Introduction
Chess is one of the worlds most famous strategy games that has been loved around the world since its inception. The aim of the game is to checkmate your opponent by making moves to capture your opponent’s king by getting your pieces in the kings line of sight blocking any way of escape your opponent intends to make whilst also preventing you’re opponents pieces from protecting the king. Each side has eight pawns and a pair of each of the major pieces ,two horses ,two bishops ,two castles ,one king and one queen. By using the pieces on the board together with a strategy you’ll be much more likely to find success in chess.
Chess is a game of learning and implementing strategy and utilising pattern recognition along with many other principles to find a way to checkmate your opponent first. By learning the basic rules to chess and consistent practice your chess skills over time will improve and you will be able to out play your opponent and win a chess game. The best chess players are those that practice every day. By playing chess regularly you will be much more familiar with the most common styles of play making it easier to recognise patterns in the game.
The first thing to familiarise yourself with when learning how to play chess would be the chess board ,the pieces used in the game and how to use them.
Once you are able to recognise the different chess pieces and how they move you’ll be one step closer to being able to understand how chess is played.
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The chess board
Chess is played on a 8 by 8 board consisting of 64 squares. The board is separated by the length and width into ranks and files. The horizontal rows are called the files and the vertical columns are called the ranks. The Ranks are numbered from 1 to 8 and the files are lettered from A to H. The board is usually divided into alternating black and white squares but can be any alternating light and dark colour or sometimes even plain simply separated by squares.
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The chess pieces
The rook or the castle
Each player should have two castles and they should be placed in each side at the back row or file. Rooks have a value of 5 points in chess.
The bishop
Each player should have two bishops and they should be placed at the third to last square next to the king and queen on each side of the board. Bishops have a value of 3 in chess.
The knight or the horse
Each player should have two knights and they should be placed at the second to last square next to the castle on each side of the board. Knights have a value of 3 in chess.
The king
Each player should have one king and the king should be placed on the back file next to the bishop with the king being in a square opposite to his colour. The king is the most powerful piece in chess and is priceless in value.
The Queen
Each player should have one queen and the queen should be placed on the back row next to the king. The queen should also be placed in a square matching the colour of the piece. For example a black queen should be placed in a black square and a white queen should be placed in a white square. Hence the term Queen on her own colour. The queen is the second most powerful piece next to the king and has a value of 9 in chess.
The Pawn
Each player should have eight pawns and they should be placed on the second to last row of the board in the squares directly in front of the major pieces. Pawns have a value of 1 in chess.
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Calculating How Much Each Chess Piece Is Worth
By calculating the numerical value of chess pieces you will be able to capture during the game you will be able to work out who has the greatest material advantage. It would be wise to try to capture your opponents pieces that are worth the most as the highest valued pieces tend to do the most damage during the game. Its common to sacrifice lower valued pieces in order to protect the higher value pieces however there are some instances in the game where sacrificing higher valued pieces can ultimately allow you to gain an advantage either short term or long term in the right circumstances so stay vigilant for any opportunity to take you one step closer to delivering a checkmate to your opponent.
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How To Use The Different Chess Pieces
Now that your familiar with the chess board and the pieces used in the game its time to learn how to use them when playing chess.
The pawn moves one square forward at a time but can move two squares on its first move. The pawn can only capture another piece if it is in the square diagonal to it.
The Queen can move into any square travelling forward ,backwards ,sideways and diagonally as long as there are no pieces blocking the path.
The King can move one square at a time in any direction.
The Castle can move forward and backwards and sideways as far as it may as long as its path is not obstructed.
The Knight moves two squares forward or backwards and one square to the left or right making a L shape.
The bishop can travel diagonally in any direction as far as needed as long as its path is clear.
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Playing the game
When learning how to play chess the first rule to remember is that the white pieces get to move first. An important point to also remember is that the first move in the game for both sides is as important as the move that delivers the checkmate not only should you think a few moves ahead but you should aim to control the centre of the board as soon as possible to gain the advantage. The whites will have a slight advantage because of this but ultimately the player that’s able to use all the pieces together synergistically with the most strategy will win the game.
Each player should take turns moving one piece at a time in order to find a way to checkmate the opponent. Playing chess is a game of strategy and planning , the best chess players think many moves ahead in order to estimate their opponents most likely move and their best response. Being able to think abstractly about strategic moves that you can make in the game will benefit you as it will allow you to find moves in the game that may be of strategic importance as the game progresses that may not have been feasible in the previous moves in the game.
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Capturing pieces
To capture an opponents pieces you need to have a piece that’s travelling path is in the direction of the piece you want to capture. For example for a knight to capture a pawn or any other piece it has to be in the knights finishing square once the move is complete. The knight will then be able to capture the piece in the square it needs to land in by replacing the captured piece with the knight and occupying the square.
When playing chess it’s important to protect your pieces especially the major pieces such as the queen, the castle, the bishop and the knight. The pawns need to be protected also but not as much as the major pieces previously mentioned and will likely be sacrificed during the game in order to gain a short term advantage. The kings protection is of the upmost importance and the exposure of the king to the opponent will result in a check. The more of your opponents pieces that you capture the harder it will be for them to deliver a checkmate.
The King, the queen , the bishop and the rook can capture the opponents pieces as long as the opponents piece is in its path.
The pawn can only capture the opponents piece if the opponents piece is diagonally in front of it.
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En Passant
En passant means “in passing” in French. To capture pawns with the en passant rule your opponent needs to move their pawn two squares on the first move so that their pawn is next to your pawn after you’ll be able to respond in an unusual way by instead of moving your pawn forward as is the standard move or diagonally forward when capturing another piece you will be able to move your pawn in the space behind your opponents pawn in order to capture it. However you can only do an en passant move immediately after your opponents moves his pawn in such a way that leaves an en passant open in other words the opportunity to take an en passant will be gone by your next move if it is not taken the moment the chance arises.
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What Is Castling In Chess
Castling is when you have cleared the kings back file of all the pieces apart from the castle on either the kings side or the queens side and you intend to gain a strategic advantage by allowing the king and the castle to switch sides which is usually performed as a defensive manoeuvre and when used at the right time it can give you an offensive advantage. To castle move your king two spaces to the right or left and place the rook from the side your castling from on the opposite side of the king. You will not be able to castle if your king was in check in its previous turn or if castling would put your king in check by your opponent. You also will not be able to castle if any of the squares needed to castle are in the line of sight of your opponents pieces and are under attack.
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Getting a pawn to the other side of the board
If your able to get your pawn to the opponents back file congratulations your now able to replace your pawn with any piece on the board giving you an extra advantage in the game by allowing you to have more powerful pieces to accomplish your goal of delivering a checkmate to your opponent. Its possible to have multiples of the same pieces on the chess board because of this rule. For instance you may have multiple queens or knights or castles or any piece on the chess board depending on how many pieces your able to get to the other side of the chess board.
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Delivering a check
To check your opponent any of your pieces needs to have your opponents king in their line of sight. In which case the king would have to move into a safe square before they will be able to move any other piece except to block the path of the king in check.
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Delivering a checkmate
To checkmate your opponent you need to position your pieces in a way that places your opponents king in check and prevents their king from moving and any other piece from blocking the path to the king. Once the king has been checkmated the game is over so protect your king at all costs.
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