The Basics of Chess

Files & Ranks

What we need to know about the basics of Chess are the following -

Chess has 8 Files & 8 Ranks.
- Files are the vertical columns named as A, B, C, D, E, F, G & H. If you are playing with white, they are the vertical columns from left to right starting with A to H. In case you are playing with black, they are inverted and begins from H through to A from left to right.
- Ranks are the horizontal rows names as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8. If you are playing with white, the first horizontal row from your side is numbered 1, while the one farther is 8 i.e. the black's first horizontal row.

Chess Moves

King: Can move one step vertically, horizontally and diagonally.
Queen: Can move across multiple checks vertically, horizontally and diagonally.
Rook: Can move across multiple checks vertically and horizontally.
Bishop: Can move across multiple checks diagonally.
Knight: Can move across all directions in the form of two and a half steps.
Pawns: Can move one check only vertically upwards but can capture other pieces diagonally upwards. Pawns cannot go backwards. Players can open with the pawn by move it by two checks instead of one.

Chess Pieces & their value

Each chess piece carries points. They are important as they define the strength of their position during a game. It helps understand, which piece to defend or attack at various stages of the game.

King - It doesn't carry any point as the whole game is based on conquering the king. So practically, the King is the most invaluable piece of the game. Defeating your opponent can be done by Checkmate i.e. the King cannot be defended in such a scenario by any other of its pieces or by itself moving away from its current position.
Queen - It carries the most value amongst all the pieces i.e. 9 pts. It is important to note that there is only 1 Queen and hence it makes it even more important to use it strategically and defend it at all cost to weaponize it at the right moment.

Rook - Rooks come in pairs and are lethal during endgames in most cases. They are quite valuable and carry 5 pts. each.
Bishop & Knight - They both are of equal value. i.e. 3 pts. They come in pairs. They definitely have their own strengths and weaknesses but they can be lethal on various strategic situations of the game.
Pawn - Last but not the least, we have 8 pawns a side and they are the frontliners in the battle. Each pawn carries 1 pt. each. Just because they carry 1 point, doesn't mean that they are not important. In reality, they can win you a war.

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