The official rules of chess are maintained by the World Chess Federation. Along with information on official chess tournaments, the rules are described in the FIDE Handbook, section Laws of Chess.[1] For a simple demonstration of the gameplay, see a sample chess game.

Setup

The colors of the sixty-four squares alternate and are referred to as "light squares" and "dark squares". With the sole exception of en passant, all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies.
The only permissible responses to a check are to capture the checking piece, interpose a piece between the checking piece and the king (unless the attacking piece is a knight), or move the king to a square where it is not under attack.

Moves

Each chess piece has its own style of moving. The Xs mark the squares where the piece can move if no other pieces (including one's own piece) are on the Xs between the piece's initial position and its destination. If there is an opponent's piece at the destination square, then the moving piece can capture the opponent's piece. The only exception is the pawn which can only capture pieces diagonally forward.

Chess strategy consists of setting and achieving long-term goals during the game — for example, where to place different pieces — while tactics concentrate on immediate manoeuvre. These two parts of chess thinking cannot be completely separated, because strategic goals are mostly achieved by the means of tactics, while the tactical opportunities are based on the previous strategy of play.
A game of chess is usually divided into three phases: opening, usually the first 10 to 25 moves, when players move their pieces into useful positions for the coming battle; middlegame, usually the fiercest part of the game; and endgame, when most of the pieces are gone, kings typically take a more active part in the struggle, and pawn promotion is often decisive.