Jump to: navigation, search

Chess is an ancient Indian game of strategy, played by two individuals on an 8x8 grid. The objective is to maneuver one's pieces so as to put the opposing king in "checkmate". This book will cover the basic pieces of chess, before going on to some more advanced topics.

© Copyright 2003–2006 contributing authors, all rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Document License, version 1.2. A copy of this is included in the section entitled GNU Free Document License.

Contents

If you save this file to your computer, you can click on a link below to go to the chapter.

• Playing The Game
• Notating The Game
• Tactics
• Tactics Exercises
• Strategy
• Basic Openings
• Sample chess game
• The Endgame
• Variants
• Tournaments
• Optional homework
• GNU Free Documentation License

Playing The Game

Overview

Chess, unlike many other games, does not involve chance. It does not hinge on the roll of dice or which card is drawn. The outcome completely depends on the decisions of the players. However, because of its vast complexity, the far-reaching consequences of some decisions are practically unforeseeable.

One player ("White") has the white pieces while the other ("Black") has the black pieces. Sometimes the colors are not black and white (for instance, light and dark, or yellow and blue), but they generally contrast each other. In friendly games the choice of colors can be made by any method, such as flipping a coin. If there is no coin at hand, another typical way of deciding would be to conceal a black piece in one hand and a white piece in the other and ask one's opponent to select a hand. The colored piece selected will be the opponent's color. In competitive games the players are assigned their colors.

Order of play

Once all the pieces have been arranged, White (or the lighter color) makes the first move. White always makes the first move; this is important for notation, and any chess player will insist upon it. After White has made the move, Black will then make a move. The gameplay will continue in alternating fashion, White making a move, followed by Black.

General movement rules

• A move consists of moving a single piece, in accordance with its rules of movement, to a square that is unoccupied or occupied by an enemy piece. The one exception is a special move called "castling" where two pieces are moved. A player may never move a piece onto a square already occupied by another of his or her own pieces.
• If a piece is moved onto a square occupied by an enemy piece, the latter piece is removed from play and the first piece replaces it. The removed piece is said to have been captured or taken.
• With the exception of the knight(s) and "castling", no piece may make a move to a non-adjacent square unless all the intervening squares are vacant (pieces may not 'jump over' other pieces).
• No player may make a move that leaves their king in check (see below).
• The player is obligated to make a move when it is his or her turn. In other words, he or she cannot choose not to make a move. If no legal move is possible the game ends in a draw (see below).

There are some exceptions to these rules, where a player's turn can consist of two pieces moving (castling), where a pawn moves to an unoccupied square but still captures (en passant capture), or where a pawn moves to a square and becomes a different piece (pawn promotion), all of which are covered below.

The board

Traditionally, the game is played on a board of 64 alternating black and white squares turned with a white square to each player's near right-hand corner. "White on right" is a helpful saying to remember this convention. The light and dark squares on the chessboard and the light and dark chess pieces are traditionally referred to as "white" and "black" respectively, although in modern chess sets almost any colors may be used. The horizontal rows of squares are called ranks and are numbered 1-8; the vertical columns of squares are called files and given the letters a-h. This way any single square can be easily identified by it's rank and file, thus making it possible to record games by writing down the starting and ending position of the piece that moves every turn.

The pieces

The movement of the individual pieces is described below. In all the board diagrams shown, the squares to which the piece in question can move are indicated with x's.

King

The king can move one square at a time in any direction, with certain restrictions.

The king is the most important piece belonging to each player, though not the most powerful. If a player moves a piece such that it threatens to capture his opponent's king, that king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check, he must immediately remove the check by moving the king, blocking the check with another piece, or capturing the checking piece. Players may not make any move which places their own king in check, though they may check their opponent's king. Two kings may never occupy adjacent squares, since they would have put themselves in check by moving there.

If the king is placed in check and cannot escape, it is said to have been checkmated (or "mated" for short). The first player to checkmate the opponent's king wins the game. Note that the king is never actually captured, since it is obliged to move out of check whenever possible (and the game ends when it is impossible).

The White king in the following diagram cannot move upwards or to the left since it would be in check from the bishop, or diagonally downwards which would leave it adjacent to the Black king. Also, as no piece is threatening it if it fails to move, the king is not currently in check.

Capturing Pieces

The king may capture any opponent's piece adjacent to it, as long as doing so does not place himself in check.

Knight

The knight is the only piece that may jump over or "move between" other pieces. The knight has a unique L-shaped move; two squares in one direction either horizontally or vertically, and one square in another direction perpendicular to the first.

Other ways to look at it are

1. that the knight moves to the closest square to it not on the same rank, file, or diagonal, or

2. that the possible knight moves form a "Y" (up, right, down, and left), once like a rook and once like a bishop away from its original position.

Capturing Pieces

The knight captures any opponent's piece that it lands on at the end of its L (or Y) shaped move.

Bishop

The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally. Each side starts the game with one light-squared bishop and one dark-squared bishop. Note that the bishop is restricted to the color of squares on which it began. Each player starts out with a bishop that moves on the light colored squares, and another that moves on the dark colored squares. In the diagram below, the bishop stands on a light square and can only move to other light squares.

Capturing Pieces

The bishop may not jump over any piece of either color. It captures any opponent's piece that it encounters during the movement described above, and then occupies the captured piece's square.

Rook

The rook can be moved any number of squares horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Note that like the bishop, the rook cannot jump over any pieces, except for "castling". If the rook attempts to occupy a space already occupied by an opponent's piece, it captures the piece. It cannot occupy a space already occupied by an allied piece.

Queen

The queen is the most powerful piece, being able to move any number of squares in any lateral or diagonal direction. It is best described as the combination of a rook's and bishop's movement capabilities.

Pawn

Pawns can move one square straight forward, or optionally and on their first move only, two squares straight forward. The pawn can move one square diagonally forward to capture a piece, but cannot capture a piece by moving straight forward. For this reason, two opposing pawns on a file may become blocked by each other.

In the diagram below the White pawn is prevented from moving forwards by the Black pawn immediately in front of it (in the d file) which it cannot capture, but can capture the adjacent Black pawn by moving diagonally forward.

Special Moves

Pawn Promotion

If a pawn makes it to one of the eight squares along the far edge of the board from their initial position, the pawn is "promoted". Upon reaching the far rank the player announces the piece that the pawn is promoted to, either a queen, a rook, a bishop, or a knight. The player's move ends when the new piece occupies the promoted square. The new piece need not be a previously captured piece. Thus a player can acquire two or more queens, rooks, bishops or knights. (In theory it is possible to get up to nine queens, or ten rooks, etc. since there are eight pawns to promote).

Castling

Castling is a move involving the king and either of the rooks. Castling performed with the king's rook is kingside castling, performed with the queen's rook it is queenside castling.

Subject to restrictions detailed below, a player may move his king two squares towards the rook, and subsequently, on the same turn, move the rook adjacent to but on the opposite side of the king, (onto the square over which the king has just passed).

Note that the king must be the first piece moved; not the rook. If the rook is moved first, then the king must stay where it is. This mainly applies in "strict rules of chess" where if a piece is touched, it must be moved. Moving and letting go of the rook constitutes a legal move, while moving the king two squares is not a legal move by itself.

The restrictions specific to castling are:

1. Neither the king nor the participating rook may have moved previously
2. The king must not be in check at the start of the move, though it may have been in check previously in the game
3. The square over which the king passes must not be under attack ('in check') from an enemy piece. (This would expose the king to a "check" in passing). The rook(s) may be under attack, or the queens' rooks may pass through an attacked queens' knight square.
4. The squares between the king and rook must be vacant

En passant capture

This is French for "in passing"; basically, you capture an enemy pawn as it is passing you.

When a pawn advances two squares onto the same rank as an opposing pawn on an adjacent file, this opposing pawn may, on that player's next move only, capture the advancing pawn as though it had only moved one square (provided the move is otherwise legal). The pawn's ability to move two squares on their first move was a relatively late addition to the game of chess. En Passant was introduced to prevent abuses of the new rule.

In the following example, the Black pawn advances two squares, and is captured by the White pawn which moves diagonally forwards and to the right (as if the Black pawn had been there). This move is only allowed on the turn in which the option is presented.

Initial position

In the initial position each side has eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, a queen and a king arranged as shown in the diagram below. Note that the only pieces on either side which can initially move are the pawns and knights.

Beginners often set up the board incorrectly; it is a complex position to remember. The following mnemonics may help you remember where the pieces go.

• White on the Right It is important that the bottom-right-hand square is light-colored.
• Knights live in castles One knight is placed next to each rook (rooks look like the towers of a castle.)
• Queens on their color OR The dress matches the shoes The White Queen goes on a White Square, Black Queen goes on a Black Square
• Bishops are advisers to the Royalty Bishops surround the King and Queen.
• White King on the Right From the White Player's perspective, both Kings are on the right, and from the Black Player's perspective, the Kings are on the left.

Conclusion of the game

Play continues to alternate between White and Black until one of the following outcomes is reached:

• One player's king is checkmated. The game is lost by that player.
• In a competitive game, one player runs out of time. The game is lost by that player (with two important exceptions, see draws below).
• One player resigns, which is equivalent to quitting the game. A player may resign on either his or his opponent's turn. Resignation is often symbolized by the resigning player knocking down his king.
• The player whose turn it is has been stalemated, meaning that he has no legal move and is not in check. The game is a draw.
• The players agree to draw the game. Either player may offer a draw to his opponent upon completion of his move. If the offer is accepted, the game is drawn. Draw offers cannot be rescinded.
• A player successfully claims that the game is a draw under one of the following criteria:
  • His opponent does not have sufficient pieces to checkmate him by any legal sequence of moves.
  • Both players have run out of time in a competitive game.
  • One player has run out of time in a competitive game, but his opponent does not have sufficient pieces to checkmate him by any legal sequence of moves.
  • 50 moves have been played by each player since a piece was captured or a pawn moved.
  • The current position has occurred twice before with the same player to move.

Chess Etiquette

Generally, chess games at tournaments are conducted under the following rules:

• Touch move - If a player touches his own piece, he must move it, and if a player touches an opponents piece, he must capture it (unless the capture is not possible). If he releases a piece on a square, the move is completed and can't be taken back. If you need to center a piece on its square, it is traditional to say j'adoube (I adjust).
• Be silent when your opponent is on the move - You can only adjust pieces, offer a draw, or claim a draw when it is your turn to move.

A friendly game may be played in any way that is mutually agreeable. Generally it is considerate to avoid distracting your opponent.

Glossary

• Capture - To move one's piece into the same square as one of one's opponent's pieces. The opponent's piece is removed from the board.
• Check - The king is 'in check' when it is being attacked by an enemy piece.
• Checkmate - The player whose turn it is can make no legal move to get his king out of check.
• Stalemate - The player whose turn it is can make no legal move, but the king is not in check.

Notating The Game

Notating chess games is important to any chess student, since it allows him to review his, and his oppenent's, strategy, and to read of classic chess encounters, and follow how the game developed. Further, chess puzzles are often set in magazines, newspapers and online, and their solutions are notated, for an example, see The Times Chess.

Algebraic notation

A very common nomenclature for chess games is algebraic notation, there are, of course, older systems of notation, but these are less common.

In algebraic notation, we use

• R for a rook
• N for a knight
• B for a bishop
• K for king
• Q for queen
• no letter for a pawn

Though sometimes a pictorial language-independent notation is used, in which, for example, a small picture of a horse might represent a knight!

Each square on the chess board is given by a co-ordinate, much like a map. The rows (in chess language, ranks) are labelled with arabic numerals (i.e., 1, 2, 3,...), and the columns (in chess language, files) are labelled with letters of the english alphabet (i.e., a, b, c,...). A square's co-ordinate is first its column, then its row. For example, in the board below, black's king is on the square d5.

If black moves his king to, say, d6, the move is notated as kd6, i.e. the king has moved to square d6.

Moves in which a piece is captured, a king put in check, or checkmate have special notations.

• If a piece is captured, the move's notation is followed by an asterix (*).
• If the king is put in check, the move's notation is followed by a plus sign (+).
• If the king is put in checkmate, the move's notation is followed by a hash (#).

Annotation shorthand

Annotation shorthand is not a notation system. Rather, it a system of symbols for the author to add his descriptions or comments. An author notating a game might wish to highlight an excellent move, question a bad one, or indicate which player he thinks has the advantage.

• If a move is followed by an exclamation mark (!), the author is surprised by the move's quality.
• If a move is followed by a question mark (?), the author suspects the move may have been poor.
• If a move is followed by an exclamation mark and then a question mark (!?), the move interests the author, though it may be sub-optimal.
• If a move is followed by a question mark and then an exclamation mark (?!), the author fears that the move may be irrefuateable.

Repeating a symbol (e.g. !! or ??) adds emphasis.

Results are written white's games won - black's games won. For example, 1-0 indicates that white won, and 0-1 indicates that black won. In the case of a draw, 1/2 is written.

There are some additional symbols for the author to note his thoughts on the game in general, rather than on any particular move.

• An equals sign (=) indicates positional equality between the players.
• A plus-minus sign (+/–) indicates that white is considered to have the advantage.
• A minus-plus sign (-/+) indicates that black is considered to have the advantage.

Ambiguity

Sometimes algebraic notation can be ambiguous - that is, two pieces of the same designation can move to one square. For example, a player might be able to move either of his rooks to the same square. In these cases, it is essential to specify which piece was moved.

The precise move is specified by designating the file (column) that the piece moved from, before the move's final co-ordinate. For example, Nd2 indicates that a knight moved to d2, but Nbd2 indicates that the knight that was in column b moved to d2. If a piece's file is not enough to precisely specify the move, then its rank is used instead.

Special moves

Some special moves are tricky to write in algebraic notation, and must have their own notation.

• Castling king-side is written 0-0.
• Castling queen-side is written 0-0-0.
• En passant capture is written e.p., if there is ambiguity.
• If a pawn is promoted, the pawn's inital move is written, followed by the shorthand for the new piece. Any additional nomenclature or annotation is written after the shorthand for the new piece.

Sample game in algebraic notation

If you have familiarized yourself with algebraic notation, consider this short sequence of moves. Try to follow the game by looking at the moves in algebraic notation, and the boards.

The game has begun, and is nearing the end. White is to move.

White decides to move his bishop from d3 to c4, to check black's king. This is white's thirtieth move. So in algebraic notation, we write

• 30. Bc4+

Since only one bishop could move to c4, the bishop's initial position was not specified. The + indicates the check.

White's bishop is now, unfortunately, in the queen's line of fire. Black decides to capture it. So for black's 30th move is

• 30... Qxc4

The x signifies that a piece has been captured. When black's move is written separately from white's, an ellipsis (...) is placed between the number and the move. The ellipsis indicates that white's move has been omitted.

The board now looks like this.

White is in trouble now, and decides to flee to f2. His move is

• 31. Kf2

If black checks white's king, by moving his queen to c2, his move is

• 31... Qc2+

Descriptive Notation

An older form of notation you will run into quite frequently is the descriptive notation. It is useful to know because older books use it.

In this form, instead of the files being a, b, c etc., they are Queen rook (QR), Queen Knight (QN), Queen Bishop (QB), Queen (Q), King (K), King Bishop (KB), King Knight (KN) and King Rook (KR). The ranks are labeled from your point of view so that the square e4 (in algebraic) is White's K4 and Black's K5.

To record the moving of a piece, you write the piece, and to where it moves. 1. P-K4 means move a pawn to the 4th rank in the King's file. N-QB3 means move your Knight to the third rank in the Queen's Bishop file. To capture, you specify the piece taking, and the piece to be taken. QRPxN means pawn in the Queen Rook file takes Knight. Excessive notation is left out so that if only one pawn could legally take a Knight the move is recorded as PxN.

In order to compare the two systems let's look at the same game in both algebraic and descriptive notation

Algebraic

1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. Nc3 Bb4
4. Bb5+ Bd7
5. Bxd7+ Qxd7
6. Nge2 dxe4
7. 0-0

Descriptive

1. P-K4 P-K3
2. P-Q4 P-Q4
3. N-QB3 B-N5 (Note here that only one bishop can go to a QN5 so it is unnecessary to specify the Queen Knight file rather than the King Knight file)
4. B-N5ch B-Q2 (check is given by ch)
5. BxBch QxB
6. KN-K2 PxP
7. 0-0

Coordinate Notation

A different type of notation uses only the squares that the pieces were on to denote movements. For example, to denote the earlier 7 moves, the following notes are shown:

1. e2-e4 e7-e6
2. d2-d4 d7-d5
3. b1-c3 f8-b4
4. f1-b5+ c8-d7
5. b5xd7+ d8xd7
6. g1-e2 d5xe4
7. 0-0

ICCF numerical notation

This notation is international because it does not depend on piece names or specific alphabets. A move is denoted by the file, then rank, of its starting square (from 11 at the White queen’s rook square to 88 at the Black king’s rook square). 1. e4 is denoted 5254. Castling is denoted by specifying the king’s two-square move, and pawn promotion with a fifth number specifying the new piece (1=queen, 2=rook, 3=bishop, 4=knight).

Tactics

Guarding

When one of your pieces is placed so that it attacks a square occupied by another of your pieces, the first piece is said to be guarding the other. When your opponent captures the guarded piece, you can recapture with the guarding piece. Note that if you have a piece that is pinned to your king by an opposing piece (see below for a description of pins), it can only guard other pieces against capturing by the enemy king, but not from other enemy pieces, since it is unable to move or capture.

Batteries

Batteries are formed when two or more pieces work together. The most common kind of battery is the doubling of rooks on a file. Other batteries can be formed by rook-queen or bishop-queen.

A triple battery can be constructed with the queen and both rooks. This is known as Alekhine's gun (diagram at right) and can be very dangerous. It is often advantageous to place the queen behind one or both rooks as it is a more valuable piece.

The Exchange

In pretty much any game, a player will have the opportunity to take one of his opponents pieces in exchange for one of his own pieces. This should however NOT be done for its own sake! Initiate an exchange only when it benefits you. Benefits can include, but are not limited to:

• Material advantage - queen for a minor piece, queen for rook, rook for a minor piece, a piece for a pawn or two, etc.
• Doubling pawns - Take when taking back means the doubling (or tripling) of your opponent's pawns on the same file.
• Opening up the king's defenses - Take when taking back means moving a pawn that exposes the king.
• Removing a defender - Take when the piece being taken is providing an essential service for the opponent.
• Blunting an attack - When you are being attacked, often a well timed exchange will leave your opponent with too few pieces to keep up the attack.
• Gaining space - In a cramped position, having more pieces can actually be a disadvantage because the pieces get in the way of each other. If your opponent has a space advantage, exchanging pieces can lessen the advantage and make the resultant less confining.
• Improving a material advantage - if you are ahead material, exchanging pieces will usually benefit you (note - pieces, NOT pawns). Similarly, if you have an extra pawn, trade pieces that may otherwise be used as a sacrifice to prevent pawn promotion.

Forks and Double Attacks

Sometimes a piece can be in position to attack two enemy pieces at once. This is called a fork or a Double Attack. All pieces can fork, even pawns, but knights have a reputation for making especially vicious forks because they can jump over other pieces.

Forking with check

Forks on unguarded squares which attack the king are the most powerful. The opponent must then move his king to safety and the other piece in the fork has no chance of escape.

The Royal Fork

A royal fork is one involving both your opponent's king and queen. In the example shown here, white's knight on f7 has engaged black in a Royal fork. Black will be down the exchange of a queen for a knight.

Forks do not always win material

If every time you saw a fork you played it, you would be making a mistake. You have to examine the different possibilities to escape the fork. In the queen fork on the right white has just played 1.Qd4+ forking the black king and rook. However black can play 1. ...Rg7 blocking the check and moving the rook to safety.

However Qd4 is by no means a bad move. Perhaps white played Qd4 in order to force black to play Rg7 in which white can now play 2.Qd8+ Rg8 (forced) followed by 3.Qxa5 in which case white can push his a-pawn. Here white forked black's king and rook not to win the rook but to win a pawn and pave the way for his a-pawn to become a queen.

Pinned pieces

A pinned piece is a piece that cannot move because it would expose an attack on an important piece by one of the opposing pieces, such that the capture of the important piece would result in material gain by the opponent. A very useful device is to pin the opponent's pieces to his king; this is known as an absolute pin. For example, imagine white's king on e1, a white knight on c3, and d2 empty. Black now moves his dark-squared bishop to b4. The white knight is now pinned and cannot move. A pawn on e4 is no longer guarded by the knight, which could not capture a black piece taking this pawn.

In contrast to the absolute pin, a relative pin occurs when one player's piece is pinned to one of lesser value than the king, such as a queen or rook. If the benefit of moving the pinned piece outweighs the loss of material occasioned by the capture of the exposed piece (for example, if a forced mate may be achieved), then the pin can be disregarded and the pinned piece moved.

The position diagrammed to the right shows the theme of attacking the pinned piece. In this position it is white to move. The white player can look at this position and immediately take the rook and win an exchange. However if he did this he would not be playing the BEST move. If white did this then the material would be dead even; however, white has more pawn islands and it would be a very close game. White can instead play Ng5! The rook cannot move, and black has no way of effectively defending the rook a second time in the next move, therefore in the end result black will lose a rook and not gain anything back. So, if you have pinned a piece take a look to see if you can attack the piece again, and if a piece of yours is pinned take a look to see if your opponent can attack it again. And above all else, if you see a good move stop and look around for the best move.

Skewers

A skewer is similar to a pin, but it is in a sense more powerful. Black has, in a blunderous moment, placed his king on d7 in front of his queen on d8. White may now triumphantly slide his rook (either one) to d1, skewering Black's king and queen. Since Black cannot block the check, the king has to move, exposing the black queen to the attack of the white rook.

Discoveries

A discovery is an attack on an enemy piece which is unveiled by moving one of your pieces. The power of discoveries is that two targets can be attacked simultaneously. If combined with a check they can be lethal.

Note that White's 1.Nd7+ was a double check, a type of discovered check where the piece moving also gives check. Such checks are very powerful, since the king is forced to move (both checks cannot be blocked at the same time). They are also often lethal, as in the above game.

Removing the defender

By first capturing, threatening, or pinning a piece that guards another, you might be able to capture the other piece for free.

Sacrifices

A sacrifice is an exchange of a piece for a non material advantage:

In the first diagram, White just moved 1. Kh1 to get out of check.

Black sacrifices his queen with 1...Qg1 for a winning positional advantage - White is in check and can not take with his king because the knight guards the queen.

2. Rxg1 - forced - this smothers the king - he cannot move because his own pieces are on every square he could go to - any check on an unguarded square now is mate.

2...Nf2# Checkmate. This queen's sacrifice was also an example of a smothered mate.

In-between moves