When this happens, it is considered checkmate and the player who is checkmated loses the game. This position is similar to the positions discussed earlier. There are several reasons why a chess of game may end in a draw:. Both players have traded enough pieces so that it is impossible for either player to checkmate the other. Either player can declare a draw if 50 chess moves 50 white and 50 black have been made and not a single pawn move or a piece has been captured.
This is called stalemate. We can see that white has no legal moves in this position. We can also see that black has cornered the king and has an extra queen. If it was white to move, this position would be drawn, because white has no legal moves. If it was black to move, black could realize any move to avoid stalemate and checkmate white in the future.
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Because every single piece in chess has unique movement, they possess different strengths and weaknesses. While these points do not give you an absolute tool to evaluate every single position in chess, they help you understand which trades are beneficial and which trades you should avoid. While not every single chess game goes through these three stages some games might end in the opening or middle game , It is important to recognize at which stage of the game one is in while playing.
Chess is similar to war. You first expand your territory move chess pawns , then prepare your forces for battle develop your pieces , and lastly start fighting. In chess, moving pawns not only helps you obtain space, but also frees up your pieces to move freely. The opening stage is the first phase of the game. In chess, developing a piece means to place a piece in a square where it is more active. At the start of a chess game, all the pieces are behind pawns and possess limited mobility. While there is no clear cut move that defines the end of the opening and the start of the middle game, it is usually considered middle game after both players have castled and developed their queens.
Nowadays, thanks to the analysis of computers and many strong players, there exist a vast amount of opening theory. In other words, after millions of chess games, players have realized which opening moves score better and which ones are less powerful. At the highest level, players memorize hundreds of chess opening variations. For example the diagram above is commonly referred to as the French Defense.
At this point, it is not important to memorize different chess openings, but it is important to recognize What a player must do in the opening stage.
The chessboard
After both sides have developed their forces, the middle game phase begins. This is where the central battle of the chess game happens. Both sides develop a plan and attempt to execute it. Many chess games are determined in the middle game. We can see the diagram above that both sides have castled and developed their queens. Both sides should create a plan and do their best to execute it. Most chess games average around 40 moves, which means not all games reach the endgame.
Throughout the course of the middle game, many pieces and pawns are exchanged. We can define an endgame by the fact that the kings are very involved in the fight. Usually, we want to protect our king in the opening and middle game stage; however, because many pieces have been traded, the king is usually safe. How many squares are there in a chessboard? How many Bishops can white have? The rooks are placed on the outside corners, right and left edge. The pawns are placed two square in front of all of the other pieces.
Which symbol is used to identify a pawn in chess? Mark the correct statement. All of the above. Pawn promotes into a queen, rook, bishop, or knight. How to remove a check? Capture the piece that is giving check. Moving the king away from check. Blocking the piece giving check. Download the entire guide in pdf , read it anytime anywhere you want.
Here is some advice for your future progress:. By GM Igor Smirnov. That is why I decided to help beginners with basic chess rules. Evolution of chess rules. Movement of the pieces. Values of chess pieces. Three stages of chess.
Horizontal rows are called ranks and vertical rows are called files. Symbols of chess pieces.
In a standard game of chess, each of the two players begins a game with the following 16 pieces: The pieces are placed, one on a single square, as follows: The knights are placed immediately inside the rooks. The bishops are placed immediately inside the knights. The king takes the vacant spot next to the queen. The pawns are placed one square in front of all of the other pieces.
You cannot place more than one piece on a square at any time. Nature and objectives of the game. The following are the letters used in capitals to represent various pieces. Pawn - No symbol. There are 64 squares on a chessboard — 32 White squares and 32 Black squares. Hence, the rule for colour classification is: Movement of the chess pieces.
The king moves exactly one square horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The rook moves horizontally or vertically, through any number of unoccupied squares. A bishop moves any number of vacant squares in any diagonal direction. Pawns have the most complex rules of movement: This capture is only legal in the following move: There are three ways to remove a check: This means black is checkmated and white wins the game.
Solution to the problem: There are six ways in which black can get out of check. The king can move to a7 or a8 The rook can move to c7 The queen can move to c7 or d6 The knight can jump to e5. There are several reasons why a chess of game may end in a draw: Both players agree on a draw. Either player can declare a draw if the same position is reached three times. Relative value of chess pieces.
How to Play Chess: Rules and Basics
The Three Stages of the game. A game of chess is divided in three stages: Here is an example of a game in its opening stage: In the Opening you should: You want to castle in the opening stage. Castling to the other side, through where the queen sat, is called castling "queenside". Regardless of which side, the king always moves only two squares when castling.
The player with the white pieces always moves first. Therefore, players generally decide who will get to be white by chance or luck such as flipping a coin or having one player guess the color of the hidden pawn in the other player's hand. White then makes a move, followed by black, then white again, then black and so on until the end of the game.
Being able to move first is a tiny advantage which gives the white player an opportunity to attack right away. The purpose of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king.
This happens when the king is put into check and cannot get out of check. There are only three ways a king can get out of check: If a king cannot escape checkmate then the game is over. Customarily the king is not captured or removed from the board, the game is simply declared over. Occasionally chess games do not end with a winner, but with a draw. There are 5 reasons why a chess game may end in a draw:.
Get your king to the corner of the board where he is usually safer. Don't put off castling.
How to Play Chess for Beginners: Rules and Strategies
You should usually castle as quickly as possible. Remember, it doesn't matter how close you are to checkmating your opponent if your own king is checkmated first! Don't carelessly lose your pieces! Each piece is valuable and you can't win a game without pieces to checkmate. There is an easy system that most players use to keep track of the relative value of each chess piece. How much are the chess pieces worth? At the end of the game these points don't mean anything — it is simply a system you can use to make decisions while playing, helping you know when to capture, exchange, or make other moves.
You should try and control the center of the board with your pieces and pawns. If you control the center, you will have more room to move your pieces and will make it harder for your opponent to find good squares for his pieces. In the example above white makes good moves to control the center while black plays bad moves. In the example above white got all of his pieces in the game! Your pieces don't do any good when they are sitting back on the first row. Try and develop all of your pieces so that you have more to use when you attack the king.
Using one or two pieces to attack will not work against any decent opponent. The most important thing you can do to get better at chess is to play lots of chess! It doesn't matter if you play at home with friends or family, or play online, you have to play the game a lot to improve. These days it's easy to find a game of chess online! Click here for where to play chess. While most people play standard chess rules, some people like to play chess with changes to the rules.
These are called "chess variants". Each variant has its own rules. To learn more about chess variants, click here. Chess follows all the rules of standard chess, except for the starting position of pieces on the back rank, which are placed randomly in one of possible positions. Castling is done just like in standard chess, with the King and Rook landing on their normal castled squares g1 and f1, or c1 and d1. Many tournaments follow a set of common, similar rules.
These rules do not necessarily apply to play at home or online, but you may want to practice with them anyway. Knowing the rules and basic strategies is only the beginning - there is so much to learn in chess that you can never learn it all in a lifetime! To improve you need to do three things: Play lots of chess — Just keep playing! Play as much as possible. You should learn from each game — those you win and those you lose.
Study with chess lessons — If you really want to improve quickly then you should do some online chess lessons. You can find online chess lessons here. Have fun — Don't get discouraged if you don't win all of your games right away. Everyone loses — even world champions. As long as you continue to have fun and learn from the games you lose then you can enjoy chess forever! While there is no one agreed-upon best move in chess, it's important to try to control the center right away. This usually results in most players playing one of their central pawns in front of king or queen forward two squares with either 1.
Some other players prefer 1. Most other moves are not as good. Bobby Fischer believed that moving the king-pawn 1. Pawns cannot move backwards. However, when a pawn gets to the other side of the board you must promote it to another piece such as a queen. Then it moves just like that piece, and can move backwards. You can only move one chess piece at a time when it is your turn to move - with one exception! When you castle, you move both the king and the rook in one move. The king is the most important chess piece. If you lose the king, you lose the game. But the queen is the most powerful chess piece.
The origins of chess are not exactly clear, though most believe it evolved from earlier chess-like games played in India almost two thousand years ago. The game of chess we know today has been around since the 15th century where it became popular in Europe. Chess is a game played between two opponents on opposite sides of a board containing 64 squares of alternating colors. Each player has 16 pieces: The goal of the game is to checkmate the other king. Checkmate happens when the king is in a position to be captured in check and cannot escape from capture.
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