TODAY'S MINI LESSON

3 Easy moves to play in the opening when you have the WHITE PIECES:

This opening helps us take care the three most important things in the opening.

1.) Control our fair share of the center.
2.) Develop our team.
3.) Keep our King safe.

Number one was taken care of with our very first move and then our second move as well!
Number two - we are well on our way as we have played a Bishop and a Knight out onto the chess board.
Number three - depending on what Black does White's very next move could be "CASTLING" one of our three special moves.

The SPANISH OPENING is the perfect weapon for our players!

WHAT HAPPENS IF WE FORGET TO CASTLE AS WHITE THOUGH...

Even if we play our favorite opening we could still get in trouble. WE ALWAYS NEED TO KEEP OUR KING SAFE! If we don't then what happens in this next game could very well happen to us!!

White lost this game because he/she did not:

A. CASTLE
B. Deal with the Pin in a way that prevented the Checkmate.

We learned two very important tactics from this game:

A. PIN
B. BACK RANK CHECKMATE

I hope you enjoyed this online presentation of today's chess lesson!
- Coach Sean Tobin.

The Knights Joust - Saturday the 20th of February.

The Knight's Joust

Location: Jacobson Elementary

Address: 1515 Northwest Jacaranda Parkway
Dates: Feb 20 10
Schedule:

Round 1: 10am Round 2: 11:15am Round 3: 1pm Round 4: 2:10pm

Type of Tournament: 4 round Swiss tournament. There is no elimination in a Swiss tournament. Expect your child to play all the rounds!
Cost:

$18.50 if received by Feb 17 $21.50 if received by Feb 18 $24.50 if received by Feb 19 $28.50 at the door.

**ASCF membership is required. ASCF membership may be obtained or renewed by including an additional $28.85 which includes 4 issues of The Chess Scholar magazine.
Time Control: Game/30 (30 minutes total for each player)
Please pre-register!!! Use the Chess Emporium's website at www.chessemporium.com where you will find an online Registration Form.

- Coach Sean Tobin.

STEVEN'S OPENING also known as "THE FOUR MOVE CHECKMATE"!

Play online chess

THE MOVES!

IN THIS LESSON YOU WILL LEARN HOW

• TO MOVE PIECES.
• TO MOVE PAWNS
• WHAT A FILE IS
• WHAT A RANK IS
• WHAT A DIAGONAL IS
  
• WHAT EACH PIECE & PAWN IS WORTH AT THE START OF A GAME.
• WHY YOU WANT TO HAVE YOUR PIECES CONTROL THE CENTER OF THE BOARD
• THE STRENGTH OF OUR PIECES - IN THE CENTER vs THE SIDE OF THE BOARD.
  

Remember - Pieces are not pawns. Some people will refer to all of the pieces and pawns as "chessmen" or as "pieces". But when they refer to the chess pieces and pawns collectively as "pieces" they are not using this word the way a chess player would. Chess players always call the KINGS, QUEENS, ROOKS, BISHOPS and KNIGHTS the CHESS PIECES while the pawns are - well - PAWNS.


Up above we have the start position for a game of chess. The Rooks are in the corners, next come the Knights, and then we have the Bishops and then finally we have our royalty. The trick to remembering which square the King and Queen stand upon is this:

• QUEEN ON HER OWN COLOR
• HER DRESS MATCHES HER SHOES.
  

The King stands upon the square that is the opposite of his color.

When you place a chess board down make sure that you always have "LIGHT ON RIGHT" - that is to say a white square in the right hand corner. Otherwise you will have inverted the 64 square universe and now the set up will be different as the Bishops and the other pieces will stand on the opposite colored squares that they should be. So it is always "LIGHT ON RIGHT".

In the start position given up above the pieces and pawns are worth the following points:

• PAWNS are worth 1 point.
• KNIGHTS are worth 3 points - or three pawns.
• BISHOPS are worth 3 points - or three pawns.
• ROOKS are worth 5 points - or one Bishop (or Knight) and two pawns.
• QUEENS are worth 9 points - or three Knights or three Bishops.
• KING is worth - the WHOLE GAME! Remember the whole point of a game of chess is to deliver checkmate against your opponent's King.
  

Down below you will find board positions that show you how to move the pieces and pawns. The circles will be used to show how pieces look at and travel upon diagonal squares - or how they even attack them. The red arrows will show you how to move along the files and Ranks.

• 

THE PAWNS:

• Pawns can move one OR two squares on the first move.
• After that only one move per customer please!
• Each pawn can move 1 or 2 squares on it's first move.
• Pawns are tricky characters - they run out onto the battle field and hope to be promoted to a higher rank some day. Pawns have two SPECIAL MOVES:

1. PAWN PROMOTION - this is what can happen when a pawn gets to the other side of the board. It can then become either a QUEEN, ROOK, KNIGHT or BISHOP - but only one of these four pieces. If you were to promote all eight of your pawns you could have an additional eight queens on the board!
   
2. EN PASSANT CAPTURE a.k.a. CAPTURE IN PASSING. A tricky move that allows attacking pawns to keep enemy pawns from escaping - from running on by them.
   

THESE MOVES WILL BE COVERED IN THE POSTING DOWN BELOW THIS ONE. RIGHT NOW LET US FOCUS ON THE MOVES OF THE PIECES AND PAWNS. - COACH SEAN.

KNIGHTS:

KNIGHTS:

• Move by going up two squares and then over one.
• This Knight - in both positions given - can see all of the squares with circles on them.
• Knights move in an "L-shaped" pattern.
• Knights land on a square that is the opposite color of the square that they stood upon. E.g. A knight on the f3-square (Position given above) is on a white square but he now looks at green squares. We can also refer to the green squares as being dark squares.

KNIGHTS ARE:

1. Stronger as they move towards the center of the board.
2. Weak in corners.
3. "Asymmetrical" warriors - they can attack pieces that cannot block the attack. This makes them very dangerous attackers.
4. The only pieces that can jump over other pieces - both our own and our opponents.
   

BISHOPS:

Bishops are one of three "Line Pieces" or as Chess Emporium Chess Coaches like to refer to them - "Laser Beam Pieces".

BISHOPS:

• Move in a straight line along what we call "Diagonals".
• In the middle of an empty Chess Board this Bishop can look at up to 13 square - X marks the squares!
  
• Every square that this Bishop looks at has a circle upon it. If anything should step onto one of these squares then the Bishop will be looking at that piece.
• If a piece stands on a square that is being looked at by a Bishop then the Bishop cannot see the squares behind that piece.
• Bishops MUST stay on the color of the square that they start out on. A White dark-squared Bishop can never "change lanes" and become a light-squared Bishop. That is a no-no!

BISHOPS ARE:

1. One of three Line Pieces - they move in a straight line, along their line of sight.
2. Strongest in the center of the board. Here they can see 13 squares.
3. Weakest in the corners - they can only see 7 squares.
4. a serious advantage if you have a "PAIR" of them. This is known as "The BISHOP PAIR".
5. Unable to jump over other pieces. As with any capture we land upon the square that the enemy piece stands upon - putting our piece onto this square - and removing our opponent's piece from that square and then placing it at the side of the board.
   

ROOKS:

Rooks are one of three "Line Pieces". Or as Chess Emporium Chess Coaches like to refer to them - "Laser Beam Pieces".

• Move in a straight line along what we call "FILES and RANKS".
• Every square that this ROOK looks at has a red arrow running through it. If anything should step onto one of those squares then the Rook will be looking at that piece.
• If a piece or a pawn stands upon a square that is being looked at by a Rook then the Rook cannot see the squares behind that piece.
• Rooks have four pairs of eyes in the center of the board. They are a unique piece in that even though they have fewer pairs of eyes when they are in the corner of the board they can still see the same number of squares.
  

ROOKS ARE:

1. One of three Line Pieces - they move in a straight line, along their line of sight.
2. Strongest in the center of the board. Here they can see 14 squares on an empty board.
3. Can see the same number of squares - no matter where you place them upon an empty chess board. Give it a try and count the squares.
4. In the middle of the Board a rook has four pairs of eyes - so you cannot sneak up on him by stepping onto a File or Rank. In a corner the Rook has only two pairs of eyes - but he doesn't need the other two pairs because no one can sneak up on him from off beyond the board.
   
5. Are strongest when they have open files or ranks down which to look and move.
   
6. Unable to jump over other pieces. As with any capture we land upon the square that the enemy piece stands upon - putting our piece onto this square - and removing our opponent's piece from that square and then placing it at the side of the board.
7. Rooks are strong pieces that can "own" files if they have "won" from enemy pieces and pawns. Of course we should not have any pawns on such a file if our Rooks are to be able to see as far as they possibly can.
   

QUEENS:

Queens are one of three "Line Pieces". Now you know that the QUEEN, ROOK and BISHOP are the three laser beam pieces! When playing with one of these three pieces - or with all of them - remember to always draw a line or lines out from where these pieces stand and follow those lines until you can see what these pieces are looking at. This is always a good safety check - but it takes some self discipline to avoid allowing "Cobra hand" to strike the pieces down.

QUEENS:

• Move in a straight line along what we call "FILES and RANKS" - just like ROOKS. BUT they can also move like BISHOPS - along files.
• The Queen is the strongest chess piece on the board.
  
• On an empty chess board the Queen in the middle of the board can look at up to 27 squares. We never count the square a piece stands upon - I can hear some of my students saying "No - 28" already! : P
  
• Every square that this Queen can look, on the ranks and files, has a red arrow running through it. For the squares along the diagonals that she can see I have placed circles. If anything should step onto one of those squares then the Queen will be looking at that piece.
• If a piece or a pawn stands upon a square that is being looked at by a Queen then the Queen cannot see the squares behind that piece.
• Like all of the pieces - except for the Rook - the Queen has the best view of an empty chess board in the middle of the board. But just like all of the other pieces the Queen can only see fewer squares when she stands in a corner. The Rook is different because he/she/it can see the same number of square no matter where you place this piece on an empty chess board.
  
• In one of the four corner squares the Queen can only see 21 squares.
  

QUEENS ARE:

1. One of three Line Pieces - they move in a straight line, along their line of sight.
2. Strongest in the center of the board. Here they can see 27 squares on an empty board.
3. See fewer squares when standing upon a1, a8, h1 or h8 squares.
   
4. In the middle of the Board a Queen has eight pairs of eyes - so you cannot sneak up on this piece! In a corner the Queen only has three pairs of eyes - what a strange looking lady. Is she from the Chernobyl region of the Ukraine?
   
5. Are strongest when they have open files, ranks and diagonals down which to look and move.
   
6. Unable to jump over other pieces. As with any capture we land upon the square that the enemy piece stands upon - putting our piece onto this square - and removing our opponent's piece from that square and then placing it at the side of the board.
7. Queens are strong pieces that can "own" files, ranks or diagonals if they have "won" them from enemy pieces and pawns.
8. We should avoid playing the Queen out early during the opening as she can be easily attacked by what are called the minor pieces (Bishops and Knights).
   
9. Here is an easy mnemonic device to help us remember that we do not - usually - as a rule of thumb want to move the Queen out early : "Move your Queen out early - lose her in a hurry!".
   

KINGS:

KINGS:

• Can move one square in any direction.
• This King - in both positions given - can see all of the squares with circles upon them.
• The King is the old man of the chess board.
• Kings cannot use other pieces to block checks from Knights - because Knights can land on a square that is the opposite color of the square that they stand upon. So when our opponents start to bring their Knights closer to our King we have to be careful!
• The King has a special move - it is called Castling. See the posting on Special moves for more on this.
• The King is the cowardly old man of the chess board - he hides in his throne room and has every one else do the fighting. Once we get into the endgame - and you will know when you have reached the endgame because there will not be many pieces left on the board - then the King comes out to fight! In the endgame the King is a fighting piece.
• We never want our King to lead the charge into battle - this is a bad idea!
  

KINGS ARE:

1. Stronger as they move towards the center of the board - as soon as they step away from the side of the board.
2. Weak no matter what square they stand upon - our opponent always wants to trap this piece with his pieces and pawns!
3. Only as fast as a pawn. If you King is behind an enemy pawn he will never catch it.
4. Able to capture enemy pieces - just like any other piece can UNLESS - that piece is protected by one of it's friends.
5. When our King is in CHECK - being looked at by an enemy piece - we must look at the following list of potential options:
6. The King is the "old man" of the chess board - he does not move very quickly.
   

• Capture the attacking piece.
  
• Block the attack by putting one of the Kings loyal subjects in the way.
• Run away from the check! I told you - the King is cowardly!

The three special words can help us to keep track of KING SAFETY:

1. CHECK
2. CHECKMATE and
   
3. STALEMATE

We will discuss this in more detail in the very next posting - down below.



Thank you for having taken the time to read this posting - I hope it has helped you! If you have any questions then please do contact me on my personal cell phone. If I do not pick up then please do leave a message and I will return your call within twenty four hours.

Yours in Chess
Coach Sean Tobin.

3 SPECIAL WORDS: CHECK, CHECKMATE & STALEMATE.

CHECK

Ok - let us start with our first special move... CHECK. In the position below we have an extremely common endgame - one reached MILLIONS of times EVERY DAY.


Notice the following things:

1. The Black King has his anti-White King force field on. The White King can never step next to him.
2. The Queen has built a prison for the enemy King from which he cannot escape - it is only two squares big. This will be important later on - when we talk about STALEMATE.
3. The Black King cannot step outside of his prison as he will put himself in check - a rule we MUST NEVER EVER BREAK IN CHESS. Otherwise we have played an illegal move.
4. It usually takes two pieces to overpower a King on an empty board. Here the White King and White Queen are more than powerful enough to do this.

WHAT IS A CHECK?

Check is when - an enemy piece looks at our King.

If an enemy piece is looking at our King we want to do one of the three following things on our list CAPTURE, BLOCK and RUNAWAY. Trust me when I say that your King may need Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation if an enemy piece looks at him. He is a big coward! We want to preferably play one of these options and usually in this order:

1. CAPTURE the enemy piece.
2. BLOCK the enemy piece - with one of our other chessmen. It is like pulling your friend in front of you, using them as a shield for when someone throws a pie at you. Your friend gets hit instead of you! Of course they may not appreciate that sort of treatment... but that is between you and your friend - so leave me out of it!
3. RUNAWAY. Have your King move away from the square that he is standing on so that the enemy piece can no longer stare at him/it.

If you cannot do any of the three things on this list - you have been CHECKMATED! Of course if we can checkmate our opponent - then we will do that as soon as possible.

IS IT CHECKMATE?

In the board position given above it is not checkmate! It is only a check - because our King can capture the opponent's Queen.



After the move King takes Queen we now have two King left on the chess board. This is one of several different ways to draw a chess game. A draw means that neither player has won but that neither player has lost. It is an even game - even Steven - as both players have shared the point.

When we win a game we get a full point. 1 point equals one win.
When we draw a game we share the point or get half of a point. 1/2 - 1/2 means draw.
When we lose a game we get to eat a bagel. We get 0 points - but we do get to play more chess afterward!

A board with two Kings on it means the game has ended. The two Kings will never be able to attack each other so instead of moving these two pieces forever we just call it a draw.

CHECKMATE!

This is what we are always playing for - in every game of chess.

Again we have the trapped King in a corner situation in chess up above.

Down below - aha... Checkmate!

Checkmate is when:

Our King and his loyal subjects cannot capture an enemy piece that is both attacking the King and safe from being captured. Checkmate happens when we are unable to block the check with one of our other pieces and checkmate also means that our King cannot run away as either all of the squares around him are being looked at/controlled by enemy pieces or his own friends/ loyal subjects get in the way - because they are standing on the squares next to him - and prevent him from running away.

1 - 0
(1 - 0 means White has won the full point.)

Notice that the Black King cannot capture the White Queen - if he were to do so then he would be giving and receiving check from the White King. Which violates the rule that we must never allow our own King to be checked by any enemy piece or pawn.

The Queen on b7 is safe because of the King on the c6-square.

The Black King on a8 cannot capture, block or runaway. So he has been checkmated!

• He cannot block as the Queen is standing next to him.
• He cannot run away as he is in the corner of the board.
• He cannot capture the Queen because of the other King.
• He cannot run to the a7 or b7 squares because the Queen also looks at these squares - plus the square he stands upon a8.
  

STALEMATE

Stalemate is a kind of draw.


Stalemate happens when we make a careless move which allows us to control all of the squares AROUND the opponent's King and our opponent has no other pieces that they can move and their King stands upon the one square that we do not control.

Stalemate is like an old moldy piece of bread. Extremely gross if you were expecting a big healthy sandwich! Instead of winning we have allowed our opponent to get away with half of point - one half of the full point that should have been ours.

Of course if you are losing a game of chess then a stalemate is an extremely desirable result. It means that you have saved half a point and instead of getting no point you get to share half of the other player's point.

Stalemate is one of the two ways to draw a game that we have learned about during this lesson. There are others - which will be covered in future postings as they are somewhat more technical (E.g. 50 move rule and 3-fold repetition of position.) Of course another way that two players can get a draw is if one of them offers a draw to the other player and then that other player accepts the "draw offer" - the game then immediately ends in a draw. So that is a third way to make a draw that you have learned from this posting!

In the position below - after White's move Qc7 - notice all of the squares that the White Queen looks at. She looks at her King and every square that has part of a red arrow upon it. But the one square that she does not look at - that is the most important of the squares in and around where the opponent's King is located - is the square that the Black King stands upon. With Black to move this is a STALEMATE DRAW. Game over!

OUR THREE SPECIAL WORDS ARE:

• CHECK
• CHECKMATE &
  
• STALEMATE

The whole point of a game of chess is to avoid having our King being trapped - that is checkmated - while trying to checkmate the opponent's King.

1 - 0
(1 - 0 means White has won the full point.)

In a future class we shall discuss how to use various endgame techniques to achieve the goal of checkmate - the first being King and Queen versus King, then King and Rook versus King and so on from there.

CHESS COACH SEAN TOBIN

SPECIAL MOVES: Part One - The King.

KEEPING YOUR KING SAFE:
CASTLING!
*
Castle early and castle often - 99% of the time!

BELOW IS THE START POSITION
-
This is what our chess board should look like at the start of a game of chess.
Remember "Light on Right" - there should be a white square in the right hand corner of the board.

IN THIS LESSON YOU WILL LEARN:

• How to correctly castle your King
• What three things we want to achieve in the opening.
• How to play three easy moves as White - as long as your opponent goes along with this - to help keep your King safe, control the center and to develop your team. In other words how to play an opening - a very famous one called the RUY LOPEZ.
  

WHAT THREE THINGS DO WE WANT FROM ANY OPENING?

1. Our fair share of the center - or all of it!
2. To develop our team.
3. To keep our King safe.

If we can achieve all three of these objectives then we shall have a very good game ahead of us and we will have made it out of the opening without having been checkmated.

I will show you how to achieve all three of these objectives in our next example - where our King castles King-side. I will use an example from a well known opening - one in which the first player/white player castles to the King's side of the board. The opening I am going to show you is the RUY LOPEZ - which only takes three easy moves from White and Black.

Whenever we open a game of chess we must respond to what our opponent's threats are - so if we cannot play our favorite opening by "wrote" - because our opponent has chosen a different opening set up then, as always, we just want to get our pieces out onto good squares and try to both create and watch out for tactical threats.

Remember to refer back to the PDF file that I have sent out to all members of the Eagles Chess Community - this will help you to read and understand the move list I will provide down below:

After the moves:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5
   

We have our opening that we want to play as White - the RUY LOPEZ. Three golden moves have gotten us there!

• White plays a pawn to the e4 square, one of four key central squares that we want to control or own.
• White plays out his King side Knight first - Usually we play Knights before Bishops because they take longer to get to where they need to go sometimes. A simple rule of thumb - not always true but good advice to follow just the same.
• White plays out his King side Bishop - developing this piece to a great square where it attacks the Knight on c6.

So far White is doing really well in this game because:

1. He/she controls some of the center
2. She/he is developing their pieces - the Knight and the Bishop are out on the field.
3. AND... the first player/player of the white pieces is ready to castle! KING SAFETY - very important no matter how we open up our game!
   

After the additional moves:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
4. Ba4 Nf6

We reach the well known position given below:


It is White's turn here.... what do we need to do now? Aha - keep our King safe!

BUT HOW DO WE DO THAT?


Maybe keeping our King safe is a good idea? What is the best way to do this in a game of chess - at least during the opening. Castling! We can castle to either side of the board - when there aren't any of our other pieces in the way and if we can safely answer no to all of the following questions we should ask before attempting to castle:

• First off - is our King in Check? No.
• Are either of the squares with circles on them being looked at by enemy pieces or pawns? No.
  
• Have we moved our King yet? No.
• Have we moved the Rook on h1? No.
  

Then we can castle our King to the King's side of the board then! But how do you actually and physically do that?

1. Pick up your King.
2. Count two squares over towards the side of the board that you want to castle towards.
3. Put the King on the second of these two squares. In the above position we want to put our King on the "g1-square" - the square that has a circle on it and that is next to the Rook on h1.
4. Pick up the Rook and place him down next to the King - but on the other side of the King.
   

The next position given down below shows what the position should look like if White has castled correctly.


White's King is safe now! Or at least a lot safer than he would be if he were stuck in the center of the board - where Black's King is right now!

Ok - so that was castling to the King's side of the board - but how about going to the other side of the board. That is can we castle to the Queen's side of the board?

YES - WE CAN! (Sorry President Obama!!)

In the position given below we have reached a very popular moment in an opening known as "The Sicilian Dragon". White can play a couple of good moves here but one that is very popular features the first player getting his King to the relative safety of the Queen's side of the board.



After the moves:

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 g6
6. Be3 Bg7
7. f3 Nc6
8. Qd2 0 - 0
   

We now have the position given above... Black has just castled his King to the King side on his last move. That is what that "0 - 0" business means. An "O" for each square that the King travels through and onto. What happens if a King goes to the Queen-side in what we chess players call Queen side castles.


Ok - let us all go through our "check" list to see if we can castle to this side of the board.

• Is our King in check? No - so we will be able to castle. Remember you can NEVER CASTLE OUT OF CHECK as you must first either CAPTURE the piece giving check, BLOCK the check or RUN AWAY. The King can move one square in any direction to get out of check but he can never use the Special move to get away from a check. The check will take away this Special move.
• Have we moved our King during a previous turn? No - so we will be able to castle.
• Have we moved our Rook on a1 during a previous turn? No - so we will be able to castle.
• Are either of the squares with circles on them attacked by enemy pieces? No - so we can castle in that case then.
• Are all of the white pieces (Queen, Bishop and Knight) out of the way of the King and the Rook on a1? Yes - they are so we can pass through those empty squares while castling.
  

So the rules are the same:

1. Pick up your King.
2. Count two squares over towards the side of the board that you want to castle towards.
3. Put the King on the second of these two squares. In the above position we want to put our King on the "c1-square" - the square that has a circle on it and is the furthest of the two circled squares away from the White King.
4. Pick up the Rook and place him down next to the King - but on the other side of the King.

You will notice that there is an extra square between the King and the left hand side of the board. This is because he went to the Queen's side of the board. The extra square is there because we have four squares on each side of the board and the Queen stood on the one next to the King - in the start position.

Would you like to take a guess as to how we would write this move down? If you said or wrote down the move...



9. 0 - 0 - 0 giving an "o" for every square between the King and the Rook then you are correct! Well done!!

In both of these examples on how to castle we have seen both players look after their King's safety by using the special move CASTLES. In any opening we want to always achieve three objectives - get three things accomplished:

1. CONTROL THE CENTER.
2. DEVELOP YOUR TEAM/ARMY.
3. KEEP YOUR KING SAFE.

In both opening examples given above the first player / player of the white pieces has taken care of number one - CONTROL THE CENTER and by castling they have taken care of 3. KEEP YOUR KING SAFE. However until both of our Rooks can look at each other then we have not fully DEVELOPED OUR TEAM. All members of the army should be out on the board, while the King stays in his throne room until the endgame and his two body guards - the Rooks - need to guard the back rank. By guarding the "back rank" I mean that both Rooks can look at each other, thus protecting each other, and can capture any pieces that land on this 1st Rank of the White player.

WE MUST NEVER JUST DEVELOP OUR PIECES WITHOUT WATCHING OUT FOR OUR OPPONENT'S THREATS... this too is part of "KING SAFETY". HERE IS AN EXAMPLE DOWN BELOW:


After the moves:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Nf6
4. Ng5!

White has created a threat against the f7-pawn by combining the attacks of his Bishop (on c4) and his Knight (just landed on the g5 square) who both look at the super weak square f7. A move like 4. ...Be7 would just allow the first player to capture the f7-pawn as well as giving check if it is the Bishop that makes the capture. Here the move 5. Nxf7 would win a lot of points for the first player.

We need to develop our team - but we always need to watch out for the threats that our opponent will try to make against our pieces and in particular against our King.

I hope you have enjoyed part one of our lesson on Special Moves... part two is given immediately after this (Chronologically before this... I wasn't playing by normal blogger rules in making these postings!)

Your Bulldogs Chess Coach
Coach Sean Tobin

SPECIAL MOVES: Part Two - The Pawns.

THE SPECIAL MOVES OF PAWNS...

Here is a "fictional" game that I have created to showcase two of our three special moves - both of the special moves that only the pawns can do! They are:

• PAWN PROMOTION - Get one of your pawns to the other side of the board and cause a commotion with a pawn promotion. With each pawn that promotes you can either get a QUEEN, KNIGHT, BISHOP or a ROOK back onto the board. You cannot have another King or leave the pawn as a pawn - it must promote. You must place the piece that you are promoting to on the square that your pawn touches down/lands on.
  
• EN PASSANT CAPTURE a.k.a. IN PASSING CAPTURE. A special move that some Adults do not even know and some experienced tournament players have forgotten about - until it was too late! This is a law of chess that allows one of your pawns that is five ranks away from you (Five squares away from your side of the board) to capture an enemy pawn that jumps up two squares to stand shoulder to shoulder with your pawn. You may only play this capture on your turn after they have played their pawn move - if you wait then you lose the right to "Capture in passing".

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"The Start Position"
- As the board should be set up.

• Once again notice the Letters along the side - going up towards the Black side of the board. These are the "Ranks" and each rank goes from across the board left to right. The first Rank is where the White pieces live.
• Notice the letters along the bottom of the chess board - these are the individual files. The files go up and down the chess board. E.g. The b-file has the White Knight on the b1 square and goes all the way up to the top of the board to where the Black Knight starts the game on the b8-square.
• To find what square is being identified you can "cross reference" the ranks and files. Draw imaginary lines up the files and find where the ranks cross over them and you will have found the name of whatever square you are looking for. E.g. The square e3 is a green square two square in front of the White King.
• The white pieces are always set up on the first rank while the white pawns are set up on the second rank. The black pieces are set up on the 8th rank and the Black pawns are set up on the 7th rank at the start of every game of chess.
  

EACH OF THE PAWNS CAN MOVE 1 or 2 SQUARES
*On the first move, after that only one square please!

• Notice that pawn march forward - but they attack the squares diagonally in front of them.
  
• In the above example the move 1.e4 has been played. A pawn lands on the e4 square and now it attacks the squares f5 and d5 - where I have placed the circles.
  

• BLACK COPYCATS!
• This is a good move though. This pawn that jumped up to the e5 square is preventing the white pawn from moving forward.
  

• White has just played an "OPENING" known as the KING'S GAMBIT. Openings have names - usually after people or places. There are three parts to a game of chess: The OPENING, MIDDLE and ENDGAMES.
• The Black pawn can now grab the white pawn that has jumped onto the f4 square. We would do this in a game by picking up the f4-pawn and then putting our e5 pawn on that square.
• Set up your own chess board and copy these moves to get them down.
  

• The capture has been made.
• This is known at the KING'S GAMBIT ACCEPTED. You do not need to remember the names of the openings right now. Just finding good squares for our pieces will be our first priority whenever we play a game of chess - no matter what opening we are playing.
  

SPECIAL MOVE #1 - HAPPENING NOW!

• The move 3. g4 is a mistake - we will find out why in a moment.
• TRUE or FALSE - Can the pawn on f4 capture that pawn that just ran by him/her?
• Remember the circles are the squares that our f4 pawn attacks.
  

aha

• The answer is YES it is TRUE, the black pawn on e5 can capture the "runner" that ran onto the g4-square. To understand why this is so allowed let us take a look at the board position up above.
• IF the pawn that HAD been on g2 had gone to g3 - instead of the g4-square - then the black f4-pawn would be able to capture the g3 pawn. Remember his arms? Those circles?
  
• Well the white pawn is in one of these circles right now. So here we can play the move for black 3. ...fxg3 - which in English means pawn takes pawn.
  

So...

THE EN PASSANT MOVE!
a.k.a. CAPTURING IN PASSING

• ...even if the pawn runs up two squares it can still be captured by the enemy pawn. Because this white g-pawn still passed through a square with a "circle" or attack upon it.
  
• This special rule only applies to pawns. Pawns are unable to capture pieces "In passing" because pieces are not pawns. There is a difference!
  

MOVING RIGHT ALONG...
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Why was the move 3. g4 a mistake? Because it helps to weaken the squares around the White King. Once a pawn moves forward it cannot turn back - there is no going back but only forward!

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Now for a series of moves to show how badly we can weaken the area over on the King's side of the board. This will allow us all to see our next special move = PAWN PROMOTION (a.k.a QUEENING THE PAWN)!

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Here are the moves to this game as played so far - don't forget to read the PDF file that I sent out in our email about "HOW TO READ AND WRITE CHESS NOTATION" - a handy file put out by the USCF (United States Chess Federation), which is the standard notation used all around the world. The only difference being that some countries will use different letters to represent the various pieces because the pieces have different names in different parts of the world.

• 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. g4?? fxg4 E.P.
• The next move played weakens the light squares even more - 4. Bc4?? is a terrible move.
  
• Black to play and win 5 points. Can you find the move?
  

• OUCH! Yes - just because the pawn on g3 COULD HAVE captured the white pawn on h2 doesn't mean that it has to. He could still march forward because no one was standing on or guarding the g2 square.
  
• Pawns, Queens and Bishops can attack Rooks and Knights without being attacked in return by the piece that they are threatening. Rooks can only move along RANKS and FILES - a diagonal attack is something that Rooks always have to watch out for and Bishops can move along these diagonals while Queens can combine the moves of Bishops and Rooks.
• The only way to defend against a diagonal attack upon a Rook is either remove the attacker with one of our other pieces - if possible, to move out of the way - again if possible or to throw one of our other pieces in the way between the attacker and our Rook - this is called blocking.
  
• The move played would be written down as 4. ...g2 - again I give the complete "game score" down below, in the next bullet.
• 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. g4?? fxg4 E.P. 4. Bc4?? g2! (Take that Mr. Rook!!)
• Notice that the Rook is trapped in the corner - his friend the Knight is in the way.
  

The King is too slow to win this foot race! Remember he can only move one square at a time - unless doing his special move - CASTLING (See post above)!

SPECIAL MOVE #2 - HAPPENING NOW!

Aha - and here it is. The other special move of pawns - PAWN PROMOTION. This pawn has just promoted - turned into - a Queen. From humble beginnings this pawn ended up becoming royalty!

This e-pawn has been on quite a journey - first he/she/it started the game off on the e7-square, then he jumped up to the square e5. When he was attacked by the white f-pawn he captured and then got to capture the g-pawn using "EN PASSANT CAPTURE" or the "IN PASSING CAPTURE" rule - the first Special move we looked at in this posting. Having landed on the g3-square the next stop on this pawns journey was the square g2. Because the White Bishop moved away the Black pawn was able to attack the white Rook that was locked in the corner on the h1-square.

TWO MORE SPECIAL MOVES - Now you can add those moves to your bag of chess tricks!

I now give the moves to this game down below in the game score...

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. g4?? fxg4 E.P. 4. Bc4?? g2! 5. Kf2 gxh1=Q. Black is winning by a serious amount of points in this game now.

I hope you all have enjoyed this tutorial - feel free to send any questions to me at my email address.

Your Chess Coach
Coach Sean Tobin.