“We learn little from victory, much from defeat”.
Chess is one of the oldest and most popular board games in the world. It is a strategy board game played on a game board, which has 64 squares arranged in an 8x8 grid. Players begin with 16 pieces each; a king, a queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops and eight pawns. One player has pieces of white colour and the other has black pieces.
The most powerful piece is the queen and the least powerful are the pawns. During the game, each player takes turns to move one of their pieces. The objective of chess is simple: Checkmate. Checkmate is the position in which the king can be captured and there is no way to remove the threat. The player who checkmates the king of the other player first wins the game. Chess involves a lot of brain power and it’s not easy to master the game. It takes a lot of learning and practice.
Open With Pawn
It’s better and safe to start the game with a pawn that is in front of the king or the queen and moving it two squares forward. It allows the bishop and the queen to enter the game when required. The pawn can move two squares forward in the opening and one square in the same direction later in the game. The bishop moves diagonally while the queen can move diagonally, forward, backward and sideways, making it the most important piece in chess after the king.
Don’t Play Too Fast
Patience is the key to chess success. It helps in searching for a good move and anticipates the moves of the opponent. Being impatient is one of the mistakes made by players and they miss out on great moves as well as the excitement of the game in a rush to play quickly.
It’s Okay to Lose Pieces
Losing pieces more than the other player is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes you have to lose the pawns in order to corner the king. While your pieces are being taken make sure you do not suffer a heavy loss. Using these points would help you figure out whether your move is a good one or not: Queen- 9 Points, Rook- 5 Points, Bishop- 3 Points, Knight- 3 Points and Pawn- 1 Point. Looking at these points, it’s clear that losing the bishop is better to save the rook.
Watch Your Back
A player should always be alert in the game as there may be a chance that the opponent is moving slowly towards capturing the king. Or the opponent might have left their king or any other important piece unprotected. One should always be on the lookout for better moves and look at all possibilities. It’s also better to double-check the moves before playing them and make sure that after moving a piece forward, no pieces should be left unprotected.
Conclusion
Chess is a great alternative to video and online games. It increases concentration capacity of our brain and teaches patience. Chess also teaches to strategize, plan, organize, pay attention to details and step forward with the best move possible!
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