How Captures Work

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Chess journey. Lesson 20 of 41.

You know how every piece moves. Capturing adds nothing new to learn: a capture is just a normal move that lands on a square where an enemy piece stands. Your piece takes the square; the enemy piece comes off the board and stays off for the rest of the game. Here the rook takes the knight on d5 (chess players write that as Rxd5):

White rook on d1 capturing the black knight on d5

The rook slides up the d-file onto d5. The knight leaves the board; the rook stays on its square.

One piece you can never capture: your own. A friendly piece in the path is simply a wall. This bishop would love to travel up its diagonal, but its own pawn on e3 stops it one square short, and taking the pawn is not an option:

White bishop on c1 blocked by its own pawn on e3

The bishop on c1 reaches d2 and stops. Its own pawn on e3 blocks the diagonal, and friendly pieces are never captured.

One more thing beginners often assume: in chess, capturing is never compulsory. If a capture is a bad idea, you are free to play something else entirely. The rules only offer the take; whether it is wise is the whole art of the game, and it starts in the next lesson.

Try it yourself

The white rook on d1 wants to capture the black knight. Click the square the rook must land on to do it.