This chess games glossary + checkers
is divided
into 6 parts and is dedicated to avid players around the world. The
first part of this glossary is the learning games section
followed by chess terms and jargon in 2 parts.
For those players looking beyond the basics of the game, there are 2
strategy articles to complete the chess games glossary.

The Checkers page details rules, strategy and tournament tips.
Chess introduction or part 1 includes history of the game, rules and
play, description of chess pieces and a
chessboard position graphic.
Arguably,
the most popular of board games, gamerisms believes that chess games
should also be categorized as strategy games.
Board skill games use a
central tool to track a player’s status and progress.
All board games
maintain turn-based play in that one player’s move/strategy is followed
by their opponents’ move/strategy. Players can only move at their turn.
Chess Games Glossary: History
Chess is a game whose roots cover centuries of history. Chess was
played in the 18th century in central Asia, and its popularity spread
from east to west.
Currently, chess games and tournaments are played online, on mobile
phones and at live events worldwide incorporating small changes made
over time to improve the game’s playability.
Additionally, China and Japan have their own chess versions creating a
worldwide sensation.
Chess became so popular that other games took second place during the
middle ages.
It’s not certain if chess was invented by one or more people, but
warfare was a likely reason for its development.
There are many collectors and collections worldwide and some chess sets
are displayed in the museums of London, Paris, Florence and various US
locations.
Chess sets have been created from wood, ivory, walrus, silver, gold,
porcelain, bronze, and iron. The popularity of chess is definitely here
to stay.
Chess Games Glossary: Rules & Game Play
To learn Chess is to respect the game, not just for its history, but
also as a skill game to challenge the brain.
The game of chess originated from warfare. During history, two armies
that opposed each other took up their positions in nearly straight
lines, separated by the battlefield.
A General would outline his plans by positions and indicate the
movements of soldiers.
Thus, military games such as chess, were created.
It’s possible that Hannibal, before the battle of Cannae, drew lines
and placed stones on a board to explain his intended strategy for that
battle.
Chess is a game played between two opponents, represented as White and
Black.
Each player receives 16 men, all of the same colour.
Eight of each group are called pawns; the other eight are called
pieces. At the start
of each chess game, each player places his sixteen men on the board in
a specific order.
The
eight pieces are the King, Queen, two Castles (or Rooks), two
Bishops-depicted by a Bishops miter and two knights (Horses). The eight
Pawns are representing 8 small men.
Chess Games Glossary:
Chess Pieces
King:
The king moves in a chess game to any square adjoining his
own, not
occupied by another piece. The king is banned from moving to a square
where he is exposed to capture and cannot occupy any square next to the
opposing king. In moving the king to a square occupied by a hostile
man, the player captures that piece.
In certain cases, the king and the
castle move at the same time. That move is called castling.
Rook:
The rook moves from its square on to any other square in the same rank
provided it does not bump into any barriers according to chess game
rules.
Bishop: The
bishop moves from his square to any other square in his diagonal
provided he does not bump into any barriers according to chess game
rules.
Queen: The
queen may make any chess game move that a rook or bishop is able to
make.
Chess Games Glossary:
Pawn
The pawn moves one-step forward, e

xcept
in its initial position, when
it may move one or two steps forward.
If the square in front of the
pawn is taken, the Pawn is blocked, and cannot move forward at all
until the barrier has been removed.
The Pawn captures a hostile man
placed one-step diagonally forward.
This rule is modified by the
capture, also known as en-passant or in passing.
If when a Pawn is
moving two steps from its initial position, passes an enemy Pawn
standing on its own fifth rank, on either of the next adjoining files,
the latter Pawn, if desired, has the right to capture the hostile Pawn
en-passant. That capture or en-passant is done in the same way as if
the hostile Pawn had moved only one-step.
Additionally, when a Pawn
by any route has reached the eighth rank of the board, this chess game
piece ceases to be a Pawn. At that time, it has to be changed into any
piece of its own colour, except the King. This chess game rule holds
true even when a piece should have to be supplied from another box.
Chess Games Glossary: Knight:
The Knight moves on to any square not occupied by a man of its color
that it can reach by proceeding in any direction two squares on its
rank or file and one square at right angles thereto. If a square within
reach, according to games rules, is occupied by a hostile man, the
Knight may capture that man by placing itself on that square.
Therefore, the Knight always moves to a square of the other colour.
Chess Games Glossary: Chessboard Position
The Initial Position of
the 32 Men on the Board
In
the initial chess position, the Rook in White’s left hand corner is
called Queens Rook=QR. The one in Whites right hand corner, Kings
Rook=KR.
Additionally, Queens Knight=QKt, Kings Knight=KKt. Queens Bishop=QB,
Kings Bishop=KB, Queen=Q and King=K.
The pawns are named after the pieces behind them.
The Kings Pawn KP, is the one in front of the K, etc.
The White army is classified into the Queens side or the left wing, and
the Kings side or the right wing.
The Black army is classified in the same way; the Black Q is placed
opposite the White Q, the Black K opposite the White K.
The Black QR opposite the White QR, etc.
But Blacks left wing is opposite Whites right wing. Therefore, Blacks
left wing is his Kings side.
The square in the bottom right hand corner of the chessboard is always
a white one.
The
Q stands on a square of her own colour, the White Q on a white square,
the Black Q on a black one, when the pieces are placed on the board for
game play.
Chess Games Glossary: Position Rules
During the course of the chess game, the players
change the position of their pieces according to established rules.
Chess players move a man from its square to another square. No two men
are ever allowed to stand on the same square.
Whenever a man is moved to a square occupied by a hostile man the
hostile piece is captured and removed from the board. The players move
alternately and White makes the first move.
As discussed, each army consists of sixteen different men; King, Queen,
Castle or Rook (2 pieces), Bishop (2 pieces), Knight (2
pieces), Pawn (8 pieces).
Chess
Games Glossary is followed by chess terms A - D, part 2
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