Step by step
This is an order that works, and everything is on this site.
| Step | What you learn | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The board, the setup, and how the pieces move | Chess rules |
| 2 | Check and checkmate, and when it's a draw | Checkmate, draws |
| 3 | The three special moves | Castling, en passant, promotion |
| 4 | Mating with a queen or a rook when the opponent has only the king left | Endgames |
| 5 | The most common tricks, such as the fork and the pin | Tactics, puzzles |
| 6 | How a game begins: development, the center, and castling | Openings |
If you'd like it all in order, with exercises after each step, you can take the lessons. They're free, and you don't need an account.
Play, and look at your games
The most important thing is to play. Start against someone about as strong as you, or against a gentle computer opponent, so the games are even. Afterward you can go through the game on the analysis board and see where it turned.
The research points the same way. In studies of tournament players, both studying on your own and training with others went with higher playing strength. More under How do you get better at chess?
Children and adults
Children can start with the pawn game, where only the pawns are on the board, and then add one piece at a time. How that works is under chess for kids. And for adults it's not too late: see Can you start chess as an adult?
Play in a club
In a club you meet other people who like chess, play opponents at your own level, and can take part in tournaments. Your national chess federation is the place to look: FIDE, the world chess federation, has 204 of them as members. Rated tournaments are also played through the federations, see How do you get a chess rating?
If you're already a club, you can play each other here, under For chess clubs.
Sources
- F. Gobet and G. Campitelli: The role of domain-specific practice, handedness, and starting age in chess, Developmental Psychology 43 (2007)
- N. Charness et al.: The role of deliberate practice in chess expertise, Applied Cognitive Psychology 19 (2005), the abstract
- FIDE: About FIDE (read November 14, 2026)
- This site's own pages on the rules, openings, tactics, and endgames
The facts on this page come from the sources above and, where possible, were checked across several sources. Where the sources disagree, we say less or say what each one says. A number that is an estimate says whose it is, and a counted number comes with its date.
Updated November 14, 2026