Getting up close and personal with your board After you pick up your soon-to-be-beloved chessboard and set, you need to get familiar with them. The first thing to notice about the chessboard is that all the squares are the same size but alternate between two colors a light color — usually white — and a darker color. Colors are important in chess bishops are confined to only one of them, knights go back and forth between them, and so on , which is why chess players insist that a white square needs to be in the lower right-hand corner at the start of the game.
Remember, a white square should be in the lower right-hand corner as you face the board. The most common beginner mistake is to position the board incorrectly at the start of the game. As a matter of fact, Hollywood makes this common mistake, too. Whenever you see a chess position in a movie, check to see whether the lower right-hand square is white.
Figure The correct orientation of a chessboard. A white square! Using clear, easy-tounderstand terms would be too easy, right? In Chapter 17, I dive even deeper into the subject of notation, which expands on these naming conventions and shows you how to write the moves of a game. Recognizing the ranks Ranks are rows that go from side to side across the chessboard and are referred to by numbers.
Each chessboard has eight ranks, which are numbered from the bottom of the board where the white pieces start on up; see Figure Because numbers indicate ranks, letters indicate files, which are labeled from left to right. Figure shows the files. For example, the lower right-hand square which is white, of course is called h1. This name is shorthand for h-file, first rank. Figure gives the name for every square. Chapter 1: Tackling the Chess Basics Figure The squares are marked to show the letter of the file and the number of the rank.
Unlike ranks and files, diagonals are defined by their starting and ending squares. The starting square is conventionally given as the one with the lower rank. For example, Figure shows the h1-a8 diagonal. Diagonals are always composed of likecolored squares. You can have light-squared diagonals and dark-squared diagonals — but never two-toned ones. Each piece may be represented by a one-letter abbreviation or by an icon. See Table for a list of all the pieces and their symbols.
You may find it helpful to set up your own board piece by piece. Start with the corners. The rooks go on the corner squares, as in Figure Place them next to the rooks see Figure Your board should now look like the one in Figure The queens always start on the square of the same shade — the white queen starts on a light square, and the black queen starts on a dark square. If you set up your chessboard by using the preceding directions and it looks like the finished one in Figure , pat yourself on the back!
Chapter 1: Tackling the Chess Basics 8 7 6 5 4 Figure The pawns 3 take their posts on the 2 front line. From the evidence that does exist, the best guess is that chess, or a game very much like it, originated in Northern India sometime around AD and eventually migrated to Europe through China and Persia modern-day Iran. The ancient Indian game was based on Indian armies and was undoubtedly a pastime for their rulers. No doubt, this game, called chaturanga, was much like present-day chess. It was played on an eight-by-eight-square board and used six different kinds of pieces.
The Indian Army was led by the rajah king and his chief advisor, the mantri, sometimes referred to as the vizier. The army was represented by foot soldiers, cavalry, chariots, and elephants, and the game had corresponding pieces for all these leaders and warriors. By the time the game got to Europe, it had changed considerably and continued to change until about the end of the 15th century. The changes basically made the game more familiar to the Europeans who were then playing it.
The rajah became the king, the mantri the queen, the foot soldiers the pawns, the cavalry the knights, the chariots the rooks, and the elephants the bishops. Since that time, the game has been essentially stable. So in this chapter I use the same method. I start with the rook because its simple up, down, and sideto-side movement is easy to grasp.
Kids seem to pick up these ideas right away. The queen simply has the combined powers of the rook and bishop. And the king follows his queen. He moves just like her, except only one square at a time. Keep in mind that chess is a science when pieces are considered in isolation from one another, but it approaches an art when the pieces are combined in various ways. No easy rules explain this relationship. The chess genius seems to know how to make the pieces work together seamlessly, but everyone else has to muddle along by trial and error.
In Chapter 3, I consider the elements of chess in the same way — in isolation from one another and then again in combination. In the history of chess, it actually developed from the chariot: This piece is both fast and strong and therefore of considerable value. This heavy aspect can be taken too far, of course. The rook is far from a plodding piece, and the player who most effectively gets his or her rooks into the game often turns out to be the winner. Unfortunately, this piece begins the game tucked into a corner and usually has to wait for the other pieces to settle into their preferred squares before receiving any attention.
Figure shows where the rooks go on the chessboard. Again, think of the chariot. Have you ever seen Ben Hur? The rook moves just like the chariot in that movie, but without the spikes. Chapter 2: Greeting the Pieces and Their Powers Chess heavies The rook and queen are sometimes referred to as heavy or major pieces, because the rook and its own king, or the queen and its own king, can checkmate an enemy king by themselves see x x x 8 Figure A rook can move any number of squares unless a fellow soldier is blocking it.
In chess notation, this move is written 1. Rxf5 — see Chapter 17 for details on notation. This concept is the same for the other chessmen and woman. Figure The white rook attacks and captures the black rook. The bishop evolved from the elephant, which may be hard to imagine at first. However, if you think about the ancient Indian soldier sitting atop an elephant and tossing down spears at the enemy, or if you visualize the medieval archer in a castle tower firing arrows down on a hapless foe, you can understand how this development came about.
Why, then, is the piece called a bishop and not an archer? What probably started as an off-hand remark soon became a custom. When new players discover the power of the rook, they sometimes decide to move the pawns that are in front of the rooks forward at the beginning of the game these pawns are known as the rook pawns. This action has the advantage of increasing the space available to the rook but is usually a poor way to open the game.
The rook must retreat when attacked by an enemy pawn, knight, or bishop because it is too valuable to be lost in exchange for one of them. Time is then lost shuffling the rook to and fro while the enemy pieces come out in force. The best strategy is to move a minimum number of pawns, get the minor pieces knights and bishops out, and only then move on to the rooks. Showing Off Slender Curves: The Bishop The bishop has a slender waist so it can slide between squares along diagonals.
Go ahead, set up a board and try it you may want to check out Chapter 4 first. Figure shows the bishops and where they start on the chessboard. A bishop can move any number of squares, but only along the diagonals and until another piece gets in its way.
Unlike the rook, the attacking power of the bishop depends on where the piece is located on the chessboard and ultimately its mobility or scope, which is simply the number of squares it can move to. You can see in Figure a that the bishop attacks 13 squares. How many squares does it attack in Figure b? The bishop also has a unique natural restriction of its mobility: If it starts on a light square, it remains forever on the light squares, and if it begins the game on a dark square, it must always stay on dark squares.
The bishop is color bound by birth! Fully half the board is forbidden territory! This quality is so unusual that a special category in chess endings, called the opposite-colored bishop ending, exists. This ending arises when each side remains with a bishop, but the bishops are on different-colored squares and are thereby sentenced to roam their own mutually exclusive halves of the board.
Figure illustrates this type of ending. These bishops are close to one another — they can get close enough to blow each other kisses — but never close enough to capture one another.
In fact, the least desirable placement of the bishop is behind pawns of its own color: Pawns are the least mobile of the chessmen and can render the bishop nearly powerless, as shown in Figure a. Just look at Figures a and b to see how 1. Bishop moves are relatively easy to master, but their long-range attacking ability is often surprising. Although the queen is the most powerful piece, she must be very careful when engaging enemy forces.
Treat the lady with kid gloves! Figure indicates where the queens are placed at the start of the game. Originally a weak piece, the queen was given its great powers towards the end of the 15th century. Whether this bestowal was an act of chivalry or just another attempt to speed up the game remains unclear.
It seems certain, however, that medieval Europe was accustomed to powerful queens — and this reality can also explain the gender change. When placed in the center of the board, the queen can cover 27 squares and can move in eight different directions, which you can see in Figure The queen is not only the most powerful and dangerous chess piece, but also the most valuable!
Moving her into positions where she can be easily attacked is generally frowned upon. Let your other pieces and pawns fight the early fight, and bring the queen into the game after some of the dust settles. If your opponent moves the queen to your side of the board early on, take heart!
Look for ways to move your pieces so they attack the exposed queen and force her to retreat. When someone attacks your king, you must defend him. But you never actually capture the king; you simply force him to yield.
Thousands may die on the battlefield, but royalty respects royalty. Figure shows where the king resides on the chessboard at the start of the game. Generally, when the king becomes active, the endgame when most pieces have been captured has begun. During the endgame the king can become very powerful, and you should consider bringing him to the center, but a king in the middle of the board during the middlegame is a recipe for disaster check out Chapters 13 and 14 for details on endgame and middlegame strategy.
Galloping in an L-Formation: The Knight The knight is a tricky piece, and it usually takes a little practice getting comfortable with its movements. As its shape suggests, the knight derives from the cavalry of the armies of old. Unlike the longrange bishop, the knight loves combat in close quarters and is usually the first piece moved off the back rank and the first to come into contact with the opposing army. The knight is indeed hopping mad and ready to fight! Oddly, if an enemy can get past the lance and closer still to the knight, the knight is defenseless.
The knight would need to dismount, drop its lance, and draw a sword in order to fight at very close 33 34 Part I: Laying the Groundwork range — but this is too time-consuming, besides being against the rules of chess! The easiest way to understand the knight move is to think of it as an L-shape in any direction. Two squares up and one over, or one square down and two over, or any such combination.
It captures just as the other chess pieces do, by replacing the piece or pawn occupying the square it lands on — and not the players it jumps over. Figure a illustrates where the knight can move from the center of the board. This alternation between colors is true of no other piece. If the knight is on a light square, it must move to a dark square, and vice versa.
The knight is much more effective when centralized — or positioned so that it occupies or attacks one of the four central squares. However, unlike the other pieces for which this general rule also holds true, the knight loves to be in the center of the action and is forced to retreat only when attacked by the lowly pawn.
Otherwise, the knight just holds its ground and dares you to capture it. The knight considers charging off into battle an honor and hates to watch while others are left to carry the day.
In fact, this piece is the only one that can move off the back rank at the start of the game without a preliminary pawn move, as illustrated in Figure Pawns are only pawns, but chess has a lot of them! Figure shows how the pawns are set up at the start of the game. In fact, he once did it in front of over enthralled spectators on the occasion of his 90th birthday! Their powers are very restricted.
The pawn can move only one square forward, except on its very first move, when it has the choice of moving one or two squares forward. Figure shows the options for the white pawns at the starting line. It captures diagonally, one square forward to either side. Chapter 2: Greeting the Pieces and Their Powers 8 7 x 6 Figure The white pawn can capture an opponent on either of the X-marked squares.
If no member of the opposing army occupies a square that the pawn attacks, then the pawn can move forward. In Figure , the pawns on d5 and d6 are locked. You can see where that term came from, as the second pawn attempts to pry the first one free.
Figure illustrates the use of the lever. The soldier needs a comrade in arms to come to his aid. If the black pawn captures the white pawn, the remaining white pawn is free to move. Often the lever can be used to pry open an otherwise locked position, and this technique is seen over and over again in the games of the masters.
This way, both pawns — or pawn duos — can guard the square in front of the other. By helping each other out, both pawns become more mobile, and their influence on the game grows. I also devote a whole chapter to pawn structures that are associated with particular openings — see Chapter 9 for information on pawn formations.
By understanding the individual elements, you dramatically increase your knowledge of chess. Of course, understanding the elements in isolation from one another is far easier than understanding them in combination. Unfortunately, the elements are always interacting with each other — as if they were volatile gases. Sometimes one element is far more important than all the others combined; other times, a dynamic balance exists between them all.
In this chapter, I introduce you to these interacting elements, first explaining them individually and then showing how they all interact. Chess really is a game of spatial conquest. Imagine trying to get from one side of the battlefield to the other when your own soldiers keep getting in your way. The battle for space is fiercest in the center of the board. Controlling the squares e4, e5, d4, and d5, as well as the squares adjacent to them, is like seizing the high ground in a skirmish.
On the other hand, a freeing move is a move that gains back space. Gain control Space is little more than the number of squares you control. Control refers to the number of squares attacked — not necessarily occupied — by your pieces and pawns. Attacked squares are those squares that your pieces or pawns can go to on your next move. Even if a square is contested, you can use a kind of chess arithmetic to determine which side is more likely to end up controlling it.
The side with the highest number is the side most likely to seize control. Employ space strategies Each side starts the game with the same amount of space. Because white has the benefit of the first move, white almost always secures a temporary spatial advantage by putting a pawn or piece on a square that allows it to attack and, at least temporarily, control squares on the other half of the board.
Figure illustrates the most common opening move 1. These squares, d5 and f5, are shown in Figure For a refresher on how pawns attack versus how they move, see Chapter 2. This action-reaction is sometimes referred to as the dynamic equilibrium of chess, which is just a fancy way of saying that one side can usually reestablish the initial equality on his or her turn. In this way, white tries to force a concession from black and secure a lasting advantage.
Space is more important in the opening and middlegame phases of chess than it is in the endgame. This idea is true because by definition, the endgame has the fewest pieces on the board. Getting cramped by a handful of pieces in the endgame rarely happens, and you have to be sort of clumsy to trip over your own pieces. The key to controlling space in the opening is to control the center.
In Figure , the key central squares are indicated. No chess master ever does. The most common opening strategy in chess is to try to maneuver your minor pieces the bishops and the knights and central pawns so that they control the four center squares and strike out into enemy territory. The minor pieces increase in power when mobilized towards the center. In Figure , white has moved its pawns and knights to control the center.
Black has been busy moving the pawns on the a- and h-files and is already behind in the battle for space. You must keep the supply lines open and invade only when you can adequately support the advanced pieces.
The material element is concerned with this relative strength of the pieces. Material superiority can be decisive when everything else is equal. If you can win one pawn, you can usually win another or force further concessions from your opponent.
A material advantage of a single pawn is usually decisive in games between masters. A material advantage equivalent to a rook is usually enough to win, even for inexperienced players.
Value your pawns and pieces Chess players attempt to quantify the power of the pieces by assigning them a numerical value. The pawn is the basic unit of chess and is assigned a numerical value of one. The other pieces are evaluated in those same terms. Therefore, if a pawn is worth one point, a knight is worth more: three points.
In other words, you lose two points in the element of material if you trade a knight for a pawn. Table shows the relative values of the pieces. Note: Assigning a value to the king is futile, because its loss means the loss of the game! Having an advanced pawn deep in enemy territory may be far more important than having a measly knight tucked away in a corner. A bishop locked behind its own pawns may not be worth a fraction of a free roaming knight. These values are relative and can change many times over the course of the game.
Adopt material strategies A good rule is to exchange pieces when you have an advantage in material. This strategy is referred to as simplification. Having the two bishops control both light and dark squares is especially important. Every time chess players try to devise a rigid rule, some smart aleck comes along and breaks it!
See Chapter 1 for an introduction to files and diagonals. You must attack! Material superiority takes on added importance the closer you come to an endgame. A single pawn advantage may mean little in the opening — but it may be decisive in the endgame. This strategy illustrates how you can force additional concessions from your opponents. The result? You wind up with a spatial advantage, too! The intentional loss of material in return for an advantage in another element is referred to as a sacrifice.
The closer you get to an endgame, the more important the extra material becomes, so the risky maneuver of sacrificing is considered courageous by some and foolhardy by others. You can often tell a lot about chess players by watching how they risk or conserve their material! Chapter 6 deals with the most common types of sacrifice in chess. In chess, players take turns moving. Not all Chapter 3: Getting to Know the Elements of Chess moves are equal, however, and only those moves that contribute to the increased mobility of your pieces are said to be developing moves.
In practice, nearly every time a piece moves from its original square, that move is a developing one. You want to use the element of time to place your pieces on effective squares as efficiently as possible.
Moving a piece a second or third time before moving the others is usually a waste of time. Move it to a good square and then move another piece to another good square. Chess players call a move a tempo. Figures and show white losing time by moving one piece too often. Nf3 Nf6. Figure b shows white making a mistake by moving the knight a second time, to g5. To avoid being captured by the h6 pawn, the white knight moves back to f3, as in Figure b. By comparing Figure a with Figure b, you can see that black not only got to move the pawn from h7 to h6 but also gets another turn — in chess speak, black has gained a tempo.
White has just wasted time and has lost a tempo. For example, you can develop a piece to a reasonable square but, as the course of events unfolds, discover that your piece really belongs on another square. You may be forced to reposition the piece to where it really belongs. Such a move can be a loss of tempo.
White begins the game and has, by definition, a slight edge in time. White can squander this advantage easily or make use of it. The advantage that comes with an edge in the element of time — or development — is often called the initiative. Thus, by virtue of the first move, white is given a slight initiative at the beginning of the game. This advantage is often compared to having the serve in tennis, and in the hands of the grandmasters, the advantage of having white is quite significant.
The most common error that beginners make is to lose a tempo by giving check for more on check, see Chapter 4. Sometimes the checking piece is later forced to retreat, and a tempo is lost. If you plan on checking the king, make certain that you have a concrete reason for doing so.
Make a gambit maybe Very often you can sacrifice a small amount of material for an advantage in development. Many openings sacrifice a pawn for this reason, and those openings and the sacrifices themselves are called gambits. A gambit is usually more effective for white than for black because white already has the initiative and can add to it at the small cost of a pawn.
Gambits tried by black usually offer fewer chances for the initiative and often wind up as a simple loss of material. For more on the gambit sacrifice, see Chapter 6. Chapter 3: Getting to Know the Elements of Chess The center-counter: Risky development One opening that you occasionally see in grandmaster play is the center-counter.
The chief drawback to this opening is that the black queen is developed too early and comes under attack. When the queen is forced to retreat, white gains a tempo. Here are the usual opening moves of the centercounter. The drawback of this move will become clear in just a moment. Black now recaptures the pawn in order to reestablish the material balance see the following figures.
White has won a tempo! The general idea is that it takes time to capture the pawn. The time one player spends on the pawn capture will be used by the gambit player on development.
Will the lead in development be worth the material sacrifice? If the king is in jeopardy, nothing else matters. Many chess games begin with one or two pawn moves and the development of two or three of the minor pieces. From using the correct chess terminology to engaging in the art of the attack, you'll get easy-to-follow, step-by-step explanations that demystify the game—and give you an extra edge. Chess isn't a game you can master—it's an activity that requires patience, strategy, and constant learning.
But that's all part of the fun and challenge! Whether you're playing chess online, in a tournament, or with a family member or friend, this hands-on guide gets you familiar with the game and its components, giving you the know-how to put the principles of play into action from the opening to the endgame.
If you find yourself in a stalemate before you even begin a game, this friendly book helps you put your chess foot forward! Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses.
Chess for dummies Item Preview. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Chess For Dummies. Your quick and easy guide to chess Kings, queens, knights—does chess seem like a royal pain to grasp? Taking the intimidation out of this age-old pastime, Chess For Dummies, 4th Edition is here to help beginners wrap their minds around the rules of the game, make sense of those puzzling.
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