Chess: The Fun Way!

Andy Trattner

Introduction: Do You Play Chess?

What a tough question! Here’s a common answer: “I learned how some pieces move, I vaguely
recall obscure rules and maneuvers like castling, but I don’t really know any strategy. My friend
is really into it, and I’ve always wanted to learn more.”

So why haven’t you learned more? Well, it turns out many people have learned ​how​ to play
chess, without ever really ​playing​ chess. They are introduced to the game only to face cruel
beat-downs at the hands of more experienced friends and family. This process is no fun at all,
and it rarely evolves the chess beginner into a self-identifying chess player.

I have seen many chess dreams sadly quashed, starting with my sister as I mercilessly and
repeatedly destroyed her 8-year-old chess aspirations. I wish I had been a better brother,
teacher, and role model at age 11, but alas! I guess it’s never too late to start…

This document will help you to re-learn the Game of Kings (or teach others!) through an
engaging series of mini-games. Most of these activities are designed to be played with a
partner. The goal is to engage in appropriately challenging yet tractable problem-solving to help
grow your chess confidence and ability.

My hope is to provide a rather quick journey, filled with self-discovery, learning, and fun! Enjoy.

Note: Mini-games 1-7 are most helpful. 8-10 are extra-credit.

To best use this document, you will want to have a chess set handy.

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 Mini-Game 1: Bishops and Rooks

Set up a chess board as follows, where white has the bishops and black gets the rooks. Notice
that the bottom right corner for both sides should be a white square. Starting with the white
pieces, players will take turns moving a single piece of their color. The first person to capture
one of the opponent’s pieces wins. Switch sides and try again! What happens with ideal play?

If you’re unfamiliar with how the pieces move,​ I highly recommend trying the interactive activities
at ​https://lichess.org/learn#/​. Rooks look like castles and move vertically or horizontally. Bishops
wear pointy hats and move diagonally. Land on top of a piece and remove it from the board to
capture. You may move backwards or forwards, but you must stop short if you’re about to bump
into one of your own pieces.

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Mini-Game 2: Pawn Wars

Set up the chess board with pawns on the second and seventh rank. Again, notice the bottom
right corner is white for both sides. In this mini-game, players take turns moving their pawns,
and whoever gets a pawn to the other side first wins! In a real chess game, you would choose if
your pawn turns into a queen, knight, rook, or bishop upon reaching the other side.

If you’re unfamiliar with how the pieces move,​ I highly recommend trying the interactive activities
at ​https://lichess.org/learn#/​.

Simplified Starting Version

Pawns can only move one square forward. They may not move
forward into any occupied square. They capture by moving into an
occupied square diagonally.

Full Version
Pawns have the option to double-step two squares forward, but only
from their starting position. This creates a special circumstance.

When a pawn chooses to double-step from its home square and an opponent’s pawn is on the
square directly next to the moving pawn’s
destination, capture is not completely bypassed.
Instead, on the turn immediately after the
double-step, the opponent has the option to
capture ​en passant​ (in passing), moving
diagonally as in a normal pawn capture and
taking the double-stepping pawn off the board.

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Mini-Game 3: Battleship

Starting with an empty chess board, each player holds a knight and four pawns of their color.
Players take turns placing their knights then pawns on the board, one at a time. Black can place
first since white will move first. After placement is complete, take turns moving your knight.
Whoever captures all the opponent’s pawns first (or takes the unsuspecting enemy knight) wins.

Knights are not allowed to be placed attacking each other at the start. Pawns are not allowed to
move, instead acting as placeholders or flags in this game.

If you’re unfamiliar with how the pieces move,​ I highly

recommend trying the interactive activities at
https://lichess.org/learn#/​.

The knight always moves three squares horizontally and

vertically in an L-shape. Another way to explain this is one rook
move followed by one bishop move outward. So on an empty
board, the knight will have 8 possible squares to move to.

Knights are the only piece that can hop over other pieces. They
still capture by “sitting on” enemy pieces and removing them. It’s
handy to try visualizing the destination squares without having to
count or touch any intermediate squares.

Right image from ​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_(chess)​.

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Mini-Game 4: Knight Gymnasium (single-player version of Battleship)

I once had a student who really disliked chess. She would pout and refuse to play with others. I
suspected that this relationship with the game stemmed from a feeling of incompetence. The
student said her favorite sport was gymnastics, so I asked her how people got good at
gymnastics, doing flips and handstands and whatnot. It takes a lot of practice in the gym, right?
Falling down and doing pushups and sweating and all kinds of
hard, annoying work! We do the same thing in chess, solving
puzzles.

Place some number of pawns on the board and try to capture

them in the fewest moves possible. If you like, pick a number (say
three pawns), then set up a position by randomly placing the
knight and pawns. Record how many moves it takes you to move
the knight around and capture everything. Then set up another
random position and try again!

How many moves are required for white in the diagram (right)?

Mini-Game 5: Knight Wars

This is a variant of pawn wars where we add in the knights. Players take turns, and whoever
gets the knight to the other side first wins (or who gets a pawn to the other side, turning it into a
knight!). Can the first mover guarantee a win?

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Mini-Game 6: KQR Checkmates

Previous mini-games are won by capturing or moving pieces in certain ways. This mini-game
introduces the concept of checkmate, which is when one side traps or “captures” the enemy
king. Try setting up and playing through the following three situations. White is trying to stay
alive, and black is trying to checkmate. It doesn’t matter who moves first.

The king moves one square in any direction. The king is “in check” when under attack by an
enemy piece. As long as something can be done about the check (moving, blocking, or
capturing), the game continues. If it is impossible to avoid immediate capture of the king by the
opponent, the opponent announces checkmate and wins the game.

The queen moves any direction in a straight line, like a rook and bishop combined. She is the
most powerful piece in the army!

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Mini-Game 7: Progressive Chess

If you have played mini-games one through six and felt fairly confident in your abilities, you are
ready for a full, real game of chess! The one additional piece movement we haven’t covered is
“castling” and I’ll refer you once more to ​Lichess for a great, interactive tutorial on this rule​.

Progressive chess is just like normal chess, but with a twist that emphasizes the game’s
objective—to attack the opponent’s king and achieve checkmate. Players take turns moving in a
special way. White gets the first move, then black gets two moves, then white makes three
moves, black has four, white gets five, and so on forever until the game ends.

If, during the course of their turn, a player puts the opponent in check (attacking the king), the
game pauses and the turn passes to the opponent, who has a single move to escape or
otherwise deal with the check. If the opponent cannot evade king capture, then it’s checkmate
and the game is over. If the opponent can successfully evade king capture with that first move,
they must do so, and then the game unpauses and their turn proceeds with all the remaining
moves they normally would have gotten, minus one for the check-escaping maneuver.

This game helps a player understand and coordinate their army. You’ll want to save checks for
the end of your turn, and hopefully turn them into checkmate!

If a pawn reaches the other side of the board, it promotes to become a piece of the player’s
choice, except not a king or pawn.

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Mini-Game 8: Opposition and Infiltration

White wants to reach a8, b8, or c8 with the king. Black wants to block white indefinitely. Kings
move normally, one square in any direction. White has a forced win, but it’s not easy to find!

(Recall that no king can step into an adjacent square to the opponent’s king, because then the
other king could capture and that would be the end of the game.)

Mini-Game 9: Queen The Pawn

White aims to promote her pawn to a queen on e8 then win like in mini-game 6! Black attempts
to draw by capturing the pawn (thus forcing a position without sufficient checkmating material for
either side) or reaching a “stalemate” position where she has no more legal moves.

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Mini-Game 10: Zombie Chess

White gets two moves each turn but only has the king and four pawns. Black gets only one
move per turn but has the whole army.

White’s king has superpowers in this mini-game, since he can enter attacked squares, stepping
through check. He can take an attacking piece then retreat immediately back. Watch out for
those super-pawns too!

You can try various configurations of the pawns if one side has too big of an advantage, or add
and remove pawns as desired.

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Next Recommended Destinations If You’re Hungry For More!

Lichess​, a wonderful free, open-source site to play against online opponents and learn chess!

ChessTempo​, the best chess puzzle site with a great, instructive ​list of tactical motifs​.

Endgame simulations​ help to practice the fundamentals of securing victory.

Watch beautiful grandmaster games, for example ​Opera Game​ and ​Immortal King Walk Game​.

Grandmaster game database​ (search Capablanca, Tal, Fischer, or any other world champ).

Read chess books! Many lists out there. I gained most playing through ​Bronstein’s ​Zurich 1953.​

There are ​many chess variants​. For example, B

​ ughouse​ is a popular 4-person game.

Read about the ​Elo Rating System​, designed originally for chess, adopted to tennis and more!

Google to find a chess club near you, drop in or try entering a tournament! Especially larger
tournaments which have sections for unrated / beginning competitors.

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