chess

Hello everyone!

Today we're going to talk about Reversi!

Place your pawns, 2 players from 7 years old for 10 to 20 minutes, to reverse the game and impose your color!

Reversi is played on a 64-square board, with two-color pawns, black and white.

Two players compete with the aim of conquering the game board by placing the most pawns of their color. The game ends when one of the two players can no longer place pawns, even if the 64 squares are not occupied.

Each player has 32 pawns at the start of the game, then they choose their respective color, black or white. Each player will keep this color throughout the game and will therefore place these pawns on the side of their color.

At the start, the players place two pawns each facing each other and crossed so that each of their white pawns is facing a black pawn. Each in turn, the players will place a pawn of their color on each side of the other player's pawns to surround the line and turn it over.

We therefore need two pawns of our color to surround the opponent's pawns and be able to turn over the line or the captured pawns. We turn over our opponent's pawns on the side of our color and they are now ours.

The black pawns start. You must always play next to pawns that are already placed on the game board, you cannot play away from this area. If you cannot play, you then pass your turn.

By surrounding the opponent's pawns, you can turn over a few pawns, a line or several if the position of our pawn allows them to be captured. The row of pawns turned over must be continuous in order to be able to surround it.

It must not be cut by one of your pawns or contain an empty space for the capture to be validated. We must then absolutely turn all the pawns in the row, even if this does not benefit us for the rest of the game. A pawn can be removed from the game to be placed elsewhere if the row of pawns has not been turned over or if the other player has not yet played.

If one of the players has no more pawns but can still play, the other player must give him pawns until one of the players can no longer play. The game ends as soon as both players can no longer place pawns.

The player with the majority color on the board wins the game. We subtract the number of points of the losing player from those of the winner to know the number of points he has won.

If for example the player with black pawns has 37 pawns and the one with white pawns has 27, the player with black pawns will win 37-27, so 10 points. We can play in two rounds and a beautiful or count up to 100 points to have a definitive winner.

Have a good day and good game ;)

Hello everyone!

Today we are going to talk about Chess!

Move your pawns, 2 players from 6 years old for 20 to 30 minutes, to try to checkmate your opponent!

At the beginning of the game, the pieces are always placed in the same way. The pieces are in a castle. At the corner of the castles, there are always Rooks. Each player therefore places a Rook at each corner of the chessboard. Next to the Rooks, there are the stables: we therefore put our two Knights there.

In the middle of the castle sit the King and the Queen. The Queen is very elegant, she likes to place herself on a square of the color of her dress: the white Queen on the white square, the black Queen on the black square. We can also notice that the Queens occupy the d column.

To amuse the King and Queen, the two Bishops are placed next to them. And the pawns are soldiers who defend the castle: so the eight pawns are placed in front of the other pieces, on the second row.

Since the Queens are initially placed on the d-file, the four files from a to d are called the queenside and the four files from e to h are called the kingside. It is important to remember these terms, not only because it sounds more scholarly, but because we will often use them in more advanced courses.

Both players take turns by moving only one of their pieces (castling, which we will see later, is an exception to this rule). If a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the latter is captured and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a piece from its own side. Only the Knight can jump over the other pieces.

Bishop The Rook moves horizontally or vertically, as many squares as it wants. The Rook cannot go to a square occupied by a piece from its side, nor jump over another piece. The Rook can capture an opponent's piece by going to the square occupied by this piece. The Bishop moves diagonally, as many squares as it wants.

Each player starts with a Bishop on a black square and a Bishop on a white square. These Bishops can never change color during the entire game.

The Queen moves like the Rook and the Bishop: it can therefore move vertically, horizontally and diagonally, as many squares as it wants (without of course being able to pass over another piece or being able to capture a piece from its own side).

As it is the most mobile piece, it is also the piece with the greatest value. The King moves only one square, in all directions. When a King is attacked by an opposing piece, it is said to be in check.

A player is not allowed to leave his King in check. He is also not allowed to move his King to a square where it will be attacked (and therefore in check).

The Knight's movement is a little more complicated, and there are several ways to explain it. I like to say that the Knight moves two squares horizontally or vertically, then takes a step to the side. It therefore makes a sort of capital L, turned in any direction.

We can notice that a Knight that is on a white square can, on the next move, only go to black squares (and vice versa). The Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces (its own and the opponent's).

The pawn is the only piece that cannot move backward. It is also the only piece that does not capture as it moves forward. Pawns move forward one square on the same file, if the square in front of them is free. They capture on one or the other of the two squares in front of them diagonally. A pawn on its starting row can move forward two squares (but it is not obliged to).

When a pawn on its starting row moves forward two squares and ends up next to an opponent's pawn, then the opponent can, on the next move (and only that move), take the pawn that has just moved forward with his pawn as if the opponent's pawn had only moved forward one square.

When a player advances a pawn to the last row, or if he takes a piece that is on the last row with a pawn, he must replace it with a piece of his choice (Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight), regardless of the pieces remaining on the board. He can thus end up with two Queens, or 3 Bishops, etc.

Castling is a special move that concerns the King and one of the two Rooks. When the King and this Rook are still on their initial squares and there are no more pieces between them, the player can move the King two squares towards the Rook, then place this Rook on the square right next to the King, on the other side.

Castling can be done on the kingside (this is called short castling) or on the queenside (this is called long castling).

Castling is a very special move: it is the only move where two pieces can be moved at once, it is the only move where the King moves two squares, and it is the only move where the Rook jumps over another piece.

Beware of the following rules that prevent castle temporarily or permanently. A player cannot castle if: there are one or more pieces between the King and the Rook the King or the Rook have already moved (and returned to their initial square).

Have a nice day and good game ;)

114 years ago today, a great lady was born, Lioudmila Roudenko, the second world chess champion after her compatriot Vera Menchik.

In 1950, Soviet women won the first four places in the World Women's Chess Championship.

She was dethroned in 1953 by her compatriot Elisabeth Bykova!

In the historical context of the time it is a feat!

Thanks to these ladies and thanks google for the booster shot :)