Grass Lake School Chess Club

Regular Chess Rules

 

1.     If you touch your piece you must move it, if possible.

2.     If you touch your opponent’s piece you must capture it, if possible.

3.     No castling out of check.

4.     No castling through check.

5.     ‘In passing’ pawn captures.

6.     Saying check is customary, but not obligatory.

 

Pirate Chess Rules

 

1.      You don’t have to say check. If you don’t see the check your king can be captured, and you lose the game.

2.      If you move into check your king can be captured, and you lose the game.

3.      The player who is behind in points will be declared the winner if the game ends in stalemate.

4.      Passed pawns increase in value as they move down the board.  Their point value is equal to the rank number they are on. 

5.      If you capture a king in check you may offer it back, and keep on playing.  Capturing the king will count as one win.  The winner of the continued game will also be credited with a victory.  If the continued game ends in a king capture the process may be repeated.  This may continue until the game ends in a checkmate, or stalemate.

6.      The penalty for any false move is loss of turn.

 

Reasons for Pirate Chess

 

1        It speeds up the games.

2        Chess is the only game that you can make the most fatal blunder and get away with it.  How many times have you watched a baseball game end with a homerun in the ninth inning?  The announcer always says about the pitcher, “He wishes he had that pitch back.”  How many times have you seen a football team’s fourth quarter comeback attempt end with an interception return for a touchdown? The announcer always says about the quarterback, “He wishes he had that pass back.”  Chess is the only game where you get it back.

3        Keeping your king safe is the most basic fundamental of chess.  If you don’t see your king being attacked you don’t deserve to win.

4        Getting a stalemate out of a losing position is an important skill of chess.  To emphasize the importance I award a victory to the player behind in points if the game ends in a stalemate.

5        Getting a passed pawn and advancing her to her queening square is another fundamental of chess.  As the pawn advances she becomes more powerful, and more of a headache for the opposing player. To emphasize this I award more points to the advancing passed pawn. 

6        Giving back the king after a king capture or checkmate allows us to play several games in the same time it takes to play one game.

 

Chess club competed in a tournament at Algonquin Middle School in Des Planes. We played strongly and won a 6^th place trophy against the top teams in Chicagoland.  Our highest finisher was Martin Tuskevicius who place 6^th in his division. The team was Joey Maloney, Josh Saldivar, Martin Tuskevicius, and Shane Simonini. A big chess team thank you goes out to Mr. Simonini who drove us to the tournament and back.

 

Link to the Tournament:  http://www.ilcochess.com/tournaments.asp