Chess: a board with addresses

A board with an address book

Welcome to Chess Workshop. A chessboard has eight rows and eight columns. That makes sixty four little squares. Unlike checkers, chess uses both square colors. Every square has an address, but you do not need to build sixty four tiny mailboxes. A letter and a number will do.

Light square on the right

Look from the White side of this picture. The corner near your right hand is a light square. That is how you turn the board before setting it up. Black also has a light square at their right hand when looking from the other side. White makes the first move.

Build the two starting teams

Each player starts with eight pawns and eight other pieces. Put the pawns in a row in front. Behind them are two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king. White has sixteen pieces. Black has sixteen too. The four rows in the middle start empty.

Queen and king have fixed places

On the White back row, rooks take the corners. Knights sit beside the rooks, then bishops. The queen starts on her own square color. White has a queen on light d one and king on e one. Black has a queen on dark d eight and king on e eight.

Give each column a letter

A column is called a file. From White's left to right, the files are a, b, c, d, e, f, g and h. A row is called a rank. The ranks are numbered one to eight, starting near White. File letters and rank numbers work together to name a square.

Read the letter, then the number

Find file e, then find rank two. Their meeting place is e two. A white pawn starts there. The address belongs to the square, not the pawn. If a different piece arrives later, it is still e two. Turning the board around does not give its squares new names.

Pause: find two starting pieces

Pause the video and read two addresses. First find g one. Is its piece a knight or a bishop? Then find a eight. Which player has a rook there? Use the letters and numbers around the board. Point to each square before answering, and say the whole address aloud.

Check the addresses

At the start, g one holds a white knight, and a eight holds a black rook. Now this picture shows White's pawn after moving from e two to e four. Its file stayed e, while its rank changed by two. Black gets the next turn. The addresses help us describe what changed.

More squares hiding in plain sight

Fun fact: the board contains more squares than the sixty four little ones. Four little squares make a bigger two by two square. Keep counting all sizes, even the whole board, and you get two hundred four. The pieces still use the little squares. No enormous square gets an enormous king.

Set up, name, then play

Continue to the worksheet below and check the starting board. Then try Read Chess Square Addresses to practice letters and numbers. Open Chess Workshop when you are ready for the pieces to move. Before each move, name where your piece is and where you want it to go. Clear addresses make clear plans.