Chess+elective

Here at I-poly, we have a chess elective class. I bet you're wondering what you do in this class; you play chess of course!

Now Chess is a game all about Strategy. Each person has a certain amount of pieces, preset at its spot before the game starts. Each piece has its own moves and rules. The goal of the game is not to just eliminate the person's pieces, but to trap the king so he can't move without dying.

The main thing about trapping the king you should know, is that you cannot directly eliminate him. If he is in a position where he can be eliminated, he must move or another piece must move so that he is safe.

Checkmate is when one of the kings has no spot to move where he would be safe from elimination. When this happens, the player who checkmated the king wins. Each person has their own king and seek to protect him!

The queen is more powerful as the king, but yet she is not as important. The reason why she is more powerful is because her moves are not limited to one block per turn. She can move as many blocks as she wants on way as long as there are empty blocks provided. Even in her power, you only have one queen.

The pawn is the most common piece. You start with eight pawns. Pawns are considered to be the weakest piece, but yet in their number, they are extremely useful. Some tips and tricks to know - if you get your pawn all the way to the other side (your opponent's side) then you can substitute your pawn for a previously lost piece. These are very useful for getting useful pieces like queens back.

The knight is also a very unique piece. You start with two of them and you will find them very useful. They move by the same pattern every time. The pattern is two blocks one way, one block to the left/right. For example: [_] [_][_][_]

The pawn is the most common but it can still not be underestimated. If you get a pawn from one side of the board to the other, you can exchange it for a chess piece that you have lost during play. it can move one block forward per turn and can take a piece diagonal to it (still only one block).

The bishop can move diagonally and it is impossible to get it off its color block.

You cannot kill the king, you must trap him through checkmate. You must trap him so that any move he makes (including not moving at all) will make him lose. Any block he moves in, he's in a position for your piece to take him... CHECKMATE!

So yes, chess may seem like a complicated game, but it becomes challenging and competitive. Tournaments all over the world take place for this game that has been played hundreds of years. If you haven't played it, hopefully the article would persuade you to try it. Good Luck!

**A note from the Senior Editor:** Very nice and long article. You really went into depth with what every piece in chess does. It would be great if you talked about what you like about chess, or about what people in the chess elective think about it. :)