Chess for Beginners: Learn Chess

Steps Required to Learn Chess

Popular opinion dictates that to learn chess is a difficult endeavor. This opinion is not only completely wrong, it is unfortunately what stops many from enjoying the great game. Learning chess is divided into two parts. The first consist of learning the rules, piece movements, special moves and so on. This is very easy to learn. The second part comprises strategy. As a beginner, only basic strategy is required as strategy is something that is never completely learned. Chess masters study strategy relentlessly, and even then must adapt strategies during a game depending upon the strategies employed by their opponent.

Chess Part 1 - The Rules

To learn chess, one must first understand the rules. They are summarized below:

Each piece has a name

This is fairly simple to learn as there are only six piece types. They are the:

• King - one per color - normally the one with the cross on top
• Queen - one per color - normally the biggest piece adorning a crown
  
• Bishop - two per color - has a bishop shaped hat
  
• Knight - two per color - looks like a horse
• Rook - two per color - looks like a castle
• Pawn - eight per color - generally the smallest piece with a round head
  

Every chess game starts with the chess board configured in the same way

This is referred to as the chess board "configuration" or "set-up". Face the board so that a white square appears at the bottom right. Start off at the bottom left corner and place each white piece in the following order: Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, King, Bishop, Knight, Rook. Place each white pawn on the next row.

Repeat the same order on the top row for each black piece. Finally add each black pawn to the row below.

When you are finished, you should note that the queens are both on their own color (eg black queen on black square), and they are facing each other.

See the picture below for details of how a chess board should look at the start of every chess game.

Each piece can move in a certain way

A king for example may move in any direction one square at a time. A pawn can only move forward, a rook can move any number of squares up, down, left or right and so on. See this downloadable pocket guide for a diagrams showing the movement of each piece.

Chess is a turn based game, with both players making a turn one after another

Pieces are moved one at a time by each player. Each movement must be legal (ie it must be made in a specific way) to strategically advance the game. Pieces can also be taken from the chess board when the opponent lands on their square.

A game of chess is won when the king is in a position where he will be taken on the next move.

There are also three special chess moves that may be played

These special moves are called en passant, pawn promotion and castling. They may also be played in any game of chess. These are generally played by the more advanced player and do not need to be learned straight away. Refer to this article detailing special chess moves if you wish to know more.

There are many resources

Hundreds of resources are available on the Internet to assigst beginners chess players to learn chess. The dmoz Open Project Directory lists sites dedicated to teaching chess. I also operate a website dedicated to teaching chess for beginners.

Chess Part 2 - Strategy

Once the rules are learned, it is possible to start playing chess against friends and family. The rules alone though are not the only requirement to winning a game of chess. Chess has no element of luck. Winning chess is based solely on the decisions made by you and your opponent during the game. This is why strategy is so important to any chess player. Master chess players memorize complete catalogs of moves and previously played games. Beginner players do not require this level of detail though as there are some beginner chess strategy tips that be easily adopted. Surprisingly, these tips can also be adapted to everyday life. They are:

• Never make a move without thinking it through. This is often called "thinking ahead". You may have friends who say that they can think ten moves ahead in chess. This is actually rubbish as it relies on your opponent making the exact moves you think they will make. This is never the case. As a beginner, it is worth trying to think two moves ahead. Think to yourself, if I make this move, I think the best move for my opponent would be that move, then I could make this move and so on. This will lead you to moves that will not pay off now, but may give big rewards in the future.
• Never take a piece just because you can. If opponent leaves a piece in the open, think before you take it. Many beginner chess players rush in and excitedly take a piece and end up falling into a trap.
• Sacrifice a piece if it gives you a strategic advantage. You may want to sacrifice to open up a line of attack or force an opponent out into the open. To force a sacrifice the piece must be attacking an opponents piece. Otherwise the opponent may leave your piece in its precarious position for several moves until it is in their interest to take it.
• Always attack. Try to make every move an attacking one. If your opponent is attacking one of your pieces, attack one of theirs.
• Experiment with different piece placements, special moves and attacking combinations.
• Learn the "worth" of each piece. This will be highly dependent on how you play. If you feel one piece is worth more than another, you may want to protect that piece by sacrificing others.
  

Chess Lodge is a great site detailing chess strategy for beginners and advanced players alike.

Conclusion

This is just a brief introduction to chess rules and beginner chess strategy. I hope you have found some value in reading this article. Special congradulations to anyone ccurrently attempting to learn chess.