The board - always start so that a white square is on the bottom right hand corner (white to the right).
Every piece in chess has its own starting position. Typically - both teams start on opposite sides of the board. The pawns line up in the front row of each army.
In the back row you have the rooks guarding the outer edges, followed by the knights who are the next ones in, then the bishops who always stay close to the King and Queen in the middle. (Note: the Queen goes on her own coloured square - i.e. a Black Queen will go on the black square and a White queen will go on the White square. This is important as it means that both Kings and Queens on each team are facing directly across from each other).
To decide who starts - try holding a pawn from each side - one in each hand - Then ask your opponent to pick a hand to decide which team starts.
TIPS:
I have two pieces of advice for all beginners of Chess:
1) Your best strategy in Chess is Attack, Attack, Attack (every move you make is valuable and should be done for some sort of attack - dont waste time making lovely patterns or retreating without a plan in mind - except as a last resort)
2) Make effective use of Wait time. This is not the time to relax but it is the time to plan your moves. (when it is your turn you should not really give your enemy lots of wait time so they can plan - it should be quick because you have already planned.)
PRACTICE: 1) Play a full game with all the pieces and use their proper starting positions! 2) If you want to practice more but do not have enough time for a full match - play using points - so the game could end at any time but the person who has the most points at that moment is the winner - use the relative values of each piece you have captured / killed *(e.g. a pawn = 1, knight = 2, Queen = 20, etc) to count up how many points you have by the end. 3) Want to practice but have no one around to play with? There is a link at the bottom that will let you play for free online - or alternatively you could play a 1 player chess game - Use the daily puzzle at the bottom of the page to suggest a challenging starting scenario - then see how many turns it takes for you to win!
In the back row you have the rooks guarding the outer edges, followed by the knights who are the next ones in, then the bishops who always stay close to the King and Queen in the middle. (Note: the Queen goes on her own coloured square - i.e. a Black Queen will go on the black square and a White queen will go on the White square. This is important as it means that both Kings and Queens on each team are facing directly across from each other).
TIPS:
I have two pieces of advice for all beginners of Chess:
1) Your best strategy in Chess is Attack, Attack, Attack (every move you make is valuable and should be done for some sort of attack - dont waste time making lovely patterns or retreating without a plan in mind - except as a last resort)
2) Make effective use of Wait time. This is not the time to relax but it is the time to plan your moves. (when it is your turn you should not really give your enemy lots of wait time so they can plan - it should be quick because you have already planned.)
- Immediate Defense/Attack (this means protecting any piece from being killed by your opponent in their next turn - check for pieces in lines of attack. The main ways to protect pieces are to reposition them somewhere else or to block the line of attack with another piece. The better way to protect your piece is by attacking - the best defense is attack! This could be by taking out enemy piece who is about to kill your piece. It could also be by positioning another piece in a place to kill another piece of the opponent that is just as or more valuable than your piece so that your opponent will be reluctant to kill your piece at the cost of losing theirs on the next go - they may rethink their plan of attack and your piece will be saved for now)
- Short Term Attack (this is any form of attack to kill a piece that will require more than one move to execute - perhaps even more than one piece being moved. the options here are many and varied and is where the real fun of chess lies)
- Long Term Attack (never lose sight of the overall aim of chess - to kill the King! sometimes players can get so caught up in a mini battle happening on the board only to find that the enemy has been using this distraction to position their pieces in place to get your king in checkmate - so all your mini victories of killing their Rook or Queen has been a waste - as your King is dead! - make sure you always have in mind a long term plan of attack on the enemies King - make it as efficient as possible - i.e. if you can kill the King without killing any other enemy piece all the better (in fact, a good chess player is not simply measured on how few pieces they lose and how many enemy pieces they kill - but the best chess player will be the one who kills as few of the enemy pieces as possible to win the game (of course without having any of their pieces killed either).
PRACTICE: 1) Play a full game with all the pieces and use their proper starting positions! 2) If you want to practice more but do not have enough time for a full match - play using points - so the game could end at any time but the person who has the most points at that moment is the winner - use the relative values of each piece you have captured / killed *(e.g. a pawn = 1, knight = 2, Queen = 20, etc) to count up how many points you have by the end. 3) Want to practice but have no one around to play with? There is a link at the bottom that will let you play for free online - or alternatively you could play a 1 player chess game - Use the daily puzzle at the bottom of the page to suggest a challenging starting scenario - then see how many turns it takes for you to win!
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