Q&A for How to Fool Your Opponent in Chess

If your pawn reaches the last rank (row), it is immediately "promoted" to a piece of your choice (except a king). The piece you choose does not have to be one that was previously captured. That means you could then have more than one queen, more than two rooks, etc.

Consider it your opportunity to learn more about the game and to improve your skill level.

This is a position counting as a draw, in which a player is not in check but cannot move except into check.

Like with most strategic games, making someone fall into your trap is achieved by distracting the opponent. Make the opponent pay attention to another place, as he falls into the trap where he didn't expect it.

A pawn or a piece which is isolated from the other pieces and is difficult to support is called a hanging piece.

If no capture and no pawn move have occurred in the last 50 moves (for each player), the game can be called a draw if either player so desires.

A chess variant is any game that is similar to chess and derived from or inspired by chess.

You are probably referring to "castling." When you castle, you move your king two squares toward either rook and move that rook to the other side of and right next to the king. There are special rules regarding this move.

Castling to either side is often considered a good defensive move.

Yes, it can move diagonally forward if in doing so it captures a piece.

If you're asking whether one king can capture the other, the answer is no. If you're asking if a king can capture other pieces, the answer is yes, under certain conditions: a king can capture a pinned queen, and he can capture other pieces if in attacking or capturing he does not place himself in check.

Castling is one move consisting of two steps: position the king two squares closer to either rook, and move that rook to the other side of and right next to the king. Special rules apply to castling.

No.

It may be tempting to do so, and it may briefly feel good, but you'll be left with a feeling of embarrassment and regret, not to mention a broken chess board. Don't do it.

No. Rooks begin a game blocked from all moves. You must move the adjacent pawn and/or knight before you can move a rook.

Yes, assuming such a move is available and it allows the king to get out of check.

The queen is your best attacker. Rooks, knights and bishops are also very good at attacking.

Yes! The 3-Move checkmate is most effective against inexperienced opponents, and requires you to advance a pawn two squares as you opening move, then use two diagonal moves to position your queen on the edge of the board where it has an unobstructed path to the opponent's king. If your opponent attempts to block the queen's first move using one of their pawn's, the second diagonal move will bypass their defense and leave the king with no place to go.

No, a king never moves like a knight, and neither does any other piece (except a knight). A king normally moves only one square at a time in any direction.

The knight is the only piece which may jump over other pieces (of either color). The knight moves three squares in an "L" shape and may not finish its move on a square already occupied by a piece of its own color. If it finishes on a square occupied by an opponent's piece, it captures that piece.

"En passant" is a little-used move that allows a pawn to capture an opponent's pawn located in an adjacent square in the same rank. Normally your pawn may capture an opposing pawn only if it is forward-diagonally adjacent to your pawn. However, in a situation where your pawn is located in your fifth rank, and your opponent moves a pawn two squares into his/her fourth rank so that it stands beside your pawn, on the next move you may capture that pawn by moving diagonally forward into the square passed over by the other pawn. You would then remove the opponent's pawn. You may perform this capture only in the move immediately after your opponent has made the two-square move with his/her pawn.

The queen moves in a straight line only. The knight is the one piece that the queen cannot emulate.

A pawn may move one square diagonally forward if it is capturing an opponent's piece in that square. Otherwise, a pawn may move only straight ahead and only into an unoccupied square.

The king can move only one square at a time, except when castling, when he can move two squares.

No. The king can castle just once in a game and only if he has not yet made any move at all.

It often takes a complicated and well thought out strategy to capture your opponent's queen. This article can provide some pointers: how to checkmate in three moves in chess .

There is no difference between the two, except that white always has the first move in a game, which is an advantage for an aggressive player.

This is theoretically possible by promoting all eight of your pawns. However, this would never happen in a real game.

Typically it would take the skills of a grandmaster to (occasionally) defeat a computer. Some chess computers, however, can be intentionally set to a lower skill level, thus enabling a human player (occasionally) to win.

You are referring to the "50-move" rule. A stalemate ("tie" or "draw") can be declared if (typically during the endgame) no capture occurs and no pawn is moved during a period of 50 consecutive moves by each opponent (meaning a total of 100 moves by the two opponents together). This is simply to avoid a never-ending game.