# Chess From Zero

You know chess is supposed to be deep, and the first few games feel like the opposite: the pieces move, something gets captured for reasons you did not see, and you lose without knowing why. That is not a talent gap. Nobody hands you the small set of ideas that strong players use without thinking about them.

This guide builds those ideas in order. First the rules, complete and exact, including the parts most beginners get wrong (castling, en passant, stalemate, draws). Then the notation that lets you read any chess book. Then the thinking: how to finish a won game, how to spot tactics, how to open a game without memorizing anything, how to make a plan, and how to play the endgame. Every position and every line in this guide was checked move by move with a chess program, and the rules were checked against the FIDE Laws of Chess.

You can play as you read. The site has a game against Stockfish at [play chess](/games/chess), with adjustable strength. It starts from the normal starting position, so use it for practice games, not for loading the examples here.

## How to read this

- **Never played?** Start at phase 1 and read in order. Play a game after phase 2.
- **Know the moves but lose to simple traps?** Jump to [phase 4](04-tactics.md), then phase 5.
- **Want to know what engines are good for?** [Phase 7](07-learning-from-an-engine.md), then [How Computers Play Games](/guides/how-computers-play-games).

## The phases

1. **[The Board and the Pieces](01-the-board-and-the-pieces.md)** - the 64 squares, the six piece types, and exactly how each one moves and captures.
2. **[Special Moves, Check, and How Games End](02-special-moves-and-how-games-end.md)** - castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate, stalemate, and every way to draw.
3. **[Notation and the Basic Checkmates](03-notation-and-basic-checkmates.md)** - reading and writing moves, then mating with king and queen or king and rook.
4. **[Tactics: Seeing What the Board Is Hiding](04-tactics.md)** - forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, double check, removing the defender.
5. **[Openings and Middlegame Plans](05-openings-and-middlegame-plans.md)** - opening principles without memorizing lines, then open files, pawn structure, and weak squares.
6. **[Endgame Essentials](06-endgame-essentials.md)** - king activity, opposition, the square of the pawn, and which pawn endings are draws.
7. **[Learning From an Engine](07-learning-from-an-engine.md)** - how to use Stockfish as a coach instead of a crutch.

> Left for later guides: opening theory beyond principles, and the famous rook endings (Lucena and Philidor), which need a deeper treatment than fits here. For how a program like Stockfish actually chooses a move, read [How Computers Play Games](/guides/how-computers-play-games).