Learning Chess — Basic rules (Part 3)

This part of the learning Chess series will discuss the basic rules of chess. The rules of chess are embedded in the movement of the chess pieces.

Starting Position
Bellow you can observe the starting positions of all chess pieces from both players.

The movement of pieces
Chess, among other things, is a game about taking pieces from your opponent. We do this by moving a chess piece on a square where another chess piece is located from your opponent. For instance, by moving our white knight on a square where a black pawn is, we are taking the black pawn, by figuratively speaking, knocking the black pawn of the board and its square. Therefore, we are going to discuss how a certain type of chess piece can move and take. It is also important to note that you can only move each turn one piece at the time. There is a special rule that allows a player to move two pieces at once, which we are going to discuss in the Advanced rules section.

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The Pawn
The Pawn can be moved each turn one square forward and can take diagonally. The pawn is a bit odd because it can’t take another piece that is in its line of movement. Also, if another piece blocks the pawn its line of movement, the pawn is stuck and cannot be moved by the player anymore until the piece that blocks the pawn has been removed. The Pawn is the only piece that cannot take in its line of movement. If the line of movement would have been blocked for let’s say a Rook, the Rook can simply take the piece located in its line of movement.

The Pawn from starting position
The Pawn from a starting position has the ability to choose to either move one square or two squares forward.
That is up to the player to decide. However, once the pawn has been moved, it loses its ability to do this.

Pawn Quiz 1
White to move. Which of the 3 black pieces can the white pawn take?
Answer

Pawn Quiz 2
White to move. How many squares can the pawn on e2e2 move?
Answer

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The Queen
The Queen moves and takes fairly simple. It can move —from the position she is in— in any direction she desires, and take any opponent piece in her line of movement. This is also why the Queen is regarded as the most powerful piece. The Queen like any other pieces cannot move through a piece, only the Knight has this ability. For instance, if the Queen wants to go to the other side of the board, while a pawn is located in her line of movement in the middle of a board. The Queen has to first take the pawn that is blocking her line of movement, before moving further. This requires two turns. One turn to take the pawn, and one turn for progressing the Queen to the other side of the board.

Queen Quiz 1
White to move. How many pieces can the Queen on d3d3 take, and what are those pieces?
Answer

Queen Quiz 2
White to move. Can the Queen on d2d2 go to d8d8 ?
Answer

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The Rook
The rook moves and takes similarly as the Queen. The only difference is that the Rook cannot move diagonally like the Queen. Like discussed only the Knight can go throughother pieces, the rook like the Queen has to first
take the piece blocking its line of movement before progressing.

Rook Quiz
White to move. Can the rook take the Knight on g5g5 ?
Answer

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The Bishop
The Bishop —on its own colour— moves and takes diagonally.
This means that a light squared Bishop can only move on the light squares, and a dark squared Bishop can only move on the dark square.

Bishop Quiz
White to move. How many pieces can the Bishop on d4d4 take and what are those pieces?
Answer

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The Knight
The Knight is even more of an oddball compared to the Pawn.
It moves and takes in a ‘L’ shape. The Knight can only move to the end of a L shape.
For instance, bellow, the Knight cannot go to e3 and e4 , the only squares the Knight can move from the position it is in, are: d7,f7,g6,g4,f3,d3,c4d7,f7,g6,g4,f3,d3,c4 and c6. Considering the movement of the knight, we now understand why the Knight can go through other pieces. Or phrased properly, can jump over other pieces.

Knight Quiz 1
White to move. How many pieces can the Knight on d4 take and what are those pieces?
Answer

Knight Quiz 2
White to move. Can the Knight move to e6?
Answer

Knight Quiz 3
What is a possible road for the Knight to take to arrive at the square f8?
Answer

Knight Mnemonic
The Knight kinda has an L shape, so you can remember how the Knight move by imagining the Knight on the board like this:

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The King
The King can move and take like the Queen in any direction, however it can only do so one square at a time.
Furthermore, because the King is the most vulnerable piece, the King cannot move to a square that is being attacked by an opponent piece. If you do this, then you would theoretically checkmate yourself. Doing this, is also referred to as an illegal move.

King Quiz 1
White to move. How many pieces can the King take and what are those pieces?
Answer

King Quiz 2
White to move. Can the King move to d3d3 ?
Answer

King Quiz 3
White to move. Can the white King move to e5e5 ?
Answer

That’s it for the basic rules, if I forgot something I will just come back and add it in. Next we will discuss the advanced rules like castling and en passant.