Lesson 1

Objectives:

1. Name squares and chessmen at start of game
2. Set up the chessmen at the start of the game
3. State and apply rules of movement for the pawns

• The main objective of this lesson is to teach the rules of movement for the pawns, including en passant. A little about the board is also taught, as well as how the chessmen are set up at the beginning of the game.
• The pawn game is the game students will play to practice the rules of movement for the pawn. Complete rules for the pawn game are on pages 5 and 6 of the text Comprehensive Chess Course.

1. Outline of lesson:
2. The chess board
3. Setting up the chessmen
4. Using the pawns
5. Student competition with the pawn game
6. Problems that are likely to arise
7. Homework

Text pages 1-2
Ask a student to tell the number of squares on the board, and how s/he knew there were that many. Point out that there are eight rows and eight columns.

Refer to the colors of the 64 squares as light/dark, not white/black or white/green. (Different boards are different colors.)

Correctly placing the board requires a light square in each player's right-hand corner. The teacher might wish to place some boards incorrectly so some student-pairs must rotate the board in order to have a light square in the right-hand corner.

Text pages 8-10, 13-14
Explain letters/numbers, and that each square has unique name. Have students sitting at the side of the board with low numbers simultaneously point to squares like b4 and h1. Have partners simultaneously point to other squares, like c5 and g8.

For now, the white chessmen are always to be set up on the side of the board with the low numbers, so that the square "h1" is in white's right-hand corner. Eventually, the students will assign "h1" to white's right-hand corner regardless of which side of the board the white chessmen are on, or whether the board has letters or numbers printed on it at all.

The students should consistently use chess notation to communicate their ideas. Questions to students should regularly require students to answer by naming squares on the board.

Set up and name the rooks, knights and bishops, beginning with the rooks, then the knights, then the bishops.

Point out that there are only two squares left on the first rank (row), one dark, one light. The rule is "queen on its color." White queen: light square; black queen: dark square.

Set up the pawns on the second rank. Explain that the pawns are not pieces. Pawns are pawns. Pieces are rook, knight, bishop, queen, and king. The pawns and the pieces are the chessmen.

Explain that the right half of the board from white's perspective--consisting of the four columns (files) on the right (the e, f, g and h files)--is called the kingside and the left half of the board (the a, b, c and d files) is called the queenside.

Explain that each player has his or her own first rank, but that white's first rank is also the first rank on the board. Explain ranks by counting rows, showing that black's fifth rank is white's fourth rank, and the fourth rank on the board. Notice that each player's first rank is the other's eighth and last rank.

Text pages 3-5
Have the students remove the pieces, leaving only the pawns on the board. Demonstrate the pawn rules:

Pawns move only forward, one or two squares from the starting rank, but after that only one square forward. Set up diagram #11 on page 4 and demonstrate the moves that produced this position.

Pawns capture diagonally forward only. Set up the sequences of positions that appear in diagram #15 on page 5, and ask students to name the captures that can be made. Then set up the sequence of positions that appear in diagram #13 on page 4 and repeat.

Notice that diagonally adjacent pawns attack each other simultaneously. If a white pawn can capture a black pawn, then, on its turn, the black pawn can capture the white pawn.

Set up diagram #12 on page 5 to demonstrate blocked pawns. Pawns cannot "push through" each other, nor may they jump.

Set up a position in which a player's pawn captures an opponent's pawn but is itself captured by a second pawn of the opponent, one that is protecting the first. Demonstrate the capture/recapture (white pawn e4, black pawns d5, c6).

Define "controlling squares": chessmen "control" the squares that they attack, not necessarily the squares to which they can move.

Pawns do not control the squares to which they can move. In the capture/recapture position above, the pawn controls the square the opponent's first pawn is on, and the opponent's second pawn controls the same square.

Emphasize that squares are controlled by the men that attack them regardless of the man that happens to be on that square. Have students name squares when they answer questions (e.g., "The white pawn on e4 is attacking black's pawn on d5, and black's pawn on c6 is defending the black pawn on e5").

Text pages 38-41

Demonstrate en passant. The en passant rule is:

(1) A player has a pawn on its fifth rank.

(2) An opponent's pawn uses the double move to pass by the square on which it could have been captured by the player's pawn on its fifth rank.

(3) The player can capture the opponent's pawn diagonally, as if the opponent's pawn had moved only one square.

Set up diagram #107 on page 39 in the textbook. Follow the sequence of diagrams on that page to demonstrate the en passant capture.

Explain that the en passant capture must be played immediately or never. En passant cannot be delayed.

Have students move their pawns so that every student gets an opportunity to practice the en passant rule. Alternate white/black practicing en passant.

Demonstrate a delayed en passant capture that is not allowed.

Demonstrate that if the opponent's pawn moves only one square (either from its starting position or after it has moved) and lands directly next to the player's pawn, then en passant cannot be done.

Be thorough with en passant. It is nearly always a source of confusion for beginning players.

Text pages 5-6
Have the students set up the pawns in the starting position. Explain the rules of the pawn game.

There are three ways to win the pawn game:

1. advance a pawn to the last rank
2. capture all of your opponents pawns, or
3. achieve a position in which it is your opponent's turn to move, but your opponent has no legal move and you do. If neither player has a legal move, then the game is a tie or, as it is called in chess, a "draw."

Before the students begin, demonstrate a position in which one player moves a pawn so that his opponent can capture it and the player cannot recapture. Emphasize that everyone should avoid "throwing away" pawns in this manner.

Explain that the winner is much more likely to get a pawn to the end than to capture all of the opponent's pawns. This idea is used to teach the student that time (number of moves) is more important than material (number of men).

The only acceptable way for a game to be a draw is if both players have no legal moves. Students should not be allowed to agree to a draw.

Students should play the pawn game right away. As in all chess competition, there are rules of etiquette that must be followed at all times. See Appendix 1: Rules of Etiquette for Chess Competition, in this manual.

See Appendix 2: Directing a Tournament for Beginners, in this manual. These rules should be used for all tournaments.

You might run into impossible positions because students move pawns diagonally at times other than a capture. For example, you might see a position that looks like the diagram on the right. This position is impossible because white has two pawns along the b-file, yet none of black's men has been captured. Often, the best way to handle a situation when an illegal position is on the board is to have the two students begin their game again. This approach does not work if a player who is losing tries to foil the game by making illegal moves with the hope that s/he can obtain a fresh start. If a player makes illegal moves repeatedly, it is likely that the player needs to be forfeited for poor sportsmanship.

It is common for students to confuse the en passant rule. Students will try to capture with pawns that are blocked on the fourth rank because their opponent's last move was the double move blocking the pawn. Or students might try to use the en passant rule to capture a pawn that has not just used the double move to pass by the square on which it could have been captured had it moved just one square. The teacher must repeat the rules several times and provide numerous examples of legal en passant captures.

The questions on pages 6-7 of the textbook are appropriate. The teacher may also wish to use the assignment provided with this lesson.