Chess Thread

[pokemon_master]

Call me a geek if you will, but I enjoy chess. In our school I am ranked 4th in British Land Tournament and I love it.

I wasn't always this good. In fact, this year is the only year I have actually partipated in chess tournament; previous years I was too bad.

I now am a rival to most of the upper Sixth Formers (1 year above me), some of the best year 10s (2 years below me, but they are SO good!) and even some of the teachers!

Anyone else good at chess/like playing? If anyone wants, I can teach people on the boards how to play and win!

So what do you say?

EDIT: Now teaching people. Please see the following posts for cool stuff:

1) Post 5: Special Moves

2) Post 11: Pawns

3) Post 14: Nighty Knights

 

[HorsePrincess]

Wow, it sounds like you're really good! Unfortunatly, I have absolutly no idea how the British school system works, so I'm a little confused about that. Oh well. I play chess on occasion, usually with my brothers and cousins, but I'm really, really bad. One of my younger brothers is a Boy Scout, and he did some sort of Chess badge, so now he totally pounds me when we play. I'm a lot better at Monopoly, though, so it's even.

~*HorsePrincess*~

 

[pokemon_master]

The British School system is similar to the American school system. Unfortunately, I don't unstand that one entirely so I won't make comparisons

How does everyone feel about me posting Chess How to's whenever I get a free moment?

 

[HorsePrincess]

Chess how-to's would be great! I could always use a few pointers...maybe one day I'll be able to beat my brother again.

~*HorsePrincess*~

 

[pokemon_master]

Now, there are a couple of very special moves everyone needs to know in order to have fun in the game.

1) "Surpised Check". This is when you move another piece to check the king. It's commonly done with pawns, and it's very nice to add a little surpise to your games.. Be sure to spot the check early, or you will have to re-do your game from scratch!

If you are really good at it, Surpised Checks even allow you to take another person's piece on the next move! Cool huh! Since the king has to move out of the way, they can't help out the poor piece!

2) "Surpised Attack". Same as above, only you are attacking a move poweful piece. It's harder to do, since they can take back!

3) "Pins". These are great! The aim of a pin is to stop a piece from moving as they are in front of a more valueable piece. It works really well if the other piece is the king! Below is an example:



In the above example, the rook can't move as the king would be checked. Cool huh?

4) "Skewers". This is similar to the above one, only the other way around! This time the opponant has to move their piece, only to have the piece behind it taken! Below is an example:



In this example, the king has to move, and so the rook gets taken!

5) "Forks". This one is a bit different from the other two. This time, you are attacking two different pieces at the same time! This leaves your opponant with a hard choice on which one to keep and which one to lose.



In the above example, the white knight is attacking the black rook and king. The black king has to move leaving the rook to be taken.

(Once apon a time, I manage to fork my opponant's king and 2 rooks together with the queen! He had to protect one (plus the king), and so he moved and then I took the other one and checked him again! He had to move again, so I took his other rook! He took my queen afterwards, but it was worth it to get his rooks; the only valueable pieces of his on the board!)

6) "En Passent". (That's French for "In passing)







Before you think "Waa?!", this is correct. You see, if a pawn on it's first move goes two spaces forward, and there is a pawn next to it you can take it as if it moved one space! This is of course, if you do it immediatly after that person's move. Otherwise it's a no go.

9) Castling.

Provided your king is not checked, or moves into a postion where he can be checked, and your king and rook have not moved, you can do something cool.

On the last row, move your king two steps to the left or right (depending on which side) and move your castle the other side of it. That's castling for ya!

Eg:

Well, that's it for your first lesson. Next time: Pawn strategy.

 

[Captain Brain]

I have a Chess program from my home computer. I'm really good at losing, lol.

 

[HorsePrincess]

Whoa! This stuff is cool. I had no idea you could do that stuff. My chess playing is usually on a very basic level. Great, now you've gotten me hooked on chess. I'm impressed. Now I have to go dig out my brother's chess program from the depths of the software cabinet...easier said than done!

~*HorsePrincess*~

 

[deepshadow]

The first thing i thought when i saw the "En Passent" move i thought Waa?! but then i read the text below and noticed this was a cool move.

I like chess myself and I have a cool chess set made out of another favorite thing of mine-legos!

 

[tmaxpuppy]

you know i would like chess more if i atleast won one time

 

[pokemon_master]

I have a Chess program from my home computer. I'm really good at losing, lol.

LOL. Yay, I am finally better at something then brain is! You'd probably beat me on the Video games front though.

Whoa! This stuff is cool. I had no idea you could do that stuff. My chess playing is usually on a very basic level. Great, now you've gotten me hooked on chess. I'm impressed. Now I have to go dig out my brother's chess program from the depths of the software cabinet...easier said than done!

~*HorsePrincess*~

It's like I always say: It's one thing to learn to play, but another to learn to win!

The first thing i thought when i saw the "En Passent" move i thought Waa?! but then i read the text below and noticed this was a cool move.

I like chess myself and I have a cool chess set made out of another favorite thing of mine-legos!

I like En Passent, altough I never bother to use it myself. Still, it's nice to know.

I like the idea of a lego chess set! I have lego chess, but it doesn't work on our computer anymore.. It was fun while it lasted!

you know i would like chess more if i atleast won one time

LOL. Don't feel bad tmaxpuppy! I used to be incredibly bad at chess, and look at me now; I am teaching you to play chess!

 

[pokemon_master]

Pawns are the smallest piece of your armarda, and unforntuately they are like checkers pieces. They only go forward, and they are only useful when they get to the other side of the board.

Pawns support each other very nicely when they go up the board. Since they take in diagonals, they are good for making shoe like moments up the board (i.e. left, right, left, right). They also help to support other pieces too, but it often works best the other way around.

You'll need more then a couple of pawns to protect them though! It always helps to have a third party piece supporting your 2 pawns. Rooks support them very nicely, and also help to block opponant pawns reaching your side. Never try using a queen, unless it's really nessecary (i.e. king vs king, queen and pawn etc.) Knights and bishops work too, but not as effective as Rooks.

You may be wondering "What's so special about these lame-o pawns? They are worth only 1 point when captured, and they don't do much!". Well, If you can get your little insignificant pawn to the other side you can exchange it for ANY piece you wish (except the king of course ). It always help to have a spare queen on the board.

That process is called Promotion and is often a very quick way to win a game or turn the tide in a battle. Be careful when promoting, as it can lead to a stalemate depending on where the king is (or even worse, getting it captured again!).

Other than en passant and promotion, pawns can't do much more special. Now you know that pawns are worth a lot! Next time: Nightly Knights

 

[Captain Brain]

This may be the thing that I can't do, chess.

 

[pokemon_master]

This is why I am here for Brain! To teach people who are bad at chess to become superstars! lol

 

[pokemon_master]

Coming soon!

 

[pokemon_master]

Sadly, Master is ever busy with coursework, homework etc, so I won't be able to add my "Nighty Knights" section for a long time. You may add your own statregies if you wish to this thread though..

I'll leave you with some advice: Never move the pawn in front of the King's Side's Bishop as a beginning move! It just screams "Go on, Check mate me. See if I care!"

I will also leave you with something to figure out. Why?

 

[Nanoer]

makes your horse roadkill lol

 

[pokemon_master]

makes your horse roadkill lol

lol.. Not the Answer I was looking for..

 

[Nanoer]

It just screams "Go on, Check mate me. See if I care!" Yay! Nanoer got it right!

that's me alright

 

[pokemon_master]

LOL very funny...

If only, If only..