INTRODUCTION TO CHESS

Meaning of chess and its origins.

Chess is a mind game. It is played by two players on a board with sixty-four squares. It is
played using pieces. There is hardly a consensus on the origins of chess. It is believed to
have its origins in India, China and Persia.

How to play Chess

The initial board setup is shown below;

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Two players play the game and they are known as black and white. White makes the first
move. The aim is to capture the opponent’s king. To capture is to take an opponent’s
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piece and replace it with one’s piece. The king is captured by following the movement of
pieces. Each side has sixteen pieces but there are six main pieces on the board. These
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pieces are; (from left to right on the board setup above)-First rank...rook, knight, bishop,
queen, king, bishop, knight and rook. The pawns are on the second rank and there are
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eight of them. Each piece has its unique movement.

How pieces move

Piece Points Movement

Pawn 1 One step forward and captures diagonally.

Knight 3 L-shape
Bishop 3 Diagonally
Rook 5 Horizontally and vertically
Queen 9 Horizontally, vertically and diagonally
King 0 Horizontally, vertically and diagonally but limited to one step
only.

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Important points to remember

* A pawn can move two steps from its initial position. When it has been moved,
this option is nullified. Due to the fact that a pawn can move two steps from its
initial position, it can be captured if it skips a square attacked by an opponent’s
pawn. This is called (en passant). When a pawn reaches the final rank, it is
promoted to any piece other than the king. Hence, one can have more than one
queen on the board (when the pawn has been promoted.)

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* Check- this is when the king has been attacked. So check is a warning to secure
the king. The king is secured by: moving it away; capturing the attacking piece or

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blocking the path for the attacking piece. When these options cannot be made,

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then the game is over and this is called checkmate.

* Checkmate- This is when the king is in check and there is no way to save it. It is

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the end of the game.

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* Draw- 1.is when all the players have insufficient material to checkmate the
opponent’s king. 2. A draw may also be agreed upon by the players. 3. Perpetual
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move- is reached when there is a threefold repetition of a move. 4. Stalemate-
This is the position reached when the king is the only piece to move but has no
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safe move to make (it can be captured in every square it moves to). In this case,
the game is declared a draw and it happens when the king is not in check.
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Stalemate is the opposite of checkmate.

* Castling- This is the move that is meant to secure the king. There is kingside and
queenside castling. The king moves two steps towards the rook then the rook is
moved next to the king. This is done when the pieces that are placed (on the
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initial position) between the king and rook have been moved. Castling is not done
when the king is attacked(in check) or when the king crosses squares that are
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attacked by the opponent’s pieces. Below are the positions after kingside or
queenside castling.
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Kingside castling Queenside castling

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Common mating positions
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King and rook mate King and queen
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mate
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Two rooks mate King and queen

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mate

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Rook and pawn mate Knight mate

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Knight and rook mate Knight and bishop

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Recording in chess
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Chess games can be recorded using the names of squares on the chess board. Each
square on the board has a name. This is identified by the file and rank to which that
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square is found. Files are vertical lines while ranks are horizontal lines. There are eight
files and eight ranks on the chess board. Files are indicated by letters while ranks are
indicated by numbers. So a square that is found on the(a file) and (first rank) is called a1.
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Naming squares starts with files followed by ranks.

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On the chess board above white’s knights are on squares b1 an g1 respectively.

Movement of pieces

e4 a pawn has moved to e4 0-0 kingside castling

Nf3 the knight has moved to f3 0-0-0 queenside castling

B x g5 the bishop has captured a piece on g5 d x c4 the d pawn has

Nbd2 the knight on the b file has moved to d2 (this is written when one has two
knights/pieces that can go on the same square. Hence, the specific piece that has been

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moved has to be named when recording)

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Summary of common symbols

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These punctuation marks are written after a move to comment on the move, e.g 20.
Ne5!! Means the move is excellent.

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! excellent /good move !?

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interesting move

!! excellent move c + check

? bad move # checkmate

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