Excalibur electronics E951 Mode D'emploi page 14

if the king is not in check.
Capturing en passant
This is a special pawn capture that
doesnʼt happen often but comes in
handy to know! This move has a good handy to know! This move has a good
purpose—to keep ose—to keep
the game from
being blocked by being blocked by
interlocking
pawns.
Capturing en
passant passant (French passant (French
for "in passing") for "in passing")
is possible only
when one sideʼs when one sideʼs
pawn has
advanced to the fi advanced to the fi fth rank, and a neigh- fth rank, and a neigh-
boring enemy pawn then advances two
squares at once from its original square.
Then on the very next move, the play
whose pawn is on the fi fth rank can
capture the opposing pawn as if it had
advanced only one square. If the player
does not capture in this way on his very
next move, he loses the option.
Promotion
A pawn can be promoted if it advances
all the way to the far side of the board. It
is immediately promoted, as part of the
same move, into a queen, rook, bishop
or knight, whichever its owner chooses.
Since a queen is the most powerful
piece, it is nearly always chosen as the
promotion piece. Through the promo-
tion process, there may be more than one
queen on the board at the same time.
Check
If the king is attacked (in check), the
player in then obliged to protect his king
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14
either by moving it to another square,
moving one of his own pieces between
the king and the threatening piece
(blocking), or by capturing the attacker.
End of Game
It a playerʼs king is in check and canʼt
escape or block the check, the king
is checkmated and the game ends in
favor of the opponent, regardless of the
number of men remaining on either side.
At any time, a player can voluntarily
resign—his opponent wins. A game is
a draw (tie) when the players no longer
have material required for checkmating,
or one side is unable to escape a series
of checks (not checkmate), or when one
side is in stalemate—stalemate exists
when one side has no legal moves but is
not in check. A game can also be drawn
by mutual agreement between the play-
ers.
Some Tips on Chess
1. Move only one or two center pawns in
the opening. Then develop your knights
and bishops so that they can control the
center.
2. Chessmen that arenʼt pawns are called
"pieces." Get your pieces off the back
rank and into the game before beginning
an attack.
3. View each of your opponentʼs moves
as a potential threat—look carefully to
see if his move attacks one of your men.
4. Exchange less valuable men for more
valuable men. The chessmen who can be
captured are valued as follows: pawn (1),
knight and bishop (3), rook (5), queen
(9).