How to play chess?
Chess is essentially a mirror of the human psyche and character: as a rule, such a style of play is shown on the chessboard as a person is in life. Chess is known for raising the level of excitement in people, and it requires strong physical preparation and extraordinary intellect.
The object of the game is to checkmate your opponent! Mat is a situation in which, after our last move, the rival king can no longer defend himself.
Chess pieces
At the very beginning of the game, white and black players have 16 pieces each, of which:
- 8 pawns
- 2 jumpers
- 2 hunters
- 2 cannons
- 1 lady (queen)
- 1 king
In total, the chessboard consists of 32 pieces, and the game always starts with a move by a white player.
- The pawn moves exclusively forward. From the starting position, in the second row, he can go forward for one or two fields, and after that only for one field. He can take the puck only obliquely to the first field forward.
- A jumper or a horse is the only figure that can skip another figure, his own or an opponent's. It moves in the shape of the letter L: two fields straight, then one field left or right, on either side.
- The cannon moves forward, backward and sideways (horizontally and vertically) an unlimited number of fields and cannot skip other figures.
- The hunter moves indefinitely on diagonals on lines in either direction. A hunter who covers white fields is called a white field, while a hunter who covers black fields is called a black field.
- The queen (queen) is the strongest piece in the game of chess and she moves indefinitely in all directions and directions.
- The king moves in all directions for only one field, and he must always be protected.
The value of chess pieces
A distinction should be made between the so-called static value than dynamic value. Let us first deal with the static value of figures:
- A horse and a hunter are worth 3 pawns
- The cannon is worth as much as 5 pawns
- A lady is worth as much as 10 pawns
This static value is often not justified in the very position on the chessboard and therefore one should primarily pay attention to the so-called. the dynamic value of the figures, which depends on the position in which those figures are located. For example. in blockade positions, sometimes the horse will be worth more than the cannon itself, and there are cases when it is worth even more than the lady herself. The dynamic value is in fact the spatial-driving value of an individual figure: the more space a figure has to move on the board, the greater its value.
Playing chess
As a rule, the chess game starts with moving the central pawns, because the goal is to conquer the central fields on the board as soon as possible. In that way, easier and centralized development of figures is enabled, and at the same time preparations are made for an attack on the opposing king.
One of the main principles is: without the control of the center, there is no successful attack on the wings. When the pawn reaches the last field (up to the eighth row), he turns into one of the figures of the player's choice: most often it is a lady, but everything depends on the current position (sometimes the horse is much more efficient than the lady herself).
Taking en passant (a French term used internationally and meaning "passing") is a special form by which a pawn can take an opposing pawn. In fact, this possibility exists only when the initial move with a pawn is played for two squares: if the opposing pawn stands parallel to that pawn at the same time, the latter can take a pawn that has moved two squares from the starting position at an angle. . This type of move is often overlooked by beginners.
Castling is a move by which the king moves away from the center to protect himself in a kind of 'house', and the realization of the move is done simultaneously by moving the king and cannon to certain fields (small castling on the shorter-king's side, large castling on the longer-lady's side) .
It is worth mentioning that along with the checkmate, there is also a stalemate: it is about the inability of the king to move in a situation when he is not under chess, and there are no other (king's) figures or pawns on the board that can move. In case of a stalemate, the game ends with the division of points (each side has half a point).
