Chess for Beginners

Chess is a battle of wits. Unlike many other indoor games, there is no place for chance or luck in this game. The only occasion when chance may be considered to have taken a hand, is at the opening of the game, when the opening player is named by drawing of lots. Hence it is necessary for a learner aspiring to become a master player, to have the following mental equipment to an average degree:

• An over-whelming interest in the game and desire to achieve skill.
• Persistency
• Concentration
• Imagination
• Intelligence with some caution
• Patience
• A good memory

Chess can be played only by two persons at a time although interested spectators also get a thrill from moves made. .

Chessboard is the battle field on which the two armies clash. It is a square board made of wood or cardboard. The board is divided into sixty-four squares, exactly equal and a corner square is painted black and the adjacent square, sideways or forward, is painted white and this alternative color painted is carried out until all the squares are either black or white. It contains eight vertical rows (files) of eight squares each, and eight horizontal rows (ranks) of eight squares each. The squares are also often referred to as either white or black squares. All the squares can be used in play.

The two armies which are to fight on the above battlefield are represented by what are known as chessmen. The chessmen, which you can buy along with the chess board, comprise thirty-two items – two sets of sixteen items each, identical to each other in all respects except in color. One set is usually white or light in color, while the other set is black or dark in color.

Each player has eight pieces and eight pawns; the pieces are a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, and two knights; these may be called the officers of our little army, the eight pawns are the soldiers.

The method of placing the pieces and pawns previous to the commencement of a game is as follows: Having placed the board with a white square on your right-hand corner, place a rook on that square; on the corner square on your left hand, place the other rook; next to each of the rooks place a knight, next to each knight a bishop: you will then have two squares left for the king and queen. If you play with the white pieces you must place the queen on a white square, the remaining black square is for the king: the black pieces are placed in a similar way on the opposite side of the board, the black queen being on a black square, and the black king on a white one, each player places the eight pawns in front of the pieces on the square immediately before them. The frontispiece shows the proper position of the pieces and pawns before a game is begun.

The square on which the king is originally placed, is always called the king’s square; the bishop which stands close to the king is called the king’s bishop, next to this piece stands the king’s knight, and in the adjoining corner the king’s rook; the squares they stand on are always called the king’s bishop’s square, the king’s knight’s square, and the king’s rook’s square. You will observe that the squares are called after the piece that is originally placed on them. On the other side of the king stand the queen, and the squares she occupies is called the queen’s square; next to her is a bishop, which, because it is on the queen’s side, is called the queen’s bishop, to distinguish it from the bishop which stands close to the king; next to the queen’s bishop is the queen’s knight, and in the corner the queen’s rook; the squares on which these pieces stand, are called the queen’s bishop’s square, the queen’s knight’s square, and the queen’s rook’s square.

You have learned a lot now. You have learned the names of the squares, how to set up the board and the pieces, most of the rules of play, how the pieces move. In fact, you are just about ready to start playing chess.