Chess starters, one move per page
The twenty-four moves that take a stuck beginner to a real game: how every piece moves and what each is worth, the opening principles before the openings, how to stop hanging pieces, the fork, the pin and the skewer, check and the basic mates, the endgame you'll actually reach, slow chess over blitz, and losing as data.
A diagram, the classic mistake, and one thing to go try. That's a page.
Chess starters, one move per page
The twenty-four moves that take a stuck beginner to a real game: how every piece moves and what each is worth, the opening principles before the openings, how to stop hanging pieces, the fork, the pin and the skewer, check and the basic mates, the endgame you'll actually reach, slow chess over blitz, and losing as data.
Set in Space Grotesk, Inter and JetBrains Mono (SIL Open Font License).
Facts checked against the FIDE Laws of Chess in force since 1 January 2023 (handbook.fide.com), the US Chess Federation's public beginner materials (new.uschess.org), Lichess's open-access Learn and practice guides (lichess.org), and peer-reviewed studies reachable via PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Piece point values (1, 3, 3, 5, 9) are the conventional values used in beginner instruction, not a law of chess. None of these organisations is affiliated with or endorses this book.
General information only. Quoted time controls and rules describe the FIDE Laws of Chess for over-the-board play; online platforms may differ in detail.
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© 2026 Steve Hodgkiss. All rights reserved. Personal use only; no redistribution rights.
Edition 1.0 · stevehodgkiss.net
Contents
The board
The real goal, the address system, how each piece moves including the two odd moves, and the one move that does two jobs.
- 01The goal is the king
- 02The knight is the only jumper
- 03Castling, the two-in-one move
The FIDE Laws of Chess, Article 1.4: the objective of each player is to place the opponent's king under attack in such a way that the opponent has no legal move; the player who does this has checkmated the king and won the game. From the FIDE Laws of Chess, in force since 1 January 2023 (handbook.fide.com).
The goal is the king
Let's say you've started playing and you're collecting captures like points. Then a knight and a queen sneak in and the game ends. You had more pieces left. It didn't matter.
The FIDE Laws say it once, plainly: the objective is to checkmate the opponent's king, a position where it is attacked and has no legal move out. Every capture is only a means to that end. Chasing cheap pieces while your own king sits in the middle is the classic first-year mistake, and it ends with a mate you never saw coming.
Count captures second. Count kings first.
Play one game this week where your only rule is: look at both kings before every move. Yours, then theirs.
The FIDE Laws of Chess, Article 3.6: the knight may move to one of the squares nearest to that on which it stands but not on the same rank, file or diagonal. Article 3.5: the bishop, rook and queen may not move over intervening pieces. From handbook.fide.com.
The knight is the only jumper
Let's say your pieces keep getting stuck behind your own pawns. Exactly one piece never has that problem.
The FIDE Laws move the knight to the nearest squares not on its rank, file or diagonal, the two-one L, and it alone jumps over whatever stands there. Bishop, rook and queen are stopped by the first piece in their path, the Laws say so outright. Expecting your bishop to hop your own pawn is the day-one mistake.
Blocked? The knight never is.
Place a knight alone on d4 and, without moving it, touch all eight squares it reaches. Then do it from h1, where it only has two.
The FIDE Laws of Chess, Article 3.8: castling moves the king two squares towards a rook and the rook to the square the king crossed, as a single king move. The right is lost if the king or that rook has already moved, and prevented temporarily if the king's square, the crossing square or the destination is attacked, or pieces stand between them. From handbook.fide.com.
Castling, the two-in-one move
Let's say your king gets hunted across the middle every game while both rooks sleep. One move fixes both.
The FIDE Laws define castling: the king moves two squares towards a rook, the rook jumps to the square the king crossed, one king move. The right dies when the king or that rook moves, and you cannot castle into or through check. An early rook pawn push can kill your castling rights unnoticed.
One move, two pieces, once a game.
On an empty board, castle both sides by hand: clear the squares, king two, rook jumps over. Then in your next game, castle before move 12 whatever else happens.
Standard piece values used in beginner instruction: pawn 1, knight 3, bishop 3, rook 5, queen 9. These are conventional teaching values, not part of the FIDE Laws of Chess; the king has no point value because it cannot be captured. Lichess's open-access Learn module teaches piece value under the same convention.
What each piece is worth
Let's say a trade is offered and you have no idea whether to take. There's a count for that, and every course uses it.
Standard beginner instruction gives the pieces points: pawn 1, knight 3, bishop 3, rook 5, queen 9. It's a teaching convention, not a law, but it answers the daily question, should I trade, in two seconds. Trading a rook for a knight because it looked active is five for three, twice, and resign confused.
Before any trade, say both numbers.
Take your last finished game and count the material at three moments: after the opening, at move 20, at the end. Write the totals down. That arithmetic is the whole habit.
The fork, one piece attacking two or more targets at once, is a basic tactic defined in US Chess Federation and Lichess beginner materials; knights deliver the most famous forks because of their L-shaped jump (FIDE Laws, Article 3.6). Standard piece values measure the damage.
The fork
Let's say a knight lands and takes either your rook or your queen next move, your choice. That's a fork.
A fork is one piece attacking two things at once; only one can be saved, and the count says which bleeds. The knight forks most notoriously, its ring lands on squares the sliders don't cover; king and queen a jump apart is the classic payout. Spotting fork squares a beat late, after the knight hops in, is the daily tax.
One move, two attacks. Somebody's late.
Do ten puzzle positions tagged fork this week, slowly. After each, say which target the defender should save and why.