Chess is a boardgame for two. Just like Mathematics, it is only appreciated by few. It is a good mental exercise which requires good patience, quick thinking and logic.
You can't just play chess without knowing the basics. I was once given a copy of this book when they found out I would be representing my school in a chess competition:
An Invitation to Chess: by Irving Chernev and Kenneth Harkness
Studying the book cover to cover though does not guarantee making you a grandmaster. From the title of the bok itself, it is more of introduction to chess where you have to learn the basics and how the play it. If you like puzzles, you will enjoy reading it. Later on you will finally understand the concept of the game. Without learning the foundation of chess, all of your games will be just a result of trial error.
Chess game is a battle between the white pieces and the black pieces. We can set aside the idea of racial discrimination. They have different colors only to identify which side a player is. To win, a player has to captureo the King from the other side. They can use whatever tactics they have in mind using the other pieces. In order to win, you have to be able to anticipate your opponent's move or wait until he makes a blunder (a bad move caused by an oversight or carelessness). The more pieces you have over your opponent, the more chances you have of winning the game. So make sure that whenever a piece is taken from you, you have to take something of the same or higher value.
First, this is how the positions should be at the start of the game.
What usually confuses the new players are the positions of the kings and queens. Please note that the white Queen is in the white square and black Queen is in the black square.
The characters of the battle are the chess pieces:
The main goal of the game is to capture your opponent's King. It is called a checkmate. It happens when you are about to capture the King and it has nowhere to go. The game ends when the other player captures the other player's King. But the expecting loser doesn't have to wait for a checkmate. He can resign (A term used in chess which means surrender). He gets declared as the winner. If a checkmate will not be possible, it will be a "draw". No one wins but no ones loses.
First, this is how the positions should be at the start of the game.
The characters of the battle are the chess pieces:
From left to right: King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, Pawn
The most commonly assigned values are the following:
Pawn - 1
Bishop and Knight - 3
Rook - 5
Queen - 9
Bishops and Knights are of the same value but not applicable to all. People have different styles in playing and you have to figure out which applies to you. No value assigned to Kings because it is the most important character of the game. When you lose it, you lose the game.
How to move the pieces?
Pawn
Moves one square forward. Allowed to move two squares forward in its very first move. Can take any piece at the left or right infront of it, not the one that is directly infront of it. If it reaches the 8th square, it can get promoted to any piece except King.
Bishop
Bishops move diagonally. They stay in the same square color. It can go as far as it can unless blocked by other pieces.
Knight
The only piece that can attack even if blocked by other pieces. It moves like letter "L" as seen below.
Rook
The rook can move horizontally and vertically. No limit as to how far it can go as long as not blocked. Can take any unblocked pieces.
Queen
Most powerful piece in the game of chess. It is the rook and bishop combined.
King
Can move to any direction but only one square at a time.
My next post for chess will be about the phases of the game and a few samples of checkmates.
