An Illustration of the Power of the Queen – How the Pieces Give Check
We all know that the Queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard. What some beginners (and even some intermediate players) don’t appreciate is the great trouble the Queen can create for the other player. I want to try to give you an idea of how the Queen can be used by showing you how many ways a Queen can make trouble against the enemy King.
To show you the Queen’s great power, I will first show you a feature of the other pieces that they have in common. The Bishop, Knight, and Rook can all give check to the enemy King in at most two ways in any given position.
How to Draw a Chess Game
This article is about the rules for how to draw a chess game.
A draw is a tie … neither player wins. Though a draw against a very strong player can feel very much like a win. You will often hear chess players brag of their draws … (“I got a draw against such and such grandmaster”).
How a chess game ends in a draw
There are five ways to end a chess game in a draw:
- Insufficient material to mate
- Stalemate
- Threefold repetition of position
- The fifty-move rule
- By agreement
Insufficient material to mate
In order to win the game, one side must have at least two minor pieces (the Bishop and the Knight are referred to as “minor” pieces; the Queen and Rooks are called “major” pieces), a Rook, or a Queen. Keep in mind, however, that if there is a Pawn on the board, there is always sufficient material for a mate because the Pawn could be promoted to a Queen. Bare Kings, King and Bishop against King, or King and Knight against King is a draw because there is not sufficient mating material. The stronger side must have at least King and Queen; King and Rook; King and two Bishops; or King, Bishop, and Knight. (King and two Knights against King is not enough to force mate, but that subject is beyond the scope of this article.)
Stalemate
The game is a draw if either King is stalemated. A stalemate occurs when the King is not in check, but has no legal moves. In the diagram below, if it is Black’s move, he has no legal move; Black is stalemated and the game is a draw. If it is White’s move, however, the game is not a draw, because Qe2 would be checkmate.
Threefold repetition of position
If the same position occurs three times on the chessboard with the same player to move (and the same castling and capturing privileges [the en passant capture might be a factor]), the game is a draw. “Perpetual check,” where one side repeatedly checks the enemy king over and over in an endless cycle, is a draw because of the threefold repetition rule.
The fifty move rule
If the players have made 50 moves without moving a Pawn, capturing a piece, or either side delivering checkmate, the game is a draw. This might occur in the more difficult checkmates (Bishop and Knight against King or King and Queen against King and Rook). It doesn’t occur very often.
By agreement of the players
By far the most common way of drawing a game is where the players agree to a draw. This occurs because the players foresee that the game will inevitably end in a draw by one of the other methods. In such a situation the rules allow the players to end the game as a draw by agreement.
How should I offer a draw?
The proper way to offer a draw to your opponent is to say, “I offer a draw,” then make your move, and punch your clock. The opponent then has as much time as he wishes to consider your draw offer … as long as his flag hasn’t fallen! Some players will offer a draw on their move and look at their opponent, expecting an answer. If you are going to wait for an answer, wait for it with your opponent’s clock running! And if you offer a draw, you have to wait for an answer. 
If you have offered a draw and your opponent makes a move without responding, he has rejected the draw offer and it’s off the table. He can’t “accept” your draw offer two moves later.
Be sure to visit my chess store, Shop For Chess, for my recommended chess books and equipment!
Tags: chess beginner, chess draw, chess for beginners, chess rules, how to play chess
How to Play Chess – Rules of Check
Before we finish our review of the rules of chess, we have to look at the concept of check.
What is check?
Check is any attack against a King. If a piece or pawn could capture the King on the next move, then the King is “in check.” The rules require that the King get out of check immediately. The rules also prohibit the King from moving into check or making any move that exposes him to check.
The rules of castling also prohibit the King from castling into check or through check (i.e., moving the King during the castling move across a square that is attacked by an enemy piece). The rules of castling also prohibit the King from castling out of check.
So in general, the King is in check whenever he could be captured by an enemy pawn or piece. A check must be dealt with immediately, and the King may never move into check.
How do I get out of check?
There are only three ways to get out of check:
- Move the King to a square that is not attacked by an enemy piece;
- Interpose a piece between the checking piece and the King (this doesn’t work against a check from a Pawn or Knight);
- Capture the checking piece.
Special checks
There are two types of check that are especially dangerous. One is the discovered check. A discovered check occurs when an enemy piece that was blocking a check against the enemy King moves out of the way, thus revealing or discovering the check. I show an example of this on the video. This is dangerous because the piece that discovers the check is often free to pick off material that would normally be off limits.
The other especially dangerous check is double check. Double check occurs when two pieces give check to the King at the same time. When this occurs, there is only one way out of the check … the King must move. That can be extremely dangerous to the enemy King’s health … or to yours if your opponent can deliver double check to your King.
Next time we’ll look at checkmate … and then start a series of articles on how to checkmate.
If you’re interested in getting ahead of your competitors on learning how to checkmate, be sure to get the wonderful book Learn Chess: A Complete Course
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