Free Chess Lessons

Chigorin - Steinitz, WC 1892

2011-10-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

The game below is the game between Mikhail Chigorin and William Steinitz in the 23th round of the 1892 World Championship in Havana, Cuba. It became famous, because of Chigorin's blunder at the 32th move.

We see that even grandmasters may make elementary blunders.

Playing chess with Samantha

2011-03-09T10:07:00.001-08:00

Playing chess with Samantha by williamhartz on Flickr

All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license.

Chess Publishing

2010-11-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

I often get questions about how I managed to get the re-playable chess lessons on this blogsite. The answer is rather simple: I just use the Chess Game Viewer from Chess Publishing. The mentioned site describes a lot of things you can do with this configurable Game Viewer that has been developed with the Blogspot sites in mind, but I only use a very limited part of the functionality.

Making Chess Pieces

2010-05-08T02:52:00.001-07:00

A young boy manufacturing chess pieces in a small shop above a warehouse in the souks of Marrakech, by austinevan on Flickr. All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license.

Ahvenainen - Ostroem (1975)

2010-04-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

This is an example game of the Sicilian Defence with a nice mating pattern at the end. I also experimented with the new possibilities of selecting another chess piece set and chess board as recently published on Chess Publishing.

it's a small world

2010-04-01T03:02:00.000-07:00

Inside - Chess? - "it's a small world", Fantasyland, Disneyland, Lantau, Hong Kong by thewamphyri on Flickr from where all sizes of this photo are available under a Creative Commons license.

Scholar's mate

2010-03-27T03:55:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia scholar's mate is the checkmate which occurs after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7#. The moves may be played in a different order or with slight variations, but the basic idea – the queen and bishop combining in an attack on f7.
Just let's have a look at some of these variations and how we can avoid this mate.

OK, now that we have seen these variations of the Scholar's Mate and some of the rather easy defences try to avoid these traps as much as possible in the future.

On the use of Mirrors in the Game of Chess

2010-02-17T10:58:00.000-08:00

On the use of Mirrors in the Game of Chess by alancleaver_2000
All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license.

"On the Use of Mirrors in the Game of Chess" by Milo Temesvar does not exist, but it was the title of a book by Umberto Eco.
The result is a nice picture.

Fool's mates

2010-01-24T04:22:00.000-08:00

Fool's mate is the quickest possible checkmate. It only takes two moves, and it can only be accomplished if White is really helping to get mated.
There are eight possible variations that lead to the mating pattern, but they are all very similar. You can replay all of them below.

Chess sets

2009-11-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

Chess sets, (cc att.) Free Chess Lessons

An illustrative example game

2009-11-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

The game below is used to show the Short Algebraic Notation in combination with the Chess Notation symbols. The game in itself may be illustrative, but the main goal is an exercise with this notation. Do you know al the symbols used?

Chess game in Wrocław

2009-11-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

Chess game in Wrocław at Old Market by Kamil Porembiński

Chess Notation Symbols

2009-11-03T05:09:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of chess annotation symbols, but they are certainly not all that important. We already have seen the 1-0, 0-1 and 1/2-1/2 indications at the end of the game. Sometimes an asterisk (*) is used to indicate that the game isn't finished.

This post focusses on the chess symbols that are added at the end of a move. An overview of these symbols can be found in the following table. I distinguish the symbols that have to be used in the algebraic chess notation to indicate the move itself and the symbols that are used to indicate the quality of the move or to indicate an evaluation of the current position.

To indicate the move itself
Symbol	Meaning
#	Checkmate
+	Check
++	Double check. Sometimes this symbol is used to indicate checkmate, but most of the time it is used to indicate that two pieces are checkmating the king at the same time.

To indicate the quality of the move
!	A good move, not trivial.
!!	An excellent move, even more difficult to see.
?	A bad move
??	A blunder, a very bad move
!?	An interesting move, probably it will be good
?!	A dubious move, probably very risky

To indicate the current position
=	Equal
+=	Evaluating the position as a small advantage for White. White stands slightly better
=+	A small advantage for Black
+/-	A clear advantage for White
-/+	A clear advantage for Black
+-	A winning advantage for White
-+	A winning advantage for Black
?	Unclear

White is in trouble

2009-11-02T05:32:00.000-08:00

Chess by Jens Gyldenkærne Clausen

All sizes of this photo as well as of the uncropped version are available for download on Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Short algebraic notation

2009-11-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

In practice the long algebraic notation is only used by players learning the game. Most of the time chess players use the short algebraic notation.
This is almost the same notation, but with the starting position and the hyphen left out.

But now some moves have to be disambiguated. If two (or more) identical pieces can move to the same square, the letter indicating the piece is followed by (in descending order of preference):

the file of departure if they differ
the rank of departure if the files are the same but the ranks differ
both the file and rank if neither alone uniquely defines the piece

The Fool’s Mate now can be notated as:

1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4# 0-1

Staunton Chess Set

2009-10-31T05:52:00.000-07:00

Staunton Chess Set, (cc attribution) Free Chess Lessons

Long algebraic notation

2009-10-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

In the previous post we have seen how each square of the chess board can be identified by a letter and a number. In chess notation we also identify the pieces. Apart from the pawns each type of piece is identified by an upper-case letter. Most of the time this is the first letter of the name of the piece which makes this notation language dependant, but English-speaking players use K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and N for knight (since K is already used).

Now the moves can be notated by the letter of the moving piece followed by both the starting and ending position separated by a hyphen. When the piece makes a capture, an x is used instead of the hyphen.
Castling is indicated by the special notations O-O for king-side castling and O-O-O for queen-side castling. A pawn promotion is followed by a letter to indicate the chosen piece.
If a move places the opponent’s king in check the notation “+” is added. Checkmate is indicated by a “#”. At the end of the game the game result is added (1-0, 0-1 or ½-½).

As an example of this long algebraic notation the moves of Fool’s Mate can be notated as:
1. f2-f3 e7-e5
2. g2-g4 Qd8-h4# 0-1

Tower of London Chess Set

2009-10-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

Tower of London Chess Set by D-Kav
All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license.

I like chess and I also like chess sets. Some of these sets are so beautiful, but not always that practical. While learning to play chess I suggest to use a more normal chess set.

The squares of the chess board

2009-10-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Before we are going to learn the algebraic chess notation we have to identify each square of the chessboard with a unique coordinate. The files are labelled with the lower-case letters a through h, from the left of the player with the white pieces. In addition the ranks are numbered from 1 to 8. The result is that each square of the board is uniquely identified by its file letter and rank number, as shown for some example squares in the diagram below.

Another Nice Chess Set

2009-10-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

Another nice chess set by cygnoir
All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license.

Beginner's Chess Lessons

2009-10-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

This post gives an overview of all the Chess Lessons currently on this site that are intended for the beginning players.

Learning the moves and the rules
The starting position
The Rook
The Bishop
The Queen
The King
The Knight
The Pawn
En passant
Castling
The end of the game

Learning the Chess Notation
The squares of the chess board
Long algebraic notation
Short algebraic notation
Chess Notation Symbols
An illustrative example game

Improving your play
Think before you Touch
A typical beginner's game

Chess game

2009-10-20T11:41:00.001-07:00

Chess playing while waiting for a room by romainguy
All sizes of this photo are available for download on Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

A typical beginner's game

2009-10-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

The following game is a very illustrative game between two junior players, Jennifer and Johanna, with an ELO rating of about 900. They know how to play and they are not really beginners, but make some mistakes that are rather typical for intermediate players. Let's have a look!

Minimalistic Chess Set

2009-10-03T10:38:00.001-07:00

Home made minimalist Chess set, by Benjamin Rossen

This is a home made attempt to bring a chess set back to the essentials. It is certainly in which each piece is represented by one of the most simplest forms it can take.

The end of the game

2009-10-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

Now that we have learned how the chess pieces move it is time to pay some attention to the end of the game.
During one of the previous chess lessons we have learned that the game is decided with a Checkmate, but not every game ends with a Mate. One of the players often resigns before the actual Mate is being accomplished.

Furthermore if no legal move can be made, but the King is not checked, the game necessarily is at an end. This situation is called Stalemate and the game ends in a Draw.
A draw can also be reached by mutual agreement, when both players assume they are not able to win the game.
It is also a draw when during these fifty successive moves no capture nor the advance of a Pawn has been performed. or if exactly the same position (with the same player to move and the same castling possibilities) occurs three times in the game, the player to move can also claim a draw.

Chess clocks and time
Especially for the more official games the game is often played with chess clocks. These clocks count the time that each player separately takes for making his own moves. The player who has used all his available time also looses the game. Some additional rules especially with respect to these chess clocks but also for some more complex situations can be found in the FIDE handbook.

Chess move

2009-09-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Touched and move
New York City Chess, by Ed Yourdon
All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license

Think before you Touch

2009-09-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

Some beginning players have a tendency to pick up a piece and then start to move this piece over the board searching for a good location. They seem to think with their hands.
Try to think before you move. Do the moves in your head. This will help you to visualize the board and also enables you to think about what your opponent will do after your move.
Even more important the touch-move rule in chess forces you to move or capture a piece you have touched during your turn. Please note the capture part in this rule. If you touch a piece of your opponent you have to capture that piece.

If you are moving a piece the move isn't completed as long as you haven't released this piece. You are even allowed to move a piece in a completely different direction as long as it is a legal move. As soon as you have released the piece the move is considered to be completed and you are not allowed to change your mind. This rules sometimes causes that players are almost afraid to release their pieces. Try to avoid this. Think before you move. Most blunders are made by players that change their mind during the short time frame of the actual move after a rather good evaluation of all the consequences of their intended move.

Summarizing these official rules a piece that has been touched has to be moved. A move is completed as soon as the piece has been released and may not been taken back.

Castled

2009-09-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

Castled, by Yersinia
All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license.

Castling

2009-09-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

Castling is a very special chess move. It is the only move in which more than one piece, a King and a Rook, is moved. Castling is only allowed if both the King as well as the castling Rook have not been moved before. As we will see at the end of this lesson there are even more restrictions, but first we explain how to castle.

To castle, move the King two squares toward the Rook, and then move the Rook to the square immediately on the other side of the King.

In the position of the diagram below the white King can castle on either side of the board.

Castling is only allowed when:

The King and castling Rook have never moved during this game

The King is not in check at the starting square

The King is not in check at the destination square

The King is not in check on the squares is passing through

All the squares between the Rook and the King are vacant

Please note that in the diagram above Black is not allowed to castle on the King-side. (Look at the white Bishop on c4.)
King-side castling is also called short castling. Queen-side castling is called long castling.

Glass pawn

2009-09-21T05:44:00.000-07:00

Glass pawn by pixieclipx

En passant

2009-09-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

As explained in the previous lesson about the pawn moves a pawn is able to move two squares forward when it has not moved before, but there is a special rule to prevent them to pass an opposite pawn.
On the very next move and only on this next move, this pawn can be captured on the field that has been skipped.

The animated diagram above shows a white pawn that moves two squares forward. It passes a square that is attacked by the black pawn. At the next move Black takes the pawn by placing his pawn on the square. After a little pause the animation will start over again.

Black Pawn

2009-09-18T10:31:00.001-07:00

Black pawn by All Glass Photo (Creative Commons)

The Pawn

2009-09-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

The pawns are only allowed to move one square forwards at at time. However, in their first move, they can move two squares if they want. They can only move straight forward and never backwards. And they can only capture one of the enemy pieces diagonally. A pawn that makes it to the other side will be promoted to another piece: a Knight, a Bishop, a Rook or even a Queen! Most of the time the player exchanges his pawn at such a moment for a Queen, but it may be useful to remember that another piece may be choosen.

In the diagram above the normal moves are indicated by the cross marks, while the capture moves of the white pawn are indicated by the black dots. However capture is only possible when one of the opponent's pieces is located at one of these squares.

Glass Knight

2009-09-16T01:54:00.000-07:00

Knight Glass Chess Piece by stevendepolo (Creative Commons)

The Knight

2009-09-15T01:34:00.000-07:00

The Knight’s move is unusual among the chess pieces. It is the only piece that jumps. The move is most of the times described as two squares horizontally and one square vertically, or two squares vertically and one square horizontally. It may be easier to say that the Knight may jump to any of the outer squares with a different color of the 5 by 5 area around the Knight.

Let’s look at the diagram.

Please note that both the white as the black pawn, as well as any other piece, doesn’t influence the move possibilities of the Knight, as long as the move doesn’t capture a piece of his own or places the own King in check.

Chess Kings

2009-09-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Chess Kings by www.butkaj.com

The King

2009-09-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

The King can move one square in any direction. The King can also capture an opponent's piece if it is on one of those squares as long as this piece is not defended. The King is not allowed to move himself into check. The following figure illustrates how the King moves. The King can move to any of the marked squares.

Sometimes a special move with the King is allowed which is called castling. This is the only chess move that actually involves two pieces at the same time as we will see at the castling lesson.

Black Queen

2009-09-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Black Queen by rofi

The Queen

2009-09-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Queen is the most powerfull piece and combines the powers of both the Rook and the Bishop. It can move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. However, even the Queen is unable to jump over another piece.
The following diagram gives an overview of these possibilities to move and capture. The white pawn is blocking the path of the Queen. A black pawn on the same place can be captured, but the Queen is still unable to jump over it.

Bishop Portrait

2009-09-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Bishops by The DeerSlayer

The Bishop

2009-09-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

The Bishop can move any number of squares diagonally as long as it doesn’t jump over another piece. At the beginning of the game each player has a Bishop on a white square and a Bishop on a black square. Because of their move possibilities these Bishops will always remain on the same color.

Rook photo

2009-09-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Two white rooks by All Glass Photo

The Rook

2009-09-07T05:23:00.000-07:00

The Rook can move any number of squares in a horizontal or vertical straight line as illustrated in the figure below, but the Rook may not jump over a piece of either color. The destination square has to be empty or occupied by an opponent's piece in which case this piece is captured.

In the castling moves in which two pieces are moved at the same time both the King as well as the Rook are involved as we will see in one of the next lessons.

One final remark about the possibility to move a Rook (or any other piece): A move may never result in a placement of the own King in check.

Chess move

2009-09-06T02:52:00.000-07:00

Chess motion by teliko82 on Flickr

The starting position

2009-08-29T04:12:00.000-07:00

Chess is a very appealing game that is played by millions of people all around the world.

Chess is a game for two players and is played on an 8×8 checkered board, with a dark square in each player’s lower left corner. White, the player of the light colored pieces, moves first. Then Back has to move a piece. Each player has to move in turn and a move cannot be skipped.

Each game starts in the position shown in the diagram above in which each player has 1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights and 8 pawns. Please note that in this starting position the Queens are placed on their own color next to the Kings on the center files.

The goal in the chess game is to checkmate the opponent’s King. Checkmate happens if the king is under attack (in check) and no legal move can be made to solve this. When you have checkmated your opponent’s king you have won the game.

More about the (movements of the) chess pieces and the rules of chess can be found in the next lesson.