New to Java

I was just wondering the different ways one could go about resetting a JPanel. That is to clear everything then reload it.
AKA a game of chess where the pieces have already been moved...then on the click of a button the pieces go back to their original starting positions.

I've checked the API and fiddled about with hide(), show(), dispose() and re-adding the contents but to no avail. Well one method sort've worked but my algorithms became un-workable.

Just wondering what the best (most efficient perhaps?) way of going about this would be.

Thank you in advance.