Chess For Beginners

10/22/2025

Chess is a great game for children. It helps develop critical thinking skills, logic, strategy, and in-person play helps social skills, instead of having a tablet in front of them all day. Try it!

Identifying The Chess Pieces:
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The actual pieces:

10/21/2025

I also like the Chess (dot com) app. It's a tad pricey but you can play on your phone. Solve puzzles, play bots, play friends... lots of options.

10/19/2025

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
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This is a highly recommended book for beginners who are learning chess. Paperback version is available for about $10.

11/24/2023

Me.

❤️ 🤫🎶🍲

11/24/2023

Movement of the pieces:

En Passant: (French, meaning "in passing". A somewhat advanced move. Total beginners shouldn't worry about this yet. I'm only posting it because I saw a good example.)

See the 3 pics, in order as captioned below.

11/15/2023

Movement of the pieces:

QUEEN

The Queen is the most powerful piece on the board. Her moves effectively combine those of the Rook and the Bishop.

She can move forward or backward on the board - vertically, horizontally, or diagonally - as many spaces as she wants (one direction per move). She cannot hop over anything, but can capture an opposing piece if it's in her path.

Now... this part is NOT actually a rule as far as I know. But SOME players will say "guard Queen" when putting your Queen in a dangerous position. I do it when playing with a relatively new player, but you're not required to.

Note: Initial placement on the board:
The Queen always starts out "on her color". Meaning the light colored Queen will start on a light space. The dark colored Queen will start on a dark space. After the initial movement, she could be on any color.

11/15/2023

Movement of the pieces:

ROOKS
(Looks like a little castle)

The Rooks move vertically up and down the ranks, or horizontally left and right through the files, (never diagonally), covering an unlimited number of squares in one direction per turn, unless it is impeded by another piece en route. If the impeding piece is an opposing one, the Rook may capture it.

11/11/2023

Movement of the pieces:

BISHOPS

Bishops move left or right diagonally across the board, covering as many squares as they want (not just one at a time) without hopping over any other pieces. They ONLY move diagonally. They can move diagonally forward or backward.

(There's only one chess piece that can hop over other pieces and that's the Knight. More on that later.)

If an opposing piece is in its way, the Bishop could capture that opposing piece.

Note that one of your Bishops starts on a dark square and one on a light square. This will not change throughout the game.

Because of its diagonal-only movement, Bishops that start the game on a dark square will ALWAYS be on a dark square.

Bishops that start the game on a light square will ALWAYS be on a light square.

11/10/2023

Movement of the pieces:

PAWNS:

A pawn is the only piece that cannot move backward - only forward.

It moves one space at a time, straight forward (toward the opposition).

A couple of exceptions:
1) On each pawn's FIRST move, It has the OPTION of moving straight forward TWO spaces. You aren't required to, it's just an option.

2) When capturing an opposing piece, it MUST attack diagonally (moving only one space diagonally to the left or right), but only one space and that's only allowed when capturing an opposing piece.

This can also be one way to protect your other pieces... position the pawn such that it would "cover" that square (forward diagonally).

There's an advanced move for capturing, called "En passant" ("in passing"), but we will cover that later.

Questions?

Send a message to learn more

11/10/2023

Movement of the pieces:

KING:

He's actually the simplest piece to move.

He moves one space at a time, in any direction (forward, backward, or diagonally). He moves to an empty space - or he can take (capture) any piece of his opponent if they occupy a space he (legally) wishes to move to.

BUT it's risky to start moving your King all around the board because he's really not that powerful, except In the sense of being the object of the game.

Putting him "out there" also puts him at risk. So most players keep him "protected" as well as they can.

There is ONE advanced move that allows the King to move more than one space. It's called "castling" (castle-ing). But we won't worry about that just yet.

Questions?

03/28/2023

Identifying The Chess Pieces:
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The actual pieces:

03/28/2023

Understanding the Relative Values of the Chess Pieces:
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Note: While actually playing a chess game, I've never heard anyone talk about points or keep a point score. Not like "Hah, I captured your Rook, that's five points for me!"

No. This is just to let you know the relative values of the pieces.

You need to understand the value of your pieces before you start thinking about chess moves, tactics, and strategy,.

Each piece is assigned a numerical value, based on its perceived strength in terms of pawns (i.e., a knight is worth roughly three pawns, while a rook is worth five).

Pawn: 1 point (or pawn)
Knight: 3 points
Bishop: 3 points
Rook: 5 points
Queen: 9 points

Note that the QUEEN is the most powerful piece on the board.

Knowing the value of your pieces can help you evaluate whether it’s worth trading one piece for another. Generally speaking, the player with more high-value material available in a game will have the advantage.

That said, it’s not enough to know the numerical value of your pieces; you have to know how to deploy them effectively on the chess board. “Developing” your high-value material is a key part of chess opening strategy. Sometimes, it may even be worth sacrificing some minor pieces in order to develop a more valuable piece.

Keep in mind, the ultimate goal of chess is to CAPTURE THE KING. (Checkmate).

At the end of the game, it will not matter one iota how many other pieces you've captured or their value.