of the chess pieces has its own personal style. Some move forward, some move side-to-side, some move diagonally, and some can do combinations of moves.
Each player gets:
The Right Words
When talking about chess, it’s important to remember that there is a difference between “chess pieces” and “pieces.”
The word “pieces” is used only to describe Rooks, Knights, Bishops and the Queen.
It can include the King as well, but he’s usually just called “the King.”
What matters here is that pawns are not pieces.
When I use the word “pieces” in this book, I’m not talking about pawns.
When I want to discuss the entire set, I’ll use the words “chess pieces,” which includes all the pieces and pawns.
This rule of thumb is often true whenever chess play is discussed, though sometimes “chessmen” is used instead of “chess pieces.” I don’t like the term “chessmen” though, because they’re not all men!
You wouldn’t want to upset the Queen would you?
So keep the words straight:
Pawns – The pawns.
Pieces – Rooks, Knights, Bishops, the Queen and (sometimes) the King.
Chess pieces – Any or all of the pieces and pawns.
A piece is a piece
A pawn is a pawn
The King is the King
And that’s everything
One more note about naming: The Queen and Rooks are sometimes called the major pieces, while the Bishops and Knights are the minor pieces.
This is because, as you will see, the Queen and Rooks are more powerful than the Bishops and Knights.
Line Up!
The chess pieces are set up in two rows. The front row is made up of the eight pawns. To set up the back row:
1 Start by putting your two Rooks on the outside edges, one on the far left, one on the far right.
2 Next, moving from the outside in, fill in the six open squares between the Rooks. Put the two Knights beside the Rooks.
3 Put your Bishops beside the Knights.
4 Now only the two center squares are empty. This is where the King and Queen stand. But be careful, because their position changes depending on whether you’re playing White or Black.The key to remember is that the Queen is vain, and she likes her clothes to match her square.So put her on the light square if she’s the White Queen and on the dark square if she’s the Black Queen. The King goes next to her.
Set your chess pieces into position now and check to make sure that they match this picture:
Figure 2-3: The chessboard set up for play. Notice that the bottom right square is a white square.
When you look at the board, imagine a vertical line running up and down, right through the middle, which splits the board in half between the Queens and the Kings.
The half with the Kings on it is called the King’s Side, and the half with the Queens on it is called the Queen’s Side.
The pieces on the King’s half are named for him – the King’s Bishop, King’s Knight and King’s Rook.
The pieces on the Queen’s half are named for her – the Queen’s Bishop, Queen’s Knight and Queen’s Rook.
Now, imagine a horizontal line running sideways through the middle of the board.
This is the Frontier Line.
It divides the territory into halves, one for White and one for Black.
Each player’s half is four ranks–the two where the pieces and pawns stand at the beginning, and the two open ranks ahead of them.
Pass beyond the line and you’re in enemy territory!
Figure 2-4: King’s Side, Queen’s Side, and the Frontier Line.
The Power of Each Piece
Now that your armies are ready, the battle begins!
All of the chess pieces are after the same thing: to weaken the defenses of the other side in order to trap the enemy King.
The chess pieces do this in two ways: By controlling squares and by capturing the other side’s chess pieces.
Each chess piece captures another by moving into a square that an enemy chess piece occupies.
The captured piece or pawn is then taken off the board and removed from play.
Let’s get to know each of your chess pieces individually and learn how each of them move, capture and control.
The King
The King is your main man. In most chess sets, he’s the tall piece with the cross on his head.
The entire game is based around what happens to him.
With every move you make, you should be keeping two things in mind:
• Protect my King
• Go after my opponent’s King
But the King has a problem. He’s slow and he can’t move around much. In fact, he can only move one square per turn.
But he can move in any direction: up, down, left, right, or diagonally. Like this:
Figure 2-5: Movement of the King
The King can capture other pieces by moving into their square, but at the beginning of the game you shouldn’t use him that way. He’s not there to attack; leave that to his army.
Remember, half of the game is about defending your King.
So keep him safe and out of danger! He should be protected and hidden away, avoiding enemy chess pieces at all costs.
At the end of the game the King can
