The chessboard is composed of an 8×8 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.
At the beginning of the game one player has 16 light-coloured pieces (the ‘white’ pieces); the other has 16 dark-coloured pieces (the ‘black’ pieces):
These pieces are as follows:
A white king
A white queen
Two white rooks
Two white bishops
Two white knights
Eight white pawns
A black king
A black queen
Two black rooks
Two black bishops
Two black knights
Eight black pawns
2.3 The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows:
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’.