2.1The chessboard is composed of an 8 x 8 grid of 64 equal squares alternately light (the ‘white’ squares) and dark (the ‘black’ squares).
The chessboard is placed between the players in such a way that the near corner square to the right of the player is white. 2.2At the beginning of the game White has 16 light-coloured pieces (the ‘white’ pieces); Black has 16 dark-coloured pieces (the ‘black’ pieces).
These pieces are as follows: A white kingusually indicated by the symbolK A white queenusually indicated by the symbolQ Two white rooksusually indicated by the symbolR Two white bishopsusually indicated by the symbolB Two white knightsusually indicated by the symbolN Eight white pawnsusually indicated by the symbol A black kingusually indicated by the symbolK A black queenusually indicated by the symbolQ Two black rooksusually indicated by the symbolR Two black bishopsusually indicated by the symbolB Two black knightsusually indicated by the symbolN Eight black pawnsusually indicated by the symbol