Learn

Basics

The following should be learned by beginners:

• Proper board set up - There should be a white square on the right near the player. The queen sits on a square whose colour matches her dress. White pieces are on the 1st and 2nd ranks.
• Basic rules, including en passant and when castling is allowed.
• Basic opening development - get the pieces out, control the centre, castle then attack.
• Basic tactics - double attacks, forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks.
• Basic endgame technique - checkmate with 2 rooks, with a queen, with a single rook, with two bishops, simple pawn endings. See Checkmates link on main page.

A more comprehensive set of skills needed by chess players is shown on the Skills Cards which are kept in a folder and keep a record of each player's progress in these areas. These form a suggested curriculum for coaching. See Skills Cards.