brian.berlin@usa.net
Rule #1 - Always remember that YOU are the KING.
Ultimately, no other pieces matter except the KING!
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brian.berlin@usa.net
Rule #1 - Always remember that YOU are the KING.
Ultimately, no other pieces matter except the KING!
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Chess, one of the world's oldest war games, which was invented in northern India some time before A.D. 600. The original pieces were based on the infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots of the ancient Indian army. These troops were led onto the chessboard by the king and his chief minister, the vizier. From India, chess spread to central Asia, China, Persia (modern-day
Iran), and Europe,
Until the present century, chess had been regarded primarily as a game for the wealthy and leisured classes in society. Today chess has a much broader appeal and is played by millions of people throughout the world. It's the national sport in the Soviet Union, where it's more popular than soccer. Indeed, Soviet chess players have dominated world chess since the 1940s, although their superiority is fast being challenged by other countries. Among those are the United States and Britain. Among all board games, chess seems to possess the perfect blend of strategy
and tactics.
Chess combines elements of both art and science. Analyzing a chess
game is primarily an
Above all, chess provides a sense of continuity with the past - of belonging
to a great
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"How can I play chess against you if you keep on taking my pieces away?"
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Austin Chess Enterprises http://www.austinchess.org or on Austin 360.com |
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You can find me here
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Federation Internationale des Echecs  |
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Books
Beginner
Intermediate
For beginners and intermediate players: Yasser Seirawan's Four Book Collection by Microsoft Press. Click each title to order and read straight-shooting reviews contributed by fellow chess players. Play
Winning Chess : An Introduction to the Moves, Strategies, and Philosophy
of Chess from the Usa's #1 Ranked Chess Player Winning
Chess Tactics Winning
Chess Stategies : Proven Principles from One of the U.S.A.'s Top Chess
Players Winning
Chess Brilliancies Intermediate to Expert Think
Like a Grandmaster : Algebraic Edition
, by Alexander Kotov
Pawn
Power in Chess
, by Hans Kmoch
Grandmaster
Secrets Endings
, by Andrew Soltis
Chess Themed Music and Cinema Chess
(The Musical) Searching
for Bobby Fischer (The Movie) Searching
for Bobby Fischer (The Book) |
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Chess - Problems and Puzzles 101 Chess Problems for Beginners Fred Reinfeld : Wilshire Book Co, 1983 : Paperback 200
Challenging Chess Puzzles
200
Classic Chess Puzzles
200
Demanding Chess Puzzles
200
Intriguing Chess Puzzles
Chess
Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes : Fifty Tantalizing Problems of Chess Deduction
Chess
Problems: Tasks and Records
Classic
Chess Problems by Pioneer Composers
Garry
Kasparov's Chess Puzzle Book
How
to Solve Chess Problems
The
Puzzle King : Sam Loyd's Chess Problems and Selected Mathematical Puzzles
Solving
in Style
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| If you can not find a book in my list then enter
the author's name, title or subject words below and press the search button.
The word "chess" appears by default.
Title: "Play Winning Chess"
Title: "1001 winning chess sacrifices and combinations"
Try to guess the answer, within a few minutes, then turn to the answer section and introduce yourself to the tactical ideas. Title: "The Game of Chess"
Title: "Chess strategy"
Title: "How to reassess your chess"
Title: "The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings"
Title: "My system"
Title: "Pandolfini's Endgame Course"
Title: "Pawn power in chess"
Title: "The Art of the Middle Game"
Title: "The Art of Attack in Chess"
Title: "Think like a Grandmaster"
Buy a book and notebook. Paste chess diagrams onto each page of your
notebook and add some notes for each game you play through. This improves
your understanding and is great for teachers to track your progress.
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Chess Rules
Chess is a two-player game, where one player is assigned white pieces and the other black. Each player has 16 pieces to start the game: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. The game is played on a chess board consisting of 64 squares in an 8x8 grid. The squares are alternately light (white) and dark colored. For notational purposes, each square is given a name. From the view of the white player, the rows are numbered: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, with the lowest row being No. 1, and the upper row No. 8. The columns are named, from left to right: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h. A square's name consists of the combination of its column-letter and row-number; e.g., the square in the lower-left corner (for white) is a1. (black)
Each player moves in turn, white always moving first. A move consists of placing one piece on a different square, following the rules of movement for that piece. There is one exception whereby a player can move two pieces simultaneously (see "Castling", below.) A player can take an opponent's piece by moving one of his or her own pieces to the square that contains an opponent's piece. The opponent's piece is removed from the board and is out of play for the rest of the game. At the start of the game, the position of the pieces is as follows:
Thus, at the second row, there are eight white pawns; at the seventh row, there are eight black pawns. At the first row, from left to right, we have: a rook, a knight, a bishop, queen, king, a bishop, a knight and a rook. The movement of the pieces is restricted as follows. All pieces must end their movement on either an empty square, or a square containing one of their opponent's pieces (in which case that piece is captured.) Movement of the pieces
Bishop
Queen
Knight
Pawn
There is a special rule called taking en-passant. When a pawn makes a double step from the second to the fourth row, and an enemy pawn occupies an adjacent square on the fourth row, this enemy pawn may move to the third-row square that was passed over, and take the other pawn. This en-passant taking must be done immediately; if the player who could take en-passant does not do so during the first move after the double step, the first pawn cannot be taken by a future en-passant move.
Pawns that reach the last row of the board are promoted. When
a player moves a pawn to the last row of the board, the pawn is replaced
with a queen, rook, knight or bishop of the same color. Almost always,
players promote a pawn to a queen. The pawn need not be promoted to a piece
that has been taken. Thus, it is possible, for instance, for a player to
have two queens at once.
King
The king is the most important piece of the game, and moves must be made in such a way that the king is never in check: see below.
Castling
The conditions are as follows:
Check, mate and stalemate
The server will not allow you to make a move that would place your king in check.
Mate
There are three possible ways to remove a check:
 Stalemate
Other rules Repetition of moves
One case where the repetition of move occurs is when a player continues to give check forever. 50 moves rules
Resign and draw proposals
After making a move, a player can propose a draw. The opponent can accept the proposal, in which case the game ends in a draw; or refuse the proposal, in which case the game continues. |
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| The F.I.D.E.
Laws of Chess
Preface
The Laws assume arbiters have the necessary competence, sound judgement and absolute objectivity. Too detailed a rule might deprive the arbiter of his freedom of judgement and thus prevent him from finding the solution to a problem dictated by fairness, logic and special factors. F.I.D.E. appeals to all chess players and federations to accept this view. Any chess federation that already operates, or wants to introduce, more detailed rules is free to do so, provided:
Article 1: The Chessboard
1.1 The chessboard is composed of 64 equal squares, alternately
light (the "white" squares) and dark (the "black" squares.)
Article 2: The Pieces
2.3 The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as
follows:
Article 3: The Right To Move
Article 4: The General Definition Of The Move
4.2 No piece, except the rook when castling (Article 5.1(b)) and the knight (Article 5.5), may cross a square occupied by another piece. 4.3 A piece played to a square occupied by an opponent's piece captures it as part of the same move. The captured piece must be removed immediately from the chessboard by the player making the capture (see Article 5.6(c) for capturing "en passant".) Article 5: The Moves Of The Pieces
The queen moves to any square (except as limited by Article 4.2) [No leapfrogging] on the file, rank, or diagonals on which it stands. 5.3 The Rook. The rook moves to any square (except as limited by Article 4.2) on the file or rank on which it stands. 5.4 The Bishop. The bishop moves to any square (except as limited by Article 4.2) on the diagonals on which it stands. 5.5 The Knight.
5.6 The Pawn.
A move is completed: 6.1 in the case of the transfer of a piece to a vacant square, when the player's hand has released the piece; 6.2 in the case of a capture, when the captured piece has been removed from the chessboard and the player, having placed his own piece on its new square, has released this [capturing] piece from his hand; 6.3 in the case of castling, when the player's hand has released the rook on the square [previously] crossed by the king. When the player has released the king from his hand, the move is not yet completed, but the player no longer has the right to make any move other than castling on that side, if this is legal; 6.4 in the case of the promotion of a pawn, when the pawn has been removed from the chessboard and the player's hand has released the new piece after placing it on the promotion square. If the player has released from his hand the pawn that has reached the promotion square, the move is not yet completed, but the player no longer has the right to play the pawn to another square. 6.5 When determining whether the prescribed number of moves has been made in the allotted time, the last move is not considered complete until after the player has stopped his clock. This applies to all situations except those governed by Articles 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 and 10.6. [i.e. when the move has been completed in the sense of Articles 6.1-6.4, and the game ends immediately after the move in question, which may, for example, put the player's opponent into checkmate. This Law was introduced to prevent the situation where a player returns to the board to claim a win on time, possibly an hour after being checkmated!] . Article 7: The Touched Piece
7.2 Except for the above case, if the player having the move deliberately touches on the board:
7.4 If a player wishes to claim that his opponent has violated
Article 7.2, he must do so before he himself touches a piece.
Article 8: Illegal Positions
8.2 If, during a game, one or more pieces have been accidentally displaced and incorrectly replaced, the position before the displacement occurred shall be reinstated, and the game shall continue. If the position cannot be reinstated, the game shall be annulled and a new game played. 8.3 If a player moves and in the course of this inadvertently knocks over a piece, or several pieces, he must re-establish the position in his own time. 8.4 If, after an adjournment, the position is incorrectly set up, the position as it was on adjournment must be set up again and the game continued. 8.5 If, during a game, it is found that the initial position of the pieces was incorrect, the game shall be annulled and a new game played. 8.6 If a game has begun with colours incorrectly reversed, then it shall continue if more than one quarter of the time allocated to both players to the first time control has elapsed. Earlier, the arbiter can arrange for a new game to start with the correct colours, if the event's timetable is not excessively disrupted. 8.7 If, during a game, it is found that the board has been placed
contrary to Article 1.2, the position reached should be transferred to
a correctly-placed board, and the game continued.
Article 9: Check
9.2 Check must be parried by the move immediately following. If any check cannot be parried, the king is said to be "checkmated" ("mated".) 9.3 Declaring a check is not obligatory.
Article 10: The Completed Game
10.2 The game is won by the player whose opponent declares he resigns. This immediately ends the game. 10.3 The game is drawn when the king of the player who has the
move is not in check, and this player cannot make any legal move. The player's
king is then said to be "stalemated". This immediately ends the game.
10.4 The game is drawn when one of the following endings arises:
10.5 A player having a bare king cannot win the game. A draw shall be declared if the opponent of a player with a bare king oversteps the time limit (Articles 10.13 and 10.14) or seals an illegal move (Articles 10.16). 10.6 The game is drawn upon agreement between the two players. This immediately ends the game. 10.7 A proposal of a draw under the provisions of Article 10.6
may be made by a player only at the moment when he has just moved a piece.
On then proposing a draw, he starts the clock of his opponent. The latter
may accept the proposal, which is always to be taken as unconditional,
or he may reject it either orally or by completing a move. A draw offer
is valid until the opponent has accepted or rejected it.
10.8 If a player proposes a draw while his opponent's clock is running and his opponent is contemplating his move, the opponent may still agree to the draw or reject the offer. A player who offers a draw in this manner may be penalised by the arbiter. 10.9 If a player proposes a draw while his own clock is running or after his move has been sealed, the opponent may postpone his decision until after he has seen the first player's move. 10.10 The game is drawn, upon a claim by the player having the move, when the same position, for the third time:
10.11 If a player executes a move without having claimed a draw for one of the reasons stated in Article 10.10, he loses the right to claim a draw. This right is restored to him, however, if the same position [later] appears again, the same player having the move. 10.12 The game is drawn when a player having the move claims
a draw and demonstrates that at least [the last?] 50 consecutive moves
have been made by each side without the capture of any piece and without
the movement of any pawn. This number of 50 moves can be increased for
certain positions, provided that this increase in number and these positions
have been clearly announced by the organisers before the event starts.
10.13 If a player claims a draw under the provisions of Articles 10.10 and/or 10.12, the arbiter must first stop the clocks while the claim is being investigated. In the absence of the arbiter, a player may stop both clocks to seek the arbiter's assistance.
[Situations when Articles 10.1-10.4 or 10.6 apply are the only other exceptions.] 10.15 The game is lost by a player who arrives at the chessboard more than one hour late, for the beginning of the game or for the resumption of an adjourned game. The time of delay is counted from the [scheduled] start of the playing session. However, in the case of an adjourned game, if the player who made the sealed move is the late player, the game is decided otherwise if:
Article 11: The Recording Of Games
11.2 If a player has less than five minutes on his clock until
the time control, he is not obliged to meet the requirements of Article
11.1. As soon as the special device (e.g. the flag) on the clock indicates
the end of his allotted time, the player must immediately complete his
record of the game by filling in the moves omitted from his scoresheet.
11.3 If both players cannot keep score, the arbiter, or his deputy, must endeavour to be present and keep score. The arbiter must not intervene unless one flag falls, and until then he should not indicate in any manner to the players how many moves have been made. 11.4 If Article 11.2 does not apply, and a player refuses to record the game according to Article 11.1, then Article 10.17 should be applied. [Failure to comply with the Laws of Chess]. 11.5 If a player does not refuse to comply with the arbiter's request for a completed scoresheet, but declares that he cannot complete his scoresheet without consulting his opponent's, the request for this scoresheet must be made to the arbiter, who will determine whether the scoresheet can be completed before the time-control without inconveniencing the other player. The latter cannot refuse his scoresheet, because the scoresheet belongs to the organisers and the reconstruction will be made in his opponent's time. In all other cases, the scoresheets can be completed only after the time-control. 11.6 If, after the time-control, one player alone has to complete his scoresheet, he will do so before making another move, and with his clock running if his opponent has moved. 11.7 If, after the time-control, both players need to complete
their scoresheets, both clocks will be stopped until the two scoresheets
are completed, if necessary with the help of the arbiter's scoresheet and/or
a chessboard under the control of the arbiter, who should have recorded
the actual game position beforehand.
11.8 If, in Article 11.6, the arbiter sees that the scoresheets alone cannot help in the reconstruction of the game, he will act as in Article 11.7. 11.9 If it proves impossible to reconstruct the moves as prescribed under Article 11.7, the game shall continue. In this case, the next move played will be considered to be the first one of the following time-control. Article 12: The Chess Clock
12.2 Control of each player's time is effected by means of a clock equipped with a flag (or other special device) for this purpose. The flag is considered to have fallen when the arbiter observes the fact, or when the arbiter determines that the allotted time has been exceeded, even though the flag, because of a defect, has not fallen when the end of the minute hand has passed the end of the flag. In cases where no arbiter is present, the flag is considered to have fallen when a claim to that effect has been made by a player. 12.3 At the time determined for the start of the game, the clock of the player who has the white pieces is started. During the game, each of the players, having completed his move, stops his own clock and starts his opponent's clock. 12.4 Every indication given by a clock is considered to be conclusive in the absence of evident defects. A player who wishes to claim any such defect must do so as soon as he himself has become aware of it, but not later than immediately after his flag has fallen at the time-control. A clock with an obvious defect should be replaced, and the time used by each player up to the time the game was interrupted should be indicated on the new clock as accurately as possible. The arbiter shall use his best judgment in determining what times shall be shown on the new clock. If the arbiter decides to add time used to the clock of one or both of the players, he shall under no circumstances (except as provided for in Article 10.13(b)) leave a player with:
12.6 In the case of Articles 8.1 and 8.2 [Illegal Positions], when it is not possible to determine the exact time used by each player up to the moment when the irregularity occurred, each player shall be allotted up to that moment a time proportional to that indicated by the clock when the irregularity was ascertained. For example, after Black's 30th move it is found that an irregularity took place at the 20th move. For these 30 moves, the clock shows 90 minutes for White and 60 minutes for Black, so it is assumed that the times used by the two players for the first 20 moves were as follows: for White: 90 x 20/30 = 60 minutes
This rule must not be used to leave a player with less than five minutes to the time control, or less than one minute for every move to the time control. (The most common occasion when this problem arises is immediately after an adjournment, when the clock times can be most easily adjusted using the times on the sealed move envelope.) 12.7 A resignation or an agreement to draw (Articles 10.2 and 10.4) remains valid even if it is found later that a flag had fallen. 12.8 If both flags have fallen at virtually the same time [or if both have fallen before a claim is made by either player] and the arbiter is unable to establish clearly which flag fell first, the game shall continue. In this case, if the scoresheets cannot be brought up to date showing that the time control has been passed, the next move played will be considered to be the first one of the following time-control. 12.9 The arbiter [and everyone else, for that matter] shall refrain from calling a player's attention to the fact that his opponent has made a move or that the player has forgotten to stop his clock after he has made a move, or informing the player how many moves he has made, etc. Article 13: The Adjournment Of The Game
Article 14: The Resumption of the Adjourned Game
14.2 The envelope shall be opened only when the player who must reply to the sealed move is present. This player's clock shall be started after the sealed move has been made on the chessboard.
14.4 If the player who has sealed the move is absent, the player having the move is not obliged to reply to the sealed move on the chessboard. He has the right to record his move in reply on his scoresheet, to seal the scoresheet in an envelope, to stop his clock and start his opponent's clock. The envelope should then be put into safekeeping and opened on the opponent's arrival. 14.5 If the envelope containing the move recorded in accordance with Article 13 has disappeared:
14.7 The duration of each resumption session shall be controlled by the wall clock, with the starting time and the finishing time announced in advance. Article 15: The Conduct Of The Players
[The only possible exception is that a player in a team competition may be allowed to ask his captain "Should I accept his offer of a draw?" or "Does the team need me to play for a win?". The captain or acting-captain must limit his reply to an immediate "Yes", "No", or "It's up to you", without supplying his answer after a detailed analysis of the position, and without making his answer emphatic in any way. This captain, like all his players, is not allowed to receive opinions, from any source, on the states of play of any games still in progress] . Article 16: The Arbiter
16.1 to see that the Laws are strictly observed; 16.2 to supervise the progress of the competition, to establish that the prescribed time-limit has not been exceeded by the players, to arrange the order of resumption of play of adjourned games, to see that the arrangements contained in Article 13 are observed (i.e. to see that the information on the envelope is correct), to keep the sealed-move envelope until the resumption of the adjourned game, etc; 16.3 to enforce the decisions he may make in disputes that have arisen during the course of the competition; 16.4 to act in the best interests of the competition to ensure that a good playing environment is maintained and that the players are not disturbed by each other or by the audience; 16.5 to impose penalties on the players for any fault or infraction of the Laws. These penalties may include a warning, a time penalty (by adding to the player's used time or to his opponent's unused time) or even the loss of the game. Article 17: Scoring
Article 18: The Interpretation of the Laws
Article 19: Validity
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A Summary of Hints, Pointers and Precepts suggested by Bruce Pandolfini:
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(Note: These suggestions were compiled from a variety of different web sites!) It is difficult to master the game of chess. Here are some proven methods for working toward this goal.
Recommended Books
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Definition Bughouse is a game usually played on two adjoining chessboards by two teams, each comprised of two people. The pieces are also setup so that each team member is in possession of an opposite colored chess army. The game is typically played at a very fast time control (such as 5 min, or 3 min games) The game is not touch move but rather "clock move", that is, the move is not considered to be made until the player hits his/her clock.Object of the game Similar to chess to goal is to checkmate your opponent(s). Checkmate on either one of the boards results in the end of the game. A time forfeit on either on of the boards also ends the game - with the team of the player who forfeit on time losing the game. If both flags are down the game is a draw. If an illegal move is made then the offending side loses if caught. If the offending side is not caught then the game continues. One also does not have to declare check. If a player leaves his/her king in check then the opponent may capture it and claim a win for his/her team.How the game is played When one piece is captured from the adjoining board, the captured piece is passed to his/her partner. (Note: as a result, all captured pieces are of the similar color to his/her partner). The partner receiving the captured piece, has the option of placing the piece as his/her move.Over-the-Board Bughouse Ettiquette During a bughouse game it is important to show the pieces one has in hand when one's opponents asks during his/her turn. It is considered unethical to hide chess pieces from your opponent. |
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Some Chess Terms
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