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Welcome back. Perhaps you'd like to tell me what you'd like me to call you this lesson.
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Do you know all about the ROOK move then, kiddo?  Of course: forwards, backwards and sideways. I don't understand the ROOK move |
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Here's a question for you. There's a little kid who's small and weak. He can't run very fast and he hasn't got any friends. What do you do? Make friends with him. Beat him up |
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If you see the little kid in the playground then you're right. You should make friends with him. But if he's on the other side in a battle you have no choice: you have to beat him up. In chess the PAWNS are the small guys who can't run very fast. The ROOKS are the bullies who try to beat them up. Take a look. 
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After this lesson you'll be able to play some CAPTURE THE FLAG games with ROOKS and PAWNS. There's one more CAPTURE THE FLAG rule you need to know. If your opponent gets a PAWN to the end of the board you have ONE MOVE in which to CAPTURE it. If you can capture it the game goes on, but if not then you lose the game.
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In chess, the PAWNS are the little guys who are not very strong and can't run very fast. The ROOK is a bully. It's very easy for him to beat up a little PAWN. See how easy it is for a ROOK to stop a PAWN from CAPTURING THE FLAG. All he has to do is to move onto the SAME FILE as the enemy PAWN. Here, he can move to f1 and ATTACK the PAWN. Running away is no good. The ROOK will still be able to CAPTURE the PAWN next move. But if the ROOK moved to a3, the SAME RANK as the PAWN, the PAWN would be able to run away to f2.
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Pawns may be the weakest soldiers in your army, but they're also the bravest. They're quite happy to give up their own life in exchange for an enemy soldier. All they need is a friend to help them. In this position the ROOK on f1 is ATTACKING the pawn on f3. If the black PAWN moves from e5 to e4 he will be DEFENDING his friend. Then, if the ROOK on f1 CAPTURES the PAWN on f3, the PAWN on e4 will CAPTURE him in return.
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There's another way in which a PAWN can help defend his friend from an attack by the BIG BAD ROOK. He can be very brave and stand in the way, so that he gets killed instead of his friend. Look at this position. The BLACK ROOK on h4 is ATTACKING the WHITE PAWN on a4. Now the WHITE PAWN on d2 has the chance to be a hero. He can boldly move forward two squares to d4, offering his own life and BLOCKING the attack. But will the BIG BAD ROOK kill him? Probably not, because he's scared of being killed by the little guy on e3.
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In this position the WHITE ROOK is again ATTACKING the BLACK PAWN. There are two ways in which Black can DEFEND his PAWN with his ROOK. Can you find them both? The ROOK can move either to f8 or to b3 to DEFEND the PAWN on f3.
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A ROOK is a lot stronger than a PAWN so it's usually a good idea to trade one of your PAWNS for an enemy ROOK if you can do so. If your PAWN can take an enemy ROOK don't worry about losing your PAWN in exchange. But it's usually NOT a good idea to trade your ROOK for an enemy PAWN.
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Do you remember this: It's usually a good idea to take an enemy piece for nothing. Exchanging equal pieces (PAWN for PAWN, ROOK for ROOK) is usually OK. We can now add: It's usually a good idea to trade a weaker piece for a stronger enemy piece (for example PAWN for ROOK). It's usually a bad idea to trade a stronger piece for a weaker enemy piece (for example ROOK for PAWN).
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That's the end of the lesson, kiddo.
Once I'm sure you understand ATTACKING and DEFENDING you can challenge me to some ROOK AND PAWN games. But first you have to pass the REALLY HARD EXAM! Great! I really like ATTACKING and DEFENDING Can I repeat the lesson first? I'll do it later - I have to go now My teacher says it's not nice to attack other people. |