How to Set Up a Chessboard Correctly: A Beginner’s Guide

Start every game with the board, pieces and colours in the right places

Watch the board build itself, then the rules in detail below:

A correctly arranged board gives both players the same starting position and makes the first lesson in chess much easier to follow. The reliable routine is simple: orient the board, place the pawns, build each back rank, then check the queens and kings before White makes the first move.

Start with the board orientation

Place the chessboard between the two players so that the corner nearest each player on their right is a light square. Beginners often remember this as “white on the right”. The rule is not about which player owns the white pieces; it is about the colour of the corner square at each player’s right hand.

This first check matters because every other placement depends on the board facing the right way. If the board is turned a quarter-turn, the pieces may look neatly arranged but the starting position is wrong. Take a moment to rotate the board before touching any piece.

A standard chessboard has eight files, or vertical columns, and eight ranks, or horizontal rows, making 64 squares. When a board has letters and numbers printed around its edge, White’s side is normally nearest the ranks numbered 1 and 2, while Black’s side is nearest ranks 8 and 7.

Put the pawns on the second rows

With the light square on the right, place all eight white pawns on the row directly in front of White’s main pieces. Place all eight black pawns on the row directly in front of Black’s main pieces. In standard chess language, these are the second rank for White and the seventh rank for Black.

Pawns are the easiest pieces to recognise, and putting them down first clears space around the board. It also creates a useful visual test: each side should have a complete, unbroken line of eight pawns between its back rank and the opponent.

Do not place pawns on the back rank, leave gaps in the line or mix the two colours. A missing pawn can be easy to overlook when a game begins, especially if several pieces are still beside the board. Count eight on each side before arranging the larger pieces.

Pawns; they are the soul of chess: it is they alone that determine the attack and the defence, and the winning or losing of the game depends entirely on their good or bad arrangement.

François-André Danican Philidor, 18th-century chess master

Build each back rank from the corners

The two rooks go in the corners. Next to each rook sits a knight, followed by a bishop. This leaves two central squares for the queen and king. The same pattern is used on both sides of the board.

Viewed from White’s side, White’s back rank reads from left to right: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. Black’s pieces follow the same order from Black’s own viewpoint. The arrangement is symmetrical at the start, even though the two armies face in opposite directions.

A useful way to rebuild the row is to work inwards: corners first, then the horses, then the bishops. The king and queen are left until the end, when the queen-colour check makes their squares clear.

Put the queen on her own colour

The queen belongs on a square of the same colour as the pieces she leads. The white queen sits on a light square, and the black queen sits on a dark square. This is the quickest way to separate the queen’s position from the king’s when the two central pieces are easy to confuse.

Once the queens are on their matching colours, place each king on the remaining central square beside its queen. The two kings then face one another along the central file, with the queens also facing one another. There is no need to guess which royal piece goes on which side: the colour rule settles it.

The phrase “queen on her own colour” is a memory aid, not a licence to place the queen anywhere on a matching square. The board orientation and the back-rank order still apply. A white queen belongs in the central queen position on White’s back rank, while a black queen belongs in the corresponding central position on Black’s back rank.

White moves first under the standard laws of chess. Decide which player has White before play begins, then make one final check that the correct colour is in front of each player. In a casual game, the colours can be chosen by agreement or by chance, such as hiding a white pawn in one hand.

Before the first move, check the position in the same order every time. First ask “white on the right?” Then count the pawns, inspect the four corners, confirm the knight-bishop pairs, and finish with the queen-colour rule. This takes only a few seconds once it becomes a habit.

One easy mistake is rotating the board. Others include swapping the king and queen, placing bishops next to the rooks, putting a pawn on the wrong row, or setting up only one side correctly.

Correct setup is especially helpful when learning from a book, coach or online lesson. Everyone can refer to the same squares and the same starting position, so a beginner can concentrate on how pieces move instead of repairing the board. It also makes it easier to record a game using files and ranks when that becomes the next skill to learn.

Frequently asked questions

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