How to Play Chess: Board, Chessmen and Point Values
Overview
Chess is played by two persons on a square board with pieces called chessmen. Players use their pieces to try and capture each other's top figure, the king. Thus the objective of chess is to capture the opponent's king.
The Chess Board
The chess board is an 8x8 board with alternating light- and dark-colored squares. The vertical lines are called "files" and the horizontal ones are the "ranks." The board is always set up so that when each player sits down, the backmost rank has a white square on the player's right.
There are two sets of chess pieces on the table, light or white, and dark or black. The player with the white pieces always makes the opening move.
The Chessmen
Each chess player has 16 figures in their army, known as chessmen. These are, in order of rank: king, queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights and 8 pawns. One set of chessmen are dark-colored; the other is light-colored. The queen of either side always occupies a square of her own color at the start of the game. But the chessmen can occupy squares of either color once the game begins (so long as the moves are legal).
When placing the chessmen on the board, always put the queen in a square of her own color. The king is always on a square opposite his own shade.
Each chessman has its own moves. A chessman can only move across the board in ways the rules allow. A pawn cannot move like a bishop does, and bishop cannot move like a rook. Of all pieces, the queen is the most powerful, having the ability to move like a pawn, rook or bishop.
All pieces move with the aim to capture the enemy king as well as to protect their own king.
Chessmen Point Values
With the exception of the king, each chessman has points to signify its value when it is captured. The more points allotted to a piece, the more valuable it is. The queen is the most highly prized since she is the piece that can make the most moves. The king is invaluable because it can never be actually captured; it can only be trapped - the "check mate" - and then the game ends.
Below is the table of chess figures with their point values.
Chessman Symbol Value
King K N/A Queen Q 9 Rook R 5 Bishop B 3 Knight N 3 Pawn P 1
Normally, the pawn has no symbol for it in chess notation.