Chess Rules : Basic Moves

Basic moves

Each chess piece has its own method of movement. Moves are made to vacant squares except when capturing an opponent's piece.

With the exception of any movement of the knight and the occasional castling maneuver, pieces cannot jump over each other. When a piece is captured (or taken), the attacking piece replaces the enemy piece on its square (en passant being the only exception). The captured piece is thus removed from the game and may not be returned to play for the remainder of the game.The king can be put in check but cannot be captured (see below).

The king can move exactly one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Only once per player, per game, is a king allowed to make a special move known as castling (see below).
The rook moves any number of vacant squares vertically or horizontally. It also is moved while castling.
The bishop moves any number of vacant squares in any diagonal direction.
The queen can move any number of vacant squares diagonally, horizontally, or vertically.
The knight moves to the nearest square not on the same rank, file, or diagonal. In other words, the knight moves two squares horizontally then one square vertically, or one square horizontally then two squares vertically. Its move is not blocked by other pieces: it jumps to the new location.
Pawns have the most complex rules of movement:

A pawn can move forward one square, if that square is unoccupied. If it has not yet moved, each pawn has the option of moving two squares forward provided both squares in front of the pawn are unoccupied. A pawn cannot move backwards.

Pawns are the only pieces that capture differently from how they move. They can capture an enemy piece on either of the two spaces adjacent to the space in front of them (i.e., the two squares diagonally in front of them) but cannot move to these spaces if they are vacant.

The pawn is also involved in the two special moves en passant and promotion.