Today we’re going to learn how to set up a chess board and it is easy – if done right. If you set it up incorrectly it can completely change how certain openings work and you might look a bit silly!
Placing the Board Correctly
The first step is making sure the bottom right square is white. I normally try to recite this little rhyme “If I don’t remember quite, put the bottom right on white”.
The Pieces and Their Names
It would be helpful to know what we’re working with before we start:
Each colour has the following and this is the order you should set up the pieces:
| Piece | Count |
| Pawn | 8 |
| Rook | 2 |
| Knight | 2 |
| Bishop | 2 |
| Queen | 1 |
| King | 1 |
| Total | 16 |
And this is what they look like:
Set up the Pawns
Pawns are easy to remember because they can be placed in any order. All you need to remember is that they go on the second row.
Place the Minor Pieces
Now we have the Pawns out of the way we need to place the minor pieces. On the outside of the board place the Rooks. Beside them the knights, and lastly the bishops.
Where Do the King and Queen Go In Chess?
The Queen goes on the colour that it is. So the white queen will go on the white middle square on the back rank, the black queen goes on the black middle square. Now, we only have one square left. This goes to the most important piece, the king.
What If I Do Not Have all the Pieces?
Sometimes pieces get lost, this is especially poignant when you might be playing in a café, where the same chess set has been there the past decade and has slowly lost pieces. Our advice would be replacing the missing piece with a coin, let’s say the Knight. Then, if you lose the “living Knight” you can swap out the coin for the correct piece.
How Much are the Pieces Worth in Chess?
Now we have the pieces on the board what are they worth? Well, technically they have no value. It doesn’t affect the game, but it’s a helpful way to know whether a trade is worth it, or the strength of one piece relative to another. Ultimately, the only way to win a game of chess is to checkmate your opponent, or make them resign. It doesn’t matter if you have more “points” than your opponent if you still lose.
This being said, it’s still a helpful guideline in order of value.
| Pawn | Knight | Bishop | Rook | Queen | King |
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | ∞ |
You’ll notice that a bishop and a knight are both worth 3 points. While this is true typically bishops are slightly more favoured, especially by professional players because as the game becomes more open (less pieces on the board) bishops dominate more because they can move and control any number of spaces on their diagonal whereas a knight can only control their direct zone of influence.
Additionally I’ve awarded the king ∞ points because when he’s taken the game is lost.
Assigning values can help you understand if a trade is a good thing or not. For example the following are good and bad trades:
| Trade Example | What you Win | What You Loose | Points won/lost |
| Trade 1 (Good) | Pawn + Pawn + Pawn | Knight | 0 |
| Trade 2 (Good) | Bishop | Knight | 0 |
| Trade 3 (Good) | Bishop + Knight | Rook | 1 |
| Trade 4 (Bad) | Rook + Knight | Queen | -1 |
Always aim for a positive or neutral trade. Gaining points is sometimes called “winning the exchange”
Chess.com has a great article going into a bit more detail.
Final Notes on Chess Board Set Up and Video
Hopefully you have learnt how to set up a Chess Board without too much pain! Setting up is the first step, next is playing, strategy, openings and much more. By understanding what the pieces are worth will help you plan offences, and manage appropriate defences. If you need some extra tips Howcast on YouTube has a great video showing you this exact process below:
