by Bill Wall
Explain why it is
considered a game of
planning and strategy.
Discuss sportsmanship
and chess etiquette.
Sportsmanship is the
conduct and attitude
considered as befitting
participants in sports,
especially fair play,
courtesy, striving spirit,
and grace at losing.
Chess enhances
sportsmanship and self-
esteem. Chess teaches
you how to deal
gracefully with difficult
situations and loss.
Etiquette is the
conventional
requirements as to social
behavior and the proper
conduct as established
for any occasion. Good
etiquette in chess means
to be polite and greet
your opponent with a
handshake before the
game starts. Always
follow the rules of chess.
Don't boast or try to
intimidate your
opponent. Don't be
annoying and don't
discuss your game in
progress with anyone.
After the game, be a
good winner or loser.
Thank your opponent for
a good game with a
handshake. At all times
be respectful and
considerate of other
chess players and the
game of chess.
Remember, chess is a
game of honor. If you
cannot handle losing at
other sports or games,
you are probably not
ready for the Chess merit
badge.
How to set up a
chessboard: Set the board
so that the bottom-right
square is white (or light
colored). Place a rook on
each of the two corners.
Place the knights next to
the rooks. Place the
bishops to the insides of
the knights. Place the
queen on the remaining,
matching-color square.
Thus, the white queen is
on a white square and the
black queen is on a dark
square. Place the king on
the remaining square.
En passant is a special
move involving the
pawn. When a pawn
reaches the 5th rank, an
opposing pawn on the
second rank can move up
two squares. However,
the side with the pawn on
the 5th rank has the
option of capturing that
pawn as if it had moved
up one rank. Although
the pawn has passed the
capture square of the
opposing side, the player
can move his pawn
diagonally, as it does in
capture, to the square that
the other player had
skipped. The pawn that
made the double move
has been considered
captured in passing (en
passant), and is removed
from the chessboard. The
resulting position is the
same as if the pawn had
moved only one square
forward and the enemy
pawn had captured
normally.
Demonstrate
scorekeeping using the
algebraic system of chess
notation.
On a chessboard,
demonstrate a "scholar's
mate" and a "fool's
mate."
Demonstrate on a
chessboard different
ways a chess game can
end in a draw.
Exploiting weaknesses
— A weakness is a flaw
in a chess position that
can be exploited. A
weakness could be a
square from where your
or your opponent can
land your pieces for
various operations, or it
could be a weak piece or
pawn which is difficult to
defend. There are also
weaknesses caused by
poor piece placement or
overworked pieces. To
exploit a weakness in an
open line, occupy it with
a rook if possible.
Exploit weak pawns such
as doubled pawns,
backward pawns, or
isolated pawns by
attacking them.
Time — Time is
measured in tempi (plural
of tempo). Having a time
advantage is having the
initiative. The initiative
should be kept as long as
possible and only given
up for another advantage.
A common way to gain
an advantage in time is to
develop pieces and
pawns before your
opponent does.
Time control —
Tournament games are
played under time
constraints, called time
controls, using a game
clock. Each player must
make his moves within
the time control,
otherwise, he loses the
game on time. In some
cases, each player will
have a certain amount of
time to make a certain
number of moves, such
as 40 moves in 2 hours.
In other cases, each
player will have a limited
amount of time to make
all his moves, such a
game in 1 hour (with
perhaps a 5 second delay
per move).
Explain the following
chess tactics:
Clearance sacrifice — A
clearance sacrifice is a
type of sacrifice where
the sacrificing player
aims to vacate the square
that sacrificed piece
stood on, either to open
up for his own pieces, or
to put another, more
useful piece on the
square. An example
would be a pawn that is
pushed forward and
sacrifices in order to
open a files or diagonal.
Decoy — A decoy in
chess is used to lure a
piece to an unfavorable
square. It is finding a
poisoned square that your
opponent would never
want to go to and doing
everything you can to
make them go there. It is
used as a tactic of
ensnaring a piece, by
forcing it to move to a
poisoned square with a
sacrifice on that square.
Discovered attack — An
attack made by a queen,
rook, or bishop when
another piece or pawn
moves out of its way. It
is an attack revealed
when one piece moves
out of the way of another.
It succeeds when the
opponent is unable to
meet two threats at once.
If a discovered attack is a
check and threatens the
king, then it is called a
discovered check.
Double attack — A
double attack is the
simultaneous attack by a
single piece on two
enemy pieces or two
important squares. When
two (or more) pieces are
threatened at once, this is
known as a double
attack.
Interposing —
Interposing is a blocking
tactic by putting a piece
in front of a more
important piece, such as
the king, to shield it. It is
a way of defending a
major piece by
interposing another piece
to block an attack.
Overloading —
Overloading, or
overworking, is a chess
tactic in which a
defensive piece is given
an additional defensive
assignment which it
cannot complete without
abandoning its original
defensive assignment. A
chess piece is overloaded
when it has more than
one defensive job to do.
Overprotecting —
Overprotecting is a
strategy of protecting a
pawn or specific square
of the chessboard more
than is immediately
necessary. The side that
overprotects does so in
order to dissuade the
opponent from launching
an attack against that
point.
Skewer — Skewer is an
attack upon two pieces in
a line. In a skewer, the
more valuable piece is in
front of the piece of
lesser value. The
opponent is compelled to
move the more valuable
piece to avoid its capture,
thereby exposing the less
valuable piece, which can
then be captured. A
skewer is similar to a pin
except the piece of
greater value (such as
rook, queen, or king) is
in front.
Zwischenzug — The
zwischenzug is a chess
tactic in which a player,
instead of playing the
expected move, first
makes another move that
poses an immediate
threat that the opponent
must answer. After the
zwischenzug move, the
player then plays the
expected move. It is a
German word that means
‘in-between move'.
Set up a chessboard with
the white king on e1, the
white rooks on a1 and h1,
and the black king on e5.
With White to move first,
demonstrate how to force
a checkmate on the black
king. White can play
1.Ra4 to block the black
king from approaching
any closer to the white
king. White would then
play 2.Rh5, 3.Ra6, 4.Rh7
and 5.Ra8 for checkmate.
If the king approaches
one of the rooks, move it
to the other side onto the
file next to the other rook
(rook on h5 could be
played to Rb5) and
continue to confine the
black king.
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Copyright 2016 by
William D. Wall
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