[021] Action

[notasuggestion]

[Helga Sinclair set three boards up, carefully arranging each of the pieces. According to the forms she'd filled out, this "club" would last ninety minutes every Tuesday evening. However, she understood the importance of flexibility

Comments

[notsoscaryname]

[Here, have a Hiccup walking into the room.] Uh. Hi. This is for the 'chess' thing, right?

[Curiously, he leans over a chess board and curiously examines its setup. He knew chess was different from hnefatafl, but seeing it now, he had no idea how this was meant to be played.]

[notasuggestion]

It is. Welcome Mr. Haddock.

[Her tone is as close to friendly as Helga ever gets.]

[notsoscaryname]

Soooo...how does this actually work? [Hiccup gestures vaguely to the board.] It doesn't really make as much sense now that I'm actually looking at it.

[notasuggestion]

[Helga touches the head of the king.] This is your king. The object is to protect him and capture the other player's.

You have your infantry-- the pawns. [She picks up one of the little pieces.] Then you have your officers. [She touches each one in turn.] The rooks, knights, and bishops. [She indicates the last piece.] And your queen.

Every piece has rules for how it can move and how it can capture other pieces. You chip away at your opponent's defenses until you can "check" them, which means the king is in danger but can escape, or until "checkmate," where the king has no choice but to surrender.

[notsoscaryname]

Oh. Okay.

...so then what are the rules about moving the pieces?

[notasuggestion]

The pawns can move one or two spaces forward on their first move. After that, it's one space forward. They cannot go backwards. They capture diagonally. They cannot jump pieces. Meaning they cannot go over pieces. If a pawn has a piece in front of it, it is stuck.

Rooks can move as many spaces as they have available in a straight line-- either back and forth or side to side. They cannot move diagonally or jump pieces. If an opponent's piece is in a valid space for the rook, you capture it-- remove it from the board.

Bishops can only move diagonally, and they cannot jump pieces.

Knights move in a two-three pattern. [She picks one up to demonstrate.] two or three spaces in one direction, then three or two spaces in the other. They can jump other pieces. They do not capture jumped pieces, but if they land on the same spot as an enemy, they capture that.

The king can only move one space at a time but in any direction.

The queen can move in any direction any number of open spaces. She cannot jump pieces.

[notsoscaryname]

Oh. Uh, wow. That's...a lot of rules.

[notasuggestion]

It is.

But once you play, it becomes a lot easier to understand.

[notsoscaryname]

[gives Helga one of those looks, then glances down at the chessboard. He tentatively pokes at the pieces, trying to figure out which one to move first without breaking any rules. He looks up again after a few short minutes.]

You said this gets easier?

[notasuggestion]

Once you play a bit.

Sit down.

[She sits as well and turns the board so the white pieces are near Hiccup.]

White moves first. Select a pawn, the first row, and move one or two spaces forward.

[notsoscaryname]

[Hiccup just does as he is told, sitting down and staring at the board a bit longer before grabbing his leftmost pawn and moving it two spaces forward.]

[notasuggestion]

[Helga calmly takes a pawn just left of center and moves it forward one space.]

[notsoscaryname]

[Uhhhh... Hiccup hesitates and looks over his options. He takes the pawn two spaces from the right edge of the board and moves it forward one space.]

[notasuggestion]

[Helga considers the board a moment before playing one of her knights. A bit early, most would say, but she has the tendency to do that.]

[notsoscaryname]

[And uh....another pawn moves one space forward, why not! Gonna keep it nice and simple for now.]

[notasuggestion]

[And Helga will play nice. She just moves another pawn, this one two spaces.

She'll save bringing out the knight.]