ChessGrandmasters’ Blog

Chapter 2

… Following the meal Dejah Thoris and The Warlord played at jetan, the Barsoomian game of chess, which is played upon a board of a hundred alternate black and orange squares. One player has twenty black pieces, the other, twenty orange pieces. A brief description of the game may interest those Earth readers who care for chess, and will not be lost upon those who pursue this narrative to its conclusion, since before they are done they will find that a knowledge of jetan will add to the interest and the thrills that are in store for them.

The men are placed upon the board as in chess upon the first two rows next the players. In order from left to right on the line of squares nearest the players, the jetan pieces are Warrior, Padwar, Dwar, Flier, Chief, Princess, Flier, Dwar, Padwar, Warrior. In the next line all are Panthans except the end pieces, which are called Thoats, and represent mounted warriors.

The Panthans, which are represented as warriors with one feather, may move one space in any direction except backward; the Thoats, mounted warriors with three feathers, may move one straight and one diagonal, and may jump intervening pieces; Warriors, foot soldiers with two feathers, straight in any direction, or diagonally, two spaces; Padwars, lieutenants wearing two feathers, two diagonal in any direction, or combination; Dwars, captains wearing three feathers, three spaces straight in any direction, or combination; Fliers, represented by a propellor with three blades, three spaces in any direction, or combination, diagonally, and may jump intervening pieces; the Chief, indicated by a diadem with ten jewels, three spaces in any direction, straight, or diagonal; Princess, diadem with a single jewel, same as Chief, and can jump intervening pieces.

The game is won when a player places any of his pieces on the same square with his opponent’s Princess, or when a Chief takes a Chief. It is drawn when a Chief is taken by any opposing piece other than the opposing Chief; or when both sides have been reduced to three pieces, or less, of equal value, and the game is not terminated in the following ten moves, five apiece. This is but a general outline of the game, briefly stated.

It was this game that Dejah Thoris and John Carter were playing when Tara of Helium bid them good night, retiring to her own quarters and her sleeping silks and furs. “Until morning, my beloved,” she called back to them as she passed from the apartment, nor little did she guess, nor her parents, that this might indeed be the last time that they would ever set eyes upon her…

Excerpt from The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Available online at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/cmars13h.htm

Full name
Robert James Fischer

Born
March 9, 1943 Chicago, Illinois, United States

Died
January 17, 2008 (aged 64), Reykjavík, Iceland

Peak rating
2785 (July 1972)

Robert James “Bobby” Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American-born chess Grandmaster, an Icelandic citizen at the time of his death, who became famous as a teenager for his chess-playing ability. In 1972, he became the first, and so far only, American to win the official World Chess Championship, defeating defending champion Boris Spassky in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. The match was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. He is often referred to as a candidate for the greatest chess player of all time.

In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title when FIDE, the international chess federation, would not accept all his conditions. He was stripped of his title as a result, after which he became more reclusive. He played no more competitive chess until 1992, when he had a rematch with Spassky. The competition was held in Yugoslavia, which was then under a strict United Nations embargo. This led to a conflict with the US government and he never returned to his native country.

In his later years, Fischer lived in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines and Japan. During this time he became increasingly paranoid and made anti-American and antisemitic statements. In 2004–2005, after his US passport was revoked, he was detained by Japanese authorities for nine months under threat of extradition. He was then granted Icelandic citizenship and released to Iceland by the Japanese authorities. He lived in Iceland from 2005 until his death in 2008.

From Wikipedia, Bobby Fischer
Licensed under the GNUFDL

• Introduction
• Board setup
• The basis
• The pieces and their movements
• Special movements
• Promotion
• The games end

Introduction

Chess is a two-player game consisting in an eight by eight squares board and two equal sets of pieces, one for each player. The object of the game is to “checkmate” (trap) the opponent’s king. Checkmate occurs when the king cannot escape from capture on the next move.

Links
See more about chess in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess
Play chess for money: http://www.g4d.info/games-online/chess.php

Board setup

Most beginners quickly remember the setup of the pieces. It’s easy if you think of the pieces getting shorter as they move away from the king and queen. The bishop is the tallest, then the knight, then the rook. But sometimes players have troubles remembering what order the king and queen go in.

Just remember: the opposite kings are always “facing” each other along the same vertical line, the queen always goes on her own color and the board is set up with a white square on each player’s right side.

The basis

The White player starts the game and turns alternate between the black and white. On each turn, a player may move one piece appropriately from one square to another that is either open or occupied by an opponent. Each space on the board may be occupied by only one piece.
When an opposing piece moves onto a space held by an opponent, it “captures” the piece and removes it from the board. Unlike checkers, pieces may not “jump” over their own or their opponent’s pieces, though the knight may desire to do so.

The pieces and their movements
There are six different pieces in the game.

King: This piece is the target of both players, you and your opponent. While you are trying to capture your opponent\’s king, your opponent will be trying to do the same with yours. It moves in any direction (even diagonally) one space. White king cannot be moved over a square contiguous to black king and vice versa.

Queen: Moves in all directions, like the king, but with one key advantage: she can move as many spaces as desired as long as her path is unobstructed.

She is the most powerful piece on the board. Losing your queen can put you at a serious disadvantage.

Bishop: Can move diagonally along its own color any number of spaces, as long as his path is unobstructed.

Each side has one bishop that moves along the black squares and one that moves along the white squares.

Rook: May move either horizontally or vertically any number of spaces, as long as its path is unobstructed.

Knight: Is the only piece with a unique moving pattern. It moves one space vertically or horizontally, then, still moving away from its original space, one space diagonally. This is also the only piece that may “jump” over other pieces. Pieces jumped over are not captured: only the piece occupying the destination square is.

Pawn: Moves one space forward, and only forward. The Pawn captures, however, by moving diagonally forward.
Consider your first moves. The white player moves first. Options include moving a pawn forward either one or two spaces (see Pawn special moves) or moving a knight out.

Black then moves, play alternates between the two. It\’s often helpful to move pawns out of the way as soon as possible to get the more powerful pieces into play.

Special movements

Castling
Castling is a special move that allows movement of both the king and rook. This is the only time when two pieces may be moved in a single turn. To castle, a king is first moved two spaces to the left or right of its original square. The rook that the king moves toward is then moved from its original space to a space adjacent to the king but on the opposite side.

Castling is not allowed under the following conditions: 1.If either the king or the selected rook has been moved in the game. Both pieces must be in their original places on the board. 2.If there are pieces between the king and the rook. The space must be entirely open without any pieces. 3.If the king is in check, or if castling would move the king through any spaces that would put it in.

Short Castling 1. King moves to other side of rook. 2. Rook moves next to king. Large Castling

In G4D, to make this special move, move the king two squares left or right.

Pawn special moves:

Capture “en passant”
You will have to play quite a few games before you need or care to use the following. But it\’s nice to have them in your arsenal.
The first time each pawn is moved, it has the option of moving two spaces forward instead of the usual one space. After a pawn moves (either one or two spaces), this option is lost for that piece.

Pawns capture only by moving diagonally. The “capture en passant” is the only way they can capture, only moving diagonally to an empty square.

When a pawn has advanced to the fifth row on the board and an opposing pawn moves out two spaces in an adjacent column, the first pawn can then declare an “en passant” capture and move diagonally behind the opposing pawn. The captured pawn is then removed as if captured normally.

Promotion

If a pawn is moved all the way to the far side of the board (closest to its opponent), it must be replaced by another piece of the offensive player’s choice. This is called “promotion.” Pawns may be promoted to either a knight, rook, bishop, or queen, regardless of what has been previously captured. Promotion can also be used to exceed the normal roster of pieces (i.e. several queens are possible).

The games end

First you must know the difference between check, checkmate and stalemate. This is the difference between threatening to win and actually winning the game.
When a king is threatened with capture, the player who threatens the king makes this known by saying “check”. To avoid capture, the king may be moved out of check or the threatening piece may be captured, or a piece may be moved between the king and the checking piece to effectively block check. If there is no way out of check, checkmate is called and the game is over.
The king may never move into check. Chess etiquette requires that the king be not removed from the board; rather, the king is laid down sideways on the board.

The game is won when one king is in checkmate. A draw results when a king is not in check but cannot move without putting itself into check. This is called a “stalemate” and results in a tie game.You may also offer a draw to your opponent and mutually agree to end the game at a tie. After fifty consecutive moves from each player without any capture, the match is set to stalemate.