How to play Chess The aim of the game is to 'checkmate' your opponents king. You do this by trapping your opponents king with your pieces, such that there is no move your opponent can make to avoid capture. To play the game the players take it it turns to move one of their pieces. There are 6 different pieces, each of which is allowed to move in a different way. The game will automatically show you which pieces you can move, and their valid destinations when the select them. No piece except the knight may move through squares which aren't empty. To capture enemy pieces Just move one of your own pieces so it's move ends on top of the enemy piece, which is then removed from the board. The different pieces move as follows Pawn - Can move 1 square forwards, and may optionally move 2 squares on it's first move. The pawn is the only piece which captures in a different way to how it moves, and it captures my moving 1 square diagonally forward. (i.e it can't take a piece directly in front). Bishop - Can move any number of squares diagonally in a straight line. Rook - Can move any number of squares horizontally or vertically in a straight line. Knight - Moves 2 spaces in any direction, and then a further 1 space in a direction perpendicular to the initial direction. (i.e it moves in an L-shape) The easiest way to understand this is just to try it and see what the game allows you to do. Queen - Can move like a bishop or a rook,. I.e it can move any numbers of squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. King - Can move only 1 square, in any of the 8 possible directions. Check If your king is in danger of being captured (i.e your oppoenent could on their next move, make a move which resulted in your king being taken). Then you are in 'check'. If you are in check you must move your king out of danger, capture the threatening piece, or place one of your pieces between the threat and the king, such that your king is safe. Castling Your king may 'castle' with one of your rooks if a) neither the king or rook has moved, and b) all the spaces between the king and rook are empty, and c) the king isn't in check, and doesn't move through check by castling. To castle move your king two spaces towards the rook, and jump the rook over the king. Promoting your pawns If one of your pawns manages to reach the opposite side of the board, it is 'promoted' and may be replaced with either a queen, rook, bishop or knight. Players usually choose to promote pawns to queens, as in most cases the queen is the most useful piece to gain. Stalemate If either player ends up in a position where these is no legal move they can make the position is said to be 'stalemate' and the game is a draw.

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