Posts Tagged ‘Classes’
The Rook and how it moves
The Rook is an important piece to use in chess and not very hard to learn. There is an easy rhyme I made up for the rook; here how it goes:
“Up, Down, Side to Side, that’s the way the rook will slide.”
The rook moves forwards, backwards, and sideways as many squares as it wants. It attacks the same way it moves and cannot skip over pieces. Like all the other pieces, it can only attack one piece at a time.
Each team gets two rooks and they start on the corners on the board. For white this is a1 and h1. For black this is a8 and h8.
Also, it is the rook, not the castle!
How the Pawn Moves
The Pawns are always the smallest of the pieces, and you should have eight of them. They will go on the second and seventh rows. White on the second row (a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, f2, g2, h2) and black on the seventh row (a7, b7, c7, d7, e7, f7, g7, h7).
The pawn is my favorite chess piece and also a very unique one. The pawn usually only moves one square forward. The pawns have the ability to move two squares forward if they have never moved before and only one square forward afterwards. They can also just go one square forward on their first turn. They are the only piece that cannot go backwards, and also the only one that attacks differently than it moves. A pawn attacks on a diagonal.
The white pawn on f4 captures the black pawn on e5 and takes over its square.
Attacking in chess is different than in checkers, as the attacking piece does not skip over the piece, but actually captures it by taking over its square.
En Passant
There are a few exception in the rules of chess; things like pawn promotion, castling, and en passant are exceptions to how the pieces move. Castling is very commonly seen in chess games, pawn promotion is a lot less common, and en passant is almost unseen. It is so rare that many casual player do not know the rule or are confused about it.By the way, En Passant means “in passing” in French.
Here’s what poppin:
En Passant can only happen the move after your opponent moves one of his or her pawns two squares up. If your pawn is to the side of your opponents (which just moved two squares) you can go diagonally to capture it. Here what it looks like:
Your pawn moves forward to c5.
You opponent moves from b7 to b5.
- You then capture the pawn on b5 by moving to b6 with your pawn from c5.
Castling in Chess
Castling is a unique and special move in chess. Castling is one of the three main goals in the opening of the game and you SHOULD do it in every game you play. Castling is the one time in a chess game that you can move two pieces at the same time!
Why would you castle? Well…just think of the word. Chess is a medieval battle and the castle is where the King goes to stay safe.
You should know that there are two ways to Castle: Kingside and Queenside. Chess Players are very logical and therefore you probably correctly assumed that Castling Kingside is going towards the rook on the King’s Side. The Queenside Castle is towards the side of the Queen. Because castle is such an important and special move in chess there are some special rules that a player must obey in order to castle.
Rule #1: To castle in chess you need to make sure that you have moved all the pieces in between the King and the Rook on the side you want to castle to.
This Player is ready to Castle Queenside. Notice that it takes longer to be able to castle queenside bause there are more chess pieces in the way.
Rule #2: To castle in chess you need to make sure that your King is not in Check and will not travel through check.
Rule #3: To castle in chess you need to make sure that your King and Rook (that you are castling with) have not moved. If either piece has moved you lose the ability to castle.
Finally, if your King and Rook have not moved, your King is not in check and will not travel through it, and there are no chess pieces in between the King and the Rook, then you can castle. Move your King two square and bring the rook around him. You final Castle should look like this:
What is a stalemate?
Stalemate is either a relief to you or a huge disappointment. A stalemate in chess is one of the four ways to achieve a draw (a tie game). A stalemate happens when a player cannot make any moves. In chess you are never allowed to skip your turn; therefore, if you cannot move the game is over in a tie. Look at the position below: can you find how white is able to force a stalemate?
If you thought of Queen taking h7 you are correct. Black has no option but to take the Queen and White now cannot move: stalemate. Moving the Queen to g4 or any other square where it can get taken doesn’t work because black does not have to take the queen…therefore the game doesn’t have to end in stalemate.
A stalemate can be a huge relief to you if you are losing but also a huge disappointment to you if you are winning. In a losing position you must know how to force a stalemate. if you are winning, you must know how to avoid giving your opponent a stalemate. You really don’t have to worry about a stalemate until the end of the game. You can practice forcing stalemates with chess puzzles that we have posted online.
Discovery Attack!
A discovery attack is one of the best tactics that a player can use in a chess game. It is a chess tactic that will distract your opponent from your main attack…then if they don’t notice…DISCOVERY ATTACK!
Here’s how it works:
In this position (We are playing as white) we can use a discovery attack to win our opponents Queen and eventually win the game. Our Knight on e3 can move anywhere it wants to without fear or being taken, as our Rook on e2 will be attacking the opponents king and creating the discovery attack. In this instance, it is actually a discovery check, which is the best kind of discovery attack. Can you figure out where we should move our knight?
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If you are thinking f5 you are correct. By moving our knight to f5 we can attack the Queen and create a discovery check with our rook. The Queen is now lost for black, as it can only go to e3 or e6 to stop the discovery attack and both moves will lead to it being taken.
The Importance of the Mobil Duo
What, you might ask, is a mobil duo? It is a movable pair of pawns standing side by side on either the two center squares e4 and d4 (or e5 and d5 as black) or c4 and d4, or e4 and f4. What’s so great about it? Well, number one, your opponent has four squares that he can’t use when you have a mobil duo. Every move he has to think about how he can’t place any of his good pieces on those four squares that are covered by e4 and d4. He is constrained. He is cramped. He has to work around those squares. He should challenge those pawns by c5, e5, or d5 if he can. Break up that mobil duo. What else is so great about it? It’s mobil. You can push it and thereby often push through your agenda on the board. Push his pieces around. It might not be the right time to push them right away. Just because they are mobil doesn’t mean you have to move them. In fact, because of the constraining effect they have you should refrain from moving them as long as possible.
What does FIDE stand for?
Many of us know that FIDE is the leading world chess organization. But what does FIDE stand for?
FIDE stands for Fédération Internationale des Échecs, which literally translates into World Chess Federation. They are the governing body for most large chess events and create the rules for international competition. They also award players titles such as Grandmaster and International Master.
Doubled Pawns
Doubled pawns is when two pawns are on the same file (Remember files go up and down). Doubled pawns are a bad thing to have in chess, are they are not nearly as good as having two pawns side to side. One way to determine if a piece is powerful is by looking at the amount of squares it can move to.
In the example above, the black pawns on e6 and e7 can only move to one square: e5. On the other side of the baord we see that the white pawns can move from f2 to f3 and f4 and from g2 to g3 and g4. 4 moves compared to one; its easy to see why whites pawns are better positioned.
The Opening
A chess game is divided into three sections: the Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame. Each has its own tactics and strategies; a good chess player must be well rounded in all of them. The opening is the first part of the game and has three main goals:
1. Develop your Pieces (Starting with the Knights and Bishops)
2. Protect your King (Usually by Castling)
3. Control the Center of the Board
A series of chess moves to start the game is called an Opening. Many of these have been worked out by players of the last several centuries. Some of the most famous are the Italian, Spanish, Sicilian Defense, Petrov Defense, and Caro Kann. The key to studying an opening is understanding the moves, not memorizing them. Check back to find out more about various openings.
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