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How to Play Chess

Rules of the Game

In a game of chess both players start with 16 pieces:

Players alternate turns, in each turn they can move one piece.
Each piece moves in their own way and can only move in that way.

The general rules for all pieces is that you can't jump over other pieces, you can't have two pieces of the same color sharing a tile, and if a piece moves to a square of the opposite color, you capture that piece.

Pawns can only move forward 1 space, and they can only capture an opponents piece moving 1 forward diagonally

Rooks can move vertically or horizontally as many pieces as they want but can't move diagonally

Knights move in a L motion. In all their moves they move left or right 2 or 1 and up or down 2 or 1. For example a Knight could move up 2 and right 1 or left 2 and down 1. Knights have the unique ability that they are allowed to jump over other pieces.

Bishops can move diagonally as many pieces as they want, but can't move diagonally

Queens are often considered the strongest piece in the game because they can move horizontal or diagonal as many pieces as they want

Kings can move horizontally or diagonally but they can only move 1 piece at a time.

How to win

The ultimate goal of chess is to capture your opponents King. When either your or your opponents King is in danger of being captured on the next players move, that King is said to be in check. The tricky part about winning the game is that you are forbidden to move into check, and if you are in check you must move out of it. You can do this by moving your king to a safe tile, blocking the opponent by moving up a different piece, or capturing the piece that puts the king in check.

Checkmate

Checkmate is how you actually win a game of chess. You get checkmate and win the game when you put the opponent in check and they have 0 ways to get out of check. Because they have no possible ways to get out of check they have no choice but to let you take their king.

Stalemate

Stalemate is a possible outcome of the game that is said to be a draw. Stalemate occurs when your opponent is not in check, but every single move they can make would put them in check. So you are not allowed to make any moves but you aren't in check so the game becomes a draw.

Another way the game can go to a draw is the threefold repetition rule. If a singular board state is repeateed 3 times without being broken, the game is a draw.

Special moves

Their are a few special moves and conditions that some pieces can do.

All pawns have the ability to move forward 2 pieces on their first move of the game. If the pawn has already moved it loses the option to move forward 2 pieces.

Castling is a special move performed by the King and the Rook. If their are no pieces in between the King and the Rook (This works with either rook), and neither the King nor the Rook have made a move so far in the game. Then the King may move 2 spaces torwards the rook, and the rook moves 3 spaces torwards the king and jumping over it to the other side. This is an advantageous move because it protects the king and allows the Rook to get out into the board more easily. One rule with castling is that if any of the squares in between the king and the rook are in check, you are not allowed to castle because the King would be moving through them.

Empassants are another special move that only the pawn can do. An empassant is a fairly rare move that you can only do in a very certain situation. Let's say your opponents pawn takes its first move and moves forward 2 spaces. If immediately after they move forward 2 spaes (no other moves in between), if you have a pawn to the left or right of the pawn that moved 2 spaces, you may move your pawn to space that the enemy pawn just jumped, and you then capture the enemy pawn.

All of these special setups may be confusing hearing about them through writing, so if you need to understand better you can find diagrams and images online.