Beginners Guide To Chess - 2
Page 1 - Introduction and movement of the pieces
Page 2 - Playing the game
Page 3 - Notation - recording a game
Playing the Game
The Object of the game - Checkmate
The object of chess is to get Checkmate. Before we deal with that we need to look at Check.
Check
In Part 1 we have seen how the pieces move and how they can capture other pieces. There is one piece that cannot be captured however. The King.
If one of your pieces attacks the square your opponent's King occupies, the King is in Check.
For example:
As we have seen on Page 1 the queen can move in any direction forwards and back and diagonally.
So, in the following position the Queen can move to the square the Black King is occupying. Therefore the Black King is in Check. The King cannot be allowed to remain in check.
The Black King is in Check.
If it is a player's turn to move and his King is not in check, he cannot make any move that exposes his King to check. The King must never come within the capturing range of enemy pieces.
There are three ways to get out of check:
1. To capture the piece that is giving check
2. To move the King.
3. To interpose one of your own pieces between the King and the piece that is giving check.
Here is another example: The Queen is checking the Black King. Black has a choice of three different methods of getting his King out of check:
Click the links to see each method.
Capturing the Queen with the Knight
Moving his King to the safe square f7
Moving his King to a safe square f5
Moving his King to a safe square d5
Moving his King to a safe square d6