Lesson 3 Kings and Queens

  Diagram 10

As you can see from Diagram 10, the Queen starts on her own color. The King starts right next to her. These two pieces are the strongest and most important from the beginning of the game. The King cannot be lost or the game is over. The Queen is the most mobile and powerful piece that defends her King. You can lose your Queen and maybe get another before the end of the game. But to lose your King is like losing your soccer game.

Diagram 11

Kings can move only one square at a time. Looking at Diagram 11, you can see that the King on e4 can move eight different directions, but only one square at a time. Kings cannot move into the direct attack of another piece of the opposite color. For instance, Queens can move up and down a file like a Rook. So the White King cannot move to d2 in Diagram 10 and the Black King cannot move to d7. Kings capture just like the other pieces already described. They take the place on the square of the piece that they captured.

Diagram 12

Let’s look at Diagram 12. The White King cannot move to d5 because of both the Black Rook and the Black Bishop. He cannot move to e5 because of the Black Rook or e3 because of the Black Pawn. The Pawn will be discussed further in another lesson. The White King cannot capture the Black Pawn because of the Rook. But, he must move somewhere because of the direct assault of the Black Bishop attacking him diagonally from f3. We must not forget that d3 and d4 have white men on them, keeping the white leader from those squares. So, what is his choice limited to? The only choices at his disposal are capturing either the Rook or the Bishop.

Now, let’s look at the Black King. After white moves his King, Black has no squares to move to. They are covered by either the White Rook ( a7 and b7) or the White Bishop (b8). If you were to take all of Black’s pieces off of the board and leave his King, then ask him to move, he could not. He would be stalemated. This would be called a draw.

Queens are the most powerful piece on the board, serving her King with the ability of a Bishop and Rook together. Just like Rooks, she can move left, right, up, and down on files and ranks. And like a Bishop, she can move diagonally in any direction. Look at Diagram 13. It demonstrates with arrows her ability to move on the board. She also replaces a piece on its square when she captures him. Like Rooks and Bishops, she cannot jump over pieces or mow them down to get to another square.

Diagram 13

This Queen has some nice moves at her disposal. She could capture the Black Pawn at a4 with check on the Black King. She can grab the Black Rook at h8 with check on the Black King. Check means that the King is being attacked by a piece of a different color and must end that check by moving or capturing the offender. But, her best move is to capture the bishop at d8 with check mate. The Queen is protected by the Bishop and the Black King has no squares to flee to that aren’t being attacked or occupied by his own men. So, Black is checkmated.