Chess

01Discover the game

The Chess is a duel between two armies. Each room has its way of moving, but all work towards the same goal: to put the opposing king in an attack from which he can no longer come out. Whites play first; the blacks respond, then the turns alternate. You never play twice in a row.

The overall difficulty is Expert. Learning the travels is accessible; predicting several answers and building a plan requires a lot of training. This tutorial presents the classic chess according to the FIDE rules applicable since January 2023. To discover the game, we play without pendulum, with the time to reflect and check the shots. Sanctions and formalities of a tournament are not reproduced here.

02Equipment

It takes a 64-box chessboard, 8 columns and 8 rows, and 32 pieces. Each camp has exactly 1 king, 1 lady, 2 laps, 2 madmen, 2 horsemen and 8 pawns. An additional lady or a clearly announced substitute is useful for a promotion. A sheet and a pencil allow to note the shots, but are not indispensable for this initiation.

Columns are named from a to h, rows from 1 to 8. A box receives both markers: e4, for example. Marks do not change when looking at the tray from the black side. The letters in our drawings indicate the type of coin: R for king, D for lady, T for tower, F for mad, C for rider and P for pawn; clear or dark indicates the camp.

03The goal

You win by failure and mat : the opposing king is attacked and there is no legal blow to suppress this attack. The king is never captured. A simple attack against him is called a failure; it forces to react, without immediately giving victory.

Taking a lot of coins can help, but not enough to win. A game can also end in abandonment or a null. A null means that no camp wins: a blocked king without being attacked is therefore not matte.

04Install the chessboard

Place the tray with a clear square at the bottom right of each player. For the Whites, the first row, from a1 to h1, receives: turn, rider, mad, lady, king, mad, horseman, turn. Put the eight pawns on the second row. The Blacks have the same coins on the eighth row and their pawns on the seventh. Each lady starts on a square of her color: white lady in d1, black lady in d8. The kings are in e1 and e8.

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Choose the colours at random, then reverse them to the next part. Before you start, check together the ladies' place and the clear box on the right. Whites do the first shot.

05Play a trick and know the special shots

Ordinary travel

In your turn, play a single legal blow. A piece cannot arrive in a box occupied by a piece of its own camp. If it arrives on an opposing piece, it captures it: removes this piece from the game. A capture replaces the ordinary move, it does not add a second shot.

• The Tower goes horizontally or vertically as many boxes as you want, without crossing a room.
• The madman Go diagonally, without crossing a room, so he stays on a single case color.
• The lady combines the movements of the tower and the madman, and she doesn't jump either.
• The rider goes from two boxes in one direction, then one perpendicularly: one L. It can jump over the other parts. Only the finish box counts for capture.
• The King advance a box in any direction. He can never go on an attacked square. So two kings can't be neighbors.
• The pawn forwards from one square to the opposing camp if the box is empty. From its starting box, it can move forward by two squares if the two squares of the journey are empty. It captures only on one of the two squares diagonally in front of it. It never recedes.

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Responding to a failure

You can never let your king attack, or expose him by moving a piece that protected him. In case of failure, check three possibilities: moving the king on a safe square, capturing the attacker, or interposing a piece. The interposition does not work against a rider, a pawn or an adjacent attack. If two pieces fail at the same time, you must move the king. Saying "failure" can help to learn, but this word is not mandatory for the attack to exist.

The Rock

The roque moves the king and a tower in one stroke. For the small white roque, the king goes from e1 to g1 and the tower from h1 to f1. For the great white roque, the king goes from e1 to c1 and the tower from a1 to d1. The blacks do the same on row 8.

The king and the tower concerned must never have moved, even if they have returned to their place. All the squares between them must be free. The king must not be in failure, nor cross or reach an attacked square. For the great roque, b1 or b8 must be empty, but can be attacked: the king does not cross it. An attacked tower can participate in the roque if the other conditions are satisfied. Move first the king, then the tower.

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Promotion

When your pawn reaches the last row, immediately replace it with a lady, a tower, a madman or a horseman from your camp. The choice does not depend on the pieces already captured. So you can have two ladies. You can't choose either a king or a pawn, and you can't wait another lap to decide.

The catch by the way

If an opposing pawn advances from its starting box and arrives next to your pawn on the same row, you can capture it as if it had only advanced a box. This possibility exists only in your next turn immediately. Example: white pawn e5, black pawn d7. After d7–d5, White can play e5–d6 and remove the black pawn d5. This shot must also leave the white king safe.

Handling the pieces

For this initiation, think before touching a piece. Partly regulated, a piece of your voluntarily affected camp must be played if it can be legally played; an affected adverse piece must be captured if it is legal. To refocus a piece, first announces "j-adoube", during your turn. In learning, you can allow together the backslides, but this must be agreed before the part.

06Examples to understand

An opening without capture

White plays e2–e4: the pawn advances by two boxes, the e3 and e4 boxes being free. Black replies e7–e5. White plays Cg1–f3: his rider jumps and attacks the e5 pawn in particular. Black can answer Cb8–c6 to defend this pawn. Four half shots were played, two per camp; attacking does not allow to play again.

See a matte and a pat

In our first drawing, Black has his king in h8, White his king in f6 and his lady in g7. It's black. The lady attacks h8; g8 and h7 are controlled by the lady, and taking her in g7 would be illegal because the white king protects her. Black is matt.

In the second drawing, the black king is in h8, the white king in f7 and the white lady in g6. It's still black. h8 is not attacked, but g8, g7 and h7 are: no legal blow. It's a pat, therefore a null. These study positions are used to compare the two situations.

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07End of game and result

Checkmate ends the game immediately. A player may resign. Record a White win as 1–0, a Black win as 0–1 and a draw as ½–½. Captured pieces do not determine the winner.

The game is void in the event of a pat, or a dead position: no string of legal blows would allow a mat. King versus king is a simple example. Players can also agree to a null after each one has played at least one blow.

The same position appeared three times can make it possible to claim the null. The same player is required to the line, the same coins on the same boxes and the same possibilities of beatings, including roque and taken in passing. The occurrences must not necessarily follow each other. A zero can also be claimed after 50 strokes of each camp without pawn movement or capture. The FIDE rules provide an automatic nullity at the fifth rehearsal or after 75 strokes of each camp without pawn movement or capture; a matt Without a game sheet, don't pretend to have counted exactly: to learn, note the shots or agree on a zero.

The usual values (pion 1, rider and mad about 3, lap 5, lady 9) are benchmarks for comparing exchanges. These are not victory points and the king has no exchange price.

08Errors to avoid

• Place the two kings face to face, or believe that the king can be captured: a blow leaving his own king attacked is forbidden.
• Advance a diagonal pawn without capturing, or take a coin directly in front of it.
• Jump a madman, a tower or a lady over a room.
• Roaching after moving the king, or crossing an attacked square.
• Waiting for several laps to take by the way: the right has already disappeared.
• Confound pat and matte. Always begin by asking, "Is the king attacked?"

09Some tips for progress

Before each blow, observe the possible failures, the captures and threats of both sides. Then ask yourself what the adversary can answer. This little ritual avoids many losses of free coins.

At first, occupy or control the center, take out your horsemen and your madmen, then protect your king. Avoid moving the same room for no reason several times. A lady leaving very early can be attacked while the opponent develops his parts.

In the final, learn first to recognize the simple mats and the pat. Rereading a single mistake after the game is often more useful than playing a new game very quickly. You can also do mini exercises: find all the boxes of a rider, check a rock or explain a catch by the way.