Chess piece each of the two players begins with the following sixteen pieces in a standard game: The rules of chess prescribe the types of move a player can make with each type of chess piece. Each piece type moves in a different way. During play, the players take turns moving one of their own chess pieces. Pieces other than pawns capture in the same way that they move. A capturing piece replaces the opponent piece on its square, except for an "en passant" capture. Captured pieces are immediately removed from the game. A square may hold only one piece at any
White and Black in chess in the first game. Staunton observed in 1871 that "many players still cultivate the foolish habit of playing exclusively with one colour." On October 19, 1857, Mr. Perrin, the Secretary of the New York Chess Club, informed those assembled at the First American Chess Congress that he had received a letter from Johann Löwenthal, a leading English master, "suggesting the advisableness of always giving the first move in public games, to the player of the white pieces." Löwenthal also wrote that London's chess clubs had adopted a new rule that White always moves first. The club evidently did not follow