CHESS 2: Castling and Forking…and a Stalemate

A Levoy Power Point

Long ago, kings lived in castles. When a battle began, the king stayed in his castle. This kept him safe from the enemy. When the battle was near its end, it was safe for the king to come out of his castle and join in the fight!

In chess, your strategy should be to keep your King safe. You can do this with a special move called castling. You can castle once in every game.

CASTLING

In chess, there is an exception to the rules for how a king moves.

This exception is referred to as ‘castling.’

Castling involves moving the king and rook on the same move.

The king moves two squares towards the rook and the rook ‘jumps’ over the king to the square next to it. Castling is usually used for defensive purposes.

Purpose: to tuck your King into a corner for protection and positioning.

Basic concepts:

All the squares between the King and Rook must be empty.

Neither the King nor the Rook can have moved before. If they have, you can no longer castle.

You may not castle out of a check, or into a check.

Having been in check does not prevent you from castling at a later time.

Black king has not castled…

White king is about to castle…

King side castling

Queen side castling

FORKING- Attacking two pieces at the same time where your opponent must choose which piece to save.

Forking with a rook

Forking with a bishop

Forking with a knight

Forking with a knight

Forking with a pawn

Stalemate!

Remember, a King can never move into check. Sometimes though, a player has only moves that put his King in check. When this happens, it is called a stalemate. That game is a draw. No one wins, and no one loses. It is a tie.

Spark chess…mate in 2!