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 ;)
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