4 rules on castling and other known facts

A. 4 rules on castling
First time I learned for #3... I'm sure Steve would've pointed that out in his games but I'm glad I read about it, lalalalalal...

1) The King and Rook may not have moved from their starting squares;
2) All spaces between the King and Rook must be empty;
3) The King cannot be in Check; and
4) The squares the King will pass over may not be under attack, nor can the square on which the King will land.

B. Can king catch up?
Look at the diagonal which runs from the square the pawn is on to the the 8th rank. Imagine this diagonal as connecting the opposite corners of a square. With the pawn on d5, there are 2 squares formed, with the corners of one square at d5, d8, g8, g5 and the other at d5, d8, a8, a5. If the black king is inside either of these boxes, with white to move, he can catch the pawn. This is easy to visualize and can save the player the mistake-prone tedium of calculating exact move sequences.



C. Controls and Points
From the center of the board,
Queen - controls 27 squares
Rook - controls 14 squares
Bishop - controls 13 squares
Knight - controls 8 squares
Pawn - control 1 square

Throughout my chess career (huh??), I need to memorize these values
Pawn - 1 point
Knight and Bishop - 3 points
Rook - 5 points
Queen - 9 points

Chess Newbie :)