How To Win In The Chess Openings

In this article we will discuss briefly how to play chess. Chess is a game of strategy and tactics, and is played between two people on a chessboard. The chessboard consists of an 8x8 matrix of squares, adding up to a total of sixty four squares. Each player controls an army of sixteen pieces. The two sets are in two colors - usually black and white. The chessboard is set up so that the lower right corner on the right side has the white color of the board. The King is positioned on the box whose color is the opposite of the color of the piece. Thus, the black King is positioned on the white square and the white King is positioned on the black square. The Queen always stays in a square that is of the same color. The other pieces are placed so as to be mirror images of each other. There are two Bishops in each army, and they move in diagonals across any number of squares, as long as the path is clear. Their diagonal trajectory limits their movement to squares of the same color always. For example a Bishop on a white square can always move only to other diagonal white square(s). The Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. It moves exactly three squares - two straight and one lateral - and changes directions exactly once per move. The movement created by the Knight resembles the 'L' shape. Each army has two Knights. The Rook can move in any straight line across multiple squares, provided the path is clear. Each army has two Rooks. There are eight Pawns per army to start the game with. They are the least valuable pieces. Pawns can move in the forward direction and capture enemy pieces that are in the square diagonally ahead of them. You can move a Pawn only one square per turn unless it is your first move. During your first move, you can move a Pawn across two squares. The basic idea is to protect your stronger pieces, which have more flexibility of movement, to enable them to launch an attack on the opponent's army. To protect a stronger piece sometimes you may have to sacrifice a weaker piece. For example, you may have to sacrifice a Pawn to protect the Queen from being eliminated. The Queen is the most powerful of all the pieces. She can move in all directions and across as many squares as are free. The King is the most valuable piece, but not the most powerful one. He can move in any direction, but only one square at a time. So it is important to keep the King protected. The idea behind the game of chess is to protect your King from being destroyed by your opponent's army. When the King is threatened by an enemy piece, he is said to be in 'Check'. In such a situation, the player has to make a suitable move to save his King. If he doesn't do so, the King can be surrounded by enemy pieces, with no escape route available. In such a situation, the King is said to be 'checkmated'. The game gets over once the King is checkmated. If neither player is able to checkmate the opposing King, the game is said to be 'Stalemated'. Also, if a position is repeated three times, the game ends in a draw. The game can end in a draw also when none of the players has enough pieces to Checkmate the opponent. Playing Chess is great fun.