Questions relating to the chess pieces in a general, abstract sense; questions about physical pieces (e.g. identification questions) should be tagged [chess-set] instead.

There are six separate types of chess piece: the Pawn (see ), the Knight (see ), the Bishop (see ), the Rook (see ), the Queen (see ), and the King (see ).

There are two colors of pieces: a light-colored set (termed White) and an otherwise identical dark-colored set (termed Black). Each set is controlled by one player during a game. Standard chess begins with the first two ranks of the chessboard filled with the White pieces, and the opposite two ranks filled with the Black pieces. The White pieces are placed in the following order on the first rank, left to right: Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, King, Bishop, Knight, Rook. The second rank is filled with eight pawns. The Black setup on the other side of the board mirrors the White setup. In this way, the two Kings are located in the same vertical half of the board (see ), and the Queens are located in the other half (see ).