The initial position

The object in chess is to checkmate your opponent's king. Checkmate, or just "mate" occurs
when a king is attacked and the king cannot escape capture on the next move.

Chess is played on a board with 64 squares set up in the following way:

How does the King move and capture?

The king can move one square in any direction. The king can also capture an opponent's piece
if it is on one of those squares... assuming of course that the opponent is not defending this
piece! The king can NEVER move on to a square that the opponent controls. Doing so would
move the king into check.

The first example illustrates how the king moves. It can move to any square marked with an
"X"
In the second diagram, the king can move to any of the marked squares or capture the black
rook because the rook is one square away and is undefended. But the king may not move to
one of the squares controlled by the black rook even though the rook is undefended.
In the third diagram, the black rooks defend each other. The white king has only one legal
move because the king cannot move to a square controlled by the enemy rooks.

Finally, it is important to add that if the king is under attack (in check), the next move MUST
make sure that the attack has been stopped. There are three possibilities. The king must move
out of check. Or... the attacking piece must be captured. Or... a piece must be moved between
the attacker and the king in order to eliminate the direct attack. If the king is under attack
AND there is no immediate way to end the attack, the game is over. CHECKMATE!

Castling

The king is permitted to take part in a very special move, the only chess move that actually
involves two pieces at the same time! In the following diagram, the white king can castle on
either side of the board. To castle, move the king two squares toward the rook, and then move
the rook to the square immediately on the other side of the king.

For castling to be legal, make sure

• (1) that your king and rook have never moved.

• (2) that your king is not under attack. You may not castle out of check.

• (3) that your king is not passing through or arriving upon a square controlled by the
opponent.

• (4) that all of the squares between the king and rook are vacant.

You may castle if your rook is under attack. You may even castle if your rook passes through
a square controlled by your opponent.

Here's where the king and rook end up after castling on each side of the board.

How does the Rook move and capture?

The rook can move any number of squares in straight line, horizontally or vertically, but the
rook may not jump a piece of either color.
In the diagram, the rook can move to any square marked with an "X" As you can see, the rook
captures as it moves. The rook can capture the enemy bishop or the knight, but it may not
jump over these pieces.

How does the Bishop move and capture?

The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but like the rook, it may not jump a
white or black piece. Like the rook, it can move forward or backward, but in only one
direction at a time.

In the diagram, the bishop can move to any square marked with an "X" Like the rook, the
bishop captures as it moves. In this position, the bishop can capture the enemy rook or the
knight, but it may not jump over these pieces.
At the beginning of the game, each side has a "white-squared" and "dark-squared" bishop.
Because they move diagonally, the bishops will always remain on a square of the same color
on which they started the game.

How does the Queen move and capture?

The queen combines the powers of both the rook and the bishop. As such, it can move
horizontally, vertically, or on the diagonal. In a sense, it's like the king in that it can move in
any direction. Unlike the king, however, it can move far in one direction so long as there are
no pieces in its path.

In the diagram, the queen can move to any of the squares marked with an "X" Like the rook
and the bishop, the queen captures as it moves. In this position, the queen can capture the
enemy rook, knight, or bishop, but it may not jump over any of the pieces on the board.

How does the Knight move and capture?

The Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces! The knight always moves like
the letter "L" Keep in mind, though, that the letter can be sideways or even upside-down and
backwards!
In the diagram, the knight can move to any of the squares marked with an "X" Note that the
white knight cannot move to the square occupied by the white bishop. No exceptions here.
Two pieces can never occupy the same square!

How does the Pawn move and capture?

The Pawn is the only piece that moves differently from how it captures. The pawn, like the
foot-soldier in war, marches forward one square at a time. Unlike the other pieces, the pawn
can NEVER retreat. Pawn that have not yet moves have the option of beginning their forward
journey with a double move two-squares forward. The pawns may not jump other pieces or
pawns.

The pawn captures differently from how it moves. The pawn captures diagonally ONLY one
square ahead, as if it were fighting on its side with a short sword.

In the first diagram, the white pawn can move to any of the squares marked with an "X" By
contrast, the black pawn, having already moved, has only one option.
In the second diagram, the white pawn can move straight ahead, or else capture the black
knight or the black bishop. Meanwhile, the black pawn is about to move to the end of the
board. When a pawn reaches the last rank, it becomes another piece! In most situations, it will
become a queen; you may not leave it as a pawn and you may not promote it into a king. As a
result of pawn promotion, it is possible to have many queens on the board at the same time!

Capturing "En Passant"

The pawn is also able to capture in a most unusual way. This is one of the trickiest moves to
learn and the single move that causes consternation among beginners. A small bit of history
helps to introduce and to understand the en passant (French for "while passing") capture.
During the early days of chess, pawns could only move a single square at a time. Several
changes were introduced in Europe to speed up the game. One of these changes permitted
pawns to move two squares if they had not yet moved.

But this rule change introduced an unfortunate situation. A pawn could now move all the way
down the board to become a queen without the opponent's pawn ever having a chance to
capture it. In the following diagram, it is white's move. When the White pawn moves forward
two squares in a single move, the Black pawn on the neighboring file wants to be able to
capture the pawn before the white pawn can advance further. The en passant rule applies here.
For one move, AND ONE MOVE ONLY, the black pawn can respond by capturing the White
pawn as if it had only moved a single square. To effect the capture, move the black pawn
forward diagonally and remove the white pawn.

Note that only pawns can capture "en passant," and only a pawn on an adjacent file can
capture in this way.

The relative values of the chess pieces

The following table provides the approximate value of the chess pieces. We assign a value of 1
point to the basic unit, the pawn. Of course, the king is not included in the table because, in a
real sense, it has infinite value.

Use the values in this table as a rough guide. By that, I mean that a rook is roughly worth as
much as a knight and two pawns. A queen is worth approximately as much as a rook, knight,
and pawn. Two rook rooks are roughly equivilent to a queen plus a pawn. Of course, in most
situations, there are many other factors to consider, especially the relative activity of the
pieces.

9 points

5 points

3+ points
 3 points

1 point

You will also note that the bishop receives a value slightly greater than the knight. The bishop
is usually, though not always worth a bit more than a knight. See the special section basic
bishop strategy for more information on why this might be so.
Note also that there are many moments when it will be to your advantage to give up or
"sacrifice" some material in inorder to gain other advantages. By giving up a pawn, you might
gain an important square for your knight or an open file for a rook. By giving up a rook or
queen, you might be able to force checkmate. You should therefore use this table of values
only as a rough guide and not as the sole consideration in your play.

How to keep score in a chess game.

I recommend that all new players learn to keep score using what is called "algebraic" notation.
In the diagram that follows, you will notice that the board includes the numbers 1-8 along the
left edge and the letters "a" - "h" along the bottom the board. We can use the combination of
one letter and one number to describe each square on the board.

For example, the white king begins the game on e1. The black rooks begin the game on a8 and
h8. If I begin the game by pushing the pawn in front of the white king two squares, we can
describe this move as e2-e4, or simply e4. Moving the knight on g1 to f3 would be written g1-
f3, or more simply as Nf3.
An "x" is used to show that a capture has taken place. For example, Nxe4 means that the
knight moves and captures whatever was on e4. You don't necessarily need to include "check"
in your scoresheet, but you can easily with "ch" or just "+". For mate, many players use "#".
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This chess tutorial is the property of Jon Edwards. Jon has just become the 10th United
States Correspondence Chess Champion. For more information, visit his web site: