by Sam C.

Created on: January 19, 2010

Chess is an engaging, educating, and entertaining board game for two players. It has very complex system of rules that is hard to learn all at once.

The first thing you need to know is how to set up a board. First, make sure you've oriented the board so a white square is on your right side (a convention that if broken, will irritate experienced players, and possibly disqualify you in a tournament). The horizontal rows of squares are called "ranks" and the vertical rows are called "files." On rank 2, place a white pawn (the piece that you have eight of) in every square. On rank 7, place a black pawn in every square. In rank 1, behind files A and H, place a white rook (the piece that looks like a castle). Do the same for black in rank 8. Next to the rooks, place a knight (the horse) of the same color. Next to the knights, place a bishop (the one that looks like it's wearing a miter) of the same color. Between the two bishops, place the king (file E) and queen (file D). You can tell the two apart because the queen is generally shorter than the king and the king generally has a cross sticking out of the top.

The next thing to learn is how the pieces move. There are two types of moves: moving and capturing. Moving is when a piece moves onto an empty square, and capturing is when a piece moves onto a square occupied by one of the opponent's pieces. Only pawns move and capture differently. Pawns can move two squares forward on their first moves, but one square forward if they've already moved, they capture by moving one square diagonally forward, and cannot move backward under any circumstances. Rooks move and capture by moving any distance orthogonally. Bishops move and capture any distance diagonally. Knights move in an L-shape, two squares then one square, and are the only piece that can jump. The queen is essentially a combination of a bishop and a rook. The king moves and captures one square in any direction.

There are also special moves for some pieces. En Passant is a move that a pawn can make when another pawn moves two squares and lands next to the first pawn. The first pawn is able to capture the pawn by moving diagonally to the square that the second pawn moved over. En Passant can only be done right after the second pawn moves. Promotion is when a white pawn moves to rank 8 or a black pawn moves to rank 1. Once a pawn is there, it is swapped out for any piece that the player desires (usually a queen). Castling is a king/rook move, able to be done when neither the king nor rook involved have moved. Once all squares in between the two pieces are clear, the king can move two squares towards the rook involved, and the rook moves to the square adjacent to the king and closer to the middle of the board. A king cannot castle into, out of, or through check (described below).

Ending requires a checkmate, a resignation, or a draw. A checkmate is a check (a move that causes the opposing king to be on a square that one of the player's pieces can capture to) where no matter what move the opposing player makes, the king will still be in check. A resignation is simply when one player surrenders. A draw happens when a player moves in such a way that the opposing player cannot legally move (a "stalemate"), when the same pattern of moves is repeated three times consecutively, when fifty moves have passed since the last capture or pawn move, when neither player is able to make a checkmate with the pieces that they currently have (both have at most two pieces besides their king, the pieces must be knights/bishops) or by mutual agreement.

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