by Stuart Henderson

Created on: January 07, 2011

Your army has gathered after hearing war has been declared. Infantry, cavalry, eliphantry and chariotry all stand awaiting eagerly for the next order to be announced. The King and Queen say their final good byes while the King takes a step forward and cries out, positions everybody! Suddenly, the army look blankly at one another.

So, you've assembled your army but need some advice on their strategic positions. The battle field is divided into 64, evenly divided black and white squares. First things first; pick the correct side to start. The way I like to remember it is fairly simple. For setting up the white coloured pieces, the bottom-left square closest to you should be coloured black. In future we shall refer to this column as the 'a' column.

Now we have the correct side chosen, let us begin with the positions. It seems natural to begin with a hierarchical approach. The King and Queen are the tallest pieces, with the King boasting a cross at the top of the piece. The white King is placed 4 squares to the right of column 'a' on the row closest to you. As a check, this should be a black square. To the King's left, his white Queen is placed on the white square next to him. An easy way to remember this is that these two pieces, as in real life, are the most valuable and thus sit right at the heart of the army. 

On either side of the Queen and King stand the two Bishops. Historically, Bishops are thought to have derived from the war eliphants. They can be identified through their slim, pointed bodies. Beside each Bishop now stands both Knights. The Knights were considered to be the cavalry, who fought on horse back. Hence, these two pieces are easily identifiable through their horse-like shape. Finally, we come to the Rooks. The Rooks, thought of historically as the chariotry, form the last major part to your defensive line. These two chunky pieces look like two small turrets off of a castle.These should be sitting on both corners of your back line.

In front of the back line stand the infantry. Known as pawns in the game of chess, these are the smallest pieces on each side and sit along the row immediately in front of your back line. Your white army is now complete. The opposing black army is fairly straightforward to lay out. Each corresponding piece occupies the same column as its enemy, only on opposites of the board. Your final layout should look like this correctly set up chess board.

Let the battle begin!

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