https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog daily 0.75 2026-01-21 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/the-20-dollar-hobby-that-keeps-on-giving monthly 0.5 2026-01-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/db868f8c-af9c-46e2-a605-7caa9a0ed3ed/chess Joyful Chess Blog - The 20-Dollar Hobby that Keeps on Giving - Make it stand out Photo by Marina Zvada on Unsplash https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/5c22db8c-ff9e-417e-b59a-d1f8a86e89f1/vitaly-gariev-bVyky0DCJEI-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - The 20-Dollar Hobby that Keeps on Giving - Make it stand out Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/the-road-to-mastery monthly 0.5 2025-11-25 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/beautifulchesssetsmakeyouthinkbetter monthly 0.5 2026-01-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760481486093-8MK56O5I8HCKILZKO5FE/Chess+Set+-+House+of+Staunton+%282%29.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760556478513-94C84P8RKC240R2AGJY3/Untitled+design+%281%29.png Joyful Chess Blog - glass container https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/41d73f50-e053-49c6-8066-f8492c9d3468/daniel-dan--FMxvHTCRmw-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/luxury-wood-chess-sets monthly 0.5 2026-01-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/f401361c-4c95-4794-a5a0-9202bd5b0948/Chess+Set+-+House+of+Staunton+%285%29.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760477572336-JX7NLVPHLRA56L6Y2VEG/Savano Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/01b890c8-7ed2-4fa1-80d7-321c662dcbc6/Screenshot+2026-01-13+120247.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760477631033-N537E5X3WIQ76QBP8CAV/Savano.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760481311857-FXASUCMRLTAW9VCDGLUQ/Zagreb.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760481486093-8MK56O5I8HCKILZKO5FE/Chess+Set+-+House+of+Staunton+%282%29.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760478697600-BOP69JXAGJ26P4Z1KJHX/The+Grandmaster.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/27be8632-28fe-4746-a6bd-474edc09ddc7/Screenshot+2026-01-13+120642.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760478617187-4U25U9M7TZMD4GP6GI8R/Grandmaster+2+%281%29.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760482467608-ERLS6CKKH6UBMRI8BMO4/Chess+Set+-+House+of+Staunton+%283%29.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/3f400613-0b63-4bee-bf4c-3791cb64cb04/Screenshot+2026-01-13+120917.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1760482474130-1W3PS5Z3VD23UMSE68G3/Chess+Set+-+House+of+Staunton+%284%29.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/queenrookcheckmate monthly 0.5 2025-11-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1759373822910-CPPPYU44JIDW7L3D8NAE/unsplash-image-Sykhmys_L-A.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/9fc273da-fc7c-4378-8fed-1f3307134011/Screenshot+2025-10-01+183718.png Joyful Chess Blog - Check out the King in the picture. In order to checkmate in the middle of the board, we need to control 9 royal squares. That’s a lot. And it’s the reason why most checkmates happen on an edge. It’s much easier to control 4 or 6 squares on an edge than 9 in the middle. Which brings us to our steps. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/773edd86-be9c-46dd-a0c6-34d029a4616e/Screenshot+2025-10-01+183756.png Joyful Chess Blog - 1️⃣ Limit Movement We need to force this King towards an edge for an easier win. To do that we move the Queen just before the row (rank) the King is in. This stops the King from running around the middle, where it’s harder to deliver checkmate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/083c5468-988d-4050-9a09-69129b30247f/Screenshot+2025-10-01+183855.png Joyful Chess Blog - 2️⃣Force to an edge Now that we stopped the King from traveling past the line the Queen attacks, we’re going to bring our rook one step ahead of our Queen. This forces the King towards the edge of the board. They’re sweating now. We’ll walk the Queen and Rook down the board until the King is at the edge with no options. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/7b3916f3-395e-4584-bff6-f150c5a1abf7/Screenshot+2025-10-01+183938.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make sure you don’t leave a gap for the King to run back to the center. Keep the Queen and Rook controlling two rows at a time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/bddde2d2-0cdf-4c0a-89ce-a2f6113da991/Screenshot+2025-10-01+184141.png Joyful Chess Blog - 4️⃣Checkmate Once the King is on the edge you’ll have delivered checkmate. The King here is: - being checked by the Queen - has no safe squares to run to - has no pieces that can block the check (getting in between the King and the Queen attack). - has no pieces that can capture the checking piece (Queen) So this is checkmate! Victory! https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/howtocheckmate monthly 0.5 2025-11-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/1759260243853-KTU0TLN9Q1XQ5HB16488/unsplash-image-EvGwPnK6apM.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/676f4942-9f56-46c4-9758-74b18da112e7/Check.png Joyful Chess Blog - Check is a position where an enemy piece has moved to a square where its range of attack reaches the King. In this image, the black Bishop is now threatening the King. White has to respond to this check. It can’t be ignored. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/ad8da32e-eb5b-4059-925c-e1a3f8ef3dac/safe+squares.png Joyful Chess Blog - A - Avoid The first thing you’ll want to see is if there’s a safe square you’re able to move to that’s not attacked by enemy pieces. If there are, note them, and check your other options. You’ll always check all 3 then pick your best one. In this image, the King has 2 available safe squares to move to. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/b89f85cc-b390-4e23-878b-4ff3a4c61532/Block.png Joyful Chess Blog - B - Block Look for any pieces you have that can get in the line of attack of the piece threatening your King. If you have something that can get in the way, you can block the check. C - Charge Check if you have any pieces that are able to capture the piece checking you, removing the threat completely. In this example, there are none. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/5ac3dba0-c17c-4633-aebc-d9e4dba14251/Checkmate.png Joyful Chess Blog - Checkmate If the King in check can’t do A, B, or C, the position is checkmate and the game is over. Remember, Kings are never captured in chess. Notice here that: The King is in check by the black Rook White has no available safe squares (A) White has no pieces that can block the Rook check (B) White has no pieces to capture the piece checking (C) This would be checkmate. Note: for simplicity’s sake, there’s no black King in the example, but in a real game, there would be. https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/knowyourchesspieces monthly 0.5 2025-11-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/216ae60c-7bdf-4545-9c33-ede44a928281/juan-lasala-2faPkTrhi9U-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/d041661f-1001-4879-9fcf-6513e7ca146b/Rook+%282%29.png Joyful Chess Blog - The Rook Rooks are long-range pieces that can move forward, backward, left, and right, as far as you want, so long as not blocked by your pieces or your opponent’s- they can’t jump over any pieces. Capture You start the game with two Rooks and their range of attack is the same as its movement. This means any of your opponent’s pieces that are in line with your rook can be captured. Where to Put Them Keep Rooks on open lines attacking down the board towards your opponent’s pieces, preferably near their King. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/91e9aca0-5de4-4c0d-9a23-3d79d1480119/Bishop.png Joyful Chess Blog - The Bishop Bishops are long-range pieces that attack on their diagonals. They can move forward, backward, left, and right along their slants, so long as they are not blocked by any pieces (yours or your opponents). This means they can’t jump over pieces. Capture You start games with two bishops. Their range of attack is the same as their movement, so opponent pieces in line with them can be captured. Where to Put Them Bishops thrive in wide open spaces. Keep them on open slants attacking towards your opponent’s King. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/40456bf7-06a9-4314-974b-20bcc927bfff/Queen.png Joyful Chess Blog - The Queen The Queen is a strong long-range piece and moves like both a Bishop and Rook combined. Because of this, they can move forward, backward, left, right, and along their diagonals, so long as not blocked- they can’t jump over pieces. Capture You begin the game with 1 Queen and it attacks in the same directions it can move. If your opponent’s pieces are in line with your Queen, they’re able to be captured. Where to Put Your Queen Queens dominate in open and tight spaces, but work best when another piece is supporting them. Defend your Queen with another one of your pieces and line it up with the opposing King to deliver a game-ending attack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/ba2b7a07-9b75-4ff8-9ed2-f2b53afa819f/King.png Joyful Chess Blog - The King Your King is a short-range piece that’s able to move one square in any direction, so long as not blocked by its own color pieces. Capture Its attack range is the same. Any enemy pieces surrounding the King are able to be attacked. Limitations Kings are not able to step into any squares that enemy pieces attack. Because of this, Kings can never be next to each other because each King’s movement and attack range is 1 square surrounding them. Kings Are Never Captured Checkmate ends the game. If the king is being threatened by another piece- called “check”- and has no way to get out of “check”, then the position is “checkmate” and the game ends immediately. Kings are never captured or taken off the board. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/73055371-dab0-4f75-81b7-c8461a7a5fa2/Knight.png Joyful Chess Blog - The Knight Knights are mid-range pieces that move “over two, over one”. Starting from a vertical or horizontal square around the Knight, count two squares up, down, left, or right. Then adjacent one square. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. They’re able to jump over both your pieces and your opponent’s. Capture You begin the game with two Knights and they capture only on the square they land on, not the pieces they jump over. Where to Put Knights Knights do very well in cramped spaces. If there are a lot of pawns and pieces jumbled up on the board, you’ll want to protect your Knights as they’re best able to navigate the mess. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/40b51e91-194f-43c1-898f-d8ed49fba6d8/Pawn.png Joyful Chess Blog - The Pawn Pawns are short-range pieces that each have the option to move one square or two squares on their first move. After a pawn’s first move, it can only move forward one square at a time. Capture You start the game with 8 pawns and they capture differently than they move. They attack one square forward diagonally in either direction. If your opponent’s pieces are on these squares then can be captured, no matter how powerful they are. That means a lowly pawn is able to capture a powerful Queen. Where Pawns Thrive Pawns do well when they support each other (called pawn chains). Because they attack one square forward diagonally in both directions, you can line up pawns so they defend one another, making a wall that can’t be broken easily. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/a83726e2-3aa0-4bc7-b8f4-84c19994c1c0/manu-tb3Cc7jk42Y-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/startyourchessjourney monthly 0.5 2025-11-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/e7854058-dc39-4ddd-a778-f9b87b90bcd9/daniil-zameshaev-mKMemvbqFmM-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/adbb862a-ef63-4985-ba82-8e81d291dca4/luke-liscom-My0OBH-NVgQ-unsplash+%281%29.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Chess is a two-player strategy game played on an 8-square by 8-square board, where each player controls 16 pieces with the goal of checkmating their opponent's King. Checkmate is a position where a King is threatened by an opponent piece (called “check”), but can’t escape the threat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/e5e409a1-674c-4b26-bf6e-562bf5ab5218/roquelle-iRL1P94z4Xc-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/319bb9eb-fb6b-4ea8-a5dc-b7b916f64e6e/bas-van-den-eijkhof-qcblfK7kjL4-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/knowyourchessboard monthly 0.5 2025-11-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/4ea6766a-0655-45de-b36a-7252e9827d5e/jani-kaasinen-7VGzV09YnvA-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/7e859cf6-3d34-4f8a-ae25-d78ad53cb63e/shri-CG-JvqWqutM-unsplash.jpg Joyful Chess Blog - Chess boards are made of 5 main parts. Let’s look at each in a bit more detail. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/3ab4b0c0-aa80-4803-8f85-032e7369e487/Files.png Joyful Chess Blog - Files Files are the vertical lines on the chess board. There are a total of 8 files and they are lettered “a” through “h” when looking at the board from white’s position. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/cbaf3577-6508-4695-a94b-7b1fb273b6e2/Ranks.png Joyful Chess Blog - Ranks Ranks are the horizontal lines on the chess board. There are eight total and are numbered 1 through 8 from white’s view. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/5dfde0ba-ef82-4492-bd17-458487bb36bc/Coordinate.png Joyful Chess Blog - Coordinate A coordinate is the combination of a file and a rank and is how we identify individual squares. The file letter always goes first and is written lowercase (this will help you later when you learn notation). This square is e4 because it’s in the “e” file on the fourth rank. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/3ce23632-be1e-466d-b8e9-0970b78d8fae/Diagonal.png Joyful Chess Blog - Diagonals Diagonals are the slants on the chess board. They can be as big as eight squares or as small as two. You’ll likely never be asked to name one, but they’re labeled using their starting and ending coordinate. For example, the larger diagonal in the picture is the a1 to h8 diagonal. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/5df4cc3d-6e80-4635-a118-8f4e89df47e0/Center.png Joyful Chess Blog - The Center The center refers to the 4 squares in the middle of the board. Namely d4, d5, e4, and e5. Having your pieces attacking and occupying these squares is a major chess theme called “center control”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/a795be86-cd01-4036-b65e-d6b23dbfbdc3/White+on+right.png Joyful Chess Blog - Next up. White on Right “White on right” or “light on right” is a reminder to check to make sure the board is set up correctly before starting your games. There should be a light square at the bottom right hand corner for both white and black as they look at their board. If there’s not one, the board has been set up incorrectly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/bfdcdf02-d655-42c3-992c-9dc0dabd9ffe/Board+Setup.png Joyful Chess Blog - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/category/Master+Core+Skills monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/checkmate monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/queen+and+rook+checkmate monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/mindset monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/ABC monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/chessintro monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/tactile+learning monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/chessboard monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/consistency monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/mastery monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/startchess monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/learnchess monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/phycology monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/checkmating+pattern monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/luxury+wood+chess+sets monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/luxury+chess+sets monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/joyful-chess-blog/tag/piecemovement monthly 0.5 https://www.opendoorchess.com/destresswithchess daily 1.0 2026-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/021589b9-db38-4156-9a12-41c63ba981cf/20230625_175250.jpg https://www.opendoorchess.com/about daily 0.75 2026-01-06 https://www.opendoorchess.com/comprehensive-opening-guide daily 0.75 2025-10-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/19daeb76-8768-4063-b26b-2ba3077df38f/Asset+301.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/92131405-9dfa-4a09-b403-2f6dea45f15b/luke-liscom-My0OBH-NVgQ-unsplash.jpg https://www.opendoorchess.com/piecemovementguide daily 0.75 2026-01-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/19daeb76-8768-4063-b26b-2ba3077df38f/Asset+301.png https://www.opendoorchess.com/knowyourboard daily 0.75 2025-10-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/19daeb76-8768-4063-b26b-2ba3077df38f/Asset+301.png https://www.opendoorchess.com/free-training daily 0.75 2026-02-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67b2f6f9f88263340b4d9726/a86a2dff-410d-4c79-a78c-28dbe9397fa1/denis-volkov-LbMELNUgtAY-unsplash.jpg Free Training