Board all afternoon (Chess)

Member Name: gill1960

Product:	Chess
Date:	17/04/03 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun, concentration

Disadvantages: losing

I had my thinking cap on today. Why? I hear you ask.
The reason being I have just spent the afternoon playing chess. That mind taxing game that has been around for hundreds of years.

Yes, chess played on that familiar black and white checked board. With all of them little soldiers waging a war against each other. The object of the game is of course to kill your opponents king, which is called checkmate. If none of you can win you call it a draw.

The chessboard has 64 squares and it is played by 2 people, each person having 16 pieces or men each.

One person has white pieces, the other has black pieces.

How to place the pieces on the board.

The 2 rooks that each of you have (that look like little round castles) are put in the corners.

The 2 knights that you each have (that look like horses) are put going inwards next to the rooks.

The 2 bishops you each have (they have pointy heads like a bishops mitre) are put again going inwards next to the knights.

The 1queen you both have going inwards again goes next to a bishop she goes on the same colour square as her own colour.

Then you put the king next to the queen.

Finally you put your 8 pawns (the smallest pieces) on the row above the ones you have just placed.

You are now ready to start. The person with the white pieces always goes first. You then each take it in turns.

How does each piece move? This is were the tricky bit comes in if you are new to chess.

The king can only move one square in any direction at a time. (Unless you castle, but that is for more advanced players) If one of the enemies? pieces is on the square that a king moves to, that enemy is killed and taken off the board.

The queen can move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally any amount of squares.

The rook can move any amount of squares in straight line, up, down or across, but not diagonally.

The bi
shop can move any amount of squares diagonally only.

None of the above pieces can jump over another piece. But they can all go up or down the board. Forward or backward kind of thing.

The Knight is the only piece in the game that can jump over other pieces. He moves in an L shape.

The pawn can only go one way upwards. The first time they move they can move 2 squares, after that it is one square only. If they want to capture or kill somebody they have to do it sideways. When a pawn reaches the top of the board he can be promoted to a higher piece such as a queen (but not a king)

The pieces of the chess set have different values as shown below.
Queen 9 points
Castle 5 points
Bishop 3 points
Knight 3 points
Pawn 1 point
The king does not have any points because once he has gone the game is over, no matter how many points you have gained.

Having said about the points sometimes it is better to lose a piece with higher points if it is to your advantage.

Chess is a game that needs patience and concentration, I think it is a great game for children to learn as it teaches them about patience and concentration.

The object of the game is to get the king as I said earlier. When you move look in all directions to see if your enemy has a piece that will take you. Be very careful about your enemies. knight as he can jump over other pieces. Always try and cover yourself with another piece before you move.

Chess sets can be made of cardboard and plastic pieces costing around £8-£10 to marble or even gold costing thousands. You can even buy chess sets with certain themes with the pieces looking like wizards and witches or fairies and elves etc.

That is all for now.
Enjoy your game.

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