Chess is one kind of board games that best stimulates the mind of the players. It helps a player to plan and come up with the best strategy and tactics he or she can think of and be able to defeat his or her opponent in the end.
The chessboard is made up of eight rows and eight columns for a total of 64 alternating colors square and the light squared position is on the extreme lower right hand side of the chess board. It is consists of 16 white colored pieces and 16 black colored pieces, with a total of 32 pieces all in all.
Chess sets are available in many different designs. There is the Staunton Design which was designed by Nathaniel Cook and was named after Howard Staunton and was made by John Jaques of London in 1849. There are also wooden chess sets made normally of maple or boxwood and the black pieces are made of black woods such as ebony, walnut or rosewood. Others are made of plastic, like white plastic for white pieces and black plastic for black pieces. Some also use other materials such as bone or ivory or composite materials. There are Magnetic chess sets also and they are compact and have pieces that are like a small flat token that has symbol drawn above it to show what piece it is. Chess games on computers are often 2-D or 3-D graphics with more traditional chess pieces designs.
The chess parts and sets are composed of the chess board and 16 pieces on each color. Each piece moves differently in pattern. The rook that is usually designed as a tower, moves in any number of vacant squares in a straight line forward, backward or left or right and is involve when castling. The bishop typically designed with its top shaped like a mitre with a cross, can move diagonally in any vacant square at the same color throughout the game. The queen looks like a tiara or like a queen with tiara moves in any direction along a row or in column or diagonal. The king obviously looks like a king moves in only one vacant square position but in any direction. The knight that looks like a horse moves in an L-shape in any direction and can jump over other pieces. Lastly, the pawn that is the smallest and its top is rounded can move on two spaces when its on starting square and one space as the game is played.
Just make sure when buying your chess set, you buy the design you really like and is beautiful in the eye and durable. It is good to play chess to enhance and empower your mind to different strategies you could come up. Playing chess makes you think first before making a move. This will also be applicable in your daily life. Before doing something, you will be weighing the consequences of each action you will be attempting to do thus making you reach your targeted goal in the end.