DIAGRAM 1

The white Queen must be on the white square and the black Queen on the black square. These eight, men are commonly known as "pieces" in distinction from the Pawns. The latter occupy the line of squares immediately in front of the Pieces.

The lines of squares now occupied by the men and the other four vacant horizontal lines between them are called RANKS. The vertical lines of squares running perpendicularly to the ranks are called FILES. The oblique lines of squares, that is, lines which connect squares of the same color, are called DIAGONALS.

To describe the moves of the men on the board in a simple way it is necessary to indicate every square and every man by a short symbol.

For this purpose different systems have been suggested at different times, but only two of them have been generally adopted.

The older one, called the "descriptive notation," still predominates in the English, French and Spanish speaking countries, but as leading English and American writers have lately used the newer "algebraic notation" which is much more simple, the latter will be employed in this book. Later the former method will be explained for the sake of completeness.

In the algebraic notation the files are lettered from a to h, starting from the file on White's left. The ranks are numbered from 1 to 8, starting from the rank on which White's pieces stand at the beginning of the game. Each square is now easily indicated by naming the file and rank at which it forms the intersection.

The Rook in Diagram 2, for instance, stands on e4, the Bishop on C4, the Pawns on h4 and g7, the Knight on f7, the Queen on d6 and the Kings on c1 and g3.

+---------------------------------------+
8 | | | | | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
7 | | | | | | ^Kt| #P | |
|---------------------------------------|
6 | | | | #Q | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
5 | | | | | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
4 | | | #B | | ^R | | | ^P |
|---------------------------------------|
3 | | | | | | | #K | |
|---------------------------------------|
2 | | | | | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
1 | | | ^K | | | | | |
+---------------------------------------+
a b c d e f g h
DIAGRAM 2

As symbols for the men the first letters of their names are used. Thus K stands for King, Q for Queen, R for Rook, B for Bishop, Kt or N for Knight and P for Pawn.

THE MOVES OF THE MEN

Each of the six kinds of men moves in a different way. To remember the six varieties of moves naturally requires a little more effort than to remember just the one way of moving as in most other board games. But it takes only very little practice to become familiar with the various moves of the Chessmen and it is soon revealed to the learner that the variety of the moves enables a surprising depth and wealth of combinations which give keener and greater pleasure to this game than to any other.

The Rook

The Rook may move forward, backward or sideways in a straight line along a path not obstructed by a man of the same color. In other words, he may move to any square of the rank or file on which he stands unless another man of his own color is in the way. If there is a hostile man in the way he may capture him by occupying his square and removing him from the board.

In Diagram 2, for instance, the Rook could move to e5, e6, e7, e8, e3, e2, e1, f4, g4, d4 and c4. In making the latter move he would capture the black Bishop. The Rook may not go to h4 because a man of his own color stands there nor may he go to b4 or e4 because he is not allowed to jump over the Bishop. He could, of course, move to either of these squares on his next move after capturing the Bishop.