Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish...
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 This opening is defined by the development of the white bishop to c4 (the so-called "Italian bishop"), where it attacks Black's vulnerable f7-square. It is part of the large family of Open Games or Double King's Pawn ...
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez is named after 16th-century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura. It is one of the most popular openings, with many variations. In the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO), all codes from C60 to C99 are a...
1. g4 Although it has a cult following, it is widely considered to be one of the worst possible first moves for White. International Master (IM) John Watson writes, "As far as I can tell, 1 g4 is competitive with 1 h4 for the honour of being Whit...
1. f4 Named after 19th century English player Henry Bird, Bird's opening is a standard flank opening. White's strategic ideas involve control of the e5-square, offering good attacking chances at the expense of slightly weakening their own kingsid...
The London System is an opening system in chess where White opens with 1.d4 and develops the dark-squared bishop to f4, then supports the d4-pawn with pawns on e3 and c3. The other bishop is developed to d3 (or occasionally e2) and the knights typ...
Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook on the same rank and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously mov...
The Catalan Opening is a chess opening where White plays d4 and c4 and fianchettoes the white bishop on g2. A common opening sequence is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3, although various other openings can transpose into the Catalan. In the Catalan, White ...
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The Polish Opening, also known as the Sokolsky or the Orangutan, is the opening 1.b4 by White. Although only the ninth-most popular opening move, it's a respectable option with some devoted followers. Instead of playing in the center, White fights...
In chess, en passant "in passing" describes the capture by a pawn of an enemy pawn on the same rank and an adjacent file that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy pawn passed over, as i...
