How Does the King Capture?

 Remember the set up of the chess board game.  In another blog, we talked about the subject we are continuing - Chess in 30 Minutes. Lets look again at the set up of the entire chess board.

Starting Chess Board Set Up

A King's moves are limited and for that and other reasons, he is the most valuable of all the chess pieces. We'll talk about that in another blog.

Right now look and see how the White and Black Kings are placed at the very start of the game. They are both in the center of the back row. They both face each other from the opposite sides of the board.

Now that seems ominous, but there is a reason for these standard positions that we can discover from this initial starting places. Think about the reasons the Kings may have to start up this way.

The next diagram shows the King has a choice of capturing either of the black pieces. He places himself where the opponent piece was. This is called capturing. Which one of those pieces would be the most beneficial for the Kings side if he were to capture it?

King can capture the Bishop or the Knight

The King is the most valuable, but also the most vulnerable as we will discuss later. There is chess history and the chess pieces that add to your understanding chess and knowing that information enables you to make good, solid strategies.
much research behind

Good strategies start with getting as much information as you need to understand the subject, in this case, the King. Think about it like this - how would you move and what is your strategic intent if you want to win.

Have fun learning!

Center - King and Queen

marblechessboard.com

The King Plays Chess

There is only one King for each chess player. In order to know how to play chess, you need to know what to do with each chess piece. The King piece can move spaces and can capture other pieces. The King can move only one square in any direction. That is forward, backward and sideward, but also diagonal. See this diagram where the X shows the direction the King may move and that he can only move 1 square at a time. Do not forget that the King piece moves only one space, so he will need to protect himself.

How a King piece moves

The King moves very slow and needs time to plan his move way in advance. If he protects himself then he protects his "court" or kingdom, however you choose to look at it.

Capturing is the process of making a move to land on another pieces's spot for the purpose of taking the opponent piece out of the game. It goes without saying that you need to make sure the one you are taking out of the game is not your own piece. Actually you can not do that anyway.

So ... if the King is on a square and another opponent piece lands right next to him, he can capture, or take that opponent piece out of the game.

Just remember that the King can not move to a space right next to an opponent and expect to capture him instantly - of course the other piece has the next move and can capture him. That is unless - the piece is unable to move in the direction of the King.

Gothic Style
King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, Pawn

That is why you need to learn the moves of the chess pieces, because you can sneak up on an opponent very easily. Once you learn chess and memorize all the ways a chess piece can move, you can plan a really good strategy.

marblechessboard.com

Mom's Strategy Books Disappear

Mom always kept books, the one book I came across took me a long time to find though. It was a small book, dated 1955. It was a book by E. S. Howe on "Chess in 30 minutes." I like to collect things like that on chess and board games and I was really distressed that the next time I went to see her it had disappeared. Now imagine my anxiety when I thought about where Mom had put other things.

One time my son, Craig, had brought all his snacks over to eat while he helped Grandpa cut cordwood.  All of a sudden he realized that his snacks were not where he left them. Of course I told him that it serves him right for not putting things "up". But anyway he went down to buy some more because he realized that Grandma had "put them away." Later, way later, that day they found them - in the microwave oven, and sure enough, Grandma had eaten some, but not all. They were energy bars full of protein and my son was worried that Grandma had eaten too many because "she had a lot more energy than normal."

Why did she put them in the microwave? My other family asked that question. Well, think about her way of thinking: it is food, it is going to be eaten soon by my son, food needs to be cooked, therefore the quickest way to accomplish all this is to put it in the microwave. I have no idea if she turned the microwave on or not. We are still chuckling over this. I have not yet figured out why she left them in the bag, but I am assuming she forgot to finish her task.

If you follow a possible train of thought, it does make sense. But it also shows that the brain waves can really get mixed up and take a completely insensible route sometimes. But there is always a reason, there is always some kind of path. If mom could, she would retrain her mind. She always talked about the fact that it is possible to "retrain" and would talk much about how to accomplish that by certain exercises connected to other body systems like eye/hand coordination. The point is is that the brain is a marvelous creation and needs to be protected and if possible, retrained.

Anyway, the short of the story is that the book "mysteriously" showed up, my Dad grabbed it and gave it to me. I now get to make use of it and have a good memory with it. So I'll address that book in another post on learning chess and chess moves.

Here is a picture of my Mom and Dad. I feel loved seeing the love in their faces.