History TabletopGame / Chess

!!Fictional works about chess:

*** In Italian, it's called ''alfiero'' or [[SpellMyNameWithAnS ''alfiere'']], which means "flag bearer".

* DifficultButAwesome: The game is notoriously difficult to learn and play well, but it’s one of the most famous games of all time for a reason.

** Notice that in the case of the pawns protecting a castled king,the king is ALSO protecting the pawns.

* PlatformActivatedAbility: If a player manages to take a pawn to one of the tiles of the opposite end's row (where the other player's army begins), they'll be able to summon a fallen piece that isn't a pawn. In the context of the game's theme, this is because the pawn is earning a promotion, allowing it to acquire a new hierarchic title and thus the attributes and mobility that are associated with it.

* GratuitousFrench: English chess terms in particular borrowed quite a bit from French, including ''en passant'' capture ("in passing") and ''en prise'' (under attack).

Related games include TabletopGame/{{Xiangqi}}, TabletopGame/{{Makruk}}, and TabletopGame/{{Shogi}}.

This article is about the game. See ''Music/{{Chess|1984}}'' for TheMusical.

* InstantDeathRadius: Two pieces have a no-go zone around them for an opposing King, as they are not allowed to move into check. The first is the Queen, whose movement includes all 8 surrounding squares around them. The second is the other King, as they threaten all 8 squares surrounding them. In the late-game where several threatening pieces have been taken out, a King can assist another piece in checkmating by using his own capture radius to block off the opposing king's movement.

* MisereGame: One of the most popular {{variant|Chess}}s is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losing_chess losing chess]] (AKA giveaway chess), which sees players try to lose all of their own pieces. Captures must be taken when available, and the king can be captured like any other piece. Unlike regular chess, losing chess has been weakly solved, with White being able to force a win with 1.e3.[[note]]Technically speaking, losing chess is not a true misère game; the win condition is to be left with no legal moves, not to get your king checkmated, and there are other rule changes besides.[[\note]]

** In the late middlegame of a closed game(meaning a lot of pawns are in the way of everybody), king moves can unintuitively be the right call. The other wiki calls this the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_walk "King walk"]].
* MisereGame: One of the most popular {{variant|Chess}}s is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losing_chess losing chess]] (AKA giveaway chess), which sees players try to lose all of their own pieces. Captures must be taken when available, and the king can be captured like any other piece. Unlike regular chess, losing chess has been weakly solved, with white being able to force a win with 1.e3.

* PinnedDown:
** "Pinning" is when one piece is stuck between an opposition Queen, Rook or Bishop that can attack them, and another of their pieces further away. If a piece is pinned to it's King, it cannot move until the King moves first, or another piece takes their place. Endgames can hinge on one player blundering away a major piece by moving their piece into a position where the opposition can place the King in check, which if it were another piece would be a pin, but because it's the King it must move out of the way, leaving the other piece to be captured.
** Pieces can become trapped in a spot where they are not attacked but cannot be moved without placing them under threat of capture.

* PressStartToGameOver: The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool%27s_mate Fool's Mate]], which puts White into a checkmate in ''two moves''. Not likely to pop up in practice unless (as the name suggests) your opponent is [[TooDumbToLive a special kind of stupid]], but it is the fastest checkmate possible. To a slightly lesser degree is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholar%27s_mate Scholar's Mate]], in which Black gives checkmate in a mere four moves and which ''does'' happen in practice with beginners.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: DefiedTrope. An untouched king cannot perform the Castling move with an untouched rook to avoid escaping check. Afterall -- an ace up your sleeve is worthless, if you cannot or will not, use it in time.

** This most common in the endgame where most fast/long ranged pieces are already taken or busy because both sides are shorthanded as is.

* TheSlowWalk: Kings are actually pretty strong, a single king is considered to have an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_piece_relative_value#Standard_valuations equivalent fighting power of 4 pawns]], but they spent most of the game hiding in a bunker because even though their "power" is worth 4 point, their [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou value is infinite]]. Not to mention the fact that they are [[MightyGlacier as slow as pawns]]. However, there are times in a chess game where neither of those limitations matter. And when that happens expect to see King marching towards each other for a showdown.

** In the late middlegame of a closed game(meaning a lot of pawns are in the way of everybody), king moves can unintuitively be the right call. The other wiki calls this the [["King walk" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_walk]].