Essay Example on Playing Chess

Chess is one of the favorites in the world of brain games and is embraced across many countries and by all types of people. The game is usually played by two opponents sitting on opposite sides of a sixty-four square board where they use sixteen pieces each. The pieces for both players include two kings, two queens, four rooks, four bishops, four knights, and 16 pawns. The objective of the game is to checkmate the opponent by capturing their king and block them from moving. Chess has been around since the early 15th Century when it was started in Europe and spread all over the world.

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At the beginning of the game, each player assumes a position by picking either white or black pieces and arranging the pieces according to the universal rules. The rooks are usually arranged diagonally on the corners while the knights are placed next to them. There are various ways of opening the game depending on the experience of the players. The first method was discovered by Ruy Lopez in the early 14th Century and is currently the most sophisticated approach since each opponent is required to play the lines correctly to make an early attack (Xadrez 1). The most common opening is Queens Gambit which is easier compared to other methods. The opponents sacrifice their white queens to create a rapid attack and win the queen back. The player with the white pieces always begins the game by moving the queen on white squares while the king stays on the remaining square.

Although pawns cannot move through other pieces, the Knights have the privilege to fly over other pawns to occupy strategic squares. Players strategically move their pieces to hold their opponent's positions and push them to the edges in attempts to capture their king. The attacker is allowed to keep the captured pieces and can drop them on the board to fill an empty square (Codrescu 1). This helps to build a strong attack against the opponent and to determine the winner of the game. For instance, in standard chess; a check that can cause a checkmate is answered in the crazy house since the defending player can play a straight drop to prevent the check from moving. Critically, one should note that the captured pawns are dropped back as pawns because they are stripped of their previous promotions during the game. The players always move the pieces in the directions where they are likely to capture the opponent's pieces and occupy their squares to restrict their movements. It is also important to note that the king is considered the most important piece, however; it is limited to one move forward, backward, or sideways. The queen is also the most powerful piece as it can move as far as possible. For instance, the white queen can either move diagonally, sideways, forward or backward as long as it does not go through other white pieces.

A win in chess can be earned by capturing the opponent's piece of a king and putting it on checkmate. This occurs when the winning player has developed a decisive force against the pieces of the opponent by pushing them to the edge. The losing player lacks squares to move his/her pieces, thus; becoming stuck. Also, one can be declared a winner if the opponent quits the game as a result of hopelessness when the winning player has more advantage. Playing chess requires a bit of intelligence to make well-calculated moves that helps one to outsmart the opponent. Thus, before making any move; the player is required to spare a little time to think critically, but they should not exceed the speculated time to avoid been disqualified.

Works Cited:

Codrescu, Andrei. Tzara and Lenin Playing Chess The Posthuman Dada Guide. (2009): 1.

Xadrez, Jogar. "How to Play Chess." Brain Games (2011): 1.