WEBVTT - How Chess Works 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.600 Brought to you by the all new Toyota Corolla. Welcome 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:07.560 to you Stuff you should Know from House Stuff Works 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:16.160 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Murray 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.200 Head with me as always as Charles W. Chuck Bryant 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.720 and uh Steffe should know Mary Head. And here's the 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:25.520 guy who did One Night in Bangkok. Oh, I know, 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:28.960 I just don't get the reference. Oh, it's about Bobby. Sure, 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.839 it's from the musical Chess. What we talked about this before. 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:36.640 I have no idea what you're talking in an episode? Jerry? 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:40.560 Did we not? I'm almost positive we did. Jerry doesn't listen. 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:46.040 What a yeah? I think I have a faint memory. 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.840 One Night in Bangkok is from the the musical Chess, 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.640 which I didn't know existed, right, And it's based loosely 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.280 on the story of Bobby Fisher. Okay, I do remember 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:59.240 that now, and I think I was just as surprised 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.120 back then. It's but it's the truth. Tell me in 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.039 another couple of years, and again, what's with Murray Head. 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.759 That can't be the guy's real name? And why would 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:10.920 that be a name you adopted although it's perfect for 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.880 five I bet that's his name. Murray Head. Well, look 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.959 into it. What parents name their kid Murray head? Was 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.560 his last name was head, right, I'm saying yeah, but 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:27.679 no doctor and mrs Head. Maybe doctor and doctor head. 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.000 Maybe so maybe his parents are both doctors, but don't 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:32.920 you think that. Probably then if his last name really 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.360 was Head, it was actually like Hedowski or something like that, 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.840 Murray Hedowski. I can live with Murray Head. It's terrible 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:44.080 that we Chuck's checking his watch, which is the universal 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.400 sign for me to hurry things along. Now I'm not. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:50.760 And I need to apologize to you because, uh, it's 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.920 a it's a busy week for me. And I said, hey, 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.920 let's do one that is, uh, it's not super tough. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.200 And I sent you chess. You were like today, You're like, 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.920 I've never played chess before. I'm not in my life. Yeah, 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.320 I had no idea. I apologize for some reason. I 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.200 don't even know how to play checkers. Yeah, And now 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.320 that I think about it, I don't see you as 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:16.960 a chess player until now. I don't know you more 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:18.480 as a type of person who would walk in and 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.120 like drop a bowling ball on the chess board and say, 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.560 I went, you got me way wrong. You're not like 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:29.399 super strategic and tactical. What he's a big stick? Oh, 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:31.799 I can be both ways. You you're just talking about 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:38.000 your own experience with me. Oh yeah, I've can play 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:40.560 chess and I intend to. Are you gonna play? Yeah? 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:43.760 After researching to say emailed you, I was like, we 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:46.160 have to start playing chess. She said her dad taught 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.000 her like the basic moves when she was a kid, 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.320 but she never really got into it. So we're gonna 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:52.959 start playing chess. Well I never got into it, got 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:56.000 into it, but I did learn when I was probably 0:02:56.120 --> 0:03:00.400 a young teenager. And uh, my brother and I played 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.359 for a little while. Who won? I think he always won? 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.160 But I never ever learned strategy. I was like, I 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.079 learned how the pieces moved, and then as a dumb 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.960 little thirteen year old kind of went about my way 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.880 trying to get the king in checkmate. Right, you sold 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:20.440 your Detective Comics number one and stopped playing the piano, 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.440 And yeah, I started drinking beer. By the way, I 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.480 looked at Murray Head. I rarely do this. His name 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.799 is Murray Seafield St. George Head. So his name really 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.960 is Murray Head. Yeah, why didn't he go by Murray St. 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:38.880 George or Seafield St. George. That's awesome. Yeah, it sounds 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.280 like you should be wearing a cravat anytime you say that. 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.440 All right, so let's play some chess. Okay. So, um, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.520 you were just saying that you stopped playing chess and 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.240 you really never got strategy. No, but I remember, like 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.920 I could sit down and play right now, so I 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:58.720 probably could too after reading this article eighteen times. Um. 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.920 But the the thing that I gathered from this article 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.800 is that had you kept playing, you would have eventually 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:11.960 stopped thinking about how you can move your your pieces 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:15.760 and started thinking strategically. That that just kind of comes 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:19.840 with time and practice. It's the natural result of playing chess. Yea, 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:22.960 And I think I remember probably getting a little better. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:28.920 But unless you know, like the bona fide bona fide strategies, uh, 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:31.880 I don't know, there's a ceiling to how good you 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.040 can get, you know. So we're gonna get email about this. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.880 It's bona fide as like a descriptor. But if it 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:42.000 is your bona fide is like a noun, like your credentials, 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.599 then that's how it pronounced. Bona fide can be correct. Yeah, 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.920 bona fide is right. But when you're talking about like 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:52.800 my bona fide is like are that I'm great? But 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:57.800 um I'm bona fide great? Gotcha? I think that's right 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:00.840 that and I thought was I was just mispronouncing as 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:03.960 a joke like a normally do. Let's talk chess, alright. 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.040 Chess for me, one of my favorite things about the 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.719 game is that it is has pointed out in this article, 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:14.760 is the great equalizer and sitting sitting in chess is 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:20.880 very cool to me that chess the brainiest nerds in 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.480 a classroom or a library might play. Or you can 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:28.120 walk by Washington Square Park and seeing these old Kajars 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.960 playing chess that have been like battling it out for years, 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.000 or the kid from fresh It really played chess speed chess. 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:39.159 So it really just is it spans ages and races 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.320 and social and economic groups. Is it's really kind of cool. 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.080 It's not like just like like some snooty game, you know. Yeah, 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:50.599 I mean everybody can play it and it's old. Yes, 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:54.880 it is. The Indians can actually claim or India can 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:59.719 claim chess the invention of chess and that those are Indians. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.160 I know, if the one for Christopher Columbus. We wouldn't 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:08.279 have to make that distinction. That's the second appearance today. Yes, 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.440 it does. Is rioted in India, believe to have been 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:14.640 born in about a d. Three hundred um by the 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:19.760 name Kataraga, and it was a four person game. Kataranga 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:24.000 was with sixty four squares on the board, but the 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.040 moves are similar to the modern game, and the chess 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.240 we all know and love is most closely tied to 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:32.000 that original Indian game and not some of these other ones. 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:34.520 We actually don't know the rules of Kataraga. It was 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.599 lost to the ages. But there's a guy, but we 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.480 do know that it did exist. We I think we 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.560 have our hands on Katarango boards and it's obviously the 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.800 predecessor of chess. Um But there's a guy. Read this 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.359 article called Big Game Hunter from two thousand eight in 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:53.600 Time magazine. It's about this guy named Irving Finkel, and 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.360 that a great name, believing Finkel. Yeah, And he works 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:58.560 at the British Museum and he's a game expert and 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.120 basically his job is too far in old games and 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:04.839 to figure out their rules. Man, is cool. Do you 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.400 know how smart that guy has to be? Dude? So 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.240 I don't know if he's worked on Kataranga or what, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.880 but I guarantee like that's on his like bucket list 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.640 is to figure out exactly how Kataraga was played. That's 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.320 pretty awesome. That's a well is it a job or 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:23.320 is it? It's a gentle h good I think think so. 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:29.320 Kataranga was originated about three in India, and a couple 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.840 of hundred years later it made its way out to 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:39.080 Persia Arang, Yeah, and the Persians um were firmly planted 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.200 onto the Silk Road, and the Silk Road spread everything, 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.360 it really did. Um. And one of the things that 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:49.360 did spread was chat Trang or chat Trang and Uh 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:54.640 it made it into uh Arabia and the Arabians or 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.520 also referred to as the Moors when they invaded Spain 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.360 or the Moops depending on whether you like I felt 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:05.200 or not, and Uh. From there it's spread all through Europe, yes, 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.640 and then of course eventually the America's and the rest 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.000 of the continents. It spread like everything else spread, really 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.640 it did. So our modern chest that we play today 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:21.320 is traced back to rang Uh and that diasporas Chitrang. 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:24.960 But of course the Chinese and the Japanese were like, well, 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.760 just come up with our own bubble based it on chattaranga. Yeah. 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.840 Like it seems like most cultures had a similar like 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:36.720 slight variations UM, including Germany and the Byzantines who played 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.800 on a circular board. Uh. Germans had three extra pieces 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.880 that we don't use um in China and Japan, like 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.439 you mentioned um, which they still play today their own versions. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:53.200 In China, it's called sankai and stended like the guy 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.720 from NPR. Uh. And the board is a five by 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:02.319 nine grid and it's green and two five by nine grids. 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.760 It's expensive. Yeah, there are two five by nine grids 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.880 separated by a moat. Well that's the part that I 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.360 love best, the moat. It would it'd be cool if 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.040 like you had a really great board that had like 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.520 water in it and like a mini like sea monster 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.480 swimming around. That's awesome. Uh. And the goal there instead 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:23.280 of a king, you are supposed to topple the general, right, 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.960 the general is that the top dog. Not a big 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.920 difference in that place. But uh, the Japanese have one 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:35.640 called she Go show ge I got it backwards? Um, 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.720 and that's the nine by nine grid twenty game pieces, 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:43.520 which is four more than chess twenty game pieces for 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:47.920 each player. The big differences that they're all the same color. Yeah, 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.520 you think that's confusing, but apparently they face in a 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.680 certain direction and that's how you tell what who, what 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.840 piece belongs to whom. But I guess if you know 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:59.080 the game, that's not super confusing. So, like I said, 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.640 modern chess that we play now is basically closely resembles 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:07.040 the Indian original Indian game. Did you say that? Uh? 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.240 And in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, though, is when 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:14.040 the queen basically became the most powerful piece on the board, 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:18.440 which is very surprising. It. Yes, the fifteenth and sixteenth 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:23.480 centuries the age of misogyny, that's when witches were were created. 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:27.080 The idea of women being powerful was a bad thing, 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:32.120 like the continuation of just women being held down. They 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:36.040 at the same time, in chess, in this universally enjoyed game, 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:42.760 the one obviously female piece was given the most power. Yeah, 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.120 but that was also like some pretty powerful queens at 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:49.080 that time, right, it's a good point. I don't know. 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:54.600 So there were some difference though between the pieces of course, 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:56.880 in the Western game, like they had elephants in the 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.920 Indian version, whereas we had nights. So just kind of 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.400 character differences. Uh. And in the nineteen until the mid 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.720 nineteenth century there were class differences as well, So like, 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:09.720 if you're a wealthy person you have these big heavy 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.120 chess pieces that would like fud and stay in place. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.720 If you're poor, you just had like chunks of wood 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.360 that represented the pieces. And then in the mid nineteenth century, 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:25.319 um Jean Jacques of Jacques of London created the design 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:30.160 that we see in chess boards today, which is a 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:34.280 symbol denoting what piece it is on top of the pedestal. Yeah, 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.120 and did you know you know the pawn it's like 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.800 basically like a ball on top of like a base 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.160 or something like that. It's supposedly supposed to represent the 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:48.480 compass and square of the masons. Interesting. Oh and the 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.120 pedal stores of different heights too. That's important to know. Yes, 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:55.960 is all come into play? Who will um what else? Uh? Well? 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.000 You you know these days you can just play with 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:00.719 each other. You can play on a computer. They have 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.400 computers that play people. I know we all remember when 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.840 Deep Blue two beat Gary casper Off in the nineties. 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:10.160 That was a big deal. Like one of a few 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.200 times chess makes front page news these days. You know, 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:14.400 it's got to be a big deal. It was a 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.640 huge deal because they've been trying to build computers that 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.280 could beat humans at chess for decades and they finally 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.199 did it. And I mean cass Brov was the undisputed champ. 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:28.160 He was the the best chess player walking the planet, 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.960 like everyone agreed, and he got beat by a computer. 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.920 I bet he was pissed. Oh but he was too. 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:36.400 Can't you imagine that if the very at least you 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:40.840 have a nightmare that night. All right, So let's if 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.160 you've never played before, let's talk a little bit about 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.400 the game itself. It's a two person game, not the 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:51.199 four person game like it was originally. Um the end game, 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:57.079 the goal is to attack the king, put the king 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:01.720 in check, meaning it cannot move without being captured, which 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.240 would be a checkmate. Yes, if you can get out 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.840 of check you can keep playing. If there is no 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:10.440 possible move the king can make, then you are in checkmate. 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.240 Game over, which is a really odd little quirk of chess. 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:19.440 The king actually is never captured. Yeah, it ends just 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:24.120 before his capture witness capture becomes inevitable. Yeah, and captured, 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.200 meaning like you don't take it off the board and 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:28.360 rub it in. I guess it's the one piece that 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.920 can never leave the board. It's an a legal move. Yeah, 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.400 and I've seen people knock over the king. I don't 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.480 know if that's just a legit move or if that's 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.520 a jerk move, but I've seen it happen. I have 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:45.080 two Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not sure about that. Fresh 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:50.680 um they are the board is half white, the pieces 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:54.080 are half white, half black. The board is half white 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:55.960 and half black or white and dark. I'd like to 0:13:56.240 --> 0:14:05.560 quote the article if i'm uh. The rules of the 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.079 game are based on the pieces, half of which are 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.920 black and half of which are white. True game manufacturers 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.560 who are in the business of fun create games with 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.960 non traditional colors and replace typical game pieces with other characters, 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:21.200 but for the purpose of this article, we will use 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.920 the standard colors because we're talking about chess. I thought 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:27.040 that was a great c A. Yeah, that's pretty funny. 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.560 Game makers who are in the business of fun, I've 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.160 never seen those. I wonder what like other characters. I'm 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.600 sure like everybody who plays D and D R Star Tecker, 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.640 you know, what I'm saying. I have their own versions 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.600 made by game manufacturers, and they're in the business of fun. 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.080 I do have a Star Wars monopoly, which is pretty fun. Um. 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.720 So the chess board itself has sixty four squares that 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.920 alternating color, like we said, across eight different rows. You've 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.280 got horizontal rows called ranks, which are numbered one through eight. Yes, 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:00.320 then you've got the vertical rows called files, rank and 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:04.440 file lettered A through ah. So any square has a 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:08.240 number letter designation. That's right, And uh, the four squares 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.080 in the center are really the most important. Those are 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.640 E four, E five, D four, and D five. Yeah, 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:16.080 and they're they're the most important for controlling the game. 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.920 Correct me if I'm wrong. It doesn't actually explicitly say 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.520 in the article. But that's because it's the easiest place 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.440 to block and defend an attack from. So if you 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.960 control the center, you can move easily throughout anywhere on 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:29.640 the rest of the board. Is that why controlling the 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.920 center is important? I think so, And I think, uh, 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:34.640 just in terms, if you were to look at chess 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:38.000 is like a military invasion. You don't want to be 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.720 trapped in the corner or against a wall, you know, 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.000 what I'm saying, you're probably most dangerous, like in the middle. 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.640 That's just a guess. Yeah, especially if you've got four 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:49.880 guys in the middle with all their backs together and 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:54.200 their guns pointed outward, and they'd just be like, you know, 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:58.960 this is exactly how I thought this would go. Uh. 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:03.280 So each player as sixteen starts with sixteen game pieces. Um, 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:05.280 you have either all the black ones, are all the 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:09.560 white ones, and those consist of eight ponds, two rooks 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.400 that look like little castles, two nights that look like 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:18.480 little horses, to bishops, which I guess they're they're sort 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.120 of hard to describe. They have a meter on top, 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:26.760 and a meter is the headwear of the maybe episcopalion 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.360 definitely the Catholic Church from Yeah, the bishop on up. 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.480 I think cardinals may basically you know, the funky headwear 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.280 that the pope wears. That's a meter. That's what's on 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.400 top of the bishops piece. Yeah, and they vary greatly 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:43.280 like between manufacturers. I've seen um bishops that marked quite 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.000 as ornate, you know. Yeah, but the ones that are 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.840 that were originally manufactured by Jean Jacques, and then I 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:53.640 think they're called the Eastman pieces. Um, they have a 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.280 meter on top. Okay, uh, and then you've got your 0:16:56.360 --> 0:17:00.320 king and your queen. Uh. I believe the king usually 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:04.359 has a well likeness said. It all depends the king's tallest. 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:09.480 It is tallest, and that's how you remember what goes where? Um, starting, 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.840 and the board has to be a certain way as well. 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.480 Is right? White is right? So like there there should 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.040 always be the white square on your right corner. When 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.440 you've got that set up, then you can start putting 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.199 your pieces up, starting in the first rank, which is 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:27.560 the horizontal road closest to you. Um, you want to 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:33.200 put your rooks right, the little castle on the far 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.040 left and the far right inside one. Inside of the 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.840 rooks are the knights, then the bishops, and then you 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.800 have two squares left and uh, the queen goes on 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.480 the square that is the same color as her. That's right. 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:51.080 What's the phrase the carpet matches the drapes? Oh my god, no, 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.080 oh no. The queen's dress must always match your shoes, right, 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.000 that's right, that's how you remember. Yeah, And then the 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.320 king goes in the remaining square. That's right. Then in 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.679 the rank in front of that, you've got your pawns 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:05.960 that's right, all lined up on the and the of 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:10.439 those eight squares. So, like we said, the goal is 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:15.639 to put the king in checkmate. And it helps to 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.280 think of it, like I said, as a game of war. 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.920 Almost you want to use all your little soldiers, um, 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.280 and we'll talk about how they can be moved to 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:30.520 capture and remove pieces to eventually make the other king 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.920 vulnerable while also protecting your own king. Yeah, that's that's 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.240 a big thing. Like if you overextend yourself in an attack, 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.719 you leave your king vulnerable. So it's not quite as 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.000 simple as going on the offensive. Strategic and I think 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.040 it bears repeating. Against is the point of the whole 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:50.480 game when you place when your opponent places your king 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.040 in a vulnerable situation where the king cannot get out 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:58.879 of without being checked or without being checkmated, that's checkmate 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:03.200 and the game is over. Yes, and the king uh 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.280 if if in check must make a move to get 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:11.720 out of check meaning either move the king or block 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:14.560 or capture the piece that has the king in check. 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.760 That's the only move you can make at that point. Yeah, 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:20.960 so chuck in a second, let's talk about them, the 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:25.240 individual pieces themselves, but first, let's do a message break 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:33.879 real quick. Okay, so you want to look a little 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.560 closer at an at the individual pieces. Yes, and this 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.199 is something I did not know. Each piece is assigned 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:46.160 a point value, but you don't keep score, No, basically 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.520 just how much power it has. Yeah, and it's basically 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:55.000 for you when you're thinking strategically, you can very quickly say, well, 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.760 this move would cost me this many points because I 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.679 could lose this east. So it's a good way of 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.600 just using shorthand for figuring out the value of a 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.240 particular strategic move. Yeah, and once you know it, you 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.119 don't even think of the points. You're like you just 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:11.800 innately kind of know, like this is a queen is 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:14.320 the most valuable. Yeah, I think it comes in most 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:18.960 handy for programming computers that play test to um. But 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.639 let's start with the rook, which it comes from the 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:25.120 Persian word rock are u k h which means chariot, 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:27.000 which is what the rook, which is now a castle, 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:29.840 originally was. And they think the castle is actually a 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:33.280 siege tower. Yeah, it looks like a little uh it's 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:37.160 called turret. Yeah, that's true. It is that, right, I believe. So, yeah, 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.840 it's a turret. Okay, um, but yes, so the rook 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.440 is the castle. That's right. It's worth of five points um. 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:46.160 And it can move along the ranks and files only 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:49.360 in a straight line, but it can move as far 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:51.600 as you want. If you have an open path from 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:53.560 one end of the board to the other, you can 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.680 slide that sucker all the way across. Uh. And if 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.040 you do that, something happens, which we'll talk about in 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.240 a minute. That's write something magical. Um, you can't jump 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.400 over any pieces, and it says that for each piece. 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:06.320 Let's just go ahead and say you can never jump 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:08.479 over a piece. No it's not checkers. No, it's not 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.760 the only one that can kind of jump over a 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:15.359 pieces a night which we'll see. But that one doesn't 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:18.760 even actually jump. It makes a normal standard move. Well 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:20.440 we're there, go ahead and say it. Okay, Well the 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.000 Night makes an L move that the Night is capable 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:28.520 of moving um forward two spaces and then to the 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:30.560 left or the right one space. So it makes a 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:34.520 little hook or crowbar or L movement with each move. 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.720 Or it can move over to and up one. Yeah, 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:40.879 that's what I said. Right, Well, you said forward to 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.160 and over one. It can also be to the left 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.440 to Okay, so it's it's always a combination of two, 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:50.120 two and one. It basically can make a turn, which 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:52.080 is the only piece that can make a turn. And 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:54.680 if you look at a chessboard and and see where 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.280 your night ends up, it looks like it it leapt 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:00.520 over a piece, but ultimately it's just making a left 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:03.720 or right, yeah, that's true, or an up or down. Um, 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.680 and that makes the night pretty pretty unique as far 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:10.480 as strategy goes. Yeah, the nights always screw me. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:12.520 they just they always would sneak up on me and 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:15.679 I would kind of forget that they could, you know, 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:21.560 move crazy turnover Creig Cray uh. And another good thing 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:24.320 to remember. First of all, it's a three point piece, 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:26.640 but um, if it starts on a light square, it's 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:28.440 gonna end up on a dark square and vice versa. 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.000 This I think it's just so basic that the article 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:34.800 just didn't even think it was important to mention. But 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:37.840 I want to make sure I have this right. You 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:41.720 want to get to a square where your opponent's pieces, 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:44.000 and when you move to that square, you take them 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:46.840 out of play there off the board, right, Yes, essentially, 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:51.239 when you can Uh. You when you can land on 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.000 another opponent's space where there is a piece, you just 0:22:54.119 --> 0:22:56.080 knock it out and there auto play. They can't come 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:58.160 back in, can't come backain. And what you've just done 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:03.360 by doing that is weakening the defenses against your opposing king. Exactly. 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:07.840 Um onto the bishop topped with a meter. Like you said, 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:12.560 it's also worth a three spot. It goes diagonally. Um 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:16.160 cannot go left and right. It can only attack diagonally right. 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:18.800 But it's so it makes an X across the board. Yeah. 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:22.840