Introduction

     Chess is recognized as one of the oldest wargames still played all over the world.  It was created over 15 centuries ago in Persia.  The rules we play the game by today were finalized over 500 years ago.  Chess is an easy game to learn, most people can read and understand the basic rules in little more than 20 minutes.  It is a hard game to master.  It is said there are more books written about chess than any other subject, except religion.

     In this section we will go over the Basics of Chess and cover:

• Types of Chess Players
• The Chess Board
• The Chess Pieces & Their Values
• How to Set-Up the Pieces
• King Moves and Captures
• Queen Moves and Captures
• Rook Moves and Captures
• Bishop Moves and Captures
• Knight Moves and Captures
• Pawn Moves and Captures
• Check
• Checkmate!
• Stalemates and Draws
• Chess Notation Basics

Types of Chess Players

There are five types of chess players:

• Casual Players - who just basically play the game for fun.
• Serious Players - who have a better understanding of strategy and tactics.
• Club Players - who have joined a Chess Club and play at least one day a week.
• Tournament Players - who play competitive chess for trophies and/or money.
• Serious Tournament Players - who play to build their ratings and for money.

     This is a progressive ladder, all chess players start as Casual Players, and work their way up the ladder.  Not every player will climb to "Serious Tournament Player" level.  But then, that is the beauty of the game.  You can climb as high as you want, and stay at any level you want, and just enjoy the view.

     As you face better players, you will lose more games than you will win.  At this point, it isn't so much about winning or losing, but about learning the finer points of the game.  How tactics work.  How to develop and use a strategy.  How the pieces dance on the board, and in your head.  In short, how to get better as a Chess Player.

     On the next few pages we will cover the following sections:

• The Board Basics
• Chess Pieces
• Check and Checkmate
• Chess Notation

You can read more about the specifics of these using the links in the Article Index - a Table of Contents  - at the top right, or by clicking on the Next link below.