Chess For Dummies. Eade James

Wiley & Sons, Inc.

       FIGURE 1-1: The correct orientation of a chessboard.

       A white square should be in the lower right-hand corner as you face the board. The most common mistake among beginners is to position the board incorrectly at the start of the game. (As a matter of fact, Hollywood and television make this common mistake, too. Whenever you see a chessboard positioned in a movie or on TV, check to see whether the lower right-hand square is white. Chances are it won’t be!)

      Consider a few fun facts while you’re scoping out your chessboard:

      ❯❯ It’s made up of 64 squares evenly divided between 32 light squares and 32 dark squares.

      ❯❯ It’s symmetrical and square – in the geometric sense.

      ❯❯ The square comprises eight ranks and eight files (and a bunch of diagonals), which you’d normally call rows and columns (and diagonals!), but chess people shun such conventional language. (Using clear, easy-to-understand terms would be too easy, right?)

      In the following sections, I go into more detail on the ranks, files, diagonals, and squares.

       Recognizing the ranks

Ranks are rows that go from side to side across the chessboard and are referred to by numbers. Each chessboard has eight ranks, which are numbered from the bottom of the board (where the white pieces start) on up; see Figure 1-2.

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       FIGURE 1-2: The ranks of a chessboard go from side to side.

       Figuring out the files

Files are columns that go up and down the chessboard, and each board has eight of them. Because numbers indicate ranks, letters indicate files, which are labeled from left to right. Figure 1-3 shows the files.

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       FIGURE 1-3: A chessboard’s files go from top to bottom.

       Naming individual squares

The naming convention for ranks and files allows you to give a unique identifier to every square by using what chess people call the file-first method. For example, the lower right-hand square (which is white, of course) is called h1. This name is shorthand for h-file, first rank. Figure 1-4 gives the name for every square.

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       FIGURE 1-4: The squares are marked to show the letter of the file and the number of the rank.

       When figuring out the names of individual squares, it may be helpful to think of the games Bingo and Battleship, where every square has a letter and a number (and the names may be easier to figure out if you’re sitting on the “white” side – or bottom – of the chessboard). Of course, in Battleship you get to see only your pieces and have to guess where your enemy’s are. In chess, however, you know where your opponent’s pieces are – you just have to guess where she’s going to move them!

       Digging those diagonals

As you probably expect, diagonals have names, too. Unlike ranks and files, diagonals are defined by their starting and ending squares. The starting square is conventionally given as the one with the lower rank. For example, Figure 1-5 shows the h1-a8 diagonal. Diagonals are always composed of like-colored squares. You can have light-squared diagonals and dark-squared diagonals – but never two-toned ones.

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       FIGURE 1-5: The diagonals on a chessboard always contain like-colored squares.

      Piecemeal: Putting the Pieces on the Board

To depict the chessboard in a way that everyone around the world can understand, chess players have developed a set of symbols to represent the chessmen. Each may be represented by a one-letter abbreviation or by an icon. (See Table 1-1 for a list of all the pieces and their symbols.)

TABLE 1-1 Chess Pieces and Their Symbols

      I use the piece symbols here to show you how to set up the board, and I use them throughout this book to demonstrate various moves and positions. You may find it helpful to set up your own board piece by piece.

Start with the corners. The rooks go on the corner squares, as shown in Figure 1-6.

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       FIGURE 1-6: The rooks take the corner squares.

Next come the knights. Place them next to the rooks (see Figure 1-7).

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       FIGURE 1-7: The knights stand by their rooks, along the same rank.

Then put the bishops on the board next to the knights (see Figure 1-8).

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       FIGURE 1-8: The bishops stand guard by the knights.

After the bishops come the queens. Your board should now look like the one in Figure 1-9.

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       FIGURE 1-9: The queens perch on the squares of their own shade.

       The queens always start on a square of the same shade – the white queen starts on a light square, and the black queen starts on a dark square.

Next, place the kings next to the queens, which is only fitting (see Figure 1-10).

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       FIGURE 1-10: The kings take their thrones, next to their ladies.

Finally, add the pawns straight across the rank in front of the other pieces, as shown in Figure 1-11.