Checkmate! The Classic Game of Chess

Become a Chess Master with Practice

Chess is the quintessential minutes to learn, a lifetime to master board game. You can easily learn the rules and how each piece is allowed to move, but you’ll probably never acquire enough knowledge about it to consider yourself its master.

Chess is a 2 player battle of wits and courage. Can you outwit your opponent? And are you courageous enough to try?

You start with an identical setup on the chess board. You have a front line of pawns who can move one space forward (or two on their first move) and who can capture opposing pieces with a one space diagonal thrust.

You have a back row of more powerful pieces – rooks (also known as castles), knights, bishops, queen, and king. Rooks can move any number of spaces along an open row or column. Bishops can do the same along the diagonals.

Knights can jump their horses two spaces along a row or column and then one space more after making a 90 degree turn. The queen, generally considered the most powerful piece in chess as well as in many other games with a queen character, can move any number of spaces along a free row, column, or diagonal. The king can only move one space in any direction.

Your goal is to capture your opponent’s king – an objective that is never actually carried out. When you make a move that prevents the opposing king from freeing himself on his next turn, you have checkmated him, and the game ends.

Chess sets come in many, many sizes, styles, and themes. ChessHouse has some of the more interesting themed chess sets you’ll find online.

Chess is considered an abstract board game like the fun board game Vagabondo, which is the subject of another post.

Find a chess set at Amazon.