The Basics of Playing Chess

Chess is a board game that has been relevant for around 1500 years. People still play this game. Most people play it for fun while others play to come up with new strategies and apply it to their business tactics. Chess is also played on a highly competitive level with a huge number of tournaments being held all across the globe. You can learn all about Chess by visiting www.skillshare.com, but for now, let’s look at the basics of this game to get you started.

Setting up the game:
The board consists of 64 square blocks, denoted by the numbers 1 to 8 horizontally and the letters A to H vertically. The two opposing teams are differentiated by the colors black and white. The very first row is taken up by special pieces while the next row is taken up by pawns. The special pieces include 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights, 1 king and a queen. One thing to note here is that the king is always placed on the opposite colored block, as in if you’re playing black than the king is placed on a white block and vice versa.

Goal of the game:
The goal of the game is simple. Try and take out your opponent’s king, all the while protecting your king. You need to utilize every piece you have to corner the opponent’s king. Let’s look at how every piece can move.

  1. Rook:
    Rooks are placed at the either corners at the bottom most row. The can move either horizontally or diagonally.
  2. Knights:
    Knights are the pieces that look like horses. Knights can move in an ‘L’ shape. Which means they can move two blocks horizontally and one block vertically or vice versa. One special move that knights have is that they can jump over different pieces. This is exclusive to knights only and now other piece can do this.
  3. Bishop:
    Bishop’s movements allow them to move only diagonally. They can be the most versatile pieces if played right and this is why most players get their bishops out as soon as possible.
  4. Queen:
    The Queen has the combination of rook and bishop. She can move diagonally, horizontally and vertically. The Queenis the most powerful piece in the entire game and taking the Queen could get you much closer to victory.
  5. King:
    The King can move only one block at a time, but can move to any block.
  6. Pawns:
    Finally, pawns can move only in one direction and that’s upward. They can move only one block at a time but can start off by moving 2 blocks. They can also take out other pieces if they happen to be diagonally one block away from the pawn.

Using all these moves, you’re supposed to defeat your opponent’s king. Chess is a game that’s easy to learn but hard to master and a lot of fun to be had. To learn more, visit www.skillshare.com.