How To Play Chess 101

Objective For Winning

Check: Threatening a king with capture is treated differently from an ordinary piece. The king is not only royal but the objective of the entire game. A player declares "check" when he moves in a manner that threatens an opponent's king with capture. However, the term is only used if the king has a means of escape. The opponent must get the king out of check immediately. This can be done in one of three ways: 1) Move the king. 2) Capture the attacking piece. 3) Move a piece so that it blocks the attack. A king cannot castle if it is in check.

Checkmate: The game is won when an opponent's king is inescapably placed in a position where it would be captured on the next turn. Actually capturing the king and removing it from the board like a common piece would have been unthinkable when chess was invented, and so this is not done. Instead, the winner says the word checkmate and the game ends.

Sometimes a king is placed in check several times and never checkmated. Other times a king is placed directly in checkmate. There is no rule saying a king must be placed in check before it is placed in checkmate and there is no limit on the number of times a king can be placed in check.

If a player foolishly exposes their king to check, they are allowed to make the move back. Obviously, there is no glory in winning by breaking rules and the rules say one cannot move in a way that exposes one's king to check. Likewise, if there is a means of escape and a player foolishly doesn't take it, the move must be replayed. On the other hand, if a player assumes the game is hopelessly lost and resigns, he or she automatically loses even if later analysis indicates that the situation was not hopeless. 

A game can end in a draw in four different ways:

Stalemate: This means there is no legal move an opponent can make when it is his or her turn to move. This often occurs when a king is trapped in a position where its only move would be to move into check

The fifty-move rule: If a piece has not been captured or a pawn moved in fifty moves then a player can declare a draw on his or her turn.

Both sides agree to a draw.

Neither side has enough pieces left to set up a checkmate.

Turns: White always moves first, and players alternate turns. Players can only move one piece at a time, except when castling.

Taking Pieces: Players take pieces when they encounter an opponent in their movement path. Only pawns take differently than they move (explained later). Players cannot take or move through their own pieces.

Pawns move laterally one square at a time, Each pawn can be advanced by two squares the first time it's moved. Pawns can only move in the forward direction. When they reach the last row, they are promoted to any type of piece on the board except for a king. Generally, they are promoted to a queen. A player can have more than one queen.

Bishop has the strength of about three pawns and moves diagonally. Unlike a pawn, it can move backward or forward. It can also move more than one square at a time as long as it moves in a straight line. A bishop cannot jump over pieces and can also never move to a different-colored square.

Knight has about the same strength as three pawns. Knights are moved in a rather unique manner, one square diagonally and one square laterally (see Knight's Movement). They can move forward or backward and are the only pieces that can jump over other pieces.

Rook has a strength of about five pawns. The rook moves forwards or sideways in a lateral manner and they can move backward and forwards one or more squares at a time. To capture a piece, the rook is moved in their normal manner to the occupied square where they replace the captured piece.

Queen is the most powerful piece on the board and is the equivalent of about nine pawns. A queen can move diagonally like a bishop or laterally like a rook.

King is the most important piece on the board. It can move backward or forwards, either laterally or diagonally, it can only do so one square at a time. A king cannot move to a square where it would be in danger of being captured. A king can capture a piece on any square where it can legally move.

Castling can only occur under the following conditions:

1. It hasn't been previously done
2. There are no pieces in the way
3. Neither the rook nor the king has been moved
4. None of the squares the king must pass through are guarded by the opponent's pieces. In other words, if moving the king one square instead of two squares would place the king in check then castling is prohibited.
5. The king is not in check.

En passant was created so that pawns cannot evade captured by an opponent's pawns by moving two squares on their first move. If this happens, then the opponent's pawn can capture the pawn moving two squares just as though it had moved only one. An opponent can choose not to exercise the right to capture a piece by en passant. However, the right must be used immediately following the opportunity or it is lost.


Lesson 2. How to Knight moves
https://socialchessclub.blogspot.com/2019/12/chess-101-moving-knight.html 

Lesson 3. How to Castle
https://socialchessclub.blogspot.com/2019/12/chess-101-how-to-castle.html

References

Instructables. “How to Play Chess.” Instructables, Instructables, 10 Nov. 2017, https://www.instructables.com/id/Playing-Chess/.

“Introduction” (n.d.),  http://www.intuitor.com/chess/.