Chess 101: Learning Basics

Welcome to Chess 101: Learning Basics! In this post we'll be talking about the most basic things in the world of Chess.com and chess in general.

This post is also available in Spanish

We know that starting in the world of chess isn't that easy, there are millions of strategies, openings, variations, and a lot of things to take into account in the world of chess. This post will summarize some of the most basic things in the world of chess, such as: The movement of the pieces, the value of each one, the basic rules, basic terms and we will also talk about Scholars's Mate, which is one of the most easy checkmates to-do and one of the deadliest.

The person who made this post is also a newbie like you, but after having done everything necessary to complete this post satisfactorily I can say that I'm one post ahead of everyone, but you'll also be soon.

101: The movement and the fuction of the pieces
There are some pieces in the world of chess that are present in absolutely every game and they all have a very important function. Those important pieces are; The pawn , the knight , the bishop , the rook , the queen and the king .

Let's start talking about the pawn 
This piece is probably one of the first pieces we think about moving at the beginning of each opening, this piece is in charge of keeping our entire army safe. This is the least valuable piece in the entire board, but not the least important.

This piece has a small peculiarity, when this piece reaches the end of the board, it is forced to become a piece of higher value, that is what we call promoting. Promoting can be something that changes the course of the game completely, that is why we always seek to protect our pawns for 2 simple reasons: Having a shield that protects us from possible attacks and the possibility of promoting in the future. But you also need to be careful, someone can promote against you and change the course of the game in a couple of moves!

The movement of the pawn is quite simple, it moves vertically along the file it is on, without being able to go back. When the pawn has not yet moved in the entire game, it can choose between moving one or two squares. The pawn only eats the pieces that are diagonal.      

Next, we need to talk about the knight  
This piece is probably one of the most iconic pieces in chess and also one of the most deceptive. This piece is the second cheapest piece in chess, with a tie against the bishop, which we will talk about later.

It has a movement similar to an "L" (also called "hammer"), this is the only piece that can jump squares on the chess board, that makes the knight and pawn the only pieces to start with as the first move in the opening.

The next piece is the bishop
This is the piece with the most horizontal reach on the chess board, which is because this piece can only move and capture horizontally. A very basic but deadly piece. The only piece with the same range is the queen, which we will talk about later.

This piece has the same value as the knight, but its functions are very different, the bishop is generally used to defend and attack many squares from a long range and the knight focuses on protecting and attacking squares from a close distance, which makes it vulnerable to captures. We like to call the bishop "the sniper", due to his great range and mortality.

The next piece approaching is the rook or tower
This piece is very similar to the bishop, only instead of attacking all the squares horizontally it attacks all the squares of the same line vertically, from behind and in front, unlike the pawn which can only attack forward.

The rook is the fourth most valuable piece on the chess board, only behind the queen and the king. Which makes it the most valuable piece present more than 1 time on the chess board.




Next, the second most valuable piece on the board, the queen
This piece is the most valuable on the board without counting the king, this piece has the movement of the bishop and the rook combined. This piece is the main cause of most checkmates and is our most important and deadly attacker.

This piece can attack all squares vertically on its line and can also attack all squares horizontally from its square. We recommend at all costs to defend the queen as best you can, because being an attacker it usually occupies a very active position on the board, which makes it a flank for many threats. The slightest mistake can lead to the loss of the queen, which in the long term would lead to an eventual loss if you do not know how to manage that damage.



And finnally, the most valuable and important piece, the king
What can I say about the king, this piece is the most important on the entire chess board, this piece has the value that you are willing to give to a chess game, basically, the value of the king is the game. We call checkmate the situation where the king is threatened by a piece and has no square to go to or no piece to save him. This situation is considered game over. Checkmate is usually the biggest cause of the end of a game, but also the abandonment.

The king can take all the pieces adjacent to his square, but if taking a piece will lead to the loss of the king, that will not be a valid move on the chess board. We also call a drowned king the situation in which the king does not have any legal move and does not have any other piece to move and pass the turn.

102: The value of the pieces
We talk about the value of the pieces, but... Do we really know what value is? After reading the previous category, you should know that a bishop is worth more than a pawn but less than a rook. So I will ask you this question; Is it worth sacrificing a bishop for a rook or a pawn for a knight?

To help you answer this question I will present you this table, which will be one of the ones you need most on your journey through the world of chess:

Pawn  is worth 1 point in the chess board.
Bishop  is worth 3 points in the chess board.
Knight  is also worth 3 points in the chess board.
Rook is worth 5 points in the chess board.
Queen is worth 9 points in the chess board.
King is worth the match, so you should always protect it.

After analyzing this table, could you answer the question at the beginning? If so and you analyzed correctly, we can confirm that it is worth sacrificing a bishop for a rook because the bishop is worth 3 material points and the rook is worth 5 material points. Same with the pawn, it is also worth sacrificing because the pawn is worth 1 material point and the knight is worth 3 material points.

But it's not always all about material, sometimes you have to analyze the situation and determine if it is worth changing a piece for a higher value or keeping the current material to get a future material advantage of higher quantity or perhaps a checkmate. Let's check the next fictional scenery to better understand this:




After analyzing that position and taking into account that it is White's turn to move, can you see how the rook worth 5 points can capture the queen worth 9 points completely free of charge? But if you were more attentive, you will see that White can simply move the rook up and make a check. Black will try to defend by raising the queen but White will eat it and the game will end with a checkmate for White. In case you take the queen, Black could simply move the knight to protect Black's weak square to prevent Black's rook from checkmating. Although at this point the game is already lost for Black, due to material advantage of the whites, black will still have an extra life.

103: The basic rules
Every game has rules, but chess is not the exception. This fun and interesting game has a couple of simple rules, which can be memorized and learned very easily, I invite you to see them:

• Board Setup: Place the board so that each player has a white square on their right-hand side. Set up the pieces as follows:
Place the rooks on the corners, place the knights next to the rooks, place the bishops next to the knights, place the queen on the remaining square of her own color, place the king on the remaining square of the opposite color, place the pawns on the second rank.

• Objective: The objective of the game is to checkmate your opponent's king. This means the king is in a position to be captured (in check), and there is no way to remove it from capture on the next move (checkmate).

• Special Moves: Castling: A special move involving the king and a rook, allowing both to move at once. It can only be done if neither piece has moved before and if there are no pieces between them. The king moves two squares towards the rook, and the rook moves to the square next to the king. There is a long castling and a short castling within the board.

En passant: A special pawn capture that can occur immediately after a player moves a pawn two squares forward from its starting position, and it lands next to an opponent's pawn. The opponent has the option to capture the pawn "en passant" by moving their pawn to the square the moved pawn skipped over.

• Check and checkmate: Check: When a player's king is under attack by an opponent's piece, it is in check. The player must get their king out of check immediately.

Checkmate: When a player's king is in check, and there is no legal move to get out of check, it is checkmate, and the game ends in a loss for the player whose king is checkmated.

• Draws: A game can end in a draw through various means such as insufficient material (when neither player has enough material to force checkmate), repetition of moves, or mutual agreement.

These would be all the rules that every person should know if they want to dedicate themselves to playing chess casually or professionally.

104: Basic terms
All games have their terms, such as we say GG "Good Game" after each game of a video game or GL "Good Luck" before each game. Although these would be abbreviations, I will teach you something similar in the world of chess, things that only people who play chess will know.

Newbie terms

• Check: A situation in which the king is threatened by an opponent's piece. The player whose king is in check must find a way to protect it or escape the check on their next move.
• Checkmate: A situation in which the king is in check and there is no way to prevent it from being captured on the next move. This marks the end of the game and grants victory to the player who achieves checkmate.
• Pawn Double Move: On the first move of a pawn, it can advance two squares instead of one. This is an option available to the player at the beginning of the game.
• Castling: A special move in which the king moves two squares toward a rook and the rook is placed next to the king on the other side. This move can only be made if neither the king nor the rook has been moved previously, and there are no pieces between them.
• Capture: When a piece moves to a square occupied by an opponent's piece, the opponent's piece is captured and removed from the board.
• Promotion: When a pawn reaches the opponent's back rank, it can be promoted to any other piece (except a king). Usually, players choose to promote it to a queen, as it is the most powerful piece.

Advanced terms

• Diagonal Move: A move in which a piece travels along a diagonal line on the board.
• Fork: A tactic in which one piece attacks two or more opponent pieces simultaneously. This often results in gaining material advantage since the opponent can only save one of the threatened pieces.
• Pin: A situation in which a piece is unable to move because doing so would expose a more valuable piece behind it to attack. This is often accomplished by pinning a piece against its king.
• Skewer: Similar to a pin, but in a skewer, a valuable piece is attacked first and, when it moves, a less valuable piece is exposed behind it and captured.
• Zwischenzug (Intermediate Move): A tactical maneuver in which a player inserts an unexpected move in between a sequence of expected moves. This can disrupt the opponent's plans or gain a tactical advantage.
• Perpetual Check: A sequence of moves in which one player continuously checks the opponent's king, forcing a draw due to the repetition of moves.
• Blunder: A serious mistake or oversight in chess, usually resulting in a significant loss of material or a disadvantageous position.
Endgame: The stage of the game where there are few pieces left on the board. Endgames often require different strategic considerations compared to the opening and middlegame phases.
• Opening: The initial phase of the game where players develop their pieces and control the center of the board. There are various well-known opening strategies, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
• Middlegame: The phase of the game following the opening, characterized by tactical maneuvers, piece exchanges, and strategic planning.
• Time Control: The rules governing the amount of time each player has to make their moves.

There are more terms within the world of chess, but it would be impossible to list all the existing terms because new and new terms are created every day. For now to begin your journey you know more than enough to learn to communicate your movements and read the board in a more sophisticated way.

105: Schollar's Mate
We're finally here, the last point of Chess 101: Learning Basics. In this last point we will talk about one of the most popular mates in the world of chess, the Schollar's Mate. This mate is called like this because it's one of the most basic checkmates and one of the first you will receive in your first chess games. This mate is usually made and received by beginner players. Although there are world-class players like Magnus Carlsen who have tried it on several occasions.

The Schollars's mate is also one of the fastest checkmates in the game, since only 4 moves are needed to perform a checkmate and win the game without worries. The objective of this attack is to target the weak pawn on F7 which when played with White is a pawn that is only defended by the black king.

The correct way to start with the opening and perform the mate is as follows:  f4, c4, h5 and f7 (checkmate)
Although this pattern of movements can vary depending on the movements of the black pieces. Below I will show a GIF shared by Chess.com shared in their article about this same mate that will help you understand how it works



To fully understand this mate and learn variations, we recommend watching the following video from the official Chess.com channel, this video teaches how to learn to play four-move mate (Schollar's Mate)

Ending of the Chess 101: Learning Basics post
In the following article Chess 102: Undefined, we will talk about a new mate that you must learn, new moves that you can make and more advanced methods to achieve victory in the world of chess.

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Thank you very much for reading