Chess Rules!
An Ancient Game Chess was invented somewhere in India or the Middle East 1500- 2000 years ago. It was already an old, OLD game during the times of the castles, kings, and knights in Europe. A thousand years ago, Arabians brought a version of chess to Europe. The rules were different then, and it took several days to play a single game! It took another 500 years for the game to slowly change into the version we play now. In the past 500 years, the rules have hardly changed at all.
A Great Game There's a reason why it has survived so long—it's a great game! Chess has way more strategy than most games. A well-played game is a work of art. To play the game well requires planning, creativity, thinking ahead, logic, calculation, and patience. Playing chess is a fun way to exercise your brain muscles.
The Chessboard A game of chess is a battle of 8 minds fought on a battlefield with an 8 8 array of light and dark 7 squares. Each square has a name 6 that tells you where it is on the board. For example, the square b3 5 is on the b-file and the third rank. Can you locate the e5 and f2 4 squares? 3 b3
Most of the time when you play 2 games of chess, you won't be 1 thinking about the names of the squares, but you will need to a b c d e f g h know them if you want to talk about and learn about chess.
1 Chess Rules!
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Vertical columns of squares are Horizontal rows of squares are called files. For example, the called ranks. line of squares c1 through c8 is called the c-file.
The Pieces Each player commands an army of 16 chess pieces.
1 King (K):
1 Queen (Q): Heavy Pieces 2 Rooks (R): Pieces 2 Bishops (B): Minor Pieces 2 Knights (N):
8 Pawns:
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It's a little bit crazy, but even though the king and pawns are chess pieces, a lot of times they are not called pieces. When chess players talk about pieces, they usually mean queens, rooks, bishops, and knights, and not the king or pawns. Queens and rooks are heavy pieces while the bishops and knights are minor pieces. The king is the king and pawns are pawns.
The Pieces and the Board 8 At the beginning of the game, the pieces are set up like in the 7 picture: king and queen in the 6 middle, rooks in the corners, and knights next to rooks. When 5 setting up the board, remember that the "queen goes on her 4 color" and that the square in 3 your right-hand corner should be white ("white on the right"). 2 1
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Parts of the Board Queenside Kingside The queenside is the half of the board that the queens are on at 8 Black's back rank the beginning of the game. The 7 White's 7th rank/Black's 2nd rank kingside is the half of the board that the kings are on at the 6 beginning of the game. 5 The
The center of the board is the 4 center four squares in the middle of the board—d4, d5, e4, and e5. 3 Sometimes the squares next to 2 the center are included in discussion of the "center." 1 White's back rank a b c d e f g h 3 Chess Rules!
The Game The two players take turns moving pieces. White goes first. Each player moves one piece per turn. You can never skip a turn—even you want to! On your turn, you may move a piece to a better spot or you may capture one of your opponent's pieces by crashing into it, removing it from the board, and taking its place on that square. Once a piece is captured, it is out for the rest of the game. The object of the game is to keep capturing pieces until one of the kings is captured by force (checkmate). At that point, the game is over.
The pieces all move in different ways, and each of them has its own strengths and weaknesses.
A. Pawns Pawns are the weakest of the chess pieces but have the trickiest rules for moving.
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a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h On its first move, a pawn can A pawn can capture pieces only move either one or two squares diagonally forward one square— forward. After that it can only never straight forward, sideways, move forward one square at a or backwards. In the picture, time and never backwards. White's e-pawn cannot move straight forward because it is blocked by Black's e-pawn, but it can capture the black f-pawn. 4 Chess Rules!
Special Pawn Moves 1. Promotion You can turn the weakest piece into the most powerful piece! When a pawn makes it all the way across the board to its 8th rank, it gets promoted to the piece of your choice: queen, knight, rook, or bishop. The new piece immediately replaces the pawn on the promotion square. Pawn promotions usually only occur late in the game.
2. En passant Take a deep breath and relax before reading about this silly- sounding move. It isn't nearly as hard as it seems...If a pawn moves forward two squares on its first move when it could have been captured by a pawn if it had moved only one square instead, then the pawn may still be captured en passant. The capturing pawn moves diagonal one square forward to the square where the other pawn would have been if it had only moved one square, and the captured pawn is removed from the board. If the en passant capture is to be made, it must be made immediately after the running pawn moves its two squares. Ugh! What a mouthful! A picture helps.
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The black pawn moves two spaces White pawn sticks out its foot and on the first move and tries to avoid trips the black pawn as it tries to run capture by running past the white past. The black pawn is captured. pawn. 5 Chess Rules!
Where did this strange move come from? Over 500 years ago, the rules changed to allow pawns to move two squares forward on their first move. Some people didn't like this: "Doggonit! They'll be able to run past my pawns on the fifth rank and escape! It's not fair!" The en passant capture was invented so that pawns could still move forward two spaces on their first move, but they couldn't do it just because they were scared of being captured if they only moved one square.
B. Rooks Rooks can move as 8 far as they like in a straight line along a rank or file—forward, 7 backward, left, right—but they can't 6 jump over other pieces. They capture 5 by crashing into an opposing piece, removing it from the board, and 4 stopping on the square where the 3 captured piece was. 2 The rook in the picture can move to 1 any one of the squares with a star. a b c d e f g h
C. Bishops Bishops can move as far as they like diagonally— 8 forward, backward, left, right—but 7 they cannot jump over other pieces. Like all chess pieces, they capture by 6 crashing into an opposing piece, 5 removing it from the board, and 4 stopping on the square where the captured piece was. 3 2 The black bishop in the picture can move to any of the starred squares. 1 a b c d e f g h
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A bishop cannot move to a different colored square. A bishop that starts on a light square stays on light squares the whole game and is called a "light-squared bishop". And dark-squared bishops always stay on dark squares.
8 D. Queen At the start of a game, each player has one 7 queen. The queen is like a rook and 6 bishop combined. It can move as far as you'd like it to in any direction 5 along a rank, file, or diagonal but 4 can't jump over other pieces. Like 3 other pieces, it captures by crashing into another piece and taking its place 2 on the board. 1 a b c d e f g h
E. Knights Knights move in a small "L" shape. Like the other pieces, they capture by landing on top of another piece. Unlike other pieces, these horses can jump right over other pieces!
The knight in the picture can move to 8 any of the starred squares. 7
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F. King 8 The king can move one square in any 7 direction—forward, backward, left, right, or diagonally. Like other pieces, 6 the king captures by landing on top of 5 an opposing piece and removing it from 4 the board. 3 In the picture the black king can move 2 to any of the starred squares. 1 a b c d e f g h
Special Rules for King When a piece attacks the king, we say the king is in check. When the king is in check, the defending side must move so that the king is no longer in check. It's the rule! Also, it is against the rules for a king to move into check. If your opponent accidentally moves into check, say, "That's check." Then let him or her move somewhere else. Not only is that good sportsmanship, it's the rule.
There are three ways to get out of check: 1. Move the king to a safe square; 2. Capture the checking piece; or 3. Block the check with another piece.
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Black to move. The king is in check Black to move. The king is in from the queen. The king can move check and has no safe squares to safely to f7, g6, h7, or h6. Other move to, BUT Black can move out moves are illegal! of check by capturing White's Q: What's wrong with moving to f8 or g8? queen with the knight or blocking A: It would be in check from the rook, so it's the check with the bishop. illegal for it to move there.
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1 1 a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h Black to move. Now if Black captures Black to move. Black can get out the queen, he moves into check from of check by capturing the white the bishop. Black can't get out of queen with the king. check here. That's called checkmate, and Black loses. 9 Chess Rules!
Checkmate When the king is in check and there 8 is no way to get out, it is called 7 checkmate. The game is over because the king would be captured 6 by force on the next move. 5 4 In the picture, the white king is in check from the queen and has no 3 safe squares to move to. Checkmate. 2 Black wins. 1 a b c d e f g h
Black to move. The black king is 8 in check from the knight on d5. 7 6 Question: How can Black get out of check? 5 4 Answer: No way to get out of 3 check. Checkmate! White wins. 2 1 a b c d e f g h
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Stalemate When the king is not in check but there are no legal moves for it or any other pieces to make, it is called stalemate. The game is over, but it is a draw—neither side wins.
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White to move. The white king is not White to move. The white king in check, and there are no legal moves cannot move, but White does have a for White to make. Stalemate. legal move: pawn to b8! Not stalemate.
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G. Castling Castling is a special chess move where you can move two pieces in the same turn.
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Castling: The General Idea When the king and rook haven't moved yet and there are no pieces between them, slide the king two spaces toward the rook and then jump the rook over the king and land right next to him—just like in the pictures. That's castling. You can also castle on the queenside, like in the pictures below:
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Castling: Special Details 1. You cannot castle if either the rook or king has moved. 2. You cannot castle into check, out of check, or through check.
8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h The bishop guards the square where White is in check from the black the king would land after castling. No queen. No castling out of check! castling into check!
8 7 The white king would have to go through the f1 square to castle, 6 but that square is guarded by the black bishop. No castling 5 through check! 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h
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Miscellaneous Rules
Draws Sometimes it is too difficult (or maybe even impossible) for either side to find a way to checkmate their opponent. When this happens, the game ends in a draw, which is the chess way of saying, "Tie game!" Officially, there are several ways for a game to end in a draw.
1. Insufficient material — Insufficient means "not enough" and material means "pieces." So a draw by insufficient material means that neither side has enough pieces left to force a checkmate. For example, it's impossible to force a checkmate with just two kings on the board. If you get down to two kings, it's a draw. To force a checkmate, you need at least a queen, rook, two minor pieces, or a pawn. If neither side has a rook or queen or two minor pieces or any pawns, the game ends in a draw by insufficient material. If one side has nothing left except a king but the other side has a king and pawn, it is not necessarily a draw because the pawn may still be able to promote into a queen or rook.
2. Perpetual check — Perpetual means "goes on forever." If one side can keep putting the opposing king in check forever without checkmating, the game is drawn by perpetual check.
8 In one game in the 2006 world championship match between Vladimir 7 Kramnik and Veselin Topalov, White (Topalov) was behind by a rook, but he 6 found a way out. He moves his queen to g6 to put Black in check. Black then 5 has to move his king to h8. Then: white 4 queen to h6, check; Black king to g8; white queen to g6, check; Black king to 3 h8; white queen to h6, check; Black king to g8. Back and forth—check, 2 check, check, check... Draw by perpetual check. 1 a b c d e f g h 14 Chess Rules!
3. Stalemate Your king is not in check right now, but any move you make will put you in check. Your opponent didn't leave you a single legal move, but you are not checkmated. This is a draw by stalemate.
4. Threefold repetition If the exact same position comes up three times in a game, it is a draw by threefold repetition. You can't just move your own pieces back and forth three times to get a threefold repetition because your opponent's pieces also have to repeat their position three times. In novice games, threefold repetition almost never happens except in the endgame when there are hardly any pieces left on the board and one side is having trouble figuring out how to get around the enemy king to promote a pawn.
5. Fifty moves without a capture or a pawn advancing If both players make fifty moves in a row without anyone moving a pawn or capturing something, it is a draw. You have to start the counting over any time any pawn moves forward or anything is captured by either player. This is a convenient rule to remember when you are left with just your king, but your opponent still has a rook or queen but isn't sure how to checkmate you. He or she will chase your king all over the board, but if there is no checkmate within fifty moves, it is a draw!
6. Mutual agreement If both players agree to stop playing and call it a draw, it's a draw. Don't ever offer a draw if you are losing — it's bad sportsmanship.
If you want to offer a draw, first make your move and then say, "Draw?" or "I offer a draw." Your opponent will either accept your offer, reject it, or simply make a move (which really means, "I reject your offer.")
A draw by mutual agreement is totally different from one player quitting because he feels like he's losing. It's o.k. if you get frustrated and quit a game, but then it's a loss and not a draw. If you are losing and don't want to keep playing, tip your king over gently, shake your opponent's hand, and say, "Good game. I resign." [Resign is the official chess word for "surrender."]
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