Chess 101:How the Pieces Move

A chess game pits two armies, evenly matched, across a simple terrain. The aim of the game is simple: Capture and kill your opponent’s king, while protecting your own. But before you do that, you need to know how all of your pieces work.

The General Rules of Chess

You’ll soon learn how each piece moves. But first, you must learn these simple rules:

• The aim of the game is to capture your opponent’s king while keeping your own king from being captured.
• White always makes the first move of the game.
• The players move alternately. That is, first White moves, then Black moves, and so on.
• Only one move can be made at a time. The way to make a move is to take one of your pieces and put it onto another square. When you have done that, your turn is over, and it’s your opponent’s turn.
• Only one piece can ever occupy a square at one time. If one of your own pieces occupies a square, you cannot move another one of your pieces there.
• If one of your opponent’s pieces occupies a square that you could move one of your pieces to, then you can move your piece to that square and take your opponent’s piece off the board at the same time. This is called capturing a piece. After a piece is captured, it can’t come back into the game. You don’t have to move a piece to a square that is occupied by your opponent’s piece, but if you do, capturing it is mandatory, not optional.
• You must move when it is your turn, even when there are no good moves to be made.

Meet the Chessboard

The chessboard has 64 squares arranged in eight vertical rows (called files) and eight horizontal rows (called ranks). The squares alternate between one color and another, but no matter what the two colors, the squares are always referred to as “white” and “black.” to begin a game, the board must be placed so that the right corner square nearest each player is white.

A typical example of the chessboard diagram.
Naming the Squares
Each square on a chessboard has a specific name so that players can refer quickly and easily to where each piece is placed at any moment in a game.

Letters and numbers of the files and ranks.
The Rows
With the white corner in the bottom right of the chessboard, the vertical column of squares (the file) at the very left is called the a-file. The file to its right is called the b-file, and so on to the rightmost h-file. The horizontal row of squares (the rank) at the bottom of the diagram is numbered 1, and called the first rank. The one above it (number 2) is called the second rank, and so on to the topmost eighth rank.
The Squares
Each square is named by putting the letter of its file (column) next to the number of its rank (row). So for example, the bottom-right corner square is called “the h1 square,” or simply “h1” for short.

Meet the Pieces

A game of chess is played between two sides. One side is called “White,” and the other side is called “Black,” no matter what colors they may actually be. Each side gets exactly the same number and kinds of pieces. Let’s look at the pieces.

An example of the White side of a typical chess set. Left to right, the pieces are king, queen, bishop, knight, rook, pawn.
The Pawn
The pawn is the foot soldier in your army. But don’t let that fool you into thinking he is unimportant! The strategy of most chess games is largely determined by the placement of these humble fellows. Each side gets eight pawns. At the start of the game, White puts the pawns along the second rank (a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, f2, g2, and h2), and Black puts the pawns along the seventh rank (a7, b7, c7, d7, e7, f7, g7, and h7).

Where the pawns start the game.
Here’s how the pawn moves:

• Pawns never move sideways, backward, or diagonally backward.
• The pawn is the only piece that captures differently than it moves—to capture it moves one square diagonally in front to the left or right.
• On its first move—and only on its first move—each pawn may move either one or two squares forward. After it has made its first move, it can only move one square ahead forward in a turn.
• If there is a piece (friend or foe) on the square in front of it, the pawn is blocked and cannot move to (or beyond) the square the piece is on. However, being blocked does not affect the pawn’s ability to capture.

Each pawn can move to any of the squares highlighted in front of it.

Each pawn can capture any enemy piece on either of the highlighted squares diagonally in front of it.
The Knight
The knight is usually depicted as a horse or a horse’s head, and is the only piece that doesn’t move in a straight line. Each side gets two knights. At the start of the game, White puts the knights on b1 and g1, and Black puts the knights on b8 and g8.

Where the knights start the game.
Here’s how the knight moves:

• The knight moves like an “L”: two squares up and one square to the left or the right; or two squares to either side and one square up or down; or two squares back and one square to the left or right.
• It does not matter whether there are any pieces, either friend or foe, in the path of the “L”: the knight can still move to the square at the end of the “L” path.
• If one of the opponent’s pieces is at the end of the “L” path, the knight may land on that square and capture the piece at the same time. But if a piece of the same color as the knight is on a square at the end of the “L” path, the knight cannot move to that square.

The knight can move to any of the highlighted squares.
The Bishop
When chess arrived in England, the shape of this piece was thought to resemble a bishop’s miter, so it was christened “bishop” in English. Each side gets two bishops. At the start of the game, White puts the bishops on c1 and f1, while Black puts the bishops on c8 and f8.

Where the bishops start the game.
Here’s how the bishop moves:

• The bishop moves only along the diagonals.
• It can move as far as it wants along any diagonal, forward or backward, until it encounters an edge or a piece.
• If there is a piece of the same color along a diagonal, the bishop cannot move to that square, nor can it move beyond that square.
• If there is an opposing piece along a diagonal, the bishop can’t move beyond it. However, it can move to the square occupied by the enemy piece, thereby capturing it, whereupon the move ends.
• The bishop only moves on the squares of the same color as it starts on.

The bishop can move to any of the highlighted squares.
The Rook
The rook is heavy-duty artillery. Each side gets two rooks. At the start of the game, White puts the rooks on h1 and a1, while Black puts them on h8 and a8.

Where the rooks start the game.
Here’s how the rook moves:

• The rook can move as far as it wants along a file or a rank, forward or backward, left or right, until it encounters an edge or a piece.
• If there is a piece of the same color along a rank or a file, the rook cannot move to that square, nor can it move beyond it.
• If there is an opposing piece along a rank or file, the rook can’t move beyond it. However, it can move to the square occupied by the enemy piece, thereby capturing it, whereupon the move ends.

The rook can move to any of the highlighted squares.
The Queen
The queen’s supremacy is her power: she is the most powerful piece on the entire chessboard. Each side gets only one queen, and the queen always starts the game on the same color square as she is. At the start of the game, White puts the queen on d1, and Black puts the queen on d8.

Where the queen starts the game.
Here’s how the queen moves:

• The queen moves along the diagonals and the ranks and the files. (In other words, it moves like both a rook and a bishop.)
• It can move as far as it wants along a diagonal or rank or file, backward or forward, left or right, until it encounters an edge or a piece.
• If there is a piece of the same color along a diagonal, rank, or file, the queen cannot move to that square, nor can it move beyond it.
• If there is an opposing piece along a diagonal, rank, or file, the queen can’t move beyond it. However, it can move to the square occupied by the enemy piece, thereby capturing it, whereupon the move ends.

The queen can move to any of the highlighted squares.
The King
In short, the capture of the king piece is the object of the game. Each side gets only one king. At the start of the game, White puts the king on e1, and Black puts the king on e8.

Where the king starts the game.
The aim is to put the king in a position where it can’t escape capture on the very next move. (When that happens, it’s called checkmate.) In fact, because the king can never move into check, and because you must always get the king out of check when it’s in check (if you can), the king is never actually captured in a normal chess game.
Here’s how the king moves:

• The king moves one and only one square along a rank, file, or diagonal, forward or backward, left or right.
• If there is a piece of the same color on one of the squares next to the king, the king can’t move to that square.
• If there is an opposing piece on one of the squares next to the king, the king can move to that square, thereby capturing the piece, whereupon the move ends.
• When an opposing piece threatens to capture the king, we say the king is “in check.” When your king is in check, you must get it out of check in the very next move.
• The king can never move onto a square that will put it into check.

Each king can move to any of the highlighted squares immediately next to it.
Now that you know how to set up the chessboard and what all of the pieces do, you are ready to play the world’s greatest game of war, strategy, and conquest.

From: http://www.idiotsguides.com