CHESS

All parents want their children to grow up physically, emotionally and mentally.
Sports activity has an important role to improve these faculties.
Chess and Advantages: Playing the game of chess gives many advantages
to children. Especially, by playing chess the children can improve their
concentration, memory, decision making, self-control, analytical thinking, time
management, planning, hard work, competitive spirit etc., These characteristic
features will be very much useful for their life and studies.
It is a game that isplayed between two players. It is a battle of tactical ideas and
strategical planning over the chess board. This game was invented some
centuries ago in India. Then it travelled to Persia and then to Europe later.
In order to play chess, you will need a chess board and two sets of chess pieces
of light and dark colour.

FIDE: FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs) is a French word which

means World Chess Federation. FIDE has laid down the rules (the laws of chess)
for playing the game of chess.

Rules of the game

Object of the game: King is the most importantpiece in a chess game.The
object of chess is to checkmate the opponent’s king.

Chess Board: Thechess board has 64 squares with alternating light (white
colour) and dark (black colour) squares. The chess board should be placed
between the two players in such a way that the corner square on each player’s
right hand side should be white.
On the chessboard, there are up and down squares (vertical), which are called
files (e.g. e1 to e8). There are 8 files on the chess board.
8 vertical lines are Files

The squares that go sideways (horizontal) are called ranks (eg.a1 to h1). So
there are 8 ranks on the chess board.
8 Horizontal lines are Ranks

A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board
to an adjacent edge, is called a ‘diagonal’. While squares on files or ranks
always have alternating colours, the squares of the diagonal are always either
light or dark colour.
Diagonals:
Light Square Diagonal Dark Square Diagonal
Notation:
There is a system to denote the squares in the chess board. The files from left to
right side is denoted bya, b, c, d, e, f, g, hand the ranks are numbered as1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. By this way each square has its own letter and number. To
mention the square, the letter shouldalways come before the number.
The names of the squares are shown in the diagram.

a b c d e f g h
8 a8 b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 g8 h8 8
7 a7 b7 c7 d7 e7 f7 g7 h7 7
6 a6 b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 h6 6
5 a5 b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5 5
4 a4 b4 c4 d4 e4 f4 g4 h4 4
3 a3 b3 c3 d3 e3 f3 g3 h3 3
2 a2 b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2 2
1 a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1 g1 h1 1

a b c d e f g h
For easy reference, we divide the chessboard into two halves from a to d (files)
as Queen side and e to h (files) as King side.
Queen side King side
Chessmen (Chess pieces): Total number of chessmen are 32 with 16 light
(white) and 16 dark colour chess pieces (1KKing (K),1Q Queen (Q), 2 R Rooks(R),
2 L Bishops (B), 2 N Knights (N) and 8 P Pawns).
Arrangement of the chessmen:

Movements of the pieces: It is not permitted to move a piece to a square

occupied by a piece of the same colour.

If a piece moves to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece the latter is

captured and removed from the chessboard as part of the same move.
King is the most important Piece in a chess game. Because if you are not able to
safe guard the king from opponent’s check mate threat, the game is lost. One
player’s pieces can be captured by the other player’s pieces but the player is not
allowed to capture his own pieces.

King:The King can move in every direction horizontally, vertically and diagonally.
However, the king is limited to move only one square at a time.
Rook: The rook may move to any square along the file or the rank on which it
stands.

Bishop:The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it

stands.

Queen:The queen may move to any square along the file, the rank or a diagonal
on which it stands.
When making these moves, the bishop, rook or queen may not move over any
intervening pieces.

Knight:The Knight may move to one of the squares nearest to that on which it
stands but not on the same rank, file or diagonal. The knight alone hops (jump)
over other pieces.

Pawn: The pawn may move forward to the square immediately in front of it on
the same file, provided that this square is unoccupied, or
on its first move from the initial square, the pawn may move as above or
alternatively it may advance two squares along the same file, provided that both
squares are unoccupied, or
the pawn may move to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece diagonally in
front of it on an adjacent file, capturing that piece.
The Pawn moves forward only and they cannot move backwards at any stage of
the game.
 En passant rule:
The word “En-Passant” is a French expression, which means “in passing”. For
simplicity, it is simply referred to as e.p.
The FIDE laws of chess defines the En-Passant Pawn capture as follows:
A pawn occupying a square on the same rank as and on an adjacent file to an
opponent’s pawn which has just advanced two squares in one move from its
original square may capture this opponent’s pawn as though the latter had been
moved only one square.This capture is only legal on the move following this
advance and is called an "en passant capture”.

For example: In the following diagrams if Black plays its pawn from the basic
square c5 to c7, then white can capture the crossed black’s pawn immediately by
playing its pawn from b5 to c6. In the same way if the white pawn on g2 moves
to g4 in one move, then Black can capture the crossed white’s pawn immediately
by playing its pawn from f4 to g3.
Promotion of pawn: When a player, having the move, plays a pawn to the
rank furthest from its starting position, he must exchange that pawn as part of
the same move for a new queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour on
the intended square of arrival. This is called the square of ‘promotion’.
The player's choice is not restricted to pieces that have been captured previously.
This exchange of a pawn for another piece is called promotion, and the effect of
the new piece is immediate.

Castling rule: Once during the course of the game, the King is allowed to make
a joint move with one of its Rook during which they pass over each other.
Castling is a combined move of the King and either Rook, counting as a single
move and executed as follows:
The king is transferred from its original square; two squares towards either Rook
on the same rank, then the rook concerned is transferred over the king to the
square that the king has just crossed.
Accordingly, when castling on the king-side, the white king moves from e1 to g1
square and his rook from h1 to f1 square. The Black king from e8 to g8 square
and his rook from h8 to f8 square.
When castling on the queen-side, the white king moves from e1 to c1 square and
his rook from a1 to d1 square. The Black king from e8 to c8 square and his rook
from a8 to d8 square.

A player can castle only if the following conditions are satisfied:

1. Castling is permitted only if the King or the rook concerned have not
moved previously.
2. All the squares between the King and the rook with which you want to
castle must be empty.
3. The king should not be in check. Castling is not allowed for the
purpose of getting the king out of check.
 4. The square, which the king is going to jump over, should not be under attack
by the opponent.
5. The square on which the king would land after castling should not be under
attack.

The king is said to be 'in check' if it is attacked by one or more of the opponent's
pieces, even if such pieces are constrained from moving to the square occupied by
the king because they would then leave or place their own king in check.
No piece can be moved that will either expose the king of the same colour to
check or leave that king in check.
In chess the player with the white pieces always moves first and makes the first
move. Then Black makes his first move and the game proceeds with the players
moving alternately.
The move is not madeuntil the piece or pawn is released on a square. You cannot
move a piece or pawn to a square occupied by your own piece or pawn. The knight
is the only piece that can leap over a square occupied by another piece or pawn.

Touch Piece play: The laws of chess states that:

Each move must be played with one hand only.
If the player having the move deliberately touches on the chessboard one or more
of his pieces, he must move the first piece touched that can be moved or,
If the player having the move deliberately touches on the chessboard one or more
of opponent’s pieces, he must capture the first piece touched, which can be
captured.

Adjusting the chessmen: If you are having the move and you desire to adjust
one or more pieces on their squares, you must express your intention to your
opponent by saying “I adjust”(before touching the chessman to be adjusted).
Such adjustment can be made only in the presence of your opponent.
Illegal move: A move is illegal when it fails to meet the relevant requirement of
the movement of the piece’s rules laid down in the laws of chess by the World
Chess Federation (FIDE).
i) Ifa player makes a move with a chessman, which is not in accordance with the
rules of the game, he must retract it and make a different move with the same
chessman, provided that is legal. If it is not, the player is free to make a legal
move with any other chessman. If a player leaves his king in check and makes
some other move, that move is illegal and according to the Laws of Chess should
be retracted and another move made.
ii) If the player has moved a pawn to the furthest distant rank, pressed the clock,
but not replaced the pawn with a new piece, the move is illegal. The pawn shall be
replaced by a queen of the same colour as the pawn.

iii) If the player presses the clock without making a move, it shall be considered
and penalized as if an illegal move.
iv) If a player uses two hands to make a single move (for example in case of
castling, capturing or promotion) and pressed the clock, it shall be considered and
penalized as if an illegal move.

If a player has made an illegal move and has not completed the move
(pressed the clock), he can retract the illegal move and make another
legal move with the same piece (if possible). That is; there is no penalty
for an illegal move made. The penalty is only for a completed illegal
move.
As per FIDE Laws of Chess, for the first completed illegal move by a player, the
arbiter shall give two minutes extra time to his opponent; for the second completed
illegal move by the same player the arbiter shall declare the game lost by this
player. However, the game is drawn if the position is such that the opponent
cannot checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves.

Recording of moves: To recordthe movement of the pieces from one square to

another, each of the pieces is indicatedby its first letter (except knight: for knight-
N) followed by its square of arrival. The movement of a pawn is recorded by
simply indicating the square of its arrival. Captures are indicated by a small ‘x’,
inserted between the chessmen doing the capturing and the square on which the
capture is being made. The king side castling is recorded as O-O and the Queen
side castling is recorded as O-O-O.
Chess is the only game which can be recorded on a piece of paper (score sheet)
and played through even after many days and years.
Check: When the king is attacked by an enemy pawn or piece, it is said to be
under check. When a king is under check, it should be either moved away or the
attacking piece should be captured or the king should be shielded from attack by
interposing some piece. And this has to be done in the next move itself because
the king cannot be left ‘to capture’ at any time.

Checkmate: If the kingcannot begot out of check, it is said to be ‘checkmated”

and the game ends immediately. The player who has checkmated his opponent’s
king isdeclared as the winner.

The Completion of the Game:

You have won a game:
i) if you have checkmated your opponent with the legal move.
ii) If your opponent declares that he has resigned when he realizes that his
position is hopeless and that he has no chances of even drawing the game.
Drawn game: As per the FIDE Laws of Chess a game is considered drawn:
1. When the player on move has no legal move and his king is not in check. The
game is said to end in ‘Stalemate’.
2.The game is drawn when a position has arisen in which neither player can
checkmate the opponent`s king with any series of legal moves. The game is said to
end in a `dead position`. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move
producing the position was legal.
3.The game is drawn upon agreement between the twoplayers during the game.
This immediately ends the game.
4.The game may be drawn if any identical position is about to appear or has
appeared on the chessboard at least three times.
5.The game may be drawn if each player has made at least the last 50 consecutive
moves without the movement of any pawn and without any capture.

Value of the pieces:

The Queen and Rooks are known as the ‘Major Pieces’. Bishops and knights are
known as ‘Minor Pieces’.
Queen --- Q---- 9 points
Rook----- R-----5 pts
Bishop----B-----3 pts
Knight----N-----3 pts
Pawn------------1 pt.
Opening :The main idea of opening strategy is fast development of the pieces,
castling to secure the position of the king and the fight for the center.The game
plan starts from the beginning of the game itself.
The purpose of opening moves is to make a good start. Each player would like to
complete the opening successfully since it can give a big advantage to the player in
the next phases.
Some of the opening principles to be followed for the beginners.
1. Develop all your pieces
2. Develop them rapidly
3. Develop the pieces to control the centre
4. Develop with initiative
5. Develop with a plan
6. Castle early
7. Avoid too much of Pawn play
8. Avoid early Queen moves
9. Do not move a piece twice unless you moved each piece once

Middle game: The Middle game constitutes that part of the game, where there is
direct clash between the developed forces of both the players. The strategical
planning with tactical ideas has to be used in this phase to outplay the opponents.
Attack and defense are the common themes here in the middle game. Some of the
tactical ideas are given below:

Some of the Tactical ideas:

Pin: A piece standing between an attacker and a piece of higher value or the king
is in a pin.

Skewer: One piece attacks two pieces (generally, a piece of higher value in the
front) on the same line, one behind the other. Therefore, this move is peculiar to
queen, rook and bishop.
Double Attack (Fork):This means to attack two of the opponent`s men at the
same time. Attacking two pieces with one move like this is called double attack. It
is one of the most effective ways of attacking. Every chessman can fork. The
importance of a fork move depends on the value of attacked piece. The effect of
fork moves increases if attacked pieces are more valuable.

Discovered Check:In some positions, giving check may be blocked by a

player´s own piece. Giving check by moving the blocking piece is called discovered
check.
Double Check: Double check is a kind of discovered check, when a piece which
moves and discovers a check, also gives check by itself, to the enemy king. Double
check means to give check with two pieces and it is also very effective. The king
has no option but to move, which makes this a powerful weapon.
Some of the Middlegame Strategies:
1. Attack against the king
2. Open file
3. Queen side pawn majority
4. Weak pawn
5. Centre
6. Pawn Structure
7. Weak squares
8. Queen side attack

Double Attack Pin Skewer

Double Attack (fork)

A double attack is an attack in which one piece attacks two targets. The targets in chess are
1. The king 2. a piece 3. an important square

KNIGHT FORK KNIGHT FORK

After Ne7+, white knightattacks White knight on c7
king and queen. attackstwo rooks and the
bishop.

PAWN FORK BISHOP FORK

White pawn on b4 attacks the WHITE Bishop ond5 attacks
bishop and knight. the e4 knight and c6 knight.
 DOUBLE ATTACK DOUBLE ATTACK DOUBLE ATTACK
The white queen attacks the The white rook attacks The white queen attacks
king and rook. The king must both the knights. One of the knight and an
move away and the rook will be them can escape, but the important square d8. This
lost. other is lost. square is important
Check+ Piece Piece + Piece because the queen can
give mate on d8.
Piece + Checkmate threat
PIN
*A pin is an attack on a piece that cannot be moved. In some cases, the piece can be
moved, but it will result in the loss of material.
*A pin can take place: along a rank, along a file and along a diagonal.
*Only the queen, the rook and the bishop can pin other pieces.

PIN PIN PIN

White bishop on b5 pins White rook on e1 pins the White queen on b5 pins the
the black queen on c6. black knight on e5. black knight on c6.
 DISCOVERED CHECK DISCOVERED ATTACK

In a discovered check, two pieces attacking In a discovered attack, two pieces

simultaneously, one on the king(check) and attacking simultaneously two of the
the other one on the piece. After Bh7+, the opponent pieces. By playing Bd4-c5, the
bishop attacks the king and the rook attacks bishop attacks the knight and the rook
the queen. attacks the bishop.

DOUBLE CHECK

White queen and knight White queen and bishop White plays1. Qd8+ Kxd8 2.
gives check resulting in gives check resulting in Bg5+ (Double check- white
checkmate checkmate rook on d1 and bishop on g5
gives check) 2…Ke8 3. Rd8#
 MATE IN 1

White plays 1. Qg7# White plays 1. Rh5#

White plays 1. Rh7#

White plays 1. Qh7# White plays 1. Ba6#

White plays 1. Nd5#

White plays 1. Nxf7# White plays 1. Bxg7#

White plays 1. e8 = N#
 MATE IN 2

1.Qh6+ Kg8 2. Qg7# 1.Qh4+ Kg8 2. Qh7# 1.Qg8+ Rxg8 2. Nf7#

1.Bg5+ Kc8 2. Rd8# 1.Qf8+ Rxf8 2. Rxf8# 1.Qh7+ Kf8 2.Qxf7#

1.Rbg7+ Kf8 2. Rh8# 1.Bf6+ Kg8 2. Rh8# 1. h7+ Kh8 2. Rxf8#

Mating Patterns:

Checkmate Patterns
Basics

Few Checkmate
Patterns.

1. Qb5# 1. axb7 #

1. Qh8# 1.b4#
Staircase Mate 1. Ra6 + Kf7 2. Rh7 +
Kg8 3. Rb7 Kf8 4. Ra8 #

Queen’s Mate 1. Qd6 Ke8 2. Qc7 Kf8

3. Kg5 Kg8 4. Kg6 Kf8 5.
Queen to Knights
Qf7#
Jump
Cornering
Avoid Stalemate
Using King as
support

Back rank mate – 1 1.Rc8#

Back rank mate - 2 1. Re8#

Back rank mate - 3 1.Rd8+ Bf8 2. Bh6 f5
3.Rxf8#

Fools Mate 1. f3? e5 2. g4?? Qh4 #

Scholars Mate 1.e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3.

Bc4 Nf6 4. Qxf7#

Anastasia’s Mate 1. Ne7 + Kh7 2. Rh1 #

Smothered Mate 1. Nh6+ Kh8 2. Qg8+
Rxg8 3.Nf7#

1. Nh6 + Kf8 2 Qf7#

Damiano’s Mate 1. Rh8+ Kxh8 2. Qh5 +

Kg8 3. Qh7#

Pillsbury Mate 1. Qxf6, gxf6 2. Rg1+

Kh8 3. Qxf6#

Blackburne’s Mate 1. Qxh5 gxh5 2. Bh7#

Boden Mate 1. Qxc6+ bxc6 2. Ba6 #

Windmill 1...Kh8 2. Rxe7+ Kg8 3.

Rg7+Kh8 4. Rxd7 +

Rook Sacrifice on g7 1. Rxg7+ Kxg7 2. Qg5+

square Kh8 3.Qf6+ Kg8 4. Rg1#

Rook sacrifice on h7 1.Rh7+ Kxh7 2. Qxf7+

square Kh8 3. Rh1#
End game:
Some of the Endgame principles:
1. Bring the king to the centre
2. Create a passed pawn
3. Opposition
4. Active and Passive pieces
5. Rook behind the Passed pawn
6. Stalemate possibilities

Pawn endgame

VERTICAL OPPOSITION HORIZONTAL OPPOSITION DIAGONAL OPPOSITION

Sixth rank King in front of the pawn

With your King on the sixth rank in front of your pawn, you’ll always win, regardless of whose
move it is

Position –1 Position –2

Black to move White to move

After 1...Kd8 2. Kf7 Kd7 1.Kd6 Kd8 2. e6 Ke8 3.e7

3.e6+ Kd8 4.e7+ Kd7 Kf7 4.Kd7 Kf6 5.e8Q
5.e8Q+
 The King is in front of his pawn
Position-3 Position-4

Black to move White to move

With Black to move, If it is White to move it is only a draw

White has the opposition as black gets the opposition.
and wins. 1.Kf4 Kf6 2. Ke4 Ke6 3.Kd4 Kd6 4.e4
Ke6 5.e5 Ke7 6.Kd5 Kd7 7.e6+ Ke7
1...Kd6 2. Kf5 Ke7 3.Ke5
8.Ke5 Ke8 only move to draw 9.Kd6
Kf7 4.Kd6 Kf6 5.e4 Kf7
Kd8 10.e7+ Ke8 11.Ke6 -1/2-1/2
6.e5 Ke8 7.Ke6
…Transpose to Position1

White or Black to move the King is not in front of his pawn- draw!

Position-5 Position-6

White to move Black to move

1.Kd4 Ke72.Kd5 Kd7 3.e6+ 1…Ke72.Kd5 Kd7 3.e6+

Ke7 4.Ke5 Ke8 5.Kd6 Kd8 Ke7 4.Ke5 Ke8 5.Kd6 Kd8
6.e7+ Ke8 7.Ke6 ½–½ 6.e7+ Ke8 7.Ke6 ½–½
Position -4
Black got opposition. Black got opposition.
 Rook Pawn
Position-7 Position-8

This is a draw because White can’t move

the opponent’s king from the corner. The final position will be
Pushing the pawn to h7 leads to stalemate. like this.
Black will move his King only g8 and h8
squares.

The game goes like this,1.h5 Kg8 2.h6

Kh8 3.h7 stalemate.

Defending by imprisoning the opposing King on the rook file

Position -9 Position-10

White to move Final position (stalemate)

.(See the White King is in prison)
This is a draw, not considering of who is on move. A blockade is successful thanks
to Black’s access to the c7 and c8 squares.

For example: 1.Ka7 Kc7 2.a6

Kc8 3.Ka8 [3.Kb6 Kb8 4.a7+
Ka8 5.Ka6] 3...Kc7 4.a7 Kc8
 With Black on move: 1. ... Kc7
2. Ka7 (If 2. Kb5, 2. ... Kb7.) 2.
... Kc8 3. a6 Kc7 4. Ka8 Kc8 5.
a7 Kc7 also stalemate.

Black to move

The Rule of the square

If the king is too far away from his own pawn, promotion of the pawn is only
possible if the enemy king cannot enter the square. The square is an imaginary box
which is defined by a diagonal from the passed pawn to the back rank at the other
end of the board.

Black to play draws as

the black king reaches
the box in time and will
capture the pawn.
White to play wins as the
white pawn can advance one
square and the new box can
no longer be entered by the
black king.1.a4 Kf4 2.a5 Ke5
3.a6 Kd6 4.a7 Kc7 5.a8Q

Position After 1.a4.

Others:
*Chess Clock: In chess tournaments, chess clocks are used. The clock
indicates the thinking time of the players. Players have to complete their
moves within the prescribed time announced in the tournament rules. If a
player cannot complete his moves or the game within that time limit, as per
law of chess the game will be lost on time for the first player who has
exhausted all his thinking time.

Courtesy: FIDE & AICF