Chess

B

1

Castling

A player may move more than one man during a turn only when castling, a special maneuver involving the king and one rook. In castling, the king moves two squares to the left or right, and the rook on that side moves to the square next to the king on the opposite side. Castling is allowed only if (1) the king has not yet moved during the game and is not threatened; (2) the rook on the castling side has not yet moved during the game; (3) the squares between the king and that rook are vacant; (4) the king does not pass through or end its move on a square that is attacked by an enemy piece.

B

2

Moves of the Pawns

Each pawn, on its first move only, may move straight ahead either one or two squares to a vacant square. After that it may advance only one square at a time. Pawns, unlike the other pieces, do not capture in the direction they move but capture diagonally one square forward. When a pawn advances two squares on its first move and lands next to an opponent’s pawn that is on an adjacent file and the same horizontal row, the opponent’s pawn may capture it as if it had advanced only one square. This capture is known by its French name, en passant (“in passing”). An en passant capture must be carried out immediately or not at all (though the advancing pawn may later be captured in the normal fashion).

When a pawn reaches the last rank on the opposing side of the board, it is promoted—that is, converted to any other piece of the same color (except another pawn or the king). The powers of the new piece take effect immediately. Since a pawn is usually promoted to the strongest piece—the queen—the move is often called queening. The number of possible promotions is limited only by the number of pawns of each player. A player may have two or more queens or other pieces at the same time.

III

Object of the Game

Each player’s goal is to attack the enemy king such that the king cannot deflect or remove the attack and cannot escape. When a king is attacked, it is “in check.” Check does not have to be announced, but the player whose king is in check must attempt to escape on the next move. There are three possibilities: (1) moving the king to a safe square, (2) capturing the attacking piece, or (3) cutting off the attack by interposing a piece or pawn between the attacking piece and the king. If none of these moves is available, the king is checkmated. Checkmate ends the game at once—the king is never actually captured—and the player who gives the checkmate wins. The word “checkmate” (often abbreviated to “mate”) comes from the ancient Persian shah mat, meaning “the king is helpless (defeated).”

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IV

Draws

A tie, called a draw, is neither a win nor a loss for either side. If players do not want to continue a game for any reason they may agree to call it a draw, but in certain situations a draw is mandated by the rules. When a player cannot make any move but is not in check, the game is a draw by stalemate (if the king were in check, however, it would be checkmate).

In formal play, the game is a draw if 50 consecutive moves are made by each side without a capture or a pawn move, or if the same position is about to be repeated for the third time with the same player having the move. This often occurs when one player checks the enemy king repeatedly without being able to give mate, known as perpetual check. If the game has left neither side with enough material to force checkmate, it is a draw.

V

Chess Notation

There are two standard methods of recording chess moves: the algebraic system and the descriptive system. In both systems, the pieces are designated by capital initials: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and N for knight. The initial P for pawn is used in the descriptive system only. Castling is noted as either 0-0 (“short” castling on the king’s side) or 0-0-0 (“long” castling on the queen’s side).

Each square is part of both a file and a rank, and in the algebraic system, that unique “address” gives the square its name. In this system, the board is viewed from the White side only. The files, beginning on the left, are lettered from a to h and the ranks are numbered from 1 to 8 beginning with White’s first rank. A move by a piece is indicated by its initial and the square it moves to; for example, Nf3 is a knight move to the square f3. A pawn move names only the square. The letter x traditionally indicates a capture (Nxf3) but is often omitted.

In the descriptive system each square has two names, one from White’s perspective, the other from Black’s perspective. Each file is named for the piece that stands on it at the start of the game. For example, the file farthest to White’s left and Black’s right (the a file in the algebraic system) is the QR-file because the queen’s rooks—the rooks on the queen’s half of the board—start there. The ranks are numbered 1 to 8 from White’s side, and also 1 to 8 from Black’s side. White’s first rank is Black’s eighth rank and, for example, White’s QR4 is the same square as Black’s QR5. A move is indicated by the initial of the moving piece or pawn and the square it moves to from the perspective of the moving player. A capture always includes the letter x and the initial of the captured piece instead of the square; for example, NxB means a knight captured a bishop.

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