Basics of CHESS

What is chess?

Chess is a two player board game with its roots tracing back 1500 years in India with its old name as Chaturanga / Chatranj. Unlike other board games which are based on luck, chess is a very much strategic and tactics filled game replicating the war field of ancient times.

Playing chess is fun but it also helps in increasing:

1. Imagination/Visualisation
2. Concentration
3. Problem solving skills
4. Increases IQ
5. Optimises memory

           

Chess board /Mat :

Chess is played on a 8 x 8 squared board/mat with 16 dark and 16 light pieces(Usually black and white).A typical chess board looks like :

If you have a closer look to the above image you can find the edges of each row and column are marked with some letters/numbers as "a to h" at the white and "h to a" at the black .These help in noting down the game which is played which will be detailed later.

These letters are called as "Files" in chess and the numbers are called as "Ranks".

Chess Pieces and their arrangement(Before the beginning of game):

      1. White King :  The White king stays in "e1"(Rank is '1' and File is 'e').

  

      2. White Queen : The White Queen stays in "d1"( Rank is '1' and File is 'd'). 

        

      3. White Bishop: There are two white Bishops while arranging the pieces, the White Bishops stays in "c1"(Rank is '1' and File is 'c') and "f1"(Rank is '1' and File is 'f') respectively.

       4. White Rook: There are two white Rooks while arranging the pieces, the White Rooks stay in "a1"(Rank is '1' and File is 'a') and "h1"(Rank is '1' and File is 'h') respectively.

    

      5. White Knight: There are two white Knights and while arranging them, the White Knights stay in "b1"(Rank is '1' and File is 'b') and "g1"(Rank is '1' and File is 'g') respectively.

       6. White Pawns: There are "8" white pawns. These occupy the complete "Rank 2" of all files.

      7. Black King :  The Black king stays in "e8" (Rank is '8' and File is 'e').

      8. Black Queen : The Black Queen stays in "d8"( Rank is '8' and File is 'd').   

      

      9. Black Bishop: There are two black Bishops and  while arranging the pieces, these Black Bishops stay in "c8"(Rank is '8' and File is 'c') and "f1"(Rank is '8' and File is 'f') respectively.

      10. Black Rook: There are two black Rooks while arranging the pieces, these black Rooks stay in "a8"(Rank is '8' and File is 'a') and "h8"(Rank is '8' and File is 'h') respectively.

      11. Black Knight: There are two black Knights and while arranging them, these black Knights stay in "b8"(Rank is '8' and File is 'b') and "g8"(Rank is '8' and File is 'g') respectively.

       12. Black Pawns: There are "8" black pawns. These occupy the complete "Rank 7" of all files.

After complete arrangement:

  Movements:

1. Pawn     - For the first step a pawn has an option to jump start with two Ranks. Once moved from its initial place it can only move 1 step forward along the same file. Pawn cannot move backwards. A pawn can only change its file when it kills opponent's piece along forward diagonal in its 1 step reach. 
2. King      - Single square move to any square.
3. Queen   - Diagonal movement + Movement along ranks and files 
4. Rook     - Movement along ranks and files 
5. Bishop  - Diagonal movement and has no restrictions in distance for each move.
6. Knight  - "L" shaped movement along files and ranks in all possible directions. A Knight has    an additional advantage over other pieces that it can jump over other pieces while moving. 

Basic Key terms:

1. En passant   -   This is a condition when the player chooses to move his pawn two      steps forward (ie. two ranks) and there is a risk of capturing his own pawn by the opponent's pawn on the first step. For example : If you play white 'd ' file pawn two ranks  forward i.e. from d2 to d4 and the opponent's pawn is e4 or c4, then you have to move your pawn from over the square that is guarded by the opponent's pawn. In this type of position the opponent has an opportunity to capture your pawn at d4 and put his pawn at d3.The opponent can use this feature only if he chooses as an immediate response to your move.             
2. King side Castling - Also referred as "double O" is a previlige that allows the king and       rook move at the same time on four conditions : 1).The king and rook should not have moved earlier.2).The king should not castle at the time of check.3).No square between the king and rook be occupied.4).The opponent should not have threat of check to the squares in between king and queen. After castling the king moves to 'g-file' and the rook to 'f-file'.
3. Queen side Castling - Also referred as "triple O".The same conditions as "double O" but  castling occurs between the king in 'e-file' and rook in 'a-file'.After castling the king moves to 'c-file' and the rook to 'd-file'.
4. Promotion - If any pawn of yours move to last rank (Rank 8 for white pawns and  Rank 1 for black pawns), then that pawn can be promoted to any piece of your choice.
5. Draw - If the game is neither won nor lost that is draw.If one of the two  players are left with only king to move and the other is not able to checkmate in 50 moves,then the game is draw. Draw also happens with mutual understanding.
6. Stalemate - Stalemate is a position when the move is yours and your king has no  check but poses threat of check from all its surrounding squares.So the king cannot move and also you do not have any other pieces or pawns to make your move. In such situation the game is a stalemate and neither you nor the opponent wins.
7. Three-fold Repetition - When same set of moves are played by both players 3 times then the game is drawed by Three-Fold repetition rule.
8. Pin - If a bishop,queen or rook of opponent threatens a piece of higher value and if you move this piece, you have a check.This is called as pin.
9. Check - When the opponent threatens your king then it is called as check.
10. Checkmate - When the king is given a check but cannot defend, the game is won  by the one who gave check. This is checkmate.                 

-VNSST