Electives

  
 

 

Chess as a Sports Elective

The Sports department of the University of Technology offer Chess as an Elective. The objective of this programme is to teach the students the names of the pieces, how to set up the chess board, the rules of the games, how to checkmate, the openings, middle game, final and the tactics and strategies of the game. They will learn how to fork, to pin, the invisible play, the shortest checkmate, the sacrifice, etc.

The game of chess is very interesting. When a person is learning how to play they can spend hours and hours playing, because it is fun and you also want to prove yourself. Sometimes some students play four and five hours with a short break . When you learn how to play, your mind get so deeply involved with the game that you don’t want to stop playing. It will make you do a lot of analysis which is a fantastic training for the brain. Chess players always say that they improve their thinking after they learn the game.

The game of chess is a battle between two armies where the two contenders need to do very intelligent manouvre. The pieces of the games are the “King” which is the most valuable piece, the “Queen” the most powerful and a valued piece, The “Rooks” the one with most power and value after the queen, the “Bishops” and the “Knight” that have more or less the same power and value, and the “Pawns” which have the least power and value .

Article 1: The chessboard

  1. The game of chess is played by two opponents moving the game pieces on a square board called a “chessboard"

  2. The chessboard is comprised of 64 squares, alternating between black and white squares.

  3. The chessboard is placed between the players in such a way that the near corner to the right of each player is white.

  4. The eight vertical rows of squares are called “ files”

  5. The eight horizontal rows of squares are called “ranks”

  6. The lines of squares of the same colour, touching corner to corner, are called “diagonals”

Article 2: The pieces

  1. At the beginning of the game , one player has 16 light –coloured pieces( the “white” pieces ), the other has 16 dark-coloured pieces ( the "black" pieces ).

  2. These pieces are as follows:

    1. A white king : K A black king : k

    2. A white queen: Q A black queen: q

    3. Two white rooks: R two black rooks: r

    4. Two white knights: N two black knight: n

    5. Two white bishops: B two black bishops: b

    6. Eight white pawns: P eight black pawns: p

The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows:

R

n

b

q

K

b

n

 r

p

p  

p

p

p

p

p

p

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

p

p

p

p

p

p

p

p

r

n

b

q

k

b

n

r

 

Article 3 : The Right to move

  1. The player with the white pieces commences the game. The players alternate in making one move at a time until the game is completed.

  2. A player is said to “have the move " when his opponent’s move has been completed .

Article 4 : The general Definition of the move .

  1. With the exception of castling ( article 5.1 b) , a move is the transfer by a player of one of his pieces from one square to another square which is either vacant or occupied by an opponent’s piece.

    [ A capture is therefore, merely a certain type of move ]

  2. No piece, except the rook when castling ( article 5.1(b) ) and the knight (article 5.5). may cross a square occupied by another piece.

  3. A piece played to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece captures it as part of the same move . The captured piece must be removed immediately from the chessboard by the player making the capture ( see article 5.6© for capturing “ en passant")

Article 5: The moves of the pieces

  1. The king.

    1. except when castling , the king moves to any adjoining square that is not attacked by an opponent ’s piece

    2. Castling is move of the king and either rook , counting as a single move of the king and executed as follows: the king is transferred from its original square two squares toward either rook on the same rank, then that rook is transferred over the king to the square the king has just crossed.

  2. The queen

    1. The queen moves to any square (except as limited by article 4.2) [ no leapfrogging ] on the file ,rank, or diagonals on which it stands.

  3. The Rook

    1. The rook moves to any square ( except as limited by article 4.2 ) on the file or rank on which it stands.

  4. The Bishop.

    1. Moves to any square ( except as limited by article 4.2) on the diagonal on which it stands

  5. The knight .

    1. The knight’s move is composed of two different steps; first, it makes one step of one single square along its rank or file ,and then (still moving away from the square of departure) one step of one single square on a diagonal . It does not matter if the square of the first step is occupied( the knight is the only piece that can leap above other pieces , while the other pieces need the way to be clear. If another piece is blocking the move of any piece that want to move it cannot move , but if an opponent piece is blocking the other opponent piece the opponent can capture it if it is convenient)

  6. The pawn:

    1. Move only forward , except when making a capture, if an opponent piece is blocking it , the pawn cannot move forward . It can move one or two square from the starting position if the player decide it is best for him .

    2. On reaching the last rank the pawn must immediately be exchanged for any other piece, king, rook, bishop, queen or the knight. That decision is taken by the player.

There are more rules about the game. The game of chess is very easy to learn, the most difficult thing is to win because it is a battle between two different brains, requires a lot of thinking , a lot of mental work, that is why the players can expend hours and hours without noticing it.

The game of chess can be used to cope with stress , because when you are playing all the worries are block . Your mind is deeply involved in the game. In the game of chess you need to know what your opponent is thinking , what will be his next play and how you are going to defend yourself from his next play. You need to think like him and you also need to think which will be your next best play. It is a game of war between two intelligences, and the smartest one is the winner .

To play chess you need to be very patient. Sometimes in your next move you may have few good plays but you need to chose the best one. If you do not play the best one you may lose a good opportunity and you need to think a lot to play the right move . If you do not make the right choice your opponent may get the opportunity to defend himself from your mistake, and that mean that you were not smart enough. Chess is like a puzzle. It is like the game of cat and mouse . You need to capture the opponent pieces and the opponent need to do the same . The most pieces you capture will allow the victory to be on your side. The opponent is watching your errors and you are doing the same .

The game of chess was a game for the rich people in the past. It was for kings, scholars , dignitaries, and talented people. The people that played chess in the past were considered well educated. It gave them prestige and they were seen as wise and intelligent. All scientist also were very familiar with the game of chess . You could meet people of high rank by just knowing how to play chess very well . I had that beautiful experience in my home town in Cuba. I met all the rich people, the business men, the doctors. They asked for me and they invited me to their houses, etc . I was a little poor guy. Just thanks to the game of chess .

At present, some chess players play against a computer. The former world champion, the Russian, Gary Gasparo had played against a computer and had beaten the computer. He has also lost games playing against the computer but that is an example of how chess is well admired and love.

My recommendation to all the students is to try chess in an effort to challenge your brain and your intelligence, but most of all to enjoy this great game called chess.

Good luck .

Osbourn Samuels
Chess lecturer

To win the match the opponent need to checkmate the other opponent , and this checkmate is done when the opponent King has been attacked with another piece and can not deffend itself . then the opponent can capture the opponent King and that is called checkmate.