Chess explained in layman terms
The best thing about chess is that anybody can play it. All it takes is to learn a few simple rules and you can dive into the black and white jungle to explore the magic for yourself. In this article, we are going to explain the laws of chess-land so you
can become a fully qualified citizen.
The first thing that you need to know is that there are six different types of pieces in chess. We have a king and a queen. Accompanying the duo are the rook, bishop, knight and the pawn. However, the number of each piece varies. There is only one king and
one queen but the rook, bishop and knight come in pairs. We have a handful of pawns, the total number being eight. As there are two players involved in chess, this gives us a grand total of 32 chess pieces. Of these, 16 are black and the other 16 are white.
Black and white is the classic color combination for chess. However, we can now find chess being played in different colors as well.
Let’s move on to the chess board. In case you did not already know, the chess board is black and white and divided into symmetrical squares. There are 64 of these present on the board. The black and white pieces are set opposite each other on two ends of
the chess board. The pieces are set according to a standardized format. A row of eight pawns covers the back row in which the rest of the pieces are positioned. In the middle of this row are the king and the queen. The white queen stands on the white square
whereas the black stands on the black one. On both sides of the king and queen, the bishops are placed. Next to them, the knights stand. The last two squares of the row are filled by the rooks.
Now that the pieces are set, it is time to move them. Let’s start with the basics and talk about the pawn movement. A pawn moves forward in a straight line. It will only move one square ahead, unless it’s the first time that it is moving. At a pawn’s first
turn, the player has the option of making it move two squares ahead or only one. However, when the pawn has to capture a piece, it will do so by moving one space ahead diagonally. A king’s movement is also similar to a pawn’s. It can also move one square at
a time, but in any direction. Unlike the pawn movement, a king can capture a piece in the same fashion.
Rook is a piece that moves in straight lines, both back and forth. It will move to any number of vacant spaces available to it, on the board. Its capturing follows the same pattern. Like the rook, a bishop also moves to any number of vacant spaces and captures
in the same way. However, a bishop will move only diagonally. The most powerful piece in chess is the queen because it can move in any direction, to any number of vacant spaces that it has. It strikes in a similar fashion. The last piece is the most unique
one. It moves in an L-shape, as long as the landing square is vacant. It does not matter if other pieces are in the way because it can jump over them. The knight captures a piece in the same way.
According to Marcel Duchamp, the famous French artist,
"The chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chess-board, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem... I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not
chess players, all chess players are artists. "
Welcome to the world of chess!
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