How to set up a chess board
Two rules cover it. Get these right and the rest of the pieces have only one place they can go.
Rule one: light square on the right
Turn the board so that the square in your bottom-right corner is a light one. Both players see a light square on their right — that is what makes it correct, and it is the step people skip.
Rule two: the queen goes on her own colour
The white queen starts on the light square, d1. The black queen starts on the dark square, d8. The kings take the square next to them. "Queen on her colour" is the phrase to teach; children remember it and can then set the board up unsupervised.
Everything else follows
| Square | Piece |
|---|---|
| a1, h1 (and a8, h8) | Rooks — the corners |
| b1, g1 | Knights — beside the rooks |
| c1, f1 | Bishops — beside the knights |
| d1 | White queen (light square) |
| e1 | White king |
| Second rank | All eight pawns |
Black mirrors it exactly, so the two kings face each other on the e-file and the two queens on the d-file.
Letting a child do it
Setting up is one of the few chess jobs a young child can complete alone and get visibly right, so it is worth handing over early. Give them the two rules and let them check their own work: light square bottom-right, queen on her colour.
Set up, then start playing
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Common questions
Does it matter if we set it up wrong?
For a child’s first games, not really — the pieces still move the same way and nothing breaks. It starts to matter once castling appears, because the king and rook end up on the wrong sides, and any diagram in a book will stop matching your board.
My child keeps putting the king and queen the other way round
Almost everyone does. Give them the check rather than the rule: the white queen must sit on a light square, the black queen on a dark one. A child can verify that themselves in a second, which a remembered rule never survives.
Do both players set up their own side?
Yes, and it is worth letting them. Setting up is one of the few chess jobs a young child can finish alone and get visibly right, which is a better start to a session than being handed a finished board.