to top. They are labelled with the letters a to h from left to right (as seen from White's side).
- Diagonals are lines of squares of the same colour running at a slant. The longest ones are a1–h8 and h1–a8, with 8 squares each.
How to place the board
The main rule: each player must have a white square in the right-hand corner (h1 for White and a8 for Black). If the board is turned the wrong way, the pieces end up on the wrong squares and the game is not played by the rules.
Square coordinates
Every square has a name: the letter of its file and the number of its rank. For example, e4 is where the e-file meets the fourth rank, a1 is the bottom left corner and h8 the top right one.
Coordinates are needed to record games and to read chess literature. How to write down moves is explained in the article “Chess notation”.
Centre and wings
- The centre is the four squares in the middle of the board: d4, e4, d5, e5. Pieces in the centre control more squares, which is why the fight for the centre is the main theme of the opening.
- The kingside is the e–h files, where the king stands at the start of the game.
- The queenside is the a–d files, where the queen stands.
Exercise
Ask someone to call out squares while you point to them on the board. Then swap roles. Within a few days you will find any square in a second — and be able to replay games on the analysis board from their score.