Until you get used to seeing the chess pieces set up properly, there’s always a little bit of confusion. Let’s look at how to position the board and where to put all the pieces.
Chess Board Layout
The first thing to do is orient the board properly. The square on the right side next to each player must be light or white. Light on the right
As you can see from the above picture, the player at the bottom of the board has a light square on the right side, and the player at the top of the board also has a light square on their right side.
Chess Board Layout
Now we can start putting the pieces on the board. Here’s the breakdown for the row closest to the player:
The second row for each player is all pawns. The set up board looks like this:
Layout of the King and Queen
There’s sometimes confusion around the position of the kings and queens. I think this is because the correct position feels different from white to black.
When you’re playing the white pieces, the king is on your right side. When playing the black pieces, the king is on your left side. This feels odd if you’re not used to playing the black pieces as much. This probably accounts for the tendency to switch the positions of the black king and queen.
When the pieces are set up properly, each side is a mirror image of the other. Directly across from your king is your opponent’s king, and your queen is directly across from your opponent’s queen.
You’re all ready to start. White always moves first. Enjoy!
Chess Pieces Layout Reminders
Most set up problems can be solved by remembering these two things:
- Light on the right
- Queen on color