Chess Basics
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Lesson 1
The Board
8×8 squares, two armies
Chess is played on an 8×8 board. Your pieces (White) start at the bottom; your opponent (Black) is at the top. Columns are called files (a–h) and rows are called ranks (1–8). You always start with White.
💡 The bottom-right square is always light — remember: 'light on right'.