the black pieces. A "move" consists of a piece's movement on the board.
White and black moves alternate until a specific situation occurs (checkmate,
stalemate, or draw criteria met; this is detailed later).
- White pieces always make the first move.
+ White pieces' player always make the first move.
p.
Each piece has a particular way to move, but almost always captures by moving to an
figcaption Standard initial position.
p.
- Board coordinates: squares are always identified by a couple (letter, number).
+ Board coordinates: squares are identified by a couple (letter, number).
The letter starts from 'a' and indicates the column, while the number starts
- at '1' and indicates the row.
+ at 1 and indicates the row.
Since the chessboard is 64 squares, 8x8, this results in a coordinates system
from a1 to h8. 'a1' is the bottom left corner square from the white pieces
player perspective, while 'h8' is in the upper right corner.
h4 Pawns
p.
- They are the weakest pieces on board, but the most complex to move.
+ They are the weakest units on board, but the most complex to move.
From their initial rank they can either jump two squares forward (vertically),
or advance only one square in this same direction. After that first move they
only advance one square at a time, vertically, moving up.
p.
Moves notations: "pawn" is implicit, so for a simple move we only write the
destination square (because only one pawn at most can move forward to a specific
- square). Thus, 1.e4 means "pawn from e2 to e4". However, in case of captures
+ square). Thus, 1.e5 means "pawn from e4 to e5". However, in case of captures
the situation could be ambiguous (two pawns on the same rank), so the column
is specified too: "fxe6" (for example).
As you can see capture is marked by a cross symbol: "x".