Chess

 Chess

Cool! What do you want to know or talk about related to chess? Here are some ideas:

• How to play chess (basic rules, piece moves)

• Chess strategies and tactics

• Popular openings and defenses

• Famous players and games

• Chess puzzles or exercises

• History of chess

Or maybe you want to play a quick game? Just say the word! 🏰♟️

Chess

1. Objective

• Checkmate your opponent’s king — meaning the king is under threat of capture ("in check") and cannot escape.

2. Setup

• The board is 8x8 squares, alternating light and dark colors.

• Each player starts with 16 pieces:

  • 1 King

  • 1 Queen

  • 2 Rooks

  • 2 Knights

  • 2 Bishops

  • 8 Pawns

• White pieces go on the 1st and 2nd ranks; Black on the 7th and 8th ranks.

3. Piece Movements

• Pawn: moves forward 1 square (or 2 squares on its first move), captures diagonally 1 square.

• Rook: moves any number of squares vertically or horizontally.

• Knight: moves in an “L” shape — 2 squares in one direction and then 1 square perpendicular.

• Bishop: moves any number of squares diagonally.

• Queen: moves any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

• King: moves 1 square in any direction.

4. Special Moves

• Castling: King moves 2 squares toward a rook, and the rook moves to the square next to the king. Conditions: neither piece has moved, no pieces between them, king not in check or moving through check.

• En passant: If a pawn moves 2 squares forward from its starting position and lands beside an opponent’s pawn, that pawn can capture it as if it moved only 1 square — but only on the next move.

• Pawn promotion: When a pawn reaches the opponent’s back rank, it can be promoted to any piece (usually a queen).

5. Check and Checkmate

• Check: The king is under attack and must move out of check, block, or capture the attacking piece.

• Checkmate: King is in check and cannot escape — game over, checkmating player wins.

6. Draws

• Stalemate: player to move has no legal moves, and the king is NOT in check.

• Threefold repetition: same position occurs 3 times.

• Fifty-move rule: no pawn moves or captures for 50 moves.

• Agreement: players agree to a draw.