New Year, New Hobby: Chess

RISMEDIA, Jan. 8, 2007-When it comes to the New Year, most people make resolutions involving weight loss, time management, and personal goals. Some, however, resolve to learn new things in the New Year. To get you well on your way, here are the ins and outs of the infamous pastime, chess, which may very well be your newest evening or weekend hobby.

Chess is a two-player game that is played on an 8-by-8 chessboard, with thirty-two pieces (sixteen for each player) of six types; each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The goal of the game is to protect the most valuable piece, the king, and trap (checkmate) the opposing king.

Initial setup

Chess pieces, from left to right: king, rook, queen, pawn, knight, bishop.
Chess is played on a square board that is divided into sixty-four squares (8-by-8) of alternating color, which is very similar to that used in checkers. No matter what the true color of the board (which come in a wide variety of colors), the (thirty-two) lighter colored squares are called "white", and the (thirty-two) darker colored squares are called "black."

The board is placed so that a light-colored square is in the near-right corner; a dark one in the near-left. Each player controls sixteen pieces:

1 king
1 queen
2 rooks
2 bishops
2 knights
8 pawns

At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged as:

The second row from the player contains the 8 pawns
The row nearest the player contains the remaining pieces
Outside corners are the rooks
Inside of the rooks are the knights
Inside of the knights are the bishops
Queen on her own color: white queen on the white square and black queen on the black square
King takes the vacant spot next to the queen.

Gameplay

The player controlling the white pieces moves first. While this gives white an advantage, it is not known that white can force a win if black plays perfectly. After the initial move by white, players alternate moves. Play continues until a draw is called or a king is trapped by means of a checkmate.

Movement

Each piece moves in a different way. Generally, a piece cannot pass through squares occupied by other pieces, but it can move to a square occupied by an opposing piece, which is then "captured." Only one piece can occupy a given square.

The rook moves orthogonally to the players (forward, backward, left or right) any number of squares.

The bishop moves diagonally any number of squares and always stays on one of the two chequered colours.

The queen moves orthogonally or diagonally, any number of squares.

The king moves orthogonally or diagonally only one square at a time.

The knight moves in an "L"-shape (two spaces in one direction and one space orthogonally to it). It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.

The pawn moves one space straight forward (away from the player). On its first move it can optionally move two spaces forward. A pawn cannot capture or jump over a piece directly in front of it.

Besides these moves, the king and either rook can do a special combination move called castling: if the king and rook have not moved yet, and all spaces between them are empty, then the king can move two squares toward the rook, and in the same turn the rook can move to the space the king has just skipped over. It is not permitted to castle when the king is threatened or would have to move through a threatened square. In serious play, care must be taken to make clear that castling is intended, e.g. by verbal announcement or by moving the king first (since the king cannot move two squares except in castling).
A pawn reaching the final rank becomes a queen in a process known as "queening."

Unlike checkers, once a chess piece is captured it is never returned to the board during the game.

If a pawn moves two squares forward on its first move, it can be captured on the square it has skipped over, as if it had moved only one square, but only during the turn immediately after its two-square move and only by an opposing pawn on its fifth rank. This is called capturing en passant.

A player may not make any move which places or leaves his king in check.

In serious play, if a player having the move touches one of his pieces then he must move it if it can be legally moved. If a player touches a hostile piece then he must capture it if the piece can be captured. So long as the hand has not left the piece to be moved, the latter can be placed on any accessible square.

Check and checkmate

When a player makes a move that threatens the opposing king with capture, the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check then the player must make a move that eliminates the threat of capture, which does not necessarily mean the king must be moved. The possible moves to remove the threat of capture are:

Move the king to a square where it is not threatened.
Capture the threatening piece.
Place a piece between the king and the opponent's threatening piece.

Note that the king may be in check by two pieces ("double check"). In that case, only a king move will get out of check (which could be the capture of one of the attacking pieces.) A player may never leave his king in check at the end of his move.

In informal games, it is customary to announce check when making a move that puts the opponent's king in check.

If a player's king is placed in check and there is no legal move that player can make to escape check, then the king is said to be checkmated, the game ends, and that player loses.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_rules.

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