CHESS

STEM-Based
 SCOUTING AMERICA
MERIT BADGE SERIES

CHESS

“Enhancing our youths’ competitive edge through merit badges”

 Requirements
Always check scouting.org for the latest requirements.
1. Discuss with your counselor the history of the game of
chess. Explain why it is considered a game of planning
and strategy.
2. Discuss with your counselor the following:
(a) The benefits of playing chess, including developing
critical thinking skills, concentration skills, and
decision-making skills, and how these skills can
help you in other areas of your life
(b) Sportsmanship and chess etiquette
3. Demonstrate to your counselor that you know each of the
following. Then, using Scouting’s Teaching EDGE*, teach
someone (preferably another Scout) who does not know
how to play chess:
(a) The name of each chess piece
(b) How to set up a chessboard
(c) How each chess piece moves, including castling and en
passant captures
4. Do the following:
(a) Demonstrate scorekeeping using the algebraic system
of chess notation.
(b) Discuss the differences between the opening, the
middle game, and the endgame.
(c) Explain four opening principles.
(d) Explain the four rules for castling.
(e) On a chessboard, demonstrate a “scholar’s mate” and
a “fool’s mate.”
(f) Demonstrate on a chessboard four ways a chess game
can end in a draw.

*You may learn about Scouting’s Teaching EDGE from

your unit leader, another Scout, or by attending training.

35973

FPO
ISBN 978-0-8395-0000-1
©2025 Scouting America
2025 Printing
 5. Do the following:
(a) Explain four of the following elements of chess strategy:
exploiting weaknesses, force, king safety, pawn structure,
space, tempo, time.
(b) Explain any five of these chess tactics: clearance sacrifice,
decoy, discovered attack, double attack, fork, interposing,
overloading, overprotecting, pin, remove the defender,
skewer, zwischenzug.
(c) Set up a chessboard with the white king on e1, the
white rooks on a1 and h1, and the black king on e5.
With White to move first, demonstrate how to force
checkmate on the black king.
(d) Set up and solve five direct-mate problems provided by
your counselor.
6. Do ONE of the following:
(a) Play at least three games of chess with other Scouts
and/or your counselor. Replay the games from your
score sheets and discuss with your counselor how you
might have played each game differently.
(b) Play in a scholastic (youth) chess tournament and
use your score sheets from that tournament to replay
your games with your counselor. Discuss with your
counselor how you might have played each game
differently.
(c) Organize and run a chess tournament with at least four
players, plus you. Have each competitor play at least
two games.

CHESS    3
Contents
What Is Chess? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The History of Chess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

How to Play Chess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Openings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Middle Games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Endgames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chess Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chess Tournaments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Glossary of Chess Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Chess Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

CHESS    5
 .What Is Chess?

What Is Chess?
Chess is among the oldest board games in the world, and it
ranks among the most popular games ever created. Chess is
played worldwide—even over the internet and in outer space. Chess is a game
Players meet for fun and in competition, everywhere from
of skill. It has
kitchen tables and park benches to formal international
tournaments. Chess clubs meet at youth clubs, senior centers, almost no element
schools, and universities.
of chance …
Though the game pieces move in specific ways, and though
it is not difficult to learn the basic moves and the rules of the but good luck
game, chess players find new and interesting moves each time counts too!
they play. Each game unfolds differently, challenging players in
unexpected ways. To play chess well requires deep concentration
and mental alertness.

What’s It Like?
Chess is a game for two players.
To some, chess resembles a
military battle, with each player
having an army of pieces. The
game is also similar to checkers
and even American football. In
football, each side has 11 players
on the field. In chess, each player
has 16 “team members,” called
“pieces.” You are the coach, or
leader, in charge of your team.
The pieces line up similar
to football players, each side
starting play with two rows
of players. The pieces in front
resemble the linemen, and the
pieces in the back row are much like the backfield, as in the
figure shown at right.

CHESS    7
.What Is Chess?

Chess and Your Brain

Chess helps to develop many different mental abilities
that are useful for a lifetime.
• Abstract reasoning—reaching conclusions from
previous knowledge
• Analysis—breaking something down into smaller
things to solve
• Concentration—the ability to direct your attention to
one thing
• Creativity—the ability to think of something and
bring it to reality
• Critical thinking—applying logic and careful reasoning
• Evaluation—determining the worth
of something
• Pattern recognition—recognizing
something that you have previ-
ously seen and knowing what to
do in that situation
• Problem solving—recognizing
a problem and coming up with
a workable solution
• Strategic planning—deciding
what is to be done with the
resources available
• Synthesis—combining
previous knowledge
to help out in a
current situation.
Playing chess is good for
your brain!

8   CHESS
 .What Is Chess?

One goal in football is to tackle or “sack” the quarterback.

In chess, each side has a king instead of a quarterback. A chess
player wants to trap (or lure) the opponent’s king. And rather than Terms set in
tackle the king, the chess player wants to trap the opponent’s king. italics, like trap,
A king that is cornered, to be trapped on the next move, is said to
can be found in
be checkmated. When a king cannot move to safety and could be
taken on the next move, the game has ended. the glossary at
In chess, you can make an almost endless variety of plays
the back of
as you and your opponent take turns until the opposing king is
trapped by the winner. Some plays—in chess, they are called this pamphlet.
“moves”—are for offense, while others are for defense: They are
designed to protect your team, or army of pieces, from being
captured (or taken).
As you learn and become increasingly skillful at chess, you
will learn good plays and how to avoid many of the bad ones.
A major goal of the game is to know how to make better moves
than your opponent and to learn from your mistakes as your
opponents learn from theirs and from yours.

When you learn from your mistakes, you are

synthesizing information.

Easy to Learn, Hard to Master

It is often said that chess is easy to learn, but it takes a lifetime
to master. As a beginning chess player, you can expect to lose
games. It is best to play with those at the same level of skill so
you can learn together. Playing advanced players too soon can
be discouraging. Playing regularly, however, will help you gain
the confidence to play increasingly better players.

When you are ready, play more advanced players than

yourself to learn how they win. The better the players
you play, the better player you will become.

Even the best players get better with practice—and by

losing many games. But there will always be those, as in
other games and sports, who have a natural gift or talent. Just
remember that you have your special talents, too.

CHESS    9
.What Is Chess?

More Than a Game

Playing chess is not just about winning or learning the best plays.
The game teaches its players many things about themselves
and others.
Aside from social skills, which you sharpen as you interact
with other players, chess will test your thinking. The first test of
your thinking will be your attitude toward yourself, your oppo-
nent, and the game. Sometimes you may play under pressure,
and the end of a hard-fought chess game will test your attitude
about winning and losing. Keep a positive attitude—just have
fun. Accept your wins modestly, and learn from your losses with
grace and a smile.

10   CHESS
 .What Is Chess?

Learn to appreciate all of your experiences and what you

get from the game. In several specific ways, chess helps you
think better.
Playing chess builds concentration skills. You must focus
on your moves and your opponent’s moves to avoid making
major mistakes.
Chess builds critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Every game will require you to decide whether certain moves
will be better for your position, or not better, or actually worse.
Some moves are riskier than others. A wrong move may cost
you one of your pieces or even the game. You must analyze or
compare the risks and make the best decision you can.
You might have to use your creativity and try something
that you think might work, perhaps a play you have never tried
before. You might have noticed how football players change
their formations to surprise the other team or to anticipate what
might happen. Coming up with a surprise play or formation
(abstract thinking) could cause you and your opponent to think
beyond what you would normally do.

Every player makes good moves and poor moves,

winning moves and losing moves.

CHESS    11
.What Is Chess?

You will learn to recognize many patterns of offense and

defense, just as a football quarterback does. By looking at your
opponent’s chess pieces during the game, you will learn, over
time, to recognize good positions and poor ones. A good quarter-
back can often tell if a play will succeed just by the way the
defensive players are positioned. Chess players, like quarterbacks,
must be good at pattern recognition. They must notice how
the opponent is lined up for each play and spot possible threats—
or weaknesses.

Football players meet with their coaches to plan what

plays they will use in a game. This is strategic plan-
ning and is done not only by football players, but also
by chess players, police officers, firefighters, military
personnel, and anyone else who must plan how to
accomplish a goal. It takes strategic planning to catch a
criminal, douse a fire, surround the enemy—or capture
the king in a game of chess.

In chess, you need to be able to carefully observe your

position, your opponent’s position, the pieces you want to
move, and the locations where you want to move them.
Analysis is the process of bringing together all the facts,
planning for the risks, and predicting the consequences
of your position and your move, to reach a decision.

Being good at anything requires commitment,

hard work, study, honesty, respect for others, a
desire to learn and improve—and the courage to
make mistakes and learn from them. Chess helps
us learn the consequences of our decisions, good
and bad, whether we win or lose.

12   CHESS
 .What Is Chess?

Many chess players like to

record their moves so they can
analyze and evaluate them. For
most tournaments, players are
required to record their moves.
An evaluation of the conse-
quences of a specific move
or play helps a chess player
remember the good plays and
avoid repeating the errors.
 .The History of Chess

The History of Chess

Chess originated in India around A.D. 600. The early game was
called “Chaturanga”—a name that also applied to the Indian
armies of that time. Chaturanga meant “four-limbed” and referred For details and
to the four parts of the army: chariots, cavalry, elephants, and
illustrations of
infantry. The game had four corresponding pieces—chariots,
horses, elephants, and foot soldiers—as well as pieces representing how the pieces
a ruler and his minister.
move in the
modern game of
chess, see “How
to Play Chess” in
this pamphlet.

Those six kinds of early game pieces evolved into the six
kinds of pieces found in modern chess.
• The chariot (like chariots of war, which moved swiftly but
needed clear paths) became the rook (which moves any
number of vacant squares vertically or horizontally).
• The horse (which could leap obstacles and turn quickly)
became the knight (which moves in an L shape with two
steps in one direction, a right-angle turn, and one step in the
new direction). The knight cannot be blocked by other pieces.
Like the horse, it leaps over them.

CHESS    15
.The History of Chess

• The elephant (which was limited to moving two squares

diagonally, not horizontally or vertically) became the bishop
(which can move any number of vacant squares in any
diagonal direction), always staying on the same color.
• The foot soldier (like the infantry in warfare, never retreating
from the enemy) became the pawn (which can move forward,
never backward).
• The minister (which could move only one square diagonally)
became the queen (which can move any number of vacant
squares diagonally, horizontally, or vertically).
• The ruler piece became the king, the most important piece in
the game.
Chaturanga spread from India to Persia and the Middle
East, and from there into Europe during medieval times. Though
the names of the pieces changed to fit the different languages as
the game moved westward
and became what we call
“chess,” the rules of the
game changed very little.
In Europe by A.D. 1000,
chess became popular
among knights and nobles.
The Spanish brought chess
to the New World at least
as early as 1533.

In 1497, a Spaniard
named Luis Ramírez de
Lucena wrote Repetición
de Amores y Arte de
Ajedrez con ci juegos
de Partido. Today, it is
the oldest-known book
about chess.

16   CHESS
 .The History of Chess

In the United
States, the first
chess champion-
ship match was
held in 1845. The
first international
chess tournament
was held in
London in 1851.

This painting (circa 1865) by Edward Harrison May depicts

Lady Howe as she checkmates Benjamin Franklin.
By the 1730s, Benjamin Franklin was playing chess. He was
among the earliest players in the colonies that would become
the United States. Franklin was able to use his knowledge of
chess to help his diplomatic efforts in England. In 1786, he
published a famous essay, “The Morals of Chess,” which argued
that chess has important educational benefits.

“The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very

valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to
be acquired and strengthened by it.…”
—from “The Morals of Chess” (1786), by Benjamin Franklin

By the 1840s, chess players were holding large national

gatherings in Yorkshire, England, and in Kentucky. Modern
chess tournaments grew out of these early events, and national
chess organizations formed, with England and the United States
leading the way. State chess organizations arose in the 1880s.
In 1924, the world chess organization called FIDE (Fédération
Internationale des Échecs) was formed.
The U.S. Chess Federation, which began in 1939,
has worked to attract young players. The American
organization also popularized the “Swiss system”
tournament, a format that allows large numbers of players
to compete over a short period of time, such as a weekend.
(See “Chess Tournaments” later in this pamphlet.)

CHESS    17
.The History of Chess

Great American Chess Champions

The United States has had three world champions. Paul Morphy of New
Orleans was widely regarded as world champion by 1858. Although he
never used the title, Morphy is still considered one of the most brilliant
players in history. He retired undefeated. Wilhelm (William) Steinitz, the
first officially recognized world champion, became a U.S. citizen in 1888,
while still holding the title.
One of the most dominant champions in history was Bobby Fischer
(1943–2008), a native of Chicago. Fischer learned chess as a small child.
By age 14, he was U.S. champion. He played in and won eight U.S.
championship tournaments. He then defeated two past world champions
to win the world title in 1972. Although he played little public chess after
that, Fischer remains a legend. His games are models of deep strategy
and planning that still fascinate players.

This is Bobby Fischer’s notation from a game against Argentinian Miguel Najdorf
during the 1970 Chess Olympiad in Siegen, Germany.

18   CHESS
 .The History of Chess

Original Staunton chess pieces: pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, and king

The Staunton Standard

During its early years, the game of chess was played with pieces of no
particular style or standard. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as
the popularity of chess rose tremendously, players began to see the need
for standardization in the design of chess pieces. They realized an opponent
who could more readily identify the pieces would have an unfair advan-
tage—the opponent would not be so preoccupied with confusing the pieces
while trying to analyze a strategy.
One proponent of the standardization was chess master Howard
Staunton, who lent his name to the Staunton design. While the set
was not designed by him, he enthusiastically promoted the pieces as
well-balanced, well-proportioned, and easy to identify.
To this day, the Staunton design is required for international chess
events. At smaller events, the tournament director may permit the use
of non-Staunton sets, but only if both players consent.

CHESS    19
 .How to Play Chess

How to Play Chess

To play chess, you must first know the names of the pieces, how
to set up a chessboard, and how to move the pieces.
The Pieces. At the start of the game, each player has 16 pieces: Note that the
a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, two rooks, and eight queens start on
pawns. One player (called White, for short) plays with the white
pieces; the other player (called Black) plays with the black pieces. squares of their

The Chessboard. The chessboard—a checkered game board own color—the

with eight rows and eight columns—is positioned with a white white queen on a
square in each player’s lower-right corner. (Remember “white
to right.”) At the start of the game, each player has these pieces white square; the
set up in this order: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, black queen on
knight, rook. Eight pawns line up on each player’s second row.
a black square.
See figure 1.

Figure 1. Starting positions for the chess pieces

CHESS    21
.How to Play Chess

The Moves. Players take turns. White (the player with the
white pieces) always moves first, by moving one piece to a
different square, following the rules of movement for that piece.
By moving a piece to a square that contains a piece belonging
to the opponent, a player captures (takes) that piece. The oppo-
nent’s piece is then removed from the board, and it is out of
play for the rest of the game.

In casual games,
players generally
decide who will
play with the white
pieces (and get to
go first) by flipping
a coin or by having
one player guess
the color of the Scouting’s Teaching EDGE
hidden pawn in the For requirement 3, you will need to teach someone else
how to play chess. As you teach, keep in mind what you
other player’s hand. have learned and what has been helpful to you. When
you are ready, use the Teaching EDGE as your guide:
• Explain how it is done.
• Demonstrate the steps.
• Guide learners as they practice.
• Enable them to succeed on their own.

The essential thing that makes chess a fascinating game

is the existence of several kinds of pieces that have
different moves.

22   CHESS
 .How to Play Chess

The Rules of Movement

Here are the rules for how the various
chess pieces move.
The rook moves in a straight line, any
number of vacant squares horizontally or
vertically. The rook may not jump over
other pieces. If the rook’s path is blocked
by a piece of the same color, it must stop.
If it comes up to an opposing piece, it
must stop or capture the enemy piece and
occupy that square. (This rule—“stop or
capture”—applies to every piece except for
Figure 2. How the rook moves
the knight.)
The knight moves two squares
horizontally or vertically, then one square
at a right angle, forming an “L.” It must
land on a square that is a different color
from the one on which it started its move.
The knight is the only piece that may
jump over another piece (of either color).
Jumping another piece does not affect
the jumped piece. A knight captures an
opponent’s piece by landing on the square
that contains that piece.
The bishop moves any number of
vacant squares in a straight diagonal line.
Figure 3. How the knight moves
At the beginning of the game, each player
has a bishop on a white square and one
on a dark square. The bishops remain on
their respective colored diagonals for the
entire game.

Figure 4. How the bishop moves

CHESS    23
.How to Play Chess

The queen has the combined

moves of the rook and the bishop. The
queen may move any number of vacant
squares in any straight line—horizontal,
vertical, or diagonal.
The king moves one square in any
direction—horizontally, vertically, or
diagonally—and only if the square it
is moving to is not under attack by an
opposing piece or occupied by a piece of
the same color as the king. The king may
capture a piece of the opposite color if the
Figure 5. How the queen moves captured piece is unprotected, even if the
enemy piece is threatening the king (it
has the king “in check,” as described on
page 27). One special type of move, called
castling, is made by a king and a rook
simultaneously (see page 26).
On its first move, a pawn may move
one or two squares straight forward. After
its first move, a pawn moves only one
square at a time, straight forward, and only
if the square in front of it is unoccupied.
To capture an opponent’s piece, however,
a pawn moves one square diagonally for-
Figure 6. Basic moves of the king ward. A pawn may capture any opposing
piece or pawn that is diagonally in front
of it, and as it makes the capture it moves
into the column (file) next to the one it
had been on and occupies the square of
the captured piece. Because of the way
a pawn captures (“on the diagonal”),
any piece or pawn that is on the square
immediately in front of a pawn is safe
from capture by that pawn.

Figure 7. The two white pawns may

legally move to the squares marked
“x” in front of them. In addition, the
pawn on square c5 can also capture
either of the black rooks on b6 and d6.

24   CHESS
 .How to Play Chess

A special rule for pawns is called en passant (in pass-

ing). When a pawn chooses to move two squares on its
first move (from the second rank to the fourth rank) and
there is an enemy pawn on an adjacent square on the
fourth rank, then this adjacent enemy pawn (only on its
next move) may move diagonally to capture the pawn
as though it had moved only one square.
In the left panel of this diagram, you see the initial
squares the pawns occupy. Notice that the white “A”
pawn is moving from a2 to a4, landing next to the black
pawn on b4. The black pawn (center panel) can then
capture the pawn on a4 by moving its pawn to a3 and
taking the white pawn on a4 off the board. This leaves
the board looking like the diagram on the right panel
after black has completed its move.

Figure 8. An en passant capture

CHESS    25
.How to Play Chess

A player who succeeds in moving a pawn to the last rank

of the board can promote that pawn by replacing it with a
queen, rook, knight, or bishop (of the same color). Usually,
players will promote the pawn to the most powerful chess
piece—a queen—but replacing the pawn with the other types
of pieces is allowed (this is called “underpromotion”). This
makes it possible for a player to have two or more queens on
the board at the same time.

In castling, which each player can do only once in a game, the king
and rook are both involved in a single move, with the king moving two
squares toward the rook, and the rook moving over the king to the next
square. The king must be moved first, then the rook is moved. Castling is
allowed if:
1. Neither the king nor the rook have yet moved in the game.
2. All squares between the king and the rook are empty.
3. The king is not in check (under attack by an opponent’s piece or pawn)
at the time of castling.
4. The king does not move over or to a square that is under attack by an
enemy piece during the castling move. That is, there may not be an
enemy piece that can move to any square that the king moves over,
and you may not end the castling move with the king in check.
Uncastling is not allowed.

Figure 9. King and rook Figure 10. King and rook

castled kingside castled queenside

26   CHESS
 .How to Play Chess

Check and Checkmate

When a player moves a piece into a position that attacks the The object of the
opponent’s king, it is polite to say, “Check”; however, it is not
required. When a king is in check (threatened with capture), one game is to trap—
of three things must happen. If none of these things is possible, checkmate— the
then the king is checkmated and the game is over.
opponent’s king.
1. The king must move out of check (move to a safe square).
The castling move
2. The enemy piece that has the king in check can be captured.
helps to protect
3. A piece can be moved between the king and the
attacking piece. the king by
getting it away
from the center
of the board and
into a position
where it can
be defended.

Figure 11. The black king is checkmated by the white rook and
white king.

CHESS    27
 .Openings

Openings
After learning how to set up and move the pieces, next learn
how to begin the game. The first several moves by both players
form the opening. In most chess games, the opening is the first Many openings,
four to 10 moves. Some sequences of opening moves are well- such as the Ruy
established and well-known, with the same pieces being moved
to the same squares in the same order each time that particular Lopez, are named
opening is played. after notable
No one opening is best. If one were better than all the
others, then everybody would use that opening sequence, and chess players
the player with the white pieces would win every game. That who popularized
does not happen.
them. The Ruy
Lopez is one of
the most famous
chess opening
ever. It is from a
book written by
a Spanish priest
and chess player
in 1561.
There are lots of different, well-studied chess openings.
To find one you like, you could consult chess books or online
resources—or you could experiment as you play, trying different
maneuvers with different pieces each game. Be sure to follow
the “opening principles” discussed later in this chapter, and
remember what works well and what got you into trouble.

Do not move your pieces haphazardly in the opening. Concentrate.

Pay attention to what your opponent is doing and react to those moves,
or you could suffer a quick defeat.

CHESS    29
.Openings

Chess Notation
To understand about openings, you need to understand how
chess players refer to the squares on a chessboard.

Figure 12. The letters a through h indicate the files. The numbers 1
to 8 indicate the ranks.

Figure 12 shows a chessboard as it should appear at the

beginning of a game. Notice the letters a through h along the
bottom of the board—they indicate the vertical files (columns).
The numbers 1 to 8 on the left indicate the horizontal ranks
(rows). Each square on the board is identified by its file letter
(notated in lowercase) and its rank number. For example, the
white rook in the lower-left corner is on square a1. The white
queen (it is symbolized by the crown with four points) is on d1.
The black king is on e8.
This system of giving every square on a chessboard a
letter-number “name” makes it easy to record and describe the
moves in a game of chess. Move the white pawn on square e2
two squares forward, for example, and you see that it comes
to rest on square e4. The grid of letters and numbers lets you
know exactly where the pieces are, and allows you to follow
along as they move.

30   CHESS
 .Openings

In chess notation, the pieces are abbreviated as follows: K (king), Q

(queen), R (rook), B (bishop), and N (knight). The pawn may be abbreviated
P, but normally no abbreviation is used for the pawn, only the name of the
square where it lands. For more details about chess notation, see “Chess
Tournaments” in this pamphlet.

Opening Principles
When playing any opening, pay attention to these four principles:
development, control the center, castling, and pawn structure.
Development means getting pieces off their original starting
squares and moved to squares where they can be useful for
attack and defense. Here are several do’s and don’ts.
• Do develop the minor pieces (knights and bishops) before the
major pieces (rooks and queen).
• Do make a knight’s first move toward the center of the board.
For the white knight starting on g1, the best first move is
usually f3. (See figure 13.) For the white knight starting on
b1, the best first move is usually c3. For the black knights,
the best squares are f6 and c6.

Figure 13. For the white knight starting on g1, the best first move
may be f3.

CHESS    31
.Openings

• Do make the bishops’ first moves to squares where they are

attacking pieces on your opponent’s side of the board and/or
The smart player they are protecting important squares on your side of the board.
saves the rooks • Don’t develop a bishop on its first move to a square where it
for later because blocks your d or e pawn from advancing.
• Don’t move the knight to the edge of the board (h3 for the
the rooks
g1 knight; a3 for the b1 knight; a6 for the b8 knight; or h6
are strongest for the g8 knight) on its first move, unless it is necessary to
after several defend against an opponent’s attack.
• Don’t develop the queen early in the game. It can make an
pawns have
easy target for your opponent. Send the queen in once other
been captured. pieces are developed. (You might find openings and defenses
which are an exception to this.)
• Don’t move the a pawn or h pawn forward two squares to get
the rooks out early. Rooks are at their weakest in the begin-
ning of the game, when most of the pawns are on the board.
• Don’t develop one piece and move it continuously. At the end
of their first five moves, advanced players will usually have
developed at least three pieces and will not have moved any
piece twice.

Do learn from your mistakes. If, after playing several games, you find that
moving one of your pieces to a specific square at the beginning is not good,
then either move that piece to a different square or move a different piece.

32   CHESS
 .Openings

Figure 14. The chessboard’s

center squares

Try to control the center. These squares are in the center of

the board: c3, c4, c5, c6; d3, d4, d5, d6; e3, e4, e5, e6; and f3, f4,
f5, f6. (See figure 14.) Controlling these squares with your pieces
and pawns makes it more difficult for your opponent to attack you,
and easier for you to attack your opponent. The “sweet center”—
squares d4, d5, e4, and e5—are the most important. Many games
are decided by which player controls the sweet center.
A player normally uses castling as soon as possible because
the king is safest when it is not in the center of the board. To
castle the king to the kingside, move the king two squares to the
right (e1 to g1, for the white king) and the rook to the other side
(h1 to f1). To castle to the queenside (less common than castling
on the kingside), move the king two squares to the left (e1 to c1)
and the rook to the other side (a1 to d1).
Because the pawns are the first line of defense, the position
of the pawns—pawn structure—can be crucial. Pawns are the
only pieces that cannot move backward. A player must be careful
to not advance a pawn too far forward, or enemy pieces may get
behind the pawn and more easily attack. The side pawns—espe-
cially those immediately in front of the castled king—should not
be moved forward unless there is a specific reason to do so.

Avoid trading off lots of pawns with your opponent.

Later in the game, you may want to get a pawn to the
opposite side of the board and promote it to another
piece, like a queen.

CHESS    33
.Openings

Quick Checkmates
It is possible to lose (or win) a game of chess in only two or four
moves. The most common types of quick checkmates (which
often happen to beginners because they ignore the “opening
principles”) are the fool’s mate and the scholar’s mate.
The fool’s mate is a
two-move checkmate for
Black. A fool’s mate can
happen as follows. (In the
shaded boxes that appear
on the following pages,
White’s moves are listed on
the left; Black’s moves are
on the right.)

Figure 15. Fool’s Mate

1 Pawn to g4 Pawn to e5
2 Pawn to f3 Queen to h4 for checkmate
Figure 15 shows the position after the second move for
Black. Note that White ignored the principles of (1) getting
pieces developed, and (2) not moving side pawns. These mis-
takes handed Black a quick victory. To avoid losing this way,
White should get pieces developed to control the center of the
board, and leave the side pawns in place to protect the flanks
(the sides of the formation).

“You must be able to handle a variety of move orders

during the first five or six moves—otherwise you’ll find
yourself ‘tricked’ time and time again.”
—Chess Grandmaster Edmar Mednis

34   CHESS
 .Openings

Figure 16. Scholar’s Mate

The scholar’s mate is a four-move checkmate for White,

usually in this order:
1 Pawn to e4 Pawn to e5
2 Queen to h5 Knight to c6
3 Bishop to c4 Knight to f6
4 Queen captures pawn on f7 for checkmate
Or
1 Pawn to e4 Pawn to e5
2 Bishop to c4 Knight to c6
3 Queen to h5 Knight to f6
4 Queen captures pawn on f7 for checkmate

Figure 16 shows the checkmate after the fourth move for

White. Black cannot capture the queen, which is guarded by the
bishop on c4. (If the black king were to capture the white queen,
the black king would move into check, which is an illegal move.)
To defend against the scholar’s mate, Black may choose
from among several effective third moves:
1 Pawn to e4 Pawn to e5
2 Queen to h5 Knight to c6
3 Bishop to c4 Knight to h6; pawn to g6; queen
to e7; or queen to f6

All of these moves are against the opening principles

discussed earlier in this chapter. Defending against an attack from
your opponent is more important, however, than blindly following
“principles.” A good player always pays attention to the opponent’s
moves and how the opponent may be preparing to attack.

CHESS    35
 .Middle Games

Middle Games
After the opening comes the middle game. Because openings
start from the original positions of the chess pieces on the board,
all the possible openings in chess have been discovered and
used countless times. The middle game, however, is more
complicated. Players face a vast number of options for how
to play, helped only by general guidelines for how to evaluate
positions and develop plans.
To develop winning plans in the middle game, it helps to
understand some concepts for selecting good moves and using
basic strategies and tactics.

Chess Strategy
Strategy in a chess game means planning how to gain advantages
over your opponent. (This involves lots of analysis, abstract
reasoning, concentration, evaluation, pattern recognition, and
problem solving.) Seven common elements of strategy are
exploiting weakness, force, king safety, pawn structure, space,
tempo, and time.
Exploiting a weakness of an opponent requires careful analysis
of where all the pieces on the board are located. Is an opponent’s
piece unprotected? Is an opponent’s piece protected by only
one piece, while you have two pieces attacking it? Is one piece
overloaded by protecting several pieces? Is the square next to
your opponent’s king protected by only the opponent’s king?

“In the opening a master should play like a book, in the

mid-game he should play like a magician, in the ending
he should play like a machine.”
—Chess Grandmaster Rudolf Spielmann

CHESS    37
.Middle Games

Force has two meanings in chess. The player who has more
pieces on the board has more force. When you have more pieces
than your opponent, you can simplify the game by making equal
trades that leave fewer pieces on the board. (In a trade, or an
exchange, of chess pieces, the two players capture each other’s
pieces, one after the other.) Force can also mean having more of
your pieces attacking an opponent’s square than your opponent
has defending that square.
King safety means putting your king in a safe place and looking
for possible threats to your king before making each move. The
Do not pass up an safest place for the king is in a castled position behind a wall of
pawns. Do not move these pawns without a good reason, like
opportunity to win
defending against a specific threat (or when there are fewer pieces
the game early. left on the board, which means the endgame—or last phase of the
Look for ways game—is near).
Pawn structure—how the pawns are arranged on the board—
to threaten your
determines which squares can safely be occupied by pieces and
opponent’s king. where pieces can or cannot move quickly and safely. Looking at
the pawn structure is a good way to determine where effective
attacks can be made and where other attacks would easily be
shut down.
Advancing the correct pawns can create more space, force
your opponent’s pieces to move, and create weaknesses in your
opponent’s position. Defending against an advance of pawns
often means using your own pawns to create a pawn chain.
When three or more pawns form a diagonal line, with each one
protected by a pawn behind it on an adjacent (neighboring) file,
they make a pawn chain. See figure 17.

Three or more pawns in a diagonal line,

with each one protected by a pawn behind
it on an adjacent file, form a pawn chain.

Figure 17. In this illustration, White’s pawns make

a pawn chain of passed pawns. Doubled pawns
(two or more pawns of the same color and on
the same file) can be a weakness, such as Black’s
pawns on g5 and g6. Remember: Pawns can only
move forward.

38   CHESS
 .Middle Games

Space means that your pieces control more squares than your
opponent’s pieces control. The more space you control, the easier
it is to get your pieces into position for an effective attack. The
player with less space can find it difficult to move pieces into
a position to defend against an attack or start an attack.
Tempo refers to a single move or turn in chess. Tempo can be
gained or lost; it is usually desirable to gain tempo. If one player
makes a move, forcing the opponent to react to that move, then
the player is said to have gained a tempo. An example of gaining
a tempo would be where you develop a piece that threatens the
opposing queen, forcing your opponent to move the queen to
safety instead of whatever else they might have been planning.
Greater piece mobility (movability) can help give you an
advantage in tempo. Maneuver your knights toward the center.
Put rooks and the queen on open files, put bishops on open The more time your
diagonals and, from the center, attack your opponent’s position, opponent spends
including the protected corner where the king is.
defending against
your moves, the
less time your
opponent has to
attack you.

Time, in chess, has several meanings. It can refer to tempo; to time

control (how much time each player is allowed for making moves);
and to “time trouble.” Time trouble means that a player has a lot
less time remaining in a game than the opponent has. For example,
White might have three minutes remaining (from a total allowed
time of 30 minutes) in which to make all remaining moves, while
Black has 12 minutes left. Therefore, White could lose the game no
matter how the white pieces are positioned on the board, unless
White is able to checkmate Black before time runs out.

Time controls are used in tournaments to control the length of games.

See “Chess Tournaments” in this pamphlet.

CHESS    39
.Middle Games

Chess Tactics
When you know how various tactics work, it becomes easier to
see situations where specific tactics will work. If you try to use
a tactic when the position does not support it, the plan generally
will not work. Here are examples of several effective tactics,
showing the types of situations where they might be used.
A fork is a move that uses one piece to
attack two or more of the opponent’s pieces at
the same time. The opponent can defend against
only one of the two threats.
In figure 18, White moves the pawn to
square g5, which puts the black king in check.
(In chess notation, this move can be written as
g5+. The plus sign indicates that the move places
the king in check.) Black’s only legal move is
King to h5 (Kh5) because of the placement of
the white king and white bishop. Then the white
bishop forks (threatens) the black king and black
Figure 18. Fork rook simultaneously by moving to square e2
(Be2+). Black must move the king to h4 (Kh4).
Then White captures the black rook by moving
the bishop to d1 (Bxd1).
A clearance sacrifice removes the defender
by capturing it with a more valuable piece, or
sacrifices a valuable piece to clear a critical
square. It can be risky to trade your queen for
your opponent’s knight. So before you make
the sacrifice move, be sure you will gain more
than you will lose.
In figure 19, the white queen on square e6
prevents a fork by the white knight on the black
king and queen. White captures the black knight
by moving the queen to f5 (Qxf5). Black responds
by capturing the white queen, moving either
Figure 19. Clearance sacrifice
the black pawn (gxf5) or the black rook (Rxf5).
Then White moves the white knight to square
e6 (Ne6+), which forks (threatens) the black
king and the black queen. Black must move its
king out of check. Then White captures the black
queen by moving the knight to c7 (Nxc7), ending
with a knight advantage for White.

40   CHESS
 .Middle Games

A decoy is a tactic to trap a piece, using a

sacrifice to force the piece to move to a poisoned
or dangerous square. The trapped piece is usually
a king or queen.
In figure 20, Black’s king has only a few
squares to which it can safely move. White, there-
fore, will look for ways to checkmate the black
king. A decoy tactic can move the black king into
position for the checkmate. A decoy move of the
white pawn to g5 (g5+) puts the black king in
check and forces the black king to capture the
white pawn (Kxg5) because that is the only legal
move available. Then White moves the white Figure 20. Decoy
queen to square f4 for the checkmate (Qf4#).
The black king cannot move to safety because
of the two black pawns on g6 and h5.
In a discovered attack, moving one piece
reveals a threat from another piece. As the first
piece is moved away, the player’s attack on an
enemy piece is uncovered.
In figure 21, White moves the white bishop
to square h7 to take the black pawn, placing the
black king in check (Bxh7+). Moving the white
bishop reveals the white rook attacking the black
queen. Black must protect the black king, either
by moving it to capture the white bishop on h7
(Kxh7) or by sending the black knight to capture
the bishop (Nxh7). Either way, White next moves
the rook to d6 (Rxd6) to capture the black queen. Figure 21. Discovered attack
A powerful kind of discovered attack is the
double attack. When the king is attacked with
double check (it is placed in check by two pieces
at the same time), moving the king is the only
way to respond to both attacks.

CHESS    41
.Middle Games

In figure 22, the white bishop on b2 is threat-

ened by the black knight on d3, but the bishop
protects the white rook on g7. White moves the
rook to g8 (Rg8+), which attacks the black king
with a double check (from both the white rook
and the white bishop). To respond to both threats,
the black king must move out of square h8. The
black king moves to g8, capturing the white rook
(Kxg8). Then White moves the remaining white
rook from a1 to g1, which checkmates the black
king (Rg1#).
Moving a piece in the way of a threat inter-
Figure 22. Double attack poses that piece. An interposed piece that is
protected and also gets in the way of an attack
will slow or even stop that attack.
In figure 23, White interposing a knight by
moving it to square e3 (Ne3#) does more than
stop the black rook’s attack on the white king.
Interposing the knight also checkmates the black
king with a double check. (If you set up a chess-
board as shown in figure 23 and try all of the
black king’s possible moves, you will find that the
king cannot escape.)
A piece that is defending against more than
one threat is overloaded. When you play the first
threat against that piece, your opponent must
respond to that threat, which often leaves the
Figure 23. Interposing other threat undefended.
In figure 24, the white bishop on g2 is over-
loaded with duties. Black moves the black queen to
h3 (Qh3). If White responds by moving the bishop
to capture the black queen (Bxh3), then Black
moves the black knight to e2 for checkmate (Ne2#).
If, however, White responds by moving the white
bishop to capture the black bishop (Bxf3), then the
black knight captures the white bishop (Nxf3+)
and supports checkmate on the next move. Because
the black knight has placed the white king in check,
the king must move to square h1 (Kh1). Then Black
moves the black queen from h3 to h2, taking the
pawn for checkmate (Qxh2#).

Figure 24. Overworked

42   CHESS
 .Middle Games

Using more pieces to protect an important square than

the opponent has available to attack that square is called
overprotecting. The benefit of overprotecting is that the pieces
defending this square are free to leave as they respond to other
attacks. The player who has overprotected an important square
against threats can safely remove defenders in order to launch
an attack.
To pin an opponent’s piece means to force it to stay put
because moving it would expose a more valuable piece behind
it to capture. While the pin is in place, the pinned piece cannot
move if moving it would place the king in check or would cause
the loss of a more valuable piece.
Forcing an opponent’s piece to leave an important square,
rank, or file and move to a less important one is called deflection.
Deflection—removing the defender—often exposes the king or a
valuable piece to attack.
In figure 25, Black has the white king
surrounded. But to checkmate the king, Black
must first remove the defender. Black moves the
queen to c3 (Qxc3), capturing the white knight.
White cannot capture the black queen with the
white king because that would place the king in
check from the black knight on d1. White’s only
play is to move the bishop to c3 (Bxc3), capturing
the black queen. Then Black moves the knight
from d1 to e3 (Nxe3#) for the checkmate.
A skewer is a move that attacks two pieces in
a line. It is similar to a pin, except that the enemy
piece of greater value is in front of the piece of Figure 25. Remove the defender
lesser value. After the more valuable piece moves
away, the lesser piece can be captured. A skewer is
always done with a bishop, rook, or queen.
In figure 26, White skewered Black’s king and
queen by moving the white bishop to f4 (Bf4+),
which puts the black king in check. Black blocks
the check with a move of the knight (Ne5+) that
also forks (simultaneously threatens) White’s king
and queen. The black knight at e5 is pinned, and
White’s bishop can capture the knight (Bxe5+)
to skewer the black king again and (on the next
move, after the king moves away) capture the
queen on b8.
Figure 26. Skewer

CHESS    43
.Middle Games

A zwischenzug (the word is German for

“in-between move”) is a threat that can happen
during a series of expected moves, like the exchange
of multiple pieces. Rather than making the expected
move to continue exchanging pieces, your opponent
could put your king in check (or make a different
threat) and force one of your defenders to move,
leaving you with fewer defenders to continue the
exchange. The player who makes the zwischenzug
move often gets a big advantage after the exchange
of pieces.
In figure 27, it is Black’s move, and Black’s
Figure 27. Zwischenzug pawn on square d6 takes the white pawn on e5
(dxe5). Black expects White’s queen to race to d8
to capture the black queen (Qxd8). Then Black’s
king would capture the white queen (Kxd8). Instead of exchanging
queens, however, White uses the bishop to capture the pawn on f7
(Bxf7+), a zwischenzug that puts the black king in check. Black
must respond by using the king to capture the bishop (Kxf7). Then
White’s queen takes Black’s queen (Qxd8). White has lost only
a bishop, while Black has lost the queen and a pawn.

“It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.”

—Chess Grandmaster Savielly Tartakower

Think Before Each Move

Analyzing chess positions accurately is a way to find threats and
possibilities that others miss, even though those opportunities
are there for everyone to see. Analyzing chess positions requires
methodical thinking. As you analyze your opponent’s move and
your intended response, running through a mental checklist of
questions can keep you from making a rookie mistake and guide
you toward better moves for your situation.

44   CHESS
 .Middle Games

Things to Consider
in the Middle Game
Before each of your moves, ask yourself:
• Does my opponent’s last move pose a threat?
(If it does, respond to it.)
• Did my opponent meet the threat posed by my
last move?
• Is my king safe? Is my opponent’s king open to attack?
• Have I adequately protected all of my pieces?
• Has my opponent left a piece undefended and easy
to capture, risk-free?
• Do I still have pieces that I need to develop?
• Can I move a rook to an open file, especially a
middle (“d” or “e”) file?
• Does my opponent have a weakness that I can take
advantage of? Can I make a plan to exploit that
weakness? How could my opponent stop my plan?
• Does the move I intend to make overlook something
basic—like the loss of a piece or the risk of checkmate?

CHESS    45
.Middle Games

Transition to a Won Endgame

Having more pieces or more valuable pieces than your opponent
gives you a material advantage. When you do not have enough of
a material advantage in the middle game to force checkmate on
your opponent, the general plan to win the game is by transitioning
to a won endgame. To make this transition:
• Exchange pieces evenly (rook for rook, queen for queen, etc.)
when you are ahead. This small difference in a material
advantage will become more important. Position your pieces
so that the player who has fewer pieces must either move
them (to avoid an exchange) or go along with your plan.
• Keep bishops (trade off knights) if
the game can develop into an open
game (few pawns on the board).
Keep knights (trade off bishops) if
the game is developing into a closed
game (many pawns on the board).
• Use a tempo advantage to win a race
to promote a pawn to a queen.
If you carefully consider strategy
and tactics before each move, think
methodically, and remember how to
transition to a won endgame, you will
have a strong middle game.

46   CHESS
 .Middle Games

If you are doing everything discussed in this section, then you are fully
concentrating on your chess game. Developing the skill of deep concentra-
tion will benefit you in many ways throughout your life.

CHESS    47
NASA astronaut and Eagle Scout Greg Chamitoff was speeding along up in
the air—approximately 5 miles per second—pondering his next move. Chamitoff
challenged elementary school students back on Earth to a friendly game of
chess in space.
 .Endgames

Endgames
In the final stage of a chess game—the endgame—usually only
a few pieces are left on the board. Whether you have a material
advantage at this stage or you have fewer pieces than your
opponent, the ultimate outcome—win, lose, or draw (tie)—
depends on how well you play the endgame.

Tips for Endgame Success

Take your time and think about each move. In the endgame, the
board looks simpler because there are fewer pieces on it. Even
at this stage, however, it is easy to make a mistake that costs
you the game. A game that should be a win can turn into a
draw because you caused a stalemate. Before you play your
move, think about what your opponent’s move could be.

A stalemate happens when a player is not in check-

mate but has no legal move to play. See “Draws and
Stalemates” at the end of this section.

Push your passed pawns. One way to win games

is to promote your pawns into queens. The most
useful pawn to advance toward promotion is a
passed pawn—one that has no pawn in front of it
and cannot be stopped by a pawn on either side of
it. Figure 28 shows a passed pawn on square a3.
The white a pawn has a clear road to a8, where
it can be promoted. The rook on a1 is helping to
protect the pawn. A passed pawn often needs
support (like a friendly rook behind it or a friendly
king alongside it) to reach promotion.

Figure 28. Passed pawn

CHESS    49
.Endgames

Use your king. In the earlier stages of a game, it is

often dangerous for the king to be out in the open—
away from the first row and out from behind a wall
of pawns. But in the endgame, the king can be a
valuable piece that should see action. The king can
attack and capture the opponent’s pawns, protect
your own pieces and pawns, and shepherd pawns
through to become queens, by protecting them as
they move forward. Figure 29 shows a black pawn
that needs to move only two more squares to reach
d1, where it can be promoted to a queen. The black
king sitting on e2 protects the pawn and also blocks
Figure 29. The black king protects the white king on g2 from reaching the black pawn
the black pawn. in time to stop its promotion.

50   CHESS
 .Endgames

Use each piece well. In the endgame, when you

have only a few pieces on the board, it is important
to make good use of all of them. In figure 30, the
white rook and bishop are active and are working
together to attack the queenside (a–d files). The
black rook and bishop, however, are sitting in the
corner—neither defending the queenside nor
attacking. By the time the black pieces are active,
the game may be lost.
Control the queening square. The queening
square is where a pawn will promote to a queen
(or to any other piece except a king or another
Figure 30. Use each piece well.
pawn, but usually to a queen). You may need to
control this square, often with your king, to protect
and promote your pawn. Figure 31 shows a win-
ning position for White when just the two kings
and one pawn remain. The pawn on e7 is one
move away from promoting to a queen. (The
queening square, e8, is marked with a star.)
Because the two kings cannot stand side-by-side,
White will be able to promote the pawn to e8,
no matter whose turn it is to move.

Figure 31. Pawn approaching

queening square

Every pawn counts. Every pawn can become

a queen, so don’t be careless about losing
your pawns. Just one extra pawn—like a free
throw in basketball—can win you the game.
If you are losing because your opponent has
a passed pawn or an extra pawn, then you
need to stop that pawn from becoming a
queen. Try to block its advance, control the
queening square, capture the pawn, or launch
some threats of your own.

CHESS    51
.Endgames

Protect your pawns. Try to keep your pawns

protected, passed, and in safe groups, not doubled,
isolated, backward, or exposed. Figure 32 shows
White’s pawns in two groups or “islands.” Both
islands form pawn chains—that is, the pawns
protect each other diagonally, except for the pawn
at the base of the chain (the one farthest behind).
The a pawn occupies the best position—it is
a passed pawn, protected, and advanced. The
weakest pawns are those at the base of the chain—
the “backward” pawns. They should be guarded
by a piece or the king.
Figure 32. Pawn islands and Black’s pawns are in three islands. The f and
pawn chains h pawns are isolated—by themselves with no
pawns in the files next to them. These pawns are
weak—they need a piece guarding them. The d
pawns are doubled (sitting on the same file) and the pawn on
d6 is very weak. If attacked, it cannot move. (Black’s h pawn
Backward pawns is even weaker. Not only is it isolated, it is under attack by the
are the weakest white rook on h1.)
Think about what to swap off. As the game progresses,
pawns and should it can be difficult to decide whether to hold on to your pieces
be guarded. and pawns or to exchange them with your opponent. Some
exchanges may be good for you, and some may be bad.

Here are rules to remember in the endgame.

• If you are ahead, swap pieces (knight, bishop, rook,
queen) but not pawns.
• If you are behind, swap pawns, not pieces.
• If you are behind, try to swap off all the pawns on
one side.

52   CHESS
 .Endgames

Three Basic Checkmates

To win games, you must know how to checkmate
your opponent’s king. Illustrated here are three
basic checkmates. Learn these well, through lots
of practice, so you can perform them almost
automatically (when you are nervous or under
pressure) and without allowing stalemate. You
should follow these moves on a chessboard to
become familiar with each method.

Checkmate With King and Queen

Versus King
Figure 33. Checkmate with king
The most important checkmate to learn is “King and queen vs. king—pattern No. 1
and Queen versus King.” This is the situation you
get after you promote your pawn to queen. Figures
33–35 show the three checkmate patterns. Notice
in each of these that the black king is on the edge
or in the corner, and the white queen needs the
white king to help. In this situation, your best plan
is to drive the opponent’s king to the edge with
the queen and then use your king to support
the checkmate.

Figure 34. Checkmate with king

and queen vs. king—pattern No. 2

Figure 35. Checkmate with king

and queen vs. king—pattern No. 3

CHESS    53
.Endgames

Study this example, in which White will win.

Figure 36 shows the white king and queen on the
eighth rank (pretend a pawn just promoted). The
black king is in the center. Here are the moves,
with White moving first in each pair of moves.
1 Qd6 Kf3
The white queen moved a “knight’s move” away
from the black king. Remember: The knight moves
in an L shape (two squares in one direction and one
square at a right angle). As the black king moves,
the white queen moves, maintaining the L shaped
distance. The black king must avoid the edge as
Figure 36. “King and queen long as possible.
vs. king.” In this example, the
three pieces start from the 22 Qe5
Qe5 Kg4
Kg4
positions shown.  he black king had moved diagonally “southeast,”
T
so the white queen did the same with Qe5. Now
the black king moved diagonally “northeast,” so
the white queen will do the same on the third
move. This pattern will repeat until the black king
is forced to the edge.
It’s easier to
3 Qf6 Kg3
picture these 4 Qf5 Kg2
examples if 5 Qf4 Kh3
6 Qg5 Kh2
you set up a Now freeze the queen on g5. The black king can
chess board move only between h3 and h2 to avoid the corner.
Now it’s the white king’s turn to march. Its goal is
and try these to move two squares away from the black king.
moves yourself. (If you did not freeze the queen on g5 but simply
continued mimicking the black king, at some
point the black king would move to h1, the white
queen would move to g3, and the game would
end in stalemate.)
7 Kf7 Kh3
8 Kf6 Kh2
9 Kf5 Kh3
10 Kf4 Kh2
11 Kf3 Kh3
12 Qg3#
Checkmate. Game over.

54   CHESS
 .Endgames

Checkmate With King and

Two Rooks Versus King
The “king and two rooks” method can also be used
with two queens or a queen and a rook versus a
king. Figure 37 shows a typical checkmate with this
pattern (sometimes described as a ladder or stair-
case). Notice that the rooks are kept on adjacent
rows, and the king is not involved in the checkmate.
This example (figure 38) starts with the white
rooks in the corners, and the black king in the cen-
ter. It does not matter where the white king is, so
just leave it on the first rank. The goal is to drive
the black king to the edge—in this case, to the Figure 37. Checkmate with king
and two rooks
eighth rank.
1 Ra4 Kf5
White’s first move is designed to cut the black king
off from the bottom half of the board, so the black
king can only move sideways or up the board. Think
of the rook on a4 as forming a horizontal fence on
the fourth rank. The black king moves sideways (in
this example, toward the other white rook).
2 Rh5+ Kg6
White’s second move places the black king in check.
Notice how the rook on h5 acts as a second fence,
forcing the black king to move up the board to the
sixth rank. Notice also that the black king is closing in
on the rook on h5. The h5 rook is unprotected. Figure 38. King and two rooks
3 Rb5 Kf6 versus king. In this example,
White responds to the threat by moving the h5 the four pieces start from the
positions shown.
rook far away to b5 (that’s the advantage of the
rook—it can move many squares while the king
can move only one at a time). Notice also that the
two rooks are not on the same file. For the “ladder” method to
work, the two rooks must be on different ranks and different
files. The black king stays on the sixth rank, but the end is near.
4 Ra6+ Ke7
Again White places the black king in check, and drives the king
to the seventh rank.
5 Rb7+ Kd8
Another check, and the black king is driven to the edge.
6 Ra8#
Checkmate. Game over.

CHESS    55
.Endgames

Checkmate With King and Rook

Versus King
The “king and rook” method is a little trickier
because the king and rook must work together all
the time. Figures 39 and 40 show the two basic
checkmate positions that you wish to achieve.
The two basic methods to deliver checkmate are
the “box” method and the “row-by-row” method.
Only the box method is described here.
Figure 41 shows a sample position with the
black king in the middle and the white rook and
Figure 39. Checkmate with king king on the edge, with White to move and win.
and rook versus king—pattern The goal is to drive the black king to the h rank
No. 1 and eventually to the h8 corner.

Remember to follow along with a real

chessboard and pieces so you can under-
stand the moves and picture the box that
the pieces create.

1 Rd3 Ke4
White’s first move sets the rook in place like a
corner post. The black king is boxed in—it cannot
move past the d file or the third rank. White’s
goal is to move the rook farther up the board and
Figure 40. Checkmate with king toward the right to make the box smaller. Black’s
and rook vs. king—pattern No. 2 king will try to keep away from the edge and
corner as long as possible. Black’s move, Ke4, is
an attack upon the white rook. (If White is not
paying attention, Black could capture the rook,
and the game would be a draw.)
2 Ke2 Ke5
White’s king moves to e2 to protect the rook.
Black’s king must move away.
3 Ke3 Kf5
White’s king moves up, which forces Black’s
king to retreat.
4 Rd4 Ke5
Now the rook can safely move up, protected by
Figure 41. “King and rook vs. the white king. The rook’s move makes the box
king.” In this example of the “box” smaller. Black’s move, to e5, is meant to keep
method, the three pieces start
from the positions shown.
the black king as far from the edge as possible.

56   CHESS
 .Endgames

5 Kd3 Ke6
White’s king plays another waiting move and defends the rook.
Black’s king is not allowed to pass and must retreat.
6 Ke4 Kf6
White’s king moves up to e4—moving forward and defending
the rook. Black’s king can only hang around on the sixth rank.
7 Rd5 Ke6
The rook can advance a square, shrinking the box again. The
black king again attacks the rook.
8 Kd4 Kf6
White’s king plays another waiting move, protecting the rook.
Black’s king stays on the sixth rank.
9 Re5 Kf7
The white rook grabs a chance to shrink the box by moving
sideways. The black king must retreat to either the g file or the
seventh rank (in this example, the seventh rank).
10 Ke4 Kf6
11 Kf4 Kf7
White plays a couple of waiting moves to bring the white king
toward the h file (the ultimate goal is to force the black king to
h8) while protecting the rook.
12 Kf5 Kg7
13 Re6 Kf7
The white king’s 12th move allows the rook to advance to e6,
which shrinks the box again.
14 Ke5 Kg7
White’s king plays another waiting move, protecting the rook,
while Black’s king stays on the seventh rank.
15 Rf6 Kg8
The white rook slides over to f6 and shrinks the box again, and
Black’s king must retreat to the edge. The end is near.
16 Kf5 Kg7
White’s king moves closer to the h8 corner while protecting the
rook. Black’s king escapes the edge (if only briefly).
17 Kg5 Kg8
White’s king slides over and protects the rook. Black’s king
must retreat to the edge again.
18 Kg6 Kh8
White’s king moves in closer. Now Black’s king has only two
squares in which to move—g8 and h8. Remember to give the
black king two squares to move until the end, to avoid stalemate.
19 Rf8#
Checkmate. Game over.

CHESS    57
.Endgames

If you are losing a game, don’t give up hope. Your opponent may not know
how to win, even with a large material advantage. If your opponent cannot
win in 50 moves or stalemates you, then you have escaped with a draw.
To accomplish this, try to avoid having your king trapped on the edge or
in a corner.

58   CHESS
 .Endgames

Draws and Stalemates

Here are the ways a game of chess can end in a
draw (deadlocked or tied).
Stalemate. The game is automatically a draw if
the player whose turn it is to move is not in check
but has no legal move. This situation is called a
stalemate. Figure 42 shows one example.
Insufficient material. The game is a draw if
no possible sequence of legal moves can lead
to checkmate. This usually happens because of
insufficient material (too few pieces left). For
example, one player may have a king and a bishop Figure 42. Black to move is in
or knight and the other player has only a king. stalemate, because the black king
has no legal move. The game is
Mutual agreement. A player may offer a draw to a draw.
the opponent at any stage of a game. If the players
agree to a draw, the game is a draw.
The player whose turn it is to move may claim a draw
by declaring that one of the following conditions exists, or by
declaring the intention to make a move that will bring about one
of these conditions. If the claim is proven true (by means of an
accurate scoresheet), then the game is a draw.
• 
The 50-move rule. Fifty moves have been played by each
player without any capture or a pawn being moved.
• Triple occurrence of position rule. The same board posi-
tion has occurred at least three times with the same player to
move. That is, all the pieces have been in the same identical
position three times, with all pieces having the same rights to
move, including the right to castle or capture en passant. The
three occurrences often happen sequentially, but they might
occur in different moments of the game, several moves apart
from one another.

CHESS    59
 .Chess Problems

Chess Problems
A chess problem is like a puzzle set up on a chessboard. The
problem challenges the solver to achieve a particular task. Many people
would rather solve
Direct Mate
chess problems
In direct-mate problems, White or Black is to move and achieve
checkmate in one or more moves. Direct-mate problems are the than play an
most common type of chess problems, and solving them can be
actual game
helpful in honing your attacking skills.
Start with mate-in-one-move problems and work up to of chess.
problems with more moves as you develop skill in finding
checkmates. Mate-in-two-move problems can be solved by look-
ing at all possible moves. For checkmate in three or more moves,
however, you will need to know some shortcuts that you will
learn with practice, solving simpler direct-mate problems.

In a competitive chess game, of course, no one is

telling you that checkmate can occur in a given number
of moves.

Tips for Solving Direct-Mate Chess Problems

Analyze options in a methodical way so you do not miss
the solution.
• Look at the “king’s field,” which includes the square the king
occupies and the squares surrounding the king. There are usu-
ally squares the king cannot legally move to because his pieces
occupy them, or there is a threat from the opposing pieces.
• Often, the set of squares to which the king can move indicates
the kind of moves that will deliver checkmate. If these squares
are all on a diagonal, a bishop, queen, or knight often moves
to cover the diagonal squares. If these squares are all in a row

CHESS    61
.Chess Problems

(rank) or column (file), a rook or queen often covers those

squares. A discovered check can threaten all the squares in
a triangle next to the king in a single move.
• Look for the flight squares to which the king can move.
The king may be able to move away, or forcing the king
to move to another square could create an opportunity to
deliver checkmate.

When no other move seems to work, the composer

of the chess problem may have implied a move, like
castling or an en passant pawn capture. If the king and
rook are on their original squares, assume they have
not moved and castling is possible. If pawns are posi-
tioned on adjacent files in row four or five, assume the
first move could be to capture a pawn en passant.

Figure 43. In the situation shown, White is to checkmate in one

move and all the squares that need to be attacked are on the
first row. Also, the white king cannot move to the second row
because of the black rook at c2. White castling kingside is the
only possible solution to this problem.

62   CHESS
 .Chess Problems

Sample Direct-Mate Problems

Improve your ability to deliver checkmate by working the
following direct-mate problems. Be sure to follow the “Tips
for Solving Direct-Mate Problems.” These examples are all
checkmate-in-one-move.

For the solutions, see the end of this pamphlet. Resist

giving up and flipping to the back of the pamphlet for the
answer. It can be tempting, but you will miss learning
how to find the solution on your own.

DM1—White to move DM2—White to move

DM3—Black to move DM4—Black to move

CHESS    63
.Chess Problems

DM5—White to move DM6—White to move

DM7—White to move DM8—Black to move

DM9—Black to move DM10—Black to move

64   CHESS
 .Chess Problems

Other Kinds of Chess Problems

Here are brief descriptions of other types of chess problems.
Your counselor can help provide you with these types of
problems if you wish to work them.
If you have a losing position, looking for moves that will
force a draw or stalemate is an important way to avoid losing
the game. Stalemate and draw problems make you look for ways
to either force a draw though a repetition of moves, or force a
stalemate by eliminating all your legal moves.
In study problems, White is to move with the goal to win or
draw. Studies call for the same kind of detailed analysis of the
position that is done during tournament play.
In helpmate problems, Black moves first and “cooperates”
with White to checkmate the black king. In self-mate problems,
White moves first and forces Black to checkmate the white king.
Solving helpmate and self-mate problems can help you see threats
your opponent could use against you in a game, and help you
avoid the beginner’s mistake of making helpmate or self-mate
moves in actual games.
In a series-move problem, one player visualizes a series of
moves without the other player making a move. In a real chess
game, it is simpler to develop plans by first visualizing a series
of moves to reach a goal, without considering responses from
your opponent. Solving series-move problems helps with visual-
izing plans before considering the possible responses. But before
you commit to a plan, you will need to consider the moves your
opponent can use to respond to the plan.
In a retrograde analysis,
the problem-solver must find the
moves that led to the problem
position. The methods learned
from solving this kind of problem
can help you correct your chess
scoresheet (which lists the moves
in your game), if you made an
error in recording moves during a
tournament game.
A puzzle problem often does
not look at all like a normal game
of chess.

CHESS    65
.Chess Problems

One classic puzzle problem is called the “Eight Queens”

problem. The solution must place eight queens on an empty
chess board so that no queen can capture another.
Another classic puzzle problem is the “Knight’s Tour,”
where a single knight must move to each square on the board in
only 64 consecutive moves without landing on any square twice.
Some chess problems have a complexity that can be
considered beautiful. The “Knight’s Wheel,” for example, finds
the knight in a five-move circling motion to repetitively attack
the square next to it.

“The Immortal Game”

Adolf Anderssen vs. Lionel Kieseritsky, London, 1851
This game was reported in newspapers around the world. One chess
journalist called it “The Immortal Game,” believing it would always be
among the greatest chess games ever played. (You can learn from it by
playing the moves on a chessboard as they are listed and described.
Remember that, in each pair of moves, White moves first.) This game is
an excellent example of development in the opening by White.
1. e4 e5
2. f4 White’s second move leads up to a pawn sacrifice known as
the King’s Gambit. White’s idea is to sacrifice a side pawn to
gain a majority of center pawns, potential open files for the
white rooks, and a lead in developing the white pieces.
2. … exf4
3. B-c4 Q-h4+
4. K-f1 b5
5. Bxb5 N-f6
6. N-f3 Both sides are hurrying to mobilize their pieces for the
attack. Here, White develops the white knight to attack
the black queen.
6. … Q-h6
7. d3 White defends the e4 pawn and frees the bishop on c1.
7. … N-h5
8. N-h4 Q-g5

66   CHESS
 .Chess Problems

9. N-f5 c6
10. g4 N-f6
11. R-g1 cxb5
12. h4 Q-g6
13. h5 Q-g5
14. Q-f3 N-g8
15. Bxf4 Q-f6
16. N-c3 B-c5
17. N-d5 Qxb2
18. B-d6 Qxa1+ White ignores all of Black’s threats. As you can
see in figure 44, White is starting to surround
the black king.

Figure 44. “The Immortal Game” after 18 moves

CHESS    67
.Chess Problems

19. K-e2 Bxg1

20. e5 This is a crafty move. White has no intention of allowing
the black queen to take part in the defense of Black’s king.
21. … N-a6
21. Nxg7+ K-d8
22. Q-f6+ White draws the knight away from the defense of the
e7 square.
22. … Nxf6
23. B-e7# White has sacrificed the queen, both rooks, and a bishop
to obtain a checkmate with minor pieces. Figure 45 shows
the final position of the game.

Figure 45. “The Immortal Game,” final position

Other excellent chess games that are known by a name include the Opera
Game, the Evergreen Game, the Pipe game, and the Polish Immortal Game.

68   CHESS
CHESS    69
 .Chess Tournaments

Chess Tournaments
Chess competitions are held at the local, state, regional, and
national levels. Tournaments may be held in person (typically
called over-the-board or OTB tournaments), online, and by Chess tournaments
correspondence (mail and email). Worldwide, millions of people played over-the-
compete in chess competitions every year, especially online.
board are like
Types of Tournaments sports competitions
Chess tournaments can be informal—a contest held in your where players win,
home, for example, with four or five players competing for a
lose, or draw, and
couple of hours. Tournaments can also be formal, with as few
as 10 players or with many thousands of players at a large the players are
venue, playing over the course of several days. ranked by their
score in the
Everyone can imagine sitting at the kitchen table playing
a friendly game of chess with a friend or family member. tournament games.
But can you picture yourself in the ballroom of a large
hotel or in a convention center playing at the same time
as hundreds or thousands of others?

In competitive chess, the word “informal” is usually used for

tournaments that are not sanctioned (approved) by a particular
governing body. Informal tournaments may not use chess ratings
in pairings.
An important part of formal types of tournaments is the
use of official chess ratings. Ratings are numbers assigned to
players based on their strength of play—the higher the number,
the stronger the player. There are international (FIDE) ratings,
and ratings assigned by the member federations in the countries
that belong to FIDE. As you might expect, the rating of a beginner
is much lower than the rating of a world champion.

CHESS    71
.Chess Tournaments

Some formal tournaments use the player’s age to determine

eligibility for the player’s section, such as with the USCF National
A player with Grade Tournament held each year between November 1 and
a USCF rating December 15. In this tournament, players play only students in
their grade. Age may be an important consideration in senior
between 2000 tournaments that are open only to people at or above a certain
and 2199 is an age, or junior tournaments that are open only to players under
a certain age, such as the U.S. Junior Open.
“expert”; between
2200 and 2399, Pairings
a “master”; and Determining who plays whom in a chess tournament is called
2400 or above, “pairing.” The three methods of determining pairings are Swiss
system, round-robin, and elimination.
a “senior master.”

Swiss-System Tournaments
In Swiss-system tournaments—the most popular type—players
are paired against others with similar scores. Relevant information
about players (ratings, age, etc.) is entered into a computer
program. The tournament director uses the computer to make
pairings at the beginning of each round of play.
Swiss-system tournaments do not involve elimination—all
players who enter the tournament play in every round. Here is
how it works. Imagine each person who wins a match advances
toward the top of a ladder, while those who lose their games
move down to the bottom. The result is that players advance to
their appropriate level of play.
As the tournament progresses, matches become more com-
petitive as players with similar strengths end up on the same
rungs of the ladder. Stronger players gather at the top, and weaker
players gather at the bottom, with more competitive games for all.

72   CHESS
 .Chess Tournaments

Round-Robin and Elimination Tournaments

Although less popular than Swiss-system tournaments, round-
robin and elimination tournaments are also held. A round-robin
tournament is a simple way to conduct a small tournament so
that every player plays each opponent once. Or participants may
play a set number of times (maybe once with the white pieces
and once with the black pieces). The player with the highest
score wins the tournament.
Elimination tournaments can be single or double elimination.
Players may be assigned brackets or sections, or they may all be
placed in one section. The last two players left in the tournament
play for the championship.

U.S. Chess Federation

The U.S. Chess Federation is the governing body for chess in this country.
Scholastic (youth) and adult chess events are organized through the USCF.
The federation has individual members and affiliate (club) members.
Individual members can play in tournaments and receive ratings. The
USCF publishes Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids, and has articles on its
website (new.uschess.org) about players, tournaments, and upcoming
events and programs.
The USCF provides opportunities for students from kindergarten
through college and beyond. In the fall, national grade-level championships
allow students to compete against others in their same grade. In the spring,
three national scholastic tournaments—elementary, junior high/middle
school, and high school—allow players and school teams to compete against
the best in the country. Every four years, the three spring nationals are rolled
into one “SuperNational.” These events provide trophies and scholarships.
Your local chess club—if you have one—may be an affiliate member of
the USCF. If so, in addition to casual play it can sponsor tournaments. The
club may offer instruction in the game to help you improve.
Your club may be part of the state chess association, which also
is an affiliate member of the USCF. State affiliates often sponsor large
tournaments, including the state championship and the state scholastic
championship, which may offer college scholarships as prizes.

CHESS    73
.Chess Tournaments

With your parent

or guardian’s
permission, search
the USCF website
(uschess.org) for
a listing of state
affiliates and local
clubs by state.

More than 4,300 chess players (ages 4 to 18) played in

SuperNationals II in Kansas City in April 2001, making it the
largest chess tournament ever held in one room.

Scoring
The method of scoring used in a chess tournament is one point
for a win, a half point for a draw, and zero points for a loss. For
example, if you play in a five-round Swiss-system tournament,
and you checkmate three of your opponents, one of your games
ends in a draw, and your opponent checkmates you in one game,
your score for that tournament is 3.5 points out of a possible five.

In scored tournaments, tied scores are common.

A system of tie-breaks may decide which player finishes
ahead of another. In Swiss-system tournaments,
tie-breaks are established by the U.S. Chess Federation’s
Official Rules of Chess.

74   CHESS
 .Chess Tournaments

Tournament Directors
A tournament director (TD) is responsible for running a chess The tournament
tournament. TDs make the pairings for each round and settle
any disputes that may arise during the tournament. Before a director reports
tournament begins, the TD records all the relevant information results of the
about the participants. During a tournament, the director
enforces the rules of chess and keeps up with the results as tournament and
matches are played. After a tournament, the TD determines ranking or points
the final standings and awards (if any). Tournament directors
to the U.S.
often have assistant TDs or are assisted by other people who
help in organizing and running a tournament. Chess Federation.

Tournament Rules
Formal tournaments are subject to written rules that
are established by the U.S. Chess Federation. These
written rules are extensive. The tournament director
must know all the rules and enforce them. But if
you know just some basic rules, you will have little
problem successfully participating. Even informal
tournaments have rules, so it is important to
know the basic rules and etiquette of playing in
a chess tournament.

Once you join the U.S. Chess Federation

and are rated, you will never lose your
rating—even if you haven’t participated
in tournament play for a long time.
You can pick up where you left off just
by contacting the tournament director.

CHESS    75
.Chess Tournaments

If you stay true to the Scout Law, you will find it hard to
go wrong when it comes to the rules of playing chess.
For instance, the first act in a chess match, before you
begin moving pieces, is to shake your opponent’s hand.
That’s friendly, courteous, kind, and cheerful right from
the start! The more you play, the more you may notice
how the rules, etiquette, and skills of chess tie in with
the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

The first thing to remember in a chess tournament is to be

respectful of the game and your opponent. If a dispute arises
Enjoy participating between you and your opponent or you have a question about the
for the chance to game you are playing, simply raise your hand and the tournament
director will come over and settle the matter.
compete and for
the fellowship of
being with other
chess players.

Secondly, have realistic expectations. No player wins every

match. You are going to win and lose. Be humble and respectful
of your opponent (don’t get too happy when you win), and be a
good sport (don’t get too upset when you lose).

76   CHESS
 .Chess Tournaments

The Touch-Move Rule

One rule that will be enforced, especially at formal tournaments,
is the touch-move rule. If you touch one of your pieces on the
chessboard, and you can make a legal move with that piece,
then you must move that piece. Also, if you touch one of your
opponent’s pieces and the move is a legal one, then you must
take/capture that piece. Finally, if you release your fingers from
a piece after moving it, your move is over, if the move is a
legal one.

The easiest way to avoid violating the touch-move rule

is to “think with your brain, not with your hands.” Do
not touch any chess pieces until you are absolutely sure
which piece you want to move, and to which square you
want to move it.

If you must handle a piece because it accidentally got

knocked over, or it is incorrectly positioned on the square it is
sitting on, tell your opponent that you are adjusting your piece—
before you touch it—by saying, “I adjust.” Do not use this
as a way to get around the touch-move rule. That would be
poor sportsmanship.

CHESS    77
.Chess Tournaments

Etiquette
Chess players always behave like ladies and gentlemen. When
a chess game begins and ends, the two players shake hands.
During the game, there is little conversation between the players.
Normally, the only conversation after a game begins is if one
player offers the other a draw near the end of a game, or when
the game is completed and both players say “Good game!”

In many tournaments, the boards and pieces are pro-

vided. When they are not, it is the responsibility of the
player with the black pieces in that game to provide
the equipment, if the player has equipment that is
considered a normal chess set as described in the
USCF’s Official Rules of Chess.

Distractions. A player must do nothing that the opponent may

find distracting. A player may not make any kind of noise, such
as tapping a pencil on a table, humming, whistling, or talking to
someone. The tournament director has the authority to forfeit a
player (declare that the player has lost the game) for trying to
distract the opponent.

78   CHESS
 .Chess Tournaments

Music. Chess players are allowed to listen to music through

earphones while playing a tournament game. In fact, many players
do so to keep background sounds from distracting them. However, Chess coaches
if a player turns the volume up so loud that the opponent or often warn their
the players seated next to them can hear, that is considered
a distraction. players against
listening to
music with a fast
beat—it tends to
make the player
speed up and not
take time to study
the game. Many
high-rated chess
players listen to
classical music.

No Kibitzing Allowed
Kibitzing is talking to a player while that player
is still playing the game, or talking about an
in-progress game where the players can hear.
A chess game is between the two players—no
one else. In most cases, not even a tournament
director may interrupt or make a comment
about a game in progress.
All observers must remain absolutely quiet.
No one may comment about an illegal move,
a bad move, the amount of time remaining, or
anything else in that game. If this happens, the
tournament director may forfeit the player
who benefited from the comment, and expel
from the tournament the person who made
the comment.

CHESS    79
.Chess Tournaments

Cell phones/pagers. Players in youth tournaments are never

allowed to use cell phones or audible pagers at the board during a
When you are not game. If a cell phone or pager goes off during a game, the player
sure about a rule responsible may have the game forfeited and be expelled from the
tournament. Many phones, even when set on vibrate, will make
or procedure, ask an audible noise. A claim can be made that the player with the
the tournament cell phone/pager is distracting another player—the opponent or
someone seated at the next board. Under no circumstances may
director for players make phone calls from within a tournament room, even if
guidance. their game is finished. Players who ignore this basic courtesy face
expulsion from the tournament.
Cheating, in any
Reporting the results. At the completion of a chess match,
form, is not allowed both players must report their results to the tournament director.
in chess matches. This ensures that the proper results are provided to the director.
Tournament directors always make it known, before the first
In all cases, report round, where and how results should be reported. Usually a
cheating to table is set up for this purpose in the competition area.
the tournament
Chess Notation
director.
Chess notation—the process of recording your moves, and your
opponent’s moves, on a scoresheet—is often required in chess
tournaments, especially formal tournaments. Chess notation has
two purposes:
• It allows you to go over your game at a later time to learn
and improve.
• It allows you to prove the triple-occurrence rule and 50-move
types of draws.

In algebraic notation—as in this pamphlet—capital

letters are used to symbolize the pieces, and the
individually identified squares on the chessboard are
used to denote where pieces are moved from and to
(in lowercase letters). In some cases, figurine notation
may be substituted, especially in chess books, diagrams,
and computer software, where a small figure or symbol
replaces the letters that are used to describe the moves.
Because some languages have different names for
chess pieces, numeric notation may also be used, with a
number designating each chess piece.

80   CHESS
 .Chess Tournaments

The move by
White is always
listed first. When
White and Black
have each moved,
this is considered
to be one complete
move in the game.

Algebraic notation is most common for scorekeeping. It is

the notation you will need to know. As mentioned earlier, the
chess pieces are abbreviated K (king), Q (queen), R (rook),
B (bishop), and N (knight).
To record a move, you use the abbreviation for the piece,
followed by the square it moves to. The pawn has
no symbol or abbreviation. To record the move of
a pawn, you write the square it moves to. Because
every other piece has single letter designation,
everyone will know you mean the pawn.
For example, a popular first move (see figure 46)
is recorded simply as e4.
Black’s response is called the Alekhine
Opening, named after a former world champion.
“Knight to f6” is recorded as Nf6. The notation
process continues as additional moves are made.
As the moves are recorded, a scoresheet would
look like this: Figure 46. “Pawn to e4” is
1 e4 Nf6 recorded simply as e4. “Knight
to f6” is recorded as Nf6.
2 Nc3 e5
3 d3 Bb4

CHESS    81
.Chess Tournaments

Although official chess scoresheets used in tournaments

are helpful in keeping notation, paper and pen work just as
In tournament well in informal tournaments. Electronic scoring is another
play, you are accepted method to keep notation, but it is not typically used
in tournaments.
required to record
your move after Here are some other symbols used in notation.
making the move.
Castling (on the king’s side) 0-0
Queenside castling 0-0-0
Capture x (for example,
BxNf6 means bishop
captures knight on f6)
Check +
Checkmate # OR ++
“d” pawn promotes to a queen d8=Q
White wins 1-0
Black wins 0-1
Draw ⁄2- ⁄2
1 1

Good move !
Bad move ?
Brilliant move !!
Blunder ??
Interesting move !?

If two identical pieces can move to the same

square, the piece’s abbre-
viation is followed by the
file (or rank) that the piece
leaves from. For example,
if the knights are on g1
and d2, either of them
might move to f3. To make
it clear which piece has
moved, the move is
recorded as Ngf3 or Ndf3,
as appropriate. With two
knights on g5 and g1, the
move is recorded
as N5f3 or N1f3.

82   CHESS
 .Chess Tournaments

Chess Clocks
Chess clocks are used to control the length of chess games, by
limiting the time allowed for a given number of moves or the
complete game. For instance, a Swiss-system tournament may
have five rounds, and each round might have a time control of
45 minutes. The tournament announcement should list the time
control, such as “game 45.” This means a chess clock will be
used to give each player 45 minutes to make their moves in the
game, for a total possible match time of 90 minutes.
In formal tournaments, time controls are always used—
this is a normal part of playing in chess tournaments. Therefore,
managing time is a skill that the participants must develop.
Besides winning or losing by checkmate, a player can win or
lose due to time. In the case of a G/45 game, if you took 44
minutes to decide on your first move, you would likely lose
on time. Your opponent would still have 45 minutes to make
all of their moves, and you would be left with one minute to
play the rest of your game.

In a chess tournament, unless other instructions are given, the player with
the black pieces gets the right to decide which side of the board the clock
is on. Once the participants are ready to play, and have shaken hands,
Black starts the chess clock so that White’s time begins to run. Once White
makes a move, White starts Black’s clock with the same hand with which
White moved a piece. The procedure continues, back and forth during the
game, as the players make their moves.

CHESS    83
.Chess Tournaments

Digital chess clocks are the most common type of timer used in tournaments. This
type of timer has two displays, each of which can be set to a specified time (such as
45:00 minutes), and each of which will count down to 00:00 when time has expired.
Besides having two timers, all chess clocks have two buttons to start and stop time
for each player.

Analog, or mechanical, chess clocks have traditional clock faces with hour and minute
hands, and a device called a “flag” that signals when a player’s time is up. The flag is
pushed up when the minute hand approaches the hour (the 12 o’clock position). When
the flag falls, time has expired.

Many rules apply to using timers in chess tournaments.

Basically, the idea is that the players have a certain amount of
time in which to make a certain number of moves, or they have
a limited amount of time in which to make all of their moves.
The tournament director will be available to help everyone
understand the rules and will be responsible for resolving
any issues stemming from time controls.

84   CHESS
 .Chess Tournaments

Organizing a Tournament
The Scout who chooses to organize a chess tournament will likely
serve as the event coordinator and seek out an experienced chess
player to serve as the tournament director (TD). Your tournament
director might be your Chess counselor or someone who already If you choose
serves as an officially recognized TD.
to be an event
Keep in mind that your tournament can be played on any
scale that you determine is appropriate for the intended group coordinator, be
of players. You might organize an over-the-board tournament
sure to consult
for your fellow Scouts, family, and friends.
What does it take to organize and run your own chess your Chess
tournament? As the event coordinator, you need to decide counselor
the following.
before beginning
• What type of tournament do you want to have? Formal tourna-
ments have established rules, but developing a list of basic rules the process
would be appropriate for even the most informal tournament. of organizing
• Who will serve as the tournament director?
and running a
• Who are the likely participants?
tournament.
• Where is an appropriate location to hold the tournament?
• What equipment and supplies are needed?
• When will the tournament be held (date and time)?
• How long will the tournament last?
CHESS    85
.Chess Tournaments

• Will there be awards?

• Will breaks be needed, and will breaks include refreshments?
Remember to
• What will the costs be?
send each person
• Will there be a fee to participate?
who helped with
• Will additional people be needed to help run the event?
the tournament a
• How will you promote and advertise your tournament?
thank-you note.
Even if you never get to compete in a formal tournament,
you can enjoy the game for its own benefits. You are part of
the rich heritage of the “royal game,” which is played on every
continent. Like other players, you are developing your critical
thinking skills and improving your ability to make choices. You
are part of a world that enjoys the game simply because of the
endless possibilities it offers.

You may discover that wherever you travel you are likely to find a new
friend—someone who plays chess!

86   CHESS
 .Chess Tournaments

To have a successful event, the coordinator must ask these questions and
use the answers as a guide to putting on the event. This sample checklist
will help an event coordinator plan a tournament.

Tournament Checklist
1. Type of tournament: ❑ Formal (Official) ❑ Informal
2. Event name: ________________________________________________
3. Event description: ___________________________________________
4. Event coordinator: ___________________________________________
5. Event assistants: ____________________________________________
6. Tournament director: ________________________________________
7. Date and start time: _________________________________________
8. Location: ___________________________________________________
9. Permission to use location granted by: ________________________
10. Time controls: ______________________________________________
11. Approximate end time of tournament: ________________________
12. Sections (if applicable): ______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
13. Awards (if applicable): _______________________________________
14. Equipment and supplies needed: _____________________________
_____________________________________________________________
15. Entry fee (if applicable): ______________________________________
16. Registration information: ____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
17. Who will advertise the event? ________________________________
18. Will food and drinks be provided? By whom? __________________
19. List the participants (attach to this checklist).
20. Sketch the setup of the event, if applicable (attach drawing
or diagram).
21. Provide directions (if needed) for getting to the tournament location.
22. Expenses: ______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

CHESS    87
Glossary of Chess Terms
Some of these terms are not used in this pamphlet. As your skills improve, however,
and you begin to play chess at more advanced levels, you will need to know many
of these terms. Use this glossary for quick reference.

adjust. When a player does not intend check. A king is in check when an
to move a piece, but the player (when it opponent’s piece or pawn is attacking
is that player’s move) wishes to slightly it and threatening to capture it.
shift the piece to center it on a square,
checkmate. A king is checkmated (and
the player first says “I adjust” and then
the game ends) when the king is in check
adjusts that piece.
(threatened with capture) and the player
advantage. A player leads the is unable to move the king out of check,
opponent in force (number of pieces), or to capture the piece that is placing the
pawn structure, space, or time. king in check, or to place a piece between
the king and the opponent’s piece that is
backward pawn. A pawn behind the
creating the check.
pawns of the same color (on either
side) that cannot be supported by clearance sacrifice. Sacrificing one of
other pawns. your pieces to clear the way for an attack
by some of your other pieces.
blockade. Placing a piece in front of
an opponent’s passed pawn to stop the decoy. A tactic that lures an opponent’s
pawn’s advance. piece to a square that is bad for
the opponent.
capture. Moving your piece onto the
square on which your opponent’s piece defense. Placing your pieces in positions
is sitting and then taking the opponent’s on the board that will make it hard for
piece off the board. your opponent to attack your king.
castling. Moving the the king first two deflection. A tactic that lures the
squares toward a rook and then moving opponent’s main defending piece
the rook to the other side of the king. away from what is being defended.
The king and rook cannot have been
development. The process of moving
moved previously; the squares between
pieces from their starting positions to
the king and rook must be empty; the
positions of defense and to where they
the king may not pass through, or end, in
can begin an attack on the opponent.
“check”; and the king may not castle out
of “check.”

88   CHESS
 .Glossary of Chess Terms

exchange. The trading of pieces. Trading

a piece or pawn for an opponent’s piece
of greater value is called “winning
the exchange.”
50-move rule. The game is a draw
when the player whose move it is
claims a draw and demonstrates with
an accurate scoresheet that the last 50
moves have been made by each side
Diagonals with no capture or pawn move.
diagonal. On a chessboard, connected file. On a chessboard, a vertical column
squares that are neither vertical nor of eight squares, lettered a through h.
horizontal and are of the same color,
such as a1 to h8.
discovered attack. One piece is moved,
revealing an attack on an opponent’s
piece by a piece behind the piece that
was moved.
double attack. A single move that results
in two pieces attacking one piece.
doubled pawns. Two pawns of the
same color on the same file. Flanks

draw. A game in which neither player flank. The a, b, and c files on the
wins and both players receive a half queenside and the f, g, and h files
point. Types of draws include (1) agree- on the kingside.
ment between the two players, (2) stale-
mate, (3) impossibility of checkmate, force. The player who has more material
(4) triple-occurrence, and (5) the (pieces and pawns) has an advantage in
50-move rule. The last two must be force over the opponent.
proved with an accurate scoresheet. fork. One piece attacks two or more
en passant. A French term meaning “in enemy pieces at the same time.
passing.” When a pawn advances two gambit. The voluntary sacrifice of a
squares and ends up next to an enemy pawn in the opening moves to gain an
pawn, it can be captured as though the advantage in development.
pawn had moved only one square. The
en passant capture is allowed only on grandmaster. The highest title awarded
the very next move. by FIDE to a chess player.
endgame. The third and final phase of half-open file. A file that contains none
a chess game, when only a few pieces of one player’s pawns but does contain
are left on the board. one or more of the opponent’s pawns.

CHESS    89
.Glossary of Chess Terms

illegal move. Moving a piece to a passed pawn. A pawn that has no

square or in a manner that the rules of opponent’s pawn in front of it or on
chess do not allow. an adjacent file.
interpose. To place a piece between pawn chain. Three or more pawns in
an enemy’s attacking piece and the a diagonal line with each protected by
attacked piece. a pawn behind it on an adjacent file.
isolated pawn. A pawn that has no pawn structure. The configuration of
pawns of the same color on adjacent files. pawns on the chessboard.
kingside. The half of the chessboard pin. When a piece is attacked and
made up by the e, f, g, and h files. cannot move without losing a piece
of greater value.
luft. A German term meaning “air,” this
is an open space created near the king point count. A system that gives the
in order to prevent checkmate. pieces these values: queen = 9, rook = 5,
bishop = 3, knight = 3, and pawn = 1.
major pieces. Queens and rooks
Some players believe that in the endgame,
(also known as “heavy pieces”).
the bishop is worth 3 and the knight is
maneuver. A series of quiet moves worth 2. Counting points can help a
aimed at placing one or more pieces on beginner know whether a trade (an
better or stronger squares. exchange of pieces) is a good one.
middle game (or middlegame). The poisoned pawn/piece. A pawn or
phase of a chess game between the open- piece that, if captured, would lead to a
ing and the endgame. serious disadvantage for the player who
captured the pawn or piece.
minor pieces. Bishops and knights.
promotion. A pawn reaching the
notation. The recording of each move
eighth rank can be promoted to a
by both players in a chess game.
knight, bishop, rook, or queen of the
open file. A vertical column of eight same color. The player must say out
squares that is free of pawns. loud what piece the pawn is being
promoted to captured.
opening. The beginning of a chess game,
when the basic goals are to develop queenside. The half of the chessboard
pieces quickly and to control as much of that includes the a, b, c, and d files.
the center of a chessboard as possible.
quiet move. Any move that is not the
openings. Established, well-known first move of a piece, a capture, a check,
sequences of opening moves. or a direct threat to the opponent.
overprotection. Using too many pieces rank. On a chessboard, a horizontal row
for the protection of one square or piece. of eight squares, numbered 1 through 8.
over-the-board (OTB) chess. Chess rating. A number used in sanctioned
played face-to-face. tournaments representing a player’s
chess-playing ability. To be rated in the
overworked piece. A chess piece that
United States, you must be a member of
is required to defend too many other
the U.S. Chess Federation.
pieces or squares. Also know as over-
loading a chess piece.
90   CHESS
 .Glossary of Chess Terms

rook lift. Moving a rook from the home time control. The amount of time each
rank to a square in front of the line of player has to play the game or to make
pawns of the same color so the rook can a specified number of moves.
then be moved left or right to any open
touch-move rule. If a player touches
square along that rank.
a piece, that piece must be moved (if
round. When one player plays another a legal move). If a player touches an
player in a tournament. A chess tourna- opponent’s piece, that piece must be
ment has a series of rounds (four to captured (if a legal move). If a player
seven, usually). places a piece on a square, once the
player’s fingers are off the piece, it
sacrifice. Giving up pieces for better
must remain there (if a legal move).
space, pawn structure, force, or even
checkmating the opponent king. trap. Luring an opponent into making
a poor move.
shouldering. Using your king to keep
the opponent’s king out of the action. triple-occurrence of position rule. This
type of draw occurs when all the pieces
simplify. Trading off pieces equally to
of both players have been in the same
get fewer pieces on the board. A player
position at three times during the game.
who has an advantage (more or stronger
pieces on the board) will usually want undermining. Capturing or driving
to simplify. away a piece that is protecting another
(also known as “removing the defender”
skewer. A threat against two pieces in
and “removing the guard”).
a line, which forces the valuable piece
in front to move, allowing the capture unpin. A counterattack that breaks a
of the piece behind it. A skewer is done pin, gains time to break a pin, or ends
with a bishop, rook, or queen. a pin by capturing a pinning piece or
forcing it to move.
space. The number of squares controlled
by each player. weakness. A piece or square that is
easily attacked and hard to defend.
stalemate. When it is a player’s move
and the player has no legal moves and zugzwang. A German term meaning
is not in check. “compulsion to move,” this is a
situation in which a player has no
strategy. The reasoning behind a move,
good moves but is forced to make a
plan, or idea.
move that results in a losing position
tactics. One or two moves (including for that player.
decoys, deflections, pins, sacrifices, and
zwischenzug. A German term meaning
skewers) that give the player an advantage
“intermediate move” or “in-between
in pieces or position.
move,” this is usually a way to gain
tempo. One move. If a piece can reach a advantage by inserting a surprise
useful square in one move, but takes two move before following through on
moves to get there, it has lost a tempo. If an obvious move.
a piece moves to a square that forces
the opponent to make a move the player
would not normally make, it has gained
a tempo.

CHESS    91
 .Chess Resources

Chess Resources
Nunn, John. Understanding Chess
With your parent or guardian’s Endgames. Gambit Publications, 2009.
permission, visit Scouting America’s
Pandolfini, Bruce. Chess Openings: Traps
official retail site, scoutshop.org, and Zaps. Fireside, 1989.
for a complete list of merit badge
Pandolfini, Bruce. Chess Thinking: The
pamphlets and other helpful
Visual Dictionary of Chess Moves,
Scouting materials and supplies.
Rules, Strategies and Concepts.
Fireside, 1995.
Pandolfini, Bruce. Pandolfini’s Ultimate
Books Guide to Chess. Fireside, 2003.
Basman, Michael. Chess for Kids. DK Schloss, Dave. Chess 101: Everything a
Children, 2006. New Chess Player Needs to Know!
Chandler, Murray. Chess Tactics for Kids. Questions Inc., 2014.
Gambit Publications, 2005. Watson, John, and Graham Burgess.
Coakley, Jeff. Winning Chess Exercises for Chess Openings for Kids. Gambit
Kids. Chess ’n Math Association, 2004. Publications, 2011.

Coakley, Jeff. Winning Chess Puzzles for Wilson, Fred, and Bruce Alberston.
Kids. Chess ’n Math Association, 2006. 202 Checkmates for Children.
Cardoza, 2004.
Coakley, Jeff. Winning Chess Strategy for
Kids. Chess ’n Math Association, 2000. Organizations and Websites
Emms, John. Concise Chess: The While you can type “chess” into your
Compact Guide for Beginners. search engine and find many good chess
Everyman Chess, 2003. sites and resources, here are a few sites
Horowitz, Al. Chess for Beginners: A you might explore.
Picture Guide. Harper Perennial, 1992. U.S. Chess Federation (USCF)
Mednis, Edmar. Practical Middlegame new.uschess.org
Tips. Everyman Chess, 1998. World Chess Federation (FIDE)
fide.com

CHESS    93
.Chess Resources

Acknowledgments Jerry Nash, courtesy—pages 13

(tournament), 20, 28, 32, 39, 58,
Scouting America is grateful to Ralph
Bowman, chess enthusiast, author, and 65, 70, 72, 74, 76–79 (all), 83, 84
coach, for leading the effort to create the (digital clock), and 85
Chess merit badge. Mr. Bowman played a U.S. Chess Federation, courtesy—
significant role in the development of the page 17 (USCF logo)
merit badge requirements and pamphlet.
We thank Jerry Nash, national education Wikipedia.org—pages 15–17 (all)
consultant for the U.S. Chess Federation, Wikipedia.org/Andrejj—cover (clock)
for his assistance, as well. Many of Mr. Wikipedia.org/Michael L. Kaufman—
Nash’s photographs appear on these page 18
pages. We appreciate Joseph Lewis Bell,
Robert Boland, Stan Kern, Dr. Chris Kim, Wikipedia.org/The Yorck Project—page 14
and Dr. John McCrary for their World Chess Hall of Fame, courtesy—
involvement and contributions. Thanks page 95 (logo)
also to Betsy Dynako for her assistance
All other photos and illustrations not
with photography needs.
mentioned above are the property of
Photo and Illustration Credits or are protected by Scouting America.

Frank A. Camaratta Jr., photo used by John McDearmon—cover (illustrated

permission; The House of Staunton board); all illustrations on pages 7,
Inc.; houseofstaunton.com—page 19 21, 23–27, 30, 31, 33–35, 38, 40–44,
49–56, 59, 62–64, 67, 68, 81 (chess
Betsy Dynako Photographer, courtesy—
board), and 89
pages 11, 60, and 86
Shane Noem—page 29
Federation Internationale des Echecs,
courtesy—page 17 (FIDE logo)
Steve Hassenplug, courtesy—page 95
(chess board)
NASA, courtesy—page 48 (astronaut)

94   CHESS
 .Chess Resources

Using more than 100,000 LEGO® pieces, Team Hassenplug built this “monster chess”
board and pieces. It took the team of four about a year to complete.

Chess enthusiasts of all ages can look

forward to visiting the World Chess Hall of
Fame and Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.
The museum features an extensive exhibit
area as well as interactive learning center. Find out more by going to
WorldChessHOF.org.

CHESS    95
.Chess Resources

Solutions to Direct-Mate Problems

DM1 Queen takes pawn on h7 for checkmate (Qxh7#).
The queen is guarded by the rook on h1.
DM2 Queen takes pawn on h7 for checkmate (Qxh7#).
The queen is guarded by the bishop on d3.
DM3 Queen takes pawn on g2 for checkmate (Qxg2#).
The queen is guarded by the knight on h4.
DM4 Queen to g2 for checkmate (Q-g2#). The queen is
guarded by the pawn on h3.
DM5 Rook to h8 for checkmate (R-h8#). The rook on h8 is
guarded by the rook on h1.
DM6 Rook to h8 for checkmate (R-h8#). The rook is guarded
by the bishop on c3.
DM7 Rook takes pawn on h7 for checkmate (Rxh7#). The
knight stops the black king from escaping to g8.
DM8 Bishop to b7 for checkmate (B-b7#). The knight
eliminates the white king’s only escape square (g1).
DM9 Knight to f2 for checkmate (N-f2#). This is known as a
“smothered mate” because White has taken away all
of the white king’s escape squares. Note that if it were
White’s move, rook to d8 would be checkmate.
DM10 Pawn to g2 for checkmate (g2#). The white king cannot
capture the g2 pawn because it is guarded by the bishop
on h3. The white king cannot capture the pawn on h2
because it is guarded by the knight on g4. The white king
cannot move to g1 because then it would be in check by
the pawn on h2. Knight to f2 for checkmate (Nf2#) is also a
solution. The white king is in check and has no move, and
there is no black piece that can capture the knight on f2.

96   CHESS