Interactive lesson
How the pieces move
Pick a piece below and its moves light up as dots. Then drag it to a new square to see how its reach changes from there. The knight is the one most beginners find tricky — spend a moment with it.
The rook moves in straight lines — any number of squares up, down, or across.Drag the rook to a new square to see where it can go from there.
A piece captures by moving onto an enemy piece’s square (pawns are the exception — they capture diagonally, shown as the ringed squares). No piece except the knight can jump over others.
Next: the special moves →