Learn Chess In 30 Minutes: 4th Edition, #1

Setting up the Chessboard

In chess the most unbelievable thing for me is that it’s a game for everybody: rich, poor, girl, boy, old, young. It’s a fantastic game which can unite people and generations! It’s a language which you’ll find people speak in every country. If you reach a certain level you find a very rich world! Art, sport, logic, psychology, a battlefield, imagination, creativity not only in practical games but don’t forget either how amazing a feeling it is to compose a study, for example (unfortunately that’s not appreciated these days but it’s a fantastic part of chess!).  -  Judit Polgar

Chess is a very old game. People believe that it originated in India in the fourth or fifth century but no one really knows who invented it. Chess is an intellectual competition between two players and is a very logical game where luck plays little part. The winner is the person who solves the puzzles on the chess board better than her opponent.

The game is played on a squared board divided into 64 squares, alternating from light to dark. The board is always set up so that each player has the light square on her right-hand side. (Remember: light on the right). The Queen always stands on the square of her own colour. Thus, the light-coloured Queen must stand on the light-coloured square. A good way of remembering this is the saying: The