Anybody can Play Chess

How to play a game of Chess?

We have already talked about the Chess game and its initial Board and piece
set up. This is the second article in the series – Anybody Can Play Chess. In
this second lesson, we will learn about the moves of the King and the Pawn.
You know, the game of chess cannot be played without King. That’s why, King
is the most important piece in Chess. From the beginning to the end of a
game, the King is always there. Checkmating the opponent's King is the aim
of every player. On checkmate the game ends and whoever gives checkmate
wins.
Therefore, firstly let’s learn about The King.
The king can move one square in any direction at a time. The number of
squares which a king can go to depends on the position of the king stands. It
may be able to go to 8 squares if it is on the centre, but one square at a time.
If it is in a corner of the board, then 3 squares will be the maximum. If it is on
an edge, it will be able to move to 5 squares.
Like all chessmen except the Knight, the King cannot jump over other men
or move onto a square of a friendly piece.
Captures
Although the King never leaves the board during a chess game, he can
capture other pieces. As long as the enemy piece is within range of the king
(that means one square in any direction from where the king stands), he has
the option of moving to the square occupied by the enemy piece and
removing it from the board.
That’s all about the King. Now let’s learn about the Pawn
Pawn and its Moves
Half of your initial team is pawns, so it’s very important to understand how
to use these little guys, despite the fact that they are not very strong. Pawn
is such a Chessman that stays in the game of chess from the beginning almost
to the end of the game. There are endgames without Pawns, but they are very
limited.
Pawns are the smallest unit in the chessmen. The pawn is the only chessman
that cannot move backwards. Nor can it jump over other men.
Pawns are special - they walk in one way, and make captures in another way.
The pawn moves only forward, one square at a time along the file on which
it stands. Every pawn, no matter how far the game has progressed, has a
choice on its first move, and only on its first move, of moving forward either
one or two squares. This double move is optional.
In most of the games, White pawn starts the game on the second rank and
move forward, while the Black pawns start the game on the seventh rank
and move in the opposite direction, towards the White pawns.
If a chessman either friendly or unfriendly is on the square immediately in
front of a pawn, the pawn is blocked and cannot advance.
The pawn, although it moves straight ahead, captures in a different way. The
pawn may capture any of the opponent’s chessmen, except the king, that
stands one square diagonally in front of it, either left or right. But if it is a
Rook’s Pawn, obviously, it can capture onto one square only. The captured
chessman is removed from the board and the pawn takes its place on the
square of the captured man. As Pawn cannot move backward, it cannot
capture backwards.
En Passant
En passant is a kind of capture that is peculiar to pawns. A pawn may move
two squares on its first move and may then land on a square next to an
opponent’s pawn. The opponent’s pawn may capture this pawn as if it had
moved just one square. This can happen only when a pawn advances two
squares at time on its initial move. We call this move capturing ‘en passant’
(a French expression for ‘in passing’).
Pawn Promotion
A Pawn is much weaker than any of the other men in Chess. A pawn moves
very slowly, but if it gets to the opposite end of the board it can change into
a powerful Queen! That is, when the Pawn reaches the other end of the
board, it can be changed into any piece of its own color, except the King. In
other words, he can choose between promoting a pawn to a Queen, a Rook,
a Bishop, or a Knight and most of the cases – a Queen, because she is the most
powerful piece in Chess. It doesn’t matter if there is a Queen of the same
colour on the board already, you may have another one. This transformation
of a pawn is called “Pawn Promotion”.
Promotion of Pawn is compulsory. That is, a pawn reaching the last rank
must be exchanged for a piece; it cannot remain as a pawn. A pawn is
promoted by removing the pawn from the board and placing the chosen
piece on the promotion square.
When a player has exchanged the pawn for a piece, and place the piece on
the Board, his move is completed. Promotion of a pawn into any piece counts
as one move. From his next move, the promoted piece (Queen, Rook, Bishop,
or Knight) moves and captures in exactly the same way as a regular piece of
that kind.
Sometimes, a pawn may reach the last rank by capturing a piece. This does
not affect the right and obligation to promote.
Here we end our article on King and Pawn. Please see my next article on
Minor Pieces. Keep visiting these pages regularly and keep updating your
chess wisdom. If you need any specific help to learn chess, please write back
to me; I am always here to help you. Bye for now.