Light the brain up LUMINOUS CHESS SET STRUCTURE OF THE CHESS SET The Luminous Chess Set consists of a chess board, 16 black chess pieces and 16 white chess pieces. Each chess piece is made of a plastic pipe and a light candle inside the pipe. There are LED lights installed between the top layer and bottom layer of the chess board. 1 GAME RULE Setting Up The Board The board should be set up with a white square in the bottom right-hand corner for both players. The rooks go on the outside corners. Knights go immediately inside the rooks, followed by bishops which go immediately inside of the knights. Final- ly, the queen goes on the central square matching her color (white queen on white, black queen on black). The king takes the vacant spot next to the queen. The pawns are placed one square in front of all of the other pieces. 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 abcdefgh Ranks & files Going from left to right, the vertical rows on the board, called files, are labeled a through h. The horizontal rows, called ranks, are numbered 1 to 8. The 1 is white’s side of the board; 8 is black’s side. When the board is set up the square a1 will be on the white player’s left side. 2 Basic Moves Each of the 6 different kinds of jump over other pieces), and can pieces moves differently. Piec- never move onto a square with es cannot move through other one of their own pieces. They pieces (though the knight can can, however, move to a square KING The king is the most important piece, but is one of the weakest. He moves exactly one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. A special move with the king known as “castling” is allowed only once per player, per game. The cap- ture of the king is the object of the game. ROOK The Rook moves in a straight line along a rank or file, as many spaces as it likes, without jumping. Rooks are particularly powerful when they are protecting each other and working togeth- er. The rook’s value is 5. KNIGHT Knights move in a very different way from the other pieces – go- ing two squares in one direction, and then one more move at a 90-degree angle, just like the shape of an “L”. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other piec- es; it moves straight to a square without disturbing any of the pieces in between. Knights are generally brought out early. The knight’s value is 3. 3 occupied by an opponent’s move into positions where they piece which is then captured can capture other pieces, de- and permanently removed from fend their own pieces, or control the game. Pieces generally important squares in the game. QUEEN The Queen is the most powerful piece. She can move any number of vacant squares in one straight direc- tion—forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally. The queen is worth 9 points. BISHOP The bishop may move any number of vacant squares, but only diago- nally. A bishop that starts on a black square will always be on a black square, so it can only get to half the squares on the board. The bishop’s value is 3. PAWN Pawns are unusual as they move forward but capture diagonally. They can only move forward one square at a time, except for their very first move where they can move forward two squares. Pawns can only capture one square diago- nally in front of them. They can never move or capture backward. If there is another piece directly in front of a pawn he can- not move past or capture that piece. The pawn’s value is 1. 3 4 Special Moves Castling If both the king and a rook have not been moved yet during the game, there are no pieces between them, and the king is not in check, then the king and rook can move in a special way called castling: the king moves two spaces toward the rook, and the rook moves to the other side of the king, right next to the king. Often, this puts the king in a more protected position, behind some pawns. The king cannot castle out of, through, or into check. He cannot move through a square threatened by an enemy piece. En passant En passant is a special way a pawn can capture another pawn. It is French for “in passing.” When a pawn advances two squares and ends up adjacent to an opponent’s pawn on the same rank, it may be captured by that pawn as if it had moved only one square forward. This capture is only legal on the move immediately following the first pawn’s advance. Pawn promotion If a player advances a pawn to its eighth rank, the pawn is then promoted (converted) to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color (usually a queen is chosen). The choice is not limited to previously captured pieces, so it is theoretically possible for a player to have up to nine queens if all of their pawns are promoted. 5 Endgame Check A king is in check when it is under attack by at least one ene- my piece. It is customary to announce “check” when making a move that puts the opponent’s king in check. It is illegal to make a move that places or leaves one’s king in check. If it is not possible to get out of check, the king is checkmated and the game is over. The possible ways to get out of check are: 1. Move the king to a square where it is not in check. 2. Capture the checking piece (possibly with the king). 3. Block the check by placing a piece between the king and the opponent’s threatening piece. Checkmate If a player’s king is placed in check and there is no legal move that player can make to escape check, then the king is said to be checkmated. The game ends, and that player loses. Unlike other pieces, the king is never actually captured or removed from the board because checkmate ends the game. Draw A draw occurs when it appears that neither side will win. Draws are codified by various rules of chess including stalemate (when the player to move has no legal move and is not in check), threefold repetition (when the same position occurs three times with the same player to move), and the fifty-move rule (when the last fifty successive moves made by both players contain no capture or pawn move). A draw also occurs when neither player has sufficient material to checkmate the opponent or when no sequence of legal moves can lead to checkmate. 5 6 FUN IN THE DARK With these specially designed chess board and chess pieces, you can enjoy an unique and interesting experience of playing chess with your families and friends in the dark. Let the Luminous Chess Set light your brain up! 7.