copyright 2009, The Washington Post Facts about chess: -- Each player has 16 pieces: eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen and one king. All the pieces are set up the same way every match in two rows in front of each player. Each piece moves a specific way. For example the rook (which looks like a castle) can moveforward, back and sideways any number of spaces, but not diagonally. -- Along the left and right sides of the board are numbers and along the top and bottom are letters. This is how players note their moves. -- To win, a player moves a piece to the space where her opponent's king is. Checkmate is when a king is about to be taken. 