How pieces move in chess. Chess Elephant - a chess piece, its fabulous story

Many people spend their free time playing chess. This game is enjoyed by people of all ages. If you know the rules of the game and draw up a certain strategy of moves, the pleasure of winning will not be long in coming. However, first you need to familiarize yourself with the rules, find out the name of the pieces in chess.

History of chess

The game of chess was invented by the Indians in the 6th century BC. e. In the deep past, chess was called differently. Chaturanga - this meant "Four detachments of troops."

The game was very similar to modern chess, but there were certain differences. The board on which the game itself took place also consisted of 8x8 cells, but only their color was the same. The board was divided into two colors much later, already in Europe. How many pieces in chess in our time, there were so many at that time.

But the main difference between ancient chess was the number of participants in the game. Four people took part in the game at once. Moreover, each exhibited separately his "army" in a certain corner on the game board. Instead of a king, there was a Raja, the pawns were infantry, the cavalry, respectively, consisted of horses, and the army also included war elephants and a chariot from a rook. The figures had four colors: red, yellow, green and black. Players take turns rolling a die, which determines which piece will make the move. If a unit fell out - the move was a pawn, a deuce - a knight, the number three meant the move of the rook, four - the bishop, five and six meant the move of the king. The queen, she is the queen, was absent in chess. The game ends when all the opponent's pieces have been eliminated.

Game evolution

Over time, chess began to be imported from sunny India to other countries. So, the Chinese called chess "xiangqi", the Japanese - "shogi", the inhabitants of Thailand - "makruk". Only in Persia did the current name of chess originate. The Arabs called their ruler Shah, which is why they called the chess king that way.

Rules and names changed, chess evolved. Abandoned the dice, and the number of players was reduced to two people. The color of the figures has become traditionally black and white. The name of the pieces in chess has remained unchanged. Some of the names have changed. So, Raja became Shah. Since there were two kings, it was customary to weaken one of them and make it a queen. The Persians also introduced the final result of the game - checkmate to the king. In the Persian language, the word chess means "the Shah is dead."

The game went a long way until it reached Russia. Chess came to us not from Europe. It is believed that Tajiks brought chess to Russia in the 9th century BC. That is why the names of pieces in chess are translated literally from Arabic and Persian. And already in the XI century, the rules of the game of chess reached Russia.

Chess set

To play chess, you will need which is divided into 64 squares that have two colors: black and white.

Horizontal and vertical fields have their own designations. Horizontally, these are numbers from one to eight, and vertically, letters from A to H, so each field has coordinates. How many pieces are in chess? Each player on the field should have two rooks, a pair of knights, two bishops, eight pawns, a queen and a king. In total, there are 32 pieces in chess, which the opponents divide in half. Further - in more detail about chess pieces.

King

In Arabic, the king sounds like “al-shah” and translated from Persian means king, but in other languages ​​the meaning of the figure is the most dominant.

This is a very weighty and significant figure, the king, despite its importance, can only move one cell, but in any direction. This piece is vulnerable without the protection of other pieces. Actually, the whole point of the game is to protect the king from the direct moves of other chess pieces. A threat to an undisguised king in chess is called "check". In Russia, the figure is designated "Kr", and in the international system - "K".

The queen in chess is the second strongest piece after the king.

In Arabic, the word "al-firzan" means "scientist". But there are other assumptions, among which the word means “wise man”, “commander”, etc. In the 15th century, the queen appeared in Europe with new possibilities, now the piece could walk at different distances along all diagonals and lines on the chessboard. The queen is denoted by the letter "F". "Q" is the queen in the international system. In many countries, the queen is called the queen.

Rook and bishop, they are the tour and the officer

The rook in the distant past performed the functions of a chariot, and it was depicted in the form of harnessed horses. They called such a chariot "ruh". In Arabic, "al-roh" means "tower". Hence the appearance of the figure. It moves across the field only horizontally or vertically, it is located on the extreme boards. This figure is designated in Russia with the capital letter “L”, and in Europe with the letter “R”.

The name of the pieces in chess does not always correspond to their appearance. So, for example, the elephant chess piece used to really have an appearance, but over time it began to be depicted in the guise of a person. Designations: we have it "C", abroad "B". The elephant moves only along the diagonal of its color, the player will have one elephant on the white diagonal, and the second on the black one.

Knight in chess

This figure really looks like a horse. "Al-faras" in Arabic means horseman. Once this figure had a rider, but over time it was removed. The knight's move can only be made in the form of the Russian letter "G", that is, two squares straight and one to the side. They write down the horse of the Russian "K" and the English "N". This is the only piece that can move in a non-straight trajectory and jump over the pieces, its own and the opponent.

Foot Soldiers

The pawn is the only piece that is not recorded in any way and has such a significant number on the playing field. "Al-beyzak" in translation from Arabic means an infantryman. A pawn can only move forward one square.

The chess pieces, photos of which are present in this article, will help you get to know the exciting chess world more widely.

So, for a snack we have the most interesting.

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The queen is the most powerful chess piece. The nominal value is 10 points.

As Cardinal Richelieu said, playing chess with D'Artagnan: "This is the queen, she moves as she pleases ...". The cardinal was essentially right, except that "queen" is not the correct name. This figure is called "Queen". But that's what the storyline demanded...

The queen moves in all directions vertically and diagonally for any distance. That is, he has the capabilities of a rook and a bishop at the same time. Can NOT jump over pieces. Schematically indicated in the diagram below.


The importance of the queen is hard to overestimate. He is very effective both in defense and attack, very mobile and strong. The only negative that is associated with the queen is that it must be protected from attacks. For example, in the position in the following diagram, the white queen can attack one of several black pieces: a knight, a bishop, and a pawn. However, all these pieces are protected by the black queen. If the white queen decides to hit either of them, the black queen's next move will hit the white one. And any such exchange will be disadvantageous for White, because he will lose his strongest piece, and take a piece of lesser value for it.


Swapping a queen, say, for a knight or bishop is almost always not profitable. Equally, the queen can be exchanged only for the opponent's queen, or for several pieces at once. Although there are times when chess players give away the queen on purpose to achieve some task. But more on that later. For now, you need to realize that the queen should be protected and used rationally as your strongest weapon.

King.

The king is the most important figure. It has no face value. It cannot be exchanged, kept under attack by the opponent's pieces. It requires constant protection. But this is not because the king is too weak as a piece, but because if he dies, then the game is lost for the player.

On the other hand, the king can also move and capture the opponent's pieces. At the end of the game, when there are an order of magnitude fewer pieces on the board, and there are not so many direct threats to the king, its strength is estimated approximately as the strength of a minor piece (knight or bishop).

The king, like the queen, moves and strikes in all directions vertically and diagonally, but only on one square.


That is, being in the middle of the board, the king breaks through 8 squares.

Now you know how chess pieces move and strike. To remember each, you need to practice. In order for this practice to be quick and fun and at the same time effective, I suggest playing the so-called "Chess Labyrinth":


The scenario is as follows: the white king is you. Pawns are the walls of your house. They cannot be moved. The black horse is a guest to be greeted. In other words, it is necessary to reach the knight with the king. How the king walks, I think you remember.

In essence, everything is simple, the king reaches the knight one square at a time, but not quite ... You have a lot of furniture at home that prevents you from reaching the guest. For example, like this:


Furniture must be moved to clear a path. Thanks to this game, you can quickly remember how each piece of this "furniture" moves :)

Make it difficult for yourself until there is very little space left in your house. For example, like this:


Chess is a board logic game for two people with special pieces and a 64-cell field. Chess combines elements of art (in terms of chess composition), science and sports. As a sport, chess has a hierarchy of titles, a developed system of regular tournaments, national and international leagues.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE, French Federation Internationale des Echecs, FIDE) is an international sports organization that promotes chess and organizes international competitions and tournaments. It unites national chess federations.

The history of the emergence and development of chess

The history of chess has more than one and a half thousand years. Chess was invented in India in the 5th-6th century BC. Not later than the 6th century, a game appeared in India - chaturanga, which had a recognizable chess look. Unlike chess, it was played by 4 players at the same time, and the moves depended on the rolls of dice. To win the game, it was necessary to destroy all the pieces of the opponents.

Spreading from India to neighboring countries, chaturanga has undergone a number of changes. In the east, it began to bear the name - shatranj, in China - xiangqi, in Thailand - makruk. In the 9th-10th centuries, the game came to Europe, where the "classic" rules of the game were drawn up. The rules were finally formed in the 19th century.

In 1886, the first World Chess Championship was held.

Chessmen

Pawn ♙ - moves vertically one space forward. If the move is accompanied by the capture of an opponent's piece, then the pawn has the right to move diagonally one square forward-right or forward-left.

Knight ♘ - moves to a cell located at a distance of 2 vertically and 1 horizontally or 1 vertically and 2 horizontally from the current position.

Bishop ♗ — moves to any square diagonally.

Rook ♖ — moves to any square vertically or horizontally.

Queen ♕ - moves to any cell vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

The name of the pieces in chess

King ♔ - moves 1 square vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

Before the start of the game, each of the players has on the chessboard:

  • pawn - 8 pcs.;
  • boat - 2 pcs.;
  • horse - 2 pcs.;
  • elephant - 2 pcs.;
  • queen - 1 pc.;
  • king - 1 pc.

chess rules

Moves in chess are made alternately, and the first move is made by the player with the white pieces. The right to play white pieces is determined by lot.

A move is considered made in the following cases:

  • the player's hand lowered the piece after it moved to an unoccupied square;
  • when capturing an opponent's piece, after replacing the opponent's piece with one's own;
  • when castling;
  • during the promotion of a pawn, in the case when the pawn is removed from the board and the player removed his hand from the new piece placed on the field.

In addition to ordinary moves, there are 2 special moves in chess:

  • Castling is the simultaneous change of position of the king and rook of the same color, provided that they have not moved since the beginning of the game. When castling, the king moves 2 squares towards the rook, and the rook is placed on the square between the initial and final position of the king. Castling is considered a move by the king.
  • Capture on the aisle is a special pawn move in which it captures an opponent's pawn that has been moved two squares at once. But under attack is not the square on which the second pawn stopped, but the one that was crossed by it.

Before correcting one or more pieces on the field, the player must warn the opponent about it. Otherwise, after touching the piece, it will be necessary to complete the move to the end.

Winning at chess

Shah - a situation when the king of one of the players is under attack by an opponent's piece. In order to recapture a check, you must do one of the following:

  • move the king to any square that is not under attack by the opponent's pieces;
  • take a piece that threatens the king;
  • put your other piece under attack.

Checkmate is a situation where the king is in check but cannot avoid it.

The game is considered won if:

  • one of the players checkmates the opponent's king;
  • one of the players admitted defeat;
  • one of the players has run out of time allotted for moves;
  • technical victory.

Draw in chess

A stalemate is a situation where a player with the right to move cannot use it, since all of his pieces are deprived of the opportunity to make a move. The king must not be in check.

In addition, a draw is fixed in the following cases:

  • no sequence of moves leads to checkmate;
  • repeating positions three times (not necessarily within three moves in a row) or repeating the same position five times over five consecutive moves;
  • both players made 50 moves without a capture and without a pawn move (50 move rule);
  • mutual agreement to a draw;
  • one of the players overstayed the time.

Time control in chess

All official chess games are played with time control using a special chess clock. The player who made the move presses a button on the clock, which stops his clock and starts the opponent's clock.

The player's time is considered to be expired if the flag on his clock has fallen. This is true except in the following situations:

  • checkmate is on the board;
  • on the board a situation that leads to a draw;
  • the flags fell on both players;
  • the opponent has no opportunity to checkmate.

Chess competition

All chess competitions are held according to one of four tournament systems:

  • swiss system;
  • circular system;
  • knockout system;
  • Scheveningen system.

Popular international chess tournaments include:

  • world chess championship;
  • European Chess Championship;
  • world Cup;
  • national championships;
  • FIDE Grand Prix Series.

Chess structures

The Professional Chess Association (PCA) is an organization that was created on the initiative of Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, who decided to hold a world championship match without the participation of FIDE.

International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF - International Correspondence Chess Federation).

We tried to cover the topic as fully as possible, so this information can be safely used in the preparation of reports on physical education and essays on the topic "Chess".

tags: team sportssummer sports

Programming of chess and other logic games

Series: Professional programming

Genre: Programming

Publisher:"BHV-Petersburg"

Year of issue: 2005

Book ISBN: 5-94157-497-5

Type of: Book

The programming of logical games by brute force is considered on the example of chess. Standard techniques for creating a chess program are described, as well as techniques that allow developing more efficient computer logic games.

Chessmen

Examples of using the considered methods in programming other logic games ("tic-tac-toe", "corners", checkers) are presented. A large number of source codes for programs in C++ and Pascal and useful practical advice are given. For programmers. (CD included with print edition only.)

Download Programming chess and other logic games, Evgeny Kornilov

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Chess Strategy

Three basic principles of a chess game.

1. Analyze and evaluate the position.

2. Draw up an action plan.

3. Look for combinations and continuously calculate options.

To improve your skills, you need to constantly develop and strengthen your abilities: solve chess problems, analyze other people's games.

1. The main thing is to withdraw all your pieces from their original places and place them in better positions, while preventing the enemy from doing the same. Follow the harmonious arrangement of pieces: do not make moves with the same piece; do not make many moves with pawns, delaying the withdrawal of pieces; take care of the safety of the king. If the opponent is lagging behind in development already at the beginning of the game, it is necessary to take urgent measures so that he would not be able to complete the withdrawal of his pieces from their original places, castle the king, etc. To do this, it is necessary to bind the enemy with the need for an immediate concrete struggle on one of the sectors of the front. Forced to throw his forces there, he will not have time to complete the development of the pieces and will not carry out castling.

2. Solve the problem of the center on the basis of analysis. If the assessment of the position speaks of the need to occupy the center with pawns, one must occupy, but if the pawns are in danger of becoming weak and undefended, one must carefully weigh everything and, probably, prefer piece pressure on the center.

3. Follow the pawn formation.

How many pieces are in chess?

Pawns do not move back, each weakening of one pawn or the entire pawn arrangement is already until the end of the game.

4. While developing the pieces, fighting for the center, creating pawn formations planned in advance, one should not for a minute forget the general idea of ​​the variation. Any debut option aims to complete one or more tasks. Having outlined a task, it must be carried out, guided by it in carrying out plans, subordinating the movement of pawns and pieces to it.

Steinitz rules

1. The right to attack in chess is the side that has the advantage and must attack, otherwise it risks losing its advantage. The attack is carried out on the weakest point in the position of the enemy.

2. The defender must repel the blows of the enemy, follow his thoughts, guess his intentions, but at the same time not miss the opportunity to carry out a counter blow, go on the counterattack at the right moment. Protection - temporary submission to the will of the enemy. Defending is harder than attacking.

3. In equal positions, the parties maneuver, trying to change the balance in their favor. With the correct play of the parties, an equal position again leads to equal positions.

4. An advantage may consist of one large indivisible advantage and a number of small advantages. The task of the leader of positional combat is to accumulate small advantages, trying to turn temporary advantages into permanent ones.

Permanent advantages and disadvantages: material advantage, poor position of the king, presence of a passed pawn, weak pawns, weak squares, weakness of the periphery (for a light-squared or dark-squared bishop), pawn islands, strong pawn center, two bishops advantage, possession of an open file, possession of an open diagonal, possession of a horizontal.

Temporary advantages and disadvantages: unsuccessful position of one figure, disharmony in the arrangement of figures, superiority in development, figure pressure in the center, superiority in space.

Rules for playing with mixed castlings

1. Take into account that the enemy will almost certainly rush to storm your position at the other end of the board. The question is: who wins? It must be firmly remembered that success will be achieved by the one who first seizes the initiative and forces the enemy to go on the defensive, after which all his active actions at the other end of the board will become meaningless.

2. Ensure that the enemy does not get ahead of you on the other flank, does not force you to go on the defensive. Always remember, if you lose the initiative, your assault will only weaken your own position.

3. Before castling, prepare an assault with two or three pawn moves on the side of the board where you planned to attack. Such preliminary actions do not yet finally clarify your plan and lead to the gain of precious time.

4. During the assault, keep a close eye on the flank where the enemy is assaulting your king's position. If necessary, make 1-2 defensive moves there to delay the advance of the enemy army.

5. Make a full calculation of the pawn assault, since its execution requires 5-7 moves to open the files.

When playing with versatile castling, there are no escape routes - the accuracy of the calculation becomes a decisive factor.

Before castling, consider:

1. The position of your own attacking pawns: how far they are advanced, whether they are doubled or isolated, whether they can move without great losses, whether their advance will weaken the position of your pieces.

2. The position of the opponent's pawns. Any advanced position of the enemy pawn makes it possible to “hook” on it as soon as possible and thereby open the file. Therefore, the defender is obliged to avoid the advance of his pawns towards the attacking detachments of the enemy, and the attacker is obliged to try to force such an advance.

3. The position of own pieces and enemy pieces on the path of advancing pawns. Alien pieces give extra tempo - by attacking the pieces with pawns, you force them to move; their own take away the time spent on the removal of interfering pieces. Therefore, before castling in different directions, you must move your own pieces out of the way of your pawns.

4. The location of your own pieces, their ability to support the assault, break into the resulting gap in the position. If your pieces are located far from where you are assaulting, then when you break through, you will not have enough strength to use this advantage. Before the start of the assault, it is necessary to carefully consider the possibility of bringing reserves to the most important section of the board.

Rules for playing with one-sided castling

1. Piece attack - the attacker concentrates the largest number of his pieces on the kingside, bringing up reserves if necessary, then gets to the enemy king, using weak points in his residence, or captures open files and diagonals.

2. Pawn assault - only if the center is reliably protected (stabilized) and the enemy is completely deprived of the opportunity to conduct a counterattack there, it is useful to include pawns in the attack.

Game plan

There should always be a game plan in chess. The plan should be as close as possible to the requirements of the position, based on the assessment of the position. Before making a plan, it is necessary to decide what kind of plan the opponent has. In combinational-tactical positions, one should be engaged in the calculation of variations. In maneuver-strategic positions - by formulating general plans and considerations.

Do not overload yourself with unbearable plans. Typical plans should be studied. Better a bad plan than no plan at all.

When looking for the best move, you should find out whether this move fulfills your intended goal, whether it introduces dissonance into the arrangement of all the pieces, whether the enemy can use the weaknesses of this move to deliver a dangerous counterattack.
Before attacking, it is necessary to place your pieces well, successfully, to weaken the opponent's squares.

It is convenient to place a knight or bishop in front of a lone enemy pawn.

With a strong pawn center, it is necessary, if possible, to advance the pawns, or attack on the flanks. If there is a passed, protected pawn and it cannot be moved, then it is necessary to launch an attack on the other flank, to divert the enemy's forces from it.

You should never make pawn moves on the flank where you are weaker.

With a wedge-shaped pawn formation, it is necessary to undermine it with pawns.

When deciding on the correctness of the sacrifice, one must take into account:

1. Is the sacrifice correct?

2. Try to confirm the conclusion made by calculating the main options obtained after the sacrifice.

3. Before you make a move, you need to evaluate other, more relaxed ways of playing. Maybe they are shorter and more likely to lead to victory.

4. Character and style of partners. Who benefits from the sacrifice in terms of style: you or him? If he likes a combination game, and you like a calm one, you should refrain from making a sacrifice. If a draw is enough for you, why take the risk.

Protection

1. Do not get carried away with the attack. To be able to understand in time that the time has come to defend. Have a sense of danger.

2. When defending, create the maximum number of barriers on the way of enemy pieces, hoping that this will slow down the pace of their advance and stall the entire attack. Then seize the initiative.

2. Defensively, seek to exchange pieces (especially the opponent's active pieces), transfer the game to an endgame (rook or opposite-colored bishops).

3. With the center locked, knights are stronger than bishops.

4. If the opponent has one bishop, you must try to force him to move the pawns to the cells of the color of the bishop.

The best defense is a counterattack. The main thing is to find a way to go on the counterattack and choose the right moment.

6. The best objection to a flank attack is a counterattack. An attack on one flank is often easily repulsed by the enemy, especially if the attacker does not have the necessary points for the invasion of pieces. Therefore, it is necessary to start a game on the other end of the board, distracting the pieces between the flanks.

Endgame

1. Do not rush: a) you gain time, b) figure out the position, repeat moves, c) complicate, increase tension in a position with an opponent who does not like it.

2. Have a plan, a diagram of the final position.

3. King - in the center. The king must be active.

4. Correctly exchange minor pieces, finding out the bishop will be more expensive or cheaper than the knight at the end of the game.

5. With good interaction of the pieces, if possible, they can be easily transferred from flank to flank, it is advisable to open the game on two flanks and attack simultaneously.

6. In rook endings, the initiative is much more important than the material advantage.

7. Open files are valuable when there are objects to attack on them or when the line serves as a communication for transferring pieces (usually rooks) to the main battle area.

Rules for handling a chess clock

Our time is the calculation of options.

His time is solving common problems, analyzing and evaluating the position, drawing up a game plan.

Chess is one of the oldest games in the world, the origins of which go back to ancient India. The game, which has clear rules, is quite complex, requiring analytical skills and a mathematical type of mind. Learning to play chess follows from the arrangement of pieces.

How pieces move in chess

How to arrange chess correctly?

We arrange the figures

We start with pawns, which are included in the chess set with eight pieces of each color. We line up pawns along the second line of our side of the board from cell A7 (A2) to H7 (H2). On the extreme cells of the nearest line A8 (A1) and H8 (H2) we put rooks. Next, the horses will take their place. We place each of them on the second cell from the edge of the nearest line, in other words, on cells B8 (B1) and G8 (G1). After the horses, we are looking for a place for a figure called an officer or tour. These pieces occupy positions near the queen and king, that is, on the cells C8 (C1) and F8 (F1).

King and queen

Their place is in the center of the location, on cells D8 (D1) and E8 (E1). The queen (queen) is placed on the cell corresponding to the color of the figure. So the place of the white queen is the position E8 or D1, the place of the black one is the cell E1 or D8. The king is distinguished from the queen by a luxurious royal crown.

Home / Rules of chess

Chess rules.

Pieces in chess. Chessmen

Description of chess

Chess is a very old game. Supposedly, chess originated in India in the fourth or fifth century, but it is not known who invented it. Chess is an intellectual competition between two players. This is a very logic game where luck plays a small role.

The game of chess involves two sides, black and white, each played by one player. The chessboard consists of 64 cells, light and dark, alternating in color. The board is divided into eight columns and eight rows. Columns are lettered (from left to right: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h), rows are numbered (from top to bottom: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8). Thus, each cell has a designation based on which column and which row it is in. First, a column follows in the cell record, then a row, for example, the cell in the lower left corner has the designation a1 (column a, row 1).

The board is always placed in such a way that the nearest corner cell to the right of the player is light. Each cell can be either empty, or it can be occupied by some figure. The initial chess position consists of 16 white pieces and 16 black pieces arranged as shown below.

General rules of chess

The players take turns.

White always moves first. White chooses a piece to move and places it on another square, based on the rules for moving this piece. They always move with one piece at a time, an exception to this rule is castling, when two pieces are involved at once (king and rook). The square that a piece steps on can either be empty, or it can be occupied by a piece of the opposite side. In the latter case, the enemy piece captured. Otherwise they say what's going on take figures. The captured piece is removed from the board and no longer takes part in the game. (Grab is optional.)

Capturing and castling are discussed in more detail in the following sections:

Pieces in chess

On the bottom row in the picture above, where White's pieces are located, are (from left to right): rook(also called tour or tower), horse, elephant, queen(also called queen), king, one more bishop, one more knight, and one more rook. In the second row of white pieces there are eight pawns. Please note that the queen in the initial position always occupies a square of the same color as the queen itself (i.e. the white queen is placed on a light-colored square, and the black queen is placed on a dark-colored square).

Each chess piece has a certain value (as a rule, they are measured in pawns, i.e. each piece replaces a certain number of pawns). The queen is worth 9 points, so it is much more valuable than the pawn, which is only worth 1 point.

The table below lists all chess pieces with their images, names, symbols, and values. The king in chess is not evaluated, because it is the most important piece, and if a checkmate is declared to him (see below), the game is lost. Although some sources give him 200 points.

Each piece in chess moves differently. All chess pieces are described in more detail in the following sections:

The purpose of the game of chess

The goal of the game is to put mat enemy king. Checkmate precedes check. When playing as White, the Black King is in check if White can capture it (in other words, if it is attacked by a White piece). To prevent White from capturing the black king on the next move, Black must make a move that removes the king from check.

If Black cannot get out of check, then the black king is declared checkmate and White wins the game. One way to describe checkmate is that a checkmate is a position in which the king is in check and the player cannot make a single move to get out of check. Another variant of the development of events is when Black is NOT in check, but he cannot make a single move (due to the threat of being in check and / or due to the unavailability of cells). Such a position is called stalemate. When a stalemate occurs, the game ends in a draw.

More detailed options for ending a chess game are described in the following sections:

Other rules of chess

  • A pawn, having reached the last square, can be promoted to a queen, rook, bishop or knight on the same move - this process is called pawn promotion. The result of the transformation occurs immediately. Therefore, if a pawn is promoted to a queen, the queen, if the situation allows, immediately checks or even checkmates the enemy king.
  • Each move must be made with one hand.
  • A piece that a player has already taken must necessarily be moved, only if its movement does not put its king in check. This rule is called "took - go."
  • If an enemy piece is affected, it must be captured if possible. If this is not possible, then the game continues as if the piece had not been touched.
  • A player may correct a piece on the board during his turn by saying "correct".
  • During castling, the king moves first, and then the rook.
  • When the clock is used, the button on it must be pressed by the same hand that moved the piece during the move.
  • The game must be played with respect for the opponent. The player must not distract or interfere with his opponent.
  • A player may voluntarily surrender, in which case he loses and his opponent wins. Also, the player can offer a draw - if the opponent accepts the offer, a draw is declared, otherwise the game continues.
  • Rule of 50 moves: if 50 consecutive moves have been made, both white and black, and there has not been a single capture, and there has not been a single pawn move, you can claim a draw.

There are also some other rules of chess. See the full list of rules on the official FIDE website.

Chess is an intellectual sport that develops logic, the ability to think quickly and make decisions. This game has long been played by kings and aristocrats. This article will be devoted to the topic of chess, its pieces and moves on the chess battlefield.

Chess board

The chessboard consists of 64 fields. In this case, the first two rows are filled with your pieces, and the last two rows are filled with opponent's pieces. The goal of chess is to checkmate your opponent. Checkmate is a situation where the movement of the enemy king is blocked by your pieces. Before you understand how different pieces in chess move, you need to learn their names. There are only 6 pieces in chess. Let's consider each separately.

Pawn

The pawn is considered the least significant piece in chess. Despite this, in certain situations, she decides much more than all other figures. It all depends on the arrangement of the pieces on the chessboard. Each player has only 8 pawns. They are located in the second row, on the side of each opponent, in front of the rest of the pieces.

  • The pawn moves one or two squares forward. Moreover, you can move a pawn two squares forward at once only if this is your first move with this particular pawn. Further movement is possible only on one field.
  • Walking back is not possible.
  • You can kill an enemy piece with a pawn with one square diagonally.

Any piece of which you killed the enemy piece becomes the place where the last one stood.


Horse

It is this piece that many chess fans begin their first move in the game. Each player has two knights. The horse walks in an “L-shaped principle” in any direction. For example, two fields forward and one field to the left or right. In the same way, the knight can move in any direction and jump over other pieces. Accordingly, the killing of the enemy piece takes place where the knight went.


Elephant

The elephant walks diagonally. Moreover, his moves are limited by the color of the field on which he stands. Since each opponent has two bishops (one is on a white square, the second is on a black one), it is possible to move along the diagonal of both black and white. If the path is clear and there is no enemy piece on the path, you can make a move through as many squares as you need. Thus, if the arrangement of the pieces during the game allows, you can move the bishop from one part of the board to another, strictly diagonally.


Rook

  • Again, each player has two rooks.
  • The rook moves in straight lines, both horizontally and vertically.
  • As with the bishop, if the situation allows, it is possible to move from one side of the board to the other.
  • Unlike a knight, a rook cannot jump over pieces.


Queen

The queen is considered the most powerful piece in chess. Very often the loss of a queen leads to defeat.

  • Each player has one queen.
  • The direction of the moves of this piece combines the directions of the moves of the rook and the bishop, which gives it a huge advantage over other pieces.
  • The queen is informally called the queen. So it is, the queen is the queen of the chess field.


King

The whole essence of the game comes down to this figure. The goal of each player is to block the movement of the enemy king and protect his own. It was to balance the game that the early creators of chess decided to limit the movement of the king. He can only move one space, in any direction.


Additional features of chess

Chess is also interesting because it has an incredibly huge range of actions and combinations that you can use to get closer to victory. Below is a list of these additional actions:

Castling

The essence of castling is to change the position of the rook and king. There are two types of castling - long and short. Long castling is possible if there are three free squares between the rook and the king. To castle long, you need to move the rook three squares in the direction of the king, and the king two squares in the direction where the rook recently stood. Short castling is almost the same. The rook moves two squares in the direction of the king, and the king two squares in the direction where the rook recently stood.

The ability to change the pawn to any piece

The rules of chess include such a useful thing as replacing a pawn with any other lost piece. This happens when your pawn reaches the very last row of the opponent, i.e. at the opposite end of the board. Having reached this point, you can replace this pawn with a knight, bishop, rook or queen (if, of course, you lost them during the game). If there is a choice between these pieces, the queen is generally chosen. And this is understandable.


Chess is a very educational game. It helps to maintain mental shape. For a child, this sport is especially useful. If you didn’t manage to play chess normally, don’t despair. Kasparov didn't always play like that.

Many scientists suggest that playing chess causes positive movements in the brain, promotes the release of the hormone of joy and balances the psychological state. We can conclude that chess has no negative sides. As in other sports, getting a fracture is simply impossible. Think about it, maybe in your free time it is worth taking it up with chess? Moreover, finding an opponent is not a problem - the Internet provides such an opportunity.

There are 6 different types of pieces in chess: king, queen, rooks, bishops, knights and pawns. Chess is played by two people: one with black pieces, the other with white pieces. Each player has 16 pieces (combat units): one king and one queen, two rooks each, two knights and bishops, and 8 pawns each. Each figure moves differently...

For example: Grandmaster Atalik Suat could not learn how a knight walks for about a year!!!

In our school, you or your child will learn to walk with all figures in 1-2 hours!

Here's what it looks like. Below and to the left of the chessboard are letters and numbers. They are called CHESS NOTATION.

Our trainers will talk about the author's developments for quick and effective learning of notation.

Thanks to the notation, each field has its own name, for example: a3, e5, c4, h6, etc. The notation serves to record each move made. First, the piece that makes the move is written, then the square from which it moves, and at the end - the square that it looked like. For example: Ng1-f3, e2-e4, d2-d4, etc.

Each figure has its own designation.

Russian designations of pieces: king (KR), queen (F), rook (L), bishop (C), knight (K), pawns are not indicated in any way. When they move, only the squares are indicated (this can be seen above: e2-e4, d2-d4, etc.).

English designations of pieces: king (K), queen (Q), rook (R), bishop (B), knight (N).

Also, figures can be indicated by small drawings.

King

Many incompetent chess players call the king the strongest piece. This is not true.

During lectures with our trainers, you will learn that

The king is the most IMPORTANT and MAIN figure, without which it is impossible to play according to the rules. All chess pieces have their value, but not the king. According to the rules, it cannot be beaten - which is why it is impossible to say how much it costs.

The diagram shows the possible moves of the king and its schematic representation.

The king can move to any adjacent square next to him in any direction (horizontally, diagonally or vertically), but only if this square is not attacked by enemy pieces or is not occupied by his own. The king beats in the same way as it moves, that is, it can eat any enemy piece standing nearby (if it is not protected).

In chess, there is a situation where the king can move to more squares. This is called castling.

Castling is a joint move of the king and rook: the king moves two squares towards one of the rooks while simultaneously moving the rook to the square passed by the king. Kingside castling is called short castling (denoted 0-0), queenside castling is called long castling (denoted 0-0-0). Castling is not possible when the king is on a field attacked by the opponent or at the moment when he is already attacked. Also, according to the rules, castling cannot be done if the king crosses the field attacked by the opponent.

The chessboard is divided into two sides: the queen side (lines a, b, c, d) and the king side (lines e, f, g, h). The flanks got their names from the position of the pieces (the queen initially stands on d1, the king on e1).

Queen


The queen is the strongest piece. She moves both as a bishop and as a rook (we will discuss the moves of the bishop and rook later).

The queen can move diagonally, vertically and horizontally to any number of squares. Beats the same.

The diagram shows the possible moves of the queen and its schematic representation.

At the beginning of the game, each of the opponents has one queen. The white queen is initially on the d1 square (before the "a" line - this is the queenside; this was described above), the black queen is on d8.

Our experienced coaches will tell you about the inexpediency of bringing the queen into the game early.

The earlier the queen enters the game, the higher the risk that it will be attacked by weaker pieces of the opponent. It is unprofitable to exchange the queen for any piece, except for the enemy queen (after all, the queen is the strongest).

Also, by enrolling in our school, you will learn:

A chess game is divided into three stages: debut - the beginning of the party (stage 1), middle game (from German mittel - middle, spire - game) - middle of the game (stage 2), endgame (from German end - end, spire - game) - the end of the game (stage 3).

In the initial position, White and Black each have 20 possible moves (4 knight moves and 16 pawn moves). You can verify this yourself (when you learn how all the pieces move).

Conclusion: there are 400 ways to play only the first move on both sides. Further more...

Rook

The rook is the second most powerful piece after the queen. Two rooks are approximately equal in strength to the queen, but may be stronger than it.

The rook moves vertically and horizontally to any number of squares. Beats also.

At the beginning of the game, each player has two rooks. They are located at the corners of the board (squares a1, h1, a8, h8).

Many people who are far from chess call the rook a tour.

You will learn from our coaches that this piece is called a rook. So and only so!

The rook can also move differently than described above. This move is castling (long and short) - see the "king" figure.

From our coaches you will learn what a rook endgame is and why it is the most difficult and most common...

Elephant

The bishop is noticeably weaker than the rook and much weaker than the queen, but approximately equal in strength to the knight.

Coaches of our school will talk about these situations

For example: it is possible to checkmate a lone king with two bishops, but not with two knights (with proper defense).

At the beginning of the game, each of the opponents has two bishops. They are located on the c1, f1, c8, f8 squares. Each side has a BLUE-SQUARE and BLACK-SQUARE bishop. It will be more clear after you learn how the elephant walks (see diagram).

The elephant walks diagonally. Now it is clear that he can only control half of the board (32 squares out of 64). One white bishop controls the white squares, the other the black ones. Black's bishops are no different.

The elephant beats in the same way as it walks. If an enemy piece is encountered on his way, he can pick it up by standing on its square.

When you have two bishops, and the opponent has an elephant and a knight (or two knights), it is generally accepted that there is an approximate material balance on the board.

You will learn from our experienced trainers that having two bishops is almost always an advantage and learn how to use it

It is wrong to call a bishop an OFFICER (as well as a rook - a TUR, and a queen - a QUEEN).

An erudite, experienced and strong specialist will help you figure out the correct name of chess pieces

Horse

The knight is considered one of the weakest pieces, although it also happens that it is better to have a knight than a bishop. In exceptional cases, a knight can be even stronger than a queen (!!), however, like any weaker piece, it can be better than a stronger one.

You will learn about such cases from our trainers (one of the more entertaining topics)

A chess knight is most similar to an ordinary knight (which cannot be said, for example, about a bishop and a rook).

At the beginning of the game, both sides have two knights. They are located on the squares b1, g1, b8, g8. Learning to walk a horse is difficult (at the beginning of the article it was mentioned), but ...

Your child will be able to learn this in a short time and in an accessible, even playful way thanks to the experienced staff of the chess school

In the diagram, the knight is on the e4 square. From here he can go to 8 different fields (and in eight directions).

Reference: The knight, king and queen can move from the same field in eight different directions. Bishop and rook - only four.

Let's list where the knight can go from the e4 square: f2, d2, c3, c5, d6, f6, g5, g3.

The knight walks in a kind of zigzag - through the adjacent field (even occupied) vertically or horizontally, then moving away from the starting position to one of the adjacent fields diagonally.

Simply put, the knight moves with the letter "G": two fields vertically and one horizontally, or vice versa - two fields horizontally and one vertically.

The knight is very strong in closed positions (when the pawns of both sides have rested against each other), since it is the only piece that can jump over obstacles in its path.

The previous information about the horse is a drop in the ocean of what you need to know about him. You will learn about everything else by enrolling in our school.

Pawn

The pawn is the weakest combat unit, which is not even considered a piece. A pawn is just a pawn.

At the beginning of the game, each side has 8 pawns. White is located on the squares a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, f2, g2, h2. Black is located on the fields a7, b7, c7, d7, e7, f7, g7, h7.

The pawn moves only one space vertically forward. True, from the initial field, she can go two fields ahead at once.

Since the pawn is the weakest, all other pieces are valued in pawn equivalent. So,

At our school you will learn that:

- a knight and a bishop cost about three pawns each;

- rook - about 5 pawns;

- queen - approximately 9 pawns.

There is no absolute specificity, since a lot depends on the specific position on the board, and therefore it is impossible to say for sure.

From the coaches of the school you will learn about the positions in question and how to determine the value of the pieces in them

According to their location, pawns are divided into rook, knight, bishop, central (queen and king). The name of a pawn is determined by the name of the piece behind it.

The pawn does not attack the way it moves (unlike other pieces):

And she hits obliquely (on one field diagonally). (See diagram).

Since the pawn is already the weakest, it is endowed with another interesting ability: a capture on the aisle.

On the diagram, "taking on the aisle" is shown in dynamics. The black pawn moves from d7 to d5 and crosses the square d6, which was attacked by the white pawn. In this case, the white pawn has the right to take the black pawn and stand on the square that it initially attacked, that is, on d6.

You will learn more about this possibility of pawns from the lectures of our school, under the supervision of professionals in 1-1.5 hours

Another unique ability of the pawn is promotion to any piece.

Let's imagine that in the position on the diagram, the white pawn was on e7 (where the arrow starts) and moved to e8 (where the arrow ends). Consequently, the pawn looked like the last rank (for white it is the eighth rank, for black it is the first rank). In this case, the pawn has the right to turn into any piece (of course, except for the king - after all, he is the most important and each side can have only one). The diagram shows which pieces a pawn can choose for its promotion (queen, bishop, rook, knight). Almost always a pawn promotes to a queen, since the queen is the strongest piece (why promote to something weaker?)

The coaches of our school will talk about situations when it is beneficial to promote a pawn into other pieces, except for a queen. This is illustrated by interesting and instructive examples.

Chess pieces are divided into light and heavy. Lungs - horses and elephants. Heavy - rooks and queen. The king is not an easy, not a heavy figure (just the most important). Pawns are not pieces at all.