A common point of confusion when setting up a chess board is the position of the kings and queens.
First, orient the board properly, which means there’s a light square on the bottom right of each side (light on right). The king and queen occupy the two central squares in your back row. Here’s what proper chess piece placement looks like:
The King and Queen Positions
The easy way to remember which central squares get the king and queen is queen on color. This means the light queen goes on the light square and the dark queen goes on the dark square. The king goes on the other central square.
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.
When you’re playing the black pieces, it can be tempting to reverse the positions of the king and queen so that it feels the same as when you’re playing white.
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.
I hope this has explained the proper chess board set up position for the king and queen.