The King is the most important piece in the game of chess. Without the King, the game is over. However, the King is not very powerful - it can only move one square at a time, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The two Kings can never be side by side to each other, because it is impossible (and illegal) for one King to move right next to the other King. That's why if there is only two Kings at the endgame, it is an automatic stalemate (draw).
Neither king can win, became they must stay within one square apart from each other. It is a stalemate (see next page for more rules)
Where can the king move that is legal? Answer here.
The Queen is the most powerful piece in the game, and can move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to anywhere on that line, unless blocked by other pieces. If it is an opponent's piece, the queen has the option to capture that piece. If it is her own, she cannot get past that point unless she moves her own piece.
The queen's movement
The Rook is the second strongest after the Queen, and could move horizontally or vertically to anywhere on the board, unless obstructed.
The Bishop can only move diagonally, and is not as strong as the rook. If it is a white-squared bishop, it can never reach a dark-colored square, and vice versa.
The Knight is a special piece - it does not move like any other pieces. Instead, it moves in a "L" shape. Therefore, if the knight is at the center, there are eight positions on the board in which the knight can move to, if its own pieces do not block the way on any of the eight "landing" squares. If there are pieces in between the original position and the final position, it does not matter to the knight. However, the knight has limited mobility, since it could not move as far. That is why the knight is more useful during the opening than during the endgame.
The Knight can go to any of the highlighted squares. It cannot move to g7 because capturing the player's own piece is illegal.
The Pawn is the weakest piece on the board, but there are eight of them. Pawns can only move forward, with the exception of capturing. The pawn could not capturing by going straight. Instead, it must capture by moving diagonally, and taking the opponents piece. Pawns have a special ability - when one reach the last rank, it can promote to any other piece except another king. Most often, promoted pawns are queens, since they are the strongest. However, that is not always the case.
Each piece has a point value except the king. The queen, the most powerful, is worth 9 points. The rook is worth 5, both the knight and bishop are worth 3, and the pawn is worth 1. The knight and bishop aren't totally equal, since the have different properties - the bishop tend to work better in the endgame while the knights are the most powerful in the opening. To see if a trade is worth it, add up the points lost on each side, and whoever has a lower point value got a better "deal" on the exchange. For example, if I took a rook with my queen, and my opponent recaptured with a bishop, and I captured the bishop with my knight, I traded a queen for a rook and a bishop (lost 9, gained 8). Therefore, I lost the exchange.
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