Can you play chess? I was both lucky and unlucky to be in the same class of mighty chess players in our school. Each time we had inter-departmental, inter-school, and even district and regional games, 3 of my classmates would be among the contenders. They played great chess during our high school years considering that they had to play against those who are seniors to them. You could not undermine them because they got places in those competitions, too.

When we were in high school, they’re neither among the top 10 in the class nor the ones who looked like semi-genius hippies..hehe. They’re quiet people, seldom talked, and they mostly looked very calculating. Many times, I had a great chance of learning the game from the guru themselves, yet, the interest just wasn’t there. I was more inclined into active sports where I can really sweat it out and tire myself up. That’s what I call a sport. Volleyball and soccer baseball (kickball) were my games–and a little tennis–you can add it up ‘though I couldn’t really hit the ball right at that time! Okay, so, to play chess we need a chess board (of course! who would argue?). The components are called The Chess Board, The Pawn, The Knight, The Bishop, The Rook, The King, and The Queen. It looks fun to play chess though and you look smart if you can play chess, too. That is, at least to me.

Game Rules–each player must move one piece at a time and in a succession of moves. Each piece moves after a certain rule form one square to another and the game always starts with the player having the white pieces, making the first move. Well, I can only simulate my expertise here in checkers as I can claim that I’m good at it but not chess (no arguing, please!). Then a piece can also capture an enemy piece according to certain rules. Some pieces are more important than others depending on their range of action and their value. The queen is the strongest piece because it has the greatest range of action while the king is the most important piece because it is the main piece targeted by the enemy attack. There are times when a move implies the movement of two pieces–when capturing, castling or promoting a pawn like when a player captures a piece, he takes that piece outside the board and move his own piece in its place.

Purpose of the Game–the game revolves around attacking the other side’s king and when a king is under the threat of being captured it is said that the king is in check (usually the side attacking the king announce this by saying ‘check’ but this is not imposed by the rules). When a king is in check it must be moved otherwise it risks being captured (many people don’t know this but the king can be captured). The objective of each player is to checkmate his opponent. That means bringing the enemy king in such a position that when attacked it has no available square on which to move. When a player checkmates his opponent king he wins the game. While the game evolves both players develop their positions by making various moves and capturing various pieces. This means that the number of pieces will diminish along the game. The game’s priorities will change along its duration. The rules will remain the same but the objectives will be slightly different. This is why the game can be divided into 3 different parts depending on the number and the position of the pieces: the opening, the middle game, the end game.

There are times when neither of both sides can win the game. In this case, the game ends at equality (a draw or tie). These situations are quite frequent especially when both players are around the same level of expertise. The game doesn’t need to be balanced in order for the game to end a draw. If the game reaches to a point where the advantage of one side is obvious or a draw is inevitable, the game could be ended if both players agree on the result of the game.