The En Passant

The En Passant Pawn Capture

Every pawn, on its first move, has the choice of moving either one or two squares forward.
Look at this diagram.
Black may think, "If I move my pawn one square White will capture it so I'll move it two squares." and the position would be as shown in the diagram below:

However, White can still take the Black pawn as if it had moved only one square.

The new position would be as shown in the diagram below. White removes the black pawn from the board and places the White pawn on the square the Black pawn would have moved to if it had only moved one square forward.

This special way of capturing is called capturing en passant and is abbreviated e.p. En passant is a French expression which means "in passing" The en passant capture must be done immediately after the black pawn advances two squares. If White plays another move she cannot then decide to capture en passant!

Drawn

How Games are Drawn

There are six ways to draw a game of chess:


1. Perpetual Check - If an opponent checks the enemy King repeatedly we call this perpetual check. Perpetual check is usually used by the weaker side to avoid losing the game. In the diagram below White is ahead on material and is threatening checkmate by moving the Queen to g7.

Black has a saving series of moves which give perpetual check:

1. Kh1 Qf1+
2. Kh2 Qf2+
3. Kh1 Qf1+
4. Kh2 Qf2+

There is no way White can avoid Black from checking her King so the game is a draw.


2. Stalemate - If the King is not in check but it is unable to move to a safe square we say that the King is stalemated and the game is drawn. Many beginners who are ahead on material mistakenly stalemate the enemy king. Beware! In the diagram below the White King is not in check but it has no safe squares to go to so the game is a draw.

3. Insufficient mating material - When neither side has enough pieces on the board to checkmate the enemy king then the game is drawn. It is impossible to checkmate with:

1. Just the two Kings on the board.
2. King and Bishop against a King
3. King and Knight against a King
4. King and two Knights against a King

4. Repetition of moves - If the same position occurs three times in a game then a player may claim a draw. The perpetual check position above is also a draw because the same position occurs three times.

5. Fifty move rule - If both sides have made 50 consecutive moves without making a capture or pawn move then a player may claim a draw.

6. Draw by agreement - Both players may feel that the position on the board is equal and consequently agree to a draw. Many Grandmaster games end in a draw in this way.

Check and checkmate

Check and Checkmate

Check

When the King is being attacked directly by an opponent's piece we say that the King is in check. In the diagram the Black King is being checked by the White Bishop.

If the King is in check it must be made safe immediately.
There are three ways to get out of check:

1. The King may move to a square which is not being attacked by an enemy piece.
In the diagram below the King has moved out of check.

2. A piece may be moved in between the King and the enemy piece to block the check.
In this diagram the Black Bishop blocks the check with her Bishop.

3. The piece that is attacking the King can be captured.
In this diagram the Bishop can be captured by the Black Rook.

This is the new position after the Rook has made its capture. The King is no longer in check!

Checkmate

If the King is in check and cannot get out of check then we say the King is checkmated and the game is lost.
In the diagram below, the White Queen checks the Black King.

Black is not able to do any of the following:

1. move to a square which is not being attacked by an enemy piece.

2. move a piece between the King and the enemy piece to block the check.

3. capture the attacking piece.
so Black is checkmated and has lost the game!

Chessboard

Setting up the Chessboard

Chess is a very old game. People believe that it originated in India in the fourth or fifth century but no one really knows who invented it. Chess is an intellectual competition between two players and is a very logical game where luck plays little part. The winner is the person who solves the puzzles on the chess board better than her opponent.
The game is played on a squared board divided into 64 squares, alternating from light to dark. The board is always set up so that each player has the light square on her right-hand side. (Remember: light on the right). The Queen always stands on the square of her own colour. Thus, the light coloured Queen must stand on the light coloured square. A good way of remembering this is the saying: The Queen is a fashionable lady. She likes her dress to match her shoes!

The Chessmen

The pieces and pawns are called chessmen. They have different points to indicate how valuable they are. A Queen is worth 9 points so she is far more valuable than a pawn which is only worth 1 point. The King can never be captured and if he is in danger then he must move to a safe place or another chessman must make him safe. If he can not reach safety then the game is lost. The person with the White pieces always begins the game.


The table below shows how the chessmen are represented in printed material, the symbol given to it and its value.


Chessman Name Symbol Value

The King K Invaluable

The Queen Q 9 points

The Rook. R 5 points

The Bishop B 3 points

The Knight N 3 points

The Pawn P 1 point

The Rook

How the Rook Moves and Captures

The Rook moves horizontally and vertically any number of squares, forwards or backwards. In the diagram the Rook can move to any of the highlighted squares.

In this diagram the Rook now has less choice of squares to which it can move because the other White pieces block its path. It can now only move to the highlighted squares.

If an enemy piece is standing on a square to which the Rook can move, it can be captured. In the next diagram, White is able to capture the Bishop with her Rook. She does this by removing the Bishop from the board and placing the Rook on that square instead.

The Rook captures the Bishop and claims the square for itself!

The Bishop

How the Bishop Moves and Captures

The Bishop moves diagonally any number of squares, forwards or backwards. The diagram below shows all the possible squares to which the bishop may move. Each side has two bishops; one bishop moves along the light coloured squares and the other bishop moves along the dark coloured squares.

The Bishop's path can be blocked by other pieces on the chessboard. In the diagram below the Bishop now has less choice of squares to which it can move because the other White pieces block its path.
In the diagram below the White Bishop is able to capture the Rook. She does this by removing the Rook from the board and placing her Bishop in its place.

This diagram shows the position after the Bishop has captured the Rook.

The Knight

The Knight

The Knight moves in an L shape in any direction. We can say that it either moves two squares sideways and then one square up or down, or two squares up or down, and then one square sideways. The Knight changes the colour of the square it stands on with each move. Therefore, if it starts off on a light coloured square, when it has finished its move it will land on a dark coloured square. In the diagram the Knight can move to any of the red squares.

Just like a real horse, the Knight may jump over pieces. Therefore, the White Knight can move to any of the highlighted squares in the diagram below.

The Knight is able to jump over the pawn in its way and capture the black pawn.

The Knight captures the pawn.

The Pawn

The Pawn

The pawn seems, to the beginner, to be rather insignificant. After all, it is worth only 1 point, the least of any of the other chessmen. However, pawns can be very important as you will come to appreciate.

At the beginning of the game each side has 8 pawns. Except on its first move, a pawn may only move one square forward at a time. Pawns can never move backwards. When a pawn makes its very first move it has a choice; it can either move one square or two. However, it moves one square in all following moves.

If the square immediately in front of the pawn contains another piece then the pawn is unable to move forward. It is blocked. None of the pawns in this diagram can move.

Although a pawn moves straight forward it captures by talking one square diagonally forward. In the diagram White can capture either the Rook or the Knight. She does this by removing the captured piece from the board and replacing it with the pawn.

This diagram shows the position after the pawn has captured the Rook.

When a pawn reaches the other end of the board it can be changed for any other piece of its own colour, except the King. This is called promotion. Therefore, a pawn can be promoted to a Queen, a Rook, a Bishop or a Knight. Normally a pawn is promoted to a Queen but sometimes there may be a good reason to promote a pawn to another piece instead. If there is not a spare Queen, a Rook turned upside down (or any other suitable object) is place on the board to represent a Queen . A pawn is promoted by removing the pawn from the board and placing the chosen piece on the promotion square.



The Pawn Game

Pelts and Alburt, in Comprehensive Chess Course, describe The Pawn Game. This game is very good for learning how pawns move. Remember the pawns move one square forward (never backward) except on their first move when they have a choice of moving either one or two squares. They capture by moving one square diagonally forward.

Choosing for colours

One of the players hides a Black pawn in one hand and a White pawn in the other. She then holds out both fists in front of her and the opponent selects one of them. The opponent will play Black if the fist contains the Black pawn, and he will play White if it contains the White pawn. After the first game the players switch colours every game.

The starting position

The pawns are placed on the board as in normal chess but no other pieces are used.

You win the game:

a) if your opponent gives up; or
b) if you are the first to capture all your opponent's pawns; or
c) if you are the first to reach the last rank (i.e. your opponent's first rank) with one of your pawns; or
d) if it is your opponent's turn to move but all her pawns are blocked and do not have any moves, while you yourself can make at least one move.

The game is a draw:

a) if the two players agree to call it a draw; or
b) if both sides pawns are blocked up so that neither side can make any moves.

Other rules:

a) If you touch one of your own men when it is your turn to move, you must move it.
b) If you touch one of your opponent's men, you must capture it if you can.
c) Once you make a move, you cannot change it so think carefully.

A Brief Guide to the Rules of Chess_files

A Brief Guide to the Rules of Chess

1. The chessboard is placed so that the white square is on the right side of the player.

2. The player with the White pieces always moves first.

3. A pawn on reaching the last rank can be exchanged for a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight as part of the same move. The effect of this promoted piece is immediate. So if the pawn is promoted to a Queen, the Queen, if it is in a position to do so, may check or checkmate the enemy King.

4. Each move must be made with only one hand.

5. A piece that is touched must be moved unless moving this piece would place the King in check. This is called the "touch-move rule".

6. If an opponent's piece is touched then it must be captured if possible. If this is not possible then play continues as if that piece had not been touched.

7. A person may adjust a piece on the chessboard on her move by saying "j'adoube" which is French for "I adjust".

8. When castling, the King must be moved first and then the Rook brought to stand on the opposite side to the King.

9. When using a clock, the button must be pressed with the hand which moved the piece on the chessboard.

10.All play should be conducted with respect for the opponent. A player should not distract or annoy her opponent in any way.