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A Quick Guide to the Rules of Tournament Chess May 22, 2019

Chess Pieces Moves – An illustrated guide

In a game of chess, there are six different chess pieces or chessmen used on chessboards. These are King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, and Pawn. On a chessboard, a chess player starts playing with 16 pieces of chessmen either with white sides of pieces or black(dark) side of pieces. Every rated game contains 1 each extra pair of queen for pawn promotion. Even the chess equipments which are used is a standard tournament chess set approved by FIDE.

King Movement

The king, without any doubt, is the most important piece in chess. The purpose of the game is to capture the opponent’s king so that its escape becomes impossible, which is also called “checkmate” in chess term. If an opponent’s king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in checkmate. Although the king is the most important piece, it is also one of the weakest pieces in the game.

This must be taken into consideration that white always starts with the king on the first rank to the right of the queen. Black stands directly opposite to the white’s king. With the squares labeled as in algebraic notation, the white king starts on e1 and black on e8. As shown in the diagram below, the king can move only one square in any direction. An interesting point to note about this rule is that two kings can never stand next to each other or capture each other. Though a king may be, and often are, used to help to checkmate the opposing king by guarding squares. The moment of King is generally described by the letter K.

Queen Movement

The Queen is, without a doubt, the most powerful piece on the chessboard. She can move with the combination of both bishop and rook in any direction (barring any obstruction). In the diagram below, the green dots indicate the squares the queen may move. She can cover 27 squares. This is a healthy percentage of the board, 42 percent.

This is a reason that in almost every chess game, the pawn is promoted to a queen. In a chessboard, a white queen sits on a white square and the black queen starts on a black square.

The Queen is described by Q. In algebraic notation, the white Queen starts on d1 and the black queen starts on d8. The queen can be moved in any number of unoccupied squares, expect Knight’s move, in vertically, horizontally and diagonally.

Bishop Movement

The bishop sits next to King and Queen in the chess game. It may move

any number of squares in a diagonal direction (barring any obstruction). Each player begins the game with two bishops, one on White Square and one on Dark Square. Because they move only diagonally, they always remain on the same colored squares.

They may not jump over the pieces like a knight, but together they can cover a large area and can limit the opponent’s movement.

The Bishop is generally described by B. In algebraic notation, the starting squares are c1 and f1 for white bishops and c8 and f8 for black bishops.

Knight Movement

The knight in the game is generally represented by a horse’s torso. Unlike any of the chess pieces in the game, the knight may jump over other pieces. This gives it a degree of flexibility and makes it a powerful piece especially in a game where the board is cluttered with the pieces. Each chess player starts with the two knights each one on the different squares. In the diagram below, the yellow dots are the opponent’s pieces which are being passed over and the green dots are the squares where the knight may move or captures the opponent’s piece)

Letter N generally describes the Knight. Some early Staunton sets come with Kingside Knight stamping as it becomes easy for the players to distinguish between two knights as these pieces can move to any squares, unlike bishops. Though, the value of the Knight is equivalent to the bishop i.e 3. The knight’s movement can also be viewed as “L” laid out at any horizontal or vertical angle. In algebraic notation, the starting squares of Knights are b1 and g1 for white side and b8 and g8 for black knights.

Rook Movement

The rook, mostly shaped like castle or towers, is among the powerful pieces on the board. The value of the rook is 5, more than bishop and knight and only after the Queen. The rook can be worth a bishop/knight and two pawns. The rook can move any number of squares (barring any obstruction) in a straight line along any row or column. As shown in the diagram below, the rook can move or capture in any square that has green dots.

R generally describes the rooks. The rooks also come in Kingside stamping in early pre-Staunton sets so that players can easily distinguish between these two. In algebraic notation, the white rook starts on a1 and h1 and dark rook starts on a8 and h8. The rooks may move horizontally or vertically. The rook also participates, with a king, also known as castling. Know more about castling>

Pawn Movement

In a chess game, players start with eight pawns on either side. These are one of the weakest pieces in the chess game and their value is 1, though they have the potential to become the Queen if a pawn reaches to the opponent’s main squares, i.e. a2 reaches a8. Pawns cannot move diagonally or backward, but they move straight ahead unless they are taking another piece where they can change their column.

The pawns are generally described by P. In algebraic notation, the white pawn starts on a2, b2, c2, …., h2, while dark pawns start on a7, b7, c7, …. , h7. Generally, pawns move only one square, however, the exception is the first time is that when a pawn is moved, it may move two squares forward provided there are no obstruction pieces. All eight pawns can move two squares when sitting on their original positions. In the diagram, the green dots show where the pawn may move, and the red dots show where the pawn may capture the piece.

Chess Blogs May 6, 2019

Start your chess collection now – Be a chess collector

Chess collection for some is a passion to preserve the history for the generations to come. Chess as we all know, dated back to 6th century BC, mostly played among the Kings and the idea behind the game was to make a war strategy. It is a 2-player strategy game and since then many modifications and new rules have been added and modified in the game.

Chess collecting like coin collecting has become an interesting hobby. Chess comes in many materials, size, color, and variety. Depending on your budget and your passion, you can choose any of these to start your collection. Most popular among the collectors are the wood chess sets and bone chess sets as these are handcrafted and their value increases by the course of time.

The other popular chess sets among the collectors are the Vintage chess sets, which are very rare and been exorbitantly priced, they are simply out of the reach among many chess enthusiasts. Here comes the concept of Antique reproductions where we create the exact replica of the vintage chess and sell it at the most reasonable prices. The best thing is that these sets do come with rarely used woods like ebony wood and some reproductions do come in bone sets, like 1849 reproduction.

Relate: Reasons Why Collecting Chess Sets is a Good Idea?

To start making the collection, according to famous chess collectors I interviewed, you must start with the reproductions of basic Staunton chess sets like 1849. We offer 1849 reproduction in 4.4” king size(antique) and 3.75” king size(non-antique). You can get a lot of information about the early Staunton chess and its design by a book written by Mr. Alan Fersht https://www.fersht.com/chess/ (highly recommended)

The most popular among the early Staunton chess sets are the J.Jaques 1849 Cook Type2, 1851 Morphy knight, 1852-55 Harrwitz, 1855-60 Anderssen Drop-jaw and later knights are 1875-80 Zukertort, 1880-85 Lasker and 1900-1915 Marshall. As you have started making your collection in Staunton range, then come to the basic French chess sets. We recommend the basic French Lardy and 1990’s Chavet chess sets.

The most popular and loved collection among chess collectors is Russian/Soviet collection. These sets are so rare that we have made a reproduction of almost all the sets, which were used during 19th century Russian and 20th-century Soviet era. You can start with the basic design and as per your choice, you can start collecting them. Here are our top 5 recommendations for Russian/Soviet chess sets.

1. 1966 Lanier Graham Reproduced Minimalist Chess Pieces

2. Reproduced 1924 Bauhaus Geometrical Abstract Chessmen

3. 90s French Chavet Championship Tournament Chess Pieces

The timeless European collection is the one not to be missed. The Dubrovnik and Austrian coffee house are among the most collected chess sets among the top chess collectors. The Hungarian and Romanian sets have also seen a huge demand not only with the collectors but among the players as well. The 1929 historic Barcelona chess set by “Joc Catalan” is also worth collecting.

Chess collectors very rarely collect the Luxury chess pieces, which are actually an art piece, mostly used for the display. They are worth collecting because mostly all luxury chess sets are crafted by very rare ebony wood and padauk wood. Before Padauk a.k.a Bud rosewood, Red sandalwood was used extensively. After it was banned, the Padauk came into existence. The person who possesses any chess set of Red Sandalwood can treasure it throughout his life and can proudly pass to the generations to come. Same for Ivory bone chess sets. With rosewood already getting partially banned and ebony being an expensive and rare wood, it’s worth collecting chess sets made of these two woods. We have some very fine collectible luxury chess sets to choose from. Our 5 picks are:

1. St. Petersburg Chess Set

2. The Indian Chetak II Chess Set

3. The Mustang Series Chess Set

To sum up, though knowledge is very important to start collecting the chess sets, you can start by reading some history about these sets from the Internet and collecting some reproductions, which gradually enhances your interest in this hobby.

More to Read: Why Luxury Chess Sets are Expensive and Why do you Own One?

Chess August 27, 2018

Case Study by Google – Chessbazaar finds a winning strategy with Google Shopping and re-engagement campaigns.

About

Chessbazaar, a small business based in Mohali, Punjab, sells wooden chess pieces, boards, and accessories prized by players and collectors worldwide. Their chess sets are handcrafted by families of artisans from nearby Amritsar, using tools and techniques that date back centuries. “It’s quite a history that we are selling, and we are very proud of it,” says Vikramjit Singh, Founder and Managing Director of Artsmart, Chessbazaar’s parent company.

The challenge

Founded in 2007, Chessbazaar first sold their hand-crafted products through third-party marketplaces. Unhappy with the fees and lack of brand control, they launched their own e-commerce website in 2012 and turned to Google digital marketing products to spread the word. Chessbazaar initially handled their Google Ads and Google Shopping campaigns in-house. But by late 2016, facing increasingly stiff competition from big online retailers, they needed help to showcase their extensive product catalog, especially to luxury chess set product buyers in the U.S. and UK.
Chessbazaar initially encountered challenges in identifying, engaging, and then re-engaging potential customers. They also realized that, to reach and then remarket to these unique prospects, they needed distinctive messaging that reflected details such as different price points for different audience segments. For this reason, they found that targeted Shopping campaigns were important especially during the November–December holiday season.
“Shopping campaigns are working brilliantly for us,” Singh notes. Their return on investment (ROI) during the first half of 2018 was 2.53, an increase of 172 percent, compared with the same period a year earlier.

The approach

Chessbazaar worked with OnlineSales.ai to drive brand awareness and boost impressions and site traffic by identifying the most relevant Google Ads search keywords for their products. The team also re-engaged prospects who had already shown interest in their offerings via search, Shopping, display, and dynamic remarketing campaigns. Shopping campaigns ensured that prospective customers saw examples of Chessbazaar products before they visited the website, which increased the conversion rate. Data from
Google Analytics also helped to reach specific audiences and locations in the U.S. and UK, and identify the best times to schedule the ads.

The results

These efforts brought dramatic results for Chessbazaar. Conversions rose by more than 35 percent thanks to display and dynamic remarketing (DRM) campaigns, which helped re-engagement, producing more conversions than standard search campaigns. Clickthrough rates (CTR) soared nearly 43 percent with the use of generic non-brand keywords, sitelinks, callout extensions, expanded text ads (ETA), and structured snippets. Revenues rose 185 percent as cost-per-acquisition (CPA) fell 16 percent. “Remarketing has given us substantial ROI of 2X, and the brand campaigns have also given us a very good conversion rate,” Singh says.

Market impact

Successfully collaborating with their Google Partner was pivotal for Chessbazaar, as was reaching return customers. “Fifty percent of our customers are repeat customers, and remarketing actually was the turning point for us,” Singh notes. Chessbazaar is now looking at digital campaigns in Germany and other European countries, and perhaps Australia and South America as well.