Chess from scratch
The board, the pieces, the goal of the game and the first key ideas — in a collection for your first month at the chessboard.
shah and go: a beginner's guide to chess and go
Shahgo — chess and go for beginners
Two ancient board games with no dice and no lucky draws: everything comes down to your moves and your opponent's. Here you will find clear explanations of the rules, tips for learning on your own, and advice on finding someone to play with and enjoying the game, not just the result.
A beginner does not need to know a thousand tricks. It is enough to play regularly, ask yourself honestly after every game where it went wrong, and sit down with people who play at roughly your level.
Where to start
Go from scratch
Stones, points, captures and territory: short answers about go for anyone who has never placed a stone on the board.
How to learn
A practical article on reviewing your own game: how to find the moment after which the game slipped away from you.
Playing with others
Etiquette at the board, time controls, your first tournaments and fair play online — in the sections of the guide.
Guide sections
- Sections
The four sections of the guide: chess, go, learning and practice, and playing with real opponents.
- Guides
How to review your own game and find the key mistake: steps, pitfalls, checklist. Plus the article catalogue.
- Questions
Short answers about chess, go, learning and fair play over the board and online.
- Collections
Reading paths: your first month of chess, your first month of go, strategy board games with a child.
- Reference
Glossary: check, checkmate, stalemate, castling, notation, liberty, ko, komi, time control.
- New
A dated feed of new material in the guide, with topics.
- Archive
All material by date and topic, plus a note on the former address on this domain.
Your first game in five steps
Set up the board
For chess, check that each player has a light square in the bottom right-hand corner, then set up the pieces. For go, take a smaller learning board and two bowls of stones.
Agree on the time
Decide beforehand whether you are playing with a clock or without. For your first games, a generous amount of time or a relaxed game with no clock at all works best.
Take your time
Before each move, look at what is threatening your pieces or stones and what your opponent is planning. One slow game teaches you more than several quick ones.
Write down the moves
In chess, record the moves in notation; in go, at least mark the important moments. Without a record, reviewing the game afterwards is almost impossible.
Talk the game over with your opponent
After the game, ask your partner which moment they think was decisive. A second pair of eyes often spots what you missed.
The essentials
Are you a club or a gaming service?
No. Shahgo is a guide with explanations and tips for beginners. We do not host games or competitions, run classes or take students.
Can you recommend an app or website to play on?
We do not name specific ones. When choosing, check whether it has opponents at your level, slow time controls, clear fair-play rules and a way to save your games for review.
Should I start with chess or with go?
With whichever game interests you more. In chess every piece moves in its own way, and a game is often decided by an attack on the king. Go has fewer rules but a bigger board, and the fight is over territory. Both games are excellent at teaching you to think ahead.
Can I use hints from a program during an online game?
No. That is cheating, and every decent community forbids it. A program is useful after the game: it helps you find where you went wrong, but you still have to think those moments through yourself.
About the project
This domain used to host a different website, and later its pages were filled with spam profiles. The current guide has no connection with that site and does not restore its pages. The name came with the domain, and we read it our own way: "shah" is the Persian word for king, the root of "check" and "checkmate", and "go" is the name of the game.
We write for adults and children who are just getting to know chess or go, and for parents who want to play together with their kids. There are no ads for schools or services here, no analysis of famous games by other players and no promises of rapid progress: only rules, key ideas and habits that help you learn on your own.
Sources
- FIDE — Laws of Chess
- UN General Assembly resolution on World Chess Day (2019)
- Encyclopedic sources on the history of chess and go
Information is current as of the date the material was prepared. Official competition rules are revised from time to time, so before a tournament check the current edition of the rules and the regulations of that particular event.