Chess Made Easy
5/5
()
About this ebook
Related to Chess Made Easy
Related ebooks
Better Chess for Average Players Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Chess Combination Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of the Checkmate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLearn Chess from the Greats Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Counter Gambits Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Draw!: The Art of the Half-Point in Chess Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5John Brown: The Forgotten Chess Composer?: 50 chess problems by John Brown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Middle Game in Chess Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Technique in Chess Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Chess Concepts: The Evolution of Chess Ideas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Best Games of Chess 1905-1954 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Good Is Your Chess? Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Attacking the Strongpoint: The Philosophy of Chess Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChess Board Options: A Memoir of Players, Games and Engines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChess Endgame: A Beginner's Guide to Chess Endgame Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsModern Ideas in Chess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces Of Chess Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Marshall's Best Games of Chess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bishop: Danger on the Diagonal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chess: A Beginner's Guide to the Game of Chess Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Not to Play Chess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chess Endings for Beginners Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Smyslov Workbook: Chess Endgame Magic & Tactics, #1 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Chess Openings: A Beginner's Guide to Chess Openings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Introduction to Chess Moves and Tactics Simply Explained Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Legal Attack: Chess - an Intellectual Board War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStart Playing Chess!: Learn the Rules of the Royal Game Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chess: A complete guide to Chess and Chess strategies, helping you to master Chess fast! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHacking A Path To The King Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings160 Chess Puzzles in Two Moves, Part 2: Winning Chess Exercise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Games & Activities For You
The Best F*cking Activity Book Ever: Irreverent (and Slightly Vulgar) Activities for Adults Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Everything Lateral Thinking Puzzles Book: Hundreds of Puzzles to Help You Think Outside the Box Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings101 Fun Personality Quizzes: Who Are You . . . Really?! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Nightingale: A Novel by Kristin Hannah | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Draw Anything Anytime: A Beginner's Guide to Cute and Easy Doodles (Over 1,000 Illustrations) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bored Games: 100+ In-Person and Online Games to Keep Everyone Entertained Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Beat Anyone At Chess: The Best Chess Tips, Moves, and Tactics to Checkmate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel by Anthony Doerr | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Into the Dungeon: A Choose-Your-Own-Path Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 365 Bullet Guide: Organize Your Life Creatively, One Day at a Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/530 Interactive Brainteasers to Warm Up your Brain Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorites, and Forgotten Games Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy System Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance (Trivia-On-Books) Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Trivia-On-Books) Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The 4 Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss (Trivia-On-Books) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jesus Calling Book Club Discussion Guide for Women Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Murder Most Puzzling: Twenty Mysterious Cases to Solve Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Trivia-On-Books) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chess: Chess Masterclass Guide to Chess Tactics, Chess Openings & Chess Strategies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Never Have I Ever: 1,000 Secrets for the World's Most Revealing Game Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Chess Made Easy
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Chess Made Easy - C. J. S. Purdy
BACKGROUND
Chess is a war game, 14 to 18 centuries old. Chess played on 64 squares originated in Ancient India. The pieces then represented the four main parts of an army (infantry, calvary, elephants, and war chariots) plus the king and his counsellor.
Chess may have been a Buddhist invention, designed as a bloodless substitute for war. Anyway, an early Indian writer remarked, after a long era of peace, Armies are now seen in action only on chessboards
.
Today, the quaint jumble of names that the various languages (including English) give the chessmen, smack of the paradoxical, fairy-tale world of Lewis Carroll, rather than of the grim realities of total war. All over the world, people like chess that way, and ignore attempts to modernise the names.
In English the elephants have become bishops. The cavalry, carved like horses’ heads, have their mediaeval name, knights. The pieces in the corners were the war-chariots; these are carved as towers, and were long called castles, but now rooks
. Rook
is a corruption of the Persian Rukh
, meaning a war-chariot. The counsellor is now a queen.
OBJECT OF THE GAME
Every unit, with one exception, is subject to capture by any opposing unit. That exception is the King, who is exempt from this indignity.
Yet the object of the game is the virtual capture of the King. This is called checkmate (Persian shahmat
, the King’s death), universially abbreviated to mate
.
You will find this paradox resolved on p. 12, under the heading Check and Mate
. Check is a threat to capture the King, and mate is a check from which there is no escape.
Much of the fascination of chess stems from the special end its inventor gave it. It gives chess a unique, mystical quality.
THE BOARD
The board consists of 64 squares. These are called black
and white
, but may be of any two colours. Always place the board so that each player’s right hand corner square is white, that is, the lighter colour.
There is no point in having squares the same colours as the pieces. Black and white (or cream) are quite good colours for the pieces, but for the squares a sharp contrast is too dazzling. One of many satisfactory combinations is dark brown and buff.
The rows of squares are called lines
. Cross-lines are ranks
, vertical lines are files
. Lines of squares of the same colour are called
diagonals".
A natural question for prospective players is, what size should a board be? A good answer is that the squares should each be roughly 1 1/2 times the length of the base diameter of your largest piece, which is always the King. If the squares are a little larger than that, no matter; but if they are substantially smaller, the pieces will be crowded. This looks ugly and makes the game harder.
For starting chess, a small, cheap set is adequate. For big events, the King is usually 3 1/2″ or 3 3/4″ high and the squares 2 1/8″ or 2 1/4″.
Staunton
pattern is a stylised design, accepted internationally for all tournament play. Plastic Staunton
sets, now in general use, are cheaper than wooden ones. Ornamental sets are for decoration.
THE PIECES
Diagram 1
Original Position
Each player has eight Pieces, which start on the back rank, posted behind the eight Pawns — see Diagram 1.
Each player has two Rooks (in the corners), two Knights next to the Rooks), two Bishops (next to the Knights), and in the centre the King and Queen. Note that the Queen always starts on a square of her own colour.
Take careful note of one ambiguity in talking and writing about chess. The word pieces
can be used to denote all the units including the pawns, e.g. in the heading that tops this page, or it can be used for only the major units as distinct from the pawns. It is so used in the first paragraph of this page, also in the heading in the second column, and indeed nearly everywhere in this book.
The word piece
is often used in a still more limited sense. Winning a piece
always means winning a Bishop or Knight. Strictly, these two pieces, which are about equal in value, are called minor pieces
, and the Queen and Rooks major pieces
but these expressions are seldom used.
THE PIECES’ MOVES
The players move alternately, one unit at a time. White moves first.
The first thing to know about the moves is that no unit, with the single exception of the Knight, can jump over another unit, either friend or foe.
The Rook moves forwards, backwards, or sideways, in one straight line — that is, along rank or file, and as many squares as