Chess Basics for Amateurs

Prabhanjan Panigrahi





Smashwords Edition





Copyright 2015 – Swayam Prabha





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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Chapter – 1 : Introduction

1.1 Chess Pieces

1.2 Board Setup

1.3 Game Play

2. Chapter – 2 : Movement of Chess Pieces

2.1 Common Rules

2.2 General Movement of Pieces

2.3 Castling

2.4 Capture

2.5 En passant

2.6 Promotion

2.7 Check

3. Chapter – 3 : Endings of the Game

3.1 Resignation

3.2 Draw

3.3 Draw Rules

3.4 Draw in Timed Games

3.5 Frequency of Draw

3.6 Time Control

4. Chapter – 4 : Chess Notations

4.1 Move Notation for Humans

4.2 Move Notation for Computer

More Topics





Chapter – 1





INTRODUCTION

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.

Chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee. However, international chess rules and competitions are sanctioned by the FIDE.

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: 1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops, and 8 Pawns. Pieces move in different assigned ways according to their type, and accordingly are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces.

The game's present form emerged in Europe during the second half of the 15th century, an evolution of an older Indian game, Shatranj (cf. Chaturanga). Organized competitive chess began during the 16th century. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886. 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. In addition to the physical game, online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players.

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 overcome a reigning World Chess Champion in playing ability when it defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997

1.1 Chess pieces

By convention, the pieces are divided into "White Pieces" and "Black Pieces" and accordingly, the players are referred to as the "White Player" and the "Black Player". Each player begins the game with one set of sixteen pieces of his/her color. These consist of one King, one Queen, two Rooks, two Bishops, two Knights, and eight Pawns.



Pic. 1.1: Chess Pieces (First Row: White, Second Row: Black)

1.2 Board Setup

Chess is played on a square board of eight rows by eight columns, resulting into sixty-four squares. The colors of the squares alternate and are referred to as the "light squares" and the "dark squares". The rows are referred as the "Ranks" and denoted with numbers "1" to "8" from the side of the white player. The columns are referred as the "Files" and denoted with letters "a" to "h" from left side of the white player.

The chessboard is placed with a light square at the right-hand end of the rank nearest to each player. The pieces are set out face-to-face, with Queens placed on their own color and Kings placed on their opposite color as shown in the picture.



Pic. 1.2: Initial Board Setup

1.3 Game Play

White player always moves first. After the initial move by white player, each player alternately moves one piece at a time. (Moves of the pieces have been explained in Chapter – 2)

A game of chess is normally divided into following three phases:

"Opening Game", when the players move their pieces into useful positions for the coming battle;

"Middle Game”, usually the fiercest part of the game; and

"End Game", when most of the pieces have been captured.

Like any other game, a game of chess also results in a win or a tie. Win may be due to "Checkmate" or "Resignation" or "Time Out". Tie may be due to "Stalemate" or "Three-fold Repetition" or "Agreement" or "Fifty-move Rule" or "Impossibility of Checkmate". (These terms have been explained in Chapter – 3)



Chapter – 2





MOVEMENT OF PIECES

2.1 Common Rules

The following rules apply in common to movement of chess pieces:

Players move their pieces in turn. Only one piece is moved at a time except for "castling" when two pieces (Rook and King) are moved.

Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square or one occupied by the opponent's piece (except King). Later move results in "capture" and the opponent piece is 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.

Except "Knight" no other piece is allowed to jump over either own piece or an opponent piece.

A player is not allowed to 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" resulting in win (if the King is under attack) or a "stalemate" resulting in tie (if the King is not).

Each piece has its own style of moving. In the pictures, the pieces on unmarked squares where the piece on marked square(s) can move if no other pieces (including one's own piece) are on the squares between the piece's initial position and its destination (exp. Knight).

2.2 General Movement of Pieces

General movements of different pieces are as follows:

The "King" (Pic. 2.1) 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" (Pic. 2.2) 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.



Pic. 2.1: Movements of King



Pic. 2.2: Movements of Rook

The "Bishop" (Pic. 2.3) can move any number of squares diagonally, but may not leap over other pieces.



Pic. 2.3: Movements of Bishop



Pic. 2.4: Movements of Queen

The "Queen" (Pic. 2.4) 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" (Pic. 2.5) 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" (Pic. 2.6) may move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file (b2 �ął b3); or on its first move it may advance two squares along the same file provided both squares are unoccupied (f2 �ął f4); 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 (c5 �ął d6). The Pawn has two special moves: the "en passant capture" and "Pawn promotion".



Pic. 2.5: Movements of Knight



Pic. 2.6: Movements of Pawn

2.3 Castling

Castling consists of moving the King two squares along the first rank toward a Rook and then placing the Rook on the last square the King has just crossed. Depending upon the side to which King moves it may be either "Queen-side castling" (Pic. 2.7) or "King-side castling" (Pic. 2.8). Castling is allowed for each King only once in a game.

Castling is permissible only if all of the following conditions hold:

There must be no pieces between the King and the Rook.

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

The King should neither 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 will be in check.



Pic. 2.7a: Queen-side Castling (before)



2.7b: Queen-side Castling (after)



Pic. 2.8a: King-side Castling (before)



Pic. 2.8b: King-side Castling (after)

2.4 Capture

When a piece is legally moved to a square occupied by an opponent piece (except King), it results in a capture and the opponent piece is removed from the play.

2.5 En passant

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 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) (Pic. 2.9).



Pic. 2.9a: En passant Capture (before)



Pic. 2.9b: En passant Capture (after)

2.6 Promotion

When a Pawn advances to the eighth rank (with or without capturing an opponent piece), 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 (usually a Knight); this is called under promotion. 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).



Chapter – 3





ENDINGS OF THE GAME

A game of chess may end either in a win-loss or in a draw (or tie).

A player wins if he checkmates the opponent king. In addition to checkmate, games may be won by "resignation", if too much material has been lost, or if one's position is severely compromised and a checkmate appears unavoidable.

If it is a timed game, a player may run out of time and lose, even with a much superior position.

Alternatively, 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).

3.1 Check

Check is a pre-requisite for win by checkmate. When a King is under immediate attack by one or more of the opponent's pieces, it is said to be in check.

Immediate response to a check is required by a legal move to a position so that the King is no longer under direct attack (that is, not in check) by any of the opponent pieces. This can be achieved by capturing the checking piece; interposing a piece between the checking piece and the King (which is possible only if the attacking piece is not Knight); or moving the King to a square where it is not under attack. Castling is not a permissible response to check.

3.1 Checkmate

When the King is under immediate attack (in check) and there is no legal way to move or defend it, it’s a checkmate (Pic. 3.1) and the player whose King is checkmated losses the game.



Pic. 3.1a: Checkmate



Pic. 3.2b: Checkmate

3.2 Resignation

Either player may resign which is a win for the other player. It is considered bad etiquette to continue playing when in a truly hopeless position. "A good player knows the right moment to resign" (a proverb). To concede loss of the game, a resignation is usually indicated by stopping the clocks, and sometimes by offering a handshake or saying "I resign". The traditional way to resign is by tipping over one's King, but this is rarely done now-a-days. In master and serious amateur play, it is much more common for a game to be resigned than for it to end with checkmate, because experienced players can foresee checkmate well in advance.

3.3 Draw

In chess, a draw is the alternative possible outcomes of a game, the primary outcome being either a win for White (loss for Black) or a win for Black (loss for White). Traditionally, in tournaments, a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.

For the most part, a draw occurs when it appears that neither side will win. Draws are codified by various rules of chess including stalemate (when the player to move has no legal move and is not in check), threefold repetition (when the same position occurs three times), and the fifty-move rule (when the last fifty successive moves made by both players contain no capture or Pawn move). A draw also occurs by impossibility when neither player has sufficient material to checkmate the opponent or when no sequence of legal moves can lead to checkmate. In games played under time control, a draw may result under additional conditions.

3.4 Draw Rules

A stalemate is an automatic draw, as is a draw because of insufficient material to checkmate. A draw by threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule are optional and may be claimed by one of the players with the arbiter (normally using his score sheet).

A claim of draw first counts as an offer of a draw, and the opponent may accept the draw without the arbiter examining the claim. Once a claim or draw offer has been made, it cannot be withdrawn. If the claim is verified or the draw offer accepted, the game is over. Otherwise, the offer or claim is nullified and the game continues; the draw offer is no longer in effect.

Unless specific tournament rules forbid it, players may agree to a draw at any time. However, ethical considerations may make a draw uncustomary in situations where at least one player has a reasonable chance of winning. For example, a draw may be called after a move or two, but this might likely be considered unsporting.

Article 5 of the FIDE Laws of Chess gives the ways a game may end in a draw, and they are detailed in Article 9.

3.4.1 Stalemate

If the player to move is in check but has no legal move he is under checkmate. Alternatively, if the player to move has no legal move but is not in check, this is stalemate position and the game is automatically a draw. (Pic. 3.2)



Pic. 3.2a: Stalemate



Pic. 3.2b: Stalemate

3.4.2 Threefold Repetition

If an identical position has just occurred three times with the same player to move, or will occur after the player on turn makes his move, the player on move may claim a draw (to the arbiter). In such a case the draw is not automatic - a player must claim it if he wants the draw. When the position will occur for the third time after the player's intended next move, he writes the move on his score-sheet but does not make the move on the board and claims the draw. If the claim is not made on the move in which the repetition occurs, the player forfeits the right to make the claim. Of course, the opportunity may present itself again.

3.4.3 The Fifty-move Rule

If in the previous fifty moves by each side, no Pawn has moved and no capture has been made, a draw may be claimed by either player. Here again, the draw is not automatic and must be claimed if the player wants the draw. If the player whose turn it is to move has made only 49 such moves, he may write his next move on the score-sheet and claim a draw. As with the threefold repetition, the right to claim the draw is forfeited if it is not used on that move, but the opportunity may occur again.

3.4.4 Impossibility of Checkmate

If a position arises in which neither player could possibly give checkmate by a series of legal moves, the game is a draw. This is usually because there is insufficient material left (Pic. 3.3) with both players to checkmate the opponent king.



Pic. 3.3: Insufficient Material

But impossibility of checkmate is possible in other positions too even when either or both players have sufficient material (Pic. 3.4).



Pic. 3.4: Impossibility of Checkmate

Combinations with insufficient material to checkmate are:

a) King versus King,

b) King and Bishop versus King,

c) King and Knight versus King,

d) King and Bishop versus King and Bishop with the Bishops on the same color (Pic. 3.3).

3.4.5 Mutual Agreement

A player may offer a draw to his opponent at any stage of a game, ostensibly with the understanding that an eventual draw by other means is the likely result. If the opponent accepts, the game is a draw.

It is popularly considered that perpetual check (where one player gives a series of checks from which the other player cannot escape) is a draw. However, there is no specific rule for this in the laws of chess, because any perpetual check situation will eventually be claimable as a draw under the threefold repetition rule or by the fifty-move rule, or (more likely) by agreement

3.5 Draws in Timed Games

In games played with a time control, draw may happen in other ways also. Following are certain cases:

A. In a sudden death time control (players have a limited time to play all of their moves), if it is discovered that both players have exceeded their time allotment, the game is a draw. (The game continues if it is not a sudden-death time control.)

B. If only one player has exceeded the time limit, but the other player does not have (theoretically) sufficient mating material, the game is still a draw. If a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by the player. However, the game is drawn, if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate the player's King by any possible series of legal moves, even with the most unskilled counter-play. For example, a player who runs out of time with a King and Queen versus a sole King does not lose the game.

C. A draw is claimable if the opponent is merely attempting to win on time, or cannot possibly win except by on time. It is up to the arbiter to decide whether such a claim will be granted or not.

Above situations (B & C) have been explained in Article 6.9 and Article 10 of the FIDE laws of chess.

3.6 Frequency of Draws

In chess games played at the top level, a draw is the most common outcome of a game. Out of around 22,000 games published in "The Week" in Chess played between 1999 and 2002 by players with a FIDE Elo rating of 2500 or above, 55 percent were draws. Roughly 36 percent of games between top computer chess programs are draws.

3.7 Time Control

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 by that player (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", with time up to three minutes.

Time is monitored using either a "Digital Chess Clock" (Pic. 3.5) or an "Analog Chess Clock" (Pic. 3.6); having one clock for each player.



Pic. 3.5: Digital Chess Clock



Pic. 3.6: Analog Chess Clocks





Chapter – 4





CHESS NOTATIONS

Chess notation is the term used for several systems which have been developed to record either the moves made during a game of chess or the position of the pieces on a chess board. The earliest systems of notation used lengthy narratives to describe each move; these gradually evolved into concise systems of notation. Descriptive chess notation was used in English and Spanish-language literature until the late 20th century, but is now obsolete. Currently algebraic chess notation is the accepted standard, and is widely used. Algebraic notation has a few variations. There are some special systems for computer chess programs. Systems also exist for transmission using Morse code over telegraph or radio.

4.1 Move Notations for Humans

In recognized competitions all players are required to record all the moves of both players in order to: resolve disputes about what the position should now be, whether a player has made an illegal move, etc.; keep an accurate count of the moves if, as in most serious competition, there is a time limit rule which requires each player to complete a specified number of moves in a specified time. All chess coaches strongly recommend the recording of one's games so that one can look for improvements in one's play. There are mainly two variants of chess notations for humans – "Algebraic Notation" and "Descriptive Notation". These variants are also used in chess books.

4.1.1 Algebraic Chess Notation

Algebraic chess notation is more compact than descriptive chess notation, and is the most widely used method for recording the moves of a game of chess. It has been in use in some regions since the early 19th century, and is less prone to error than the English descriptive system. Algebraic notation is the official notation of FIDE which must be used in all recognized international competition involving human players. The U.S. Chess Federation prefers the use of algebraic notation but still permits descriptive notation.



Pic. 4.1: Algebraic Notation for Chess Pieces



Pic. 4.2: Algebraic Notation for Squares

Abbreviated (or short) algebraic notation generally records moves in the format "abbreviation of the piece moved – file to which it moved – rank to which it moved." For example, Qg5 means "Queen moves to the g-file and 5th rank (that is, to the square g5) from its current position. 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).

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.

A player's resignation is often indicated by "1-0" (Black resigns) or "0-1" (White resigns).

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.

4.1.2 Other Variants of Algebraic Chess Notation

"Standard Algebraic Notation (SAN)" is the notation standardized by FIDE. It omits the starting file and rank of the piece, unless it is necessary to disambiguate the move.

"Figurine Algebraic Notation (FAN)" is a widely-used variation of Standard Algebraic Notation which replaces the letter that stands for a piece by its symbol, e.g., �śc6 instead of Nc6 or �
xg4 instead of Rxg4. Pawn is omitted as in standard algebraic notation. This enables the moves to be read independent of language. In order to display or print these symbols, one has to have one or more fonts with good Unicode support installed on the computer (e.g. Chess Leipzig or Chess Kingdom), and the document (web page, word processor document, etc.) must use one of these fonts.

"Long Algebraic Notation (LAN)" includes the starting file and rank of the piece, followed by a dash in addition to the Standard Algebraic Notation, e.g. Ra1-a5.

"Minimal Algebraic Notation (MAN)" is similar to Standard Algebraic Notation but omits the capture indicator ("x"). It was used by Chess Informant.

"Reversible Algebraic Notation (RAN)" is based on LAN, but adds an additional letter for the piece that was captured, if any. The move can be reversed by moving the piece to its original square, and restoring the captured piece, e.g. Rd2xBd6.

"Concise Reversible Algebraic Notation (CRAN)" is like RAN, but omits the file or rank whichever is not needed to disambiguate the move. For example, Rd2:B6. This notation is recommended in Play Stronger Chess by Examining Chess 960: Usable Strategies for Fischer Random Chess Discovered.

"Figurine Concise Reversible Algebraic Notation (FCRAN)" is a form of CRAN with non-Staunton figurines, used by Gene Milener during Chess960 tournaments.

"ICCF Numeric Notation" is used in international correspondence chess as the use of algebraic notation may cause confusion, since different languages have different names for the pieces. The standard for transmitting moves in this form of chess is ICCF numeric notation.

"Smith Notation" is a straight-forward chess notation designed to be reversible and represent any move without ambiguity. The notation encodes the from-square, to-square, and what piece was captured, if any.

"Coordinate Notation" is similar to algebraic notation except that no abbreviation or symbol is used to show which piece is moving. It can almost do this without ambiguity because it always includes the square from which the piece moves as well as its destination, but promotions must be disambiguated by including the promoted piece type, such as in parentheses. It has proved hard for humans to write and read, but is used internally by some chess-related computer software.

4.1.3 Chess Notation Examples

The following tables show the same move in different notations which are used by humans:-



Table 4.1a: Examples of Notations



Table 4.1b: Examples of Notations

4.2 Move Notations for Computers

In addition to Coordinate and Smith notation, which are described above, the following system of chess notations are commonly used for chess-related computer systems. By their nature, these notations are not comprehendible by humans.

"Portable Game Notation (PGN)" is the most common of several notations that have emerged based upon algebraic chess notation, for recording chess games in a format suitable for computer processing.

"Steno-Chess" is another format suitable for computer processing. It sacrifices the ability to play through games (by a human) for conciseness, which minimises the number of characters required to store a game.

"Forsyth–Edwards Notation (FEN)" is a single line format which gives the current positions of pieces on a board, to enable generation of a board in something other than the initial array of pieces. It also contains other information such as castling rights, move number, and color on move.

"Extended Position Description (EPD)" is another format which gives the current positions of a board, with an extended set of structured attribute values using the ASCII character set. It is better than FEN for certain chess variants, such as Fischer Random Chess.

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