Chess as a game has been around for centuries. The ultimate game of strategy and tactics, chess is favored the world over as a challenging pastime which requires discipline and dedication to improve. Chess has its roots in Asia as far back as two thousand years ago. Since then, the game has kept a relatively fixed format, and has grown to international status with many hundreds of thousands of players the world over.

There are a variety of books written on the subject of chess, from strategy guides to simple starting guides. If you're a beginner at the game, you might find the variety of different pieces on the board confusing, and to find out they all move in different combinations can also further add to the problem. However, when taken one step at a time, the game of chess can be explained fairly simply, thus building a comprehensive understanding of the technicalities of the game.

The idea behind the game is to effectively trap the opponents King, which will ultimately render them unable to move and consequently win the game. This is achieved by moving pieces in their various patterns and consequently 'taking' opposing pieces that fall at the end of their path.

The most numerous piece on the chess board is the pawn. Also viewed as the weakest piece, the pawn has a range of one position in a forward direction under most circumstances. However, when taking a piece, the pawn can move diagonally by one position, and in its first move, a pawn can advance two positions.

Arguably the most important piece on the board is the Queen, which can move in any direction, and in any number of positions. This effectively means the Queen has the furthest reach of any piece, and she should be guarded in order to protect her for as long as practically possible.

Additionally, there's the King, which must be guarded to keep the game alive. The King has very little scope for movement, but this is primarily because the King is the game piece, which must be effectively 'captured' by the other side.

There are several other pieces on the chessboard, which have varying degrees of scope, although the pawn, Queen and King are most notable. It is hoped that a firm understanding of the behavior of these pieces will aid a better overall understanding of the way in which the game works, which will ultimately lead help you on your way to learning the game of chess.