All About The Rules Of Chess. Complete Guide For Beginners

A chess party takes place between two opponents on a checkerboard by moving chess pieces with their hands. A player can compete against another player, a team, or even a computer. The given article is going to present the precise information on how to understand chess and how to play this calm kind of sport.

Checkerboard Explained

The checkerboard consists of 64 squares (32 white and 32 black ones). They are placed in a staggered order meaning every, for example, white square borders only black ones and vice versa. The checkerboard should be positioned so that the corner squares on the opponents’ left should be white. Eight squares from 1 to 8 create vertical rows also known as files, while the squares from A to H form horizontal rows i.e. ranks. Such positions of the squares create two diagonal lines – one of the black color, and the other of the white color.

Gameplay

The competing players take turns to move their chess pieces, while the player who controls the white ones always start a game. That is why it is sometimes a serious question of who should control the white pieces. As for friendly matches, it is decided by a coin toss. When it comes to official competitions, the distribution of the pieces is determined by the regulations of every particular event.

Players are given 16 pieces each prior to the beginning of a match. These pieces include:

• eight pawns;
• two knights;
• two bishops;
• two rooks;
• one queen;
• one king.

Apart from castling, a movement is when a player takes a piece and places it on a different square according to particular rules. Opponents usually take turns to perform moves.

When a player places one of his pieces on a square that is occupied by an opponent’s piece, it should be removed from the checkerboard. It is also known as beating. The king is the only piece that cannot be removed from the checkerboard.

As it has been already mentioned, there are particular rules that govern chess matches. According to them, each piece can be moved in a certain direction only. The explanations below will try to explain these rules for everyone to understand them.

The king can move exactly one square horizontally, vertically or diagonally if it does not result in the threat to be beaten by an opponent. There is also a possibility to perform castling. In this case, the king is moved two squares diagonally, while a rook should be placed on the square the king has just crossed over. The result of this movement is that the king is now hidden behind the rook. However, some conditions should be met for castling to be allowed. To explain, there should be no pieces between the king and the rook and castling should be the first movement for both pieces in a match.

The queen can move diagonally, horizontally, and vertically for as many squares as it is possible.

A rook can be travel across ranks and files it occupies.

A bishop moves diagonally for as many squares as it is possible.

A knight moves to the nearest square not on the same rank, file, or diagonal. This can be thought of as moving two squares horizontally then one square vertically or moving one square horizontally then two squares vertically—i.e. in an “L” pattern.

Pawns move one square vertically if it does not relate to beating the opponent’s pieces. If it happens, however, a pawn should be moved one square diagonally. From the very beginning of a match, pawns can be moved two squares vertically. When a pawn reaches the last rank, it should be replaced by a bishop, knight or rook of the same color and start moving backward.

A move is said to be performed in one of the following cases:

• a player places a piece on a free square and removed his hand from it;
• a player beats an opponent’s piece by placing his own piece on its place and removing the opponent’s one;
• castling is performed after a player removes his hand from a rook;
• a pawn is transformed into a different piece after reaching the last rank.

If a player notifies his opponent of his intention to correct the position/positions of one or two of his pieces, he is allowed to do it. In all the other cases, however, touching a piece can provoke one of the following scenarios:

• if a player touches one or a few his pieces, he must move the first of them;
• if a player touches both his and opponent’s pieces, he must beat the opponent’s piece with one of his own pieces. It will be better if he uses the piece he has just touched for this.
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If it appears to be impossible to follow one of the scenarios above, a player is free to perform a different move.

Checkmate Explained

The king is said to be under check when one of the opponent’s pieces is going to beat the check the king occupies. If it occurs, a player should eliminate this condition with his first move. For this, it is possible to use one of the following variants:

• to remove the king from the endangered square;
• to beat the opponent’s piece that is going to beat the king;
• to hide the king by placing another piece between the king and the opponent’s piece that is going to beat him (the given approach will not help against a knight).
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When it happens to be impossible for a player to escape from a check, a mate is announced meaning the player who controls the king is a loser.

So, a match is said to be over when one of the players manages checkmates the opponent’s king. In addition, a player can win if his opponent capitulates. Besides, a match is considered over when a player does not have more time to make moves. Finally, when a player violates some rules, it can result in a win for his opponent.

Draw in Chess

Some matches can end in draws. To be more exact, it can happen in the following instances:

1. There are some cases when a possibility of a match ending in a win is absent. Among others, it happens when on the checkerboard there are only two kings, two kings with two bishops; two kings with two knights, and other kinds of dead positions.
2. The player’s king is not under check, but he cannot perform a move because it will result in a check. This is also known as the chess stalemate.
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3. The opponents agree to end the match in a draw.

Before a regular move, when a player proves that the opponents made at least 50 moves, during which no one piece was beaten, and no pawn was moved. If such a situation appears following 75 moves, a draw is announced without the necessity for players to prove it.