Contents: Index General Rules Setup Pawns Rooks Knights

Contents: Bishops Queens Kings Castling Pawn en Passant End Game

- Chess Rules Store Get a quality chess set, great for beginners! Standard size for tournaments. Vinyl Roll up map with algebraic notation to help beginners follow moves! Download a freeware chess game! This is not a glitzy version but the artificial intelligence is competitive. Read a children's story about chess: The Little Pawn E-mail

When is a Chess Move Complete? Q: My friend and I were playing the other day, and he moved his piece, took his finger off from it, and then wanted to take his move back. When is a move complete? A: A move is complete when the player moving the piece removes his hand from the piece. Period. Another aspect of moving people don't discuss much: Technically, when a player touches a piece, he must move that piece unless he is adjusting or straightening the pieces on the board. At which time he must announce that this is his intention. Adjusting is often used as a cloak to avoid having to move a piece that a player touched with the intention of moving, but had second thoughts about. This is why, in sandlot chess most players will allow a player to touch and half-move a piece and simply put it back to choose another. But even in sandlot chess, when the hand is removed, after the piece has moved, the move is considered complete. Often a good player will let a beginner off lightly and allow a move to be retracted. I played a grand master once in a friendly game and he offered to reset the board three moves back. I took him up on it and ended up getting skunked anyway. Return to Chess FAQs Page