Chess pieces are made
mostly in the Staunton style.
It is the only style accepted
by chess tournaments.
Isle of Lewis Chess
Set
If a book or movie
becomes popular
enough, you can be sure a chess set will
appear.
Harry Potter
The first figure shows a king and its rook just before castling king side. The second figure shows their positions just after
castling.
Castling King side
The first figure shows the king and its rook (queenside) before castling. The second figure shows the positions of the rook and
king after castling.
Castling Queen side
In the figure above white cannot castle either king side or queen side because the black knight
controls two of the squares. Black could castle king side, but not queen side. Upper Right: Neither
black nor white can castle because their own pieces block both directions. Bottom Right: White cannot castle kingside because that rook has already been moved. White could castle queen side as long as
he has not yet moved his king or that rook.
En Passant
En Passant means “in passing”. Upper left: One of white’s pawns has reached the fifth rank. A black pawn in a file next to white’s pawn has not moved yet so it can move either one or two spaces. If black moves it two spaces it will end up in the same rank as the white pawn. White has the
choice to move the pawn ahead one space diagonally and remove the black pawn. If white does not do this now, then the chance is lost.
Knight Fork
A knight fork occurs when a knight attacks two or more pieces at the same time. A knight moves two squares in a straight line and then one
square left of right. Upper left: The white knight is attacking the enemy king and his rook. As a matter of fact the black king is in check. Upper right: The white knight on E-5 is attacking four enemy pieces at once. One of
them is the black king putting him in check.
Algebraic Chess Notation This is the system most
widely used to record the
movement of chess pieces. It is set up from the
white point of view. The eight ranks (rows) are numbered 1-8. The eight files (columns) are lettered A-H.
Each square of the chessboard
has its own name.
The algebraic chess notation system uses the numbers 1-8 combined with the letters A-H to name each square on the board. Black has a knight on G-4 and plans to capture the white pawn on E-5. On what squares are the following:
Black Queen
Two White Rooks
Two Black Bishops
White King
Two White Knights