Special Moves

Castling

Castling is a special move used to protect the king and move the rook to the center of the board at the same time.

There are two different kinds of castles, a king side castle and a queen side castle. A king side castle is when the castle is on the side that the king started on. For white it would be Kg1 and Rf1 and for black it would be Kg8 and Rf8. A queenside castle is when you castle on the side that the queen started on. For white it would be Kc1 and Rd1 and for black it would be Kc8 and Rd8.

When castling there is certain criteria that must be followed. They are:

-         no pieces may be standing between the king and the rook

-         neither the king or the rook may have moved during the game

-         the king can not be in check

-         the king can not castle into check

-         the king can not cross a square guarded be an enemy piece

En Passant

The en passant rule is most likely a leftover from the original game of chess where pawns could only advance one space at a time. En passant prevents players from advancing pawns two spaces at a time.

En passant is when your opponent moves his pawn two spaces forward and is next to your pawn. On your move you can then move your piece behind the recently advanced pawn. In the process of doing this you have also captured your opponent’s pawn.

Scholar’s Mate

Scholar’s Mate is a quick way of getting way of getting your opponent in checkmate in four moves. It begins with the opening move of e4 or e5. The next move is Bc4 or Bc5. Then move Qh5 or Qh4. Finally to finish it off you move Qxf7 mate or Qf2 mate.

Fork

Pin

A pin is when a piece is stuck to another more valuable piece and moving it will leave the more valuable piece exposed for capture.