Basic course of chess

In this course you will learn the very basics of chess. You will get to know how the pieces move and capture. Ultimately, you will be able to play chess without any assistance and enjoy it!

Chessboard is square in shape and consists of 64 squares with an alternating pattern of light and dark squares.

The King is the most valuable but the weakest piece. (weakest piece in terms of strength, his abilities).

The King moves one square in any direction: diagonally, horizontally, and vertically.

How does the pawn move and capture?

Pawn moves only one square at a time. A pawn can move either one or two squares forward from its starting position.

Pawn captures diagonally forward one square to the left or right.

Pawn that hasn't moved yet has an option of moving two squares forward at once.

When pawn reaches the last rank it has to be promoted to any piece other than the King. (Most players prefer to promote a pawn to a Queen.) Most commonly, a pawn is promoted to the Queen.

How does the Rook move and capture?

The Rook moves in a straight line either vertically or horizontally through any number of unoccupied squares. The Rook is worth 5 pawns.

How does the Bishop move and capture?

The Bishop moves diagonally in a straight line through any number of unoccupied squares.

The Bishop is worth 3 pawns.

How does the Queen move and capture?

The Queen moves vertically, horizontally and diagonally in a straight line through any number of unoccupied squares.

The Queen is the most powerful piece which is worth 10 pawns.

How does the knight move and capture?

Knights moves in a shape of the letter "L" and changes the colour of square it stands on each move (every time it moves). Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.

The Knight is worth 3 pawns.

Castling is a simultaneous move by the king and the rook. This move is very effective because the King moves away from the center of the board whereas the rook is brought into the game.

Four conditions when castling cannot be done:

1. There are pieces between the King and the Rook

2. The King or the Rook have already made a move.

3. The King is currently in check.

4. The King needs to pass through or end up on a square that is under attack (f1, d1 for white; f8,d8 for black)

En passent is a special pawn capture.

When a threatened pawn advances two squares from its starting position, and enemy pawn is on the adjacent file and on its 5-th rank, a threatened pawn can be removed as if a pawn had moved only one square. This is how en passant rule works.

Check occurs when the King is under a threat to be captured. 2 tips on how to check the King.

Also there are 3 simple ways to defend the King against check, you can find them out in our ABCHESS application, which is available on iOS and Android.

Checkmate occurs when the King is in check and cannot legally escape.

There are 3 possible outcomes of a chess game – a win, a loss, or a draw. In total, there are 5 types of draws. One of them is a stalemate. Stalemate occurs when neither the King nor the friendly pieces can move and at the same time King is not in check.