Chess

HMS Chess Club:

Chess for Beginners

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The Big Three

• Defend Your King
  • Castle: always castle, castle king-side
  • Do NOT move the pawns in front of your king
  • Put the knight in front of the bishop’s pawn and keep it there
• Get Your Pieces OFF of their Starting Square
  • Move pieces once and only once!
  • Move knights and bishops before rooks and queen
  • Pawns are NOT pieces; pieces are knight, bishop, rook, queen, and king
• Fight for the Middle Squares
  • Pieces are stronger the closer to the middle they are placed
  • Either put your pieces in the middle squares, or
  • Put your pieces so they can go to/through (attack) the middle

(You failed to do one of these every time you lost.)

Ancient Rules

• The bottom right square (the one in the corner) is light, NOT dark
• White moves first
• If you touch it, you move it
• It stays where you let go of it
• Queen start on their own color: the light-colored Queen starts on a light-colored square, the dark-colored Queen starts on a dark-colored square

Stages of Chess

• The Opening: About the first 10 moves of the game

Pieces (knights and bishops first) leave back row, the two middle pawns are moved, the king castles, you prepare your pieces for the upcoming battle, get your team on the field, rooks and queens are weak in the opening and become targets if they come out, knights and bishops are strong, the Opening ends when the kings have castled and the knights and bishops are ready to attack.

• The Middle: Moves 10-30 (give or take)

The battle begins, the king is now safe (castled), pieces and pawns are traded, rooks and queens enter, most pieces are taken, the Middle ends when queens and most pieces are off of the board.

• The Ending

The dust settles. Few pieces and pawns remain. Each side has 1-3 pieces and a few pawns left on the board. The king now enters the fight. Rooks are powerful. Each side plays to promote a pawn.

Starting What do I do?

• Move the pawns in front of your king and queen. Always move your first pawn two squares forward. Never move the three pawns on the right and left sides of the board--leave them alone! Those pawns can be moved later. You have more important pieces to move.
• Castle: Get your king safe. Always castle to the King’s side of the board. The king’s knight always goes to square f3. F3?: The bishop is beside the king. A pawn is in front of that bishop. In front of that pawn is an empty square. Put the knight there. Do NOT move it. Do NOT move the three pawns in front of the king after the king castles. They each have the duty to protect the king--they do that best by staying put.
• Start with knights and bishops. They are strong at the start of the game. Activate them. Lose them. Trade them for rooks, queens and more space. Trade them for a knight and pawn, a bishop and pawn.
• Keep rooks and the queen behind the pawns. Both are vulnerable in the opening. Their time is later. Both are targets if they pass the protection of the pawns. Both can be harassed. Attack your opponent’s rook or queen if it is brought out early. Do so by getting new pieces off of the back row.
• Get your pieces in the game: get your pieces of the back row; get them off of their starting squares.
• Move pieces only once! Stop shuffling the same piece (or two) around--they won’t succeed alone.

Record your games: Play through them again. Find better moves you could have made.

Relax: Your opponent has no clue what to do, is just as inexperienced as you, has no plan, and has not read this. You have. You will lose--and a lot--but you will play better if you follow these guidelines.

The Board is divided into two halves: (1) The Queen’s side, A-D, and (2) The King’s side, E-F.

Castling is a special move the king makes. Castling is moving the king two squares either right or left and then putting the rook on the opposite side of the king. The king can only castle one time. You can only castle, if ALL of the following are true: (1) Neither the king nor rook to be castled with has moved, (2) The rook you castle with has not moved, (2) The squares between the rook and the king are empty, (3) The king is not in check, (4) The king will not go through check nor land in check.

Pawns: Each pawn has the choice of moving one or two squares forward the FIRST time it moves. The pawn can only move one square at a time after that. Pawns can not go backwards.

Pieces are points: Queen = 9 points. Rook = 5 points. Knight = 3. Bishop = 3. Pawn = 1

Tactics and Strategy

• Tactics are opportunities to capture pawns and pieces. Tactics are short-term (one or two-move) ideas to make havoc, to capture something, or to gain an advantage. My bishop could capture a rook but my own knight is standing in the way. Ohh! My knight could attack another knight if I go there. So, I’ll move my knight. I think my opponent will NOT see that my bishop can take his/her rook, Then I win a rook!
• Strategy is your general game plan. I want to advance my stuff on the queen’s side of the board, or I want to trade my knights for my opponent’s bishops, or I want to lock-up the middle with my pawns and then use my knights to jump over into my opponent’s space, or I just won a pawn and I am now one point ahead. I will try to trade everyone of my pawns and pieces for my opponent’s. Then it would be my king and one pawn against one king and no pawns. I will promote my pawn to a queen and win.
• Tactics are more important than strategy. Good tactics beat good strategy. Learn tactics.

Types of Chess Games All chess games can be divided into a few basic types: king games versus queen games and open games versus closed games.

King games versus Queen games (or, which side of the board will the battle take place)

King Games

• King games start with White moving the pawn in front of the king two squares forward.
• King games are usually fast (sharp), have pawns and pieces traded sooner rather than later
• Tactics are more common than strategy.

Queen Games

• Queen games start with White moving the pawn in front of the queen two squares forward.
• Queen games have pawns and pieces traded later rather than sooner
• Strategy is more common than tactics.

Open games versus Closed games (or, will the middle be a traffic jam of pawns or not)

Open Games

• Open games have no pawns or few pawns in the middle
• The pawns that are in the middle do have the option to move forward
• Bishops are good in open games--they have long diagonals they can move along.
• Knights are ok in open games--try to trade your knights for your opponent’s bishops in open games.

Closed Games

• Closed games do have pawns in the middle--and they are stuck
• The pawns can NOT move forward--they are blocked by your opponent’s pawns
• The pawns can NOT capture other pawns.
• Knights are good in closed games--they can jump over the stuck pawns.
• Bishops are frustrated in closed games--all the pawns are in their way.

Both king games and queen games can be either open or closed. Both open games and closed games can be either king games or queen games.

Where Should My Pieces Go? Answer: Anywhere but the square they start on.

The Royal Order: Move the middle pawns. Move the knights and bishops. Castle the king. Move queen ONE square. Move one rook. Let opponent do the attacking.

King (worth all points) k

• Can move one square in any direction
• Can castle (a special move) with a rook
• Is weak in the beginning, can be strong near the end if few pieces are on the board
• Protect your king

• What should the King do?
• Castle the king; castle king-side, not queen-side
• The king is powerful at the end of the game
• If your opponent can check your king in one move, attack the piece that threatens check

Queen (worth 9 points) q

• Can move any number of squares in any one direction
• Is the strongest piece on the board and is even weak at the start of the game
• Is vulnerable to attack at the start of games--attack the queen if brought out early
• Is strongest at the end of the game if only minor pieces and pawns are left
• Works well when placed behind a rook on a file or bishop on a diagonal

• What should the Queen do?
• Stay home!
• Don’t move the queen! The queen is both weak and vulnerable in the opening and becomes a target
• Move queens one square at a time; her turn is after the pawns and pieces have been traded
• Queens work well with bishops--put the bishop in front
• Queens work well with rooks--put the rooks in front
• Attack your opponent’s queen if he or she brings out his or her queen at the start of the game

Rook (worth 5 points each) r

• Can move any number of squares forward and backward or right and left
• Is vulnerable and weak like the queen is at the start and strong at the end
• Works best on open files (files that do NOT have one of your own pawns on it)
• Is even stronger if none of your other pieces are in between your two rooks
• Is best placed behind a pawn you are trying to promote

• What should Rooks do?
• Rooks rule on open files (files that you have no pawns on--or better! neither you nor your opponent have pawns on)
• Rooks are best when they defend each other--no pieces or pawns are between them
• Rooks are the champions of the end game (Endgame: The queens are traded and pawns try to promote)
• Rooks go in front of the queen

Bishop (worth 3 points each) b

• Can move any number of squares in a diagonal line
• Is limited to half of the squares: the light colored bishop must stay on light squares
• Can only attack or defend pawns and pieces that are on the same colored squares
• Is strong at the start of the game
• Is for attacking if put in front of your pawns, for defending if put behind your pawns

• What should Bishops do?
• Bishops want long, open diagonals
• Dark-squared bishops are stronger than light-squared bishops: the king sits on dark squares
• Bishops are either “strong” or “weak”: strong bishops can move, weak bishops are blocked by pawns
• Bishops are long-range weapons; keep them back
• Bishops are better than knights in the ending: they can move farther than knights
• If your opponent lost a bishop, then your pawns and pieces are safer on those (light or dark) squares

Knight (worth 3 points each) h

• Can move in an “L” shape
• Can jump over pawns and pieces
• Is strong at the start of the games, weak at the end: can NOT move long distances
• Is strong when close to pawns and pieces that are clogged and crowded together
• Is best at blocking an opponent’s pawn that has broken through and could promote

• What should Knights do?
• Knights are strong in the opening
• Knights block passed pawns. (A passed pawn can NOT be blocked or captured by enemy pawns)
• Put a knight in front of a passed pawn
• Knights jump: if pawns are locked up in the middle, see how your knights can cause havoc
• Put the knight on the king’s side of the board on f3 (see diagram)
• Knights can attack without being attacked in return--unless attacking another knight

Pawn (worth 1 point each) p

• Can move either one or two squares forward on its FIRST move one, see letter a
• Always moves one square forward, see letter b
• Always captures pawns and pieces that are both in front and to the side of it, see c
• Can turn itself into any piece if it makes its way to the end of the board
• Is best at threatening opponent’s pieces and at defending its own king

• What should Pawns do?
• Stop moving pawns
• At the start of the game move the pawns in front of the king and queen--leave the others alone
• After castling NEVER move the three pawns in front of your castled king
  • Their job is to protect the castled king
  • They do their job best by staying put
• If you protect your pawns, your pawns will protect you

Strength: The queen and rooks are major pieces; bishops and knights are minor pieces. First move minor pieces.

Threat: Pieces still threaten opponent’s pieces even if pawns are in the way.

Every move weakens something: That piece no longer defends, try to find what now is weaker.

Pick a piece to attack. What can you move to attack it? A plan will come to you.

Capture: Always take a piece if you can do so with a pawn

Learn More: Find information online. Secrets, traps, puzzles, and tricks common. Read about them.

Starting Positions

• The bottom-right square is white
• The queen goes on its own color
• White always moves first

The Big Three

1. Protect the king

2. Fight for the middle squares

3. Get pieces off starting squares

Note: All advice has exceptions. Ignore the exceptions. Follow advice until you understand the advice. Always go back to the advice.

The better you get at chess--the more important the advice becomes.

-- Good luck

Images taken from Activity Village (activityvillage.co.uk) and used for nonprofit, scholastic purpose.

Tactics: Learn cool traps here