Week 2/ Blog 2 – The Game of the Kings: Chess

Sometimes called the king’s game or ‘the game of the kings’. The battle of tactic and strategy. Every move counts. Every second counts. Don’t waste it, don’t be afraid, don’t be wrong, don’t falter. This is the game of chess. 8×8 grid with 64 squares played by 2 players. With different strategies and tactics, you could win. It is said that it originated in India in the last 6^th century. The first tournament of chess was held in London in 1851 won by a German named Adolf Anderssen. For the first man who won the world chess tournament, his name is Wilhelm Steinitz.

The game of chess consists of 2 sides, the black side, and the white side. Each side has 16 units. 8 Pawns, 2 Rooks, 2 Horses, 2 Bishops, 1 Queen, and of course 1 King. Each of units have different types of movement in the board. Now to get a better picture of the board, the grid of the board is 8×8 now the horizontal line or the ‘x’ line in math consists letters A-H and the vertical line or ‘y’ line consists the numbers 1-8.

The Movements and Positions:

Pawn

• They are positioned in the row of ‘2’ (in white side). All of the pawns are there.
• The FIRST movement of pawns CAN be 2 squares forward towards the enemy as long they aren’t touched.
  • Pawn a2 can move a4.
    or Pawn h2 to h4
• If a pawn is MOVED it can now only move 1 square forward.
• pawns can’t move backward.
• If the pawn reaches the end of the board they will can be promoted as queen, horse, bishop, or rook. (the player will decide what)

Rook

• They are placed in both corners of the board which is a1 and h8 (in white side)
• They can only move in a horizontal and vertical file.
  • Eg: if the rook is place in a1 with no other pieces in the Column A and Row 1, it can be moved all the way up to a8 or h1.
• The rook can’t jump into other pieces.
  • Eg: if a rook is placed in a1 and there is a piece in b1. The rook can’t go to h8 because of a piece in b1.

Horse

• The Horse is placed beside the rooks. B1 and g1 (white side).
• The horse moves in ‘L’ shape. 1 step forward and 2 step either left or right or vice versa
  • Eg: if a horse is in a1 it can either move in b3 or c2
• It can jump into other pieces

Bishop

• Placed beside the horse. C1 and f1 (white side).
• It only moves in a diagonal line.
• Can’t jump into other pieces

Queen

• Placed in D1 (white side)
• Can imitate the move of all pieces, except for the horse.
• Can’t jump into other pieces

King

• Placed in E1 (white side)
• Can move 1 square around it
• Must be protected at all cost.

These are the basic information of the game chess. Now, playing chess also has benefits for the human brain. It can raise your IQ, logical thinking skills, your actual brain, problem-solving skills, your foreseeing skills, strategical thinking skills, and many more. Because, why not? Playing chess requires thinking, and by thinking I mean literally thinking hard, expecting the unexpected and foreseeing every single step your opponent’s going to move. And because the brain is a muscle, it has room for growth.