Chess piece Chess piece A chess piece, or chessman, is any of the six different movable objects used on a chessboard to play the game of chess. Each player begins with a total of sixteen pieces. The pieces that belong to each player are distinguished by color. The lighter colored pieces are referred to as "white," and the player that owns them, "White". The darker colored pieces are referred to as "black", and the player that owns them, "Black". The word "piece" has three meanings, depending on the context. The context should make the intended meaning clear . In the first context,
Chess rules were most recently revised in 2017. Chess is played on a square board of eight rows (called ' and denoted with numbers "1" to "8") and eight columns (called ' and denoted with letters "a" to "h"). The colors of the 64 squares alternate and are referred to as "light" and "dark" squares. The chessboard is placed with a light square at the right-hand end of the rank nearest to each player. By convention, the game pieces are divided into white and black sets, and the players are referred to as "White" and "Black" respectively. Each player begins the