Week 1: How the pieces move
Beginner course · lesson plan for a 60-minute live group class · for the coach
Lesson plan · Worksheet · Answer key · 12-week syllabus
Learning objective
Students can set up the board, move and capture with each of the six pieces, and say what checkmate means.
Before class (under 10 minutes)
Prerequisites: None. For complete beginners.
- Open the class from the coach screen 10 minutes early and send nothing yet.
- In the lesson library, open "Week 1 demonstration" so the first position is ready.
- Print or share the Week 1 worksheet for families who want practice at home.
Class plan, minute by minute
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Warm-up Say hello by first name (only you see names). Ask everyone to tap the “I’m ready” card. Ask: “Who has played chess before?” (thumbs up on video). |
| 5–20 min | Shared board: the pieces Load "Week 1 demonstration". Start with the setup: ask where each piece starts (queen on her own colour, a light square in each player’s right-hand corner). Then show each piece alone: draw arrows for where it can go. Give one student control to move each piece once ("Give control", then "Take back control"). |
| 20–35 min | Puzzles on their own boards Puzzles → "Week 1 practice" → Start puzzles. Every student takes six free pieces, one with each kind of piece. Watch the small boards; help by voice. Mixed-level group? Choose "Week 1 all levels" instead: it starts easy and gets harder, and each student goes at their own pace. |
| 35–52 min | Play each other Play each other → Pair students and start. Goal for today: make legal moves and capture pieces; nobody needs to win. The board refuses illegal moves, so students learn the rules by trying. |
| 52–60 min | Review Shared board: load the last demonstration position (checkmate with the rook). Ask the review questions below. Preview next week: a pawn can become a queen. |
Shared-board demonstration
In the lesson app: Lesson library → Week 1 demonstration: How the pieces move.
The starting position. White moves first.
Light square on each player’s right. Queen on her own colour (white queen on d1, a light square).
The rook moves in straight lines: up, down and sideways, as far as it likes.
Draw arrows along the d-file and the 4th row. Rooks can’t jump over pieces.
The bishop moves diagonally, as far as it likes, and stays on its colour.
Draw the two diagonals through d4. Ask: can this bishop ever reach a light square? (No.)
The queen moves like a rook and a bishop together.
Draw all eight directions. The queen is the strongest piece.
The knight jumps in an L: two squares one way, then one to the side. It can jump over pieces.
Circle the eight squares it can reach. A knight always lands on the other colour.
Pawns move forward one square (two on their first move) and capture diagonally.
Draw arrows: the c2 pawn can go to c3 or c4 (two squares on its first move). The e4 pawn can capture on d5 (exd5). Pawns never move backwards.
White to move: checkmate in 1 with the rook.
The king moves one square any way. Check = the king is attacked. Checkmate = in check with no way out.
Answer: Ra8# attacks the king, and it has no safe square: the white king covers g7 and h7. That is checkmate, the goal of the game.
Puzzles on every student’s own board
In class: Puzzles → choose the set → Start puzzles. Each student solves on their own board while you watch every board live. A wrong move gets a reason or a hint (for example “look for a check”), and any checkmate counts as solved.
- Everyone: Week 1 practice: How the pieces move (6 puzzles). The worksheet uses the same puzzles.
- Mixed-level group: Week 1 all levels: How the pieces move (14 puzzles): the 4 easier ones first, then the practice set, then 4 harder ones. Each student goes at their own pace, so beginners stay with the easier puzzles while stronger students reach the harder ones.
- A whole group that needs more support: Week 1 easier: How the pieces move. A whole group ready for more: Week 1 harder: How the pieces move.
Check for understanding
- Which piece can jump over other pieces? Answer: The knight.
- How does a pawn capture? Answer: One square diagonally forward.
- What is checkmate? Answer: The king is attacked (in check) and has no way out. It ends the game.
Help for beginners
Name the piece before moving it. If a student is stuck, give control on the shared board and let them try each piece on an empty board; the board only allows legal moves.
For stronger students
"Week 1 harder": choose the most valuable capture, choose the capture that can’t be taken back, and a first checkmate.
Every position, answer and hint on this page is checked move by move with chess.js before it is published. Real-game puzzles come from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).