Laws of Chess

Chess is a two-player strategy game played on an 8x8 checkered board. Each player commands an army of 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The objective is to checkmate the opponent's king, meaning the king is under attack and has no legal move to escape capture. Players alternate turns, with White moving first.

Each piece has a unique way of moving:
* Pawns move forward one square, but capture diagonally. They have special moves like en passant and promotion upon reaching the opposite side of the board.1
* Knights move in an 'L' shape and can jump over other pieces.2
* Bishops move diagonally any number of squares.
* Rooks move horizontally or vertically any number of squares.
* Queens combine the moves of rooks and bishops.
* Kings move one square in any direction. A special move called castling involves both the king and a rook.3

A game can end in a win, loss, or draw, with draws occurring through mutual agreement, insufficient material, stalemate, or repetition of position. Competitive games follow strict rules regarding move completion, recording, and time controls. Moves are recorded using a system of notation.456