The Object Of The Game...

So in the last blog post we learned how the pieces move. If you are just now reading this blog you can find out how the pieces move here. Now that you know the basic moves and rules for how to set the board up and how the pieces move it is time to learn some special moves.

Special Moves:

Castling:

• A move that allows you to place your King on a square that is relatively safe from enemy attack. 
• The only move that involves a move of two pieces on a player's turn.
• Castling is accomplished by moving the King two squares toward the Rook he intends to castle with, then the Rook is placed on the square directly beside the other side of the King.

Castling may NOT be played when:

• The King is in check, i.e, under enemy attack
• Either the King or Rook involved has previously moved.
• Pieces (either side) are between the King and the Rook.
• Squares passed over or landed on by the King are under enemy attack.

Pawn Promotion:

• When a Pawn reaches the eighth rank (the enemy's back rank) it is promoted to a Queen, Rook, Bishop, or Knight of its own color, according to the player's choice.

Capturing En Passant:

• This special capturing power of a Pawn applies only to the capture of a Pawn by a Pawn, in a specific type of situation. That situation occurs when a Pawn on the second row uses its option to advance two squares on its first move and moves beside an enemy Pawn on the row and on either square directly beside it.
• If this situation arises in the game then the opponent has the option to capture as if it had only advanced one square. 
• If the opponent forfeits to capture via en passant the next turn then he cannot do so later on. 

The Object Of Chess:

  

The object of chess it to attack the enemy King in such a way that it cannot escape capture. Once this is done the King is 'checkmated' and the game is over. Therefore, whenever a King is under attack, 'check', it must escape that attack before the game can go on. There are three ways to get out of a check:

1. Capturing the checking piece either with your King or another piece.
2. Blocking the check with another piece by putting one of your pieces between the checking piece and your King.
3. Moving the King to a square that is not being attacked by an enemy piece.

Remember, if a King is in check and has no way of escaping, then that King is 'checkmated'.

Chess Notation:

Now that you know all the moves and the object of the game you must understand chess notation. Chess notation is how people record games so that they can be played back for others to see or even for the players to analyze the game after the fact. The method I will be teaching is considered algebraic notation. Let's look at the board again:

 

Chess notation starts by putting a coordinate grid over the chessboard. The horizontal rows are called ranks and they are numbered 1 to 8. White's first row, the rank containing the White pieces, is number 1. The rank with Black's pieces is now number 8. The vertical rows, or files, are lettered "a" through "h", with "a" starting on White's left and "h" on White's right.

The grid system lets us refer to any square on the board by a unique name. White's King is currently sitting on the square "e." Black's Queen is on square "d8," and so on. In addition to the grid system, we have abbreviations for each of the pieces. Here they are:

King = K

Queen = Q

Rook = R

Bishop = B

Knight = N

Pawn = No abbreviations is given for the pawn. 

To indicated a move, we write down the piece that moved and the square it moved to. However, if a pawn is moving, we don't write anything more than the ending square. We use an "x" if the move was a capture.

Special Notations:

Certain moves in chess have their own special notation.

• Castling King-side is denoted by "0-0." Castling Queen-side is denoted by "0-0-0."
• When promoting a pawn, indicated the promoted piece after the equals sign: for instance "a8 = Q" says that White moved a pawn to the a8 square and promoted it to a Queen.
• A check is denoted by the "+" symbol after a move that threatens a King: for instance "Qd8+" says that White moved his Queen to d8 attacking the Black King. 
• Checkmate is denoted by the "#" symbol: for instance "Qd8#" says that White moved his Queen to d8 and attacked the Black King in a way that he could not escape check.

Capturing en passant is indicated by "ep" after the move: for instance, "dxc6 ep" shows a pawn capturing en passant on the c6 square.

A game is notated with White's move first followed by a comma and then Black's move. The next move is on the next line in the same order. For example,

1. e4, e5

2. Nf3, Nc6

This shows that White's first move was his pawn to e4. Black's first move was his pawn to e5. White's second move was his Knight to f3. Black's second move was his Knight to c6. 

The End

I know this is a lot of material to take in on one blog so feel free to take your time and practice playing a game or two and recording the moves. Please post your games to my comments so I can see how you are moving along. Do not worry if you win or lose. It is all about getting comfortable with how the pieces move and writing your moves down. I am going to leave you with a game of mine with the notation. I want you to play over it to give yourself even more time to fully understand the notation system. If you have any questions please let me know and I will be more than glad to help you the best I can.

In this game I was playing the White pieces from a tournament I played in on May 11 in Charlotte, NC.

1. e4, e6

2. d4, d5

3. e5, c5

4. c3, Nc6

5. Nf3, Qb6

6. a3, c4

7. Be3, Nge7

8. Qd2, Nf5

9. Bf4, Na5

10. Qd1, Bd7

11. b4, cxb3 ep

12. a4, b2

13. Ra2, Rc8

14. Qd2, Nc4

15. Bxc4, Rxc4

16. Rxb2, Qc7

17. Na3, Bxa3

18. Rb3, Be7

19. 0-0, Bxa4

20. Rb2, Rxc3

21. Rfb1, b6

22. Qe2, Rc2

23. Qa6, b5

24. Rxc2, Qxc2

25. Rc1, Qb2

26. Qc6+, K d8

27. Qc8#