Chapter 2: Getting to Know the Pieces and Their Powers PDF

# Chapter 2: Getting to Know the Pieces and Their Powers ## In This Chapter - Speeding along with the rook - Seeing the bishop outside church - Kissing the queen's hand and bowing before the king - Mounting the knight - Giving the pawn the time of day After years of teaching chess to elementary sc...

# Chapter 2: Getting to Know the Pieces and Their Powers ## In This Chapter - Speeding along with the rook - Seeing the bishop outside church - Kissing the queen's hand and bowing before the king - Mounting the knight - Giving the pawn the time of day After years of teaching chess to elementary school children, I think I've found the easiest way to introduce the pieces. So in this chapter I use the same method. I start with the rook because its simple up, down, and side-to-side movement is easy to grasp. Then I move on to the bishop because it, too, moves in straight lines and boldly goes where the rook can't. Kids seem to pick up these ideas right away. And what's good for kids is certainly good for older students of the game, right? After you understand the moves of the rook and the bishop, figuring out how the queen moves is a breeze. The queen simply has the combined powers of the rook and bishop. And the king follows his queen. He moves just like her, except only one square at a time. I leave the knight and the pawn for the end because they're the trickiest to explain. ## Acting Like a Chariot: The Rook Keep in mind that chess is a science when you consider the pieces in isolation from one another, but it approaches an art when you combine the pieces in various ways. All pieces like to have company, but they're fickle; for example, sometimes a queen and a knight are happy together, and sometimes they aren't. No easy rules explain this relationship. The chess genius seems to know how to make the pieces work together seamlessly, but everyone else has to muddle along by trial and error. In Chapter 3, I consider the elements of chess from the scientific and artistic viewpoints in isolation from one another and in combinations. Sure, you may believe the rook is a tower or castle, but *au contraire*! In the history of chess, the rook actually developed from the chariot: This piece is both fast and strong, and therefore of considerable value. The rook appears a bit squatter than the other pieces, which partly accounts for the perception of it as a heavy piece (see the sidebar "Weighing in on chess heavies," later in this chapter). This heavy aspect can be taken too far, of course. The rook is far from a plodding piece, and the player who gets his rooks into the game most effectively often turns out to be the winner. Unfortunately, this piece begins the game tucked into a corner and usually has to wait for the other pieces to settle into their preferred squares before receiving any attention. Figure 2-1 shows where the rooks go on the chessboard: ``` a b c d e f g h 8 X 7 X 6 X 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1 X ``` The rook has the freedom to move any number of squares, but only in straight lines up and down or side to side, as indicated by the rook on d5 in Figure 2-2a. Again, think of the chariot. After a chariot gets ahead of steam, turning corners isn't easy. Have you ever seen *Ben-Hur*? The rook moves just like the chariot in that movie, but without the spikes. In Figure 2-2b, you can see that the rook can't move to a square occupied by one of its own pieces, in this case another rook on f5 - nor can it jump over the piece and move to any of the other squares along that rank. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 X 7 X 6 X 5 X X X X X X X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1 X a b c d e f g h 8 X 7 X 6 X 5 X X X X X 3 X 2 X 1 X ``` In Figure 2-3a, a white rook and a black rook are ready for battle. The white rook can't move beyond the black rook along that rank, but it can capture it by removing the black piece and taking its place, as in Figure 2-3b. (In chess notation, this move is written 1. Rxf5 - see Chapter 6 for details on notation.) This concept is the same for the other chessmen (and woman) with the exception of the king, which is immune to capture. But don't think that you have to capture when given the opportunity. This isn't checkers! ``` a b c d e f g h 8 9 6 5 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h 8 9 5 4 3 2 1 ``` When new players discover the power of the rook, they sometimes decide to move the pawns that are in front of the rooks forward at the beginning of the game (these pawns are known as the rook pawns). This action has the advantage of increasing the space available to the rook but is usually a poor way to open the game. The rook must retreat when attacked by an enemy pawn, knight, or bishop because it's too valuable to be lost in exchange for one of them. Time is then lost shuffling the rook to and fro while the enemy pieces come out in force. The best strategy, especially early in the game, is to move a minimum number of pawns, get the minor pieces (knights and bishops) out, and only then move on to the rooks. ## Weighing in on Chess Heavies The rook and the queen are sometimes referred to as heavy or major pieces, because the rook and the queen, assisted by their own king, can checkmate an enemy king by themselves (see Chapter 4 for a discussion of checkmate). Minor pieces - a knight or a bishop - can't checkmate an enemy king with only their own king for assistance. ## Showing Off Slender Curves: The Bishop The bishop has a slender waist so it can slide between squares along diagonals. (Actually, I don't really know why the bishop was designed like that, but that's always how I've thought of it.) The bishop is called a minor piece because you can't deliver checkmate with just a bishop and its king. Go ahead, set up a board and try it (you may want to check out Chapter 4 first). If you can do it, you'll become world-famous, and I'll include you in the next edition of this book. Figure 2-4 shows the bishops and where they start on the chessboard. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` A bishop can move any number of squares, but only along the diagonals and until another piece gets in its way. If that piece is the opponent's, the bishop can capture it, of course, by displacing it. Figure 2-5a indicates some possible bishop moves. Unlike the rook (which I describe in the previous section), the attacking power of the bishop depends on where the piece is located on the chessboard and ultimately its mobility or scope, which is simply the number of squares it can move to. The bishop attacks more squares in the center, so it's more powerful when positioned there. Unfortunately, it's also more easily attacked there. You can see in Figure 2-5a that the bishop attacks 13 squares. How many squares does it attack in Figure 2-5b? (The correct answer is 9 - don't count the square that it occupies.) ``` a b c d e f g h 8 X 7 X 6 X 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1 a b c d e f g h 8 X 7 X 6 X 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1 X ``` You can tell by looking at the board that some diagonals are longer than others. The diagonals that cross the board's center are longer than the ones that bisect the corners. Because the bishop doesn't like hand-to-hand combat, players often position the bishop out of the way along a long diagonal, as in Figure 2-5b. ## The Bishop also has a Unique Natural Restriction of its mobility: If it starts on a light square, it remains forever on the light squares, and if it begins the game on a dark square, it must always stay on dark squares. The bishop is color-bound by birth! Fully half the board is forbidden territory! For that reason, chess people speak of having "the two bishops." In tandem, bishops can theoretically cover the entire board. However, they can never come to their comrade's aid directly, and bishops on the same team can never compensate for each other's loss. This quality is so unusual that a special category in chess endings, called the opposite-color bishop ending, exists. This ending arises when each side remains with one bishop, but the bishops are on different-colored squares and are thereby sentenced to roam their own mutually exclusive halves of the board. Figure 2-6 illustrates this type of ending. These bishops are close to one another - they can get close enough to blow each other kisses but never close enough to capture one another. (Flip to Chapter 15 for full details on chess endings.) ## Moving One Square at a Time: The King The king isn't the most powerful chess piece (the queen is - see the preceding section for details), but he's the most important (and in conventional chess sets, he's the tallest). When someone attacks your king, you must defend him. If your king is attacked and you can't defend him, then you have checkmate... and the game is over (see Chapter 4 for information on checkmate). But you never actually capture the king; you simply force him to yield. Thousands may die on the battlefield, but royalty respects royalty. (Yet don't forget that the king can capture, just like the other pieces, by taking over an opponent's square!) Figure 2-11 shows where the king resides on the chessboard at the start of the game. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` The king can move one square in any direction, except for the one-time possibility of castling (see Chapter 5 for details on this special move). The kings may never get too close to one another but must remain at arm's length (at least one square away) because one king may never put the other in check. You can see the king's possible moves for yourself in Figure 2-12. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 6 X 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 1 ``` You may expect a king to lead his troops into battle, but that analogy doesn't quite work because the king usually hides away in a corner behind pawns until it's safe to come out. Generally, when the king becomes active, the endgame (when most pieces have been captured) has begun. During the endgame, the king can become very powerful, and you should consider bringing him to the center. But a king in the middle of the board during the middlegame is a recipe for disaster (check out Chapters 14 and 15 for details on middlegame and endgame strategy). ## Galloping in an L-Formation: The Knight The knight is a tricky piece, and getting comfortable with its movements usually takes a little practice. As its shape suggests, the knight derives from the cavalry of the armies of old. Because it can't deliver checkmate against an opponent with only its own king to help, the knight is a minor piece, as is the bishop - but the knight's powers are very different. Unlike the long-range bishop (which I describe earlier in this chapter), the knight loves combat in close quarters and is usually the first piece moved off the back rank and the first to come into contact with the opposing army. The knight is indeed hopping mad and ready to fight! Figure 2-13 shows the knights' starting place. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` I like to think of the knight as a medieval knight on horseback with a lance. You can't throw a lance very far, but if the bad guys get too close, they're likely to get stabbed. Oddly, if an enemy can get past the lance and closer still to the knight, the knight is defenseless. (The knight would need to dismount, drop its lance, and draw a sword to fight at very close range - but this is too time-consuming, besides being against the rules of chess!) Strangely enough, although the knight is a strong attacking piece, it can't control the squares right next to it. The easiest way to understand the knight move is to think of it as an L-shape in any direction: two squares up and one over, or one square down and two over, or any such combination of two squares plus one. The knight captures just as the other chess pieces do, by replacing the piece or pawn occupying the square it lands on - not the players it jumps over. Figure 2-14a illustrates where the knight can move from the center of the board. The knight controls eight squares when positioned in the center of the board as opposed to two when it's in one of the corners, as Figure 2-14b illustrates. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 X 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` The knight must always move to a different-colored square than the one it occupies. This forced alternation between colors on every move is true of no other piece. If the knight is on a light square, it must move to a dark square, and vice versa. The knight is much more effective when centralized - or positioned so that it occupies or attacks one of the four central squares. However, unlike the other pieces for which this general rule also holds true, the knight loves to be in the center of the action and is forced to retreat only when attacked by the lowly pawn (which I describe in the following section). Otherwise, the knight just holds its ground and dares you to capture it. The knight considers charging off into battle an honor and hates to watch while others are left to carry the day. That said, sometimes the knight needs to be defended. The knight's truly unique power is its ability to leap over chessmen, either its own or those of the enemy. In fact, this piece is the only one that can move off the back rank at the start of the game without a preliminary pawn move, as illustrated in Figure 2-15. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` ## Scooting Around as the Army's Runt: The Pawn Although chess people sometimes refer to all the chessmen collectively as pieces, they don't really consider a pawn to be a piece. If you lose a knight, you can either say, "I lost a knight" or "I lost a piece," but if you lose a pawn, you don't say, "I lost a piece." You say, "I lost a pawn" instead. (Why? Because that's just the way chess people talk.) Pawns are only pawns, but chess has a lot of them! Figure 2-16 shows how the pawns are set up at the start of the game. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` The pawns are the foot soldiers of chess, and you know how foot soldiers are treated. Their powers are very restricted. The pawn can move only one square forward, except on its very first move, when it has the choice of moving one or two squares forward. A pawn can't move backward or sideways - only forward. Figure 2-17 shows the options for the white pawns at the starting line. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1 X ``` The pawn, unlike a piece, captures differently than it moves. It captures diagonally, one square forward to either side. But it still takes the opponent's place on a square when it captures, just as the other chessmen do. Figure 2-18 illustrates the pawn's capturing ability: ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 X 5 4 3 2 X 1 ``` In Figure 2-19a, an enemy pawn occupies one of the squares that the white pawn can attack. Figure 2-19b shows how the white pawn captures the black pawn (although the black pawn could have captured the white pawn if it were black's turn!). ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` If no member of the opposing army occupies a square that the pawn attacks, then the pawn can move forward. If a piece or another pawn is in front of it, but nothing is on the squares the pawn can capture, the pawn is stymied and can't move; chess players say the pawn is locked. In Figure 2-20, the pawns on d5 and d6 are locked... by each other. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` When two pawns are locked together as in Figure 2-20, you should try to bring another pawn alongside to help out. This strategy is so common that it's referred to as a lever. You can see where that term comes from, because the second pawn attempts to pry the first one free. Figure 2-21 illustrates the use of the lever. ``` a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ``` I find it helpful to think of the foot soldier holding a spear and a giant shield. The shield is in front of the foot soldier so that the soldier can thrust only to the right or left side of the shield and can't thrust in front of it. The soldier needs a comrade in arms to come to his aid. With the additional pawn's aid, now two of the pawns can capture each other. If the black pawn captures the white pawn, the remaining white pawn is free to move. Often the lever can be used to pry open an otherwise locked position, a technique that's seen over and over again in the games of the masters. Because pawns can be stopped in their tracks so easily, chess players have discovered that pawns are most powerful when they stay by each other's side. This way, two pawns - or pawn duos - can guard the square in front of the other. By helping each other out, both pawns become more mobile, and their influence on the game grows. You need to know a few more things about pawns, but I don't discuss them in this chapter. I cover pawn promotion and something called en passant (or "in passing") in Chapter 5, which deals with special moves. The pawns' placement is collectively referred to as the pawn structure, and I examine this concept in detail in Chapter 3. I also devote a whole chapter to pawn structures that are associated with particular openings - see Chapter 10 for information on pawn formations. ## Pawns: The Soul of Chess Although the pawn is the lowliest of the chess pieces, some people have called it the "soul of chess." This is what the great master François-André Danican Philidor (1726-95) meant when he said, "The pawns are the very life of the game." This honor is due to a number of factors: - A chess set has more pawns than anything else. - The pawns can dictate whether the other pieces have maneuvering room. - No piece wants to be exchanged for a poor pawn, so other pieces have to back down or move around them. - Pawns can't move backward, so each move is a commitment and should be made only after due consideration.