Chess is a very interesting game. It can be very rewarding. Chess is pretty easy to learn, but difficult to master. Nonetheless, you will probably want to learn it. In this article, I will go into detail how the pieces move, and other basic rules. (In this article, i assume you already know what the pieces look like)
--The basic rules-- The pawn: one of the most tricky pieces around. You may have to practice this alot to master the pawn. Don't worry if you don't figure it out on the first try! The pawn can only go forward, never backward. If a particular pawn has never been moved in the current game, it may go forward two, or one squares. Once however, it has moved iregardless if it has moved two, or just one square, it can never move two squares in a turn again in that game. For example:
Now, there are other difficult rules to explain about the pawn. I will try to make it as simple as possible.
If a certain piece is in the pawn's way, (whether white or black's) the pawn can't take that piece. For example:
So then, you may be wondering, How does the pawn take pieces? Well, the pawn can only take pieces from an angle. (Sorry if this is confusing you) For example:
However, the pawn can only take the pieces at the
diagonal of the pawn of one square. (I know, it's difficult, but keep trying) For example:
However, there are two more tricky things more to learn about the pawn, but don't worry! You'll get it eventually. When the pawn gets to the other side of the board, it turns into another piece (Either a knight ,rook, bishop, or queen, but not a king, you can only ever have one king on the board) For example :
One last rule about the pawn (or move, i should say): En passant, which, in french means "in passing". It is a special pawn capture in which can only occur when a pawn moves two squares from starting position. The enemy pawn can take the pawn on his/her turn. For example:
Don't worry if "en passant" is hard to understand. It was for me for a long time. Here is a puzzle that may help, can the white pawn take blacks? :
If "en passant" doesn't make sense, consider reading this:
http://www.chess.com/chessopedia/view/en-passant The Knight:Knights can be very tricky. They are the only piece that can jump over other pieces. The best way to learn how they move is to play chess games against someone who knows how to move the knight, or play against a computer that tells you legal moves. Either way, it is quite essential to learn how to move the knight in a games of chess, to play chess. Some people describe the knight move as a "L" shape.
What that means is When it moves, it can move to a square that is two squares horizontally and one square vertically, or two squares vertically and one square horizontally. (source, en.wikipedia.org) For example:
As usual, knight's cannot take a piece of the same color. Capturing with a knight is not really anything special. Example:
Keep practicing! And remeber, the knigh can go backwards, unlike the pawn. The Bishop: The bishop is a interesting piece that moves in diagonal patterns. It stays on the same color of square for the entire game. The bishops CANNOT over other pieces like the knight, the only one that can.
For example:
Again, capturing is nothing special, as shown in the next example:
Don't be confused, the bishop cannot jump over other pieces! For example:
Remember to review as needed. The Rook (castle): The rook is sometimes incorrectly called a "castle", but it is really a rook. "Castling", refers to a move that involves the rook and the king, but you'll learn about that in the "king" section. The rook cannot jump over any other piece. The rook moves backwards, sideways, and forward, and to any square in that direction like the following example shows:
Taking with the rook is nothing too special:
Is this making sense?
The Queen: The queen is like a combination of a bishop, and a rook, and is the most powerful piece on the board. It is not wise to give it away for nothing!The queen can move left, right, forward, in diagonals, and backwards, so long as it plays by the rules (I'll post a article on the rules and how to win, this article is about how the pieces move. Again, the queen cannot jump over any other pieces. Example:
The queen may be the most powerful piece on the board, but it isn't that hard to learn if you know how to move the rook and bishop! The King: The king is the most important piece on the board, but one of the slowest! It can move one (and only one) square at a time, so you better use it wiesly! Again, Kings simply cannot jump over pieces. Example:
Now, if you read the part about the rook, you probably heard about castling, or something like that. Well, castling occurs when the king and the rook are at the right position, and has the right history. (in other words, both pieces have never moved before in the game)
How it works is that the king moves to the rook two squares, and the rook jumps over the king, one square to the opposite of where it used to be. Example of this hard to learn move:
The king cannot castle through or in check, more on that in a other article. But what that basically means is that "A check is a condition in chess, shogi and xiangqi that occurs when a player's king (or general in xiangqi) is under threat of capture on their opponent's next turn. A king so threatened is said to be in check". Again, more on that in a other article. For example:
You don't need to learn how to play chess in a day :), keep trying, and you will eventually get it. REMEMBER: You cannot take a peice of your own color with your piece! (In other words, white can't take whites pieces and vice versa) Knowledge tester, can the pawn take the rook?