Читать книгу Chess For Dummies - Eade James - Страница 6

So you’ve decided all this chess stuff is up your alley. Well, first things first – you need a chessboard and chess set (the collection of chess pieces). If you don’t own a board and chess set, you can turn to Appendix B for mail-order information. You’ll find it extremely helpful to have a board and chess set on hand when reading chess books. Some people can do without one – but some people can memorize the works of John Milton, too. (And who wants to be like that?)

In the following sections, I explain different types of boards and chess sets that are available, and I break down the layout of the board.

Throughout this book I include numerous diagrams to help you understand the game, but they don’t take the place of a real set and board; these diagrams serve primarily to make certain your board is set up correctly. I urge you to get out your chessboard and set when you’re reading and set up the board as the diagrams show you. That way, you get a real-life view of the moves I describe.

Finding the right board and set

Your first challenge in finding a chessboard and set is to sort through the many available types. A tremendous range in sizes, colors, and quality exists.

The name of the standard design, which is distinguished by the look of the pieces, is the Staunton. This design bears the name of the great English player Howard Staunton and was registered in 1849. Its popularity was so great that it was adopted as the one and only design allowed in official tournaments. If you play with strangers and bring anything other than a Staunton-designed set, people may assume that you’re trying to psych them out by using equipment that they aren’t familiar with. You probably don’t want to start off on the wrong foot.

Wood sets and boards in the Staunton design are more popular at higher levels of competition, but a typical tournament set can be made of plastic pieces in classic white and black. The board is generally of a vinyl roll-up variety with white and green squares. “Why not black squares?” you may justifiably ask. “Headaches,” I would answer. I’ve learned that staring at a high-contrast board is not advisable. Miniature traveling sets are the only exception. It doesn’t matter what color they are, because the makers assume that you won’t be staring at them too long (especially if you’re driving!).

If price is no object, wood pieces and boards are the way to go. Wood boards provide the most soothing background possible, and the weight and feel of wood pieces are generally far more satisfying to the touch. In case you’re really getting into chess and admire sets meant to be looked at rather than played with, collectible sets have a small cottage industry of their own, and these sets vary in design as well as in quality.

Getting up close and personal with your board

After you pick up your soon-to-be-beloved chessboard and set, you need to get familiar with them. The first thing to notice about the chessboard is that all the squares are the same size but alternate between two colors (a light color and a darker color). Colors are important in chess (bishops are confined to only one of them, knights go back and forth between them, and so on), which is why chess players insist that a white square needs to be in the lower right-hand corner at the start of the game. Start by whipping out the board and making sure it’s facing the right direction in front of you – Figure 1-1 shows the correct orientation (if you set this book on your lap and look at the figure, you get a better idea).

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 1-1: The correct orientation of a chessboard.

A white square should be in the lower right-hand corner as you face the board. The most common mistake among beginners is to position the board incorrectly at the start of the game. (As a matter of fact, Hollywood and television make this common mistake, too. Whenever you see a chessboard positioned in a movie or on TV, check to see whether the lower right-hand square is white. Chances are it won’t be!)

Consider a few fun facts while you’re scoping out your chessboard:

❯❯ It’s made up of 64 squares evenly divided between 32 light squares and 32 dark squares.

❯❯ It’s symmetrical and square – in the geometric sense.

❯❯ The square comprises eight ranks and eight files (and a bunch of diagonals), which you’d normally call rows and columns (and diagonals!), but chess people shun such conventional language. (Using clear, easy-to-understand terms would be too easy, right?)

In the following sections, I go into more detail on the ranks, files, diagonals, and squares.

Recognizing the ranks

Ranks are rows that go from side to side across the chessboard and are referred to by numbers. Each chessboard has eight ranks, which are numbered from the bottom of the board (where the white pieces start) on up; see Figure 1-2.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 1-2: The ranks of a chessboard go from side to side.

Figuring out the files

Files are columns that go up and down the chessboard, and each board has eight of them. Because numbers indicate ranks, letters indicate files, which are labeled from left to right. Figure 1-3 shows the files.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 1-3: A chessboard’s files go from top to bottom.

Naming individual squares

The naming convention for ranks and files allows you to give a unique identifier to every square by using what chess people call the file-first method. For example, the lower right-hand square (which is white, of course) is called h1. This name is shorthand for h-file, first rank. Figure 1-4 gives the name for every square.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 1-4: The squares are marked to show the letter of the file and the number of the rank.

When figuring out the names of individual squares, it may be helpful to think of the games Bingo and Battleship, where every square has a letter and a number (and the names may be easier to figure out if you’re sitting on the “white” side – or bottom – of the chessboard). Of course, in Battleship you get to see only your pieces and have to guess where your enemy’s are. In chess, however, you know where your opponent’s pieces are – you just have to guess where she’s going to move them!

Digging those diagonals

As you probably expect, diagonals have names, too. Unlike ranks and files, diagonals are defined by their starting and ending squares. The starting square is conventionally given as the one with the lower rank. For example, Figure 1-5 shows the h1-a8 diagonal. Diagonals are always composed of like-colored squares. You can have light-squared diagonals and dark-squared diagonals – but never two-toned ones.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 1-5: The diagonals on a chessboard always contain like-colored squares.