The Pawn Game, Part 4 - The Rooks

The next peice I like to introduce is the Rook (Castle). This piece is one of the easiest to learn. This is because the Rook moves in straight lines. The Rooks are placed at the corners of the chess board. If you put the Rooks on the chess board alone, they would have free reign to move straight or sideways as far as you would like to move. However when the other pieces you have learned are added to the board, the mobility (ability to move) of this piece is reduced to zero. In this position, the Rook cannot move. In order to move the rook, you would have to first move the pawn in front of the rook two spaces. Then the rook would have two spaces or squares that it could use to move forward after your opponent moves. Let's say you started the game the way I have already told you to, you now have two pawns meeting in the middle of the board and it's white's move, so white moves the pawn two spaces forward that's in front of his rook. It's now black's move. Black moves his rook's pawn; you now also have two sets of pawns meeting on the board. White moves her rook two squares foward and black does the same with his rook. Now its white's turn again and she moves her rook seven squares to the side. She has just moved across what is called the third rank. In chess, we have ranks that go across the board and files that travel up and down the board. We also have diagonals that the bishop and Queen (we will get to her) dominate. The Rook cannot jump over other pieces. The rook can move forward or sideways. It can move until it runs into one of the other pieces on the chess board. Then it can take the enemy piece or if it is one of its own pieces, it must stop. Two pieces cannot stand in the same square -- one must die; chess is a game of war! You cannot take your own men. So if the rook is moved and runs into a piece of its own color it must stop in the square before that piece. The Rook is now the strongest or highest valued piece on the board, it's value is 5 points, the Bishop is valued at 3 points, and the Knight is also three with the pawns being worth 1 point. The game is the same as before -- the only piece that can win this game for you is the pawn. You still must get the pawn to the other side of the board to win! Chess on!!

The Pawn Game, Part 2

Now that you have played the game with the pawns only, you should be able to answer the riddle from my last blog. And the answer is: You should not take a pawn that's touching another pawn when you can move past it and win the game! Now we need to add another piece to the board.

The Knight is the piece shaped like the head of a horse on most chess sets. The movement of the knight has been described many different ways (all of which are confusing to the beginner in my opinion). The knight stands on the second square from the egde of the board behind the pawns of the same color. Since you have two knights, they both stand on the second square from the left and right side of the board behind the pawns. The knight's movement is simple. Picture an upper case L. This is how the knight moves every time. The starting position is 0, the knight moves foward 1 square, then foward a second time. To complete the L shape, you move to the left or the right. (Tip: Beginning players, you should count to yourselves as you move the knight 0-1-2-3.) So now the knight has moved three squares. Remember, 0 does not count as a movement, it is just the position where the knight is positioned prior to beginning a move. Just remember 1-2-3 and that the total movement of the knight resembles a upper case L shape when you add the 0. Try it!!! Grab your knight and move it counting 0-1-2-3 two spaces foward and one to the right or left. Notice also you had to jump over your pawn to move your knight. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. Now, the goal of the pawn game is the same -- to win, you still have to get the pawn to the other side of the board. If the knight reaches the other side of the board you do not win. Only a pawn can win the game. Oh, and just one more thing: the pawns (as you now know) can only move foward. The knights can move in any direction as long as they are making a L shape and a piece of the same color is not in the #3 square. If you're doing this properly, the move is correct.

You cannot take your own pieces. The knight takes, not by jumping over the enemy pieces, but by landing right on top and removing them from the board! So if you move your knight and you count 0-1-2-3 and where the knight stops there is a pawn or knight of the opposite color, you can take it. Another Hint: Knights are worth 3 points and pawns are worth 1 point, so don't give up your knight for a pawn. That's bad math. Chess On!