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  • How to Play Chess. Impress your friends! Learn the game of kings and queens. You will need

  • Chess board Chess pieces and opponent. Step 1. Place the board so the right corner square,

  • nearer to you, is white. Put the queens on their corresponding colors in the back row:

  • white, four squares from the left, and black, four squares from the right. Step 2. Add the

  • bishops to either side of the royal couple, and the knights next to the bishops. Place

  • the castles, or rooks, at either end. The pawns fill the second row. Step 3. The object

  • of the game is to corner your opponent's king so that it can't move anywhere without you

  • capturing it. Step 4. The queen can move in any direction, over any number of empty spaces.

  • The king can move only one space at a time, in any direction. You cannot move the king

  • to a space where it could be captured during your opponent's next move. Pawns move forward

  • one space at a time. On their first move, they may move forward either one or two squares.

  • If one of your pawns makes it to the other side of the board, you can exchange it for

  • any other piece. Step 5. Rooks move in straight lines, forward, back, or sideways on the board,

  • over any number of empty squares. Bishops move diagonally in any direction, also over

  • empty squares. Knights move in an L shape, two squares in any direction, and then one

  • square to either side. Knights can jump over other pieces. Step 6. Now you're ready to

  • play! White always moves first, which gives that player the advantage of always being

  • one step ahead. On the first move, white can only move a pawn or a knight (since only knights

  • can jump other pieces). The player who controls the center of the board has a strong advantage.

  • Step 7. Capture pieces by landing on a square occupied by an opponent's piece and removing

  • the piece from play. Pawns can only capture by moving one square, forward and diagonally.

  • Try to capture your opponent's most valuable pieces: the queen, castles, knights, and bishops.

  • Step 8. Use your pawns to capture your opponent's pawns en passant. If your opponent moves a

  • pawn two spaces on its first move and you have a pawn in a position where you could

  • have captured it if it had moved only one space, you can capture their pawn as if it

  • had moved only one space. Step 9. Either rook can make a special move to protect its king.

  • If you haven't moved the king or the rook yet, and there are no pieces between them,

  • you can move the king two squares toward the rook, and transfer that rook toward the middle

  • of the board, in the space right next to the king. You cannot castle if your king is in

  • check, or would pass through check in making the move. Step 10. When you move a piece so

  • that it is in position to capture your opponent's king on your next turn, the move is called

  • "check." If they move their king out of check, or move another piece to block your attack,

  • the game continues. If they can't move out of check, you have put them in "checkmate"

  • and won the game. Did you know The number of possible variations in a chess game has

  • been calculated at 10 to the power of 120 – more than the number of electrons in the

  • universe.

How to Play Chess. Impress your friends! Learn the game of kings and queens. You will need

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