Basic rules in chess. Chess - brief rules. Chessboard and pieces

Hello, friends. You are Uncle Valera Paranichev.

Theater, as we know, begins with a hanger. Chess - from a chessboard. The initial placement of chess pieces on the board must be correct, otherwise your entire game will go awry and not according to the rules.

At the beginning small retreat. Since you’ve landed on this page, it means you’re a beginner, so we bring to your attention a cool educational video course “How to teach a child to play chess.” Thanks to him, you will learn and understand all the rules yourself, and you will also teach a child from 4 years old to play. You will not regret...

If you want to start playing quickly, don't rush. You are a chess player, and chess begins with the basics.

Initial arrangement of figures

In classical chess, before the start of the game, the pieces are placed on the board in a strictly defined way: all the pieces are located on four horizontal lines. White on 1 and 2, black on 7 and 8. Rooks on the edges, then knights and bishops.

In the center, on the d and e verticals, are the king and queen. It is in the relative position of the king and queen that confusion most often arises. To make it easier to remember, the rule is this: The queen is located on a square of its color. Accordingly, the king is on the field of the opposite color.

The pawns are arranged in a row along the second and seventh ranks. There are 8 of them on each side.

I recommend that from the first steps you name your moves according to the names of the fields. Usually, when analyzing a game, chess players say this: “Knight f three.” This phrase means the knight's move on f3. Or: The queen hits de five” - the queen captured the enemy piece located on the d5 square.

Pieces and moves

We have separate articles on chess pieces. Therefore, we will limit ourselves to a short review. In total, each side has 16 figures. Each player has at his disposal a queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, 8 pawns and, of course, a king.

King– can make moves on one square
Queen- at any distance
Rook– moves vertically and horizontally
Elephant- diagonally
Horse- walks in a zigzag. More precisely, with the letter G. That is, two fields forward and one field to the side. Read more in this article
Pawn- can move either one field forward, or two - from the initial position. Read more about pawn moves in this article.
The king, queen, rook, knight and bishop can move in any direction. Pawn - only forward.

How to place pieces on the board

I recommend placing the pieces on the board, starting with the king and queen. Then minor pieces, rooks, and then pawns. While you are still a beginner chess player, such a sequence will help you remember the value of chess pieces.

This is not strictly necessary, of course. Just advice from an experienced chess player.

How to play for a beginner

The move e2-e4 opens the way for two pieces at once: the queen and the bishop. In addition, White's first move begins to fight for control of the center of the board.

Accordingly, it is reasonable for Black to respond to e2-e4 with e7-e5. The arguments are similar to those stated above.

Develop easy pieces - bishops and knights. It is better to bring the knights closer to the center of the board - to the squares f3, c3, f6, c6.
The center of the board - squares e4, e5, d4 and d5 - is the decisive springboard for the fight for advantage. Try to keep these fields in sight of your pieces
Try not to delay castling. For the king's safety.
Avoid rash moves with extreme pawns, especially on two squares. This weakens the position.
There must be good reasons for introducing the queen early into the game. This strongest piece has great potential, but due to its value it can become an object of attack. You will have to constantly divert the queen from exchanging for a less valuable piece.

It is clear that this is very general principles, stated briefly. Dozens of monographs have been written to describe various chess strategies. If you are a beginner, there is a time for everything.

Let us emphasize once again: The initial arrangement of pieces on the chessboard in classical chess is strictly defined. In other types of chess, for example in Fischer chess, the arrangement is arbitrary. But that's a completely different story.

The rules of chess cannot take into account all possible situations that may arise during the game, and do not provide for all organizational matters. In those cases that are not fully regulated by the Rules Article, decisions must be made on the basis of similar situations dealt with in the Rules. The rules assume that arbitrators have the necessary competence, sufficient common sense and are completely objective. Moreover, detailed Rules would deprive the arbitrator of freedom to make a decision dictated by fairness, logic and specific conditions. FIDE calls on all chess federations to accept this point of view. Any Federation has the right to introduce more detailed Rules, but they:

must not in any way contradict the official FIDE Chess Rules;
limited to the territory of that federation;
are not valid for any FIDE match, championship or qualifying competition for a FIDE title, or rating tournament.

Rules of the game

The nature and goals of the game of chess

A game of chess is played between two partners who take turns moving pieces on a square board called a “chess board.” Whoever has the white pieces starts the game. A player gets the right to move when his partner makes a move.
The goal of each player is to attack the partner's king in such a way that the partner has no possible moves that avoid "capturing" the king on the next move. A player who achieves this goal is said to have checkmated his opponent's king and won the game. The partner whose king was checkmated lost the game.
If the position is such that neither partner can checkmate, the game ends in a draw.

The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard

The chessboard consists of 64 equal squares (8×8), alternately light (“white” squares) and dark (“black” squares). It is placed between the players so that the nearest corner field to the right of the player is white.
At the beginning of the game, one player has 16 light pieces (“white”); the other - 16 dark figures ("blacks").
The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows:
The eight vertical rows of squares are called "verticals". The eight horizontal rows of squares are called "horizontals". Straight lines of squares of the same color touching at the corners are called "diagonals".

Piece moves

No piece can be moved onto a square occupied by a piece of the same color. If a piece moves to a square occupied by a partner's piece, the latter is considered captured and is removed from the chessboard as part of the same move. A piece is said to attack a partner's piece if that piece can capture on that square. A piece is considered to be attacking the field, even if it cannot move to it due to the fact that its own king remains in check or falls under it.

The bishop can move to any square diagonally on which it stands.
The rook can move to any square vertically or horizontally on which it stands.
The queen moves to any square vertically, horizontally or diagonally on which it stands. When these moves are made, the queen, rook or bishop cannot move through a square occupied by another piece.
The knight can move to one of the nearest squares from the one on which it stands, but not on the same vertical, horizontal or diagonal.
A pawn can move forward to a free square located immediately in front of it on the same file, or
- from the starting position, a pawn can advance two squares along the same vertical line if both of these squares are unoccupied;
- a pawn moves to a square occupied by a partner’s piece, which is located diagonally on an adjacent file, simultaneously capturing this piece.
A pawn attacking a square crossed by a pawn of an opponent who advanced it two squares from its original position can take this advanced pawn as if its last move was only one square. This capture can only be done with the next move and is called an “on the pass” capture.
When a pawn reaches the furthest rank from its original position, it must be replaced by a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its "own" color as part of the same move. The player's choice is not limited to pieces that have already been removed from the board. This replacement of a pawn with another piece is called a "promotion", and the action of the new piece begins immediately.
The king can move in two different ways:
- move to any adjacent square that is not attacked by one or more of the partner's pieces.
- "Casting": This is the movement of the king and one of the rooks of the same color along the outer rank, considered one move of the king and performed as follows: the king is moved from its original square two squares towards the rook, then the rook is moved through the king to the last square that the king has just crossed.
Castling becomes impossible:
- if the king has already moved, or
- with a rook that has already moved.
Castling is temporarily impossible:
- if the square on which the king stands, or the square which he must cross, or the square which he must occupy, is attacked by one of his opponent's pieces;
- if there is any piece between the king and the rook with which castling is to be made.
The king is considered to be “in check” if it is attacked by at least one of the opponent's pieces, even if it cannot make a move due to the fact that its own king remains in check or falls under it. Neither piece can make a move that puts or leaves its king in check.

Ending the game

The game is won by the player who checkmated his partner's king. If checkmate is achieved with a possible move, the game is considered completed.
The game is considered won by the player if the partner declares that he surrenders. In this case, the game ends immediately.

The game is considered to be a draw if the player behind whom it is his turn to move has no possible moves and his king is not in check. Such a game is said to end in a stalemate. If stalemate is achieved by a possible move, then the game is considered completed.

The game is considered to have ended in a draw if a position has arisen where none of the partners can mate the king with any possible moves. The game is considered to have ended in a dead position. In this case, the game ends immediately.

The game is considered to end in a draw by agreement between the two partners during the game. In this case, the game ends immediately.

A game can end in a draw if the same position appears or has appeared on the chessboard three times.

The game can end in a draw if the last 50 moves were made by the players without moving pawns or capturing pieces.

Chess clock

The term "Chess clock" means a clock with two dials connected to each other so that only one of them can work at a time. The term “Clock” in the Rules of Chess means the time shown on one of two dials. The term “fall of the flag” means the expiration of the time allotted to the player to think about his moves.
When using a chess clock, each player must make a minimum set number of moves or all moves within a given period of time; and/or when using electronic watch may be added Extra time after every move. All this must be determined in advance.
The time accumulated by a player in one period of the game is added to his time for the next period, unless the time is set for each move. When both players are given a fixed amount of time to think, as well as a fixed amount of extra time for each move, the countdown of the main time starts only after the fixed time has expired. If a player switches his clock before this fixed extra time has expired, then his regular time is not affected, regardless of the amount of extra time used.
At the set start time of the game, the clock of the player who has white pieces is started.
If no player is present at the start, then the player with the white pieces is deducted all the time elapsed before his arrival, unless otherwise determined by the rules of the competition or decided by the arbiter.
Any player who arrives for a game more than one hour after the scheduled start of the round loses the game, unless otherwise determined by the rules of the competition or decided by the arbiter.
During the game, the player, having made his move on the board, must stop his clock and start his partner's clock. The player must always be able to stop his clock. His turn is not complete until he has met these requirements, except for a game-ending turn. The time between the player making a move on the chessboard, stopping his own clock and starting the opponent's clock is regarded as part of the time allotted to the player.

Accounting for results

Unless otherwise stated in advance, a player who wins a game, or wins as a result of some violation by a partner, receives one point (1), a player who loses receives zero points (0), and a player who draws receives half. point (½).

There are 6 types of pieces involved in a chess game - king, queen, rook, knight, bishop, pawn. At the beginning of the game, each player has 16 pieces at his disposal: a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. There are a total of 32 pieces on the board.
The starting position of the pieces looks like this:

Pawn

The pawn, the only piece that can only move forward, cannot move back. The nominal value of a pawn is 1 point.

In the initial position (white - on the 2nd rank, black - on the 7th), the player can move the pawn one or two squares forward. After the first move, the pawn can only be moved forward one square per move. A pawn can capture enemy pieces one square forward diagonally to the right and left. A pawn captures pieces according to one rule, but moves differently. This is what distinguishes her from other figures.

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There are two interesting rules associated with the pawn in chess. The essence of the first rule is as follows. (8th for white and 1st for black) and turns into any piece except the king. This transformation is one move, and the next move goes to the opponent.

The second rule is taking on the pass. During its move, a pawn can capture the opponent's pawn if it has moved.

In Fig. 3 the white pawn moved two squares forward. A black pawn can capture a white one and end up on the captured square, and not on the square where the white pawn is, as happens during normal captures. It is possible to capture on the pass only during the next move; after a move, this right is lost.

Horse

The horse moves along an unusual trajectory, reminiscent of the letter “G” - it moves 2 squares forward and one square to the side. Of all the pieces, only the knight can jump over its own and other people’s pieces. The knight can attack any enemy piece while being out of reach of them. When struck, the knight takes the place of the knocked down piece. The nominal value of a horse is 3 points. Located in the center of the board, it has 8 available moves, while the corner square has only two.

In real life, “making a knight’s move” means performing some unusual or tricky move.

Elephant

The elephant is a strong, long-range figure. A bishop has a face value of 3 points and is roughly equal in strength to a knight. This comparison is somewhat arbitrary, since in an open position the bishop can be stronger than the knight, and in a closed position the knight is often stronger than the bishop. The knight and bishop are considered “minor pieces” in chess.

The bishop moves and strikes in all directions diagonally to any number of squares, as shown in the figure. An elephant that moves on white squares is called light-squared, and on black squares it is called dark-squared.

Rook

The rook, like the queen, is considered a heavy piece. Its nominal value is 5 points. and hits vertically and horizontally for any number of cells.

A specific move in a chess game is castling. Castling is correctly performed as follows: the king is moved 2 squares to the rook and the rook is moved behind the king. Castling can be done subject to the following conditions:

the king and the rook with which castling occurs have not made moves in the game before;
there are no other pieces on the horizontal between the king and the rook;
the king is not under attack by the enemy piece;
the field through which the king moves and the field on which he stands are not under the blows of the enemy pieces.

Long castling is performed towards the queenside, short castling - towards the kingside.

You cannot move the rook first. There is a rule in chess: if you take it, move. If you first move the rook to the king, the opponent has the right to demand that the move be considered completed, and castling will not take place. Castling is the only move in chess where two pieces make the same move.

Queen

The queen is the strongest piece in chess, with a nominal value of 10 points. The queen moves in all directions vertically, horizontally and diagonally to any number of squares on the board. The queen is an important piece. He is strong and mobile, effective in attack and defense. The queen must be protected from attacks from enemy pieces. Losing the queen or exchanging it for a piece of lesser value leaves little chance of winning.

Equally, a queen can be exchanged for a queen, two rooks or three minor enemy pieces. There are times when an experienced chess player specifically gives up the queen to achieve a certain goal in the game. This is called "sacrifice". Beginning amateurs need to remember that the queen must be preserved and used as the strongest piece.

King

The king is the most important piece in chess and has no face value. The game is lost when the king dies - he gets checkmate. The king cannot be kept under attack by enemy pieces. He needs constant protection. Like the queen, the king moves and strikes vertically, horizontally and diagonally, but only one square in any direction. Located in the middle of the board, the king holds 8 squares under attack.

At the end of the game, when there are an order of magnitude fewer pieces on the board, the strength of the king becomes approximately equal to the strength of the minor piece.

Check is a position where the king is under attack from an enemy piece. The king is not allowed. You need to move to another square, defend with your own piece, or simply capture the enemy piece that declared check.

In Fig. 10 the white king can escape check, the bishop can cover the king, the queen can capture the black rook.

The game ends when the king is checkmated. This means that the king is under attack (check) and has nowhere to go - the free squares are under attack from the enemy pieces.

A curious situation in the game is a stalemate. The king is not in check, but he has nowhere to move - all free squares are under attack from enemy pieces. Other pieces also have no moves.

In this case, the game ends in a draw.

According to the accepted scoring system, there is 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw, and 0 for a loss.

Some figures have double names. Before the revolution, the bishop was called an officer, the rook was called a tour, and the queen was called a queen. These names are not common among chess players; sometimes they are used by amateurs.

If you are offered to play chess, never say: “I can’t.” Say: “I can, but I don’t want to.”
Vladimir Vysotsky, “A Story about the Game of Chess”

My desire to learn to play chess appeared precisely after such a situation. True, I was able to say “I can,” but I couldn’t continue “but I don’t want to.” I had to play. Several stunning defeats after short games made it clear: knowing the rules of the game is not enough to win. There was something else that only chess players knew about. Something that helped them see the board from a different angle, as if looking into the future and commenting with disappointment: “Well, what have you done!” I wanted to know this secret, and I decided to understand...

How an adult can learn to play chess

First, we needed to find out whether it was possible to learn to play chess on our own: using the Internet, mobile applications, or a tutorial. A thorough survey of those who already know how to play showed that you can try to learn to play yourself, but it is better to do it with a friend or teacher.

However, the first steps can and should be taken alone. Desirable:

find or buy a board;
get to know the figures;
learn the rules of the game.

This will take you no more than an hour. Use YouTube videos, there are many videos on this topic. If there is a desire, excuses are unnecessary. Even a child (from four years old) can start playing.

After you understand this stage, you should look for a teacher. Why can't you learn to play on your own? The answer is very simple. You can try to do it yourself, and you will even start to succeed. It's just a matter of learning speed. What you figure out in a few days, the teacher will explain in an hour. Moreover, an experienced player or teacher will help you see on the board what you simply won’t notice due to lack of experience.

How to find a teacher

Enroll in a chess school or club

The only problem you may have is the age limit. But it can also be solved.

When I tried to enroll in the nearest chess schools, I was refused due to the fact that they only accept children. But instead they offered to come and try to negotiate with the teacher about private lessons.

Even if there is only one chess school in your city, go there and try to find yourself a coach.

There are also chess clubs. Most often, they are played by older people, united by a great desire and passion for the game. This is a great choice for those who love chess, but not always a good option for a beginner.

Find a chess friend

When I tried to do this, it turned out that the chess players are part of some kind of “Fight Club”. Simple post in in social networks showed: more than half of my friends have played or are playing chess. They just don't tell anyone about it. Try asking your friends too. I'm sure you'll be surprised.

As for my personal experience, among my acquaintances and friends I found one who turned out to be a candidate master of sports in chess. We quickly agreed on lessons, and I got a little closer to my goal.

Hire a teacher

Without contacting organizations, schools, clubs and clubs, you can simply find a teacher for private lessons. Try to meet him in person before you agree on the first lesson to make sure that you can study with this person and will not be afraid to ask him several times about unclear points. If you feel discomfort, embarrassment, awkwardness, try to find another teacher.

“Anyone who plays better than you can already teach. But the teacher should not be a bore. And it’s not worth spending money on super-professionals right away,” advises Vladimir Khlepitko.

Peter Miller/Flickr.com

What to read

While your coach will tell you what the opening, middlegame and endgame are, teach the theory and practice of chess, and simultaneously demonstrate the art of composition, you can already begin to help yourself move even faster. For example, with the help of books. Literature by itself will not teach you how to play, but it will become a powerful aid in this difficult task.

1. For beginners, self-instruction books and collections of problems are suitable. For example, “Collection of Chess Combinations” by S. D. Ivashchenko, “Textbook of the Chess Game” by H. R. Capablanca and “Journey to the Chess Kingdom” by Yu. Averbakh. Feel free to open books for children or those marked “For those just starting to play.” After all, it is in them that the complex chess system is explained very clearly and clearly.

2. Once you've got the introduction down and you've had a few productive lessons with your teacher, move on to the strategy and tactics books. Understand each stage of the game of chess, fortunately a lot has been written about them. Knowing which book to choose can be difficult, so be sure to ask your coach for advice. You can pay attention to these works:

“My system”, A. I. Nimzovich;
“Strategic techniques in chess”, A. I. Terekhin;
“In the wake of debut disasters”, Ya. I. Neishtadt;
“Transition to the endgame”, Y. Razuvaev, G. Nesis.

3. Look for inspiration. Read not only chess textbooks, but also books related to this great game. For example, Vladimir Khlepitko says that he likes Garry Kasparov’s book “Chess as a Model of Life.”

Watch films about chess and chess players, for example:

“Bobby Fischer against the World” is about the biography of the American champion and his legendary match with Boris Spassky.
“The Luzhin Defense” is a film in which you don’t need to look at the chess boards in search of interesting combinations, but you can immerse yourself in its unique atmosphere.
“Chess Fever” is a black and white Soviet comedy, of course, almost nothing about chess. But Capablanca himself appears in the frame!

What else?

Of course, you shouldn’t ignore online help. As long as you practice in reality, all other ways to make your lessons more effective are also valid.

iChess.net- a channel that makes chess understandable, adds excitement and inspires new achievements.

« ShahMatChannel" is a channel that specializes in holding video tournaments between bloggers and everyone, after which it analyzes in detail the mistakes and successes of players.

I will say this: if you really want it, you will definitely succeed. For me, trying to learn to play chess was a real challenge. The game is, to put it mildly, not easy. But beautiful. Therefore, if you really like chess and are willing to devote a little time to it every day or at least every week, everything will definitely work out.

Success will come from desire and love for the game, and there are many ways to achieve success, the main thing is to keep moving the pieces!
Vladimir Khlepitko, head of the Wisdom chess club