Every chess player remembers the moment they first sat in front of a board and thought: okay, now what?

Knowing how to start a chess game isn’t just about placing pieces in the right spots. It’s about understanding what to do after that. The board setup takes 60 seconds. What happens in the next 10 moves decides whether you walk into the middlegame with confidence or spend it firefighting problems that started on move two.

This guide covers both. Board orientation, exact piece placement, who moves first, the three goals that should drive every opening decision, a five-step sequence you can follow in any game, and two beginner-friendly systems to actually play. Start here and you won’t need to guess again.

Set Up the Board Correctly

Before a single piece touches the board, get the orientation right. Flip the board if needed so each player has a light-colored square in their bottom-right corner. Say it once, remember it forever: white on the right.

If the bottom-right square is dark, every piece you place after will be technically wrong. And yes, this happens in casual games constantly. Getting the orientation right takes two seconds and saves real confusion later.

Exact Piece Placement (Back Row, Inside Out)

Place pieces on your back row in this exact order, starting from the corners:

  1. Rooks in all four corners.
  2. Knights on the squares beside each rook.
  3. Bishops beside the knights.
  4. Queen on her own color. White queen on a white square (d1). Black queen on a dark square (d8). Memory shortcut: the queen dresses to match.
  5. King on the remaining central square. He sits beside the queen (e1 for White, e8 for Black).

Front Row: Your Pawns

Fill the entire second row with all eight pawns. They form a wall protecting the pieces behind them. No gaps.

Practical tip: place your pawns first. It clears the pile of pieces beside the board and makes positioning the back row much easier. Once both sides are set, the position is symmetric and both kings face each other across the e-file.

Quick Reference: Where Every Piece Starts

Who Moves First?

White always moves first. Always. It’s a fixed rule with no exceptions.

In casual play, decide who gets White through a coin flip or by hiding a pawn behind your back and having your opponent guess the color. In tournaments, the pairing system assigns colors.

After White’s first move, Black responds. Players alternate one move at a time. You can’t skip a turn and you must make a move every turn, even when every option looks bad. That last rule, called zugzwang (TSOOG-tsvang), is actually one of chess’s most interesting endgame weapons, but that’s a topic for later.

The 3 Goals That Drive Every Opening Decision

Here’s where most beginner guides stop too early. Setup is easy. What’s actually hard is knowing what to do once the pieces are in place. The answer is surprisingly clean: every move in the opening should serve at least one of three goals.

  1. Control the center. The four squares e4, d4, e5, and d5 are the most valuable real estate on the board. Pieces placed near the center control more squares, threaten more lines, and give you more options every turn. Push a pawn to e4 or d4 on move one and you immediately stake a claim.
  2. Develop your pieces quickly. Every move should bring a new piece into the game. Knights before bishops (they don’t need open diagonals). Queen stays back. Rooks wait until files open. Goal: all minor pieces off the back rank by move 10.
  3. Keep your king safe. Castle before move 10. A king sitting in the center is a permanent liability. Every open file, every bishop diagonal, every pawn break your opponent plays is potentially aimed at it. Castling takes one move and solves the problem.

Write those three down. Stick them beside your board. Before every move in the opening, ask: does this help me reach all three? If not, which one does it address? Any move that helps none of them is almost certainly a waste.

The 5-Step Opening Sequence Every Beginner Should Follow

These steps don’t depend on which opening you eventually choose. They apply to every game, against any opponent, at any level.

Step 1: Move a Center Pawn (Move 1)

Push either e4 or d4. Both are correct. 1.e4 opens a diagonal for your bishop and queen and creates immediate central tension. 1.d4 is slightly more positional. Neither is better for beginners. Pick one and stick with it long enough to actually learn it.

Avoid: a3, h3, or any side pawn. These moves don’t fight for the center and don’t develop a piece. Two wasted objectives in a single move.

Step 2: Develop Your Knights (Moves 2-3)

Knights almost always come before bishops. For White: Nf3 and Nc3 are the natural squares. For Black: Nf6 and Nc6 mirror them. Knights can jump immediately into active central squares regardless of what else is happening on the board.

One rule every beginner should memorize: a knight on the rim is dim. Na3 and Nh3 control fewer squares than knights in the center. Keep them pointed inward.

Step 3: Develop Your Bishops (Moves 3-5)

Once your knights are out, your bishops have cleaner paths to active diagonals. In the Italian Game, the bishop heads to c4, targeting the f7 square directly. In the London System, it goes to f4 before the pawn chain closes it in.

Don’t move a bishop twice to chase a pawn in the first six moves. Each retreat is a free turn for your opponent to develop another piece.

Step 4: Castle Your King (Before Move 10)

Not optional. Not ‘when the time feels right.’ Castle before move 10.

Kingside castling (0-0) is faster and more common. Queenside castling (0-0-0) is riskier because the king travels further. For beginners, default kingside unless you have a specific plan that requires queenside.

Step 5: Connect Your Rooks (Moves 10-12)

After castling, clear any remaining pieces from the back rank so your rooks can see each other. Connected rooks control the entire back row and are ready to occupy open files the moment they appear.

This is the signal that your opening is complete. Five for five on the checklist? Your middlegame is starting from solid ground.

Two Simple Opening Systems to Actually Play

Following the five steps above leads you naturally into these two systems. You don’t need to memorize them as rigid theory. Understand the ideas behind each move and you’ll find yourself playing them correctly without trying.

The Italian Game (Best if You Start with 1.e4)

We think the Italian Game is the best opening for beginners, and we’ll tell you exactly why.

It’s been played for over 500 years. World champions at the 2024 championship still reach Italian Game positions. And more importantly, it teaches every opening principle naturally rather than asking you to memorize artificial lines.

The moves:

  1. 1.e4: stake your pawn in the center, open diagonals
  2. 1…e5: Black mirrors, claiming central space
  3. 2.Nf3: develop the knight, attack Black’s e5 pawn with tempo
  4. 2…Nc6: Black defends the pawn with a knight
  5. 3.Bc4: develop the bishop to the most active diagonal, targeting f7

The idea: your bishop on c4 points directly at f7, the square defended only by Black’s king. You’re not trying to win immediately. You’re building pressure while developing fast. By move five you’re ready to castle, and Black has to be precise to stay equal.

Mistake to avoid: playing 4.Qh5 chasing the Scholar’s Mate trick. Any decent response shuts it down, and your queen spends the next five moves retreating. Build the position first.

Want the full breakdown? Our Italian Game opening guide covers every variation from beginner to advanced.

The London System (Best if You Start with 1.d4)

If the Italian Game is a focused attack, the London System is a fortress. Same setup almost every game, regardless of what Black plays. Less memorization, less panic.

The moves:

  1. 1.d4: center pawn, control d5 and e5
  2. 2.Nf3: develop the knight, control e5
  3. 3.Bf4: develop the bishop before closing it in with e3
  4. Then: e3, Bd3, Nbd2, and 0-0 in whatever order Black allows

The idea: your setup is nearly identical every game. Knight on f3, bishop on f4, pawns on d4 and e3, king castled kingside. Because the structure barely changes, you spend your brain power on middlegame plans instead of trying to remember what move 6 was supposed to be.

Mistake to avoid: playing London so passively you never challenge the center. Push c4 or e4 at the right moment. A fortress with no counterplay eventually becomes a siege.

5 Opening Mistakes That Cost Beginners the Most Games

Every one of these is fixable. None of them require talent to fix. Just awareness.

  1. Bringing the queen out too early: Queen on move 2 or 3 becomes a target. Your opponent develops a knight, attacks the queen, gains a tempo, and builds a free position while you retreat. Develop minor pieces first.
  2. Moving the same piece twice in the first six moves: Unless your piece is under attack, repeat moves mean an unplayed piece sitting idle on the back rank. Development is a race.
  3. Making three or more pawn moves before developing pieces: Pawns don’t develop pieces. After your first or second pawn move, the pieces need to come out. A pawn advance with nothing behind it is an invitation.
  4. Ignoring the center to chase material: A pawn isn’t worth two tempos of development. Most of the time. Chasing a bishop across the board while your opponent builds central control is one of the patterns we see most often in games from beginners below 1000.
  5. Delaying castling past move 12: If the king is still in the center by move 12, go back and identify which of the five steps got skipped.

The Opening Checklist

Run through this before shifting into attack mode. If any item is unticked, your next move should fix it.

  • Is a pawn placed on e4, d4, e5, or d5?
  • Are both your knights developed off the back rank?
  • Are your bishops on active diagonals, or at least not locked behind pawns?
  • Is your king castled?
  • Are your rooks connected (no pieces between them on the back rank)?

Five yeses means your opening is complete. Any missing item tells you exactly what your next move should be. It’s not complicated. That’s the point.

Frequently Asked Questions

Your First 10 Moves Don't Have to Be Guesswork

Set up the board with white on the right. Place pieces inside out from the corners. Know that White goes first. Then let three goals drive every decision: control the center, develop your pieces, castle your king.

Pick one of the two systems above, play through the five steps in a real game, and see how differently it feels when you actually know what you’re doing. Not better in a vague sense. Better because you have a reason for every move.

That’s the shift that separates players who improve quickly from players who play for years without getting better. Principles over memorization. Every time.

If you want a coach to guide this process with actual feedback on your specific games, Kingdom of Chess offers structured online chess classes for beginners with FIDE-certified Grandmasters and International Masters. More than 10,000 students across 30+ countries have used our Pawn-to-King curriculum to go from empty board to confident, competitive chess.