Chess Movement Tutorial Notes

Lesson Overview

• Review of piece setup and movement rules in chess.
• Focus on how individual pieces move.

Setting Up the Board

• Correct Board Orientation:
  • Light square in the bottom right corner.
• White Piece Setup:
  • Rooks on corners.
  • Knights next to rooks.
  • Bishops next to knights.
  • Queen on light square (Queen's color matches square).
  • King next to the Queen.
  • Pawns in front of all pieces.
• Black Piece Setup:
  • Similar to white but with Queen on dark square.
• Practice:
  • To memorize setup, repeat process multiple times (5-10 times).
  • Common mistakes: confusing knights with bishops.

Piece Movement

King Movement

• Moves one square in any direction (8 possible moves).
• Edge of board limits movement:
  • 5 squares when on edge.
  • 3 squares when in the corner.
• Cannot jump over pieces or move to occupied squares.

Queen Movement

• Moves like the King but can move any number of squares in any direction (straight lines).
• Cannot jump over other pieces.

Rook Movement

• Moves horizontally and vertically (files and ranks).
• Can move any number of squares in a straight line.
• Cannot jump over pieces.

Bishop Movement

• Moves diagonally any number of squares.
• Stays on the same color throughout the game (dark or light).
• Cannot jump over pieces.

Knight Movement

• Moves in an L-shape:
  • Can jump over pieces.
  • Moves two squares in one direction and one square perpendicular.
• Switches square color with each move (from dark to light or vice versa).

Pawn Movement

• Moves straight forward only:
  • One square at a time after the first move.
  • Can move two squares on its first move.
• Capturing: Pawns capture diagonally, not straight.

Summary

• Focus on practicing piece movements and setups.
• Next lesson: movement recap and introduction to check and checkmate.
• Continued practice will lead to understanding and confidence in gameplay.