Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from May, 2023

Chess Puzzles: One move mate!

Chess puzzles are a great way to improve our game & challenge our mind. Among them "One move mate" as the name goes, it is to checkmate the opponent in just one single move! You will be given a setup chess position & ask to find a best move that results in checkmate. It may seem easy, but not so much when you start solving. These puzzles can be tricky but the key is to practice more and more one move mate puzzles so that you will gain the understanding of solving a variety of them.  How do we solve them?  Let us consider this above position, its white to play and win in one move . In this chessboard, a position is setup. The goal here is to checkmate the black king, so our focus lies there. How can we search for a move that checkmates in one move?  1. Scan the board: Firstly it's important to know the piece placement in the board, this is not your game, so you are not familiar with where the pieces are placed, which pieces have support, which of them have potenti...

Stalemate! A type of draw

Stalemate is a unique concept in the game of chess that even an experienced player might go through if not careful. It occurs when a player is not in check but has no legal moves available to make either. We then considered the game a draw, which can be both a blessing and a curse depending on the player's perspective. Stalemate can happen in many scenarios. For example, while a player is trying to checkmate their opponent, the opponent may run out of moves to make or one may intentionally put their own king into stalemate while trying to defend against a check or an unfavourable situation. Regardless of how it happens, stalemate is always a possibility in every game of chess. Stalemate can be both frustrating and exciting for players. It can be frustrating when a player is trying to win a game, only to have it end in a draw due to the stalemate concept. On the other hand, it can be exciting when a player is losing and manages to turn the game around with a stalemate concept, salv...

Bringing order to the chess battlefield - the crucial role of the "Chess Arbiter"

This article talks about the crucial role of a Chess Arbiter . Have you ever wondered who is responsible for ensuring that chess games run smoothly and fairly? Who ensures that players adhere to the rules and regulations of the game? That's where the Chess Arbiter comes in. So let's see how they bring order to the chess battlefield. Imagine you go to a chess tournament. You arrive at the tournament venue, excited to see the matches being played. You notice an individual sitting at the tournament table, keeping a watchful eye on the games or some other individual patrolling the game area to ensure order is kept & the match is running smoothly. Those individuals are the Chess Arbiters .   Their role is to enforce the rules of the game and ensure that players adhere to them. Without them, chaos would reign on the chess battlefield. One tournament can have one or more chess arbiters or assistants. It depends on the scale of the tournament & participants. An arbiter's...

Chess Clock: The Ticking Bomb!

When you think of chess, you think of two players sitting at a table, deep in thought, moving pieces around a board and taking forever to make a moveā€¦ wait. if they take forever then when will the game end? To solve this issue, there's another essential element to chess that many people don't know about: the Chess Clock . To ensure the game ends within stipulated time we use chess clock. In this article, we'll explore the significance of the chess clock in the game of chess. Digital Chess Clock A chess clock is a device with two clocks, each with a button . It's used to keep track of the time each player takes to make their moves throughout the game. The clocks are set to a particular time at the beginning of the game, this timing depends on if its Standard/Rapid/Blitz Play (refer 3 types of Time Control ), and each player gets a set amount of time to make all their moves. The clock timings are not changed unless an illegal move occurs & the other player requests...

ELO Rating: The Significance

One of the most significant and well-known aspects of competitive chess is the rating system used to measure a player's strength & ability. The ELO rating system , named after its creator, Arpad Elo , is the rating system used in chess. It is used by chess organizations & players to determine the skill level of other chess players and to determine eligibility for certain tournaments, such as national or international.  Hence, it is important to know about this ELO rating system. The ELO rating system assigns a numerical value to each player based on their results against other rated players, usually it starts from 1000 and can go upto 2882 hold by Magnus Carlsen (highest rating as of the article published date). Magnus Carlsen is the highest-rated player for classical and rapid time controls and third in blitz time control. To know more about time control, refer 3 Types of Time Control . This rating number is a reflection of a player's strength and is used to determ...

Special Pawn rule - Enpassant rule

Comes once in a while concept, yet can't be easily overlooked. Let's try to understand Enpassant rule & how we can utilize it to our benefit.  Enpassant rule is not compulsory to opt. You can choose not to use this concept in case it brings misfortunes to your position. This can come as a hidden technique if in case your opponent is unaware of it. Enpassant rule is applied only to pawns and not always we can use this. Certain conditions must be met to use Enpassant rule by the pawn.  Let us see what Enpassant rule is with an example and what all are the conditions to be met to use this concept. "En passant" is a French word that means "in passing". This is exactly how the capturing works as well. Enpassant Definition:   En passant rule is a special type of rule in which a pawn is allowed to capture opponent's pawn on an adjacent squares under certain special circumstances.  Till now we have known pawn to capture on an immediate diagonal only, like s...

Scholarships and Job Opportunities through Chess

Chess is a world of possibilities, just like the number of possible variations in it. Here are some of the benefits of scholarship and job opportunities that chess can provide. Feel free to add more in the comments section. Scholarships: 1. Many universities and colleges offer scholarships to chess players who show exceptional skills in the game. 2. The scholarships are available for both undergraduate and graduate students. 3. These scholarships not only cover tuition fees but also offer financial aid and other benefits. 4. Students can also avail of the opportunity to represent their respective universities in chess tournaments, thereby showcasing their skills to a wider audience. The universities in turn recognizes the great achievements by their students and rewards them with scholarship fees & much more. 5. Chess is helpful to land you university seats. Many universities offer sports quota to students who have achieved national or international level school game achievements. ...

Pros & Cons of Playing Chess

Chess Board Chess is the timeless game of strategy and intellect. It has captivated minds of great personals for centuries. It is a battle of wits, a mental duel on a checkered battlefield. From its humble origins to its status as a global phenomenon, chess has stood the test of time, luring in players young and old, novice and grandmaster alike. We all know chess is a game of limitless possibilities. With each move, players must navigate through a complex web of tactics, calculations & strategic plannings. If one wonders, what is the objective of this game? We can sum it up as - to outmaneuver your opponent, checkmate their king, and to claim victory! Simple in words, but needs a lot of efforts to get this done!. It requires not only tactical powers but also the ability to think several steps ahead, foreseeing the consequences of each move made. One of the remarkable aspects of chess is its accessibility. It knows no boundaries of age, gender, or cultural background. Anyone can pi...