Chess Lessons
This page serves as educational material for chess instructors. It groups the essential concepts to transmit to beginner students.
1. Game Basics
Rules and Moves
The basic rules ▼
How the pieces move ▼
King: One square in any direction.
Queen: As many squares as she wants in a straight line or diagonal.
Rook: As many squares as it wants horizontally or vertically.
Bishop: As many squares as it wants diagonally (stays on its square color).
Knight: In an "L" shape (2 squares then 1 to the side). Can jump over other pieces.
Pawn: Moves one square forward (two on the first move), captures diagonally.
The value of pieces ▼
Pawn: 1 point
Knight: 3 points
Bishop: 3 points
Rook: 5 points
Queen: 9 points
King: Infinite (or the whole game)
Objectives and Situations
The goal of the game: Checkmate ▼
Stalemate (Draw) ▼
Special Moves ▼
Castling: Protects the king and brings out the rook in a single move (under certain conditions).
Promotion: A pawn that reaches the end of the board becomes the piece of your choice (often a queen).
En passant: A special capture rule for the opponent's pawn when it moves forward two squares.
2. Opening
The 3 Golden Rules
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1. Control the center : Use pawns and pieces to dominate the central squares (d4, e4, d5, e5).
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2. Develop the pieces : Bring out your knights and bishops quickly so they are active.
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3. King safety : Castle as early as possible to protect your king.
Frequent mistakes
• Bringing the Queen out too early (she can easily be attacked).
• Moving too many pawns (fails to develop other pieces).
• Moving the same piece several times unnecessarily.
• Neglecting castling.
3. Middlegame
This is the phase where the armies clash. This is where tactics and strategy blend.
The game plan
Never play a move "just to play". Analyze the opponent's weaknesses and try to improve your pieces. If you don't know what to do, ask yourself: "Which is my least useful piece? How can I improve it?"
4. Tactics
The fork
A single piece attacks two targets at the same time. The knight is the king of forks!
The pin
Preventing a piece from moving because it protects a more important piece behind it.
The skewer
Attacking an important piece which, by moving, leaves the piece behind it undefended.
Discovered attack
Moving a piece to "free" the attack line of another piece hidden behind.
Back-rank mate
Checkmating the enemy king trapped behind his own pawns on the back rank.
Simple sacrifice
Giving up a piece to obtain a greater advantage (mate or material gain).
5. Strategy
6. Endgames
Mates with heavy pieces
Mate with the Queen ▼
Corner the opponent's king on an edge, bring your own king to support the queen giving mate face-to-face.
Mate with a Rook ▼
Harder: you must "cut off" the opponent's king with the rook and use your own king to create opposition to push the enemy king to the edge.
Essential endgame concepts
- • **King and pawn against King:** Understand the opposition to know if the pawn can promote.
- • **Rook endgames:** Always place the rook behind the pawn (Tarrasch rule).
- • **The King in the endgame:** It becomes a powerful attacking piece, don't be afraid to utilize it!
7. Good habits
Do not play too fast
Take at least 5 to 10 seconds even for obvious moves.
Check for threats
Before playing, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"
Think before you play
Have a plan, even a simple one, before touching a piece.
Respect your opponent
Shake hands, remain silent, do not make fun.
🏆 Tournament Notions
Understanding tournament rules is essential for student players.