| Have you ever watched a chess game and | | | | come up with these "plans". The middlegame is when |
| wondered how the heck the game works? | | | | you play your battles and try to take more of the |
| On one level it looks kind of like checkers, but not all | | | | opponenets pieces than he takes of yours. The |
| the pieces are shaped the same and they move in | | | | endgame comes when there are only a few pieces |
| strange and mysterious ways. If you've ever wanted | | | | left to play with and eventually ends in either a draw or |
| to be one of those intelligent looking folks sitting on | | | | checkmate. |
| either side of the chess table, then this guide can help | | | | Not all the chess pieces behave the same. Each one |
| you learn how to play. It's not that difficult and you can | | | | moves in a different way and has different rules. A |
| even be playing your first game by the end of the day! | | | | piece may capture an opponents piece by landing on |
| To make it easier to talk about chess pieces and | | | | the square of the opponents piece - the captured |
| moves on the board, a special method of notation has | | | | piece is then removed from the board. The object of |
| been devised. In chess the rows on the board are | | | | the game is to checkmate the opponents king so this |
| called ranks and the columns are files. In this notation | | | | piece must always be protected. The King can only |
| the files are identified with a letter and the ranks are | | | | move 1 square at a time but he can go in any direction, |
| identified with a number. So when looking at a | | | | vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The only restriction |
| chessboard from the "white" side, the leftmost file is 'a', | | | | is that he cannot move into a square that would allow |
| the one next to it 'b' and so on until the last file which is | | | | him to be captured (or checkmated) by the opponenet |
| 'h'. The closest rank for white is 'rank 1', the next one is | | | | as this would be a huge blunder that would end the |
| 'rank 2' and so on until the last rank, which is the back | | | | game. So, looking at an empty board with a king on e4, |
| row for black and is 'rank 8'. So the when using chess | | | | he can move to e3,e5, d4, f4, d3, f3, d5, f5. |
| notation, the leftmost back square for white would be | | | | Th Queen is the most powerful piece and can move in |
| called 'a1', the square directly above 'a2' an so on. Isn't | | | | all directions but unlike the King can move any number |
| that easy? | | | | of square without having to "jump over" another piece. |
| A game of chess has 3 basic phases - the opening, | | | | A Queen that is on d4 has 27 possible moves and |
| midgame and endgame. The opening begins the game | | | | can move to any square on the d file, any square on |
| and is the first 10 or 15 moves. During the opening you | | | | the 4th rank all 7 squares on the a1-h8 diagonal as well |
| should concentrate on getting your pieces into a good | | | | as all 6 squares on the 'b7-g1' diagonal. |
| position (called promotion). But what is a good position? | | | | The Bishop is initially placed on either side of the King |
| Typically it is good to control the center of the board | | | | and Queen and can only move on diagonals but can |
| and of course you want to be sure your king is | | | | move as many squares as he wants. Because of this, |
| protected. You should have some sort of general plan | | | | the Bishops will always stay on same colored squares. |
| in mind when promoting your pieces - don't worry as | | | | He is slightly more valuable than a Knight. |
| you get more experience playing it will be easier to | | | | |