Chess

Let's Play Chesss

1. Setup

• Board Orientation: Place the board so that each player has a white square on their right.

• Piece Arrangement:

  • 1st Rank: Rooks on corners, knights next to them, then bishops, queen on her color (white queen on white square, black queen on black square), and king next to the queen.

  • 2nd Rank: Place all pawns in the second row.

2. Objective

• The goal is to checkmate your opponent's king. This means putting the king in a position to be captured (in "check") where there are no legal moves to escape.

3. Movement of Pieces

• Pawn: Moves forward one square, captures diagonally. On its first move, a pawn can move forward two squares.

• Rook: Moves horizontally or vertically any number of squares.

• Knight: Moves in an "L" shape: two squares in one direction and then one square perpendicular. Knights can jump over other pieces.

• Bishop: Moves diagonally any number of squares.

• Queen: Moves horizontally, vertically, or diagonally any number of squares.

• King: Moves one square in any direction. The king cannot move into check.

4. Special Moves

• Castling: A move involving the king and a rook:

  • Conditions: Neither piece has moved, no pieces between them, and the king is not in check, passing through check, or moving into check.

  • The king moves two squares towards the rook, and the rook moves to the square next to the king.

• En Passant: A special pawn capture:

  • If a pawn moves two squares forward from its starting position and lands beside an opponent's pawn, the opponent can capture it as if it had only moved one square forward.

• Promotion: When a pawn reaches the opponent's back rank, it can be promoted to any piece (usually a queen).

5. Taking Turns

• Players alternate turns, with White going first. Players must make a legal move on their turn.

6. Check and Checkmate

• Check: When the king is under threat of capture. The player must move out of check on their next turn.

• Checkmate: When the king is in check and cannot move to a safe square. The game ends.

7. Stalemate

• A position where one player has no legal moves and their king is not in check. This results in a draw.

8. Draw Conditions

• Other than stalemate, a draw can occur through:

  • Insufficient material: Not enough pieces to force checkmate.

  • Threefold repetition: The same position occurs three times with the same player to move.

  • Fifty-move rule: If 50 moves occur without a pawn move or piece capture.

9. Ending the Game

• The game ends with checkmate, stalemate, or mutual agreement between players.

10. Etiquette

• Be respectful and sportsmanlike. Shake hands before and after the game!