Chess 101
- Introduction to Chess
- Rules of the Game
- Tactics
- Strategy & Planning
- Advanced Endgame Techniques
- Planning & Execution
- Notable Games Analysis
- Chess Psychology
- Training & Improvement
Rules of the Game
Understanding the Movement of Chess Pieces
Strategy board game.
Chess is a game of strategy and tactics, and understanding the movement of each piece is the first step towards mastering the game. Each piece moves in a unique way and understanding these movements is crucial to developing your chess skills.
The Chessboard
Before we delve into the movement of the pieces, it's important to understand the chessboard itself. The chessboard is an 8x8 grid, with each square identified by a unique coordinate, a letter (a-h) and a number (1-8). The vertical columns are called files and the horizontal rows are called ranks.
Pawn
The pawn is the most numerous piece in the game of chess, and also the weakest. A pawn can only move forward one square, but captures diagonally. On its first move, a pawn has the option of moving forward two squares.
Rook
The rook can move any number of squares along a rank or file, but cannot leap over other pieces. The rook is involved in one of the special moves in chess, called castling, which we will cover in the next unit.
Knight
The knight moves to any square not on the same rank, file, or diagonal as its current position. In simpler terms, the knight moves in an ‘L’ shape, two squares in one direction and then one square perpendicular to that. The knight is the only piece that can 'jump' over other pieces.
Bishop
The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but cannot leap over other pieces. Each player starts with one bishop that moves on the white squares and one bishop that moves on the black squares.
Queen
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess. She can move any number of squares along a rank, file, or diagonal. This means the queen combines the power of the rook and the bishop.
King
The king can move one square in any direction: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The king is the most important piece in the game. If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in checkmate, and the game is lost for that player.
Understanding the movement of each chess piece is the first step in learning how to play chess. In the next unit, we will cover special moves that involve these pieces, such as castling and en passant.