Chess: The Basics Trivia Quiz

Answer: The King

The King can only move one square at a time. He is the only piece you can put in checkmate. All other pieces can be taken by putting one of your pieces on the same space as it. Taking an opponent's piece removes it from play entirely.

Answer: Two spaces horizontally or vertically, then one space at a 90 degee angle to the direction it just moved

Think of it as an L shape. The knight is also the only piece that can move over pieces in its path. Due to this odd pattern, the knight can travel over every single space on the board in what's known as a "Knight's Tour". It alternates residing on black and white spaces every other turn and some knight's tours have interesting mathematical properties. Alternately, the knight can also move one space initially, then move two spaces at a 90 degree angle to that.

Answer: In any of the eight directions, as long as there are no pieces in the way

The queen is the most powerful piece in the game, with the king being the most important. Her long range and ability to move quickly about the board gives her most of the captures during a normal game of chess. The queen is also occasionally sacrificed as a distraction for another piece making a very advantageous move which leads to mate or a decisive advantage.

Answer: 8

These pawns span the second and seventh ranks of the board, (a line of eight squares across the board's width) which you move through their specific file. (A file is a line of eight squares spanning the distance between the edge closest to you and the edge closest to your opponent) The only way to get a pawn out of its starting file is to take another piece with it, as the pawn can only move forward, and takes pieces at a forward diagonal to it.

Answer: A player's king is not in check, but the player has no legal move

As an example, consider a lone white king on the edge of the board with a black king two spaces away from it on the same file with a black queen next to it on the same rank. The white king is not directly in check and neither can he move as all squares around him are controlled by black pieces.

Answer: Moving the king two squares toward the rook and placing the rook on the space the king crossed over

Castling is often important to do near the beginning of the game, as it moves the king towards the sides of the board where he is less available for check, and swaps the rook to the middle of the board where it will have more ability to move.

Answer: Kibitz

To Kibitz is to make comments about the game you are spectating. It is a major violation of chess etiquette and can get you kicked out of the venue.

Answer: Two boards work on teams and give their partner taken pieces

Each team consists of a white player and a black player, and each player takes pieces from their respective opponent and gives them to their teammate to place wherever they choose on the board. This placement, however, counts as a move.

Answer: False

You can only move your pawn 2 spaces forward the first time you move it. After that you can only move 1 space forward.

Answer: The Turk

The Turk actually was a hoax, believe it or not. The machine itself was a cabinet with a "robotic" Turk statue which would play chess against a human, but the true power behind The Turk was a human chess master concealed inside that cabinet who used a mechanical device to control the Turk.