Article 2: The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard
2.1 The 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.
2.2 At 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 king, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| A white queen, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| Two white rooks, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| Two white bishops, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| Two white knights, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| Eight white pawns, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| A black king, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| A black queen, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| Two black rooks, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| Two black bishops, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| Two black kngihts, usually indicated by the symbol | |
| Eight black pawns, usually indicated by the symbol | |
K 
Q 
R 
B 
N 
K 
Q 
R 
B 
N 
Staunton Pieces
2.3 The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows:
2.4 The eight vertical columns of squares are called files. The eight horizontal rows of squares are called ranks. A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge, is called a diagonal.