Chess

Frequently Asked Questions

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How does the game end up in a draw?
There are several possibilities, see rule about draws.
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Do I have to promote my pawn?
Yes.
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Can I capture my own pieces?
No.
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Can I move off the board?
No.
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Can I move through other game pieces?
No.
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Can I move through my own game pieces?
No.
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Can I escape a check?
Yes.
If you cannot escape a check, then the situation is actually a checkmate, not just a check.
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When should I resign?
If you think there is no way for you to win, or at least get a draw, you can resign the game by clearly letting the other player know that you give up. Resigning means you lose the game.
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How to know if the game is in a dead position?
You simply need to evaluate all the possible moves and if there is no way for either player to advance the game situation through their moves, it's a dead position. In this situation the game ends immediately in a draw.
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What happens if I'm not being checked but I can't make a move.
A stalemate.
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Is stalemate a draw?
Yes.
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Can I escape a checkmate?
No.
If you are able to escape, then the situation was only a check, not a checkmate.
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Can I force a draw?
Only under certain conditions.
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Can I do castling twice?
No.
Castling can only be done with a king and a rook that haven't yet moved. After the first castling the king has moved and can no longer do castling.
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How many times can I do castling?
Once per game.
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What if I can't move?
The game ends immediately either in a checkmate or a draw.
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Do I have to play my turn?
Yes.
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Can I skip a move?
No.
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Can a knight move over other pieces?
Yes.
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Should I suggest a draw if I lose the queen?
Not automatically.
Queen is a powerful game piece, but it's still just a game piece. You could still have a competitive set of pieces on the board. Remember you can promote a pawn to a queen when it reaches its 8th rank.
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Can a queen move one square?
Yes.
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Is there a limit to how many queens I can have?
Technically the maximum number of queens you could have is 9, if you could managed to promote all 8 pawns into queens. This however is very, very unlikely.
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Can I have multiple queens in play?
Yes, when you promote pawns into additional queens.
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Can the king capture other game pieces?
Yes.
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Can the king be captured?
No.
A game of chess ends when a player's king is in checkmate, an inescapable situation.
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Can a king move more than one square?
Only when castling.
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Can I check with a king?
No.
Making a check with your king would put your own king into harm's way which is illegal in chess.
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Can a rook only move one square?
Yes.
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Can rook move as far as possible?
Yes.
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Can rook go over other game pieces?
No.
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Why does white go first in chess?
Player with the white pieces going first is a long custom in chess, kind of a "the youngest player starts" rule. Typically chess strategy guides and examples are made from this perspective and it'd be confusing to change this as board layout is also different for each player (white queen is to the left of the king, while black queen is to the right of the king).
Are queens on the same file?
Yes.
Queens are placed to the squares with their matching color, both on file e.
What is the correct way to align the game board?
So that both players have a white square on their right corner. For white player it should be h1 and for black a8.
Is bishop more valuable than knight?
The are as valuable.
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Is knight more valuable than bishop?
The are as valuable.
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Is bishop more valuable than rook?
No.
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Is rook more valuable than bishop?
Yes.
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What is the most powerful piece?
The queen.
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Why is en passant a rule?
En passant was added at the same time with the two-square advance opening move. It prevents a pawn from using the two-square advance to pass an adjacent enemy pawn without the risk of being captured.
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What is en passant?
A specific capture a pawn can perform.
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Who starts the game?
White.
How many squares can a Pawn move?
Pawns move one square with the exception of the pawn's first move, which can be two squares.
What is Check?
Check is a situation where the other player is threatening to capture your king. You must play your turn so that your king is no longer in check.
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What is Checkmate?
If a player's king is placed in check and there is no legal move that player can make to escape check, then the king is said to be checkmated.
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What is Stalemate?
Stalemate is a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal move.
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When can I request for a draw?
Typically a player can suggest a draw after they have finished their move.
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Why does the bishop have a cut?
Bishop has a cut so it's easy to tell apart from a Pawn, which in some Chess sets look very similar.
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Can a Pawn move and capture straight forwards?
No, only diagonally.
Can a Pawn also move diagonally?
Only when capturing.
Pawn can move diagonally only when capturing, and only to the next rank (Pawns cannot move backwards).
Do I have to move a piece if I touched it?
In official competitions, you have to move a game piece if you touched it in an intention to move it. The only exception is that if the game piece cannot be legally moved. In casual games you don't have to move a piece even if you touched it. However, you shouldn't unnecessarily touch the game pieces.
Can I take back my turn?
After you have made your move and have let go of your game piece, you cannot undo your move. The only exception is that if your move was illegal, in which case you must undo it and play a legal move.
Can castling be done if a Rook has already been moved?
It depends.
Castling can only be done if the King and the Rook doing the castling have not been moved yet. It doesn't matter if the other Rook has been moved.
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Can castling be done if the King has already been moved?
No.
Castling can only be done if the King and the Rook doing the castling have not been moved yet. It doesn't matter if the other Rook has been moved.
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What is Queen's Gambit?
The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that starts with the moves: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 It is one of the oldest openings and is still commonly played today. It is traditionally described as a gambit because White appears to sacrifice the c-pawn; however, this could be considered a misnomer as Black cannot retain the pawn without incurring a disadvantage.