Chess

...It is never good chess sense to lose a Queen or one of your higher value pieces for a pawn or a lesser value piece unless as mentioned above it is part of your immediate grand plan for CheckMate.

Now this is the main part of the basic rules, anything more than this and this review is going to absolutely massive and will begin to get very complex.

I hope that you now have a basic idea of how to set the Board up and the ...
...of your skills as a Chess player. This is reallly irritating when you come to play someone again. Note however that you do pick this up again quite quickly when you play again.

What else to say, this game is basically quite simple to learn but takes ages to master. But it is really a great game. I have enjoyed playing this game for many years. I learnt it from my Dad and have played with many people since. Used to enjoy playing the ... more

Intro:

Ok, now where do you start with Chess, probably the greatest strategy game ever. I have broken this review down into two parts, the basic rules and my opinion on the game.

I am not going into two many details on the basic rules as it is too complicated and would take too long to go into everything, but hope that you will get an idea of what the basic gameplay is.

My opinion is quite clear what that involves, but I tell you now that it will be very positive as I love this game. This is long review because the rules of the game are so complex, so if you know the basics then just read my opinion which will give you my thoughts.

Setting up the Board:

Now then Chess, where do you start. Well the beginning is usually the best. Now this is a complex board game. You have two sides (one Back and one White). The aim of the game is to get the opponent CheckMate (More about this later).

Now what does the board look like, You have 64 squares, 32 White and 32 Black in a sequence of 1 Black and 1 White square. The Board is 8 X 8, i.e. 8 Wide and 8 High.

You have in total 32 pieces, 16 Black and 16 White and these are made up on both sides of 8 Pawns, 2 Rooks (quite usually called Castles) 2 Knights (Look like horses) 2 Bishops, 1 King and 1 Queen.

Each piece has different values and instructions. The pawns are generally cannon fodder and can only move forwards 1 space at a time. These can be made into any other piece on the board (except the king as there can only be one of them) if / when they get to the other side of the board. Pawns always start on the second row of the board (Did I mention that you line up your pieces facing each other, high value pieces on the back line and pawns in front? If not that is what you do, more about the high value pieces shortly).

Behind the pawns you have in this order starting from the left 1 Rook, 1 Knight, 1 Bishop, 1 Queen, 1 King, 1 Bishop, 1 Knight and 1 Rook (which obviously means that you have the King and Queen in the middle flanked by the Bishops, then the Knights and then the Rooks.

VALUE OF PIECES:

Ok, now you have finally managed to set the board up, next thing to cover is how does each piece move. I have done this in a table to make it simpler.

Pawns - can only move forward 1 space at a time, except on the first go when they can move 2 if there is nothing in its way.

Rooks - Can only move in a horizontal or vertical way but as far as they want - as long as there is nothing obstructing them.

Knights - Ok these are a little more complicated, they basically move in a L shaped way, i.e. 2 forwards, 1 to the left or right. This can be any way and they are the only piece on the board which can jump over other pieces.

Bishops - can only move in a straight way but can only move diagonally and on their colour (if you have set the board up correctly then you will start the game with one bishop on a black square and 1 Bishop on a white square, which means that the black bishop can only move diagonally on black and the same for the white bishop. The Bishops can again move as far as they want but only as long as nothing obstructs them.

The Queen - Now this is the most powerfull piece and can move horizontal, vertical and diagonal. I.e. it can move more or less any way it wants once (so either diagonal as long as it can, vertical as long as it can or horizontal as long as it can). Note it can only do one of the three in any go.

The King - This is the most important piece and the Weakest. The King can only move 1 square at a time, but in any direction.

AIM OF THE GAME:

Aim of the game is to get the king CheckMate. Now what does this mean, this means that you attack the king (i.e get one of you pieces in a position where it could take the king, so the Bishop needs a clear diagonal run towards the King, or the Queen the same) and your opponent cannot move the King out of the way, and can move no piece into position where it stops the King being under attack.

HOW DO YOU GET TO FULFIL THE AIM OF THE GAME & BASIC TIPS:

Now the basic aim is as mentioned is to get the King into CheckMate. You do this by attacking the King and moving your pieces forward so that you can fulfil this aim.

Basically your first move has to be either a pawn (as if you remember none of the pieces behind them can move except the Knights as they need to be able to run straight lines) or one of the Knights.

Usually what happens (especially with beginners to the game) is that you usually have a complete kill feast to start with with each team taking an opponents piece as soon as they can until there are not many pieces left on the board. This then makes it easier to get CheckMate. Oh one thing to mention is that you cannot take the King (taking means that you remove the piece off the Board and it cannot come back on - unless as mentioned above you get a pawn to the other side of the board).

You basically need to manoever the opponent into a position where you can attack the King and he cannot move it away from that position without being attacked by another of your pieces and cannot move anything in between your piece that is attacking the King and the King itself.

Basic Tips, now the most vital piece on the board is the Queen as it is the most powerful, protect it with your life and try not to lose it unless you can get your opponents Queen or it is a clear part of your grand plan to get him CheckMate.

I don't think that i have mentioned yet that each player gets one turn, to move one piece once. In the case of the Queen, Rock and Bishop these pieces can move as far as you want them to / as far as they can move with nothing obstructing them. Then it is your opponents turn to move one piece, etc.

You can take any piece of your opponents when they are in a position which allows you to move one of your pieces in a direct line to theirs. Note, in some cases your opponent might have a piece protecting the one that you want to take (this basically means that one of their pieces is in direct line (same way as that piece moves) as the one your are planning on taking, you should therefore conside carefully whether you want to take that piece if it means you will lose the piece on the next go when your opponent moves. It is never good chess sense to lose a Queen or one of your higher value pieces for a pawn or a lesser value piece unless as mentioned above it is part of your immediate grand plan for CheckMate.

Now this is the main part of the basic rules, anything more than this and this review is going to absolutely massive and will begin to get very complex.

I hope that you now have a basic idea of how to set the Board up and the basic possible movements of the pieces and their importance.

My Opinion

Now this is probably the greatest strategy game ever and does really allow for you to have many hours of fun in just one single game. It can however also be over in 4 moves if you are a beginner playing someone who is good at the game.

This is not a game for someone who is not patient. It can take many hours to finish to finish a game especially if you are both good players. It can also be difficult to make an opponent CheckMate if you have never played before if you have are not used to it.

Please do also note that it will take you some time to learn how to play this game properly. I learnt this game as a young boy (and this is definetley the best way to learn as you have your entire life to get better). However even though I learnt this as a young boy it still takes a lot of hard work to get good and beat better players. You need to be patient and constantly play people who are better than you.

Another really annoying thing about this game is that if you stop playing regurlarly then you do lose some of your skills as a Chess player. This is reallly irritating when you come to play someone again. Note however that you do pick this up again quite quickly when you play again.

What else to say, this game is basically quite simple to learn but takes ages to master. But it is really a great game. I have enjoyed playing this game for many years. I learnt it from my Dad and have played with many people since. Used to enjoy playing the game with pretty girls when I was younger so that I could have a reason to stare in their eyes (How sad must I have been!!!!!).

Now the basic game is easy to set up and easy to play. I do recommend that if you are just starting out that you learn the game from someone who has been playing for a number of years. This will enable you to have someone explain the game to you (which is a lot easier than trying to understand the basic game setup from what I have written above) and they will also help you to learn some of the pitfalls that Chess will bring you. BUT be prepared to lose most of your first games that you play as it will take you ages to master the game.

I have found that if you are willing to learn and work hard at it, then you will get good enough to beat the person who taught you.

The major trick of the game is to think moves ahead. When you start to play you think only of your next move, when you get a little better you start to think 3 - 5 moves ahead (this is where I generally sit nowadays as I do not play enough). When you get really good (and I don't mean Championship level, but good enough to beat most of your friends) you start thinking 7 - 10 moves ahead with many options in between.

I used to have one friend who I used to play quite regular (he was a great chess player) and I only really beat him once and that with a move that he had never seen before. So there is hope for everyone when you play chess, you just need to practise and learn the game. I will mention that I never beat him with that strategic move again though.

So in short, this is a great game when you have learned the basics and start playing regular. I have a chess computer that I play and when I start playing regular I beat it on Level 4 or 5 on advanced mode (t has 17 Advanced Levels) but once I stop I have to go back to Level 2 and start to practise again.

I recommend learning this game to everyone as it really starts to make you use your brain and it definetely teaches you how to lose. This is absolutely gripping and enjoyable although sometimes really long. Learn to play with a friend and stick with it.

Verdict: 5 out of 5  

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