The Chess Page

To be a strong player in chess, you must practice a lot.

This page will hopefully teach you a bit about chess, and make you a better player.

Chess is a game in which you have to think a lot. If you move too quickly, without thinking, your opponent will get one of your good pieces, and if you carry on doing that you will lose the game. So, it's not a race in chess. Take all the time you need.

The Ranks

Pawn: One pawn

Knight: Three pawns

Bishop: Three pawns

Rook: Five pawns

Queen: Nine pawns

King: Most important

You've probably noticed that the knight and the bishop are worth the same number of pawns. It's up to you to decide which one is more worthy. The piece that you can play better is the more worthy piece for you.

Check

Check is when the king is being attacked. The king is the most important piece, and cannot be captured. So, you must protect your king.

The Object of the Game

The object of the game is to put your pieces in such a position that it traps the opponent's king, and it cannot move anywhere. This is called checkmate.

Example #1:

Example #2:

Draws

The game can draw in three ways:

No.1: If there is no move that you can do, and you are not under check, it is stalemate, and the game draws.

No.2: If somebody offers a draw and his/her opponent agrees, it is a draw.

No.3: If one of the players check the opponent's king in the same place for three consecutive moves, it is a draw.

About the pieces...

Use your pawns. They may not be very powerful, but if you get a pawn to the other side of the chessboard, you can promote it into any piece except the king (you should obviously promote it into a queen).

The knight is'the odd piece out', because it's the only piece that can jump over other pieces. It's special ability can be very useful.

The bishop moves diagonally. It can be useful when it is in the corner of the chessboard. It has little chance of people noticing it, and if an important piece is placed in a square that could be attacked by the bishop, you can simply capture it.

The rook is extremely useful. It can attack fifteen squares at once! I value it a lot.

The queen is, without a doubt, the most powerful piece in the game. Sure, the king is the most important, but not the most powerful. Use the queen wisely.

You must protect the king. If not, your king will eventually get checkmated, and you'll lose the game.

Taking pieces

You must take your opponent's pieces and make his side weaker, but in doing so, you must not be rash, but think carefully. There may be a piece protecting it and will take you if you take it. Therefore, if there is something protecting that piece, do not take it unless your piece is of a lower rank than your opponent's.

WARNING

If a lower ranked piece of your opponent attacks one of your higher ranked pieces, very rarely should you, even if you notice it, leave it for later and attack your opponent's king/queen. This is because your opponent might attack it and you will have two of your good pieces in danger.

Algebraic Notation

The rows of squares on the chessboard are called ranks and the columns of squares are called files. The ranks are labelled from 1 to 8 and the files are labelled from a - h. We use these numbers and letters to describe where pieces are on the chessboard. In the diagram the blue cross is on the squared named f3 and the circle is on c7. Notice how the letter always comes first and the number follows it.

There are some symbols you should know when reading or writing chess notation.

K - King

Q - Queen

R - Rook

B - Bishop

N - Knight

x - Captures

+ - Check

++ or # - Checkmate

O-O - Castles King's side

O-O-O - Castles Queen's side

1.f2-f4 e7-e5

2.f4xe5 d7-d6

3.e5xd6 Bf8xd6

4.g2-g3 Qd8-g5

5.Ng1-f3 Qg5xg3+

6.h2xg3 Bd6xg3#

The first column is for the White moves and the second column is for the Black moves. First of all the symbol for the piece is written, then the square on which this piece was standing, then a hyphen (-), then the square to which this piece moves. If a pawn moves the symbol is omitted.

Castling

Castling is an odd move. It is the only move when the king can move two spaces, and it is the only move when you can move two pieces at once. There are two ways of castling. One way is when you castle on the kingside (the kingside is the side where the king is). First, you have to take out the bishop and knight on that side.To castle, you move the king two spaces right, and move the rook two spaces left. The other way is to castle on the queenside (the queenside is the side where the queen is): You first take out your queen, your bishop, and your knight. Then, to castle, you move your king two squares left and you move your rook three squares right. The whole purpose of castling is to put your king in a safer position.You cannot castle when you are under check, and you cannot castle if your rook or your king has already moved.

Skewers

The skewer is very useful.It is used by the bishop,the rook, and sometimes the queen. Suppose your opponent's king and queen are both on the same diagonal line. Suppose you give a check to that king with a bishop, by placing it on the diagonal line where the opponent's king and queen is. The opponent will move his king, but that will leave the queen open to you, so you can take it. You don't have to skewer the king and queen. You can use the skewer on other pieces. If you want to use a rook for a skewer, everything has to be done in a straight line.

Pins

Pins are exactly like skewers, except you attack the piece of less value.

In the picture above, the white rook is pinning a black knight and the black king.

Deflection

Deflection is a tricky move. Take a good look at the diagram below.

If the white rook moves four squares forward then the black king and queen will get skewered. The king will then obviously have to move, and if he tries to protect the black queen then the white queen or rook can take the black queen and that piece will remain protected. Then the black king cannot take it.

Decoying

In chess, the tactic known as decoying is when you force your opponent to do something. Look at the diagram below.

If white's bishop above the white knight takes the black pawn diagonal to the black king then the black king will be forced to take that white bishop. Then white's queen can take the black queen because it is unprotected.

This is what it looks like in the end:

Overloading

Overloading is when a single piece is protecting more than one other piece. In the picture below the black knight diagonal to the white queen is overloaded-it is protecting another black knight and a black bishop. If white takes the black knight that is being protected using the white bishop below the white queen then the other black knight will take that white bishop. Then the white queen can take the black bishop which is now unprotected. Now white is leading by a piece.

Destroying the guard

You don't need an explanation for destroying the guard. It means exactly what you think it means. Look at the picture below.

A black knight is protecting the black queen. If the white bishop that is protecting the white queen takes that black knight then he's "destroying the guard", isn't he? The pawn that was protecting that black knight can take the white bishop, but the unprotected black queen can now be taken by the white queen.

This is what it looks like in the end:

Discovered Check

Discovered check is a useful tactic. As you can see in the picture above, the white king is blocking the white queen from checking the black king. If it is white to move, and the white king moves somewhere, then black king is in danger, and he is checked, as you can see in the picture below.

Discovered Attacks

Discovered attacks are even more useful than discovered checks. As you can see in the picture above, the white bishop is blocking both the queens from attacking each other. If it is white's turn to move, white can take the pawn which is diagonal to the black king (see the picture below), and that king will be in check. Black can take the white bishop with the king if he wants, but the black queen can be taken by the white queen because the bishop is not blocking the attack any more.

Forks

The fork is an excellent move, mainly used by the knight. It can also be used by the rook, the bishop and the queen. When you do a fork, you attack two pieces at once. If you move a knight onto a square which lets the knight attack two pieces at once, it is a fork. This move works best when you are attacking the king and the queen at once. Your opponent must move the king, because it is under check. His/her queen is also in danger, so after he/she has moved, you can simply take the queen. Forks do not always have to be done by attacking the king and queen, but it is best to attack the important pieces. Your opponent will have to move his/her better piece, and after thats done, you can take the other piece.Clever, eh?

En passant

En passant is a French phrase which means 'in passing'.This is how you do it:

The black pawn forward two squares. Then the white pawn takes the black pawn by moving diagonal, landing on the square in front of the black pawn. This is en passant.

Puzzles

This is puzzle #1. It is white's turn to move. Try to get black checkmated in three moves.

This is puzzle #2. It is white's turn to move. Try to get black checkmated in seven moves.

This is puzzle #3. It is white's turn to move. Try to get black checkmated in three moves.

This is puzzle #4. It is white's turn to move. Try to get black checkmated in thirteen moves.

This is puzzle #5. It is white's turn to move. Try to get black checkmated in five moves.

This is puzzle #6. It is white's turn to move. Try to get black checkmated in five moves.

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