10-year-old chess superstar wins gold and silver in Dubai - Kea Kids News

Luna has only been playing chess for two years, and it’s already taken her all over the world. But what is chess and how can you get started?

Chess is a game played on a square board with 64 squares. Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. What you want to do is move your pieces around until you checkmate your opponent’s king, AKA put their king in a position where it’s in danger and can’t escape capture. Here’s how each piece moves:

• The King can move one square in any direction - up, down, sideways, or diagonally. But be careful, you don’t want to leave your king in a position where it could be captured.
• The Queen is the most powerful piece. It can move any number of squares in any direction - up, down, sideways, diagonally - as long as there are no other pieces in its way.
• The Rook moves horizontally or vertically any number of squares. It’s like a little tower that can slide along the rows and columns.

Chess is a game played on a square board with 64 squares in total. Photo / Kea Kids News

• The Knight moves in an “L” shape - two squares in one direction (either horizontally or vertically) and then one square perpendicular to that. It’s the only piece that can jump over other pieces.
• The Bishop moves diagonally any number of squares. Each player starts with two bishops - one on a light-coloured square and one on a dark-coloured square.
• Pawns move forward one square, but they can move two squares on their first move. They capture diagonally one square forward. Pawns are a bit special because they can’t move backwards.

Auckland chess champion Luna Lu has only been playing for two years. Photo / Kea Kids News

Here are a few more things to know:

• If you put your opponent’s king in a position where it can be captured, that’s called a “check”. If the king has no way to escape capture, that’s when you’ve got a “checkmate,” and you win the game.
• If a player makes a move that puts their king in danger, that’s called “check” to their own king, and they must make a move to get their king out of danger.
• If neither player can checkmate the other, the game can end in a draw or stalemate.

That’s the basic idea of chess. It’s a game of strategy and planning, where you have to think ahead and outsmart your opponent. Have fun playing.