HOW TO PLAY CHESS
As we know chess is a super complicated game, so instead of having to take lessons you can just read this blog!
I will arrange each section in this order:
- The board
- Setting up the board
- The pawns
- The knight
- The bishop
- The rook
- The queen
- The king
- Point chart
The board
The board is made of 64 squares, 8 per row and 8 per column. Here is an image of a board:
Note that the arrows represent the columns
On each row and column there are letters and numbers, (super hard to see) which kind of looks like a street. Each square has a certain coordinate, like b2, or c7. This is an example of coordinates:
Setting up the board
Each player starts with 16 pieces, eight pawns, two bishops, two knights, two rooks, one queen and one king. This is an example of a set up board:
As you see, there are 32 pieces, 16 pawns, 4 bishops, 4 knights, 4 rooks, 2 queens and kings. Now to the actual setting the board part, the rooks (the tower-like pieces) go on the a and h files, (on the 1st and 8th ranks), the knights go on the g and b files, the bishops go on the c and f files, the queen goes to the d file, the king goes on the e file and lastly the pawns go in front (white pawns go on the 2nd rank and the black pawns go on the 7th rank).
The pawns
The pawns are the least valuable pieces. they can go one space forward, on the pawns first move it can go 2 squares forward. But other than that time they have too go 1 space forward. When pawns are capturing a piece they have to go 1 square diagonally. Here is an example:
The arrows all show legal pawn moves.
Another pawn rule is, if it reaches the 8th or 1st rank (depending on who promotes), the pawn can promote to a bishop, knight, queen or a rook. The diagram below is an example:
The last pawn rule is a move called "En Passant". This diagram below is an example:
If a pawn moves to the same rank (the pawn has to move two spaces for this to happen) as the opposite player's pawn then the other play can go diagonally and still capture. These are examples:
The queen
= ( or)
An illegal en passant
That was a legal en passantThe Knight
The knight is a very strange piece. It can move in an L shape. This diagram shows legal knight moves.
The knight also has a special ability, it can actually jump over pieces. It is quite confusing, but this diagram below may help understand.
The knight can only jump over pieces, but not land on same color pieces. The knight actually isn't that much different from other pieces except that it can jump over pieces. Although it has an awesome ability, it is only worth three pawns. Knights are usually favored in closed games because other pieces are more likely to get stuck behind pieces. (Closed games are positions that have very little files and diagonals open)
The bishop
The bishop can only move diagonally, and not over pieces. The bishop is a much more simple piece than the knight and pawn, so this chapter will be shorter. Down below is a diagram of movement.
The arrows and highlighted squares are squares it can go to.
The rook
The rook can only go straight, but as far as it wants, like every piece but the knight, the rook can't jump over pieces. This is an example of how a rook moves.
Rooks are often best on the rank closest to the king in case a piece is able to come to that rank and checkmate the king (explained later).
The queen
The queen is the most powerful piece (if it is used correctly!). It can move straight, and diagonally, so it is ideal for forcing mate. Down below is an example of how the queen moves.
A common mistake with the queen is moving it too early, if you move it too early, then your opponent can gain a tempo (attacking something) and a lead in development (getting your pieces out).
The king
The king is the most valuable piece, in fact, if you lose it you lose the game! The king can move 1 square in any direction, for further understanding look at the diagram below
But, if a square is controlled by the opponent then the king can't go to that square no matter what! Look at the example below.
If a king is attacked, the player is in what is called "check". If the person cannot escape check then they lose the entire game! Down below is an example of check.
Down below is an example of another way too escape check.
The last way to protect check is below.
Now are examples of checkmate.
Another rule of the king is "Stalemate". Stalemate happens when one player has no legal moves but isn't in check. Down below is an example of stalemate.
As you see, in this example the black queen is controlling every square next to the king. But the king isn't in check, so it's stalemate!
The last king rule is called castling. The king jumps two squares to the right or left and the rook goes to the opposite side of the king, for example, look at the diagram.
So, as you see the king goes two squares to the right or left, and the rook goes one square next to where the king was before castling. But if the king has already moved (a move besides castling) then the king is never allowed to castle for the rest of the game. Also, if the king has to pass through check to castle then the king isn't allowed to castle either. The diagram below is an example.
Point chart
Down below I will make a chart of how valuable pieces are.
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Hopefully you enjoyed this blog!!!!!!!
