Hello everyone, I welcome you all to lesson #1. today we're going to be learning chess from the very basics. If you have never heard of chess before, this is the right place for you. 

The first thing you have to learn is that chess is a battle between 2 teams white and black. Each team is trying to get to the other king and checkmate them. Before learning about checkmates and the rest of the things, let's go to the utter basics, that is learning about the chessboard. So first, the chessboard has 64 squares 32 light squares 32 dark squares. the horizontal series of squares are called ranks and the vertical series of squares are called files and we also have diagonals.

Pieces names and descriptions:





Pawns
  • The pawn is the least powerful piece and is worth one point. 
  • Each side starts with 8 pawns each. For white and black the pawns are situated in the 2nd and 7th rank respectively. 
  • If it is a pawn's first move, it can move forward one or two squares. If a pawn has already moved, then it can move forward just one square at a time. 
  • It attacks (or captures) each square diagonally to the left or right.
 


Bishops
  • Each side starts with two bishops, one on a light square and one on a dark square. 
  • When a game begins, White's bishops are located on c1 and f1, while Black's bishops are located on c8 and f8. 
  • The bishop is considered a minor piece (like a knight) and is worth three points. 
  • A bishop can move diagonally as many squares as it likes, as long as it is not blocked by its own pieces or an occupied square. An easy way to remember how a bishop can move is that it moves like an "X" shape. 
  • It can capture an enemy piece by moving to the occupied square where the piece is located. 






Knights
  • Each side starts with two knights—a king's knight and a queen's knight. 
  • When a game starts, White's knights are located on b1 and g1, while Black's knights are located on b8 and g8.The knight is considered a minor piece (like a bishop) and is worth three points. 
  • The knight is the only piece in chess that can jump over another piece! It moves one square up or down and one square diagonal —in other words, the knight moves in an "L-shape." 
  • The knight can capture only what it lands on, not what it jumps over!



Rooks
  • Each side starts with two rooks, one on the queenside and one on the kingside. 
  • All four rooks are located in the corners of the board. White's rooks start the game on a1 and h1, while Black's rooks are located on a8 and h8.
  • The rook is considered a major piece (like the queen) and is worth five points. 
  • It can move as many squares as it likes left or right horizontally, or as many squares as it likes up or down vertically (as long as it isn't blocked by other pieces). 
  • An easy way to remember how a rook can move is that it moves like a "+" sign.



Queens
  • The Queen is the most powerful chess piece! 
  • When a game begins, each side starts with one queen. The white queen is located on d1, while the black queen is located on d8.
  • The queen is considered a major piece (like a rook) and is worth nine points. 
  • It can move as many squares as it likes horizontally, vertically (like a rook). The queen can also move like a bishop. Simply put Queen is a combination of rook and bishop.


Kings
  • The king is not the most powerful chess piece, but it is the most important one! If a king is put in checkmate, then the game is over! . Remember, the goal of a game of chess is to checkmate the king! 
  • Each side has one king. White's king is located on e1, while Black's king starts on e8.
  • The king is not a very powerful piece, as it can only move or capture one square in any direction. Please note that the king cannot be captured! When a king is attacked, it is called "check."


Board Arrangement

Now the last thing in this post is how to arrange the board, if you are going to play chess at first you have to arrange the board. so the board have to be arranged in the way that is shown below,  and one more important thing before setting up the pieces please make sure that the square at the bottom right corner is light if not you'd have to rotate the board.





Conclusion:

You now know what the chess pieces are, where to place them to start a game, how the chess pieces move, and how they are valued! Enjoy your newfound knowledge of the chess pieces, in the upcoming post you'll learn some special moves how to check and checkmate and more.

Thankyou