Castling is the only move that involves shifting two pieces instead of just one. The point of castling is to protect the king by tucking him away on the far side of board nestled beside one of his rooks.

Here's how it works.

First, castling is only possible when there are no pieces between the king and a rook:

Did you get all that?

In the above example, White is able to castle on the king's side of the board.

You castle by first moving the king two spaces sideways toward the rook. Then you pick up the rook, lift it over the king, and place it on the square immediately beside the king. The above image shows what the board looks like after both sides have castled.

Note that it's possible to castle on either side of the board. When you castle on the king's side the king lands one square from the edge of the board, on the queen's side, the king ends up two squares from the edge.

All of the above are temporary bars to castling. If the check goes away, castling can still take place.

However, if the king moves, then castling can no longer happen. If a rook moves, then castling is no longer possible on that side of the board.  Therefore, castling is now permanently forbidden, even if the king moves back to its original square. 

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How to Capture En Passant

We've seen earlier how pawns move and capture.

However, there is one special pawn move that many social players of chess don't even know about! Take a look at the following position:

When the black pawn advances two squares besides the white pawn (who lands on the black "dot" or fifth rank), the white pawn would capture on the "X" and removes the black pawn off the board.  It's almost like an "invisible" capture.

And that's an en passant capture. En passant (pronounced “on – pay – sewn”), is French for “in passing.”

Just remember that to capture a pawn en passant, the pawn to be taken has to have just moved from its starting position two squares forward (fifth rank). So, if your pawn sits directly beside an enemy pawn that has just moved those two squares forward, you can take that enemy pawn en passant.

One last reminder: This is a limited time offer! In other words, you can't wait for another turn to capture a pawn en passant -- you either do it right after the enemy pawn has moved, or you can't do it at all.  Sorry.

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How to Promote a Pawn

We already know about regular pawn moves, and the special en passant capture. But there's still one more pawn trick we haven't seen: promotion!

If you march a pawn all the way across the board to your opponent's side, you get a big reward. A pawn that makes it completely to the other end is "promoted", or in other words, instantly changed into any piece of your choosing (except a pawn or a king).  It works almost like "promoting the king" in checkers.

In the image below, White has the move. Here's what the board looks like just before White moves:

 ...and right after:

About 99.9% of the time, players chose to promote their pawns to queens, which is only logical, given that they are the most powerful pieces on the board. But every once in a while, it's best to select another piece when promoting a pawn.

The board below shows a position where it's to White's benefit to under promote, that is, turn the pawn into something apart from a queen:

If White promotes the pawn to a knight, then Black's king and queen are both attacked. After Black's king moves -- because he's in check, the king has to move, and White can take the queen and go on to win:

If this seems a bit complicated, don't despair. Re-read the rules carefully, and you'll get the hand of it.  Besides, "practice makes perfect!"

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How to Check, Checkmate, and Stalemate

We've finally arrived at the heart of the matter. The whole goal of a chess game is to checkmate your opponent's king. Achieve checkmate, and you've won.

Check

A king is in check if it is attacked by an enemy piece. Here, the Black king is in check by a White bishop:

It is against the rules of chess to allow your king to be captured. So, if your king is in check, then you absolutely must do something on the very next move to remove your king from check. In this case, Black can either move the king:

...or place a piece in front of the king to protect him:

This is called "blocking the check."

Note that you can never move your king to a square where he will be in check. Nor can you move one of your own pieces if to do so would expose your king to check.

Thus, there are ONLY three ways to get out of check:

1. Block the check with a piece
2. Capture the checking piece
3. Move the king

Finally, if the above does not satisfy the check, then the king is said to be "mated" or "checkmated" -- and the game is over. 

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Checkmate

Your king is checkmated if he is attacked, and there is no way to remove him from the attacking check. If you are checkmated you lose the game. If you checkmate your opponent, you win.

Here are just a few examples of the many ways in which a king can be checkmated:

Notice that rule 1, 2 and 3 above fail to avoid checkmate.

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Stalemate

Finally, always be on the lookout for "stalemate". A king is stalemated if he is not in check, but the only moves available would put him in check. If this happens, the game is declared a draw.

Here's an example where Black's king is in stalemate. Black's pawn is blocked, and Black's king has no move that wouldn't put him into check:

If the white pawn weren't there, though, Black would not be in stalemate.

Congratulations! You've covered all the squares. Now you are ready to play and win. But first, see an example game below. . .

An Example Game

Now that you've read over the rules of chess, it's time to look at a real game. Just use the "VCR" style controls to click your way through the moves.

This is a game that took place in 1963. The player with the White pieces is Robert ("Bobby) James Fischer, one of the most famous in the history of chess. Don't worry if the reason for some of the moves seems to escape you. For the time being, just use this game as an opportunity to see how the pieces move, and how White builds his attack that ends in Black's resignation.

Fischer vs. Benko

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