Chess rules, individual play rules, for watching
Start with how a match works. Then the rules you see every few minutes, then the ones that change results.
Settling an argument? Search all 23 rules
- How do you set up a chessboard?
- How does each chess piece move?
- How does a pawn move in chess?
- How does castling work in chess?
- What is en passant in chess?
- What happens when a pawn reaches the other side of the board?
- What is check in chess?
- How do you win a game of chess?
- What is stalemate in chess?
- How do you offer a draw in chess?
- What is the threefold repetition rule in chess?
- What is the fifty-move rule in chess?
- How are chess games scored?
- If you touch a piece in chess, do you have to move it?
- How does a chess clock work?
- What happens if you make an illegal move in chess?
- Do you have to write down your moves in chess?
- What happens if a chess player is late for a game?
- Can you have a phone with you during a chess game?
- What does an arbiter do in chess?
- What is the difference between rapid, blitz and classical chess?
- What is Chess960?
- How do blind people play chess in tournaments?
Where these rules come from
| Tag | Document |
|---|---|
| FIDE Laws plus article, appendix or guideline | FIDE, Laws of Chess, approved 7 August 2022 and applied from 1 January 2023. Read in full: Articles 1 to 12, Appendices A to D, Guidelines I to III and the Glossary of Terms |
| Olympiad 2026 Regulations | FIDE, Chess Olympiad 2026: Regulations for the Main Competition. Used for three comparison rows |
| FIDE General Regulations for Competitions | FIDE Handbook C.05. Used for lateness, withdrawals and appeals |
| Play-Off and Tie-Break Regulations | FIDE Handbook C.07, applied from 1 March 2026. Used for one point on forfeits |
| R | "Why the rule exists", or a point reasoned from the Laws, not stated in them |
| C | Common usage or general knowledge, not a rule |
All checked on 14 October 2026.
The diagrams were not seen. The Laws show the starting position and castling as diagrams. The saved text copy has their captions only, so the placing of the pieces in the first rule is from common knowledge and marked C.
Not covered: adjourned games (Guidelines I, almost never used now), quickplay finishes without increment (Guidelines III, touched on in one tricky case), FIDE's rating and title regulations, the Swiss pairing rules, online chess (the Laws cover over-the-board play only) and the World Championship match regulations. None but the Laws is saved.
Pronouns. The Laws say "he/she". The pages say "they", except inside quotations.
Not covered: adjourned games (Guidelines I, almost never used now), quickplay finishes without increment (Guidelines III, touched on in one tricky case), FIDE's rating and title regulations, the Swiss pairing rules, online chess (the Laws cover over-the-board play only) and the World Championship match regulations. None but the Laws is saved.