Each player begins the game with sixteen pieces: each player's pieces comprise one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. One player, referred to as White, controls the white pieces and the other player, Black, controls the black pieces; White is always the first player to move. The colors are chosen either by a friendly agreement, by a game of chance or by a tournament director. The players alternate moving one piece at a time (with the exception of castling, when two pieces are moved at the same time). Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square, or one occupied by an opponent's piece, capturing it and removing it from play. With one exception (en passant), all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies.
Jokalari bakoitzak hamasei piezarekin hasten du jokoa: erregea, erregina, bi dorre, bi zaldun, bi alfil eta zortzi peoi. Jokalari batek (Zuria deituko diogu) pieza zuriak erabiliko ditu eta beste jokalariak (Beltza) beltzak; Zuria izango da mugitzen lehena. Koloreak lagunarteko adostasunez, zorizko jolas baten bidez edo jokoaren epailearen bitartez, erabaki daitezke. Jokalariak txandakatu egiten dira, aldi bakoitzean batek mugitzen baitu pieza (errokean izan ezik, hemen bi pieza mugitzen dira aldi berean). Piezak okupatu gabeko lauki batera edo aurkariak okupatutako lauki batera mugitzen dira, eta, azkeneko kasu horretan, aurkariaren pieza harrapatu eta jokotik kanporatzen da. Aurkariaren pieza bat harrapatzeko hura dagoen laukira mugitu behar da norberaren pieza, baina bada salbuespen bat (igarotzean harrapatzea).