# Chess/Playing The Game

Chess, unlike many other games, does not involve direct chance such as
the roll of a dice or which card is drawn. The outcome completely
depends on the decisions of the players. However, because of its vast
complexity, the far-reaching consequences of some decisions are
practically unforeseeable.

One player (\"White\") has the white pieces while the other (\"Black\")
has the black pieces. Sometimes the colors are not black and white (for
instance, light and dark, or yellow and blue), but they generally
contrast each other. In friendly games the choice of colors can be made
by any method, such as flipping a coin. If there is no coin at hand,
another typical way of deciding would be to conceal a black piece in one
hand and a white piece in the other and ask one\'s opponent to select a
hand. The colored piece selected will be the opponent\'s color. In
competitive games the players are assigned their colors.

### Order of play

Once all the pieces have been arranged, White (or the lighter color)
makes the first move. White *always* makes the first move; this is
important for notation, and any chess player will insist upon it. After
White has made the move, Black will then make a move. The gameplay will
continue in alternating fashion, White making a move, followed by Black.

### General movement rules

-   A move consists of moving a single piece, in accordance with its
    rules of movement, to a square that is unoccupied or occupied by an
    enemy piece. A player may never move a piece onto a square already
    occupied by another of his or her own pieces.
    -   *Exception*: There is a special move called \"castling\" where
        two pieces, a rook and the king, are moved; see below.
-   If a piece is moved onto a square occupied by an enemy piece, the
    latter piece is removed from play and the first piece replaces it.
    The removed piece is said to have been *captured* or *taken*.
    -   *Exception*: In *en passant* capture, a pawn moves to an
        unoccupied square but still captures another pawn \"in
        passing\"; see below.
-   Most pieces move and capture opponent pieces in the same way.
    -   *Exception*: The pawn has separate rules for moving and
        capturing opponent pieces.
-   Most pieces may only make a move to a non-adjacent square if all the
    intervening squares are vacant (pieces may not \'jump over\' other
    pieces).
    -   *Exception*: The knight can move to any suitable final square
        regardless of occupants of other squares.
    -   *Exception*: In castling, a king and a rook jump over each
        other.
-   No player may make a move that leaves their own king \"in check\"
    (see below).
-   The player must *always* make a move when it is his or her turn. In
    other words, he or she cannot choose not to make a move. If no legal
    move is possible the game ends in a draw (see below), except when
    the king is in check - this is called *checkmate*, and is usually
    how the opposing player wins.

Also, when a pawn moves to a square at the opposite end of the board, it
becomes a different piece (pawn promotion); all of these exceptions are
covered below in more detail.

## The board

Traditionally, the game is played on a board of 64 alternating black and
white squares turned with a white square to each player\'s near
right-hand corner. \"White on right\" is a helpful saying to remember
this convention. The light and dark squares on the chessboard and the
light and dark chess pieces are traditionally referred to as \"white\"
and \"black\" respectively, although in modern chess sets almost any
colors may be used (as long as they are not the *same* colors.)

The horizontal rows of squares are called **ranks** and are numbered
1-8; the vertical columns of squares are called **files** and given the
letters a-h. This way any single square can be easily identified by its
rank and file, making it possible to record games by writing down the
starting and ending position of the piece that moves every turn.

A chess diagram is always printed from the White player\'s perspective.

{{-}}

## The pieces

The movement of the individual pieces is described below. In all the
board diagrams shown, the squares to which the piece in question can
move are indicated with x\'s.

### Pawn

![](Chess_pll44.png "Chess_pll44.png") Pawns can move one square
straight forward, or optionally and on their first move only, two
squares straight forward. The pawn is the only piece that can\'t move
backwards. This piece is worth 1 point.

{{-}}

#### Capturing Pieces

The pawn can move one square diagonally forward to capture a piece, but
cannot capture a piece by moving straight forward. For this reason, two
opposing pawns on a file may become blocked by each other. In the first
diagram below, legal capture moves for the white pawn are indicated with
black circles.

To capture means to displace a piece, meaning, to replace the captured
with the capturer.

In the second diagram below the White pawn is prevented from moving
forwards by the Black pawn immediately in front of it (in the d-file)
which it cannot capture, but it can capture the adjacent Black pawn by
moving diagonally forward as seen in the last diagram.

The pawn is the only piece that moves and captures differently.

{{-}}

### Knight

![](Chess_nll44.png "Chess_nll44.png") The knight has a unique move that
allows it to flank the other pieces. The easiest way to describe this
move is that he moves to a square of the opposite color from the one
he\'s on that is exactly two squares away from him. This piece is worth
3 points.

{{-}}

Another way to visualize the move is this: of the 16 squares that are 2
away from a knight he reaches the 8 that are of the opposite color of
the square he\'s on and the other 8 can be reached by a queen where she
on his square.

{{-}} 

{{-}}

It is important to remember that the knight moves in a straight line
like all the other pieces, it\'s just along lines of movement no other
piece uses. Consider this comparison: A queen moves ordinally along the
ranks and files - North, East, South, and West on a compass rose; and
she also moves diagonally - Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and
Northwest on a compass rose. The knight moves along the wind lines of
the rose - North by Northeast, East by Northeast, and so on. These lines
pass between the squares adjacent to the knight and pass through the
middle of the squares that are one square away from the knight. The
knight moves to the first square its line of movement passes through the
middle of, so like the King the knight has eight squares he can move to
when he is near the center of the board. Since the knight is moving
between the squares adjacent to him pieces do not hinder his move
whether they are allied or enemy.

#### Capturing Pieces

The knight captures any opponent\'s piece that occupies a square it can
move to by removing that piece from the board and placing the knight in
that square. An important consequence of the knight\'s use of wind lines
is that it can attack (that is, threaten to capture) pieces without
being threatened in return so long as they are not also knights. The
reverse is also true - pieces attacking a knight are never threatened by
it.

{{-}}

### Bishop

![](Chess_bll44.png "Chess_bll44.png") The bishop can move any number of
squares diagonally. The bishop may not jump over any piece of either
color.

The bishop is restricted to the color of squares on which it began the
game. Each player starts out with one light-square bishop that moves on
the light colored squares, and one dark-square bishop that moves on the
dark colored squares. In the diagram below, the bishop stands on a light
square and can only move to other light squares. This piece worth 3
points.

{{-}} 

{{-}}

#### Capturing Pieces

The bishop captures any opponent\'s piece that it encounters during the
movement described above, and then occupies the captured piece\'s
square. In the diagram above the bishop may take any of the black
queens. Notice that bishop may not move (jump) to squares behind or
capture pieces hiding behind the queens.

### Rook

![](Chess_rll44.png "Chess_rll44.png") The rook can be moved any number
of squares horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Like the
bishop, the rook cannot jump over any pieces, except for
\"castling\".This piece is worth 5 points.

{{-}} 

{{-}}

#### Capturing Pieces

If the rook attempts to occupy a space already occupied by an
opponent\'s piece, it captures the piece. In the diagram above the rook
may take any of the black queens.

### Queen

![](Chess_qll44.png "Chess_qll44.png") The queen is the most powerful
piece, being able to move any number of squares in any lateral or
diagonal direction. It is best described as the combination of a rook\'s
and bishop\'s movement capabilities.This piece is worth 9 points.

{{-}} 

{{-}}

#### Capturing Pieces

The queen captures any opponent\'s piece that it encounters during the
movement described above, and then occupies the captured piece\'s
square. In the diagram above the queen may take any of the black queens.

### King

![](Chess_kll44.png "Chess_kll44.png") The king can move one square at a
time in any direction, as long as doing so does not place himself in
check (see below). This piece is worth ∞ points, because if you lose the
king, you lose the game. (Note that the king would be 3.5 points as an
attacker/defender.) {{-}} 

{{-}}

#### Capturing Pieces

The king may capture any opponent\'s piece adjacent to it, as long as
doing so does not place himself in check (see below). In the diagrams
above the king may take any of the black knights.

#### Check

The king is the most important piece belonging to each player, though
not the most powerful. If a player moves a piece such that he threatens
to capture his opponent\'s king in the next move, that king is said to
be in *check*.

If a player\'s king is in check, he must immediately remove the check by
moving the king, blocking the check with another piece, or capturing the
checking piece.

In the diagram below black\'s rook has checked the white king. White may
avoid the check by moving the king one step sideways, blocking the check
by putting the rook between the attacking black rook and the white king,
or capture the black rook using the white bishop. Other normally legal
moves, like moving one of the pawns, are illegal in this position since
they will not remove the check.

In a friendly game, a check is usually announced by saying *check* after
the move is completed.

{{-}}

#### Checkmate

If the king is placed in check and can not escape, it is said to have
been *checkmated* (or \"*mated*\" for short). The first player to
checkmate the opponent\'s king wins the game. Note that the king is
never actually captured, since it is obliged to move out of check
whenever possible (and the game ends when it is impossible). In the
diagram below white has no options to escape the check from black\'s
rook, he is therefore checkmated.

{{-}}

#### Special Restrictions --- Avoiding \"Self-check\"

Players may not make any move which allows their king to be captured in
the next move, i.e. places their own king in check. Thus two kings may
never occupy adjacent squares, since they would have put themselves in
check by moving there. This is called the \"opposition\" and is
indispensable when, for instance, you are using a queen or rook to
checkmate a king.

The white king in the following diagram cannot move upwards or to the
left since it would be in check from the bishop, or diagonally downwards
which would leave it adjacent to the black king. Also, as no piece is
threatening it if it fails to move, the king is not currently in check.
Similarly, the black king cannot move diagonally upwards as that would
put it next to the White king.

{{-}}

The diagram below shows a position where the white bishop\'s movement is
restricted by the same rule; the bishop can not be moved since the move
would let black capture the white king in his next move. The white king
on the other hand may move to any of the adjacent squares.
 {{-}}

## Special Moves

#### Pawn Promotion

If a pawn makes it to one of the eight squares along the far edge of the
board from their initial position, the pawn is \"promoted\". Upon
reaching the far rank the player exchanges the pawn with either a queen,
a rook, a bishop, or a knight. The player\'s move ends when the new
piece occupies the promoted square.

The new piece need not be a previously captured piece. Thus a player can
have more than one queen, and more than two rooks, bishops or knights on
the board. The player may never have more than one king, since the pawn
can not be promoted to a king. In theory it is possible to get up to
nine queens, or ten rooks, bishops or knights since there are eight
pawns to promote. In practice however the pawn is usually promoted to a
queen, since it is the most powerful piece, and it is rare for a player
to have more than two queens on the board. If an extra queen is not at
hand, an upside-down rook is usually used as a substitute.

{{-}}

#### Castling

!Kingside castling:
O-O !Queenside
castling: O-O-O

Castling is a move involving the king and either of the rooks. Castling
performed with the king\'s rook is called kingside castling, performed
with the queen\'s rook is called queenside castling. A castling is
typically done to move the king to a protective \'castle\' surrounded by
three pawns and a rook.

Subject to restrictions detailed below, a player may move his king two
squares towards the rook, and subsequently, *on the same turn*, move the
rook adjacent to but on the opposite side of the king, (onto the square
over which the king has just passed).

The restrictions specific to castling are:

1.  Neither the king nor the participating rook may have moved
    previously in the game
2.  The king must not be in check at the start of the move, though it
    may have been in check previously in the game.
3.  The square over which the king passes must not be under attack (\'in
    check\') from an enemy piece. (This would expose the king to a
    \"check\" in passing.) The rook(s) may be under attack, or the
    queens\' rooks may pass through an attacked queens\' knight square.
4.  The king must not be in check at the end of the move. (Also applies
    to all normal moves.)
5.  The squares between the king and rook must be vacant.

The diagrams below show examples of positions where castling is not
legal.

{{-}}

Note that the king must be the first piece moved and it must be moved
two squares before it is released. If the rook is touched or moved
first, then the king must stay where it is. This rule mainly applies in
\"strict rules of chess\" where if a piece is touched, it must be moved.
Touching the rook first indicates a rook only move, while releasing the
king after one square indicates a king only move. Moving the king two
squares is not a legal move by itself, and indicates a castling move.

{{-}}

#### *En passant* capture

*En passant* is French for \"in passing\"; you capture an enemy pawn as
it is passing you.

When a pawn on its first move advances two squares onto the same rank as
an opposing pawn on an adjacent file, this opposing pawn may, on that
player\'s next move only, capture the advancing pawn as though it had
only moved one square (provided the move is otherwise legal). The
pawn\'s ability to move two squares on their first move was a relatively
late addition to the game of chess. En Passant was introduced to prevent
abuses of the new rule.

In the following example, the Black pawn advances two squares, and is
captured by the White pawn which moves diagonally forwards and to the
right (as if the Black pawn had moved only one square forward and been
there). This move is only allowed on the turn in which the option is
presented.

{{-}}

## Initial position

In the initial position each side has eight pawns, two rooks, two
knights, two bishops, a queen and a king arranged as shown in the
diagram below. Note that the only pieces on either side which can
initially move are the pawns and knights.

Beginners often set up the board incorrectly; it is a complex position
to remember. The following mnemonics may help you remember where the
pieces go.

-   **White on the Right** It is important that the bottom-right-hand
    square is light-colored.
-   **Knights live in castles** One knight is placed next to each rook
    (rooks look like the towers of a castle, and are sometimes
    \[incorrectly\] even *called* castles.)
-   **Queens on their color** OR **The dress matches the shoes** The
    White Queen goes on a White Square, Black Queen goes on a Black
    Square
-   **Bishops are advisers to the Royalty** Bishops surround the King
    and Queen.
-   **White King on the Right** From the White Player\'s perspective,
    both Kings are on the right, and from the Black Player\'s
    perspective, the Kings are on the left.

If the ranks and files are printed on the board, the following rules may
be helpful:

-   White\'s pieces should be placed on the 1st and 2nd rank, and
    Black\'s pieces should be placed on the 7th and 8th rank.
-   The Queens should be positioned on the d-file (*D for Dame*).

{{-}}

## Conclusion of the game

Play continues to alternate between White and Black until one of the
following outcomes is reached:

### Winning and losing

-   One player\'s king is checkmated. The game is lost by that player.
-   In a competitive game, one player runs out of time. The game is lost
    by that player (with two important exceptions, see draws below).
-   One player resigns, which is equivalent to quitting the game. A
    player may resign on either his or his opponent\'s turn. Resignation
    is often symbolized by the resigning player tipping over his king.

### Draws

-   The player to move has been *stalemated*, meaning that he has no
    legal move and is not in check.
-   Both players agree to draw the game. Either player may offer a draw
    to the opponent upon completion of his move. If the offer is
    accepted, the game is drawn. If the offer is rejected, the game will
    continue.
-   A player can claim a draw with if any of the following are true:
    -   If the exact same position occurs or will occur three times with
        the same player to move, the player on move may claim a draw by
        threefold repetition. Note that the same set of moves must be
        available for each player (including castling and *en passant*).
    -   No pawn has moved and no piece was captured in the last 50
        moves.
    -   The opponent does not have sufficient material to checkmate him
        by any legal sequence of moves.
    -   Both players have run out of time in a competitive game.
    -   One player has run out of time in a competitive game, but the
        opponent does not have sufficient pieces to checkmate him by any
        legal sequence of moves.

{{-}}

The diagrams above shows example of some of the draw rules:

-   Stalemate: Since black can not move the pawn or the king without
    placing himself in self-check, the game results in a stalemate.
-   Threefold repetition: Black has checked white, and can continue to
    check white forever by moving the rook back and forth between f2 and
    f1. The same position will thus occur again and again.
-   50 move rule: White has material advantage and enough material to
    mate, but if black plays correctly black will use his bishop to
    avoid being mated forever.
-   Insufficient mating material: White has material advantage, but not
    enough material to mate.

## Chess Etiquette

Generally, chess games at tournaments are conducted under the following
rules:

-   **Touch-move rule** - If a player touches his own piece, he must
    move it, and if a player touches an opponents piece, he must capture
    it (unless the capture is not possible). If he releases a piece on a
    square, the move is completed and can\'t be taken back. If you need
    to center a piece on its square, it is traditional to say
    *j\'adoube* (I adjust).
-   **Be silent when your opponent is on the move** - You can only
    adjust pieces, offer a draw, or claim a draw when it is your turn to
    move.

A friendly game may be played in any way that is mutually agreeable.
Generally it is considerate to avoid distracting your opponent.

## Glossary

-   **Capture** - To move one\'s piece into the same square as one of
    one\'s opponent\'s pieces. The opponent\'s piece is removed from the
    board.
-   **Check** - The king is \'in check\' when it is being attacked by an
    enemy piece.
-   **Checkmate** - The player whose turn it is can make no legal move
    to get his king out of check.
-   **Stalemate** - The player whose turn it is can make no legal move,
    but the king is not in check.


es:Manual de Ajedrez/Iniciación del
juego
it:Scacchi/Le regole del
gioco
ms:Catur/Bermain
nl:Schaken/Spelregels
pt:Xadrez/Regras ro:Şah/Reguli de
bază
zh:国际象棋/规则
