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1d184b4c | 1 | p.boxed |
7dc18cbe | 2 | | Orthodox rules (with shuffled starting position). |
2316f8b8 | 3 | |
2316f8b8 | 4 | p. |
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5 | Chess is played between two players, one moving the white pieces and the |
6 | other the black pieces. A "move" consists of a piece's movement on the board. | |
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7 | White and black moves alternate until a specific situation occurs (checkmate, |
8 | stalemate, or draw criteria met; this is detailed later). | |
9 | White pieces' player always make the first move. | |
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10 | |
11 | p. | |
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12 | Each piece has a particular way to move, but almost always captures by moving |
13 | to an occupied square (with only one exception, detailed later). | |
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14 | |
15 | figure.diagram-container | |
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16 | .diagram |
17 | | fen:rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR: | |
18 | figcaption Standard initial position. | |
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19 | |
20 | p. | |
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21 | Board coordinates: squares are identified by a couple (letter, number). |
22 | The letter starts from 'a' and indicates the column, while the number starts | |
23 | at 1 and indicates the row. | |
24 | Since the chessboard is 64 squares, 8x8, this results in a coordinates system | |
25 | from a1 to h8. 'a1' is the bottom left corner square from the white pieces | |
26 | player perspective, while 'h8' is in the upper right corner. | |
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27 | |
28 | h3 Regular moves | |
29 | ||
30 | h4 Pawns | |
31 | ||
32 | p. | |
7dc18cbe | 33 | They are the weakest units on board, but the most complex to move. |
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34 | From their initial rank they can either jump two squares forward |
35 | (vertically), or advance only one square in this same direction. After that | |
36 | first move they only advance one square at a time, vertically, moving up. | |
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37 | |
38 | p. | |
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39 | Pawns capture by moving forward (upper on the board) one square diagonally, |
40 | when an enemy piece sits on that square. | |
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41 | |
42 | p. | |
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43 | When reaching the last rank, pawns must promote into any (friendly) |
44 | other non-royal piece: queen, rook, knight or bishop. | |
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45 | |
46 | p. | |
7dc18cbe | 47 | Moves notations: "pawn" is implicit, so for a simple move we only write the |
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48 | destination square (because only one pawn at most can move forward to a |
49 | specific square). Thus, 1.e5 means "pawn from e4 to e5". However, in case of | |
50 | captures the situation could be ambiguous (two pawns on the same rank), so | |
51 | the column is specified too: "fxe6" (for example). | |
7dc18cbe | 52 | As you can see capture is marked by a cross symbol: "x". |
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53 | |
54 | figure.diagram-container | |
7dc18cbe | 55 | .diagram |
b496e4ae | 56 | | fen:k7/8/8/1prp4/1P1P4/8/6P1/7K g3,g4,c5: |
7dc18cbe | 57 | figcaption Possible pawn moves: g3, g4, dxc5, bxc5 |
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58 | |
59 | p | |
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60 | | For a piece movement, we just prepend the upper-case piece initial before |
61 | | the previously described notation. A rook taking something on f3 square | |
62 | | writes: Rxf3. There are rules for ambiguous situation, but discussing them | |
63 | | now would be too far off-topic. Please visit for example the | |
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64 | a(href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_notation_(chess)") |
65 | | Wikipedia page | |
66 | | for full information on this subject. | |
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67 | |
68 | h4 Rooks | |
69 | ||
70 | p. | |
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71 | They move either horizontally or vertically, as far as they want while the |
72 | path is free of pieces. If this path ends with an enemy piece, it can a | |
73 | priori be captured (a priori because if the move ends up with the king in | |
74 | check, then it's illegal). | |
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75 | |
76 | h4 Knights | |
77 | ||
78 | p. | |
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79 | They are the only units able to jump over other pieces (without capturing |
80 | them). They do "L" moves: two squares in one direction (horizontally or | |
81 | vertically), and then one square in an orthogonal direction. | |
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82 | |
83 | figure.diagram-container | |
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84 | .diagram |
85 | | fen:k7/2p5/5q2/2b5/4N3/2R3r1/3P4/7K f6,d6,c5,f2,g3,g5: | |
86 | figcaption Possible knight moves from e4. | |
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87 | |
88 | h4 Bishops | |
89 | ||
90 | p. | |
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91 | They move diagonally, as far as they want while the path is free of pieces. |
92 | If this path ends with an enemy piece, it can a priori be captured. | |
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93 | |
94 | h4 Queen | |
95 | ||
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96 | p. |
97 | This piece combines the movement of a rook and a bishop, with the same | |
98 | conditions. | |
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99 | |
100 | h4 King | |
101 | ||
102 | p. | |
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103 | This piece moves like a queen, but only by one square at a time. The final |
104 | square must be either vacant or occupied by an enemy piece (therefore | |
105 | captured). | |
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106 | |
107 | p. | |
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108 | The king cannot be captured, but a move may ends up attacking enemy's king. |
109 | It is said to be "under check" (or "in check") and the opponent must either: | |
2316f8b8 | 110 | ul |
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111 | li move the king to a safe square, or |
112 | li capture the attacker, or | |
113 | li intercept the attacking line. | |
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114 | p. |
115 | Depending on the situation one or more of these counter-measures could be | |
116 | impossible. | |
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117 | |
118 | p Leaving our king in check after a move is forbidden. | |
119 | ||
2316f8b8 | 120 | figure.diagram-container |
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121 | .diagram |
122 | | fen:r6k/4q3/8/8/8/B7/8/K7: | |
123 | figcaption Bxe7 is illegal (it allows Rxa1). | |
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124 | |
125 | h3 Special moves | |
126 | ||
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127 | p. |
128 | Apart from pawn promotion which has already been introduced, two special | |
129 | moves exist: | |
2316f8b8 | 130 | ul |
7dc18cbe | 131 | li. |
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132 | castle: if both the king and the right-most (from white player perspective) |
133 | rook haven't moved yet, and if nothing stand in the path from king to rook, | |
134 | and if the squares f1 and g1 are either free or occupied by the king or | |
135 | rook implied, then the king can go to g1 while the rook moves to f1. Note | |
136 | that since positions are shuffled one of these two pieces may apparently | |
137 | not move. The same can be done on the other side (left-most rook), and end | |
138 | squares are c1 for king and d1 for rook. The former is small castle, and | |
139 | the latter large castle. | |
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140 | Notation: small castle writes "0-0" while large castle is "0-0-0". |
141 | li. | |
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142 | en-passant: after a pawn has jumped two squares, if an enemy pawn stands |
143 | just next to it then it can capture the jumping pawn "en passant", exactly | |
144 | as if it had advanced only one square. The move is noted as usual, but | |
145 | with "e.p." in the end to indicate the special move. The capture is | |
146 | possible only right after the pawn jump: not later in the game. | |
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147 | |
148 | figure.diagram-container | |
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149 | .diagram.diag12 |
150 | | fen:nr1kb1r1/ppp3pp/8/2Pp4/8/7P/PP3PP1/1R3KBR: | |
151 | .diagram.diag22 | |
152 | | fen:nr1kb1r1/ppp3pp/3P4/8/8/7P/PP3PP1/2KR2BR: | |
153 | figcaption. | |
154 | Left: black just played d5 (jump from d7). | |
155 | Right: after cxd6 e.p. and 0-0-0. | |
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156 | |
157 | h3 End of the game | |
158 | ||
159 | p. | |
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160 | The best-known way to end a game is by "checkmating" the enemy king. |
161 | This means that you end a move in a situation where the king can be captured, | |
162 | and your opponent has no way to avoid the capture. | |
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163 | The checkmating player has one point and the other zero, so the score writes |
164 | 1-0 or 0-1 depending if white pieces or black pieces mated. | |
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165 | |
166 | figure.diagram-container | |
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167 | .diagram |
168 | | fen:rnbqkbnr/ppp2Qpp/2np4/4p3/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K1NR: | |
169 | figcaption Famous mating pattern: 1-0 | |
2316f8b8 | 170 | |
b41d5704 | 171 | p All other ways to end the game lead to a draw (1/2-1/2); nobody wins: |
2316f8b8 | 172 | ul |
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173 | li when a player has no legal move but is not under check (stalemate), |
174 | li. | |
175 | when a position is repeated three times with the same castling right and | |
176 | same player in turn, | |
177 | li when 50 moves are played without pawn movement or capture. | |
2316f8b8 | 178 | p. |
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179 | Note: this last way to end a game is not implemented, because it quite seldom |
180 | occurs, does not generalize so well to variants (it depends), and more | |
181 | important because games played on this website are not official tournament | |
182 | games. If you feel like manoeuvring for 200 moves and your opponent isn't | |
183 | bored, then keep going :) |