Chess Pieces you will love to have

Chess lovers always prefer to go for Chess pieces and sets having very decent quality. To choose among the various sets, they should possess sound knowledge regarding the material of these sets as it is very hard to find good quality chess sets and pieces.

1. One should possess regarding the pieces and set material. Usually they made up of wood, crystal, stone etc. Best type of pieces are made up of Budrose and Ebony.
2. Secondly, usually pieces are hand made or machine carved, so one should examine them closely, which shape you require, resembling the original shape.
3. Finally, if you don't want have any basic knowledge regarding the material and pieces, ask any good chess player or chess lover.

It is a fact that playing chess with your favorite pieces always makes you feel good internally .

Isle of Lewis

It is known that Isle of Lewis are a Norse design which is carved out of a tusk named Walrus. It was founded in 1800s in Scotland. This chess case is of very fine quality and made up of a blend of very high quality resin with crushed marble. Furthermore, many inexpensive imitations were also made with usually artificial weighing. Original pieces of Isle of Lewis are placed in British museum. It is very important part in the history of chess as it is one of the known chess pieces still available with us.

Ace the Center

Four squares at center of the board enables the player to have control of the entire game. This can be verified through various techniques.

1. First, a central piece controls the board more efficiently than anywhere else. For example, if we place one Knight on a center square and if another one in one of the corners of the board.
2. We know, the Knight in the center can only move to eight different squares, while the "cornered" one can only go to two possible moves!
3. Now, control of the center is essential as it provides an avenue for your pieces to move from one side of the board to the other side.
4. A piece which is moved from one corner to other is often taken through center . So if our piece can reach the other end before opponents piece, we can have an upper edge. We will often be able to mount a successful attack there before he can bring over enough pieces to defend.

The Double Attack

The Double Attack is simultaneous attack by a single unit on two hostile units. This attack is economical and profitable. It appeals to the player who knows how to get the maximum effects from his pieces. The Queen, with its wide cruising range and ability to attack in several directions by vertical, lateral, and diagonal moves, is the ideal piece for Double Attack. In the given diagram, the Queen threatens mate in one direction and menaces an unguarded knight in another direction. Result: white wins a Knight by force. But even a lowly Pawn can engineer a Double Attack. As a matter of fact, the Pawn fork is particularly dangerous because the pawn has least value of any chess Unit.

The Knight Fork

The Knight fork is the most popular tactical theme aside from the pin. Actually, the Knight fork is the special case of the Double attack-- an attack on two units by a single unit. But knight fork is particularly effective, and particularly dreaded, especially by inexperienced players. Sometimes Knight Fork appears in a simple setting. It is merely necessary to give a knight check as a preliminary to the winning fork. A Knight fork is often deadly in combination with a pin. Generally speaking, the most effective Knight forks are checks. Here in this diagram White attacks King and Queen; king must move; The Queen is lost. Finally, a Knight fork may often come at the very end of a combination, with an effect which is all the more Powerful.

Pinning

The pin is by far the most frequent used tactical theme. It may be defined as an attack on a piece which will screen a second piece from attack. The unit attacked in this way is said to be pinned. If attacked with enough force and ingenuity, it can often be won or completely disabled. Once we are familiar with pinning motif, we became used to the idea of creating pins. See in the diagram.

Here white first sacrifices in order to win black’s Queen by means of pin. A frequent use of pin is to “Pile up” on the piece with an effective pawn advances

SCID Information database

SCID stands for "Shane's Chess Information Database". It is a chess database, developed exclusively for various operating systems like Linux, Windows and MAC. One can operate various functions on SCID. Some of them are mentioned below:

1. We can maintain database of the chess games.
2. We can produce and print reports on various techniques for opening and closing.
3. We can play against various chess engines worldwide on internet.
4. We can view graphical trends.

Also 'SCID help' is available in 13 different languages. So there isn't any difficulty even you are not aware of English.

Corel Chess

This type of computer chess gives physical chess like experience. It contains 2-d and 3-d virtual chess boards which are very easy to navigate and set up.
Not only this, one can also choose between different styles of chess boards for e.g. glass/wood board etc. One can have more than one window opened at a time to have different views of from all the corners. One can record moves and can see them later.
We can also play it through internet or LAN network. We can start from basic level and go up to master level according to our capabilities.
Also there is file help for beginners.

Phases of Chess

4 Crucial phases of Chess are:

Opening Phase: It includes the relevant and reliable opening systems to play. A well prepared opening is must before starting the match

Stress Phase: It is advised that one must consider every sphere equally important. This level separates the master from the ordinary player. A master considers each and every phase of the game equally important rather than mastering the certain phase.

Pre-ending phase: It refers to the phase considering the end game positions. Even the expert level players do not know how to go through this phase efficiently.

Discussion Phase: After every match, try to look for the mistakes you have committed in that particular match and then look for the alternative strategy keeping your self in the same situation.

Pawn ending- The Opposition

When the two Kings stand next to each other so that there is one square between them, they are said to oppose each other (or to be in opposition). Because the rules of chess say that the King can't step to a square next to the opposite King, there is an invisible wall between the Kings that makes it impossible for them to advance forwards.
The player who is not to move in such situation is said to have the opposition. Since his Opponent can't move his King forwards, he has to move it sideways or backwards, and after that the other player gets to advance his King forwards, which is usually advantageous for him.

The Rule of the Square

The Rule of the Square is used to determine whether or not a passed pawn can queen when it is not supported by its own king and the enemy king is chasing it. The idea is shown by the diagram



on the right:
One side of the square is the line that extends from the pawn to the square on which it queens. The rule says: if the enemy king can reach the square of the pawn, then it can capture the pawn; if not, the pawn can queen without the aid of its own king. Remember that if the pawn is on its starting square, it can make a double step, so the square is the same as if the pawn has advanced one square. The rule is valid for all pawns, including rook's pawns.

Pawn Endings

We can also end the game with the Pawns. Two important concepts behind ending the game involving only kings and pawns are the rule of the square and the opposition. . A passed pawn is a pawn that cannot be stopped from queening by an opponent's pawn. If both sides have one or more passed pawns, then the player with a protected passed pawn (protected by another pawn) is likely to have an advantage. If neither side has a protected passed pawn, then the player with an outside passed pawn (farthest from the other pawns) will most likely win. So it is quite important to learn how we can end the game using pawns and king.

Minor Piece Checkmates

If there in only one minor piece left against a lone king, it will be impossible to checkmate the Black king. But if White has three pieces, the checkmate can be done very easily. So with two bishops, the job became very easy and with a bishop and knight, the job became somewhat harder. And if we have two Knights, checkmate is nearly impossible. In order to mate with a bishop and knight, white must force black's king to the corner that is the same color as his bishop - in this case the a8 square. This is not so easy to do, because the bishop and knight do not coordinate well in cutting off the opponent's king. Mate can always be forced unless black can win a white piece, but, even with best play, the mate may take over 30 moves

Basic Checkmates- King and Rook vs. King

In this checkmate condition there are just one King and Rook of one side and only one king left from the opponent side. This mate takes longer to do than king and queen vs. king, because the king and rook have to work together to trap the opposing king on the edge (often in the corner). The most commonly taught technique involves confining the opposing king into a box using the rook, which is protected by its own king. Then, the box becomes smaller and smaller until the king is forced into the corner. Here the chances of Stalemate are quite less as compare to King and Queen vs. King condition of checkmate.

Basic Checkmates

Openings as well as endings are the most important parts of the game or chess. Checkmate is a situation in chess in which king is under direct attack and there is no way to capture the king. Checkmate positions include a position that has no pawns. When one side is ahead in material and has pawns, the easiest winning plan is typically to queen one or more pawns and use them to checkmate. The situations where one has a king and queen, or king and rook, versus a lone king occurred very often, and it is essential to know how checkmate is achieved in such cases. The other cases, with minor pieces (bishops and knights) are much rarer, but are covered here for completeness.

Some interesting facts

1. Folding chess was a creation of a priest who was not allowed to play chess. He made the folding chess board to make it look like two books kept together.

2. ‘Check mate’ is derived from a Persian word ‘shah’ and ‘maat’. The meaning of these words is King cannot be saved now and he is defeated.

3. It is very astonishing that total number of chess games possible in this world is 10^120. This figure is even more than the total number of electrons in this universe.

4. Earlier, chess was played only by kings, so it was considered as a game of upper class and noble people.

Swiss system of chess tournament

The Swiss-system tournament is one of the most popular and commonly played chess format in United States. The Swiss-system tournament can accommodate many players. In this system, no one is eliminated. As you continue to win game, you will face stronger opponents. As a result, the participants, who are not successful, end by playing against each other. In Swiss-system tournament, the pairing is done in a way that a player is not paired with any other player more than once. Secondly, Players with the same score are paired whenever possible and thirdly, Colors are assigned to players by the director as fairly as possible. Alternating colors is the ideal. So this practice became very popular and is followed in most of the chess tournaments.

Keeps & Moats Chess Software

Keeps & Moats is 4-player classic chess software. Keeps & Moats uses a unique chess board which will adjusts its movement and capture new rules to create a new game of chess. In Keeps & Moats chess game is more fast and aggressive. Here chess became a war game. Keeps & Moats is developed by Matt Worden. Keeps & Moats provides 3 Different types of Alliance and 3 Different King Capture Results. There are 9 different variations to play the game of chess. Here each of the four colors can be played by human or a computer opponent. Keeps & Moats also provides an option for online chess play or over other TCP/IP Network. Here game saving and loading facility is also available.

Analog chess clocks

Clocks are the most important part of the modern world chess. In early days, Analog clocks were used to keep a track of the total time taken by the player for his own moves. Analog clocks are equipped with a flag (a Dutch invention) which falls to show that the player time has expired. When a player physically presses the button, the movement of his clock stops and thus releases the hold on his opponent's clock. The main drawbacks of the analog clock are that they are less accurate and there is mismatching between two clocks and the indicators of time expiration. Now days, digital clocks are gaining popularity. They are more accurate and more reliable. Nevertheless some people like to use analog clock because a malfunctioning analog clock is a less serious event than a malfunctioning digital clock.

Grünfeld Defence

1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6
3. Nc3 d5


This opening may seem to be similar to that of the Queen's Gambit and the King's Indian Defense, but actually this opening is totally different from the Queen's Gambit and the King's Indian Defense. Here Black provides an early opportunity to White to gain control over the center of chess with 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4. Now black shows its true power by launching a counter attack against that center, perhaps with ...c5 and thus stopping White from gaining an upper hand in the game. If Black succeeds in its motive, then the White Center may indeed be very vulnerable, if Blacks fails, the center will be very dominating.

King's Indian Defense

1.d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6
3.Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6


King's Indian Defense became popular after World War II. In King's Indian Defense, opposite sides strategies in a race between Black's mating attack vs. White's methodical attempts to unravel Black's Queenside. There is some concern in World Class level that Black's concept is very committal, which leads the Former Champion Garry Kasparov to end his use of opening shortly before he retires from the game. King's Indian Defense is still popular at any level below that due to the deep developmental work by Fischer and Kasparov.

SCANDINAVIAN DEFENCE

1. e4 d5, usually followed by
2. exd5 Qxd5
3. Nc3 Qa5


The main idea for Black in most of the semi open games is to play d7-d5. Here it is played immediately for the price of an extra move with the queen after 3.Nc3Long disparaged as the epitome of weak play "because moving the queen early wastes time," it was resurrected in the 1990s with a pawn move c7-c6, allowing the queen to retreat from a5 to c7 when necessary. Now it is considered an attempt to reduce White's central pressure, and is popular among club players because White suddenly has to demonstrate some sophistication.

Pirc Defence

1. e4 d6, usually followed by
2. d4 Nf6
3. Nc3 g6

This opening could be considered similar another opening called the King's Indian, which begins 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7. However, in long run, strategic differences exist between the King's Indian and the Pirc Defense. In this Pirc Defense, White's c-file pawn is still at home, and not committed to the c4 square. So, overall we can say that White has a better control of the d4 square as compare to Black's. The pawn moves c2-c4 has been replaced by a developing piece move N-c3, and this "faster" development tends to encourage White towards central or kingside attacks compared with the queenside play classically associated with the King's Indian defense.

Danish Gambit

1. e4 e5
2. d4 exd4
3. c3 dxc3
4. Bc4 cxb2
5. Bxb2

As we know that the best technique to takes a leading edge in the game of chess is to conquer the center of the chess board. So, this Danish Gambit opening technique helps you in gaining the control over the center of chess at the cost of two pawns. However, current opinion reports that to properly beat off the attacking waves, at least one and sometimes both pawns must be returned. This involves the liberating pawn push ...d5 by Black. Even so, inventive attacking players can still use the resulting open lines to play a complex game.

CHESS OPENINGS: PHILIDOR DEFENCE

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 d6

This is the best way to defend the threatened pawn with a pawn (playing 2...f6? is plain bad). It provides black with a Solid but somewhat confined position. The F8 bishop is hemmed. This F8 bishop is designated a defensive role. The black Knight leaves the C-Pawn mobile and Retains its option of going to d7, but it is not without reason that 2...Nc6 is much more common than 2...d6.so, this is somewhat a very good opening technique that can be implemented in modern chess competitions.

French Defense

In the French Defense, Black generally surrenders the control of the center and let White have more control over center but it builds a strong wall of defense using pawns. The French Defense starts as:
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5
Games generally involve jockeying for position. This way the center usually gets closed and there are two competing pawn chains. A sort of contest starts between the two players and each to outflank the other. It starts with White trying to play e5; Black defends and tries to play c5 or f6. In the process, Black's queen Bishop often becomes trapped and useless, and it's known as the "French Bishop".

Caro-Kann

Similar to French defence, this move is an improvement over French defence. In this too, Black surrenders control of the center to White and tries to get a pawn at d5.
Caro-Kann starts out as:
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5
The main line of the Caro-Kann is
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4
The difference between French Defence and Caro –Kann is that Black eliminates one of White's central pawns and thus is in a position to get his pieces developed. This is an improvement over the French Defence. However there is a drawback too. In this move Black's pieces end up playing a passive defensive role, so players who choose this opening are hoping for White to commit an error.

CONTROL THE CENTRE

The centre square of the chess board is very important. This is because of two reasons, firstly, the pieces in the centre have more squares to move than the pieces present on the edges. (Note a knight on c3 can move to 8, whereas a knight on a3 can move to only 4 squares). Secondly, if we have control over the centre, we can easily move pieces from king side to queen side. It is rightly said in chess that if center is not sufficiently controlled, our attacks along one win g is destined to fail. This is because the defender with a strong centre will generally be able to muster enough defenses on that side and at the same time mount a counterattack in the centre and/or on the other wing. So, one should have strong control over the centre of chess board.

CHESS SOFTWARE

If you want to improve your skills for any game, the only way is to just practice against a tough opponent. There are many chess software that provides you various skill levels against computer and help you learn more and more about the game of chess. These softwares are designed for beginners to intermediates to experts and beyond. They help you learn chess quickly by providing you with a user friendly environment. For beginners, “Think like a King” is available. For advance chess training, “Chess Opening Professional Wizard “is there which helps you to learn and master chess opening theory.” Fritz 11 Chess Playing Software” provides you with numerous coaching functions, adjusting its playing strength that can match your strength.

CHESS OPENINGS: PETROFF'S DEFENCE

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nf6
Earlier, The Petroff Defense was treated as a counter attack. However, it soon became an excellent opening with symmetrical nature producing defensive positions. It is considered quite solid, and is a key defensive opening against the dangerous first move 1. e4 There are a few gambits which White can try to shift the style of the opening. The Cochrane gambit is perhaps the most dangerous. It involves a Knight sacrifice on f7. Currently not considered objectively sound, its use is psychological: White dares the opponent to spend twenty moves defending against an attack, and this pressure may cause the Black player to finally fall victim to a tactical shot.

CHESS CLOCK

All players who want to develop their career in chess and wants to participate in various chess tournaments and competitions should buy a chess clock. Chess clock consists of two clocks, such that both the clocks are not running simultaneously. These are used in two player game, in which the player moves in turn. They are used to keep a record of the total time taken by a player for his own moves. The first time chess clocks were used in 1883, in London. These clocks are used in chess format known as “Sudden Death”, in which a player has to make a number of moves in a certain amount of time. Another format is “blitz chess” in which a player is given five minutes for the entire game.

Chess 960

Chess 960 was developed in June 19, 1996 at Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was developed by former World Champion Bobby Fischer. Chess 960 is also known as Fischer Random Chess. It was developed by Shuffle Chess so that castling is possible for all starting positions. This chess invariant emphasizes on the talent and the creativity of the person, rather than memorizing various traditional chess openings. This is done by randomizing initially various chess positions. Before the game starts, the pieces are randomly placed. These positions are subjected to certain rules and regulations. After this, the game is played like a normal chess game. In this, pieces and pawns have normal moves and the objective of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king.

ALEKHINE DEFENCE

Alekhine Defence is a King’s Side Defence .In this knights are used by the Black to lure White's pawns forward which makes them object of attack. White's P-K4 (move 1wb, left) is countered by Black’s Kt-KB. This move tempts White into a Four Pawns Attack (move 5w) facing combined knights on the queen's side (move 6b, right). Though the defence is slightly in favour of white as it has an imposing centre but Black has the advantage of exerting great pressure on White. This ensures that there is no early opportunity to castle.

The pictures above better illustrate the principle of Aleknine’s defence.

Queen's Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6
2.c4 e6
3.Nf3 b6

Strategically, this opening is similar to the Nimzo-Indian. White has played 3.Nf3 rather than
3.Nc3 so he is not threatening to grab the center with 4.e4 just yet. Playing the Nimzo-like 3...Bb4+
anyway is possible (and called the Bogo-Indian) and tends to lead to rather quiet play. More usual is
3...b6 which opens up for the bishop to go to b7 where it will continue the clamp-down on the e4-
square, or to a6 where it will put pressure on White's pawn on c4.

Nimzo-Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6

2.c4 e6

3.Nc3 Bb4

After 3.Nc3, White threatens to take control over the centre by playing 4.e4. The Nimzo-

Indian, named after the hypermodern player Aron Nimzowitch, is one of the two main ways of

Preventing this (the other way is the direct 3...d5 which leads to the Queen's Gambit Declined).

Black puts a bishop where it pins the White knight, and often intends to trade it off, surrendering the Bishop pair but inflicting White with doubled pawns if needed to recapture with the b-pawn. White can avoid these doubled pawns by playing the queen to c2, but this costs time. On the other hand, Black has not staked out a big claim of the centre yet, and White can get a real space advantage if Black is careless.

Sicilian defence moves

Sicilian defence moves-This move is a specialization at beginning of the game, varying widely in character from quiet positional play to very aggressive. This move comprises of following stages;

Ø Development: To place the bishops and knights on useful squares where they will have an optimal impact on the game.

Ø Control of the center: Control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily, and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent.

Ø King safety: Keeping the King safe from dangerous possibilities. A correct timing for castling can often enhance this.

Ø Pawn structure: Players often avoid the pawn weaknesses such as isolated, doubled or backward pawns, and pawn islands – and to force such weaknesses in the opponent's position.

'Qa1 x d4' move

The moving piece can only move to any square before it in the special chess moves. Suppose a white Queen is positioned on a1 (Qa1) and a black Bishop is placed on d4 (Bd4). If it is WHITE'S move then he can capture the Bd4, for this move one necessary condition has to be satisfied that the squares b2 and c3 should be empty. To do this, enemy BISHOP is removed and QUEEN of self side is to be placed at d4. We denote this move by 'Qa1 x d4' (or simply 'Qxd4'). This means 'The Queen at a1 captures (something) at d4'. If there was no capture we would write 'Qa1 - d4' (or simply 'Qd4').

The ‘en passant’ move

The ‘en passant’ move- This move can only be used on the very next move after the pawn is advanced 2 spaces. For example - BLACK has a pawn at d4, suppose WHITE moves his e2-pawn to e4; if the WHITE had moved to e3 at the same time, the BLACK d4 pawn could be able to capture it, so now he can capture en-passant on his next move. But if BLACK decides to make another move instead, he gives up his right to capture. However, there is a special case for this - if an enemy pawn could have captured it, if it had only moved 1 square, the enemy is still able to capture.

A 'pawn' trick..!!

One of the major uses of the pawns is that if you can get your pawn to the other side of the board, he can be promoted. This means that you can replace the pawn with any same coloured piece you want with the exception of a king or pawn. There are some other situations in chess that sums up while the game is in its last phase. For instance, a game can very easily end in a draw. This can happen when neither side has enough material to checkmate the opponent. This would happen if one player had a Bishop and King while another had only a King - no matter how many times you try you cannot get the opponent into checkmate so the game ends in a draw.

The ‘castling’ move

The ‘castling’ move - The King can make a special chess move called 'castling' and it is recommended that you do this during the opening phase of the game. This is a defensive move which increase the safety of the King. Castling has two forms - 'short' and 'long'. Say the white King is on e1 with the white Rook on h1.You can make the move called short castling by moving the King to g1 and the Rook to f1. This move does have some restrictions - the squares in between the Rook and King must be empty, neither the Kind or Rook can have been moved before nor the King cannot be in check. Even though you move two pieces, this is considered to be one move.

Introduction to Chess Board..!!

To describe the events on the Chessboard briefly a name has been given to every one of the 64 squares. The eight lines, running upwards, are successively designated by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and the eight rows running from left to right, are successively designated by the letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h. For pawns they can only capture a piece that is placed diagonally in front of them. Also, on its initial move, a pawn can move up two squares instead of just one. However, there is a special case for this - if an enemy pawn is captured in one move instead of two, that move can be later used to capture the enemy.

Selling chess sets in your town

What would it be if you are selling chess sets in your own town? What marketing strategy are you up to and where are your suppliers come from? When you want to sell chess sets all over the town, you must first identify your competitors nearby who are selling chess sets and products too. It's a business plan like no other that when it comes to strategies, it is difficult to handle and apply it, even in just words.

People are relying to uniqueness of a chess set you want to sell, and the cheap price as well. Good quality and durability is also included. They are also relying on which supplier are you affiliated to, and it's a big difference like no other. The important thing is, you have generated sales on your chess sets within your town.