| It's been known as the 'king' of board games and | | | | follow an order like this: Rook, Knight, Bishop, |
| it enjoys the privilege of having being invented | | | | Queen, King, Bishop, Knight, Rook. For the Black |
| thousands of years ago. It is a game of skill, | | | | player, this order is followed right to left and for |
| patience, technique and experience and it knows | | | | the White player, it is followed left to right. |
| no age or class or gender or location. What it | | | | How do you describe what the movements are |
| does enjoy is to be thought of as a game for the | | | | on the chessboard? In order to make this easy, |
| intelligent. It can keep the players absorbed for | | | | an algebraic chess notation was invented. This |
| hours and it is known to improve one's judgment, | | | | helps to know exactly on which square a piece |
| creativity and analytical thinking. Time was when it | | | | has been moved to. To facilitate this, while the |
| was a game played only in court but now you will | | | | horizontal lines are called ranks, the vertical ones |
| find that it is played everywhere. History has | | | | are called files. Viewing the board from the White |
| famous men who were also good chess players. | | | | player's side, the first file on the left is called 'a', |
| Some of them were Einstein, Napoleon, Charlie | | | | then it goes on to 'b', etc till it gets to the last file |
| Chaplin and Nikola Tesla. | | | | which is called 'h'. In the same way, horizontally, |
| What do you need if you want to play chess? | | | | the first row closest to the White player is called |
| You need a chess board and the pieces that go | | | | rank 1 or the first rank, then goes through to 2, 3 |
| with it. Of course, if you want to play online, you | | | | etc till it gets to 8 which then is the one that is |
| don't need any of these. The main aim of the | | | | closest to the Black player. |
| game is to capture the opponent's King and | | | | So now, it becomes very easy to put an |
| everything in the game moves towards this final | | | | identifying tag to ever square on the chessboard. |
| climax. The board itself is an 8"x 8" board with | | | | So, viewed from the White player's side, the |
| alternate squares of black and white. There are | | | | bottom-most square on the left is 'a1', which tells |
| 32 pieces with which you have to play, of which | | | | us that it is the first file and the first rank. The |
| each player has 16 so there are 16 white pieces | | | | white pawns therefore are put on the squares a2 |
| and 16 black. This sort of classifies the players as | | | | to h2 while those on the Black player's side are |
| White and Black. Here are the 16 pieces: a King, a | | | | from a7 to h7. So the white king is on e1, the |
| Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights and 8 | | | | black king on e8, the white queen on d1, the black |
| pawns. There is a definite place on the board | | | | queen on d8. On either side of these are the |
| where each piece goes. The White player has to | | | | bishops, knights and rooks, with the rooks |
| place his pieces on the two ranks closest to him | | | | occupying the corner squares on the board. The |
| and the Black player likewise. The pawns from | | | | chessboard has to be in the position where the a1 |
| both the sides go in the innermost ranks. The | | | | square has to be black. |
| outermost ranks have the other pieces and they | | | | |