- Lesson One: The rules of the game 1 : The Board
Figure 1
A standard chess board consist of 64 squares. 32 white squares and 32 black squares. Each square on the board has a specific notation as seen by the numbers and letters on the edges of the board. The white pieces in the starting position go on rows 1-2 and the black pieces go on rows 7 and 8. These rows and columns have special names called ranks and files respectively. We recognize these files as "the second rank" or "the f file". The eighth and first ranks are known as the "back ranks". Once we get into notation and game analysis we will come back to these terms. Additionally we also highlight the various diagonals on the chess board. We would recognize the longest black and white diagonals on the board as the "a1-h8 diagonal" or the "h1-a8 diagonal". Once again these terms will be more clear when we begin game analysis.
Figure 2
This is the starting position of a game of chess. Each game will start in this exact position every time no matter what. We observe that the pawns of white go horizontally on the second rank and the black pawns go on the 7th rank. The knights go on the b and g files while bishops go on the f and c files. The white and black queen always goes on the d file on their own color. The white and black king is always placed on the e file on the back ranks. It is useful to memorize this position now from both sides.
HOMEWORK
Follow the below link and set up the chess board by dragging and dropping the pieces. Start slow then go as fast as possible until perfection.
http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-diagram-generator.php?fen=8/8/8/8/8/8/8/8
Next lesson : The pieces
