How to Play Chess

How to Play Chess


Goal

I'm here to educate you about the game of Chess. Chess is a strategic based board game in which the object of the game is to get the opposing player's King in checkmate. When this difficult task is achieved, the game ends and the winner is declared.


Since you now know how to win the game, let's move on to the playing pieces the game revolves around.


Playing Board

The playing board in Chess is interesting, it's similar to the board of the game "Checkers".



This is the correct way in which you should arrange a Chess board. There are 2 colors in Chess, white and black. White always goes first.

You should have 2 rows filled with pieces, the pieces in the back of the 2 rows should go: Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, King, Bishop, Knight, Rook. They are arranged the opposite for Black.

The pieces in the front of the 2 rows should go: Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

As you can see, the board consists of 8x8 squares. These squares give us the opportunity to use coordinates. Coordinates enable us to go in-depth in the game of Chess, and pinpoint each and every move.


Playing Pieces

Pawn - The Pawn is the playing piece that is most abundant in the game of Chess. It's movement pattern consists of being able to move 1 space forward, and the ability to capture pieces that are diagonal and in front of it. It also has the special ability to move *2* spaces ahead if it's the pawns first move of the game. The Pawn also promotes to a better piece when it reaches the end of the board.

Rook - The Rook is the playing piece that is also referred to as the Castle. It's unique pattern allows it to move in a straight line forward, backward, or side to side as far as it wants.

Knight - The Knight is quite possibly the most unique playing piece in the game. It moves in the shape of an "L". To make it easier to understand it can only move from b1 to a3 or c3, it moves in the "L" format that way.

Bishop - The Bishop is the playing piece that can move diagonally in any way you want. The great thing about the Bishop is not only it's ability to move diagonally in any way, but the ability to move diagonally as far as it wants!

Queen - The Queen is the most versatile piece in the game of Chess. The best way to think of the Queen is to imagine a Rook and a Bishop put into ONE PIECE. Yes, the Queen can move as far as it wants forward, backward, side to side, or diagonally.

King - The King is the most important piece you can have in Chess. Your objective is to protect your King at all costs. The King has a fairly low movement radius of only 1 square, but it can move in any direction it pleases. Forward, backward, side to side, or diagonally. If your King is put into checkmate, you lose the game.


Check and Checkmate

When playing Chess, there are 2 things that force your opponent to do something.

The first is Check, Check occurs when one of your pieces puts your opponent's King in it's path. Putting your opponent into Check makes it so your opponent HAS to move the King, they have no choice. A benefit of putting your opponent into Check is that they essentially forfeit a turn, having to move the King (or a piece in front of the King) instead of another piece that could advance their charge.

The second is Checkmate, Checkmate occurs when your opponent's King is trapped, it has no possible move it can make that would take it out of the path of one of your pieces. When you put your opponent into Checkmate, they lose the game.

Special Situations

There are some special situations in Chess that can help you out strategically. One is called a Promotion, the other is called Castling

A Promotion occurs when one of your Pawns reaches the other side of your opponents playing board. By the other side of your opponent's playing board I mean row 1 or 8. (Depending on which side you start out on). When one of your pawns does reach your opponent's end of the board, you promote that pawn to ANY piece that you want (besides another King or keeping it as a Pawn). You can make it a Rook, Knight, Bishop, or Queen! A Promotion usually occurs later in the game, when each you and your opponent have very few pieces left.

Castling becomes available when your King and the Rook closest to your King have nothing in between their path. (The Bishop and Knight are out of the way). When this situation occurs you have the option of being able to "Castle". Castling is when you move your King inside your Rook's protection. (For example, your Rook is on a1, your King is on d1. You would move your King to b1 and your Rook to c1). Castling proves incredibly useful against preventing Checkmate.


Stalemate

Sometimes when playing Chess nobody gets a Checkmate. This is called a Stalemate. A Stalemate occurs when neither you or the opponent can win the game with the pieces you have left. (For example, a King and a Pawn vs. a King). A Stalemate also occurs when you cannot move your King for 50 turns. In a Stalemate, it's not considered a win or a loss, just a tie.


Debriefing

Chess is a great game that gets you thinking. I hope you enjoyed this guide just as much as I enjoyed making it. I made it out of my love for the game.

Thanks.
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So far a pretty nice guide. You might want to go a little bit in depth about strategies (developing pieces, setting up defenses, keeping the king safe) Pictures would do good, can't wait till you add them. If you could you might want to expand a little bit on the pieces and put some color in the guide.

 

Thank you for the kind comment david493.

I added in some colors and a reference picture. Tried to go as in-depth as I could with the pieces, added a defense strategy.

 

Great, in detail and easy to look at. Diagrams wouldn't hurt, though (more pix)

 

Thanks blupig, I plan on adding in some movement diagrams for the pieces under their explanations soon.

 

Who goes first?

 

I'm pretty sure it's white...

 

White goes first.

 

I meant he should add it to his guide...

 

It's been added in, thanks benny.

 

Also a stalemate occurs if he cannot move his king for 50 turns, or if he is incapable of moving. Basic guide but by no means would it teach someone how to play chess. Would need to be very advanced for someone to actually use it properly and honestly a waste of time explaining every possible problem

 

I'm pretty sure it could give someone a basic understanding of the game, which is what I was aiming for.

I'd like to see you make a decent guide, until then I don't think you can talk that much trash about other people's guides.

 

I think it's quite detailed for a starting piece of work, I think you should add some good strategies on how to win though.

One question, is there a time limit one player has while moving a piece?

 

Thank you Rawr Im Phat, means a lot to get some positive feedback from a User Educator. As far as some different strategies go, I'll be working on this guide some more tommorow, I'll be sure to try and add some in.

Regarding the time limit, it varies.

Whenever I play with a friend we have a "gentleman's rule" where you can take as much time as you need to make a move. (Nothing is more frustrating then being rushed to think of a move).

But usually, if you're playing regional or world tournament Chess there is a 2 hour per side cap for time.

 

Okay, because when I've watched tournaments on TV they have those timers on the side of the table, and tap it every time they make a move. So I was just wondering.

 

I'm a very lazy fellow I only have 3 pages of that bodybuilding guide i've been working on. Beat me in a game and i'll appologize? Just up for a challange as not many people in my area are good at chess.

When I played competitively the games were either 15 minutes for each player or 30. When your time runs out you lose, IF the other person tells you so. But yes they do have a 2 hour time limit for some of the adult settings... which is fairly insane. There is also a seperate division for 4 minute games (2 minutes per side) where everyone goes defensive.

 

For white. For black, the king and queen are reversed.

Two spaces on it's first move and promotes to another piece at the other end of the board. In special cases, en-pessant can occur.

Perhaps mention castling? It is the primary defensive movement in the game.

If you're going to talk about "c3" and "b1", perhaps you should explain annotation a little better. If not, simply 2 squares up and one to the side (may need to reword that).

At the start of the game, yes. But at the end games, it is arguably the most powerful piece out there.

That's not necessarily true. Pieces can be moved to block the attack on the king, and in some circumstances, the piece can be taken. In which case, a turn is not lost.

It also has to be in a "check" situation, otherwise it's stalemate

Again, mention this with the piece description.

Actually, if it hits the end rank, it has to be "promoted". You can't keep it as a pawn.

On the "1st rank", the king can only castle if it is on e1 and hasn't moved. You can't castle if you move through check, ie. one of the squares the king passes over is being attacked.
You can also castle queenside, if you've additionally moved the queen out of the way.

A king and a pawn can still defeat a king. You're confusing stalemate with "insufficient material". Perhaps explain the different type of draws? ie. the 50 move rule and the case where the opponent can't move.

I think it's very basic, and you seem to lack understanding in certain areas (this could be my mistake and you simply made a minor mistake or a typo). It's hard to follow a guide with no understanding of how the game is played. A complete new comer would have no clue of what you are talking about. Fortunately, most people know how to move each piece

Pictures of the piece movements, how castling can occur etc. would also be incredibly helpful.

If you need help with your guide, add me on msn.

/me is inspired to write a guide on the end-game

 

White always goes first.

does this mean white is the dominant colour then? and that was a joke its on balls of steel and thanks for this but i knew how to play lol . thanks alex

 

Motherfucker, let's play cluedo.

I think it stems from the Yin and Yang. Light (white) moves and the dark (black) follows.

 

Well Darkgroove, thanks for the criticism.

I'll add your MSN.