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How to Play Chess
The
set-up:
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Opposing Kings and Queens go directly opposite each other.
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The square in the lower right hand corner is a light one
("light on right").
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The White Queen goes on a light square, the Black Queen
on a dark square ("Queen gets her color").
The play:
White always moves first
Only one piece may be moved at each turn (except for "castling")
The Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces
All other pieces move only along unblocked lines
You may not move a piece to a square already occupied by one
of your own pieces
But you can capture an enemy piece that stands on a square
where one of your pieces can move
Simply remove the enemy piece from the board and put your own
piece in its place
The Pieces and How They Move:
Winning the Game:
The main goal of chess is to "checkmate"
your opponent's King. The King is not actually captured and removed
from the board like other pieces. But if the King is attacked ("checked")
and threatened with capture, it must get out of check immediately.
If there is no way to get out of check, the position is a "checkmate,"
and the side that is checkmated loses.
You may not move into check! For example, moving
into a direct line with your opponent's Rook, when there are no other
pieces between the Rook and your King, is not a legal move. Otherwise,
the Rook could "capture" the King, which is not allowed.
If you are in check, there are three ways of getting
out:
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1. Capturing the attacking piece;
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2. Placing one of your own pieces between the attacker and
your King (unless the attacker is a Knight, which can jump over
pieces);
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3. Moving the King away from the attack.
If a checked player can do none of these, he is checkmated and
loses the game. If a King is not in check, but that player can make
no legal move (for example, all moves would put him in check), the
position is called a stalemate and the game is scored as a draw,
or tie.
Special Moves:
Castling
Each player may "castle" only once during a game and only under certain
conditions. Castling is a special move that lets a player move two pieces
at once — the King and one Rook. In castling, the player moves his King
two squares to its left or right toward one of his Rooks. At the same
time, the Rook involved goes to the square beside the King and toward
the center of the board (see illustrations at right). In order to castle,
neither the King nor the Rook involved may have moved before. Also,
the King may not castle out of check, into check, or through check.
Further, there may not be pieces of either color between the King and
the Rook involved in castling.
The point of castling is usually to put the King in a safe location
(his "castle") and to allow the Rook to become more active.
Pawn Promotion
If a pawn advances all the way to the opposite end of the board, it
is immediately "promoted" to another piece, usually a Queen (and not
a king).
En Passant
This French phrase is used for a special pawn capture. It means "in
passing," and it occurs when one player moves a pawn two squares forward
to try to avoid capture by the opponent's pawn. The capture is made
exactly as if the player had moved the pawn only one square forward.
In
the diagram, the Black pawn moves up two squares to the square with
the dot. On its turn the White pawn may capture the Black one on the
square marked with the X. If the White player does not exercise this
option immediately — before playing some other move — the Black pawn
is safe from "en passant" capture for the rest of the game.
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