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First Edition, 2012 ISBN 978-81-323-4555-8 © All rights reserved. Published by: The English Press 4735/22 Prakashdeep Bldg, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, Delhi - 110002 Email: [email protected] 

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Chess Game

Chapter 2 - How to Play Chess

Chapter 3 - How to Calculate Chess Tactics

Chapter 4 - How to Play Siamese Chess

Chapter 5 - How to Read Algebraic Chess Notation

Chapter 6 - How to Castle in Chess

Chapter 7 - How to Play Advanced Chess

Chapter 8 - How to Set up a Chessboard

Chapter 9 - Chess Tactics

Chapter 10 - Chess Strategy

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Chapter- 1

Introduction to Chess Game

Chess

From left to right: a white king, a black rook, a black queen,

a white pawn, a black knight, and a white bishop

Players 2

Setup time About 1 minute

Playing

time

Casual games usually last 10 to 60 minutes;

tournament games last anywhere from about

ten minutes (blitz chess) to six hours or longer.

Random

chance None

Skills

required Tactics, strategy

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. Each player begins the game with sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The

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object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove or defend it from attack on the next move. The game's present form emerged in Europe during the second half of the 15th century, an evolution of an older Indian game, Shatranj. Theoreticians have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the game's inception. Computers have been used for many years to create chess-playing programs, and their abilities and insights have contributed significantly to modern chess theory. One, Deep Blue, was the first machine to beat a reigning World Chess Champion when it defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997.

Organized competitive chess began during the 16th century. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; the current World Champion is Viswanathan Anand from India. In addition to the World Championship, there is the Women's World Championship, the Junior World Championship, the World Senior Championship, the Correspondence Chess World Championship, the World Computer Chess Championship, and Blitz and Rapid World Championships. The Chess Olympiad is a popular competition among teams from different nations. Online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players. Chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee, and international chess competition is sanctioned by the FIDE. Chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments. Some other popular forms of chess are fast chess and computer chess. There are many chess variants that have different rules, different pieces, and different boards. These variants include blindfold chess and Fischer Random Chess/Chess960.

Rules

The official rules of chess are maintained by the World Chess Federation. Along with information on official chess tournaments, the rules are described in the FIDE Handbook, Laws of Chess section.

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nearest to each player, and the pieces are set out as shown in the diagram, with each queen on its own color.

The pieces are divided, by convention, into white and black sets. The players are referred to as "White" and "Black," and each begins the game with sixteen pieces of the specified color. These consist of one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns.

Movement

White always moves first. After the initial move, the players alternately move one piece at a time (with the exception of castling, when two pieces are moved). Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square or one occupied by an opponent's piece, which is captured and removed from play. With the sole exception of en passant, all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies. A player may not make any move that would put or leave his king under attack. If the player to move has no legal moves, the game is over; it is either a checkmate—if the king is under attack—or a stalemate—if the king is not.

Each chess piece has its own style of moving. In the diagrams, the dots mark the squares where the piece can move if no other pieces (including one's own piece) are on the squares between the piece's initial position and its destination.

• The king moves one square in any direction. The king has also a special move which is called castling and involves also moving a rook.

• The rook can move any number of squares along any rank or file, but may not leap over other pieces. Along with the king, the rook is involved during the king's castling move.

• The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but may not leap over other pieces.

• The queen combines the power of the rook and bishop and can move any number of squares along rank, file, or diagonal, but it may not leap over other pieces.

• The knight moves to any of the closest squares that are not on the same rank, file, or diagonal, thus the move forms an "L"-shape two squares long and one square wide. The knight is the only piece that can leap over other pieces.

• The pawn may move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file; or on its first move it may advance two squares along the same file provided both squares are unoccupied; or it may move to a square occupied by an opponent's piece which is diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file, capturing that piece. The pawn has two special moves: the en passant capture and pawn promotion.

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Castling

Examples of castling

Once in every game, each king is allowed to make a special move, known as castling. Castling consists of moving the king two squares along the first rank toward a rook (which is on the player's first rank) and then placing the rook on the last square the king has just crossed. Castling is permissible only if all of the following conditions hold:

• Neither of the pieces involved in castling may have been previously moved during the game.

• There must be no pieces between the king and the rook. • The king may not currently be in check, nor may the king pass through squares

that are under attack by enemy pieces, nor move to a square where it is in check.

En passant

Examples of pawn moves: promotion (left) and en passant (right)

When a pawn advances two squares and there is an opponent's pawn on an adjacent file next to its destination square, then the opponent's pawn can capture it en passant (in

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passing), and move to the square the pawn passed over. However, this can only be done on the very next move, or the right to do so is lost. For example, if the black pawn has just advanced two squares from g7 to g5, then the white pawn on f5 can take it via en passant on g6 (but only on white's next move).

Promotion

When a pawn advances to the eighth rank, as a part of the move it is promoted and must be exchanged for the player's choice of queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. Usually, the pawn is chosen to be promoted to a queen, but in some cases another piece is chosen; this is called underpromotion. In the diagram on the right, the pawn on c7 can be advanced to the eighth rank and be promoted to an allowed piece. There is no restriction placed on the piece that is chosen on promotion, so it is possible to have more pieces of the same type than at the start of the game (for example, two queens).

Check

When a king is under immediate attack by one or two of the opponent's pieces, it is said to be in check. A response to a check is a legal move if it results in a position where the king is no longer under direct attack (that is, not in check). This can involve capturing the checking piece; interposing a piece between the checking piece and the king (which is possible only if the attacking piece is a queen, rook, or bishop and there is a square between it and the king); or moving the king to a square where it is not under attack. Castling is not a permissible response to a check. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and there is no legal way to remove it from attack. It is illegal for a player to make a move that would put or leave his own king in check.

End of the game

Although the objective of the game is to checkmate the opponent, chess games do not have to end in checkmate—either player may resign if the situation looks hopeless. It is considered bad etiquette to continue playing when in a truly hopeless position. If it is a timed game, a player may run out of time and lose, even with a much superior position. Games also may end in a draw (tie). A draw can occur in several situations, including draw by agreement, stalemate, threefold repetition of a position, the fifty-move rule, or a draw by impossibility of checkmate (usually because of insufficient material to checkmate). As checkmate from some positions cannot be forced in fewer than 50 moves (such as in the pawnless chess endgame and two knights endgame), the fifty-move rule is not applied everywhere, particularly in correspondence chess.

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Time control

A modern digital chess clock

Besides casual games without any time restriction, chess is also played with a time control, mostly by club and professional players. If a player's time runs out before the game is completed, the game is automatically lost (provided his opponent has enough pieces left to deliver checkmate). The duration of a game ranges from long games played up to seven hours to shorter rapid chess games, usually lasting 30 minutes or one hour per game. Even shorter is blitz chess, with a time control of three to fifteen minutes for each player, and bullet chess (under three minutes). In tournament play, time is controlled using a game clock that has two displays, one for each player's remaining time.

Notation for recording moves

Naming the squares in algebraic chess notation

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Chess games and positions are recorded using a special notation, most often algebraic chess notation. Abbreviated (or short) algebraic notation generally records moves in the format "abbreviation of the piece moved – file where it moved – rank where it moved." For example, Qg5 means "queen moves to the g-file and 5th rank (that is, to the square g5). If there are two pieces of the same type that can move to the same square, one more letter or number is added to indicate the file or rank from which the piece moved, e.g. Ngf3 means "knight from the g-file moves to the square f3". The letter P indicating a pawn is not used, so that e4 means "pawn moves to the square e4".

If the piece makes a capture, "x" is inserted before the destination square. Thus Bxf3 means "bishop captures on f3". When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn departed is used in place of a piece initial, and ranks may be omitted if unambiguous. For example, exd5 (pawn on the e-file captures the piece on d5) or exd (pawn on e-file captures something on the d-file).

"Scholar's mate"

If a pawn moves to its last rank, achieving promotion, the piece chosen is indicated after the move, for example e1Q or e1=Q. Castling is indicated by the special notations 0–0 for kingside castling and 0–0–0 for queenside castling. A move that places the opponent's king in check usually has the notation "+" added. Checkmate can be indicated by "#" (occasionally "++", although this is sometimes used for a double check instead). At the end of the game, "1–0" means "White won," "0–1" means "Black won," and "½–½" indicates a draw.

Chess moves can be annotated with punctuation marks and other symbols. For example "!" indicates a good move, "!!" an excellent move, "?" a mistake, "??" a blunder, "!?" an interesting move that may not be best, or "?!" a dubious move, but not easily refuted.

For example, one variant of a simple trap known as the Scholar's mate, animated in the picture to the right, can be recorded:

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exchange), and queens about nine points. The king is more valuable than all of the other pieces combined, since its checkmate loses the game. But in practical terms, in the endgame the king as a fighting piece is generally more powerful than a bishop or knight but less powerful than a rook. These basic values are then modified by other factors like position of the piece (for example, advanced pawns are usually more valuable than those on their initial squares), coordination between pieces (for example, a pair of bishops usually coordinate better than a bishop and a knight), or the type of position (knights are generally better in closed positions with many pawns while bishops are more powerful in open positions).

Another important factor in the evaluation of chess positions is the pawn structure (sometimes known as the pawn skeleton), or the configuration of pawns on the chessboard. Since pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and largely determines the strategic nature of the position. Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such as isolated, doubled, or backward pawns and holes, once created, are often permanent. Care must therefore be taken to avoid these weaknesses unless they are compensated by another valuable asset (for example, by the possibility of developing an attack).

Opening

A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a game (the "opening moves"). Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defence. They are catalogued in reference works such as the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings. There are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet positional play (for example, the Réti Opening) to very aggressive (the Latvian Gambit). In some opening lines, the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to more than 30 moves. Professional players spend years studying openings and continue doing so throughout their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve.

The fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar:

• Development: This is the technique of placing the pieces (particularly bishops and knights) on useful squares where they will have an optimal impact on the game.

• Control of the center: Control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily, and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent.

• King safety: It is critical to keep the king safe from dangerous possibilities. A correctly timed castling can often enhance this.

• Pawn structure: Players strive to avoid the creation of pawn weaknesses such as isolated, doubled, or backward pawns, and pawn islands – and to force such weaknesses in the opponent's position.

Most players and theoreticians consider that White, by virtue of the first move, begins the game with a small advantage. This initially gives White the initiative. Black usually

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The endgame (or end game or ending) is the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board. There are three main strategic differences between earlier stages of the game and endgame:

• During the endgame, pawns become more important; endgames often revolve around attempting to promote a pawn by advancing it to the eighth rank.

• The king, which has to be protected in the middlegame owing to the threat of checkmate, becomes a strong piece in the endgame. It is often brought to the center of the board where it can protect its own pawns, attack the pawns of opposite color, and hinder movement of the opponent's king.

• Zugzwang, a disadvantage because the player has to make a move, is often a factor in endgames but rarely in other stages of the game. For example, the diagram on the right is zugzwang for both sides, as with Black to move he must play 1...Kb7 and let White promote a pawn after 2.Kd7; and with White to move he must allow a draw by 1.Kc6 stalemate or lose his last pawn by any other legal move.

Endgames can be classified according to the type of pieces that remain on board. Basic checkmates are positions in which one side has only a king and the other side has one or two pieces and can checkmate the opposing king, with the pieces working together with their king. For example, king and pawn endgames involve only kings and pawns on one or both sides and the task of the stronger side is to promote one of the pawns. Other more complicated endings are classified according to the pieces on board other than kings, such as the "rook and pawn versus rook endgame".

History

Predecessors

Knights Templar playing chess, Libro de los juegos, 1283

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Iranian chess set, glazed fritware, 12th century, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chess is commonly believed to have originated in northwest India during the Gupta empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as caturaṅga (Sanskrit:

). The earliest evidence of chess is found in the neighboring Sassanid Persia around 600, where the game came to be known under the name chatrang. Chatrang is evoked inside three epic romances written in Pahlavi (Middle Persian). Chatrang was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia (633–644), where it was then named shatranj, with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names. In Spanish "shatranj" was rendered as ajedrez ("al-shatranj"), in Portuguese as xadrez, and in Greek as zatrikion (which comes directly from the Persian chatrang), but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian shāh ("king"), which was familiar as an exclamation and became the English words "check" and "chess". Murray theorized that Muslim traders came to European seaports with ornamental chess kings as curios before they brought the game of chess.

The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe. Introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th-century manuscript covering shatranj, backgammon, and dice named the Libro de los juegos. Another theory contends that chess arose from the game xiangqi (Chinese Chess) or one of its predecessors, although this has been contested.

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Origins of the modern game (1000–1850)

A tactical puzzle from Lucena's 1497 book

Around 1200, the rules of shatranj started to be modified in southern Europe, and around 1475, several major changes made the game essentially as it is known today. These modern rules for the basic moves had been adopted in Italy and Spain. Pawns gained the option of advancing two squares on their first move, while bishops and queens acquired their modern abilities. The queen replaced the earlier vizier chess piece towards the end of the 10th century and by the 15th century had become the most powerful piece; consequently modern chess was referred to as "Queen's Chess" or "Mad Queen Chess". These new rules quickly spread throughout western Europe. The rules about stalemate were finalized in the early 19th century. To distinguish it from its predecessors, this version of the rules is sometimes referred to as western chess or international chess.

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Writings about the theory of how to play chess began to appear in the 15th century. The Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess) by Spanish churchman Luis Ramirez de Lucena was published in Salamanca in 1497. Lucena and later masters like Portuguese Pedro Damiano, Italians Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona, Giulio Cesare Polerio and Gioachino Greco, and Spanish bishop Ruy López de Segura developed elements of openings and started to analyze simple endgames.

François-André Danican Philidor, 18th-century French chess master

In the 18th century, the center of European chess life moved from the Southern European countries to France. The two most important French masters were François-André Danican Philidor, a musician by profession, who discovered the importance of pawns for chess strategy, and later Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, who won a famous series of matches with the Irish master Alexander McDonnell in 1834. Centers of chess activity in this period were coffee houses in big European cities like Café de la Régence in Paris and Simpson's Divan in London.

As the 19th century progressed, chess organization developed quickly. Many chess clubs, chess books, and chess journals appeared. There were correspondence matches between cities; for example, the London Chess Club played against the Edinburgh Chess Club in 1824. Chess problems became a regular part of 19th-century newspapers; Bernhard Horwitz, Josef Kling, and Samuel Loyd composed some of the most influential problems. In 1843, von der Lasa published his and Bilguer's Handbuch des Schachspiels (Handbook of Chess), the first comprehensive manual of chess theory.

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Birth of a sport (1850–1945)

The "Immortal Game", Anderssen-Kieseritzky, 1851

The first modern chess tournament was held in London in 1851 and was won by German Adolf Anderssen, relatively unknown at the time. Anderssen was hailed as the leading chess master and his brilliant, energetic attacking style became typical for the time, although it was later regarded as strategically shallow. Sparkling games like Anderssen's Immortal game and Evergreen game or Morphy's Opera game were regarded as the highest possible summit of the chess art.

Deeper insight into the nature of chess came with two younger players. American Paul Morphy, an extraordinary chess prodigy, won against all important competitors (except Howard Staunton, who refused to play), including Anderssen, during his short chess career between 1857 and 1863. Morphy's success stemmed from a combination of brilliant attacks and sound strategy; he intuitively knew how to prepare attacks. Prague-born Wilhelm Steinitz later described how to avoid weaknesses in one's own position and how to create and exploit such weaknesses in the opponent's position. The scientific approach and positional understanding of Steinitz revolutionized the game. Steinitz was the first to break a position down into its components. Before Steinitz, players brought their queen out early, did not completely develop their other pieces, and mounted a quick attack on the opposing king, which either succeeded or failed. The level of defense was poor and players did not form any deep plan. In addition to his theoretical achievements, Steinitz founded an important tradition: his triumph over the leading German master Johannes Zukertort in 1886 is regarded as the first official World Chess Championship. Steinitz lost his crown in 1894 to a much younger player, the German mathematician Emanuel Lasker, who maintained this title for 27 years, the longest tenure of all World Champions.

It took a prodigy from Cuba, José Raúl Capablanca (World Champion 1921–27), who loved simple positions and endgames, to end the German-speaking dominance in chess; he was undefeated in tournament play for eight years, until 1924. His successor was Russian-French Alexander Alekhine, a strong attacking player who died as the World

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champion in 1946. He briefly lost the title to Dutch player Max Euwe in 1935 and regained it two years later.

Between the world wars, chess was revolutionized by the new theoretical school of so-called hypermodernists like Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti. They advocated controlling the center of the board with distant pieces rather than with pawns, which invited opponents to occupy the center with pawns, which become objects of attack.

After the end of the 19th century, the number of master tournaments and matches held annually quickly grew. Some sources state that in 1914 the title of chess grandmaster was first formally conferred by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, and Marshall, but this is a disputed claim. The tradition of awarding such titles was continued by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), founded in 1924 in Paris. In 1927, the Women's World Chess Championship was established; the first to hold the title was Czech-English master Vera Menchik.

Post-war era (1945 and later)

After the death of Alekhine, a new World Champion was sought. FIDE, who have controlled the title since then (except for one interruption), ran a tournament of elite players. The winner of the 1948 tournament, Russian Mikhail Botvinnik, started an era of Soviet dominance in the chess world. Until the end of the Soviet Union, there was only one non-Soviet champion, American Bobby Fischer (champion 1972–1975). Botvinnik revolutionized opening theory. Previously Black strove for equality, to neutralize White's first-move advantage. As Black, Botvinnik strove for the initiative from the beginning. In the previous informal system of World Championships, the current champion decided which challenger he would play for the title and the challenger was forced to seek sponsors for the match. FIDE set up a new system of qualifying tournaments and matches. The world's strongest players were seeded into Interzonal tournaments, where they were joined by players who had qualified from Zonal tournaments. The leading finishers in these Interzonals would go on the "Candidates" stage, which was initially a tournament, and later a series of knock-out matches. The winner of the Candidates would then play the reigning champion for the title. A champion defeated in a match had a right to play a rematch a year later. This system operated on a three-year cycle. Botvinnik participated in championship matches over a period of fifteen years. He won the world championship tournament in 1948 and retained the title in tied matches in 1951 and 1954. In 1957, he lost to Vasily Smyslov, but regained the title in a rematch in 1958. In 1960, he lost the title to the 23-year-old Latvian prodigy Mikhail Tal, an accomplished tactician and attacking player. Botvinnik again regained the title in a rematch in 1961.

Following the 1961 event, FIDE abolished the automatic right of a deposed champion to a rematch, and the next champion, Armenian Tigran Petrosian, a genius of defense and a strong positional player, held the title for two cycles, 1963–1969. His successor, Boris Spassky from Russia (champion 1969–1972), was able to win in both positional and sharp tactical style. The next championship, the so-called Match of the Century, saw the first non-Soviet challenger since World War II, American Bobby Fischer, who defeated

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his Candidates opponents by unheard-of margins and clearly won the world championship match. In 1975, however, Fischer refused to defend his title against Soviet Anatoly Karpov when FIDE refused to meet his demands, and Karpov obtained the title by default. Fischer modernized many aspects of chess, especially by extensively preparing openings.

Karpov defended his title twice against Viktor Korchnoi and dominated the 1970s and early 1980s with a string of tournament successes. Karpov's reign finally ended in 1985 at the hands of another Soviet player from Baku, Azerbaijan, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov and Karpov contested five world title matches between 1984 and 1990; Karpov never won his title back. In 1993, Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short broke with FIDE to organize their own match for the title and formed a competing Professional Chess Association (PCA). From then until 2006, there were two simultaneous World Champions and World Championships: the PCA or Classical champion extending the Steinitzian tradition in which the current champion plays a challenger in a series of many games, and the other following FIDE's new format of many players competing in a tournament to determine the champion. Kasparov lost his Classical title in 2000 to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. The World Chess Championship 2006 reunified the titles. Kramnik beat the FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov and became the undisputed World Chess Champion. In September 2007, he lost the title to Viswanathan Anand of India, who won the championship tournament in Mexico City. Anand defended his title in the revenge match of 2008.

Place in culture

Noble chess players, Germany, c. 1320

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Pre-modern

In the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, chess was a part of noble culture; it was used to teach war strategy and was dubbed the "King's Game". Gentlemen are "to be meanly seene in the play at Chestes", says the overview at the beginning of Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier (1528, English 1561 by Sir Thomas Hoby), but chess should not be a gentleman's main passion. Castiglione explains it further:

And what say you to the game at chestes? It is truely an honest kynde of enterteynmente and wittie, quoth Syr Friderick. But me think it hath a fault, whiche is, that a man may be to couning at it, for who ever will be excellent in the playe of chestes, I beleave he must beestowe much tyme about it, and applie it with so much study, that a man may assoone learne some noble scyence, or compase any other matter of importaunce, and yet in the ende in beestowing all that laboure, he knoweth no more but a game. Therfore in this I beleave there happeneth a very rare thing, namely, that the meane is more commendable, then the excellency.

Two kings and two queens from the Lewis chessmen at the British Museum

Many of the elaborate chess sets used by the aristocracy have been lost, but others partially survive, such as the Lewis chessmen.

Chess was often used as a basis of sermons on morality. An example is Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum ('Book of the customs of men

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and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess'), written by an Italian Dominican monk Jacobus de Cessolis circa 1300. This book was one of the most popular of the Middle Ages. The work was translated into many other languages (the first printed edition was published at Utrecht in 1473) and was the basis for William Caxton's The Game and Playe of the Chesse (1474), one of the first books printed in English. Different chess pieces were used as metaphors for different classes of people, and human duties were derived from the rules of the game or from visual properties of the chess pieces:

The knyght ought to be made alle armed upon an hors in suche wyse that he haue an helme on his heed and a spere in his ryght hande/ and coueryd wyth his sheld/ a swerde and a mace on his lyft syde/ Cladd wyth an hawberk and plates to fore his breste/ legge harnoys on his legges/ Spores on his heelis on his handes his gauntelettes/ his hors well broken and taught and apte to bataylle and couerid with his armes/ whan the knyghtes ben maad they ben bayned or bathed/ that is the signe that they shold lede a newe lyf and newe maners/ also they wake alle the nyght in prayers and orysons vnto god that he wylle gyue hem grace that they may gete that thynge that they may not gete by nature/ The kynge or prynce gyrdeth a boute them a swerde in signe/ that they shold abyde and kepe hym of whom they take theyr dispenses and dignyte.

Known in the circles of clerics, students, and merchants, chess entered into the popular culture of Middle Ages. An example is the 209th song of Carmina Burana from the 13th century, which starts with the names of chess pieces, Roch, pedites, regina...

Modern

During the Age of Enlightenment, chess was viewed as a means of self-improvement. Benjamin Franklin, in his article "The Morals of Chess" (1750), wrote:

"The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn: I. Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action [...] II. Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: – the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations [...] III. Caution, not to make our moves too hastily [...]"

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Through the Looking-Glass: the Red King is snoring. Illustration by John Tenniel

With these or similar hopes, chess is taught to children in schools around the world today. Many schools host chess clubs, and there are many scholastic tournaments specifically for children. Tournaments are held regularly in many countries, hosted by organizations such as the United States Chess Federation and the National Scholastic Chess Foundation.

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A Large sized Chess game is made available on a seasonal basis inside the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland

Chess is often depicted in the arts; significant works where chess plays a key role range from Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess to Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll to The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig and Vladimir Nabokov's The Defense. The thriller film Knight Moves is about a chess grandmaster who is accused of being a serial killer. Chess is featured in films like Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and Satyajit Ray's The Chess Players.

Chess is also present in the contemporary popular culture. For example, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter plays "Wizard's Chess", while the characters of Star Trek prefer "Tri-Dimensional Chess". The hero of Searching for Bobby Fischer struggles against adopting the aggressive and misanthropic views of a real chess grandmaster. Chess has been used as the core theme of a musical, Chess, by Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson.

Approximately 600 million people worldwide know how to play chess.

Chess composition

Chess composition is the art of creating chess problems (the problems themselves are sometimes also called chess compositions). A person who creates such problems is

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a member of FIDE. FIDE is a member of the International Olympic Committee, but the game of chess has never been part of the Olympic Games; chess does have its own Olympiad, held every two years as a team event.

The current World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand (left) playing chess against his predecessor Vladimir Kramnik

The current World Chess Champion is Viswanathan Anand of India. The reigning Women's World Champion is Hou Yifan from China. The world's highest rated female player, Judit Polgár, has never participated in the Women's World Chess Championship, instead preferring to compete with the leading men and maintaining a ranking among the top male players.

Other competitions for individuals include the World Junior Chess Championship, the European Individual Chess Championship, and the National Chess Championships. Invitation-only tournaments regularly attract the world's strongest players. Examples include Spain's Linares event, Monte Carlo's Melody Amber tournament, the Dortmund Sparkassen meeting, Sofia's M-tel Masters, and Wijk aan Zee's Corus tournament.

Regular team chess events include the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Championship. The 38th Chess Olympiad was held 2008 in Dresden, Germany; Armenia won the gold in the unrestricted event for the second time in a row after Turin 2006, and Georgia took the top medal for the women. The World Chess Solving Championship and World Correspondence Chess Championships include both team and individual events.

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Besides these prestigious competitions, there are thousands of other chess tournaments, matches, and festivals held around the world every year catering to players of all levels. Chess is promoted as a "mind sport" by the Mind Sports Organisation, alongside other mental-skill games such as Contract Bridge, Go, and Scrabble.

Titles and rankings

Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, former World Chess Champion

The best players can be awarded specific lifetime titles by the world chess organization FIDE:

• Grandmaster (shortened as GM; sometimes International Grandmaster or IGM is used) is awarded to world-class chess masters. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Before FIDE will confer the title on a player, the player must have an Elo chess rating (see below) of at least 2500 at one time and three favorable results (called norms) in tournaments involving other Grandmasters, including some from countries other than the

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applicant's. There are other milestones a player can achieve to attain the title, such as winning the World Junior Championship.

• International Master (shortened as IM). The conditions are similar to GM, but less demanding. The minimum rating for the IM title is 2400.

• FIDE Master (shortened as FM). The usual way for a player to qualify for the FIDE Master title is by achieving a FIDE rating of 2300 or more.

• Candidate Master (shortened as CM). Similar to FM, but with a FIDE rating of at least 2200.

All the titles are open to men and women. Separate women-only titles, such as Woman Grandmaster (WGM), are available. Beginning with Nona Gaprindashvili in 1978, a number of women have earned the GM title, and most of the top ten women in 2006 hold the unrestricted GM title.

International titles are awarded to composers and solvers of chess problems and to correspondence chess players (by the International Correspondence Chess Federation). National chess organizations may also award titles, usually to the advanced players still under the level needed for international titles; an example is the Chess expert title used in the United States.

In order to rank players, FIDE, ICCF, and national chess organizations use the Elo rating system developed by Arpad Elo. Elo is a statistical system based on the assumption that the chess performance of each player in their games is a random variable. Arpad Elo thought of a player's true skill as the average of that player's performance random variable, and showed how to estimate the average from results of player's games. The US Chess Federation implemented Elo's suggestions in 1960, and the system quickly gained recognition as being both fairer and more accurate than older systems; it was adopted by FIDE in 1970. The highest ever FIDE rating was 2851, which Garry Kasparov had on the July 1999 and January 2000 lists. In the most recent list (July 2010), the highest rated player is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, with a rating of 2826.

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Chapter- 2

How to Play Chess

Playing chess

Chess is a very popular game and is widely accepted as one of the oldest games still played. Although it has a set of easily comprehensible rules, it requires a lot of practice to win against skilled opponents. This is because chess is a strongly strategy and tactically oriented game, without the amount of luck found in card or dice games. However, given that chess is still a game involving at least one human, blunders (mistakes in thinking/planning) do occur. Even so, chess is still a very fun game to play.

Each player has control of one of two sets of colored pieces, referred to by the nominal color of their respective pieces, i.e., White or Black. White moves first and the players

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alternate turns, moving one piece per turn. To win, a player must use his pieces to create a situation where the opponent's King is unable to avoid capture (a condition known as checkmate). Making a move is compulsory; it is not legal to "pass", even when having to move is detrimental. Play continues until a King is checkmated or a stalemate occurs.

Steps

Pieces and Moves

Each piece has a specific name, abbreviation in chess notation, and move set.

1. Rook (castle) - R - starts on a1, h1, a8, h8 o Rooks may move any number of vacant squares vertically or horizontally.

If an opponents piece blocks the path, that piece may be captured by moving the rook into the occupied square.

Rook's Possible Moves

2. Bishop - B - starts on c1, f1, c8, f8 o Bishops may move any number of vacant squares in any diagonal

direction. Like rooks, they may capture an opponents piece within its path.

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Bishop's Possible Moves

3. Queen - Q - starts on d1, d8 o Queens can be thought of as the rook and bishop combined. Queens can

move any number of vacant squares diagonally, horizontally, or vertically. Attacking with a queen is the same as with rooks and bishops, taking an opponents piece that lies within its path.

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Queen's Possible Moves

4. King - K - starts on e1, e8 o Kings can move exactly one space in any direction and can attack any

piece except the opponent's king and queen (it cannot go near it or else it would result in check).

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King's Possible Moves

o Castling is used to get your king out of the center early in the game, where it is most vulnerable. To castle, you move your king 2 squares to the left or right, and your rook at the corner square jumps over the king. You cannot castle if:

There are pieces between the king and rook. The king is in check, or it will have to go through check or into

check to castle. The king or rook has already moved in the game. The rook is not on the same rank as the king (prevents castling

with a promoted pawn). 5. Knight (horse) - N (Kt for older texts) - starts on b1, g1, b8, g8

o Knights are the only pieces that can jump over other pieces. They move to the nearest square not on the same rank, file, or diagonal, i.e. two squares horizontally or vertically and then one square perpendicular to that in an "L" shaped pattern. For example, a knight may move two spaces horizontally and one space vertically, and vice versa. The knight cannot be blocked, and only captures pieces that it lands on. In other words, you can

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"jump" over all the pieces blocking the knight, and capture a piece as you land.

Knight's Possible Moves

6. Pawn - P o The Pawn is the most complex of all the pieces. They normally only move

forward one space with the exception of the first time it is moved, when it may move forward one or two spaces. If another piece is in front of the it, the pawn may not move or capture that piece. Pawns may only attack a target if the target is one space diagonally forward from the pawn. i.e. Up one square and one square to the right or left.

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The white pawns can move to the squares marked with "X" in front of them. The pawn on the c6 square can also capture either black rook.

o En passant (from French: "in [the pawn's] passing" is a special capture made immediately after a player moves a pawn two squares forward from its starting position, and an opposing pawn could have captured it if it had only moved one square forward. In this situation, the opposing pawn may, on the immediately subsequent move, capture the pawn as if taking it "as it passes" through the first square; the resulting position would then be the same as if the pawn had only moved one square forward and the opposing pawn had captured normally. En passant must be done on the very next turn, or the right to do so is lost.

o Promotion. If a pawn reaches the 8th rank (or 1st rank if you are black), it can be promoted to a Knight, Bishop, Rook, or Queen. It cannot stay as a pawn or be promoted to another king. To indicate pawn promotion in chess notation, write the square that it moves to (i.e. C8). Then you put an equals sign (i.e. C8=). Then put the abbreviation for the piece that you want it to promote it to (i.e. C8=R)

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Play

1. Set up the chess board. 2. Start the Game. The player with white pieces begins the game by moving one

piece as described above. Turn then passes to black. 3. Continue play with each player moving one piece per turn until the game

ends. Making a move is compulsory; it is not legal to "pass", even when having to move is detrimental. Play continues until a King is checkmated or a stalemate occurs.

4. Capture an opponent's piece by moving a piece into an occupied square. The captured piece is then removed from the board and does not return for the remainder of the game.

5. End the game. 1. Check and checkmate:

A player is in check when their king at risk of being captured the next turn. The player in check must get his king out of check on their next turn as a first priority. Do one of the following to get out of check:

Take the piece threatening your king. You can do this with another piece or take it with your king directly (if the piece is not protected).

Move your king out of the range of the attacking piece. Block the piece threatening your king with another piece

(this does not apply for enemy knights for they cannot be blocked).

If you cannot get your king out of check, this is a checkmate and the game ends with your opponent winning.

You can not put yourself into check. In other words, you cannot make a move that exposes your king to capture on the next turn. This means you cannot move your king into an area an opponent's piece can move to in 1 turn (except pawns which do not capture through regular movement), and you cannot move a piece blocking the king from an opponent's piece that could capture the king the next turn.

2. Stalemate. A stalemate is a special case where a player does not have any legal moves, but is not in check. A stalemate is a draw.

The Fifty-Move rule is a special case where each player has made fifty moves without a pawn move or capture. This is a draw.

Three times repetition of position is a special case where a certain position has been achieved three times. This is a draw.

3. Resign. Either player can resign at any time and accept a loss.

Tips

• The best, and really only, way to learn and improve your game is to play. Against others, or even against yourself.

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• Practice everyday so that you can get better and remember all of the stuff.

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Chapter- 3

How to Calculate Chess Tactics

Chess demands concentration

Are you able to think three moves ahead in chess? It's harder than it sounds, but you can learn to do it. Once you learn this visualization exercise, you will realize you can calculate much further than you ever thought you could, and you won't settle for less the next time you play chess!

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Steps

1.

Here both the white pawns have moved to the fourth rank. This could be a real position if the knight moved out and then moved back.

Set out a chessboard. Be sure to use a set that has algebraic notation on it: Algebraic notation is a way for you to read the moves and then play them on the board for each side so you can follow a game and study what each side has played, and analyze the moves.

o Across the bottom will be the letters from "a" to "h." the letters will not be capitalized. There will be numbers going up the sides from "1" to "8."

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o Each square has an address. The first square on the board is "a1." o To represent a move, start with the first letter of the piece, capitalized,

then write the square you moved it to. If two different pieces that start with the same letter can move to the same square, then include the square the piece originated from.

o Each piece starts with the first letter of its name, except for the knight, which starts with a capital "N." If it is a pawn, then just write the name of the square it moves to with no capital letter. Castling is written 0-0 for kingside castling and 0-0-0 for queenside.

o There is more to explain about how to read a chess game, but for now, just follow the directions to get to a certain position where the visual exercise will begin.

2. Play the following moves, moving for each side. 1.e4 is a white move. 1.e5 is a black move. In a scoresheet it looks like this: 1. e4 e5.

o Next play 2.Bc4 Qf6. o Next 3.Nf3 Qg6. 4. Nc3 Qxg2. When there is a small letter x, it means

capture. So the Queen has captured the pawn on g2. 3. Begin the exercise. Though you will be calculating white's move, you will be

visualizing for both sides. 4. Analyze what has happened first. The queen has taken a pawn. It's not good to

lose pieces or pawns willy-nilly, but it's also not generally a good idea to move the same piece twice in the opening, nor to move the queen out first, as she is such a powerful piece that she becomes a target and can get trapped. Greed can also get you into trouble, especially if you go attacking before your pieces are developed. Also there is a saying, "Loose pieces fall off, meaning that pieces that are not protected can become targets of fancy tactics. So knowing these things, let's see if you can find a way to punish black.

5. Calculate. Find five candidate moves. Go down the branch of just one of them. This is what it means to calculate three moves ahead. You don't just pick one move and follow it. You pick as many as you can, and then analyze each one, finding the best possible moves for your opponent as you can, and seeing if you have a good response to it. There is a rule among strong chess players that says "Look at all checks and captures." There is a move here that satisfies both. Look for a moment at the board and see if you can figure out what it is, and then go on to the next step. But first look for it.

6. Start to visualize. Did you you find Bxf7? That's the one. So now comes the visualization part. Don't touch the pieces - do this in your mind.

o Visualize what the board is going to look like after you play Bxf7. o While visualizing the piece there, ask "what are all of black's options for

getting out of check?". How many are there? That's right, there are three: The king can capture the bishop on f7, or he can move to where the queen used to be, on d8, or he can move forward one square to e7.

o Visualize the king capturing the piece on f7. See in your mind the new position after these two moves have been made. Hold the image in your mind as clearly as you can.

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o Next ask what white can do from here. What moves can white make in this new position where black's king is on the f7 square? Name several possible moves, and look for one that checks because you always want to look at all checks and captures first. See anything good? You could check by Ng5 but there is a problem with that. The queen is guarding that square and will capture. So how can you move the queen away. How about put the rook on the g-file? Visualize the Rook moving to g1. Now where can the queen go? Only one square. Visualize the queen moving to h3. Now you can check with the knight. Notice anything else about Ng5? That's right, it's a fork. You win the queen. So you sacrificed the bishop to win the queen. Not bad.

o Do you see any better moves for the black queen? No. Probably just to take the rook on g1 to get as much as he can out of it. Can you reverse the order of these moves so he can't do that? How about instead of Bxf7 first you do that second, after chasing the queen to h3. Now you can get the queen with a minimum of losses. Of course, you also may have tipped off your opponent to your plans by chasing his queen to the forking square.

7. Keep practicing. After trying this exercise, you will have visualized three moves ahead for one move. In a real game, aim to analyze more than one move. Go through this process for each of the moves that you are considering. The further you are able to go, and the more vividly and accurately you are able to visualize the positions two or three, or even four moves ahead, the better chess player you will become.

Tips

• Look at all checks and captures. • Try to see tricky plans for your opponent, so you can prevent them in time. • Loose pieces fall off, so when a piece is unguarded, be aware of possible tactics

that might occur. • Don't go for "cheapos." A cheapo is a trick that only works if your opponent

makes the worst move. Always assume your opponent sees your trap, and if your plan fails, and it makes your position worse, you can lose the game. Only go for cheap tricks if they improve, not worsen your position.

Things You'll Need

• A chessboard with algebraic notation

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How to Become a Better Chess Player

Anyone can try their hand at a chess game, but it takes a bit more work to become a good chess player. Read on to learn how to develop your chess skills.

Steps

1. Learn how to play. You can't get good if you can't move a piece correctly. 2. Join a local chess club. Be social and free with chess. Don't make yourself feel

good by playing people that clearly are worse than you. If you have to to make yourself feel better after a loss, chess is not the game for you.

3. Always develop bishops and knights. Pawns are overused and overextended, and often the developing pieces don't get developed. Then, your opponent will usually put a bishop through your pawn structure.

4. Understand how you play. There are two main ways that people play. Some have a strong defense, and aggressive people that use this style can be incredibly deadly. The other type capitalize. They instantly seize hold of any mistake that their opponent makes, developing quickly and leaving with an open position. Neither is the better, although the main population are more sturdy that capitalizing.

5. Enter your first tournament. Go there feeling like you are going to kick butt in this series of games. Forget the rating. Forget the scores. Just get out there and play the best you can, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

6. Get a rival. Find someone that is better than you and "compete" against them. Play them. Go to the tournaments that they do. Slowly get used to their playing style and use it against them and other people. Don't think of this "rival" as someone to do better than. Don't beat yourself up if you lose. Play them again.

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And again. And again. Do this until you have learned their style and how to counter it.

7. Study your favorite GM (grandmaster). Study, play, study, play. Learn how to use their techniques, and how to counter them.

8. Learn the basic endgame rules. End game Strategy, "If ahead in material, exchange pieces not pawns. If behind in material, exchange pawns and you can force a draw.”

o Without pawns you must be at least a rook up to force mate, the only exception to this is that two knights and a king cannot force mate against a lone king.

o The king is a powerful piece, use it to block and attack pawns. o Bishops of opposite colors draw most of the time because neither side can

advance pawns without losing them. A rook pawn and bishop only draw against a black king if the bishop is the opposite color as the queening square.

o Bishops are worth more than knights in all but locked pawn positions. o Pawns and Bishops become more valuable as the game proceeds so play to

keep them. o Many games with all the pawns on one side of the board end in a draw.

90% of master games end in a draw where all the pawns are on one side of the board because the master with the less pawns will exchange pawns and then sacrifice a knight or bishop for the last of the pawns. If you are left with just a Bishop or Knight you cannot force mate.

o Rook and Knight or Rook and Bishop many times can only draw against a Rook.

o In Queen endings, he who moves the Queen to the center first dominates play.

9. Powerful Pawn Structures are: o An "Outside Pawn" lures the opponent’s king to other side, enabling you

to gobble the rest of his pawns or advance your pawns on the other side of the board.

o A "Passed Pawn" is not obstructed by another pawn and should be pushed. Nimzovitch said, "Passed Pawns must be pushed".

o A "Protected Passed Pawn" is a passed pawn that is protected by another pawn. A Protected Passed Pawn forces the opponent to constantly defend against an advance.

10. Weak Pawn Structures are: o Doubled pawns cannot defend each other and are subject to attack. o Isolated pawns are weak and must be defended by a piece. o Backward pawns on open files are extremely weak and subject to attack

by rooks. o A King with the opposition can draw against a King with a Pawn. o A Rook on the seventh rank is worth sacrificing a pawn. o Zugzwang is where if your opponent moves he loses, and is common in

Chess. o Rook and Pawn endings are the most complicated so avoid them.

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o A Queen can win against 9 pawns if the pawns are not advanced.

Tips

• Always make eye contact. If anyone sees you look away, they think you are nervous and press the attack.

• If you confuse your opponent with your facial expression, it screws them up. Don't make noises, just fake it.

• A good poker face works in Chess, too.

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Chapter- 4

How to Play Siamese Chess

Ever wanted to play chess with your friends, but felt limited by the fact that you could only play one person at a time? Siamese chess is a variant of chess with four players, commonly known as "bughouse", (a slang term for "mental hospital"), because it's often played at a fast time control and looks "crazy" to spectators.

This game is not related to the variant of chess played in Siam (now Thailand), which is called Makruk.

Steps

1. Divide the players into two teams. Try to divide the stronger players evenly.

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2. Sit each team across the table from the other. Have the stronger players on each team sit across from each other, and the weaker players face each other as well.

3. Place a chessboard between each opposing pair of players. Remember that the bottom right square should be white, like in a normal chess game.

4. Set up the boards as in normal chess. You and the teammate next to you play different colors: if you're playing as black, he or she will be white, and vice versa.

5. Start your clocks. Place the clocks on the outsides so that all players can see them. The players with black pieces typically start their clocks simultaneously. A move is completed only when the clock is pressed.

6. Begin play as if it were a normal game. However, when you take an opponent's piece, you hand it to your teammate.

7.

Place the pieces you receive from your teammate in reserve, or use your turn to put it on the board. You can place a piece anywhere on the board, unless it would put your opponent in check. Also, pawns cannot be placed on the first or last row. You don't have to place a piece immediately after you receive it; you can place it on any turn, but it uses that turn.

8. Checkmate on any board ends the game. The player that checkmates his or her opponent wins the game for his or her team.

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Tips

• Clocking the game is optional, and is mainly useful to prevent a player from stalling their moves while waiting for a piece from a teammate.

• You can thwart checkmate by placing another piece in the way of the piece threatening you when you couldn't otherwise in regular chess. For example, if you would have normally been checkmated by being trapped behind three pawns (e.g., when you castle) by a rook or queen, you can now place a piece taken by your teammate in a blocking position, preventing checkmate.

• While it is easier to prevent checkmate, it's also easier, if you know what you're doing, to checkmate someone; you can put them in a position that may seem relatively harmless, until you create a new threat by placing a piece.

o You may not "place check" even unintentionally. No piece may be added to the board that places the opponent in check.

• You can communicate with your teammate, asking them for a specific piece, for example, but you can't actually make any moves on their board. The best strategy,

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however, includes keeping an eye on your teammate's board to anticipate what pieces might be needed or provided by either player.

• Some other names for this type of chess are: exchange chess, tandem chess, bughouse, transfer chess, team chess, and flying chess (pieces "fly" across boards).

• This game has been hailed by some chess teams and players as being able to sharpen skills normally not exercised by the "normal" game.

• You can experiment with variants of Siamese chess:

o Place pieces only on your own half of the board o Continue until both games are complete, then determine the winning team

by adding up the scores o A team wins only by capturing all the kings on the board o A check mate doesn't end the game, only actually capturing the king does. o Stricter or more relaxed rules about where the pawns can be placed o Play with more than two boards (and hence, more players). Note that if

you have more than two boards, you can pass to any member of your team.

o There is actually a Bughouse competition in the USCF (United States Chess Fedaration).

• This game can also be played on one board, commonly known as Crazyhouse chess, in where you can drop pieces you captured.

Warnings

• This requires a much different strategy than regular chess. It will probably be more difficult in your first few games. You may have to learn how to make wise sacrifices of your own pieces so that you can obtain a certain piece for your teammate.

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How to Play the French Defense Opening in Chess

The French Defence

The French Defense is one of the best known, and effective openings at black's disposal. Chess algebraic notation is used here to explain the moves.

Steps

1. e4 e6 o e4 - Moving the King Pawn two spaces forward is the most common move

played in professional and amateur chess. o e6 - Moving the king pawn a conservative one space forward is the

defining move of the French Defense. Although it does not control the centre squares as e4 does, it can lead to many strong positions.

2. d4 d5 o d4 - Moving the Queen Pawn forward two spaces now completely

dominates the centre squares. o d5 - Moving the Queen Pawn two spaces forward now forms a strong

pawn chain (both the Classical and Winawer Variation of the French Defense complete this move).

3. Nc3 Bb4 o Nc3 - Again a logical move, white is now covering the pawn on e4 and

has developed another piece. Also playable here are e5, exd5 (the Exchange Variation), c4 (the Diemer-Duhm Gambit), Bd3 (the Schlechter Variation), and Nd2 (the Tarrasch Variation).

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o Bb4 - Moving the bishop to B4 (forming the Winawer Variation) successfully pins white's knight to the king. This move allows development of another piece while prohibiting the movement of White.

Tips

• The French Defense is known for solidity and resilience, but it can give rise to a cramped position for black in the early stages. Black often gains counterattacking possibilities on the queenside, while white tends to concentrate on the kingside.

Things You'll Need

• Chess set

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Chapter- 5

How to Read Algebraic Chess Notation

Algebraic chess notation

Algebraic chess notation, based on a system introduced by Philipp Stamma, is a system for recording chess movements. Being more concise and less ambiguous, algebraic chess notation has become the standard method for recording chess moves, replacing the once popular system of descriptive chess notation.

If you are serious about chess, it is very important to learn how to read and use algrebraic chess notation correctly, so you can enjoy the vast amount of chess literature available and study your own games. We will show you how to read algebraic chess notation.

Steps

1. Get a chess set and set it up. Although not absolutely necessary, having a chess set in front of you will help you follow along as you read chess notations.

2. Learn how the squares are named. There are 64 squares on the chessboard, and each one has a unique name denoted by the algebraic chess notation:

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o The vertical files are labeled a through h, starting from left to right on White's side;

o The horizontal ranks are numbered 1 through 8, starting from bottom to top on White's side.

o A given square on the chessboard is denoted by the file letter, followed by the rank number. For example, g5 is the square corresponding to the file g and rank 5.

3. Learn how each piece is noted. Usually, each chess piece is denoted by the first letter of its name in capital letter, except for the knight and the pawn. For figurine algebraic notation, a specific symbol is used for each piece.

o King = K or ♔ or ♚ o Queen = Q or ♕ or ♛ o Rook = R or ♖ or ♜ o Bishop = B or ♗ or ♝ o Knight = N (since K is already taken by a more important piece) or ♘ or

♞ o Pawn = (no letter) -- pawns are denoted by the absence of a letter or ♙ or

♟ 4. Learn how to write the notation for moves:

o Moving. Write the letter of the piece, followed by the coordinate of the destination square. For example, a knight going to the square f3 would be denoted as Nf3; a pawn going to the square e4 would be denoted simply as e4 (remember, pawns do not get a letter).

o Capturing. Each capture move is denoted by the letter of the piece, followed by an x, then the coordinate of the destination square. For example, a bishop capturing a piece at c4 would be denoted as Bxc4.

When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn departed is used in place of a piece initial. Thus, a pawn on e4 captures a piece on d5 would be denoted as exd5, or simply ed5 as the x is often omitted.

En passant moves are denoted by the file of departure of the capturing pawn, followed by the square to which it moves, followed optionally by the abbreviation "e.p.". Thus, a pawn on e5 capturing en passant a pawn on d5 is denoted as exd6 or exd6 e.p..

5. Learn how to write special situations. o If two or more identical pieces can move to the same square, the letter for

the piece is followed by:

the file of departure if they differ; the rank of departure if the files are the same but the ranks differ; both the rank and file if neither alone uniquely defines the piece For example, if two knights on d2 and f2 can both reach e4, the

move is denoted as Nde4 or Nfd4, as appropriate. If two knights on d2 and d6 can both reach e4, the move would be denoted as N2d4 or N6d4, as appropriate. If three knights on d2, d6, and f2 can all

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reach e4, with capture, the move would be denoted as Nd2xe4, N6xe4, or Nfxe4, as appropriate.

o For pawn promotion, the piece to which it is promoted is written after the destination coordinate. For example, a pawn on e7 moving to e8 and promoting to a knight would be denoted as e8N. Sometimes an equal sign (=) is used, as in e8=N, or parentheses are used, as in e8(N), or a slash (/) is used, as in e8/N. Only the first type is used in FIDE standard.

o For castling, O-O denotes kingside castle, while O-O-O denotes queenside castle.

o A check is denoted by + after the move notation; double check may be denoted by ++.

o Checkmate is denoted by # after the move notation. o A 1-0 is used at the end of the game to denote a white win, 0-1 to denote a

black win, and ½-½ to denote a draw. The words "White Resigns" or "Black Resigns" may be used to denote a resignation.

6. Learn the punctuation. o Punctuation is commonly used to comment on the effectiveness of moves,

usually relative to the skill of the player. It is placed after the move. For example:

! a good move !! an excellent move ? a bad move ?? a blunder !? an interesting move but unclear ?! a dubious move but worth considering

7. Learn how to put it all together. List of moves are denoted as numbered pairs by White followed by Black. For example, 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5.

o Moves may be interrupted by comments. When the record resumes with a Black move, an ellipsis (…) takes the place of the White move. For example: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Black now defends his pawn. 2...Nc6.

Tips

• Practice reading and using algebraic notation and you will get it down very quickly.

Things You'll Need

• Chess set (optional) • Paper or software for practice (optional)

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How to Begin Mastering Chess

Chess is a highly competitive game played by millions of people around the world. The basics can be mastered in a matter of minutes. Advanced strategic concepts can take years to come to terms with and a lifetime to master.

Steps

1. Learn the rules. This might seem obvious but many people will start playing the game before they fully understand all the rules. Be sure to come to terms with "en passant", "castling" and "checkmating".

2. Study basic checkmates. Don’t stop until checkmating positions have become second nature. Start by studying easy mating combinations like king vs. king & queen or king vs. king & rook. Then move on to more difficult combinations like king vs. king & pawn. Eventually work your way up to the most difficult combination that will be used, king vs. king & bishop & knight.

3. Study basic combinations and tactics. Start by learning forks, skewers, pins, discovered attacks and double attacks. Learn how to set up these combinations by finding vulnerable pieces to attack or by taking away the defender.

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4. Learn opening concepts/rules. Your opening moves set the stage for the rest of your game. Pay close attention to development, time, central control, space, pawn structure and king safety.

Basic Opening Strategy is, “Rapid development of pieces and fight to control the center”. 1) First move the king or queen pawn 2 squares to control the center. 2) If your opponent does not prevent it, move both the King and Queen pawns up 2 squares. 3) Attack with gain of time whenever possible. 4) Castle early, preferably on the King side. 5) Don’t move your queen out early, she is subject to attack. 6) Don’t move the six outside pawns, (three pawns on each side) because it wastes time and loosens the castled king position. This also invites your opponent to attack. 7) Move knights before bishops because they control the center better and you might not yet know the best squares for the bishops. 8) Move your rooks to open files or towards the center because center files usually open. 9) Don’t move the queen pawn 1 square if it traps the king bishop. Move the bishop first. 10) Try to control the center. 11) Don’t attack before you complete your development. 12) In Queen Pawn openings, don’t trap your queen bishop pawn with the knight. 13) He who takes the knight pawn sleeps in the streets. 14) Don’t go pawn hunting in the opening unless it is a center pawn. 15) Castle because you will or because you must, not because you can. 16) Don’t attack too early because a premature attack will fail. 17) Don’t sacrifice a pawn without a clear and adequate reason. 18) Don’t move the same piece twice in the opening because it wastes time.

1. Study endgames. Endgames enable you to understand how the pieces work individually. They also improve your calculating abilities, as many times endgames can be won out of pure calculating power. Everything you pick up by studying endgames can be applied to middle-games and even openings; you could, for instance, judge if a certain exchange is good for you by analyzing what kind of endgame could arise from that position.

2. Practice. Play as much as possible, even if you have to play yourself. Be sure to apply what you have learned.

3. Record your games. This allows you to go back over your games to study your mistakes and missed opportunities. If possible, store an archive of your games in ".pgn" format with attached notes. Tournament games are especially good because you are likely to face skilled opponents who are willing to analyse the game together with you in the "post-mortem".

4. Study classic games. Many grandmasters and masters over the past couple hundred years have pumped decades of their lives into researching the game. You can learn a few things from their games. If possible go over the record making your own notes. Then compare that with what others have written.

5. Play Tournaments. The chess organizations that run chess tournaments (i.e. the World Chess Federation) rate players based on their performance. This rating is a very clear indication of a players abilities in tournament settings. The rating system is broken into class ratings (J-A) and titles (expert, master, international master, grandmaster). Getting involved in tournament play is a necessary step if one wishes to compare his or her chess strengths with the chess community at large.

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Tips

• Don't waste too much time on openings when you're a beginner. Tactics and combinations are far more important at the beginner level.

• If you concentrate on development in the opening, you will be able to beat all your friends. The average player will attack with one or two pieces and the stronger player will move all of his pieces out. A battle between 2 pieces on one side and 5 pieces on the other side favors the side with the more pieces. This is how I win most of my games, that is, by getting my pieces out fast. Try not to move the same piece twice in the opening, it wastes time.

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Chapter- 6

How to Castle in Chess

Castling is a defensive move in chess where the king and a rook move at the same time. It is the only time two pieces move at once. There are specific rules regarding castling, so read on learn how to do this maneuver.

Steps

1. Decide which rook you want to castle with. This move can be done with either rook.

2. Recognize if the move is legal: o Neither the king nor the rook to be used has been moved yet. o There are no pieces between the king and rook.

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o The king is not currently in check. o The king will not be placed in check in the ending position, or any

position between the original and end position. 3. Move the king 2 spaces towards the rook. 4. Move the rook to the space on the other side of the king.

How to Checkmate in 4 Moves in Chess

Chess is a great game, it requires much logic to win against a good player. If you are an experienced player and are afraid of the humiliation of losing against a newcomer, read on to find out how you can get them in checkmate in just four moves!

Steps

1. Move your pawn at e2 to e4. This is a very simple move to start out with in chess, but it is very popular, since it makes the queen and bishop ready for use. You'll only need them to make the checkmate.

2. Move your queen from d1 to h5. 3. Move your bishop at f1 to c4. Now you have it perfectly set up. Unless your

opponent threatens your queen, you can make the next move. 4. Move your queen to f7. This places the opponent in checkmate, since he can't

move his king in any direction that is out of the queen's reach, nor can he take the queen, since she is protected by the bishop.

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Warnings

• This is a one-trick pony way of winning. If your opponent threatens any of the pieces before you get your bishop in the right place, you won't win with it. Also, if he threatens your queen with a pawn after you bring out the bishop, you won't win.

• Your opponent may recognize the strategy the next time you play with him. • If your opponent knows this strategy and is trying it, it won't work for either of

you.

Things You'll Need

• chess board • chess pieces • an opponent

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Chapter- 7

How to Play Advanced Chess

So you know how to play chess. But have you come to a point where you meet a person you just can't beat? Do you know what en passant is? A pawn storm? Lifting a rook? If you answered no to any of the above, this is the place to learn it. Chess can be a fun and intense game if played well, a great way to pass those rainy days.

Steps

1. Be aware that h assumes that you already know how to notate(record games) to learn how to notate, look at the tips before continuing.

2. Chess Terms o En Passant

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It is common knowledge that on the first move pawns can move 2 space forward. En Passant is when your pawn is on the fourth space away from its original square. An opponents pawn moves 2 spaces forward, next to your pawn. Oh No! Your entire strategy has been upset. That is what you might think, but En Passant allows you to take the opposing pawn next to yours as though it had moved only one square. Your pawn moves to where the opposing pawn would have been if it had moved only one space forward. Be aware that this move is not always useful and may lead to problems, so don't just do it because you know how. As with all moves, you must carefully assess the situation before moving.

o Pawn Storms A pawn storm is only useful when you and your opponent have

castled to opposite sides of the board. In any other scenario a pawn storm merely weakens your king. Use the pawns parallel to you opponent's king to charge in and weaken the king. Again, as with all moves, don't just charge in. There is no reason to lose 3 or 4 pawns when you could avoid losing even one. Support the storm with your other pieces, make your opponent pay dearly for each piece. Used correctly, a pawn storm is a deadly weapon, however, make sure that you are ahead of your opponent's pawn storm!

o Castling Castling is a defensive move where a King may move two spaces

to the side and a Rook may hop over the King. To do this, there must be no pieces in between the Rook and the King. The Rook may not move more than one space past the King. Also, this can only be done if both pieces have yet to move.

o Lifting A Rook Lifting a rook is not so much a strategy as a fancy name for a

move. Lifting a rook simply means that you bring your rook off of the back rank by first going up, and then to either side.

o A Pin A pin is an incredibly powerful tactic, that, when used correctly,

can end a game. Pinning a piece is when your piece attacks 2 pieces of equal or greater value. The term pinning the bishop to the king, means that the bishop cannot move, or the king will be under attack. This is called an absolute pin, where moving the bishop is an illegal move, as it places the king in check. Another kind of pin is the familial pin. Instead of the king being behind the bishop, there may be a queen or a rook. In this case, the bishop can move, but it is only in rare cases a good idea, as it lays the more valuable piece behind it under attack.

o A Skewer A skewer is similar to a pin, but instead of the bishop being in

front of the king, the king is in front of the bishop. A skewer is

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when you put the king in check, forcing it to move, and forcing it to expose the bishop.

o A Fork A fork is when one of your pieces attacks 2 of your opponents

pieces. (Note, a pawn is not considered a piece). An example of a fork is if a knight attacks both the opposing king and queen at the same time. Unless the knight can be taken, the king is forced to move, as it is in check, and the queen can be taken, at little to no expense.

o Discovered Checks and Double Checks A discovered check is when a pawn or a piece moves somewhere

else so that a piece behind it can attack the enemy king. Sometimes these attacks won't be very useful, but if a knight is in front of the major piece, be on the lookout for a serious attack on the queen.

A double is a more dangerous form of discovered check in where not only the piece behind it attacks the enemy king; the moving piece attacks as well. Double checks force the king to move because capturing or blocking one piece doesn't work because the other piece also attacks the king. Masters love to set up double checks because of their awesome attacking power and can lead to dangerous tactics on the rooks, queen, and king.

3. Stages of the Game o Chess is broken into 3 major stages. The Opening, The Middlegame, and

The Endgame The Opening

The goal in the opening is to develop, or take out, pieces. 2 openings that will be discussed here are the King's

Gambit for white, and the Sicilian Dragon Defense for black.

The King's Gambit The King's Gambit Generally

proceeds as follows. 1. e4, e5 2. f4, e5xf4, Note that your opponent does not have to take, but there is no advantage to not taking the piece. 3. Nf3. After this point the opening can go in any direction, but white will eventually seek to play d4, resulting in the complete control of the center of the board. Note that this is a very brief explanation of the King's Gambit.

The Sicilian Dragon The Sicilian Dragon generally begins

as follows: 1. e4, c5 2. Nf3, Nc6 3. c3, d6, From here there are many

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different paths that white could take, but black will eventually seek to play Nf6 followed by g6, Bg7, and finally 0-0 castle.

The Middlegame There is no true set guide for playing the middlegame, but

by following certain guidelines it may be easier to gain the upper hand.

Always retain control of the center, preferably using pawns as the core pieces.

Seek ways to undermine your opponents defense, whether with a sacrifice or a pin.

Do not develop your queen too early. Do not open your king to attack when you have a

choice. Always keep your king guarded behind pawns,

bishops will sometimes work as well. Look for tactics to attack opposing king, and learn

how to attack the king if it is castled wither queenside and kingside.

The Endgame The endgame is a delicate part of a chess game where every

pawn matters. Checkmate can be achieved with these pieces, which are commonly available in the endgame: 2 Bishops and a King, 1 Knight, 1 Bishop and a King, A Rook and A King, and A Queen and A King. Note that these checkmates are only possible while the opponent has no other pieces. The Knight, Bishop and King vs King checkmate is complicated, and some Masters don't even know it, but the other mentioned checkmates are simple.

Rook and King The key to all checkmates is to keep the

opponents king confined. Do not be overanxious to check the king, as it will not work. First move the rook to the rank ahead of the enemy king. This will confine the king to a certain amount of squares. Advance the king to obtain opposition, when your king is in front of the opponent's. When he move away, you will need to make a waiting move, just move the rook one square over. He will move the king away from your king. When The kings are opposite each other, check him with the rook, and then repeat the proccess until he is on the back rank, where check becomes checkmate. The

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Queen checkmate is identical, but you must be careful not to stalemate.

Tips

• Notation • Notation is the record keeping of a chess game through each move. It depends on

abbreviations and on the grid system of a chess board. • Look at the edges of your chess board. You will notice that along one side it says

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and on the other side a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h with this system squares or entire rows can be specified. such as the 1st rank, 2nd rank, 3rd rank, 4th rank, 5th rank, 6th rank, 7th rank, and 8th rank. Files can also be specified, a file, b file, c file, d file, e file, f file, g file, and h file. Squares are referred to by their place in the grid. So if a square is in the e file and on the 4th rank, it is the square e4.

• The abbreviations of pieces are as follows. Bishop=B, Knight=N, Queen=Q, Rook=R, King=K and pawns have no letter. If you want to say bishop goes to square b4 you would say Bb4. However if you wanted to say that a pawn goes to b4 you would merely say b4 in your notation. When one piece takes another piece it is marked with an x. When a pawn takes a piece it is marked with the file of the pawn and the square of the piece. If 2 of the same piece can move to the same square you should put the original square of the piece being moved. Check is marked with a plus sign, and checkmate with a number sign.

o Special Notation Certain special moves have a special notation attached to them. En

Passant is marked with e.p. after the move, a king side castle is marked 0-0, and queen side castle 0-0-0, and pawn promotion is and = or () with the abbreviation of the piece promoted to.

• Piece Value • Pieces are usually valued as follows: Pawn=1 point, Bishop=3 points, Knights=3

points, Rooks=5 points, Queens=9 points, and Kings cannot be valued. Some people believe that a Bishop is worth 3.25 points, because it is can move further than a knight. Some people believe that a knight is worth 3.25 points due to its ability to "jump" and attack from behind other pieces.

• Use the piece values to your advantage. For example, if an enemy pawn could either take your rook or a knight, move your rook instead of the knight.

• Point values are only guidelines. In some positions, like in the opening, a bishop is more valuable than a rook. You must access the positional value of every move, and just because a move loses material doesn't mean you shouldn't consider it.

• Try to avoid moving a piece twice in the opening, unless necessary. • Every pawn counts. Do not throw away pawns, as they are very valuable in the

endgame. • Look at the whole board before you make your move. Make sure a piece cannot

be taken before you move it. • This is a very short summerization of Advanced Chess, if you wish to become

serious about chess you should purchase a chess book; there are some very good ones out.

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• Never, ever move a pawn on the sides in the opening unless necessary. For example, the Grob Attack or the Orangutan will enable you to move the B and G pawns. The can lead to counter attacks, but can be stopped easily by black.

Warnings

• Take your time! This cannot be stressed enough, grandmasters have lost games because they moved too quickly.

• If in the opening you are sure to lose, don't let it get you down or you will never become good at chess.

How to Play Solo Chess

Chess is a game that requires concentration, strategy, and practice. If you don't have a partner to play against, develop your skills by playing yourself.

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Steps

1. Prepare to play a formidable opponent. Taking on yourself can be a challenge, but you can never lose and if you play it right you can learn a great deal.

2. Set up the board out of the way. Play can take a long time, up to several weeks. 3. Sit down and play your first move. 4.

Mark whose turn it is.

Knock over a piece or place something on the opposite side of the board. This will allow you to keep track of whose turn it is next.

5. Play each turn. Do not mirror more than one move in a row. If you do this you will cheat yourself.

6. Space out each move by five minutes or more. This helps you not favor one side over the other.

Tips

• Play as you would normally for both sides. Favoring one side ruins the game. • Try to predict what your opponent is going to do to counter your move. When the

time comes, outsmart him with something more bold or conservative.

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Chapter- 8

How to Set up a Chessboard

Chessboard set up.

To play chess, you first need to set up the chessboard correctly. Read on to learn how to do this.

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Steps

1.

White square in bottom right corner

Set the board so that the bottom right square is a white square. White pieces will be set up in the bottom two rows, and black in the top two.

2.

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Place pawns

Place the white pawns along the second row from the bottom, and the black pawns in the second row from the top.

3.

Place rooks

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Place the rooks in each corner.

4.

Place knights

Place the knights in the squares directly beside the rooks.

5.

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Place bishops

Place the bishops in the squares directly beside the knights.

6.

Place queens

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Place the white queen on the open white square, and the black queen on the open black square.

7.

Place kings

Place the kings in the last remaining open squares.

Tips

• The key thing to remember is that the queen always goes on the same colored square as the piece.

Things You'll Need

• Chess set

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How to Teach Chess

The game of chess is often percieved as complicated and involved. This perception often times leads to potential players underwriting themselves and their ability to learn the game. Chess can be taught to anybody. A reliable, easy way to teach the game of chess will be taught below.

Steps

1. Smile and show enthusiasm. Students will be intimidated by a serious atmosphere.

2. Tell the student the chess lesson will take place in three parts and after each part they will be asked to show what they have learned.

o Teaching chess under this method is to be taught in three parts. After each part the student is required to show every concept that was learned. If they incorrectly show a concept, correct them and ask them to show you all the concepts all over again.

Lesson One

1. The first lesson is used to explain all the of the pieces and how they move. Start with the pawns, excluding the rules for en passant, then explain each of the pieces on the back row, starting at the castles and moving in. Ignore castling for

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the time being as well. Tell them there are only two pieces that move oddly, the pawns and the knights.

2. After explaining the movement of all the pieces, point to each piece and have them explain how each piece moves either verbally or by moving them. If they do so incorrectly, correct them then start the test over.

3. Ask them to place the king and the queen on the chess board. The students will pass the first lesson if they place the queen on the same color square.

4. If they have correctly shown the movement of all pieces move onto lesson two; Advanced movement.

Lesson Two

1. Show them en passant, a queen side castle, a king side castle, promotion and under promotion.

2. Explain that in chess pieces are moved to put the opposing king in danger or check.

3. Explain that if the king cannot move out of danger it is checkmate. 4. Explain that if the king cannot make a move due to danger it is a draw or

stalemate. 5. Have them correctly explain all of the concepts listed above including regular

movement then move onto the final lesson on tactics.

Lesson Three

1. Place your pupils king on the board and his rook four spaces horizontally or vertically away. Place your knight directly. between the two pieces on the closest file to either side of the king/rook line. Say "wouldn't this suck, this is called a fork. I've put two pieces in danger and I can take your castle free of charge." To excentuate this fact do the same, replacing your pupils rook with his queen

2. Place your pupils queen in a corner of the board, place his/her king one diagonal space towards the center of the board. Place one of your bishops at the opposite corner. Explain that they have to get their king out of danger but will lose their queen because of it. Explain that this is a pin and because the king has to move it is also a discovered attack.

3. Keep your pupils king and queen on the same spot, but place a rook on the same colored tile a few spaces away. Place your bishop so that it attacks the rook and the king. Tell them that this is a pin, fork and a discovered attack all in one.

4. Have them explain movement, advanced movement and basic tactics. If they explain correctly then play them in a game.

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Chapter- 9

Chess Tactics

In chess, a tactic refers to a sequence of moves which limits the opponent's options and may result in tangible gain. Tactics are usually contrasted with strategy, in which advantages take longer to be realized, and the opponent is less constrained in responding.

The fundamental building blocks of tactics are move sequences in which the opponent is unable to respond to all threats, so the first player realizes an advantage. This includes forks, skewers, batteries, discovered attacks, undermining, overloading, deflection, pins and interference.

• The Encyclopedia of Chess Middlegames gives the following tactical categories: Double Attack, Pawns Breakthrough, Blockade, Decoying, Discovered Attack, Passed Pawn, X-ray Attack, Interception, Deflection, Pin, Demolition of Pawns, Overloading, Annihilation of Defense, Pursuit (perpetual attack), Intermediate Move, and Space Clearance.

Often tactics of several types are conjoined in a combination.

Attacking and defending pieces

A piece is said to attack (or threaten) an opponent's piece if, in the next move, it could capture that piece. A piece is said to defend (or protect) a piece of the defender's color if, in case the defended piece were taken by the opponent, the defender could recapture right away. Attacking a piece usually, but not always, forces the opponent to respond if the attacked piece is undefended, or if the attacking piece is of lower value than the attacked one.

When attacked, one has several options:

• Capture the attacking piece. • Move the attacked piece. • Interpose another piece in between the two. • Guard the attacked piece and permit an exchange.

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Pin attacks can be either 'Relative' or 'Absolute'. The Absolute Pin is where the more valuable piece behind is the King (this is the distinguishing feature between Absolute and Relative Pins).

Skewer

A skewer is a move which attacks two pieces in a line, similar to a pin, except that the enemy piece of greater value is in front of the piece of lesser value. After the more valuable piece moves away, the lesser piece can be captured. Queens, rooks, and bishops can perform the skewer.

Skewer attacks can be either 'Relative' or 'Absolute'. The Absolute Skewer is where the more valuable piece in front is the King (this is the distinguishing feature between Absolute and Relative Skewers).

With Absolute Skewers, because it's the King that's attacked, the King is in Check and, unless the attacker can be dealt with (by capture, or by blocking the Check with a Pawn or another Piece), the attacked King will have to step aside, allowing the attacking unit to capture the less valuable Pawn or Piece behind.

If the attacked unit wasn't the King - say, a Rook - then it would be a Relative Skewer and should the situation require it, the Rook 'could' remain in place, at risk of being captured, for the sake of protecting whatever unit is behind.

Pawns

Pawns are extremely useful in the game and are far more powerful than meets the eye. For instance, since pawns are the least valuable chess piece, they can be used to capture defended pieces. A single pawn approaching will force a more powerful piece, such as a rook or a knight, to retreat. A simple move of a pawn may reveal a hidden threat. Also, when pawns are arranged in a diagonal line, with the frontmost pawns guarded by the pawns behind, they form an almost impenetrable wall capable of protecting any pieces directly behind them. Furthermore, a pawn which has progressed all the way to the opposite side of the board may be promoted to any other piece except a king. However, a weak pawn structure can be a big weakness.

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Page 85: Nakisha wheatley   a beginner´s guide to become a better chess player+

Chapter- 10

Chess Strategy

Chess strategy is concerned with the evaluation of chess positions and setting up goals and long-term plans for future play. During the evaluation, a player must take into account the value of the pieces on the board, pawn structure, king safety, position of pieces, control of key squares and groups of squares (e.g. diagonals, open files, black or white squares), and the possible moves the opponent will make after any move made.

The most basic way to evaluate one's position is to count the total value of pieces on both sides. The point values used for this purpose are based on experience. Usually pawns are considered to be worth one point, knights and bishops three points each, rooks five points, and queens nine points. The fighting value of the king in the endgame is approximately four points. These basic values are modified by other factors such as the position of the piece (e.g. advanced pawns are usually more valuable than those on their starting squares), coordination between pieces (e.g. a bishop pair usually coordinates better than a bishop plus a knight), and the type of position (knights are generally better in closed positions with many pawns, while bishops are more powerful in open positions).

Another important factor in the evaluation of chess positions is the pawn structure or pawn skeleton. Since pawns are the most immobile and least valuable of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and largely determines the strategic nature of the position. Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such as isolated, doubled, or backward pawns and holes, once created, are usually permanent. Care must therefore be taken to avoid them unless they are compensated by another valuable asset, such as the possibility to develop an attack.

Basic concepts of board evaluation

A material advantage applies both strategically and tactically. Generally more pieces or an aggregate of more powerful pieces means greater chances of winning. A fundamental strategic and tactical rule is to capture opponent pieces while preserving one's own.

Bishops and knights are called minor pieces. A knight is about as valuable as a bishop, but less valuable than a rook. Rooks and the queen are called major pieces. Bishops are

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usually considered slightly better than knights in open positions, such as toward the end of the game when many of the pieces have been captured, whereas knights have an advantage in closed positions. Having two bishops (the bishop pair) is a particularly powerful weapon, especially if the opposing player lacks one or both of their bishops.

Three pawns are likely to be more useful than a knight in the endgame, but in the middlegame a knight is often more powerful. Two minor pieces are stronger than a single rook, and two rooks are slightly stronger than a queen.

One commonly used simple scoring system is:

Piece Value Pawn 1 Bishop 3 Knight 3 Rook 5 Queen 9 King ∞

Under a system like this, giving up a knight or bishop in order to win a rook ("winning the exchange") is advantageous and is worth about two pawns. This of course ignores such complications as the current position and freedom of the pieces involved, but it is a good starting point. In an open position, bishops will be more valuable than knights (a bishop pair can easily be worth seven points or more in some situations); conversely, in a closed position, bishops will be less valuable than knights. Also, many pieces have a partner. By doubling up two knights, two rooks, rook and queen or bishop and queen the pieces can get stronger than the sum of the individual pieces alone. When pieces lose their partner, their values slightly decrease. The king is priceless since its capture results in the defeat of that player and brings about the end of that game. However, especially in the endgame, the king can also be a fighting piece, and is sometimes given a fighting value of four.

Space

All other things being equal, the side which controls more space on the board has an advantage. More space means more options, which can be exploited both tactically and strategically. If all of one's pieces are developed and no tactical tricks or promising long-term plan is apparent, he or she should try to find a move which will enlarge one's influence, particularly in the center. However, in some openings, one player will accept less space for a period of time to set up a counterattack in the middlegame. This is one of the concepts behind hypermodern play.

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Page 88: Nakisha wheatley   a beginner´s guide to become a better chess player+

The strategy consists of placing pieces so that they attack the central four squares of the board. However, a piece being placed on a central square does not necessarily mean it controls the center – e.g. a knight on a central square does not attack any central squares. Conversely, a piece does not have to be on a central square in order to control the center.

Control of the center is important because tactical battles often take place around the central squares, from where pieces can access most of the board.

Chess openings try to control the center while developing pieces. Hypermodern openings are those that control the center with pieces from afar (usually the side, such as with a Fianchetto); the older Classical (or Modern) openings control it with pawns.

Initiative

The initiative belongs to the player who can make threats that cannot be ignored, such as checking the opponent's king. He thus puts his opponent in the position of having to use his turns responding to threats rather than making his own, hindering the development of his pieces. The player with the initiative is generally attacking and the other player is generally defending.

Defending pieces

It is important to defend one's pieces even if they are not directly threatened. This helps stop possible future campaigns from the opponent. If a defender must be added at a later time, this may cost a tempo or even be impossible due to a fork or discovered attack. The approach of always defending one's pieces has an antecedent in the theory of Aron Nimzowitsch who referred to it as "overprotection." Similarly, if one spots undefended enemy pieces, one should immediately take advantage of those pieces' weakness.

Even a defended piece can be vulnerable. If the defending piece is also defending something else, it is called an overworked piece, and may not be able to fulfill its task. When there is more than one attacking piece, the number of defenders must also be increased, and their values taken into account. In addition to defending pieces, it is also often necessary to defend key squares, open files, and the back rank. These situations can easily occur if the pawn structure is weak.

Exchanging pieces

To exchange pieces means to capture a hostile piece and then allow a piece of the same value to be captured. As a general rule of thumb, exchanging pieces eases the task of the defender who typically has less room to operate in.

Exchanging pieces is usually desirable to a player with an existing advantage in material, since it brings the endgame closer and thereby leaves the opponent with less ability to recover ground. In the endgame even a single pawn advantage may decide the game.

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Page 90: Nakisha wheatley   a beginner´s guide to become a better chess player+

A king and a knight or king and two knights is not sufficient material to force checkmate an opposing lone king.

Bishops

A bishop always stays on squares of the color it started on, so once one of them is gone, the squares of the other colour become more difficult to control. When this happens, pawns moved to squares of the other colour do not block the bishop, and enemy pawns directly facing them are stuck on the vulnerable colour.

A fianchettoed bishop at, e.g., g2 after pawn g2-g3, can provide a strong defence for the castled king on g1 and often exert pressure on the long diagonal h1-a8. After a fianchetto, giving up the bishop can weaken the holes in the pawn chain; doing so in front of the castled king may thus impact its safety.

In general, a bishop is of roughly equal value to a knight. In certain circumstances, one can be more powerful than the other. If the game is "closed" with lots of interlocked pawn formations, the knight tends to be stronger, because it can hop over the pawns while they block the bishop. A bishop is also weak if it is restricted by his own pawns, especially if they are blocked and on the bishop's colour. Once a bishop is lost, the remaining bishop is considered weaker since the opponent can now plan his moves to play a white or black colour game.

In an open game with action on both sides of the board, the bishop tends to be stronger because of its long range. This is especially true in the endgame; if passed pawns race on opposite sides of the board, the player with a bishop usually has better winning chances than a player with a knight.

A king and a bishop is not sufficient material to checkmate an opposing lone king.

Rooks

Rooks have more scope of movement on Half-open files (ones which do not contain pawns of one's own colour). Rooks on the seventh rank can be very powerful as they attack pawns which can only be defended by other pieces, and they can restrict the enemy king to its back rank. A pair of rooks on the player's seventh rank is often a sign of a winning position.

In middlegames and endgames with a passed pawn, Tarrasch's rule states that rooks, both friend and foe of the pawn, are usually strongest behind the pawn rather than in front of it.

A king and a rook is sufficient material to checkmate an opposing lone king, although it's a little harder than checkmating with king and queen; thus the rook's distinction as a major piece above the knight and bishop.

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Queen

Queens are the most powerful pieces. They have great mobility and can make many threats at once. For these reasons, checkmate attacks involving the queen are easier to achieve than those without. It is generally wise to wait to develop the queen until after the knights and bishops have been developed to prevent the queen from being attacked by minor pieces and losing tempo.

King

During the middle game, the king is often best protected in a corner behind his pawns. If the rooks and queen leave the first rank however, an enemy rook can checkmate the king by invading the first rank. Moving one of the pawns in front of the king (making a luft) can allow it an escape square, but may weaken the king's position.

The king can become a strong piece in the endgame. With reduced material, a quick mate is not an immediate concern anymore, and moving the king towards the centre of the board gives it more opportunities to make threats and actively influence play.

Considerations for a successful long term deployment

Strategy and tactics

Chess strategy consists of setting and achieving long-term goals during the game — for example, where to place different pieces — while tactics concentrate on immediate maneuver. These two parts of chess thinking cannot be completely separated, because strategic goals are mostly achieved by the means of tactics, while the tactical opportunities are based on the previous strategy of play.

Because of different strategic and tactical patterns, a game of chess is usually divided into three distinct phases: Opening, usually the first 10 to 25 moves, when players develop their armies and set up the stage for the coming battle; middlegame, the developed phase of the game; and endgame, when most of the pieces are gone and kings start to take an active part in the struggle.

Opening

A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a game (the "opening moves"). Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defence. They are catalogued in reference works such as the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings. It is recommended for anyone but the chessmasters that when left with a choice to either invent a new variation or follow a standard opening, one should do the latter.

There are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet positional play (e.g. the Réti Opening) to very aggressive (e.g. the Latvian Gambit). In some

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opening lines, the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to 30–35 moves or more. Professional players spend years studying openings, and continue doing so throughout their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve.

The fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar:

• Development: To place (develop) the pieces (particularly bishops and knights) on useful squares where they will have an impact on the game.

• Control of the centre: Control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily, and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent.

• King safety: Correct timing of castling can enhance this. • Pawn structure: Players strive to avoid the creation of pawn weaknesses such as

isolated, doubled or backward pawns, and pawn islands.

During the opening, some pieces have a recognised optimum square they try to reach. Hence, an optimum deployment could be to push the king and queen pawn two steps followed by moving the knights so they protect the centre pawns and give additional control of the centre. One can then deploy the bishops, protected by the knights, to pin the opponent's knights and pawns. The optimum opening is ended with a castling, moving the king to safety and deploying for a strong back-rank and a rook along the centre file.

Apart from these fundamentals, other strategic plans or tactical sequences may be employed in the opening.

Most players and theoreticians consider that White, by virtue of the first move, begins the game with a small advantage. Black usually strives to neutralize White's advantage and achieve equality, or to develop dynamic counterplay in an unbalanced position.

Middlegame

The middlegame is the part of the game when most pieces have been developed. Because the opening theory has ended, players have to assess the position, to form plans based on the features of the positions, and at the same time to take into account the tactical possibilities in the position.

Typical plans or strategic themes — for example the minority attack, that is the attack of queenside pawns against an opponent who has more pawns on the queenside — are often appropriate just for some pawn structures, resulting from a specific group of openings. The study of openings should therefore be connected with the preparation of plans typical for resulting middlegames.

Middlegame is also the phase in which most combinations occur. Middlegame combinations are often connected with the attack against the opponent's king; some

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Endgames can be classified according to the type of pieces that remain on board. Basic checkmates are positions in which one side has only a king and the other side has one or two pieces and can checkmate the opposing king, with the pieces working together with their king. For example, king and pawn endgames involve only kings and pawns on one or both sides and the task of the stronger side is to promote one of the pawns. Other more complicated endings are classified according to the pieces on board other than kings, e.g. "rook and pawn versus rook endgame".