How to play Chess
IntroductionFirstly, apologies to my fellow team mates who know my game, have played against me and who will be amazed that I know the rules at all!
Chess is played between two players, known as white and black on a square board of 64 dark and light squares. White always goes first and each turn a single piece is moved. There is one exception to this, Castling, which I will discuss later. There are six different pieces which have their own way of moving. The object of the game is to put the King in a position where he will be captured. That is known as checkmate.
The board is set up as shown here. I will detail what the pieces are shortly. Notice that on the right hand corner closest to the player there is a white square. That is the correct way for the board to be placed. Also notice the letters along the bottom and the numbers along the side. They are used in notation, and can be useful as a handy way of finding ones way around the board.
The pieces in Chess each have their own rules. There are six types, the Pawn, the Knight, the Bishop, the Rook, the Queen and the King. With the exception of the Knight, pieces cannot jump other pieces of either colour. If another piece is blocking the way, then the moving piece must stop. To take a piece of the opposite colour, the taking piece is put on the square the opposing piece is on and that is then taken off the board. All pieces apart from the Pawn may move forwards or backwards.
The Rook moves horizontally and vertically only.
The Bishop moves diagonally only, which means it stays on the same coloured squares throughout the game. Each side has a white squared and a black squared Bishop.
The Queen moves horizontally, vertically or diagonally, which makes the Queen a powerful piece being able to move like a Rook or a Bishop.
The Knight moves in an ‘L’ shape. It moves two places horizontally and then one vertically or two places vertically and then one place horizontally.
The Pawn, of which there are eight on either side only moves in one direction, towards the opponents side. It can only move one square at a time, except on its first move when it can make a double move. The pawn also takes by moving one square diagonally. If a pawn makes it to the other side of the board, where its next move would take it off the board then it can be exchanged for any other piece apart from a King. This is known as promotion. It is usual to replace it with a Queen, as this is the most powerful piece, but in certain, unusual circumstances another piece can be chosen.
In figure f the pawn on e2 is on its starting square, so it can move one or two places. The pawn on c3 can only move forward one space, but, because there is a piece on d4, it can take it. The black pawn on g2 is about to get promoted.
The King
The King is the most important piece on the board. Its imminent capture is the end of the game. It can move only one square at a time, but to any of the squares directly adjacent.
The King cannot move into a position where it is attacked by an enemy piece. If an enemy piece moves into a position where it is attacking the King, then the King is said to be in 'Check' and the person moving the piece generally says 'Check' to highlight the fact. One consequence of this is that the Kings cannot be right next to each other.
The King must get out of Check in the next move. There are three ways of getting out of Check, moving the King out of the way, taking the piece that is giving Check or by interposing a piece between the Checking piece and the King. If none of the above are available, the King is in Checkmate and the game is lost.
In figure h, the King is in Check from the Queen. The King cannot take the Queen, because that would leave the King in Check from the Rook. No piece can come between the King and the Queen, so the King must move. All of the squares with the dots on are being attacked by the Queen, so the King can only move to the squares c4 or d3. If there was a Knight positioned as in figure i then the two flight squares are also covered (the squares with the 'X'), and the King would be in Checkmate.
Castling is the only move which involves two pieces. It is a way of getting the King to safety and getting one of the Rooks out. To castle, the King is moved two squares towards the Rook that is being used, and the Rook is moved to the other side of the King. See figure j where white has castled on the queenside (called castling long) and Black has castled kingside (called castling short).
There are conditions to when Castling can be done. Castling can only be done if the King and the Rook which will be castled with have not yet moved, and there is no piece between the Rook and the King. Castling cannot be done to get out of Check and the King cannot move through a square that is attacked.
In figure k, white can castle either side, but black cannot castle at all at the moment. Black cannot castle queenside at all, because the Rook (on b8) has moved. Black would be able to castle Kingside, if whites Bishop (on d6) is moved off the attacking diagonal or is taken (it is attacking square f8, which the King would need to pass through to castle). Note that whites Rook will move through a square (b1) that is attacked by blacks Queen on b6. That is allowable.
There is one special move that a Pawn can make. It is called en passent (pronounced ‘on passon’, meaning ‘in passing’). This is to prevent a Pawn making its initial two square advance to avoid being taken by an opposing Pawn.
In figure l, it is whites move and the Pawn on e2 uses its first move optional two square advance, leaving it adjacent to blacks Pawn on d4.blacks next move (and for en passent, it must be the next move) black can take whites pawn as if it had only moved one square. This means that whites Pawn is removed from the board, and blacks Pawn is moved one square diagonally forward onto the white pawns file. The diagram shows which square blacks pawn finishes on.
Either player can resign at any time. The other player then is considered the winner.
The players can agree to a draw at any time.
If the same position occurs three times in a game, then a draw can be claimed.
If 50 moves are made without a pawn move or a piece being captured then a draw can be claimed by either side.
A special version of the repetition of moves is pepetual check. This is where one side can keep forcing the other side to make the same moves to get out of check. As an example, look at figure m. It is blacks move, but he sees that all white needs to do is move the Rook from b4 to b8 and he will be checkmated and will lose. Blacks next move must count, or the game is lost.
The only answer in this case is to go for a perpetual check. This is achieved by moving the Knight to h3 as in figure n. The only legal move white has is to move the King to h1 as shown. Black can then move the Knight to f2 (see figure o). That forces white to move the King back, and then white can move the Knight back to h3. Black can force white to concede a draw because of the perpetual check as the Knight is moved backwards and forwards from f2 to h3.
A game is stalemated when the side whose move it is has no legal move left. It generally occurs in the endgame, when there are only pawns and Kings left. It is considered a draw. In the following diagram, it is blacks and it is stalemate. The white Queen is not attacking the square the black King is on, but the black King cannot move because the Queen is attacking all the squares around it apart from d7, but the King cannot move there because of the white King.
A game is considered a draw if there is not enough material to force a mate. It is considered a draw. Here is a list of what pieces it is impossible to achieve mate with:
I hope this has been of use. These are only the very basic rules, and if you have any queries about the rules, don't hesitate to E-Mail me.
Here is a page I have written on tactics. Now you understand the rules, this is the next thing to learn.