Chess

Chess is a very hard yet fun board game. Chess is played worldwide in most countries in the world. There are many different chess tournaments, the most popular tournament is Chess Olympiad. If you want to play chess but don’t know how to play then people will try to teach you but then you don’t want to play because they overcomplicate things. But the truth is once you learn it you won’t forget it and it’s really easy.

The first thing you need to know is that there are 2 teams, one of them is white and the other one is black. There are 32 pieces on the board to start (16 per color). There is 64 square on a chessboard. The top and bottom two rows are where the pieces are set up. You are supposed to win by trying to make it to where the king piece can’t move anywhere that is safe and the king is in check, this is called checkmate. To put someone in check, that means your piece moves to attack the king so he is forced to move. Also, you can move that piece in that certain direction or squares, and the next move it could take the king. But you can’t take the king ever in chess. If one piece moves but an enemy piece blocks it you can take it. But if your own piece blocks that move you can’t take your own piece. Also, the only type of piece that can jump over other pieces is the knight. The knight is the only piece that can go over other pieces.

There are 6 types of pieces but there are multiple of the same pieces on the board. The 6 types of pieces are the king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, and pawn. Each piece can only move in a certain type of way. The King can move to any of the 8 squares around it, but only one square at a time. The queen can also move all of those directions, but can move as many spaces as you want, however, your own piece can’t be blocking you if you want to move across the board. The rook can only move forwards, backward, left, or right as many spaces as you want, but again, your own piece can’t be blocking you if you want to move in front of it. The bishop can only move diagonally as many spaces as you want but your own piece can’t be blocking you if you want to move across the board. The knight is the only piece that can only move in an L shape. It moves three spaces only or no more or less. It can move 1 space forwards or backward. Then 2 to the right or left. Or it can move two spaces forwards or backward then 1 space to the right or left. Then there is the pawn. It can only move forward one space and can only take pieces if they are diagonal from it. At the start point for the pawn, it can move two spaces for one turn and that’s the only time it can move more than one space. But if the pawn gets to the end of the other side of the board it can turn into a queen, rook, bishop, or knight. The board is set up like this from right to left. The top row consists of pawns only. Then on the bottom are the rook, knight, bishop, king, queen, bishop, knight, and the rook. The king and queen always face each other on each side and the queen always goes on its own color.

There are certain moves that have exceptions. There is a move called castling that involves the king and rook. This move allows the king to move two spaces to the right or left, and the rook also to spaces to the right or left. The king can castle with the rook on the left or right. The rook is closer to the queen on the other side then the rook moves three spaces and the king still moves two. There are 4 rules of castling. Number one, neither the king nor the rook has previously moved. Number two, there are no pieces between the king and the rook. Number three, the king is not currently in check. Number four, the king does not pass through or finish on a square that is attacked by an enemy piece. This move helps the king be protected from other pieces. Now there is a move called en passant. This happens when one pawn moves two spaces from the start and an enemy pawn is now side by side, and that enemy pawn can now take that pawn by moving one space diagonally.

Chess is a bit confusing at first but by playing it over and over you may find a new hobby and you should start off easy to get the hang of it. If you really like chess maybe you could become the best chess player in the world.