How To Win In The Chess Openings

Chess is an abstract strategy board game played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks) and eight columns (called files), in sixty four squares of two alternating colors - black and white usually. There are 32 pieces; 16 are black and 16 are white. Each set has six types of pieces - a King, a Queen, two Rooks, two Bishops, two Knights and eight Pawns. Each piece in a chess set represents parts of medieval life. Pawns represent peasants. The peasants were considered unimportant to people in power in those days, and hence the Pawns are the weakest pieces in the game of chess. They are used primarily as sacrifices, bait to set up an aggressive endgame. Rooks or Castles represent home and sanctuary. Knight represents soldiers who, at that time, were held in high esteem, but not as much as the church or the royal family. Bishops represent priests and are considered more valuable than Knights. The Queen is probably the most powerful piece on the board. The King is the one that must be protected at all costs, otherwise the game is lost. There are a wide variety of chess sets available - from cheap plastic sets to beautiful expensive hand made works of art. While many players are content to play chess on a regular board with plastic pieces, many prefer to use unique chess sets. There are various kinds of chess sets made out of many different materials like glass, ivory, marble, wood, bone or a composite material. Some chess sets are small in size or have magnetic pieces that are convenient for taking on trips and playing while traveling. The wooden white pieces of a chess set are usually made of boxwood or sometimes maple. The black wooden pieces are made of dark wood like rosewood, ebony, red sandalwood or walnut. On the computer, chess pieces are often 2-D symbols on a 2-D board. However, there are some programs with 3-D graphics engines with more traditional designs of chess pieces. Chess pieces used for play are usually figurines that are tall. Pieces of the Staunton set are the standard design. The height of the king should be between 85 mm and 105 mm. The other pieces should be in proportion to the king. The size of the squares on the board should be approximately 1.25-1.3 times the diameter of the base of the king.