Article 2: The Initial Position of the Pieces on the Chessboard

2.1     The chessboard is composed of an 8 x 8 grid of 64 equal squares alternately light (the ‘white’ squares) and dark (the ‘black’ squares).

The chessboard is placed between the players in such a way that the near corner square to the right of the player is white.

2.2     At the beginning of the game White has 16 light-coloured pieces (the ‘white’ pieces); Black has 16 dark-coloured pieces (the ‘black’ pieces).

These pieces are as follows:
A white king	usually indicated by the symbol		K
A white queen	usually indicated by the symbol		Q
Two white rooks	usually indicated by the symbol		R
Two white bishops	usually indicated by the symbol		B
Two white knights	usually indicated by the symbol		N
Eight white pawns	usually indicated by the symbol
A black king	usually indicated by the symbol		K
A black queen	usually indicated by the symbol		Q
Two black rooks	usually indicated by the symbol		R
Two black bishops	usually indicated by the symbol		B
Two black knights	usually indicated by the symbol		N
Eight black pawns	usually indicated by the symbol

Staunton Pieces

p  Q  K  B  N  R

2.3     The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows:

2.4     The eight vertical columns of squares are called ‘files’. The eight horizontal rows of squares are called ‘ranks’. A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge, is called a ‘diagonal’.