How to play Chess

Introduction

Chess has endured through ages and generations to stay one of the most played board games worldwide. However, there is disagreement over the game’s origins; some writers attribute it to India, while others claim that Chinese Chess predated the game in China. Despite these various objections, the various authors appear to concur that playing the game is crucial for both young children and adults because it teaches analytical and strategic decision-making abilities that are useful in everyday life. (Roza). This paper describes in a stepwise manner how to play the game from setting up the chessboard to moving the chess pieces in addition to some basic strategies that are important for players to know.

Setting Up the Chessboard

The chessboard is a checkered board that is divided into 64 squares arranged in 8 columns and 8 rows. The board squares are divided into two alternating colors, a darker and lighter shade where colors differ based on the material that makes the board. While plastic and vinyl chessboards have green or black for the darker shades and cream or white for the lighter shades, wooden, marble and glass chessboards apply different shading colors based on the material (chess.com). Rows on the board are referred to as ranks and are numbered a – h while columns are referred to as files and are numbered 1 – 8 thereby giving each of the checkered boxes an alphanumeric number made up of a letter and a number e.g. a3, g3 etc. To play the game, 32 movable chess pieces are arranged on the board. Each player has 16 pieces that comprise of 8 pawns, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 2 rooks, 1 king and 1 queen differentiated by their shades (one is dark while the other is light). Begin by arranging the 8 pawns on the second row from the observer on either side. Arrange the rooks at the corners of the first row followed by the knights next to them. Arrange the bishops next to the knights and the queen and king at the centre where the queen has to be on its equivalent shade, i.e. black queen on black box. With this, you are ready to play.

Moving the Chess Pieces

Each of the chess pieces move differently on the board with the sole aim of either opponent being to checkmate the king thereby making it easy to capture it. All other pieces move into positions of the opponents’ pieces (replace them hence capturing them), ensure defense for their pieces and domineer crucial squares in the game without moving through other pieces, i.e. by jumping over them. Pawns move forward and capture opponent pieces in a diagonal manner. They only capture one square diagonally in-front of them and can never capture opponents backwards. Rooks on the other hand move as far as they want in a forward, backward or sideways manner. They are important in protecting one another and working together. Bishops as well move as far as they want but in a diagonal manner. They however, must ensure that they always maintain the color of the checkbox. Knights on the other hand move in an ‘L’ shape manner by moving in one direction by 2 squares followed by a 90-degree angle movement. As well they are able to move over other pieces. The queen is able to move in any one straight direction either forward, backward, diagonally or sideways as far as possible without moving over her own pieces. The king on the other hand can only move one square in either direction – up, down, sideways, and in a diagonal manner.

Basic Strategies

One strategy that a player ought to know is that they should always protect their king by placing him at the corner where he is safe. Second, players need to ensure that they don’t give away their pieces by playing in a reckless manner. All pieces are valuable when victory is sought. Third, players should work to control the centre of the chessboard where they make it difficult for their opponents to capture their pieces. With these basics in mind, anyone can make the first steps in playing the game of chess.

References

Chess.com. “How to Play Chess: Rules and Basics - Chess.Com.” Chess.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 18 Aug. 2017.

Roza, Greg. Checkmate!: The Game Of Chess. New York: Rosen, 2004. Print.