Lost on a Chess Board Trivia Quiz

Answer: A white pawn

There are sixty-four squares on a chessboard, and they each have their own letter and number. The files (columns) are indicated by letters "a" through to "h" and the ranks (rows) are shown by the numbers "1" to "8". White pawns are placed all along the second rank, black pawns along the seventh rank. The white king is on e1, the black king on e8.

Answer: Directly put a king in check

The king can capture any piece, but cannot put the king in check (except through discovered check, where a piece moves out the way and another piece puts the king in check because of the piece moving out of the way). Kings can move any direction they like (just like a queen) but only one space at a time (like a pawn).

The king can also castle with a rook (castling is a form of move, different from the alternative name of a rook: a castle) - to do this the king moves two spaces in the direction of the rook, and the rook "jumps" over him. There are some conditions to when this can be done: the king and rook must not have moved, the king must not be in check or move through check and there must be no pieces between the rook and king. Castling was designed to help protect a king by moving it behind a "wall" of pawns.

Answer: On the pawn's first move it can move forward two spaces.

Pawns do not need a capital "P" before the squares they move from and to, so "d7-d5" means a pawn moved from d7 to d5. Pawns capture diagonally, and indeed they are only normally allowed to move forward one space at a time. However, on the pawn's first go, not your first go, you can move it forward two spaces.

Because of this rule, a rule called "en passant" was also invented. It said that if a pawn could have been captured by another pawn if it had moved one space, but instead moved forwards two spaces, then that pawn could be captured on their very next go. An example of this would be d2-d4 followed by d4xd3 (as if the initial move had just been one square).

Answer: He moved a knight without capturing.

The voice is telling me what my opponent did in (arguably) the easiest form of notation. The "N" stands for knight ("K" is used for king) and h8 and g6 are both squares on the chess board. The "-" means that pieced moved to that square so "Nh8-g6" means that knight moved from h8 to g6. Knights move one space forward, and two spaces to the side, or two spaces forward and one to the side. If the knight had captured a piece an "x" would have replaced the hyphen, and if had been check a plus sign would have appeared at the end. For checkmate, "#" is added at the end of the move (sometimes "++" is used).

Answer: My bishop (on f1)

The queen on h4 is attacking my king. This is called "giving check". When you are in check, you must do one of the three following options: move your king (in this case Ke1-e2), capture the piece attacking (Nf3xh4) or interpose a piece - put a piece in the way (g2-g3).

Answer: When one of my pawns reaches rank one or eight.

When a pawn reaches the last rank (one or eight), it cannot move forward anymore, so the pawn promotion rule was made. Pawns that reach the last rank can be replace with a piece of that player's choice, except another pawn or a king. This new piece will start on the same square as the pawn ended, e.g. a white pawn on d8 gets swapped for a queen on d8.

This is recorded like this: d7-d8Q (some forms of notation would write d7-d8=Q or d7-d8/Q). A queen is usually best, but sometimes a knight can be best as it can move in ways the queen can't, and if a queen would cause stalemate but a rook or bishop wouldn't, then it would be best to promote to one of them.

Answer: endgame

There are three main parts of a chess game: opening, middlegame and endgame. There are no exact definitions but rather some general criteria. The opening is where there are only a few pieces developed and few (if any) captured. The middlegame is where most pieces have been developed, some exchanges have taken place, players may have castled and the queens and rooks should start playing a bigger role.

The endgame is where most pieces have been captured, and any remaining pieces on the board become a lot more important, including kings. Pawns are more easily promoted in this stage.

A game can finish before the endgame, and sometimes even before the middlegame.

Answer: When a king is checkmated.

Checkmate is where a king is placed under attack, and there is no way for the king to get out of the attack. The player placed in checkmate loses the game, even if they have more pieces, or more valuable pieces.

Castling helps prevent checkmate, it is where the king moves one space to the left, and the rook jumps over it. There are a few conditions on when you can do this: the king and castle must not have moved and the king cannot be in check or pass through check.

Answer: Me

Rooks and castles are both names for the piece that can move side to side and up and down any number of spaces (unless a piece is in the way).

For seeing who has most valuable pieces, I use one of the most widely accepted scoring systems. The queen is worth nine, a castle is worth five, knights and bishops are three, and a pawn is only worth one. Most systems have similar numbers, some with queens worth ten and two bishops together being worth seven. Kings are not included because they have to be in the game at all times. My pieces have a value of seventeen, and my opponent has pieces worth fifteen points. Even though my opponent has more pieces (my opponent has five pieces and I have only three), I have more valuable pieces so my pieces are better. However, depending on where the pieces are placed on the board, my opponent could be in a better situation, especially if the pawns are near to promotion.

Answer: King and knight

If you have a queen or a rook, you can win the game. If you have a pawn, you can win the game by promoting into a queen or rook. Two bishops or a bishop with a knight can also win.

Luckily, I manage to trap my opponent in a corner and with help from the king my rook puts the black king in checkmate.