Scouting and Chess

by Bill Wall

From December 1966 to

December 1969, the
magazine of the Boy
Scouts, "Boy's Life," had
a chess column
called Checkmate,
written by Bobby
Fischer. Larry Evans also
wrote some of the
columns, and continued
after Fischer stopped.
The Chess Club and Bill Wall
Scholastic Center of St
Louis, along with its
founder, Dr. Jeane
Sinquefield and Jerry
Nash, helped develop the
chess merit badge. Ay, every inch a King. -
Shakespeare
The chess merit badge
was created in
September, 2011. The
first chess merit badges
were earned by 20 scouts
in St. Louis in
September, 2011. By the
end of the year, there
were over 6,000 kids
who had earned a chess
merit badge.

It has become one of the

most popular badges of
the over 130 badges in
the Boy Scouts of
America. Over 100,000
Scouts have earned the
badge since its inception.
The Chess badge is
ranked among the 25
most popular badges.

The July 2015 issue of

Chess Life highlighted
the chess merit badge.

The requirements for a

Chess Belt Loop is to
identify the chess pieces
and set up a chess board
for play; demonstrate the
moves of each chess
piece to your den leader
or adult partner; and play
a game of chess.

The Cub Scouts offer a

chess pin for playing
chess. The requirements
for a pin is to
demonstrate 5 of the
following requirements:
demonstrate the basic
opening principles; visit
a chess tournament and
tell your den about it;
participate in a pack,
school, or community
chess tournament; solve a
specified chess problem;
play 5 games of chess;
play 10 games of chess
via computer or Internet;
read about a famous
chess player; describe the
USCF ratings for chess
players; learn to write
chess notation; and
present a report about the
history of chess to your
den or family.

In 2011, the United

States Chess Federation
provided the primary
contributing writers for
the Chess Merit Badge
pamphlet.

Here are the merit badge

requirements for chess.

Discuss with your merit

badge counselor the
history of the game of
chess.

The history of chess can

be traced back nearly
1500 years, although the
earliest origins are
uncertain. The best guess
is that the predecessor to
chess (chaturanga)
originated in India before
the 6th century AD. The
game then spread to
Persia and evolved to
chatrang. When the
Arabs conquered Persia,
chess (now called
shatranj) was taken up by
the Muslim world and
spread to Southern
Europe. The Old French
name was esches, which
evolved into chess in
Middle English. In
Europe, the game
evolved into its current
form in the 15th century.
Under Christianity, the
shape of the pieces
changed from the
original Islamic
nonrepresentational to
carved images of men
and a horse. By 1500, the
queen's and bishop's
modern moves were
finalized. Books on chess
also began appearing.
Soon, chess organization
developed, from coffee
house to chess clubs and
chess federations. By the
19th century, chess
became competitive with
chess matches and chess
tournament. In the mid-
1800s, time pieces, from
sandglasses to check
clocks, were introduced.
In 1861, the first modern
chess tournament was
held in London. In 1886,
the first official world
championship was held,
won by William Steinitz.
In 1924, the World Chess
Federation (FIDE) was
founded. The Soviets
dominated chess from the
1940s to 1972, when
Bobby Fischer won the
world championship
from Boris Spassky. In
1975, Fischer refused to
defend his title and
Anatoly Karpov became
world champion. In
1985, Garry Kasparov
became world champion
and dominated chess for
many years. Online chess
appeared in the mid-
1990s. Developments in
the 21st century include
use of chess computer
and engines and digital
chess clocks. In 2016,
Magnus Carlsen
defended his world
championship in New
York and is considered
the world's strongest
player.

Explain why it is
considered a game of
planning and strategy.

The thought behind

position play is called
planning. The art of
chess strategy is knowing
how to formulate a plan
for the chess game and
arrange your chess pieces
to accomplish this plan.
It is a game of strategy
by controlling the center
in the opening. Good
strategy is playing each
piece one time to its best
square. Good strategy is
to develop your pieces
quickly. Good strategy is
keeping your king safe
and castle early. A player
who simply makes the
moves he likes and hopes
to win by random tactics
usually loses to someone
who has a plan behind
his moves. A plan is
formulated by visualizing
a future position and
working toward it. If you
see a possibility to
checkmate, then the plan
and strategy is to aim
your pieces at your
opponent's king. The
thing to notice is that
chess does not involve
chance. There is no luck
in chess. The player with
the better planning and
strategy will always win.

Discuss the benefits of

chess, including
developing critical
thinking skills,
concentration skills, and
decision-making skills,
and how these skills can
help you in other areas of
your life.

Chess is an exercise for

the mind. It helps
develop mental abilities
used throughout life. It
helps develop critical
thinking skills,
concentration skills,
decision-making skills,
abstract reasoning,
problem solving,
increased reading skills,
and enhanced pattern
recognition. These skills
can help in other areas
such as improving
cognition, improving
verbal skills, improving
emotional intelligence,
and improving
mathematical skills.
Chess teaches the
importance of planning
and its consequences and
promotes mental
alertness. Chess provides
practice at making
accurate and fast
decisions under time
pressure. Chess teaches
sportsmanship and good
etiquette. Chess teaches
you how to learn from
mistakes. A chess game
you have lost will teach
you more than a game
you have won.

Discuss sportsmanship
and chess etiquette.

Sportsmanship is the
conduct and attitude
considered as befitting
participants in sports,
especially fair play,
courtesy, striving spirit,
and grace at losing.
Chess enhances
sportsmanship and self-
esteem. Chess teaches
you how to deal
gracefully with difficult
situations and loss.
Etiquette is the
conventional
requirements as to social
behavior and the proper
conduct as established
for any occasion. Good
etiquette in chess means
to be polite and greet
your opponent with a
handshake before the
game starts. Always
follow the rules of chess.
Don't boast or try to
intimidate your
opponent. Don't be
annoying and don't
discuss your game in
progress with anyone.
After the game, be a
good winner or loser.
Thank your opponent for
a good game with a
handshake. At all times
be respectful and
considerate of other
chess players and the
game of chess.
Remember, chess is a
game of honor. If you
cannot handle losing at
other sports or games,
you are probably not
ready for the Chess merit
badge.

Demonstrate you know

the following:

The name of each chess

piece: pawn, knight,
bishop, rook, queen, and
king. The most valued
piece is the king. Next
comes the queen, with
the value of 9. The rook
has a value of 5. The
knight and bishop has a
value of 3. The pawn has
a value of 1. If the king is
placed in check, and the
king cannot move to a
safe square, and the
danger cannot be
blocked, or the checking
piece or pawn cannot be
captured, the king is said
to be in checkmate and
the game is over.

How to set up a
chessboard: Set the board
so that the bottom-right
square is white (or light
colored). Place a rook on
each of the two corners.
Place the knights next to
the rooks. Place the
bishops to the insides of
the knights. Place the
queen on the remaining,
matching-color square.
Thus, the white queen is
on a white square and the
black queen is on a dark
square. Place the king on
the remaining square.

How each chess piece

moves: The king can
move one space in any
direction, but can never
move into check
(threatened by another
piece or pawn). The
queen can move in any
direction and not limited
to just one space. It can
move diagonally,
vertically, or
horizontally. The bishop
moves along the
diagonals of the board. It
says on the color squares
that it started on. The
knight is the only piece
that can ‘leap' over
other pieces. It moves in
an L shape of one move
over and two moves up
(or down). The knight
will land on the opposite
color square that it
started on. The rook
moves horizontally (the
file) or vertically (the
rank). The pawn has the
option of moving one or
two squares on its first
move. To capture, the
pawn moves diagonally
one space. The pawn can
never move backwards.

Castling: This is a special

move that involves the
king and the rook. This is
the only time in which
you would move two
pieces at the same time.
To castle (kingside or
queenside) the king
moves over two spaces
and the rook is then place
on the opposite side of
the king. You cannot
castle if you moved your
king or the rook that
would have involved
castling. You cannot
castle if you are in check
or moving into check
(even though you are not
in check after you would
have castled).

En passant is a special
move involving the
pawn. When a pawn
reaches the 5th rank, an
opposing pawn on the
second rank can move up
two squares. However,
the side with the pawn on
the 5th rank has the
option of capturing that
pawn as if it had moved
up one rank. Although
the pawn has passed the
capture square of the
opposing side, the player
can move his pawn
diagonally, as it does in
capture, to the square that
the other player had
skipped. The pawn that
made the double move
has been considered
captured in passing (en
passant), and is removed
from the chessboard. The
resulting position is the
same as if the pawn had
moved only one square
forward and the enemy
pawn had captured
normally.

Demonstrate
scorekeeping using the
algebraic system of chess
notation.

Algebraic notation looks

like this: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6
dxc6. Each square of the
chessboard consists of a
letter and a number. The
vertical columns of the
squares (called files)
from White's left (the
queenside) to right (the
kingside) is labeled a
through h
(a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h). The
horizontal rows of
squares (called ranks) are
numbered 1 to 8
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8), starting
from White's side of the
board. Each piece type is
identified by an
uppercase letter. So K is
for king, Q is for queen,
R is for rook, B is for
bishop, N is for knight
(since K is already used).
There is no symbol for
pawn in the algebraic
system (otherwise it
would be P in descriptive
notation). Each move of
a piece is indicated by
the piece's uppercase
letter, plus the coordinate
of the destination square.
So the move Nf3 means
the knight moved to the
f3 square. The move e4
means that a pawn
moved to the e4 square.
When a piece makes a
capture, an "x" is inserted
before the destination
square. A colon is
sometimes used instead
of "x". So Bxc6 or B:c6
means the bishop
captured something on
the c6 square. Castling
kingside is O-O. Castling
queenside is O-O-O.
Check is indicated with a
+ and checkmate is
indicated with a # symbol
(sometimes it is indicated
with ++) at the end of the
move. If White wins, the
notation for the win is 1-
0. If Black wins, the
notation is 0-1. If it is a
draw, the notation is ½-
½.

Discuss the differences

between the opening, the
middle game, and the
endgame.
A chess opening is the
group of initial moves of
a chess game. The
opening phase is the
beginning of the game
where the pieces are
getting developed,
controlling the center,
and king is being moved
into safety such as from
castling. The opening is
usually the first 10-20
moves.

The middle game is the

phase where the
creativity of both players
takes hold. It refers to the
portion of the game
between the opening and
the endgame. The middle
game is when you begin
to coordinate your
primary pieces and attack
your opponent's weak
spots. There is no clear
line between the opening
and the middle game, and
between the middle game
and endgame. The
middle game is usually
from the end of the
opening to around move
40.

The endgame is the phase

of the game when few
pieces are left on the
board. The most common
endgames are rook and
pawn endgames. A major
goal may be to move a
pawn to the other side of
the board and thus turn
that pawn into a queen
(or any other piece
except another pawn).

Explain four opening

principles.

There are many opening

principles to consider.
One important opening
principle is to develop
knights before bishops,
as they are slower to
move. Knights and
bishops (the minor
pieces) should be
developed before the
rooks and queen (the
major pieces). Another
opening principle is
centralization of your
pieces. Another opening
principle is quick
development and control
of the center. Another
opening principle is to
don't move the same
pieces multiple times in
the opening unless
necessary. Another
opening principle is to
develop a piece with a
threat. Another good
opening principle is to
castle early and protect
your king while getting
your rook into play.
Another opening
principle is don't bring
your queen out too early.

Explain the rules for

castling.
If the king has moved at
all prior to castling, then
it can never castle at any
time during the game. If
the rook with which you
wish to castle has moved
at all, then you can never
castle with that rook
during the game (you
may still castle on the
other side with the other
rook if it has not moved).
You can never castle
when your king is in
check. You cannot castle
into check. You cannot
castle through check,
meaning that the king
moves through a square
that is attacked by an
enemy piece. You cannot
castle if there are pieces
between your king and
rook.

On a chessboard,
demonstrate a "scholar's
mate" and a "fool's
mate."

Scholar's mate is 1.e4 e5

2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6??
4.Qxf7#. The moves
might be played in a
different order or
different variation, but
the basic idea is the
same. Another example
is 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6
3.Qf3 Bc5 4.Qxf7#.

Fools' mate is 1.g4 e5

2.f3?? Qh4#. It is a check
mate in two moves.
There are multiple ways
of checkmating in two
moves with the same
idea. For example, 1.f4
e5 2.g4?? Qh4# is
another way.

Demonstrate on a
chessboard different
ways a chess game can
end in a draw.

You can draw by

stalemate. Stalemate is a
situation in the game
where the player whose
turn it is to move is not in
check but has no legal
move.

You can draw by

threefold repetition. A
player can claim a draw
if the same position
occurs three time, or will
occur after their next
move, with the same
player to move. The
repeated positions do not
need to occur in
succession. You can
claim a draw after 50
moves have been made
and there have been no
capture or a pawn moved
during the last 50 moves.
You can draw if a
checkmate is impossible,
such king vs. king or
king vs king and bishop
(or knight). You can
draw of both players
agree to a draw.
Explain the following
elements of chess
strategy:

Exploiting weaknesses
— A weakness is a flaw
in a chess position that
can be exploited. A
weakness could be a
square from where your
or your opponent can
land your pieces for
various operations, or it
could be a weak piece or
pawn which is difficult to
defend. There are also
weaknesses caused by
poor piece placement or
overworked pieces. To
exploit a weakness in an
open line, occupy it with
a rook if possible.
Exploit weak pawns such
as doubled pawns,
backward pawns, or
isolated pawns by
attacking them.

Force — Force can be

considered to be a show
of strength. Force is
another word for
material. Material is all
of the player's pieces and
pawns on the board. The
more pieces, the more
material or force you
have. The person with
pieces and pawns of
greater value is said to
have a "material
advantage." Force is
greatest when all the
pieces are working
together. Force is the
sum of all the pieces and
pawns working in
combination with one
another to control
specific areas on the
chessboard.

King safety — An unsafe

king is generally the
greatest weakness a
position can have. Since
the loss of the king
means the loss of the
game, the player whose
king is well protected has
a big advantage over an
opponent whose king is
poorly protected and
exposed. Castling early
places the king in relative
safety, protected by the
pawns. During the
middle game, the king
that has castled is often
protected in a corner
behind its pawns.

Pawn structure — Pawn

structure is the
configuration of pawns
on the chessboard. It is
the position of the pawns,
ignoring the position of
the pieces. The pawn
structure is one of the
most important elements
of the position and is a
factor that primarily
decides how the game
will progress. The pawn
structure lays out the
terrain of the coming
battle. Pawns can be
connected (strong) or
isolated or doubled on
the same file (weak).
However, a weakness in
the pawn structure should
be fixed before they
become permanent.

Space — Space is all the

safe squares that your
pieces can use. It is all
the squares controlled by
the player. Space
advantage refers to one
side controlling more
squares of the board than
the other side. More
space means more
options that can be
exploited tactically and
strategically. A player
controlling more squares
than the other is said to
have a spatial advantage
or more mobility.

Tempo - Tempo is the

speed with which you
carry out a plan. There is
an optimal number of
moves required to carry
out your plan and there is
the number of moves you
actually played to carry
out your plan. Tempo
refers to a "turn" or
single move. If a player
takes one more move
than necessary, he "loses
a tempo." If a player
achieves a desired result
in one fewer moves, he
"gains a tempo." You
gain tempo if your
opponent wastes moves.
Tempo in the opening
means that a player has
made more effective
moves than his
opponent.

Time — Time is
measured in tempi (plural
of tempo). Having a time
advantage is having the
initiative. The initiative
should be kept as long as
possible and only given
up for another advantage.
A common way to gain
an advantage in time is to
develop pieces and
pawns before your
opponent does.

Time control —
Tournament games are
played under time
constraints, called time
controls, using a game
clock. Each player must
make his moves within
the time control,
otherwise, he loses the
game on time. In some
cases, each player will
have a certain amount of
time to make a certain
number of moves, such
as 40 moves in 2 hours.
In other cases, each
player will have a limited
amount of time to make
all his moves, such a
game in 1 hour (with
perhaps a 5 second delay
per move).
Explain the following
chess tactics:

Clearance sacrifice — A
clearance sacrifice is a
type of sacrifice where
the sacrificing player
aims to vacate the square
that sacrificed piece
stood on, either to open
up for his own pieces, or
to put another, more
useful piece on the
square. An example
would be a pawn that is
pushed forward and
sacrifices in order to
open a files or diagonal.

Decoy — A decoy in
chess is used to lure a
piece to an unfavorable
square. It is finding a
poisoned square that your
opponent would never
want to go to and doing
everything you can to
make them go there. It is
used as a tactic of
ensnaring a piece, by
forcing it to move to a
poisoned square with a
sacrifice on that square.

Discovered attack — An
attack made by a queen,
rook, or bishop when
another piece or pawn
moves out of its way. It
is an attack revealed
when one piece moves
out of the way of another.
It succeeds when the
opponent is unable to
meet two threats at once.
If a discovered attack is a
check and threatens the
king, then it is called a
discovered check.

Double attack — A
double attack is the
simultaneous attack by a
single piece on two
enemy pieces or two
important squares. When
two (or more) pieces are
threatened at once, this is
known as a double
attack.

Fork — Fork is a tactic

where a single piece
makes two or more direct
attacks simultaneously.
An example of a fork is
when a knight can move
and fork two or more
pieces at the same time.
A pawn fork is when a
pawn moves forward and
attack two enemy pieces
at the same time. A fork
is a type of double
attack.

Interposing —
Interposing is a blocking
tactic by putting a piece
in front of a more
important piece, such as
the king, to shield it. It is
a way of defending a
major piece by
interposing another piece
to block an attack.

Overloading —
Overloading, or
overworking, is a chess
tactic in which a
defensive piece is given
an additional defensive
assignment which it
cannot complete without
abandoning its original
defensive assignment. A
chess piece is overloaded
when it has more than
one defensive job to do.

Overprotecting —
Overprotecting is a
strategy of protecting a
pawn or specific square
of the chessboard more
than is immediately
necessary. The side that
overprotects does so in
order to dissuade the
opponent from launching
an attack against that
point.

Pin — In chess, a pin is a

situation brought on by
an attacking piece in
which a defending piece
cannot move without
exposing a more valuable
defending piece on its
other side to capture by
the attacking piece. It
occurs when a piece is
attacked and if it moves,
a piece of greater value
will be under attack. The
queen, rooks, and
bishops can pin, but the
king, knights, and pawns
cannot.
Remove the defender —
Removing the defender
leaves the piece it was
defending vulnerable to
capture. It is a tactic in
which the defensive
piece is captured, leaving
one of the opponent's
pieces undefended or
under-defended.

Skewer — Skewer is an
attack upon two pieces in
a line. In a skewer, the
more valuable piece is in
front of the piece of
lesser value. The
opponent is compelled to
move the more valuable
piece to avoid its capture,
thereby exposing the less
valuable piece, which can
then be captured. A
skewer is similar to a pin
except the piece of
greater value (such as
rook, queen, or king) is
in front.

Zwischenzug — The
zwischenzug is a chess
tactic in which a player,
instead of playing the
expected move, first
makes another move that
poses an immediate
threat that the opponent
must answer. After the
zwischenzug move, the
player then plays the
expected move. It is a
German word that means
‘in-between move'.
Set up a chessboard with
the white king on e1, the
white rooks on a1 and h1,
and the black king on e5.
With White to move first,
demonstrate how to force
a checkmate on the black
king. White can play
1.Ra4 to block the black
king from approaching
any closer to the white
king. White would then
play 2.Rh5, 3.Ra6, 4.Rh7
and 5.Ra8 for checkmate.
If the king approaches
one of the rooks, move it
to the other side onto the
file next to the other rook
(rook on h5 could be
played to Rb5) and
continue to confine the
black king.

Set up and solve five

direct-mate problems by
your merit badge
counselor. The mate in 1
or mate in 2 problems
should be easy enough.
Find ways to attack the
king and the remaining
squares around the king.
The rook or queen cover
squares in a row or
column. The bishop ad
queen can cover diagonal
squares. The knight can
cover a diagonal square.
Forcing the enemy king
to move to another
square could create an
opportunity to give
checkmate. Look at
which pieces are pinned
and cannot move and
look where it may be
possible to break the pin
on a piece. Pins to a king
prevent a piece from
moving. Breaking the pin
makes it possible to
move that piece.

The most important part

is playing the game.
Scouts can play against
each other or their
counselor, participate in a
scholastic tournament, or
organize a tournament of
their own.

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