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Chess Setup and Rules for Kids & Beginners. There is a revision at the end. IchessU is launching a special program for children and adults during the coronavirus

times at home. You can register free on on line chess or with IchessU Basic chess rules are essential if you want to learn chess. That’s why we are explaining these chess rules in an easy to understand way. From initial board set up to movement of every piece, we will explain everything in this chess rules section. History of chessChess is believed to have been invented more than 1500 years ago in India. The game has changed only slightly since then with the advent of the queen in the 15th century and some minor movement adjustments in the 1800s.Chess game goalThe ultimate aim in the chess game is delivering a checkmate – trapping your opponent´s king. The term checkmate is an alteration of the Persian phrase “Shah Mat”, meaning literally, “the King is ambushed”, and not “the King is dead”, that is a common misconception.General Chess RulesWhite is always first to move and players take turns alternately moving one piece at a time. Movement is required. If a player´s turn is to move, he is not in check but has no legal moves, this situation is called “Stalemate” and it ends the game in a draw.Each type of piece has its own method of movement. A piece may be moved to another position or may capture an opponent´s piece, replacing on its square (en passant being the only exception). With the exception of the knight, a piece may not move over or through any of the other pieces.When a king is threatened with capture (but can protect himself or escape), it´s called check. If a king is in check, then the player must make a move that eliminates the threat of capture and cannot leave the king in check.Checkmate happens when a king is placed in check and there is no legal move to escape. Checkmate ends the game and the side whose king was checkmated looses. Chess for kids would be a great option to help the kid enhance his thinking capability with the chess strategies involved.The initial position setupThe chessboard is made up of eight rows and eight columns for a total of 64 squares of alternating colours. Each square of the chessboard is identified with a unique pair of a letter and a number. The vertical files are labelled a through h, from White´s left (i.e.

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the queenside) to White´s right. Similarly, the horizontal ranks are numbered from 1 to 8, starting from the one nearest White´s side of the board. Each square of the board, then, is uniquely identified by its file letter and rank number.In the initial position setup, the light queen is positioned on a light square and the dark queen is situated on a dark square. That means the black king is on a white square and the white king is on a black square. Each square has a name. this name is always called by the rank first and then the file. So the white king is on d1 and the white queen is on e1. The black king is on d8 and the black queen is on e8. The diagram below shows how the pieces should be initially situated.Take careful note of the rank (a,b,c,d,e,f,g) and the file (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)White always sets up on rank 1 and black sets up on rank 8.

Basic Strategy

Chess is an incredibly complex strategic game, and it is impossible to go into all of the possible tactics one could use to win. However, I wanted to leave the new player with a few hints that will hopefully aid in victory.

Piece Value:Obviously you want to protect your pieces from capture, but it helps to know which pieces are the strongest so you can decide who to save if you must choose between two.

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Queen: Strongest = Most ValueRookBishop,

Knight

Pawn: Weakest = Least Value Knight = 3 pawns (3 points) Bishop = knight (3 points) Rook = knight plus 2 pawns (5 points) queen = 2 rooks = 3 knights (10 or 9 points) king = knight + pawn (4 points)

The bishop and the knight are commonly considered equal on the value scale, however many feel (myself included) that the bishop has a slight edge over the knight.

Pawns become more valuable as they near promotion. Pawns may be the foot soldiers in the war, but if you are wise, you can use them strategically against your opponent.

Pawn Promotion:

Although a pawn can be promoted to a variety of pieces, the strongest choice is almost always to promote to queen.

Board Control: chess is a game of war and strategic battle. It is all about control, attack and defence.

When building defences, remember to look at the board and gauge how strong you are in certain areas of the board. Try and keep power distributed fairly evenly, and bring pieces over to add strength if you see an attack coming.

When attacking, it's a bad idea to let any of your pieces become cut off from your main force. I find it helpful to have a support piece in mind when making an attack. Using pieces in tandem almost always yields a better result than using one piece alone. You must gain control of the centre of the board and invade your enemy. Always think at least 4 to five possible moves ahead of your enemy by asking the question: if do this then she can do that or that or that. Mmmmm……..

Chess moves King can move exactly one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. At most

once in every game, each king is allowed to make a special move, known as castling. Queen can move any number of vacant squares diagonally, horizontally, or

vertically.

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Rook can move any number of vacant squares vertically or horizontally. It also is moved while castling.

Bishop can move any number of vacant squares in any diagonal direction. Knight can move one square along any rank or file and then at an angle. The

knight´s movement can also be viewed as an “L” or “7″ laid out at any horizontal or vertical angle.

Pawns can move forward one square, if that square is unoccupied. If it has not yet moved, the pawn has the option of moving two squares forward provided both squares in front of the pawn are unoccupied. A pawn cannot move backward. Pawns are the only pieces that capture differently from how they move. They can capture an enemy piece on either of the two spaces adjacent to the space in front of them (i.e., the two squares diagonally in front of them) but cannot move to these spaces if they are vacant. The pawn is also involved in the two special moves en passant and promotion.

CastlingCastling is the only time in the  chess game  when more than one piece moves during a turn. This chess move has been invented in the 1500´s to help speeding up the game and improving balance of the offense and defense.During the castling, the king moves two squares towards the rook he intends to castle with, and the rook moves to the square through which the king passed.Castling is only permissible if all of the following conditions hold:

Neither king nor rook involved in castling may have moved from the original position;

There must be no pieces between the king and the rook;The king may not currently be in check, nor may the king pass through or end up in a square that is under attack by an enemy piece (though the rook is permitted to be under attack and to pass over an attacked square)En PassantEn Passant may only occur when a pawn is moved two squares on its initial movement. When this happens, the opposing player has the option to take the moved pawn “en passant” as if it had only moved one square. This option, though, only stays open for one move.The En Passant move was developed after pawns were allowed to move more than one square on their initial move. The idea behind this rule was to retain restrictions imposed by slow movement, while at the same time speeding up the game.

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Pawn promotionIf a pawn reaches the opponent´s edge of the table, it will be promoted – the pawn may be converted to a queen, rook, bishop or knight, as the player desires. The choice is not limited to previously captured pieces. Thus its´ theoretically possible having up to nine queens or up to ten rooks, bishops, or knights if all pawns are promoted.

OK, MY APOLOGIES, I AM GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF. LET US GO TO BEGIN:

This is an explanation of the rules of chess. I love the game, and I wanted to do my own illustrated tutorial. I know that there are other Chess Instruction books, I hope that this will add to the growing Interest in chess as well as serve as a refresher for players who are beginners.

I tried to explain as much as I could using illustrations. If the written directions are confusing, take a look at the pictures. For the more complicated rules, I illustrated them in sequence.

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Step 1: Setup, Turns, and Taking Pieces

I WOULD LIKE YOU TO FILL IN THE RANK AND FILE NUMBERS AND LETTERS ON THE BOARD BELOW

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Setup:The board is setup as shown. There should always be a white square at the closest right-hand side for both players. Remember that the queen must be on a square that matches her color.

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

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.

Step 2: Pawn Movement

Pawns only move forward. On the first move a pawn can move one or two spaces, every subsequent move can only be one space. Pawns move diagonally to take opponents.

Remember to write on the sides of the boards the rank and file this means the letters and numbers. Your secret: there is always a white square on the bottom right of the board . This would be rank 1. There will also be a white

square on the top left of the board and that will be rank 8.

Remember the Mr Moonieya rules that are vital to being a brilliant chess player:

1. Chess is a quiet game. Your only speak when it is required such as “adjust”.

2. Never be conceited and think you know it all. Read even the basic rules again and again and again.

3. Do not rush, use your time with precision.

4. Think. Think, Think.

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5. Shake your opponent’s hand whether you win or lose.

6. Be polite.

7. A touch is a move.

8. No matter how angry or frustrated you are, never show it. Keep a poker face. There is nothing more disturbing to your opponent that your absolute calm silence.

9. Always think ahead of your opponent, at least 4 moves, and if you have been paying attention, up to 10 moves. How you do this is to ask: WHAT IF?

10. DIGNITY, DIGNITY, DIGNITY. There is nothing uglier than a hooligan and a chess player is of a nobility that others strive towards.

11. No matter how brilliant I think I am, I can always learn something new. This requires me to be humble. The more humble the chess player, the greater the power of that chess player will be.

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Pawn Promotion:If a pawn reaches the opposite side of the board, it is promoted to a higher piece (except king). There is no limit to how many pawns can be promoted.

Use your pawns as part of your strategy.

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Step 3: Rook also known as a castle.

Rooks move in a continuous line forwards, backwards and side-to-side..

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Step 4: Knight

Knights are the only pieces that "jump" off the board. Unlike other pieces they are not blocked if there are pieces between them and their destination square.

To make it easier to remember how a knight moves think of an L. Two spaces in a direction forward, backward or side-to-side, and one space at a right turn. In other words, your L must only use 3 squares.

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Step 5: Bishop

Bishops move in continuous diagonal lines in any direction. However, the diagonal line must always be the same colour across the board. So if your bishop is on a black sqare, he can only move diagonally on black squares. Try this out.

Do not forget to write the rank and file on the sides of your board.

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Step 6: Queen

The queen moves in continuous diagonal and straight lines. Forward, backward and side-to-side. She is the most powerful chess piece on the board.

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Step 7: King

The king is the most important yet the weakest piece on the board. The entire battle is to protect his majesty from all enemies.

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The king can move in any

direction, one square at a time.

A king cannot move to a square that is under attack by the opponent. In other words, the king cannot move into a square that places him under attack or what we call “CHECK”

Step 8: Special Move: Castling

Castling is the only move that allows two pieces to move during the same turn.

During castling a king moves two spaces towards the rook that it will castle with, and the rook jumps to the other side. The king can castle to either side as long as:

1. The king has not moved.2. The king is not in check.3. The king does not move through or into check.4. There are no pieces between the king and castling-side rook.5. The castling-side rook has not moved.

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Step 9: Special Move: En Passant. A FRENCH WORD MEANING “IN PASSING”

You can capture a pawn by passing over in front of the opposing pornt. En passant is a special movement for pawns attacking pawns. It only applies if your opponent moves a pawn two spaces, and its destination space is next to your pawn.

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You can take the opposing piece by moving forward-diagonal to your pawn's attacked square. Let us watch this in three moves. White moves first. This is a little advanced, I wanted you to work those brains and try to figure it out. If you cannot, just move forward to the next exercise and we can return to the en passant later.

Step 10: STEP

10: Check

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A king is in check when an opponent's piece is in a position that can attack the king. A player must move their king out of check, block the check or capture the attacking piece.

A player cannot move their king into check.

I want you to write the rank and file details on the side of the board as usual, and then you must work out how this “check” occurred.

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Step 11: Checkmate

Putting an opponent's king in "checkmate" is the only way to win the game.

A king is in checkmate if it is in check, the opponent's piece that has the king in check cannot be captured, the check cannot be blocked, and the king cannot move to a square that is not under attack.

In the illustration the white queen has the black king in check, and all of the spaces where the king can move can be attacked by the queen. The king cannot take the queen, because the knight is protecting the queen. The black bishop cannot block the queen. This is checkmate.

NOW WORK OUT HOW THIS CHECKMATE OCCCURRED.

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Step 12: Stalemate: SOMETHING THAT YOU MUST AVOID UNLESS YOU CAN SEE THAT YOU ARE LOSING. It is one way of sharing a point with your opponent.

Simply put, a "Stalemate" is a tie. It is achieved if there are no legal moves for a player to make.

In this illustration it is white's turn. All spaces around the king are being attacked, but the king is not in check, therefore it cannot move. The only other white piece, the pawn, is blocked by the king. Because movement is impossible, the game is a stalemate.

If white had another piece somewhere on the board that was not blocked, it would have to move. The game would continue.

REVISION

The rules of chess may seem complicated at first, but they're actually quite simple. Chess is a board game played between two players–White and Black–who alternate turns. White always moves first, and the players move one piece at a time until one side captures the enemy's king.

The Pieces

Chess uses six pieces, each of which moves in a specific way. All pieces share some common traits. No piece is allowed to land on a square occupied by a friendly piece. If a piece lands on a square occupied by an enemy piece, that enemy is captured and

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removed from the board. With the exception of the knight, pieces are not allowed to jump over other pieces.

The rook usually looks like a small tower. It moves in a straight line horizontally or vertically for any number of squares.

The bishop moves in a straight line diagonally for any number of squares. The queen, the most powerful piece in chess, can move any number of squares in

a straight line horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The king can also move in any direction, including diagonally, but it can only

move one square at a time.  The knight, which usually looks like a horse, moves in an irregular, L-shaped

pattern. From the centre of the board, the knight can move to eight different squares. Though the knight can leap over other pieces, it doesn't capture pieces it jumps over; it only captures a piece on a square it lands on.

Pawns are the shortest and weakest pieces in chess. Pawns are also the only pieces that move one way, but capture in another fashion. Unlike other pieces, pawns can only move forward, not backward. A pawn can only move directly forward one square at a time unless it is still on the square on which it began the game; if it is the pawn's first move, it can move one or two squares directly forward. A pawn cannot capture a piece directly in front of it. Pawns can only capture a piece by moving one square forward diagonally.

Some exceptions to the rules include: castling, a move where the king and a rook both move at the same time; en passant, an unusual pawn capture; and pawn promotion, a situation that occurs if a pawn reaches the end of the board, where the pawn may "promote" to a stronger piece.

Setting Up the Chessboard

Before starting the game, ensure that each player has a light-coloured square in the bottom right-hand corner. Place your rooks on the bottom-left and bottom-right squares, and then place the knights on the first row directly adjacent to the rooks. The bishops take the next two squares toward the center of the back row. Leave two empty squares in the middle of your back row--these two squares belong to the king and queen. Place these pieces using the queen-on-colour rule, where the white queen goes on the light square, while the black queen goes on its dark square. The king takes the other square. Set up all of your pawns on the second row, right in front of your larger pieces.

How to Win

When a player's king is under attack and threatened with capture, you say that the king is in check. When in check, that player must take action to avoid having his king captured by moving the king, capturing the attacking piece, or–except in the case of a knight check–blocking the attack.

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You win the game via checkmate, where you attack your opponent's king in such a way that he cannot avoid being captured. To win the game, the victorious player doesn't actually capture the enemy king; once capture is inevitable, checkmate has occurred and the game is over. A player who knows defeat is inevitable may also resign the game rather than wait to be checkmated.

The game can end in a draw, where there is no winner. The most common way to draw a game is by stalemate. Other draws include threefold repetition with the same position occurring three times with the same player to move and the 50-move rule, where no pawn has been moved and no piece has been captured for 50 consecutive moves by each player.