Fundamentals of Chess and Notation

In today's lesson, we covered the basics of chess, including how the pieces move, the points system, notation rules, and the different types of draws.

Notes:

There are 64 squares on a chessboard.

There are 8 files (vertical) labeled a to h.

There are 8 ranks (horizontal) labeled 1 to 8.

Castling Queen Side is written as O-O-O.

Castling King Side is written as O-O.

Minor pieces are worth 3 points.

They are your two bishops and two knights.

Major pieces are worth 5 points or more.

They include your queen, king, and two rooks.

Points for each piece:

Queen = 9 points

Rook = 5 points

Knight = 3 points

Bishop = 3 points

Pawn = 1 point

A trade is exchanging pieces of equal value.

For example, bishop for bishop is a trade.

A rook and bishop (8 points) for a queen (9 points) favors the queen.

Files go up and down (a to h).

Ranks go side to side (1 to 8).

Piece abbreviations:

Queen = Q

King = K

Knight = N

Rook = R

Bishop = B

If two pieces can move to the same square, write:

1. The file letter if different

2. The rank number if needed

3. Both if still unclear

A draw is a tie game.

Each player gets half a point (win is 1, loss is 0).

Five main types of draws:

1. Stalemate

2. Dead Position

3. Mutual Agreement

4. Threefold Repetition

5. 50-Move Rule.

Stalemate is when the player to move has no legal moves and is not in check.

Dead Position means no player can checkmate.

Examples include:

1. King vs King

2. King and bishop vs King

3. King and knight vs King

4. King and bishop vs King and bishop (same color)

5. King and two knights vs King

Mutual Agreement means both players agree to a draw.

Threefold Repetition happens when the same position occurs three times.

A player can ask for a draw on their turn.

The 50-move rule means if 50 moves happen with no pawn move or capture, a player can claim a draw.

Castling moves the king two squares towards a rook.

Then the rook moves to the square the king crossed.

Castling is only allowed if neither piece has moved.

The king cannot be in check or cross attacked squares.

Castling kingside is called short castling (O-O).

Castling queenside is called long castling (O-O-O).

A pawn moves 1 or 2 squares from its starting position.

Two special Pawn Moves:

1. Promotion

2. En Passant.

Promotion is when a pawn reaches the eighth rank.

It can become a queen, rook, bishop, or knight.

The new piece replaces the pawn.

En Passant is a special capture.

It happens when an opponent’s pawn moves two squares past your pawn.

You can capture it as if it moved only one square.

This capture must be made immediately on the next move.

Summary of Today's Lesson

For the next week, everyone should go over these rules since it'll be tested on. There are many available resources on Youtube and chess learning sites like Chess.com, Lichess.org, and ChessKid.com. ChessKid also has many educational videos to help students learn chess easily.