FIDE, the International Chess Federation, is the apex body and organizes the matches and tournaments that are played in accordance with the rules frame by it. Now uniform rules are followed throughout the world for any international tournament.

The following pieces constitute a standard chess set for each player:

king: 1 piece

queen:1 piece

rooks: 2 pieces

bishops:2 pieces

knights 2 pieces

pawns: 8 pieces

RULES OF INTERNATIONAL CHESS are given below.

1.Set the Chess board in such a manner that the extreme right hand corner square of each player is white

2. Pawns are placed in the second rows for both the players and all other pieces are placed in the first rows for both the players. Rooks occupies squares of extreme left and right corners in the first rows followed by knights, and bishops. White’s king is placed on the fourth square from right facing black’s king. Queen occupies square adjacent to king.

3. All units may move in one direction at a time only to a vacant square, except when capturing the enemy unit.

4.The knight may jump over another piece or pawn.

5. All captures are optional by simply removing the enemy unit from the board and displacing it with the capturing unit.

6. Each player will make only one move at a time starting ‘white’ with his first move.

7. The king moves one square in any direction but may never be exposed voluntarily to capture which leads to “checkmate”.

8. The bishop moves diagonally in any direction of its own color.

9. The knight jumps in L shape to another color-one square straight and one square oblique in any direction.

10. The rook moves straight vertically or horizontally.

11. The queen combines the movement of a rook and a bishop.

12. The pawn marches straight one square at a time and never retreats,

13. The pawn can move two squares on its initial move only.

14. The pawn captures in a V shape, diagonally in front of it.

15. When pawn reaches the 8th rank, as a bonus it must be substituted by any piece the player (to whom the pawn belongs) want-a queen, a rook, a bishop, a knight except pawn or king. Since a queen is the most powerful piece, pawn is generally transformed into a queen .

16. The ’’En Passant’’ capturing - When a pawn reaches on his 5th rank and the enemy pawn moves two square on its initial move this complications arises. The ‘’En Passant’’ permits black to exercise the option of capturing any way but he must do so immediately or forget otherwise.

17. The castling: Each side has the right to make a special move, once in a game, in order to bring his king to a safer place. It is commonly known as the castling of the king. This special move can be made on either side of the king Either on king side or on queen side; the king shifts two squares along the first rank and the rook is transferred to the adjacent square on opposite side of the king.

Right to castle is forfeited if:

the king has moved or returned to its initial square,

one of the rooks or both the rooks has previously moved,

King is at the moment of check

the square to which the king has to move or the king has to pass is under attack by any hostile piece.

18. Checkmate - When a king has no square left to escape from check, this position is known in chess term as “checkmate”. And the game is over.

19. Stalemate - When one of the players is not in check but is in such a position that he cannot make any legal move without exposing his king to immediate capture. This position is stalemate and ends in a draw.

Indian Style of Chess: (similar to older version of western chess)

Indian style of Chess is the older version of western chess.

The pawn moves one step,

No castling after cecks,

one has to keep at least one enemy piece on the board.

On certain occasions the king moves like a knight.

Indian chess is more difficult to handle and provides more opportunity for one’s creativity,

Chess game download

Chess game may be downloaded from the net.There are hundreds of sites that provide Chess game either as freeware or shareware. I am providing here links to help visitors of this hub to download the game.

Click to download games listed below.

Grandmaster

Tournamant Chess II

Chessmaster Challenge

Classic Chess

Championship Chess