Chess: Game of Wits
When we talk about Chess games then people think of various things like planning, plotting, attacking, defending, and many more!
People think that it takes so much effort to learn how to set up a chess board and how to play this game of wits.
Learning chess is not as difficult as it seems, so let’s talk about the various dimensions of this very interesting game.
Chess is a game of concentration, planning, and strategies, the one who has these qualities ace the game, and the one who doesn’t have them eventually develops it.
Chess sets come in different types and prices, but for the tournaments, national and international one should always buy Green Chess Mat.
Let’s Learn How to Set up a Chess Board Correctly
The chess board consists of light and dark squares on which the whole game is to be played. It is very necessary to understand the positions of pieces so that we can remember the positions and make a strategy.
Arranging a chessboard is not a difficult task first, we have to confirm that we have eight pawns and pieces by our side.
A Step-by-step guide to arranging a chess board via white’s perspective:-
Firstly we have to put our Rooks at both the corners of the first rank if we are arranging white pieces, then at a1 and h1, let’s understand better by this picture.
Secondly, we have to take care of our Knights by putting them next to the rook, both sides on b1 and g1. So that they can over onto the board in their first move only.
Thirdly we need to place our bishops next to the knights on both sides, then it will be on c1 and f1.
After that, it’s time to place our deadliest piece which is Queen and we need to place it next to the bishop on the left side i.e. c1 and queen will be placed on d1.
Then we need to place our very important King whom our entire army is trying to protect, We need to place the King always on a different colored square if we are talking about a white King then we need to place it on the black square next to Queen on e1.
Lastly, we need to take care of our very strong and protective pawns by placing them on the second row from a2 to h2.
Once the chessboard setup is done, then the remaining square is for the gameplay!
Chess Pieces: Players of a Battlefield
Chess game means chess pieces, and every piece moves in its style so let’s look into each piece’s moving style!
There are two different color pieces white and black on the board. In the game of chess, each player has sixteen pieces by their side, and their opponent also has sixteen pieces with them by which they play the whole game, and these pieces should be arranged in the starting position.
All these sixteen pieces should be placed in two horizontal rows, which are called ranks, and vertical columns are called files.
1) Dynamic Pawn
In a game of chess, there are eight white pawns and eight black pawns on both sides, which move two steps from the starting position, and after moving from the starting point they are allowed to move only one step at a time.
Pawn moves are tricky to understand as pawns move straight while playing, but when they have to capture any piece they capture diagonally. Pawns are always on the second rank.
White pawns and black pawns work as a shield to the king in protecting him and making a boundary, and each pawn is worth one point.
The pawn makes a chain together while moving towards the opponent’s king, and it is very difficult to break the pawn chain if they are placed with proper support.
Every white player gets the first chance to play in the game, and most of the time every player likes to play e4 as this moves to give an open file to both bishop and queen.
2) Powerful Rook
In a game of chess, there are two rooks with white pieces and two rooks with black pieces. One rook on a dark square and another one on a light square.
Rooks move in open files horizontally and vertically as many moves as they want in one go, but the condition is that the squares must be empty as rooks cannot jump over other pieces.
Rooks are five points each, and it is very difficult to bring out a rook in the first move as they are stuck behind the pawns and need space to move.
Rooks are dangerous when they are standing in the open file and ranks as they cover the whole file or rank on which opponent might be thinking of placing their piece, and they might neglect this deadly rook and get in trouble by losing their piece.
3) Goofy Knight
Knight is a powerful piece that covers eight squares when it stands in the middle of the board. Knights can jump over the pieces and capture them, knights move in an L shape like two moves vertically and one moves horizontally or two moves horizontally, and one moves vertically.
Knights can easily get out of any place which is blocked by other pieces as they can jump over it.
Knights are of three points each, and both knights stand on different colored squares at the start of the game.
4) Bellicose Bishop
Bishops can move diagonally in the direction they want until and unless that spot is not occupied by any other piece.
Two bishops must be placed on different colored squares as if in the game you observe that both white or black’s bishops are standing on the same color then check the position once as it is a wrong position.
Bishops capture the enemy piece by landing on the square on which the enemy piece is standing and take that place by capturing that piece.
Bishops can move to any number of squares as far as that square is not occupied by any other piece or else it has to capture by the bishop if it’s moving to any occupied square.
Bishops are also of three points similar to knights and stand on different colored squares in the initial position.
5) Deadly Queen
Every chess player must understand the worth of a queen in the game of chess as it is the most powerful piece in comparison to other pieces, as a queen is worth nine points in the game.
Queen is allowed to move as many as steps she wants in one move, but the place should be empty, or else the queen is capturing the piece it’s landing on.
Queen can move straight, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally on the chessboard which makes it the most powerful chess piece.
If any player loses their queen then they can get the queen again in the game by doing pawn promotion in which the pawn has to reach the last rank.
A chess player can also have two queens when they promote the pawn to the last rank, and instead of a queen, any other piece can also be brought back to the chessboard after getting captured by pawn promotion.
- 6) Majestic King
Chess games revolve around the king as every piece in the entire game tries to safeguard the king and do sacrifices to keep the king alive.
The King can only move one step at a time, however in any direction, be it horizontally, vertically, in a straight line, or diagonally.
King possesses the option of safeguarding himself by doing castling. Castling is done by moving the rook and king together by placing the king on g1 and the rook on f1(according to the white piece perspective).
There are two types of castles short castle and long castle, in the long castle king leaves two squares to the left, and in the short castle, the king leaves one square to the right.
Isn’t it so unfair that the most important piece has the least power with it?
Rules
Every chess player must be aware of some basic chess rules which will help them to get a better understanding of all the pieces.
1) Touch and move rule:- In chess, it is mandatory to move the piece which is touched by the player in that same turn only. No other pieces should be moved other than the piece which is touched.
2) Stalemate/Draw:- When someone is losing their chess pieces and match then knowing about stalemate can be proven good for them.
As in chess, it’s a position in which it’s your turn, but you only have a king left with you, and that king is also unable to move anywhere because everywhere checkmate threat is there, so this condition is termed a draw or stalemate.
3) Pawn Promotion:- In chess pawn can become a knight, bishop, rook, or queen if it reaches the last rank without getting captured.
4) Threefold repetition:- In chess, if a one-time type of position is repeated three times in a row then it is termed as threefold repetition, in which the match is considered to be a draw.
Chess Notation
In a game of chess usually, players talk about their moves. They also criticize and appreciate their moves from their game for remembering our chess game we can write it down while playing the chess game.
To learn how to write the notations of chess, first of all, we need to understand how to set up a chess board properly and remember the places of the pieces.
To write the notation first we need to understand that for King ‘K’ is written, Queen ‘Q’, for Knight ‘N’, for Rook ‘R’, for Bishop ‘B’, and for Pawns no special letter is used.
Now for writing down the moves we need to look at the number and alphabets mentioned on the chessboard. Like which piece is standing on which number and alphabetic square.
Example:- As playing white, white moved its king’s pawn two squares ahead on the white square, now for writing this move first we need to remember that there is no special letter in a game of chess to represent pawn move, we need to mention the notation from the chessboard.
So we’ll write it as e4 because that pawn is from e square, and we’ll write it as it moved onto the 4th file.
Chess Clock
Chess is played with chess clocks in the tournaments and understanding how it works is very necessary.
In chess clocks, the same time is set for both the players like 15 minutes for each at their side.
After making a move in chess the chess clock is to be tapped to stop the time.
It is very necessary to press the stop button on the clock after making move to avoid wastage of time.
If a player lost his time completely then his game is considered to be a draw or lost depending upon the pieces.
How to Become a Better Chess Player!
Every player at least thinks once to improve their strategies and playing pattern to become a better player.
Following are some ways to improve the game:-
1) Before moving any piece, just think three things Is this position will be the best place to move, Is any piece under attack, Which opponent’s piece is moved before your move, Is it creating any threat?
2) As a chess board has sixty-four squares in it and keeping an eye on every chess piece tends to seem a difficult job sometimes, but before making any move, once a player should look out for all chess pieces to avoid blunders.
3) Predicting three moves can help a lot in a game of chess as most of the players just look out for the current move and don’t bother much about upcoming activities for which they have to pay the price in weak positions or even lost games.
4) Having a plan is very necessary for the game of chess as when a player has a plan, then they can drive their game according to it and maybe change some part of it according to the opponent’s moves, but when a player doesn’t have a plan, then they end up moving their pieces mindlessly.
5) Learning plays an important role, be it in a game of chess or in life if one can learn from their own mistakes then one can avoid at least one mistake next time, and every time one learns and they gain experience.
For more ways to improve your chess game go check out:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgUyxPafWVY
