Learn Chess: Special Chess Moves

You may recall that pawns may only advance forward. Knowing this, one may ponder what happens to a pawn when it reaches the other side of the board. In modern chess, when a pawn makes its way to opposite side of the board, the pawn is said to have earned the right to "become a man". Simplistically, when the chess board is originally set-up, a "man" is any piece on the bottom or top row other than the king. In a strange case of gender misrepresentation, this also includes the queen. Therefore, when a pawn reaches the back row the pawn is removed from the board and replaced with any other piece of the same color, other than a king. It should be noted that it is therefore possible for a player to have at any one time multiple queens, several knights or whatever combination they best feel will enable them to win the game. If beginners chess players are currently striving to learn chess, promoting to a queen is often a good starting choice.

The modern game of chess evolved from an Indian game called Chaturanga which was very popular in the 6th century. Many of the rules currently played in chess were evident in Chaturanga. The rule of pawn promotion has however been slightly modified. In Chaturanga, pawns can only be promoted to a queen. This has lead many people to incorrectly misrepresent the rules of modern chess. If someone tells you that a pawn can only be promoted to a queen, they are wrong. There are instances when promoting to a piece other than queen is advantageous. Promoting to a knights for example may instigate checkmate as knights have the ability to "jump" over a defensive line. This form of promotion is called "underpromotion".

In the 12th century, chess had made its way to Europe in which a rule was introduced to try and speed up the opening game. Beginners chess players may remember that the opening game is the first part of a chess game where initial moves are made to either open up the board or set-up an initial defensive or offensive position. As most pieces cannot jump one and other, the opening game generally involves moving pawns out of the road of some of the more powerful pieces. The new rule would allow pawns to move two squares on their first move.

En Passant is the natural extension of the two square rule. The two square rule can be simply though of as taking two moves in quick succession. Thinking about moving the pawn two squares one at a time allows us to investigate En Passant. If the pawn moves two squares, and it is being attacked in the first of the two squares, the opposition may call En Passant, take the pawn from the board and move the attacking piece into the first square. This can be simplified by imagining that you had only moved your pawn one square. Since your opposition has a piece attacking that square, they are within their right to take your pawn if there is strategic advantage.

For further explanation, try searching for "en passant" in wikipedia.

Castling is a special move made available to the king. This move may be played once only by each player. Castling allows a king to move around a Rook, effectively exchanging positions. This has two advantages. Firstly, the king is moved closer to the corner of the chess board where he is easier to defend, and secondly, it allows the rook to attack a large part of the board as it is moved closer to the middle. For these reasons, castling is often attempted during the opening game.

There are some precursors to castling. First, the rook must not have played a single move. Second, the king must also not have moved. Third, there must be no pieces between the king and rook. Finally, the king can not pass through check while castling. Note that a king may castle with either rook. Castling with the furthest rook is called a "long castle". Castling with the closest rook is predictably called a "short castle".

To correctly explain the piece placement before and after each castle, I must first explain rank and file chess nomenclature. A rank is row and is described using a number. Files are columns and are described as a letter. Looking at the chess board as if you are playing white, the bottom left hand corner is denoted as A1. The top right hand corner is given rank and file number H8. The white king is on E1, and the rooks on A1 and H1.

To short castle the white king, the king moves to position G1, and the rook to position F1. To long castle the white king, the king moves to position C1 and the rook to position D1. As can be noted, this single moves involves two pieces. One may also note that this move brings together both the king and the rook, which may be advantageous for attacking or defending purposes.

To properly learn chess, castling must be practised as it is an important part of any opening game.

Beginner chess players may find the three special chess moves a little daunting at first. However to fully learn chess one must completely understand how special moves work and when best to employ a special move. There are also many videos available on the internet showing how each move is played.

I hope this has been of some benefit.