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 come out to fight, but we’ll get to that later.
The Queen
The King is the most important piece in the game, but his wife, the Queen, is the strongest piece. She towers over everyone else in ability. She’s got the power, and she knows it!
The Queen can move up, down, left, right, diagonally–any direction she wants–along ranks, files and diagonals. She can also go as far as she wants in one move–one square, the entire length of the board and everything in between. She’s the one piece your opponent fears most. Use her correctly and she will go a long way in helping you win the game.
Figure 2-6: Movement of the Queen
The Rook
The two Rooks, sometimes called “castles” because they’re shaped like the towers of a castle, start out on the outer edge of the board. Rooks move in straight horizontal or vertical lines, either along ranks or along files, like this:
Figure 2-7: Movement of the Rook
Like the Queen, the Rook can move as many squares as he wants in one move. And while he can’t move in diagonals, he’s still the second most powerful piece in the game. He can dominate and control the entire rank or file he’s on, no matter how far away he is from an enemy. He’s powerful for both offense and defense, so use him wisely!
The Bishop
Bishops are the pieces shaped like a rounded pillar. They usually have a slit cut out of the top that looks like a frowning mouth (this is called a mitre). The Bishops are the “slanters” of the chess board because they only move in diagonals, never in straight lines along ranks or files. Like the Queen and Rook, they can move as far as they want in one move.
One of your Bishops starts on a light square, the other starts on a dark square, and neither one ever leave the color he starts on. This is important when you think about your Bishop and how to use him. Imagine one of them as the protector of the light squares, and the other as the protector of the dark squares.
Take a look and watch how he moves:
Figure 2-8: Movement of the Bishop
Because he can never leave his own color, he can’t touch half of the board. The Bishop has less power than the Queen or the Rook, but that’s not to say that he’s weak. He can do a lot for you as long as you get him to work together with your other pieces.
The Knight
Your Knights are the pieces shaped like a horse’s head. They’re oddballs in a couple of ways. First, they don’t move in straight lines or diagonals, but in an “L” shape. And, they always move exactly three squares: either two steps in one direction, then one step in another; or one step in one direction, then two steps in another.
Figure 2-9: Movement of the Knight
The Knight can move wherever he wants, as long as it’s in the shape of an “L.” To be sure you’re moving him correctly, remember this simple rule: If the Knight starts on a light square, he’ll stop on a dark square; and, if he starts on a dark square, he’ll stop on a light square. This is always true. If you’ve got your board in front of you, try it out. Move the Knight and say it out loud:
Figure 2-10
Figure 2-11
The second reason that the Knight is unusual is that he can jump over other pieces and pawns–your own and your opponent’s. No other piece can do this. The Knight can only capture a piece in the square that he lands on, but unlike all other chess pieces, he can’t get stuck. We’ll discuss this more when we get to the rules of play.
The Pawn
Last but not least are the little ones that make up half of your army: the pawns. A pawn can move forward either one or two squares on his first move. On all moves after that, he can only move forward one square. Once you move a pawn forward, he can never go back, and he can’t move sideways either. The only time a pawn moves in any way besides straight forward is when he’s capturing. For captures he moves diagonally, taking the piece or pawn in the square to his upper left or upper right. A pawn can’t capture or move around a chess piece that’s directly in front of him.