HOW TO PLAY CHESS

Chess is an Intellectual Game.

It is one of the world’s oldest forms of entertainment dating back to the 7th Century. Yes, that’s somewhere in 600 AD, about 1400 Years Ago!

For a beginner, it may seem like Quantum Physics differentiating the different pieces and their movements, but it’s actually not that complicated. However, like in everything in life, you really have to have some interest for you to enjoy the game and to easily understand how it’s played.

If your interest in the game is below average, read no further. Maybe this article on Internet Speeds may be of interest to you.

This piece (Not a Chess one though) should shed some light on how to easily navigate through a Chess Board until you are able to say the two words that most people always want to say especially to the faces of their friends, Checkmate Motherfucker!

The Chess Board

The Chess Board is simply like the Draught Board.

A Checkered Board with 64 Squares, 8 rows and 8 columns. The squares are shaded in alternating Dark and Light Colours which means we have 32 Dark squares and 32 Light Squares.

Chess Pieces

There are a total of 6 kinds of Chess Pieces.

8 pawns,  2 Knights, 2 Bishops, 1 Queen and 1 King.

Top Right is the Pawn. 2nd from Right is the Knight. 3rd from Right is the Bishop. 4th from Right is the Rook. 5th from Right is the Queen and the last piece on the far left is the King.

Arrangement of the Pieces

The pieces are placed on two rows for each opponent. The first row has 8 pawns while the second row has 2 Rooks at the very end, 2 Knights on either second box from the edge, 2 Bishops on either third box from the edge then the Queen and the King on the 2 fourth boxes from the edge respectively.

It’s important to note that the White King is always on the Black Square while the Black King is always on the White Square.

What’s the Game About, Really?

The entire purpose of the game is to attack your opponent’s King. Attacking the king is referred to as Check. If the King is on Check and the checked player cannot make a legal move to remove their King from the Check state, the game is over, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Checkmate. 

Sometimes you may Checkmate your opponent without capturing any pieces. However, in an ideal game, each opponent captures their opponent’s pieces in a bid to open up the walls and make the King vulnerable for attack.

Movement and Capturing of the Pieces

Pawns

Pawns are meant to shield the valuable pieces. That is why they are always at the very front. It’s just like in a battle, you put your weakest and untrained men at the front to shield the valuable trained men from the enemy’s initial attack.

The Pawn can move in two ways:

1. One square to the front
2. Two squares to the front. However, for this move to be valid, the pawn has to have not moved before. This has to be the pawn’s first move.

The Pawn can only capture across one square, diagonally.

Rook

Rooks are meant to act like the pillars of the castle. They are indeed shaped like a castle tower. Some people call it the Castle.

The piece can move and capture as many squares as available, vertically or horizontally.

Knight.

The knight is referred to as the Flying piece. It is the only Chess piece that can actually fly (Going over other pieces or boxes).

The Knight moves and captures in an L – Shape, across three boxes. It can move and/or capture 1 box up/down then 2 boxes right/left or 2 boxes up/down then 1 box right/left.

Bishop

The Bishop can move and/or capture across as many squares as available, diagonally. Every player has a two Bishops, one on the Black Square and Another on the White Square.

Queen

The Queen is the master (Or mistress if you like) of the board. She can do whatever she wants. She can move and/or capture across the entire board.

That is, vertically, horizontally and diagonally and across as many squares as available.

King

Ironically, the King has lesser freedom, despite being the piece that determines the end of the game. He can only move and/or capture 1 square in any direction.

However, the King can not move or capture itself into a check or across a check.

Interesting, right?

Now watch this Youtube video for an elaborate and visual experience of the game.

Checkmate!