Step 1: Basic Chess Pieces Movement

In this first section, you will find out about how every piece in chess moves!

The Pawn: The pawn is a minor piece in chess. It is the most simple piece in the entire game as well. On the beginning move, chess has two legal moves. Either move one square forward or two squares forward. After the first move, each following move of the pawn is only one square forward. Important to note, the pawn can take/eat only one square diagonally forward. It may not move or take/eat backward. Worth 1 point.

The Knight: The knight is a very special piece in the entire game. It is the only piece that is able to move and take/eat over pieces. The way it moves is two squares and then either one more square right or left, and either one square forward and then two to the right or left. Worth 3 points.

The Bishop: The Bishop is another major piece in the entire game. It is only able to move diagonally as many squares as it wants to and eat/take the same way. Worth 3 points.

The Rook: Outside of the queen, the rook is the strongest piece. Arguably, it is also the hardest piece to effectively develop as a lot of pieces are in its path of development. It may only move in straight lines either forward, backward, to the left, or to the right, however, it can move as many squares as it wants It takes/eats pieces the same way. Worth 5 points.

The Queen: The strongest piece in the entire game and is worth the most points (9). Her strength comes from the way she is able to move around the entire board. She is able to move diagonally, forward, backward, left, and right as many squares as she wants to. The only thing she is unable to do is to jump over pieces.

The King: The most important piece in the entire game, yet also the weakest. Without him, the entire game would not even exist. He is the only piece that can not be captured. He may move on square forward, backward, left and right, and diagonally as long as none of the moves put him under check. The game revolves around the king. You win the game by trapping the king and putting a checkmate on him, meaning that he is under check and at the same time has no legal moves or cannot block the checkmate with any other piece.

Step 2: Basic Tactics and Strategies (Knight Forks)

As promised, in this section you will learn about basic tactics and strategies that you can use to your advantage during your games. Let me start with explaining knight forks, as these are the easiest to execute and the most deadly to deal with. As mentioned in the previous step, the knight is an extremely unique piece of the entire game.

According to Yasser Seirewan, an International Grand Master and an author of multiple educational chess books, forks are tactical maneuvers in which a piece or a pawn attack two enemy pieces or pawns at the same time. The Knight is the best and the easiest to execute forks with, however later you will find out that even pawns can put the enemy pieces in severe danger. Most beginner chess players are highly afraid of knight forks, however, if studying knight forks carefully, you will soon understand that a knight can not fork pieces if they are located on two different colored squares. So be careful when placing your pieces and keep in mind that a 2-4 piece fork can happen just like in the image above.

Step 3: Basic Tactics and Strategies (Bishop Forks)

Like a knight, a bishop also has a very strong potential of forking the opponent’s pieces. Although less likely than a knight fork, a bishop fork can bring some devastating results for your opponent in the game. There isn’t much to explain about bishop forks, as they are fairly simple and self-explanatory. When looking to fork the opponent’s pieces with a bishop, make sure that the two pieces are on the same diagonal. A good method of avoiding a bishop fork and the bishop’s strength overall, make sure to place your pieces on those colored squares that are opposite of the opponent’s bishop (this applies when your opponent is down to only one bishop).

Step 4: Basic Tactics and Strategies (Rook Forks)

At this point, I think you are aware of what a fork is since I tried explaining it best I could in the knight and bishop fork steps. A rook fork is very similar, however, it happens on a file (Vertical Line) or on a rank (Horizontal Line) since the rooks are able to move forward, backward, right and left in straight lines. If your opponent has very strong and active rooks, avoid putting your valuable and major pieces on the same ranks or files. If you have very strong and active rooks, then you should try to bait your opponent and force him in putting his major pieces on the same rank or file in order to get yourself a nice rook fork.

Step 5: Basic Tactics and Strategies (Pawn Forks)

Fairly self-explanatory. This fork is probably the deadliest out of all as it is so small and unpredictable that when not being careful you may miss out on it entirely. Always watch what the opponent’s pawns are up too. They can bring a punch into the game as well.

Step 6: Basic Tactics and Strategies (Pins)

A pin is another situation that is highly probable to occur in almost every game. Beginners especially love pinning pieces, whether it is necessary or not. So what exactly are chess pins? You probably know what they look like but do not know the definition.

Pins can occur when you are attacking a piece that may not move out of its current position as it will expose a more valuable piece under attack, or put the king directly in check. It is important to note that only the pieces who can move an indefinite number of squares forward, backward, left and right, or diagonally, may pin other pieces. This means that kings, knights, and pawns are unable to perform this action (very important to keep this rule in mind).

In the example above, you can see two cases of a pin. Can you find them? For those who were unable to find them, it’s ok, we all started in chess from a very beginner level. For those who did manage to find the two present pins, congratulations, you are starting to identify the basic present tactics and strategies on the board.

The two present pins involve both of the dark square bishops on the board. The first pin is identifiable on the b4 square where black’s black square bishop has comfortably pinned white’s knight on c3 as it can not move away, because if it does, then a discovered check will be created onto white’s king. The second pin is on the g5 square where white has positioned his white square bishop. This bishop has pinned the knight because if the knight moves, it will open up a discovered attack on the queen from white’s bishop. These are very simple pins and are very easy to defend against and deflect.