Article 2: The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard
2.1. The chessboard is composed of an 8 x 8 grid of 64 equal squares alternately light (the ‘white’ squares) and dark (the ‘black’ squares).
The chessboard is placed between the players in such a way that the near corner square to the right of the player is white.
2.2. At the beginning of the game White has l6 light-coloured pieces (the ‘white’ pieces), Black has 16 dark-coloured pieces (the ‘black’ pieces).
2.3. The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows:
2.4. The eight vertical columns of squares are called ‘files’. The eight horizontal rows of squares are called ‘ranks’. A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge, is called a ‘diagonal’.