Chess is a board game played by two people. Each person receives a different color, black or white. The goal for each player is to attack the opponent’s King so that it has no escape. Players take turns strategically moving their pieces across the board until they have weakened their opponent’s team enough that they can place the King in “check ” or “check mate. ”
As a beginning chess player you will need to know how to set up the chess board before you begin playing. Place the checkered board in between two players. All of the white pieces will be sitting on one side of the board, and the all the black pieces will be on the opposite side. Both players should see a white square in the right corner; this is easy for beginners to remember as “white on right. ” Most chess boards have either numbers or letters on them. If it has numbers make sure that the “1 ” is closest to the white and “8 ” is closest to the black. If you have letters make sure that “a ” is closest to the white and “h ” is closest to the black. Each chess game should come with 16 white pieces and 16 black pieces. Let’s look at each piece and the rules of movement.
Rules of Movement for chess pieces
Pawns
In the game of chess you will have 8 pawns. Pawns can only move forward; never backwards or sideways. If you are white, then each time you move your pawn you should be moving towards the black side of the chess board. The pawn will generally only move one square at a time; however there is an exception to this rule. In its first move when it is sitting on the second row it can move one or two squares.
Knights
The Knight has the fanciest move in chess. It moves one square vertically or horizontally in any direction you want it to go, then one square perpendicular to your first move. The Knight changes the color of its square each time it makes a move. Knight’s move in an L-shape.
Rooks
The rook can move any number of squares along its same row or column. The rook is the only piece that always has the same number of squares when sitting on an empty board. Rooks are considered the heavy artillery on a chess board.
Bishops
The bishop piece only moves along the diagonal on any number of squares. They are confined to squares of a single color for the whole game. They cannot hop over other pieces.
The Queen
The Queen only moves on straight lines. She can move any number of squares along its row, column, or diagonal. This piece is the most powerful in the game as she has the combined moves of the rook and the Bishop.
The King
The King can move in any direction as long as it is only one square. Quite possibly the easiest move on the board.
Castling
Although during the game of chess the King has the simplest move, it can make one special move during the game; castling. Castling is the only situation in chess where you can move two pieces at the same time. There are however some restrictions on castling.
The first restriction is that the King and the rooks must still be on their initial squares and cannot have been moved previously.
The second restriction is that the squares between the king and the rook must be empty.
Pawn Promotion
Once the pawn reaches the eighth row there is a special reward; promotion. Once the pawn reaches the eighth row it is changed into another piece. This is called promotion and is usually changed into the queen.
Winning the Game
In the game of chess players attack each others pieces continually. Some attacks are ignored as there is a much bigger plan in mind. There is however one attack that cannot be ignored; an attack on the King. In chess you can’t ever leave your King under attack. If he is compromised and put in “check ” position it has to be moved. If an opponent’s piece places the King in the “check mate ” position where the King cannot move anywhere without being threatened the game ends.
This pretty much covers chess rules for beginners. You should be able to begin play; the next hardest part is figuring out your strategy. Have fun and good luck.
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