then over the King, and lands in the next square.
One, Two, Jump!
Figure 2-19: Start castling (One, Two...)
Figure 2-20: Finish! (Jump!)
As you can see, castling isn’t hard to learn. You can play a game without ever doing it, and many people don’t even know how to castle at all. But knowing this move puts you a step ahead of many casual players. That’s because castling is one of the key moves in winning chess. You’ll understand why later on.
Rules of the Road
Knowing how each of the chess pieces move is the foundation of chess. If you’ve gotten this far, you’re almost ready to play. But there are a few more rules to go over.
White Goes First – The player with the white chess pieces always makes the first move of the game. Then Black moves, then White and so on until the end. There is no official rule stating how to choose which person will play White and which will play Black. You and your opponent may decide however you want.
Touch Move, Touch Take – If a player touches any of his chess pieces on his turn, then he must move the piece or pawn that he touched. If he touches more than one chess piece, then he must move the piece that he touched first. This isn’t a good situation to be in! A beginner needs to learn patience and restraint. So don’t touch any of your chess pieces until you’re ready to move.
The Law is the Law – If you make an illegal move and the other player says so, you must retract the move and make a legal one with the same piece or pawn. If the illegal move was a capture, then the same capture must be made with another chess piece, if possible. Study and follow the rules of movement and this won’t be a problem for you. But be on the lookout for other players making illegal moves, especially beginners. You don’t want them to steal a move from you, whether or not they did it on purpose. If they steal one move, they may end up stealing the whole game!
No Sharing – No two chess pieces may be on the same square at the same time. If you move into a square that is occupied by an enemy piece or pawn, capture it and take its place. But you can’t move into a square that one of your own chess pieces is already standing in.
Traffic Jam – No chess piece except the Knight can jump over or go around any other chess piece. When a piece or pawn can’t move any further in a certain direction, it’s called a blockade. At the beginning of the game, all the pieces in the back row are blockaded by the pawns lined up in front of them – except for the Knight (remember, he can jump over anybody).
Time Limit – In most personal games, there’s no limit to the time a player can take to make his move, or how long a game can last. Some players are going to make you hate this rule! Certain opponents can stare at the board for 10 or 15 minutes before moving. On the other hand, having time to think can work in your favor.
This is not true of tournaments, however. In a tournament or public game, a chess clock is used. Each player gets a certain amount of time to make all of their moves, which differs depending on the game and the tournament. Some games give each player 40 moves over 2 hours. Other games, known as “blitz chess” give each player only 5 minutes! The clock starts running when each turn begins, and is paused when the player finishes his or her move. When the other player moves, the first player’s clock starts running again. If one player’s clock runs out, he or she is out of time and automatically loses the game.
Even though a time clock isn’t required, I recommend that you buy one and play your games with it. The clock puts pressure on you to move, so it forces you to learn to think faster. And that’s a skill everybody should develop.
How Does It All End?
A game of chess can end in one of many different ways. But the best way, and your goal, is to win with a checkmate. Let’s look at how this happens.
Check!
If a player’s King is in the path of one or more of the other player’s chess pieces and can be captured on the attacking player’s next move, then the King is in check. Usually the player announces this by saying “Check!” This is a warning. It means “I can capture your King, so get him out of danger right now.” If you are in check, don’t even think about anything but getting your King to safety! You’ve got three options:
1 Escape to a safe square;
2 Block the path of the attacking piece with another one of your pieces or pawns; or
3 Capture the piece that’s threatening the King.
Figure 2-21: It is White’s turn to move, and his King is in check. He is in the path of Black’s Queen. White can’t capture the Queen, but there are two things he can do to get out of check. Either:1. Move his King one square to the right (escape)2. Move his Queen two squares to the right, in front of Black’s Queen (block)
Checkmate!
A checkmate is a check that can’t be escaped with any one move. The piece or pieces attacking the King can’t be avoided, blocked or captured. The King is stuck.
When this happens, the player who trapped the King says “Checkmate!” and wins the game.
Figure 2-22: Checkmate! There is nothing White can do. He is in the path of Black’s Queen. He can’t capture the Queen, escape to a safe square, or be blocked by any piece or pawn.
There are two important rules about being in check:
Move It Or Lose It – If a player’s King is in check, that player must get out of check on his or her next move. If the player doesn’t, then he or she automatically forfeits the game and loses.
Jumping Into the Fire – No player can make a move that puts his or her own King into check or checkmate. This is an illegal move, and it counts as an automatic loss. Here’s an example.
Figure 2-23: White’s King wants to capture Black’s pawn, but he can’t. It would be illegal because he’d be stepping into check by Black’s Rook.
Other Endings
Chess games don’t always end with a checkmate. Here are the other ways in which a game can end:
Resignation – A player resigns when he or she has no hope of winning. The other player wins. If your position is bad, you’ve lost too many chess pieces or you see that there’s a checkmate coming that’s impossible to stop, you can end the game without fighting on to the end. A player resigns by tipping over his King and saying “I resign.” However, I’m only telling you this because it’s an official rule. For now, I don’t ever want you to resign, especially if you’re playing against someone new to chess! He or she might make enough mistakes so that you can still turn the game around and end up the winner.
Stalemate – A stalemate happens when the King is the only chess piece a player can move, and the only possible move will put the King into check. Remember, a King can’t move into check! So, since the player can’t make a legal move, the game ends here. Neither player wins or loses–the game just stops. Understanding stalemates, and avoiding them, is important. We’ll go over some examples of stalemates in Chapter 9.
Drawn Games – A