The days when video game arcades use to bloom are long gone, not only they are fading but also almost facing extinction due to the dominating world of established free online flash and java games. These online games beat video games in more than one aspect. The internet has replaced the hyped flashy image of the game arcades with much affordable, in fact, free online games based on technologies such as flash and shockwave. Unlike the endangered future of video games at arcades, online games have a bright future in the interactive online-based entertainment industry. Even though game arcades are fairly attractive to some because of their presentation, people who live a busy life opt for entertainment at home especially if it provides wider options of games, flexibility of schedule and last but not least they available for free to enthusiasts around the world.When it comes to gaming applications there are several categories that excel because the grab the attention of the player, one of them is the strategy category. Within this range of games chess is also included, this particular game has been around for long time, you can tell by the figures used to represent each piece (king, queen, peon, etc.)Online games have given this extremely complex game a new twist by taking one of the most complex pieces and making an obstacle course so to speak which needs to be beaten by moving and placing the chess piece in different board spots according to the specific move established in chess rules. The piece we are talking about is the knight. Chess players know that this piece moves in an "L" like direction which makes it hard to maneuver without thinking four to five steps ahead, the flash application this game is featured is called "crazy chess" Flash applications have taken this piece and built several lines of peons which try to approach the castle which is located at the opposite side of the board in order to defeat the knight which protects it. Like every good night your role is to defeat these peons which increase their speed according to the level. You might think this is an easy game but as several peons approach your side of the board you start to realize that thinking and planning the knight's moves is very difficult and even more so when the time you have is only fractions of a second, this is a game you just have to try!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Anand, Humpy and Negi register wins in Corus chess
Wijk Aan Zee (Netherlands), Jan 20 (IANS) World Champion Viswanathan Anand finally got himself a win, as he defeated Judit Polgar in the seventh round of the Corus Chess championship here Sunday.
With this win, Anand avenged his defeat by Polgar in the same tournament 10 years ago. The win also helped Anand find his bearings in the tournament he has won five times, but has so far found things tough this year. After seven rounds, Anand now has 3.5 points and is tied fifth with five others.Overall, it was a good day for Indians. Koneru Humpy also got her first win in Group B and Parimarjan Negi won his fourth game in Group C. Only Pentala Harikrishna drew his game.Humpy also got her first win, beating the strong Polish Grandmaster Michael Krasenkow in a Modern defence, where the game went as long as 94 moves before the Indian won.In another long game in the same group, Harikrishna drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi in Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz and the game went to a marathon 122 moves.Harikrishna is tied third with four points while Sergei Movsesian and Etienne Bacrot of France lead with five points each. Hari is tied third with Jan Smeets, Nigel Short, Daniel Stellwagen. India's Koneru Humpy moved up to tied 10th with three points.In Group C, Negi won his fourth game beating American Irina Krush in just 39 moves following a Sicilian Rauzer opening. Negi now has four points and is tied for sixth. The leader is Arik Braun of Germany with five points and he is tied with Fabiano Caruana of Italy.In elite Group A, Young Magnus Carlsen saw Veselin Topalov decline his offer of a draw, but in the end played safely to get that half point against the Marshall attack and stay in sole lead at five points.Topalov was close to winning with white but Magnus active defense brought him his share of the point.Vladimir Kramnik and Lev Aronian, who rebounded with a comfortable win over Teimour Radjabov, share second place with 4.5 points. Radjabov is in fourth place with four points.Anand shares fifth with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Michael Adams, Vassily Ivanchuk, Topalov and Loek Van Wely. It was a deja vu for world champion Anand and Polgar who had a very similar game and opening in Sicilian Najdorf exactly 10 years ago in the sixth round of Corus in 1998. Anand lost that game and was in real trouble this time, too.After the game, Anand was displeased with his 17.Qc7 missing 18.Rd3. Both players were in agreement that white had many good ways to improve her position and get very close to a winning advantage. But with Anand turning the tide, Polgar could not accept the change of events and tried to get a draw. So, she went downhill and lost to the Indian star in 53 moves.Aronian bounced back from yesterday's loss to score a fine victory over Teimour Radjabov. Loek van Wely was lucky to escape the pressure of Pavel Eljanov while the Adams-Mamedyarov game a tough draw. The other games were also drawn.
With this win, Anand avenged his defeat by Polgar in the same tournament 10 years ago. The win also helped Anand find his bearings in the tournament he has won five times, but has so far found things tough this year. After seven rounds, Anand now has 3.5 points and is tied fifth with five others.Overall, it was a good day for Indians. Koneru Humpy also got her first win in Group B and Parimarjan Negi won his fourth game in Group C. Only Pentala Harikrishna drew his game.Humpy also got her first win, beating the strong Polish Grandmaster Michael Krasenkow in a Modern defence, where the game went as long as 94 moves before the Indian won.In another long game in the same group, Harikrishna drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi in Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz and the game went to a marathon 122 moves.Harikrishna is tied third with four points while Sergei Movsesian and Etienne Bacrot of France lead with five points each. Hari is tied third with Jan Smeets, Nigel Short, Daniel Stellwagen. India's Koneru Humpy moved up to tied 10th with three points.In Group C, Negi won his fourth game beating American Irina Krush in just 39 moves following a Sicilian Rauzer opening. Negi now has four points and is tied for sixth. The leader is Arik Braun of Germany with five points and he is tied with Fabiano Caruana of Italy.In elite Group A, Young Magnus Carlsen saw Veselin Topalov decline his offer of a draw, but in the end played safely to get that half point against the Marshall attack and stay in sole lead at five points.Topalov was close to winning with white but Magnus active defense brought him his share of the point.Vladimir Kramnik and Lev Aronian, who rebounded with a comfortable win over Teimour Radjabov, share second place with 4.5 points. Radjabov is in fourth place with four points.Anand shares fifth with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Michael Adams, Vassily Ivanchuk, Topalov and Loek Van Wely. It was a deja vu for world champion Anand and Polgar who had a very similar game and opening in Sicilian Najdorf exactly 10 years ago in the sixth round of Corus in 1998. Anand lost that game and was in real trouble this time, too.After the game, Anand was displeased with his 17.Qc7 missing 18.Rd3. Both players were in agreement that white had many good ways to improve her position and get very close to a winning advantage. But with Anand turning the tide, Polgar could not accept the change of events and tried to get a draw. So, she went downhill and lost to the Indian star in 53 moves.Aronian bounced back from yesterday's loss to score a fine victory over Teimour Radjabov. Loek van Wely was lucky to escape the pressure of Pavel Eljanov while the Adams-Mamedyarov game a tough draw. The other games were also drawn.
Chess legend Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland
REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Bobby Fischer, the eccentric genius who became America's only world chess champion by humbling the Soviet Union's best but who spent his last years as a fugitive from U.S. authorities, has died at 64.A spokesman for Fischer said he died after an unspecified illness at midday on Thursday in Reykjavik, the site of his 1972 victory over Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War.Once feted as a national hero and seen by some as the greatest chess talent ever, the Chicago-born former child prodigy seemed unable to resist perplexing his public with angry gestures, decade-long sulks and outrageous opinions.Having won the world title, he gave it away again to the Soviet champion Anatoly Karpov three years later by refusing to defend it.After years of obscurity, he defied U.S. sanctions to play and beat Spassky again in former Yugoslavia during the Balkan wars. This was the match that got him into trouble and forced him to become a fugitive wanted by U.S. authorities.Of Jewish ancestry himself, Fischer claimed to be the victim of a Jewish conspiracy.After the September 11, 2001 attacks he said he wanted to see the United States wiped out. He spent months in a Japanese jail cell, and his last years as a wild-haired, shambling recluse after Iceland gave him refuge.Fischer's triumph over Spassky ended the dominance of the seemingly invincible Soviet chess system. From the late 1920s to 1972, Soviets had held the world title for all but two years.
Bobby Fischer, chess prodigy, dies in Iceland
Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion, died in a Reykjavik hospital yesterday, 35 years after he deposed the Soviet Boris Spassky in a match that came to symbolise Cold War rivalry. The 64-year-old was a troubled figure who in the decades after his triumph espoused a series of anti-American causes.He renounced his US citizenship, lived in Hungary and Japan before ending up in Iceland, scene of his greatest triumph.A Brooklyn reared prodigy, Fischer was American chess champion at 14, becoming a grand master at 15. He was the first American in a century to be crowned world champion after beating Mr Spassky in neutral Iceland in 1972. He won the clash convincingly, by 12-1/2 points to 8-1/2. But he was soon to forfeit the title. After a row over playing arrangements, he refused to play Anatoly Karpov, the Soviet champion in 1975. Former Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov said Fischer had revolutionised the game by introducing a fresh approach to tournament play in the 1960s. Mr Kasparov said he failed to fulfil his early promise, wasting much of his talent."The tragedy is that he left this world too early, and his extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess," Kasparov said.Mr Spassky, a rival turned friend, said he was "very sorry" to hear of his death. After he dropped out of competitive chess, Mr Fischer developed a reputation as a recluse, emerging occasionally to make headlines with outlandish and anti-Semitic comments. An exhibition rematch against Mr Spassky on the Yugoslavian resort island of Sveti Stefan was played in violation of US sanctions imposed to punish President Slobodan Milosevic. Fischer was arrested in Japan in 2004 and threatened with extradition to the United States to face sanctions-busting charges. He spent nine months in custody before the dispute was resolved when Iceland — a chess-mad nation and site of his greatest triumph — granted him citizenship.In his final years, Fischer railed against the chess establishment, alleging that the outcomes of many top-level chess matches were decided in advance. He championed his concept of random chess, in which pieces are shuffled at the beginning of each match in a bid to reinvigorate the game. Despite his fractious nature, he retained a high opinion of his own abilities.
Fisher's 1972 Match Was Cold War Battle
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — The historic chess match between American Bobby Fischer and Soviet champion Boris Spassky was the Cold War played out with pawns instead of missiles, a combat of mind games between two masters at the height of their powers.Dubbed the Match of the Century and played in 1972 in the then-obscure Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, it made Fischer famous — and vice versa.It was in that same city that he died Thursday at age 64 — one year for each square on the board — an outcast from the chess world and estranged from the United States.Fischer called the match nothing less than "the free world against the lying, cheating hypocritical Russians." The affable Spassky, backed by an all-powerful, state-sponsored chess machine, just wanted to play.The Soviet Union had held the chess crown since the end of World War II, Spassky since 1969. It was clear the freewheeling Fischer — U.S. champion since 14, grand master since 15 — was the most serious threat to their dominance.The obnoxious but brilliant boy from Brooklyn, N.Y., relished humiliating Soviet players, in part, he said, because they agreed to quick draws in qualifying games between themselves, then forced him to play long, tactical and physically exhausting matches.Fischer's confidence rose as he vanquished a succession of world-class players with trademark attacks that employed offensive tactics to crush opponents, not just simply defeat them.The Spassky match almost didn't come off. Fischer threatened to boycott the Reykjavik match after complaining about the small prize money.London financier Jim Slater stepped in, matching the $125,000 put up by the organizers in Iceland, who also gave the players a share of the money from television and movie rights. The winner would get more than $231,000, the loser more than $168,000.Fischer finally flew in at the last minute and was met by relieved Icelandic chess officials.But there were more problems. Fischer complained about the lighting, the room temperature, the size of the chess board and the size of the table. Compromises were reached between the players on the lights and temperatures, the mahogany table was shortened, and the board was redone four times.At one point, even Henry Kissinger intervened. "This is the worst player in the world calling the best player," the then-national security adviser is said to have told Fischer in a telephone call while taking a break from peace negotiations to end the Vietnam War.Retired Associated Press correspondent Andrew Torchia, who covered the Reykjavik match for the AP, recalled the difficulty in dealing with Fischer's demeanor when the young chessmaster was asked questions by reporters at the tournament."Sometimes you'd get a question, and Fischer would just look at you — and go somewhere else," Torchia said.The match was front-page news around the world. Chess was watched in bars across the United States.Fischer lost the first game with a basic mistake, falling to the temptation to take a side pawn with his bishop, which was then trapped by Spassky's other pawns.The American then complained about the TV cameras being too close to the players. For the second game, he refused to leave his hotel room.Spassky sat by himself on stage for five minutes before leaving. Organizers waited an hour, according to international rules, before giving the win to Spassky by default.With Fischer now trailing 2-0, Spassky agreed to concede to the American's demand that they play the third game in a back room away from cameras. Fischer won the game, his first ever victory against Spassky.Fischer followed with more wins — in the fifth, sixth, eighth and 10th games — and never fell behind Spassky again.In the last game, Spassky was losing and under increasing pressure from Fischer. With his pawns under attack, Spassky resigned after his 41st move. Fischer was world champion, winning 12 1/2 points to 8 1/2 points, in 21 games."Chess is war on a board," Fischer once said. "The object is to crush the other man's mind."Spassky was graceful in defeat — too graceful for many back in Moscow, who criticized his performance and for failing to cope with Fischer's arrogance. Spassky eventually became a French citizen.Reached at his home Friday in France, Spassky said he was "very sorry" to hear of Fischer's death.Fischer lost his world title in 1975 after refusing to defend it against Anatoly Karpov. He dropped out of competitive chess and largely out of view, spending time in Hungary and the Philippines and emerging occasionally to make outrageous and anti-Semitic comments.He praised the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying "I want to see the U.S. wiped out," and described Jews as "thieving, lying bastards." Fischer's mother was Jewish.An unofficial rematch with Spassky was staged in 1992 in Yugoslavia. Fischer again complained about playing conditions, and again won. But the game was in violation of U.S. economic sanctions imposed to punish Slobodan Milosevic, then leader of Yugoslavia.In July 2004, Fischer was arrested at Japan's Narita airport for traveling on a revoked U.S. passport. He was threatened with extradition to the United States to face charges of violating the U.S. sanctions.Fischer renounced his U.S. citizenship and spent nine months in custody before the dispute was resolved when Iceland — a chess-mad nation of 300,000 — granted him citizenship. He moved there with his longtime companion, the Japanese chess player Miyoko Watai, who survives him."(Fischer) was an exceptional figure, who made his mark not only on the history of chess but on the history of the world," said French chess commentator Jerome Maufras. "For some, he was a genius. For others, he was a crazy man."Brian Church reported from London. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London and Jamey Keaton in Paris contributed to this report.
Remembering Bobby Fischer, chess's Cold War warrior
Bobby Fischer was the troubled American chess genius who became a Cold War icon.
In 1972, the same year Canada defeated the Soviet Union in the classic hockey series, Mr. Fischer shattered the myth and the might of the Soviet chess system when he defeated world champion Boris Spassky in a thrilling drama played out in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik."His importance was huge, his influence was huge," said Hal Bond, president of the Chess Federation of Canada. "When he played Spassky, it was an American named Bobby playing a Russian named Boris and every other stereotype was true. He was the maverick American playing against the establishment Russian. He showed up in Iceland on his own, Spassky arrived with a state-sponsored entourage. Fischer was the American-dream kind of player who achieved everything through his own intense effort."Chicago-born, Brooklyn-raised, Mr. Fischer began playing chess when he was six years old and was the first American-born chess master to become world champion. He was 29 when he defeated Spassky in "the match of the century," but refused all conditions to defend his title. He did not play a competitive game for 20 years, but instead hit headlines for increasingly bizarre behaviour -- most notably anti-Semitic and anti-American rants.After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, he appeared on Filipino radio claiming the attacks were "wonderful news. It's time to finish off the U.S. once and for all."Mr. Fischer died from kidney failure Thursday in Iceland, his adopted home.Mr. Fischer, whose parents separated when he was two, was raised by his Jewish mother and dropped out of high school to pursue his obsession with chess.In a statement to the New York Times from France yesterday, Mr. Spassky said he was "very sorry" to hear of his famous opponent's death. The two men had remained in contact and on friendly terms since 1972.Canadian federation president Mr. Bond, who has met Mr. Spassky several times, said the Russian always spoke positively about Mr. Fischer."They had known each other for a long time and they respected each other," said Mr. Bond. "Spassky never spoke ill of him."Mr. Fischer, who was said to have had an IQ greater than Albert Einstein's, became the youngest U.S. national champion at 14 and a grandmaster at 15."The gap between Mr. Fischer and his contemporaries was the largest ever," fellow grandmaster Garry Kasparov wrote in the Wall Street Journal in 2004.Mr. Fischer developed a reputation for unpredictable chess tactics, rarely repeating specific opening strategies and displaying a genius for attack. But he was eccentric, unpredictable and petulant.Mr. Fischer told interviewers his favourite moment was when opponents began to feel they would lose. "I like to see 'em squirm," he once said.During the 1972 Spassky match, he constantly demanded changes to tournament conditions and provisions for the players. It was a pattern of behaviour that made him a celebrity, unnerved opponents but alienated him from all but a few in the international chess fraternity.
In 1972, the same year Canada defeated the Soviet Union in the classic hockey series, Mr. Fischer shattered the myth and the might of the Soviet chess system when he defeated world champion Boris Spassky in a thrilling drama played out in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik."His importance was huge, his influence was huge," said Hal Bond, president of the Chess Federation of Canada. "When he played Spassky, it was an American named Bobby playing a Russian named Boris and every other stereotype was true. He was the maverick American playing against the establishment Russian. He showed up in Iceland on his own, Spassky arrived with a state-sponsored entourage. Fischer was the American-dream kind of player who achieved everything through his own intense effort."Chicago-born, Brooklyn-raised, Mr. Fischer began playing chess when he was six years old and was the first American-born chess master to become world champion. He was 29 when he defeated Spassky in "the match of the century," but refused all conditions to defend his title. He did not play a competitive game for 20 years, but instead hit headlines for increasingly bizarre behaviour -- most notably anti-Semitic and anti-American rants.After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, he appeared on Filipino radio claiming the attacks were "wonderful news. It's time to finish off the U.S. once and for all."Mr. Fischer died from kidney failure Thursday in Iceland, his adopted home.Mr. Fischer, whose parents separated when he was two, was raised by his Jewish mother and dropped out of high school to pursue his obsession with chess.In a statement to the New York Times from France yesterday, Mr. Spassky said he was "very sorry" to hear of his famous opponent's death. The two men had remained in contact and on friendly terms since 1972.Canadian federation president Mr. Bond, who has met Mr. Spassky several times, said the Russian always spoke positively about Mr. Fischer."They had known each other for a long time and they respected each other," said Mr. Bond. "Spassky never spoke ill of him."Mr. Fischer, who was said to have had an IQ greater than Albert Einstein's, became the youngest U.S. national champion at 14 and a grandmaster at 15."The gap between Mr. Fischer and his contemporaries was the largest ever," fellow grandmaster Garry Kasparov wrote in the Wall Street Journal in 2004.Mr. Fischer developed a reputation for unpredictable chess tactics, rarely repeating specific opening strategies and displaying a genius for attack. But he was eccentric, unpredictable and petulant.Mr. Fischer told interviewers his favourite moment was when opponents began to feel they would lose. "I like to see 'em squirm," he once said.During the 1972 Spassky match, he constantly demanded changes to tournament conditions and provisions for the players. It was a pattern of behaviour that made him a celebrity, unnerved opponents but alienated him from all but a few in the international chess fraternity.
Fischer vs. the World: A Chess Giant’s Endgame
There may be only three human activities in which miraculous accomplishment is possible before adulthood: mathematics, music and chess. These are abstract, almost invented realms, closed systems bounded by rules of custom or principle. Here, the child learns, is how elements combine and transform; here are the laws that govern their interactions; and here are the possibilities that emerge as you play with signs, symbols, sounds or pieces. Nothing else need be known or understood — at least at first. A child’s gifts in such realms can seem otherworldly, the achievements effortlessly magical. But as Bobby Fischer’s death on Thursday might remind us, even abstract gifts can exact a terrible price. In 1956 Mr. Fischer, at 13, displayed powers that were not only prodigious but also uncanny. A game he played against Donald Byrne, one of the top 10 players in the United States, became known as “the Game of the Century,” so packed was it with brilliance and daring (and Mr. Fischer’s sacrifice of a queen). “I just got good,” he explained — as indeed he did, winning 8 of the 10 United States Championship tournaments held after 1958 and then, of course, in 1972, breaking the long hold that Soviet chess had on the international championship.“All I want to do, ever,” he said, “is play chess.” And many thought him the best player — ever. Garry Kasparov once said that he imagined Mr. Fischer as a kind of centaur, a human player mythologically combined with the very essence of chess itself. But of course accompanying Mr. Fischer’s triumphs were signs of something else. His aggressive declarations and grandiose pronouncements were once restricted to his chosen playing field. (“Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.”) Eventually, they grew in scope, evolving into ever more sweeping convictions about the wider world. After his triumph against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, he all but abandoned chess, and seemed to replace the idea of a seated challenger pushing pieces on a 64-square board, with that of a demonic Jewish world conspiracy that was (as he said in radio broadcasts from the Philippines) perpetrated by a “filthy, lying bastard people” who kill Christian children (“their blood is used for black-magic ceremonies”) while exploiting that “money-making invention,” the Holocaust. In this vision the circumscribed rules of chess were overturned, and in their place were imagined esoteric plottings of evil grandmasters. In a 2002 essay in The Atlantic Monthly Rene Chun chronicled Mr. Fischer’s “pathetic endgame.” He was reported to keep a locked suitcase with him, containing pills and home remedies: “If the Commies come to poison me, I don’t want to make it easy for them,” he said. He had his dental fillings removed, worrying about the secret signals and controlling forces that might be channeled through his jaw. The 9/11 attacks, he said, were “wonderful news.” What was all this? “I don’t believe in psychology,” Mr. Fischer once said about chess competition. “I believe in good moves.” And yes, without the good moves, he would never have struck the fear in his opponents that he once did. But how did faith in good moves mutate into such perverse psychology? Was there any connection between his gifts in chess and his later delusions? You might of course speculate that his perceptions were affected by never having seen his father, a physicist named Mr. Fischer, after he was 2. A revealing profile in Harper’s magazine in 1962 indicated that Mr. Fischer’s mother, Regina Wender, also had other preoccupations. Bobby’s sister described her as a “professional crusader.” Bobby had dropped out of high school and was a chess wunderkind with a world reputation, while, at the time of the profile, his mother was spending eight months walking to Moscow in a “pacifist” protest. A few years ago the Philadelphia Inquirer, obtaining F.B.I. records under the Freedom of Information Act, also found compelling evidence that Bobby Fischer’s father was not the man named on his birth certificate, but a brilliant Hungarian scientist, Paul F. Nemenyi, with whom his mother had an affair. Mr. Nemenyi apparently paid to help support Bobby, and there is even the record of a complaint he made to a social worker about Bobby’s upbringing. If that identification is accurate, the paradoxes of Mr. Fischer’s virulent anti-Semitism become still more profound, since Mr. Nemenyi, like Ms. Wender, was Jewish. Chess too can seem to encourage a streak of craziness. ( “I like to see ’em squirm,” Mr. Fischer proclaimed.) But for paranoia and posturing, nothing could come close to the 1972 championship match in Reykjavik. In recent years the argument has been made that the attention given to the confrontation between Mr. Fischer and Mr. Spassky had little to do with the cold war. Mr. Spassky himself was no party-line comrade, and Mr. Fischer, with all his idiosyncrasies, was far from a comfort to the United States State Department; moreover, by 1972, such confrontations no longer had the symbolic power they had during the era of Sputnik. But there is still no question that the contest drew its worldwide audience partly because it presented two conflicting national idols.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
'Day of Chess' planned for Sunday in Berbice
'Day of Chess' planned for Sunday in Berbice
Following the staging of several competitions last year, the Oasis Café Chess Club will stage a `Day of Chess' event in Berbice on Sunday.
The event will be held at the Future Line Family Entertainment Centre at Number 19 Village, Corentyne.
President of the Oasis Chess Club, Irshad Mohamed, told Stabroek Sport yesterday that the main purpose of the visit was to spread knowledge of the game and to develop a wider pool of players.
The Oasis Chess club will conduct a tutorial which will involve teaching interested players the moves, how to use the score sheet and clock and how players are classified.
"We see this as a day of chess simply because we intend to teach the game to all interested players up there (Corentyne) as well as to be exposed to some of the top players there that we do not know about," Mohammed said.
Mohammed added that the contingent travelling to Berbice would engage each other in exhibition games as part of the day's activities.
National senior champion Kriskal Persaud, junior national champion, Ronald Roberts; senior players: Shiv Nandalall, Loris Nathoo and Ronuel Greenidge along with a number of junior players including Sheriffa and Saeed Ali, Devendra Singh and Sham and Kana Khan, are all expected to be part of the event.
Persons with chess sets are asked to bring them along and persons who are interested in accompanying the Oasis Chess Club to Corentyne are asked to contact Irshad Mohammed on 664-1650.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Blog Trekking, December 2007
Blog Trekking, December 2007
When we last left the chess blogs at the end of November, round three of the FIDE World Cup was underway. Gata Kamsky of the USA, one of 32 players who had survived the first two rounds of the grueling elimination event, eventually emerged as the winner after seven rounds. At the end of 2000, India's Viswanathan Anand won the FIDE World Championship, also structured as a knockout event. We remember how the Indian mainstream press followed his triumphant progress through the seventh and final round, when he pulverized Alexei Shirov 3.5-0.5 in a six game match. In 2007 by contrast, the American press largely ignored Kamsky. Thanks to the American chess blogs, there was ample expert testimony to witness Kamsky's exploits. We'll start the December blog trek with round five
Elsewhere on the Web : Ratings Predict a Close Championship Match
If you try to predict the outcome of the next World Championship match based on the players' current ratings, the latest FIDE rating list won't be much help. The two players, World Champion Viswanathan Anand and his challenger GM Vladimir Kramnik, tied for the top spot on the January 2008 FIDE Rating List. Kramnik is listed as no.1 because he played more games in the three month period covered by the list. The tie could easily change on the three FIDE rating lists -- April, July, and October 2008 -- that will appear before the match is played in October. Although Kramnik lost the title to Anand in the 2007 World Championship tournament, he has gone on record to say that he has every expectation of winning it back in October. Third on the January FIDE list is GM Veselin Topalov, the man Kramnik defeated in the 2006 World Championship Unification Match. Shortly after the Anand - Kramnik match, Topalov will be playing GM Gata Kamsky for the right to challenge the World Champion in a 2009 match. Kamsky, who earned his spot when he won the recent 2007 FIDE World Cup, only weighs in at no.15 on the current rating list, but he's climbing steadily in his comeback attempt to return to the form that made him the FIDE World Championsip challenger in 1996. After losing that match to GM Anatoly Karpov, he retired from chess to concentrate on his studies. What kind of a match can we expect between Anand and Kramnik? According to one long time observer, Leonard Barden of The Guardian, 'logic suggests the match strategy will be to score a white point with a novelty, then shut up shop'. See his column Barden on chess (December 29, 2007) for more about match strategy.
When we last left the chess blogs at the end of November, round three of the FIDE World Cup was underway. Gata Kamsky of the USA, one of 32 players who had survived the first two rounds of the grueling elimination event, eventually emerged as the winner after seven rounds. At the end of 2000, India's Viswanathan Anand won the FIDE World Championship, also structured as a knockout event. We remember how the Indian mainstream press followed his triumphant progress through the seventh and final round, when he pulverized Alexei Shirov 3.5-0.5 in a six game match. In 2007 by contrast, the American press largely ignored Kamsky. Thanks to the American chess blogs, there was ample expert testimony to witness Kamsky's exploits. We'll start the December blog trek with round five
Elsewhere on the Web : Ratings Predict a Close Championship Match
If you try to predict the outcome of the next World Championship match based on the players' current ratings, the latest FIDE rating list won't be much help. The two players, World Champion Viswanathan Anand and his challenger GM Vladimir Kramnik, tied for the top spot on the January 2008 FIDE Rating List. Kramnik is listed as no.1 because he played more games in the three month period covered by the list. The tie could easily change on the three FIDE rating lists -- April, July, and October 2008 -- that will appear before the match is played in October. Although Kramnik lost the title to Anand in the 2007 World Championship tournament, he has gone on record to say that he has every expectation of winning it back in October. Third on the January FIDE list is GM Veselin Topalov, the man Kramnik defeated in the 2006 World Championship Unification Match. Shortly after the Anand - Kramnik match, Topalov will be playing GM Gata Kamsky for the right to challenge the World Champion in a 2009 match. Kamsky, who earned his spot when he won the recent 2007 FIDE World Cup, only weighs in at no.15 on the current rating list, but he's climbing steadily in his comeback attempt to return to the form that made him the FIDE World Championsip challenger in 1996. After losing that match to GM Anatoly Karpov, he retired from chess to concentrate on his studies. What kind of a match can we expect between Anand and Kramnik? According to one long time observer, Leonard Barden of The Guardian, 'logic suggests the match strategy will be to score a white point with a novelty, then shut up shop'. See his column Barden on chess (December 29, 2007) for more about match strategy.
Who's Who in Chess at the End of 2007
Who's Who in Chess at the End of 2007
At the end every year we update our reference pages to include notable events of the preceding year. One of the most striking aspects of 2007 was the large number of tournaments classed at category 17 or higher.
Famous Chess Tournaments: Not counting the World Championship in Mexico City, which was a category 21 event, we identified 15 high octane, super grandmaster tournaments. This compares with 8 in 2005 and 12 in 2006. Are we in a bull market for chess tournaments?
Elsewhere on the Web : 2007 Chess Blog Awards
No, we're not handing out any awards here. Like other long time denizens of the Internet, we know that most Web awards are no more than a crude swindle to coax a banner and a link out of a hard working, unsuspecting Web hobbyist. Having said that, yearend is the time for reflection over the preceding year. In 2007, we spent an inordinate amount of time reading and writing about the chess blogs, so it seems fitting to summarize that activity with one final post on the year recently ended.
2008 Corus Wijk aan Zee
The 2008 super tournaments kick off this weekend with the 9th Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The event will be the 70th at Wijk aan Zee in the long history that started in 1938. Seven of the world's top 10 players, including GM Viswanathan Anand, GM Vladimir Kramnik (both tied for the no.1-2 ranking), and GM Veselin Topalov (no.3), meet in this year's 14-player, single round robin, category 20 (average rating 2742) event.
The first round will be played on 12 January, the last on 27 January, with free days on 16, 21, and 24 January. The big Anand - Kramnik showdown will be played in the last round, and could easily be the game that determines first place. The Anand - Topalov game and the Topalov - Kramnik grudge match will be played in rounds 8 and 9.
At the end every year we update our reference pages to include notable events of the preceding year. One of the most striking aspects of 2007 was the large number of tournaments classed at category 17 or higher.
Famous Chess Tournaments: Not counting the World Championship in Mexico City, which was a category 21 event, we identified 15 high octane, super grandmaster tournaments. This compares with 8 in 2005 and 12 in 2006. Are we in a bull market for chess tournaments?
Elsewhere on the Web : 2007 Chess Blog Awards
No, we're not handing out any awards here. Like other long time denizens of the Internet, we know that most Web awards are no more than a crude swindle to coax a banner and a link out of a hard working, unsuspecting Web hobbyist. Having said that, yearend is the time for reflection over the preceding year. In 2007, we spent an inordinate amount of time reading and writing about the chess blogs, so it seems fitting to summarize that activity with one final post on the year recently ended.
2008 Corus Wijk aan Zee
The 2008 super tournaments kick off this weekend with the 9th Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The event will be the 70th at Wijk aan Zee in the long history that started in 1938. Seven of the world's top 10 players, including GM Viswanathan Anand, GM Vladimir Kramnik (both tied for the no.1-2 ranking), and GM Veselin Topalov (no.3), meet in this year's 14-player, single round robin, category 20 (average rating 2742) event.
The first round will be played on 12 January, the last on 27 January, with free days on 16, 21, and 24 January. The big Anand - Kramnik showdown will be played in the last round, and could easily be the game that determines first place. The Anand - Topalov game and the Topalov - Kramnik grudge match will be played in rounds 8 and 9.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Chess composition
Chess composition
Chess composition is the art of creating chess problems (these problems themselves are sometimes also called chess compositions). A person who creates such problems is known as a chess composer.[50]
Most chess problems exhibit the following features:
The position is composed, that is, it has not been taken from an actual game, but has been invented for the specific purpose of providing a problem.
There is a specific stipulation, that is, a goal to be achieved; for example, to checkmate black within a specified number of moves.
There is a theme (or combination of themes) that the problem has been composed to illustrate: chess problems typically instantiate particular ideas. Many of these themes have their own names, often by persons who used them first, for example Novotny or Lacny theme.
The problem exhibits economy in its construction: no greater force is employed than that required to guarantee that the problem's intended solution is indeed a solution and that it is the problem's only solution.
The problem has aesthetic value. Problems are experienced not only as puzzles but as objects of beauty. This is closely related to the fact that problems are organized to exhibit clear ideas in as economical a manner as possible.
There are many types of chess problems. The two most important are:
Directmates: white to move first and checkmate black within a specified number of moves against any defense. These are often referred to as "mate in n", where n is the number of moves within which mate must be delivered - for example "mate in three" (a three-mover).
Studies: orthodox problems in which the stipulation is that white to play must win or draw. Almost all studies are endgame positions.
Chess composition is a distinct branch of chess sport, and tournaments (or tourneys) exist for both the composition and solving of chess problems
Most chess problems exhibit the following features:
The position is composed, that is, it has not been taken from an actual game, but has been invented for the specific purpose of providing a problem.
There is a specific stipulation, that is, a goal to be achieved; for example, to checkmate black within a specified number of moves.
There is a theme (or combination of themes) that the problem has been composed to illustrate: chess problems typically instantiate particular ideas. Many of these themes have their own names, often by persons who used them first, for example Novotny or Lacny theme.
The problem exhibits economy in its construction: no greater force is employed than that required to guarantee that the problem's intended solution is indeed a solution and that it is the problem's only solution.
The problem has aesthetic value. Problems are experienced not only as puzzles but as objects of beauty. This is closely related to the fact that problems are organized to exhibit clear ideas in as economical a manner as possible.
There are many types of chess problems. The two most important are:
Directmates: white to move first and checkmate black within a specified number of moves against any defense. These are often referred to as "mate in n", where n is the number of moves within which mate must be delivered - for example "mate in three" (a three-mover).
Studies: orthodox problems in which the stipulation is that white to play must win or draw. Almost all studies are endgame positions.
Chess composition is a distinct branch of chess sport, and tournaments (or tourneys) exist for both the composition and solving of chess problems
Competitive play
Organization of competitions
Contemporary chess is an organized sport with structured international and national leagues, tournaments and congresses. Chess's international governing body is FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs). Most countries have a national chess organization as well (such as the US Chess Federation and English Chess Federation), which in turn is a member of FIDE. FIDE is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but the game of chess has never been part of the Olympic Games; chess does have its own Olympiad, held every two years as a team event. An estimated 605 million people worldwide know how to play chess, and 7.5 million are members of national chess federations, which exist in 160 countries worldwide. This makes chess one of the most popular sports worldwide.[51]
The current World Chess Champion is Viswanathan Anand of India.[52] The reigning Women's World Champion is Xu Yuhua from China. However, the world's highest rated female player, Judit Polgar, has never participated in the Women's World Chess Championship, instead preferring to compete with the leading men and maintaining a ranking among the top 20 male players.
Other competitions for individuals include the World Junior Chess Championship, the European Individual Chess Championship and the National Chess Championships. Invitation-only tournaments regularly attract the world's strongest players and these include Spain's Linares event, Monte Carlo's Melody Amber tournament, the Dortmund Sparkassen meeting, Sofia's M-tel Masters and Wijk aan Zee's Corus tournament.
Regular team chess events include the aforementioned Chess Olympiad and the European Team Championship. The 37th Chess Olympiad was held 2006 in Turin, Italy; Armenia won the gold in the unrestricted event, and Ukraine took the top medal for the women. The World Chess Solving Championship and World Correspondence Chess Championships are both team and individual events.
Besides these prestigious competitions, there are thousands of other chess tournaments, matches and festivals held around the world every year, which cater to players of all levels, from beginners to experts.
Contemporary chess is an organized sport with structured international and national leagues, tournaments and congresses. Chess's international governing body is FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs). Most countries have a national chess organization as well (such as the US Chess Federation and English Chess Federation), which in turn is a member of FIDE. FIDE is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but the game of chess has never been part of the Olympic Games; chess does have its own Olympiad, held every two years as a team event. An estimated 605 million people worldwide know how to play chess, and 7.5 million are members of national chess federations, which exist in 160 countries worldwide. This makes chess one of the most popular sports worldwide.[51]
The current World Chess Champion is Viswanathan Anand of India.[52] The reigning Women's World Champion is Xu Yuhua from China. However, the world's highest rated female player, Judit Polgar, has never participated in the Women's World Chess Championship, instead preferring to compete with the leading men and maintaining a ranking among the top 20 male players.
Other competitions for individuals include the World Junior Chess Championship, the European Individual Chess Championship and the National Chess Championships. Invitation-only tournaments regularly attract the world's strongest players and these include Spain's Linares event, Monte Carlo's Melody Amber tournament, the Dortmund Sparkassen meeting, Sofia's M-tel Masters and Wijk aan Zee's Corus tournament.
Regular team chess events include the aforementioned Chess Olympiad and the European Team Championship. The 37th Chess Olympiad was held 2006 in Turin, Italy; Armenia won the gold in the unrestricted event, and Ukraine took the top medal for the women. The World Chess Solving Championship and World Correspondence Chess Championships are both team and individual events.
Besides these prestigious competitions, there are thousands of other chess tournaments, matches and festivals held around the world every year, which cater to players of all levels, from beginners to experts.
Titles and rankings
The best players can be awarded specific lifetime titles by the world chess organization FIDE:[53]
Grandmaster (shortened as GM, sometimes International Grandmaster or IGM is used) is awarded to world-class chess masters. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Before FIDE will confer the title on a player, the player must have an ELO chess rating (see below) of at least 2500 at one time and three favorable results (called norms) in tournaments involving other Grandmasters, including some from countries other than the applicant's. There are also other milestones a player can achieve to attain the title, such as winning the World Junior Championship.
International Master (shortened: IM). The conditions are similar to GM, but less demanding. The minimum rating for the IM title is 2400.
FIDE Master (shortened: FM). The usual way for a player to qualify for the FIDE Master title is by achieving a FIDE Rating of 2300 or more.
Candidate Master (shortened: CM). Similar to FM, but with a FIDE Rating of at least 2200.
All the titles are open to men and women. Separate women-only titles, such as Woman Grandmaster (WGM), are also available. Beginning with Nona Gaprindashvili in 1978, a number of women have earned the GM title, and most of the top ten women in 2006 hold the unrestricted GM title.[54]
International titles are awarded to composers and solvers of chess problems, and to correspondence chess players (by the International Correspondence Chess Federation). Moreover, national chess organizations may also award titles, usually to the advanced players still under the level needed for international titles; an example is the Chess expert title used in the USA.
In order to rank players, FIDE, ICCF and national chess organizations use the Elo rating system developed by Arpad Elo. Elo is a statistical system based on assumption that the chess performance of each player in his games is a random variable. Arpad Elo thought of a player's true skill as the average of that player's performance random variable, and showed how to estimate the average from results of player's games. The US Chess Federation implemented Elo's suggestions in 1960, and the system quickly gained recognition as being both fairer and more accurate than older systems; it was adopted by FIDE in 1970.[55]
The highest ever FIDE rating was 2851, which Garry Kasparov had on the July 1999 and January 2000 lists.[56] In the most recent list (October 2007), the highest rated player is the current world champion Viswanathan Anand of India with a rating of 2801
Grandmaster (shortened as GM, sometimes International Grandmaster or IGM is used) is awarded to world-class chess masters. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Before FIDE will confer the title on a player, the player must have an ELO chess rating (see below) of at least 2500 at one time and three favorable results (called norms) in tournaments involving other Grandmasters, including some from countries other than the applicant's. There are also other milestones a player can achieve to attain the title, such as winning the World Junior Championship.
International Master (shortened: IM). The conditions are similar to GM, but less demanding. The minimum rating for the IM title is 2400.
FIDE Master (shortened: FM). The usual way for a player to qualify for the FIDE Master title is by achieving a FIDE Rating of 2300 or more.
Candidate Master (shortened: CM). Similar to FM, but with a FIDE Rating of at least 2200.
All the titles are open to men and women. Separate women-only titles, such as Woman Grandmaster (WGM), are also available. Beginning with Nona Gaprindashvili in 1978, a number of women have earned the GM title, and most of the top ten women in 2006 hold the unrestricted GM title.[54]
International titles are awarded to composers and solvers of chess problems, and to correspondence chess players (by the International Correspondence Chess Federation). Moreover, national chess organizations may also award titles, usually to the advanced players still under the level needed for international titles; an example is the Chess expert title used in the USA.
In order to rank players, FIDE, ICCF and national chess organizations use the Elo rating system developed by Arpad Elo. Elo is a statistical system based on assumption that the chess performance of each player in his games is a random variable. Arpad Elo thought of a player's true skill as the average of that player's performance random variable, and showed how to estimate the average from results of player's games. The US Chess Federation implemented Elo's suggestions in 1960, and the system quickly gained recognition as being both fairer and more accurate than older systems; it was adopted by FIDE in 1970.[55]
The highest ever FIDE rating was 2851, which Garry Kasparov had on the July 1999 and January 2000 lists.[56] In the most recent list (October 2007), the highest rated player is the current world champion Viswanathan Anand of India with a rating of 2801
Mathematics and computers
Chess is interesting from the mathematical point of view. Many combinatorical and topological problems connected to chess were known of for hundreds of years. In 1913, Ernst Zermelo used it as a basis for his theory of game strategies, which is considered as one of the predecessors of the game theory.[58]
The number of legal positions in chess is estimated to be between 1043 and 1050, with a game-tree complexity of approximately 10123. The game-tree complexity of chess was first calculated by Claude Shannon as 10120, a number known as the Shannon number.[59] Typically an average position has thirty to forty possible moves, but there may be as few as zero (in the case of checkmate or stalemate) or as many as 218.
The most important mathematical challenge of chess is the development of algorithms which can play chess. The idea of creating a chess playing machine dates to the eighteenth century; around 1769, the chess playing automaton called The Turk became famous before being exposed as a hoax.[60] Serious trials based on automatons, such as El Ajedrecista, were too complex and limited to be useful.
Since the advent of the digital computer in the 1950s, chess enthusiasts and computer engineers have built, with increasing degrees of seriousness and success, chess-playing machines and computer programs. The groundbreaking paper on computer chess, "Programming a Computer for Playing Chess", was published in 1950 by Shannon. He wrote:
The chess machine is an ideal one to start with, since: (1) the problem is sharply defined both in allowed operations (the moves) and in the ultimate goal (checkmate); (2) it is neither so simple as to be trivial nor too difficult for satisfactory solution; (3) chess is generally considered to require "thinking" for skillful play; a solution of this problem will force us either to admit the possibility of a mechanized thinking or to further restrict our concept of "thinking"; (4) the discrete structure of chess fits well into the digital nature of modern computers
The number of legal positions in chess is estimated to be between 1043 and 1050, with a game-tree complexity of approximately 10123. The game-tree complexity of chess was first calculated by Claude Shannon as 10120, a number known as the Shannon number.[59] Typically an average position has thirty to forty possible moves, but there may be as few as zero (in the case of checkmate or stalemate) or as many as 218.
The most important mathematical challenge of chess is the development of algorithms which can play chess. The idea of creating a chess playing machine dates to the eighteenth century; around 1769, the chess playing automaton called The Turk became famous before being exposed as a hoax.[60] Serious trials based on automatons, such as El Ajedrecista, were too complex and limited to be useful.
Since the advent of the digital computer in the 1950s, chess enthusiasts and computer engineers have built, with increasing degrees of seriousness and success, chess-playing machines and computer programs. The groundbreaking paper on computer chess, "Programming a Computer for Playing Chess", was published in 1950 by Shannon. He wrote:
The chess machine is an ideal one to start with, since: (1) the problem is sharply defined both in allowed operations (the moves) and in the ultimate goal (checkmate); (2) it is neither so simple as to be trivial nor too difficult for satisfactory solution; (3) chess is generally considered to require "thinking" for skillful play; a solution of this problem will force us either to admit the possibility of a mechanized thinking or to further restrict our concept of "thinking"; (4) the discrete structure of chess fits well into the digital nature of modern computers
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) held the first major chess tournament for computers, the North American Computer Chess Championship, in September 1970. CHESS 3.0, a chess program from Northwestern University, won the championship. At first considered only a curiosity, the best chess playing programs, for example Rybka or Hydra, have become extremely strong. Garry Kasparov, then ranked number one in the world, lost a match against IBM's Deep Blue in 1997.[62] Nevertheless, from the point of view of artificial intelligence, chess-playing programs are relatively simple: they essentially explore huge numbers of potential future moves by both players and apply an evaluation function to the resulting positions, an approach described as "brute force" because it relies on the sheer speed of the computer.
With huge databases of past games and high analytical ability, computers also help players to learn chess and prepare for matches. Additionally, Internet Chess Servers allow people to find and play opponents all over the world. The presence of computers and modern communication tools have also raised concerns regarding cheating during games, most notably the "bathroom controversy" during the 2006 World Championship.
With huge databases of past games and high analytical ability, computers also help players to learn chess and prepare for matches. Additionally, Internet Chess Servers allow people to find and play opponents all over the world. The presence of computers and modern communication tools have also raised concerns regarding cheating during games, most notably the "bathroom controversy" during the 2006 World Championship.
Psychology
There is an extensive scientific literature on chess psychology.[63][64][65] Alfred Binet and others showed that knowledge and verbal, rather than visuospatial, ability lies at the core of expertise.[66][67] Adriaan de Groot, in his doctoral thesis, showed that chess masters can rapidly perceive the key features of a position.[68] According to de Groot, this intuitive perception, made possible by years of practice and study, is more important than the sheer ability to anticipate moves. De Groot also showed that chess masters can memorize positions shown for a few seconds almost perfectly. Memorization ability alone does not account for this skill, since masters and novices, when faced with random arrangements of chess pieces, had equivalent recall (about half a dozen positions in each case). Rather, it is the ability to recognize patterns, which are then memorized, which distinguished the skilled players from the novices. When the positions of the pieces were taken from an actual game, the masters had almost total positional recall.[69]
More recent research has focused on the respective roles of knowledge and look-ahead search; brain imaging studies of chess masters and novices; blindfold chess; the role of personality and intelligence in chess skill, gender differences, and computational models of chess expertise. In addition, the role of practice and talent in the development of chess and other domains of expertise has led to a lot of research recently. Ericsson and colleagues have argued that deliberate practice is sufficient for reaching high levels of expertise, like master in chess.[70] However, more recent research indicates that factors other than practice are important. For example, Gobet and colleagues have shown that stronger players start playing chess earlier, that they are more likely to be left-handed, and that they are more likely to be born in late winter and early spring
More recent research has focused on the respective roles of knowledge and look-ahead search; brain imaging studies of chess masters and novices; blindfold chess; the role of personality and intelligence in chess skill, gender differences, and computational models of chess expertise. In addition, the role of practice and talent in the development of chess and other domains of expertise has led to a lot of research recently. Ericsson and colleagues have argued that deliberate practice is sufficient for reaching high levels of expertise, like master in chess.[70] However, more recent research indicates that factors other than practice are important. For example, Gobet and colleagues have shown that stronger players start playing chess earlier, that they are more likely to be left-handed, and that they are more likely to be born in late winter and early spring
Variants
Chess variants are forms of chess where the game is played with a different board, special fairy pieces or different rules. There are more than two thousand published chess variants, the most popular being xiangqi in China and shogi in Japan.[73][74]
Chess variants can be divided into:
Direct predecessors of chess, chaturanga and shatranj.
Traditional national or regional chess variants like xiangqi, shogi, janggi and makruk, which share common predecessors with Western chess.
Modern variants of chess, such as Chess960, where the initial position is selected randomly before each game. This random positioning makes it almost impossible to prepare the opening play in advance
Chess variants can be divided into:
Direct predecessors of chess, chaturanga and shatranj.
Traditional national or regional chess variants like xiangqi, shogi, janggi and makruk, which share common predecessors with Western chess.
Modern variants of chess, such as Chess960, where the initial position is selected randomly before each game. This random positioning makes it almost impossible to prepare the opening play in advance
Place in culture
Place in culture
Pre-modern
In the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, chess was a part of noble culture; it was used to teach war strategy and was dubbed the "King's Game".[31] Gentlemen are "to be meanly seene in the play at Chestes," says the overview at the beginning of Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier (1528, English 1561 by Sir Thomas Hoby), but chess should not be a gentleman's main passion. Castiglione explains it further:
And what say you to the game at chestes?
It is truely an honest kynde of enterteynmente and wittie, quoth Syr Friderick. But me think it hath a fault, whiche is, that a man may be to couning at it, for who ever will be excellent in the playe of chestes, I beleave he must beestowe much tyme about it, and applie it with so much study, that a man may assoone learne some noble scyence, or compase any other matter of importaunce, and yet in the ende in beestowing all that laboure, he knoweth no more but a game. Therfore in this I beleave there happeneth a very rare thing, namely, that the meane is more commendable, then the excellency.[32]
Beautiful chess sets used by the aristocracy of the time are mostly lost, but some of the surviving examples, like the twelfth century Lewis chessmen, are of high artistic quality.
At the same time, chess was often used as a basis of sermons on morality. An example is Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum ('Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess'), written by an Italian Dominican monk Jacobus de Cessolis circa 1300. The popular work was translated into many other languages (first printed edition at Utrecht in 1473) and was the basis for William Caxton's The Game and Playe of the Chesse (1474), one of the first books printed in English.[33] Different chess pieces were used as metaphors for different classes of people, and human duties were derived from the rules of the game or from visual properties of the chess pieces
The knyght ought to be made alle armed upon an hors in suche wyse that he haue an helme on his heed and a spere in his ryght hande/ and coueryd wyth his sheld/ a swerde and a mace on his lyft syde/ Cladd wyth an hawberk and plates to fore his breste/ legge harnoys on his legges/ Spores on his heelis on his handes his gauntelettes/ his hors well broken and taught and apte to bataylle and couerid with his armes/ whan the knyghtes ben maad they ben bayned or bathed/ that is the signe that they shold lede a newe lyf and newe maners/ also they wake alle the nyght in prayers and orysons vnto god that he wylle gyue hem grace that they may gete that thynge that they may not gete by nature/ The kynge or prynce gyrdeth a boute them a swerde in signe/ that they shold abyde and kepe hym of whom they take theyr dispenses and dignyte.[35]
On the other side, political and religious authorities in many places forbade chess as frivolous or as a sort of gambling.
Known in the circles of clerics, students and merchants, chess entered into the popular culture of Middle Ages. An example is the 209th song of Carmina Burana from the thirteenth century, which starts with the names of chess pieces, Roch, pedites, regina
In the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, chess was a part of noble culture; it was used to teach war strategy and was dubbed the "King's Game".[31] Gentlemen are "to be meanly seene in the play at Chestes," says the overview at the beginning of Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier (1528, English 1561 by Sir Thomas Hoby), but chess should not be a gentleman's main passion. Castiglione explains it further:
And what say you to the game at chestes?
It is truely an honest kynde of enterteynmente and wittie, quoth Syr Friderick. But me think it hath a fault, whiche is, that a man may be to couning at it, for who ever will be excellent in the playe of chestes, I beleave he must beestowe much tyme about it, and applie it with so much study, that a man may assoone learne some noble scyence, or compase any other matter of importaunce, and yet in the ende in beestowing all that laboure, he knoweth no more but a game. Therfore in this I beleave there happeneth a very rare thing, namely, that the meane is more commendable, then the excellency.[32]
Beautiful chess sets used by the aristocracy of the time are mostly lost, but some of the surviving examples, like the twelfth century Lewis chessmen, are of high artistic quality.
At the same time, chess was often used as a basis of sermons on morality. An example is Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum ('Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess'), written by an Italian Dominican monk Jacobus de Cessolis circa 1300. The popular work was translated into many other languages (first printed edition at Utrecht in 1473) and was the basis for William Caxton's The Game and Playe of the Chesse (1474), one of the first books printed in English.[33] Different chess pieces were used as metaphors for different classes of people, and human duties were derived from the rules of the game or from visual properties of the chess pieces
The knyght ought to be made alle armed upon an hors in suche wyse that he haue an helme on his heed and a spere in his ryght hande/ and coueryd wyth his sheld/ a swerde and a mace on his lyft syde/ Cladd wyth an hawberk and plates to fore his breste/ legge harnoys on his legges/ Spores on his heelis on his handes his gauntelettes/ his hors well broken and taught and apte to bataylle and couerid with his armes/ whan the knyghtes ben maad they ben bayned or bathed/ that is the signe that they shold lede a newe lyf and newe maners/ also they wake alle the nyght in prayers and orysons vnto god that he wylle gyue hem grace that they may gete that thynge that they may not gete by nature/ The kynge or prynce gyrdeth a boute them a swerde in signe/ that they shold abyde and kepe hym of whom they take theyr dispenses and dignyte.[35]
On the other side, political and religious authorities in many places forbade chess as frivolous or as a sort of gambling.
Known in the circles of clerics, students and merchants, chess entered into the popular culture of Middle Ages. An example is the 209th song of Carmina Burana from the thirteenth century, which starts with the names of chess pieces, Roch, pedites, regina
Modern
The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn:
1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action ...
2nd, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: - the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations; ...
3rd, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily With these or similar hopes, chess is taught to children in schools around the world today and used in armies to train minds of cadets and officers.[38]
Moreover, chess is often depicted in the arts; significant works, where chess plays a key role, range from Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess over Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll to The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig or Vladimir Nabokov's The Defense. Chess is also important in movies like Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal or Satyajit Ray's The Chess Players[39]
Chess is also present in the contemporary popular culture. For example, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter plays "Wizard's Chess" while the characters of Star Trek prefer "Tri-Dimensional Chess" and the hero of Searching for Bobby Fischer struggles against adopting the aggressive and misanthropic views of a real chess Grandmaster
1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action ...
2nd, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: - the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations; ...
3rd, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily With these or similar hopes, chess is taught to children in schools around the world today and used in armies to train minds of cadets and officers.[38]
Moreover, chess is often depicted in the arts; significant works, where chess plays a key role, range from Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess over Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll to The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig or Vladimir Nabokov's The Defense. Chess is also important in movies like Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal or Satyajit Ray's The Chess Players[39]
Chess is also present in the contemporary popular culture. For example, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter plays "Wizard's Chess" while the characters of Star Trek prefer "Tri-Dimensional Chess" and the hero of Searching for Bobby Fischer struggles against adopting the aggressive and misanthropic views of a real chess Grandmaster
Notation for recording moves
Chess games and positions are recorded using a special notation, most often algebraic chess notation.[41] Abbreviated (or short) algebraic notation generally records moves in the format abbreviation of the piece moved - file where it moved - rank where it moved, e.g. Qg5 means "queen moves to the g-file and 5th rank (that is, to the square g5). If there are two pieces of the same type that can move to the same square, one more letter or number is added to indicate the file or rank from which the piece moved, e.g. Ngf3 means "knight from the g-file moves to the square f3". The letter P indicating a pawn is not used, so that e4 means "pawn moves to the square e4".
If the piece makes a capture, "x" is inserted behind the abbreviation of the piece, e.g. Bxf3 means "bishop captures on f3". When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn departed is used in place of a piece initial. For example, exd5 (pawn on the e-file captures the piece on d5). If a pawn moves to its last rank, achieving promotion, the piece chosen is indicated after the move, for example e1Q or e1=Q. Castling is indicated by the special notations 0-0 for kingside castling and 0-0-0 for queenside. A move which places the opponent's king in check usually has the notation "+" added. Checkmate can be indicated by "#" (occasionally "++", although this is sometimes used for a double check instead). At the end of the game, "1-0" means "White won", "0-1" means "Black won" and "½-½" indicates a draw.
Chess moves can be annotated with punctuation marks and other symbols. For example ! indicates a good move, !! an excellent move, ? a mistake, ?? a blunder, !? an interesting move that may not be best or ?! a dubious move, but not easily refuted.
For example, one variant of a simple trap known as the Scholar's mate, animated in the picture to the right, can be recorded:1. e4 e52. Qh5?! Nc63. Bc4 Nf6??4. Qxf7# 1-0
If the piece makes a capture, "x" is inserted behind the abbreviation of the piece, e.g. Bxf3 means "bishop captures on f3". When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn departed is used in place of a piece initial. For example, exd5 (pawn on the e-file captures the piece on d5). If a pawn moves to its last rank, achieving promotion, the piece chosen is indicated after the move, for example e1Q or e1=Q. Castling is indicated by the special notations 0-0 for kingside castling and 0-0-0 for queenside. A move which places the opponent's king in check usually has the notation "+" added. Checkmate can be indicated by "#" (occasionally "++", although this is sometimes used for a double check instead). At the end of the game, "1-0" means "White won", "0-1" means "Black won" and "½-½" indicates a draw.
Chess moves can be annotated with punctuation marks and other symbols. For example ! indicates a good move, !! an excellent move, ? a mistake, ?? a blunder, !? an interesting move that may not be best or ?! a dubious move, but not easily refuted.
For example, one variant of a simple trap known as the Scholar's mate, animated in the picture to the right, can be recorded:1. e4 e52. Qh5?! Nc63. Bc4 Nf6??4. Qxf7# 1-0
Strategy and tactics
Chess strategy consists of setting and achieving long-term goals during the game — for example, where to place different pieces — while tactics concentrate on immediate maneuver. These two parts of chess thinking cannot be completely separated, because strategic goals are mostly achieved by the means of tactics, while the tactical opportunities are based on the previous strategy of play.
Because of different strategic and tactical patterns, a game of chess is usually divided into three distinct phases: Opening, usually the first 10 to 25 moves, when players develop their armies and set up the stage for the coming battle; middlegame, the developed phase of the game; and endgame, when most of the pieces are gone and kings start to take an active part in the struggle.
Because of different strategic and tactical patterns, a game of chess is usually divided into three distinct phases: Opening, usually the first 10 to 25 moves, when players develop their armies and set up the stage for the coming battle; middlegame, the developed phase of the game; and endgame, when most of the pieces are gone and kings start to take an active part in the struggle.
Fundamentals of strategy
Chess strategy is concerned with evaluation of chess positions and with setting up goals and long-term plans for the future play. During the evaluation, players must take into account the value of pieces on board, pawn structure, king safety, space, and control of key squares and groups of squares (for example, diagonals, open-files, and dark or light squares).
The most basic is to count the total value of pieces of both sides.[42] The point values used for this purpose are based on experience; usually pawns are considered worth one point, knights and bishops about three points each, rooks about five points (the value difference between a rook and a bishop being known as the exchange), and queens about nine points. In the endgame, the king is generally more powerful than a minor piece but less powerful than a rook, thus it is sometimes assigned a fighting value of four points. These basic values are then modified by other factors like position of the piece (for example, advanced pawns are usually more valuable than those on initial positions), coordination between pieces (for example, a pair of bishops usually coordinates better than the pair of a bishop and knight), or type of position (knights are generally better in closed positions with many pawns while bishops are more powerful in open positions).
Another important factor in the evaluation of chess positions is the pawn structure (sometimes known as the pawn skeleton), or the configuration of pawns on the chessboard.[43] Pawns being the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static, and largely determines the strategic nature of the position. Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such as isolated, doubled or backward pawns and holes, once created, are usually permanent. Care must therefore be taken to avoid them unless they are compensated by another valuable asset (for example, by the possibility to develop an attack).
Another important factor in the evaluation of chess positions is the pawn structure (sometimes known as the pawn skeleton), or the configuration of pawns on the chessboard.[43] Pawns being the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static, and largely determines the strategic nature of the position. Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such as isolated, doubled or backward pawns and holes, once created, are usually permanent. Care must therefore be taken to avoid them unless they are compensated by another valuable asset (for example, by the possibility to develop an attack).
Fundamentals of tactics
In chess, tactics in general concentrate on short-term actions — so short-term that they can be calculated in advance by a human player or by a computer. The possible depth of calculation depends on the player's ability or speed of the processor. In quiet positions with many possibilities on both sides, a deep calculation is not possible, while in "tactical" positions with a limited number of forced variants, it is possible to calculate very long sequences of moves.
Simple one-move or two-move tactical actions — threats, exchanges of material, double attacks etc. — can be combined into more complicated variants, tactical maneuvers, often forced from one side or from both. Theoreticians described many elementary tactical methods and typical maneuvers, for example pins, forks, skewers, discovered attacks (especially discovered checks), zwischenzugs, deflections, decoys, sacrifices, underminings, overloadings, and interferences.[44]
A forced variant which is connected with a sacrifice and usually results in a tangible gain is named a combination.[45] Brilliant combinations — such as those in the Immortal game — are described as beautiful and are admired by chess lovers. Finding a combination is also a common type of chess puzzle aimed at development of players' skills
Simple one-move or two-move tactical actions — threats, exchanges of material, double attacks etc. — can be combined into more complicated variants, tactical maneuvers, often forced from one side or from both. Theoreticians described many elementary tactical methods and typical maneuvers, for example pins, forks, skewers, discovered attacks (especially discovered checks), zwischenzugs, deflections, decoys, sacrifices, underminings, overloadings, and interferences.[44]
A forced variant which is connected with a sacrifice and usually results in a tangible gain is named a combination.[45] Brilliant combinations — such as those in the Immortal game — are described as beautiful and are admired by chess lovers. Finding a combination is also a common type of chess puzzle aimed at development of players' skills
Opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a game (the "opening moves"). Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defense. They are catalogued in reference works such as the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings.
There are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet positional play (e.g. the Réti Opening) to very aggressive (e.g. the Latvian Gambit). In some opening lines, the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to 30–35 moves or more.[46] Professional players spend years studying openings, and continue doing so throughout their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve.
The fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar:[47]
Development: To place (develop) the pieces (particularly bishops and knights) on useful squares where they will have an impact on the game.
Control of the center: Control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily, and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent.
King safety: It is often enhanced by castling.
Pawn structure: Players strive to avoid the creation of pawn weaknesses such as isolated, doubled or backward pawns, and pawn islands.
Apart from these fundamentals, other strategic plans or tactical sequences may be employed in the opening.
There are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet positional play (e.g. the Réti Opening) to very aggressive (e.g. the Latvian Gambit). In some opening lines, the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to 30–35 moves or more.[46] Professional players spend years studying openings, and continue doing so throughout their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve.
The fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar:[47]
Development: To place (develop) the pieces (particularly bishops and knights) on useful squares where they will have an impact on the game.
Control of the center: Control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily, and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent.
King safety: It is often enhanced by castling.
Pawn structure: Players strive to avoid the creation of pawn weaknesses such as isolated, doubled or backward pawns, and pawn islands.
Apart from these fundamentals, other strategic plans or tactical sequences may be employed in the opening.
Middlegame
The middlegame is the part of the game when most pieces have been developed. Because the opening theory has ended, players have to assess the position, to form plans based on the features of the positions, and at the same time to take into account the tactical possibilities in the position.[48]
Typical plans or strategical themes — for example the minority attack, that is the attack of queenside pawns against an opponent who has more pawns on the queenside — are often appropriate just for some pawn structures, resulting from a specific group of openings. The study of openings should therefore be connected with the preparation of plans typical for resulting middlegames.
Middlegame is also the phase in which most combinations occur. Middlegame combinations are often connected with the attack against the opponent's king; some typical patterns have their own names, for example the Boden's Mate or the Lasker—Bauer combination.
Another important strategical question in the middlegame is whether and how to reduce material and transform into an endgame (i.e. simplify). For example, minor material advantages can generally be transformed into victory only in an endgame, and therefore the stronger side must choose an appropriate way to achieve an ending. Not every reduction of material is good for this purpose; for example, if one side keeps a light-squared bishop and the opponent has a dark-squared one, the transformation into a bishops and pawns ending is usually advantageous for the weaker side only, because an endgame with bishops on opposite colors is likely to be a draw, even with an advantage of one or two pawns.
Typical plans or strategical themes — for example the minority attack, that is the attack of queenside pawns against an opponent who has more pawns on the queenside — are often appropriate just for some pawn structures, resulting from a specific group of openings. The study of openings should therefore be connected with the preparation of plans typical for resulting middlegames.
Middlegame is also the phase in which most combinations occur. Middlegame combinations are often connected with the attack against the opponent's king; some typical patterns have their own names, for example the Boden's Mate or the Lasker—Bauer combination.
Another important strategical question in the middlegame is whether and how to reduce material and transform into an endgame (i.e. simplify). For example, minor material advantages can generally be transformed into victory only in an endgame, and therefore the stronger side must choose an appropriate way to achieve an ending. Not every reduction of material is good for this purpose; for example, if one side keeps a light-squared bishop and the opponent has a dark-squared one, the transformation into a bishops and pawns ending is usually advantageous for the weaker side only, because an endgame with bishops on opposite colors is likely to be a draw, even with an advantage of one or two pawns.
Endgame
The endgame (or end game or ending) is the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board. There are three main strategic differences between earlier stages of the game and endgame:[49]
During the endgame, pawns become more important; endgames often revolve around attempting to promote a pawn by advancing it to the eighth rank.
The king, which has to be protected in the middlegame owing to the threat of checkmate, becomes a strong piece in the endgame and it is often brought to the center of the board where it can protect its own pawns, attack the pawns of opposite color, and hinder movement of the opponent's king.
Zugzwang, a disadvantage because the player has to make a move, is often a factor in endgames and rarely in other stages of the game.
Endgames can be classified according to the type of pieces that remain on board. Basic checkmates are positions in which one side has only a king and the other side has one or two pieces and can checkmate the opposing king, with the pieces working together with their king. For example, king and pawn endgames involve only kings and pawns on one or both sides and the task of the stronger side is to promote one of the pawns. Other more complicated endings are classified according to the pieces on board other than kings, e.g. "rook and pawn versus rook endgame
During the endgame, pawns become more important; endgames often revolve around attempting to promote a pawn by advancing it to the eighth rank.
The king, which has to be protected in the middlegame owing to the threat of checkmate, becomes a strong piece in the endgame and it is often brought to the center of the board where it can protect its own pawns, attack the pawns of opposite color, and hinder movement of the opponent's king.
Zugzwang, a disadvantage because the player has to make a move, is often a factor in endgames and rarely in other stages of the game.
Endgames can be classified according to the type of pieces that remain on board. Basic checkmates are positions in which one side has only a king and the other side has one or two pieces and can checkmate the opposing king, with the pieces working together with their king. For example, king and pawn endgames involve only kings and pawns on one or both sides and the task of the stronger side is to promote one of the pawns. Other more complicated endings are classified according to the pieces on board other than kings, e.g. "rook and pawn versus rook endgame
Chess
Chess
Chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two players. Sometimes called Western Chess or International Chess to distinguish it from its predecessors and other chess variants, the current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older games of Indian and Persian origin. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide in clubs, online, by correspondence, in tournaments and informally.
The game is played on a square chequered chessboard with 64 squares. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move.
The tradition of organized competitive chess started in the sixteenth century. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; Viswanathan Anand is the current World Champion. Theoreticians have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the game's inception. Aspects of art are found in chess composition.
One of the goals of early computer scientists was to create a chess-playing machine, and today's chess is deeply influenced by the abilities of current chess programs and by the possibility to play online. In 1997, a match between Garry Kasparov, then World Champion, and a computer proved for the first time that machines are able to beat even the strongest human players.
The game is played on a square chequered chessboard with 64 squares. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move.
The tradition of organized competitive chess started in the sixteenth century. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; Viswanathan Anand is the current World Champion. Theoreticians have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the game's inception. Aspects of art are found in chess composition.
One of the goals of early computer scientists was to create a chess-playing machine, and today's chess is deeply influenced by the abilities of current chess programs and by the possibility to play online. In 1997, a match between Garry Kasparov, then World Champion, and a computer proved for the first time that machines are able to beat even the strongest human players.
Rules
Chess is played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks and denoted with numbers 1 to 8) and eight columns (called files and denoted with letters a to h) of squares. The colors of the sixty-four squares alternate and are referred to as "light squares" and "dark squares". The chessboard is placed with the light squares at the players' right, and the pieces are set out as shown in the diagram, with each queen on its own color.
The pieces are divided, by convention, into White and Black sets. Each player, referred to by the color of his pieces, begins the game with sixteen pieces: these comprise one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. White moves first. The colors are chosen either by a friendly agreement, by a game of chance or by a tournament director. The players alternate moving one piece at a time (with the exception of castling, when two pieces are moved simultaneously). Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square, or one occupied by an opponent's piece, capturing it and removing it from play. With one exception (en passant), all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies.
When a king is under direct attack by the opponent's pieces, the king is said to be in check. When in check, only moves that result in a position in which the king is not in check are permitted. The player must not make any move that would place his king in check. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and there is no way to remove the king from attack.
Each chess piece has its own style of moving.
The king can move only one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Once in every game, each king is allowed to make a special move, known as castling. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook, then placing the rook immediately on the far side of the king. Castling is only permissible if all of the following conditions hold:
The player must never have moved either the king or the rook involved in castling;
There must be no pieces between the king and the rook;
The king may not currently be in check, nor may the king pass through squares that are under attack by enemy pieces. As with any move, castling is illegal if it would place the king in check.
The king and the rook must be on the same rank (to exclude castling with a promoted pawn, described later).
The rook moves any number of vacant squares vertically or horizontally (it is also involved in the king's special move of castling);
The bishop moves any number of vacant squares in any direction diagonally. Note that a bishop never changes square color, therefore players speak about "dark-squared" or "light-squared" bishops, depending on the color of square on which the bishop resides. Alternatively, bishops may be identified as a "queen bishop" or a "king bishop", depending on whether they are next to the queen or the king when on their home square.
The queen can move any number of vacant squares diagonally, horizontally, or vertically;
The knight can jump over occupied squares and moves two spaces horizontally and one space vertically or vice versa, making an "L" shape. A knight in the middle of the board has eight squares to which it can move. Note that every time a knight moves, it changes square color.
Pawns have the most complex rules of movement:
A pawn can move forward one square, if that square is unoccupied. If it has not yet moved, the pawn has the option of moving two squares forward, if both squares in front of the pawn are unoccupied. A pawn cannot move backward.
When such an initial two square advance is made that puts that pawn horizontally adjacent to an opponent's pawn, the opponent's pawn can capture that pawn en passant as if it moved forward only one square rather than two, but only on the immediately subsequent move.
Pawns are the only pieces that capture differently than they move. They can capture an enemy piece on either of the two spaces adjacent to the space in front of them (i.e., the two squares diagonally in front of them), but cannot move to these spaces if they are vacant.
If a pawn advances all the way to its eighth rank, it is then promoted (converted or "queened") to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. In practice, the pawn is almost always promoted to a queen.
With the exception of the knight, pieces cannot jump over each other. One's own pieces ("friendly pieces") cannot be passed if they are in the line of movement, and a friendly piece can never replace another friendly piece. Enemy pieces cannot be passed, but they can be "captured". When a piece is captured (or taken), the attacking piece replaces the enemy piece on its square (en passant being the only exception). The captured piece is thus removed from the game and may not be returned to play for the remainder of the game.[1] The king cannot be captured, only put in check. If a player is unable to get the king out of check, checkmate results, with the loss of the game.
Chess games do not have to end in checkmate — either player may resign if the situation looks hopeless. Games also may end in a draw (tie). A draw can occur in several situations, including draw by agreement, stalemate, threefold repetition of a position, the fifty move rule, or a draw by impossibility of checkmate (usually because of insufficient material to checkmate).
Besides casual games without exact timing, chess is also played with a time control, mostly by club and professional players. If a player's time runs out before the game is completed, he automatically loses. The timing ranges from long games played up to seven hours to shorter rapid chess games lasting usually 30 minutes or one hour per game. Even shorter is blitz chess with a time control of three to fifteen minutes for each player and bullet chess (under three minutes).
The international rules of chess are described in more detail in the FIDE Handbook, section Laws of Chess
The pieces are divided, by convention, into White and Black sets. Each player, referred to by the color of his pieces, begins the game with sixteen pieces: these comprise one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. White moves first. The colors are chosen either by a friendly agreement, by a game of chance or by a tournament director. The players alternate moving one piece at a time (with the exception of castling, when two pieces are moved simultaneously). Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square, or one occupied by an opponent's piece, capturing it and removing it from play. With one exception (en passant), all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies.
When a king is under direct attack by the opponent's pieces, the king is said to be in check. When in check, only moves that result in a position in which the king is not in check are permitted. The player must not make any move that would place his king in check. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and there is no way to remove the king from attack.
Each chess piece has its own style of moving.
The king can move only one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Once in every game, each king is allowed to make a special move, known as castling. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook, then placing the rook immediately on the far side of the king. Castling is only permissible if all of the following conditions hold:
The player must never have moved either the king or the rook involved in castling;
There must be no pieces between the king and the rook;
The king may not currently be in check, nor may the king pass through squares that are under attack by enemy pieces. As with any move, castling is illegal if it would place the king in check.
The king and the rook must be on the same rank (to exclude castling with a promoted pawn, described later).
The rook moves any number of vacant squares vertically or horizontally (it is also involved in the king's special move of castling);
The bishop moves any number of vacant squares in any direction diagonally. Note that a bishop never changes square color, therefore players speak about "dark-squared" or "light-squared" bishops, depending on the color of square on which the bishop resides. Alternatively, bishops may be identified as a "queen bishop" or a "king bishop", depending on whether they are next to the queen or the king when on their home square.
The queen can move any number of vacant squares diagonally, horizontally, or vertically;
The knight can jump over occupied squares and moves two spaces horizontally and one space vertically or vice versa, making an "L" shape. A knight in the middle of the board has eight squares to which it can move. Note that every time a knight moves, it changes square color.
Pawns have the most complex rules of movement:
A pawn can move forward one square, if that square is unoccupied. If it has not yet moved, the pawn has the option of moving two squares forward, if both squares in front of the pawn are unoccupied. A pawn cannot move backward.
When such an initial two square advance is made that puts that pawn horizontally adjacent to an opponent's pawn, the opponent's pawn can capture that pawn en passant as if it moved forward only one square rather than two, but only on the immediately subsequent move.
Pawns are the only pieces that capture differently than they move. They can capture an enemy piece on either of the two spaces adjacent to the space in front of them (i.e., the two squares diagonally in front of them), but cannot move to these spaces if they are vacant.
If a pawn advances all the way to its eighth rank, it is then promoted (converted or "queened") to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. In practice, the pawn is almost always promoted to a queen.
With the exception of the knight, pieces cannot jump over each other. One's own pieces ("friendly pieces") cannot be passed if they are in the line of movement, and a friendly piece can never replace another friendly piece. Enemy pieces cannot be passed, but they can be "captured". When a piece is captured (or taken), the attacking piece replaces the enemy piece on its square (en passant being the only exception). The captured piece is thus removed from the game and may not be returned to play for the remainder of the game.[1] The king cannot be captured, only put in check. If a player is unable to get the king out of check, checkmate results, with the loss of the game.
Chess games do not have to end in checkmate — either player may resign if the situation looks hopeless. Games also may end in a draw (tie). A draw can occur in several situations, including draw by agreement, stalemate, threefold repetition of a position, the fifty move rule, or a draw by impossibility of checkmate (usually because of insufficient material to checkmate).
Besides casual games without exact timing, chess is also played with a time control, mostly by club and professional players. If a player's time runs out before the game is completed, he automatically loses. The timing ranges from long games played up to seven hours to shorter rapid chess games lasting usually 30 minutes or one hour per game. Even shorter is blitz chess with a time control of three to fifteen minutes for each player and bullet chess (under three minutes).
The international rules of chess are described in more detail in the FIDE Handbook, section Laws of Chess
History
Chess originated in India,[3] where its early form in the 6th century was chaturanga, which translates as "four divisions of the military", infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots, represented respectively by pawn, knight, bishop and rook. In Persia around 600 the name became shatranj and the rules were developed further. Shatranj was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia, with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names. In Spanish "shatranj" was rendered as ajedrez and in Greek as zatrikion, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian shāh ("king"). The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe.[4] Introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th century manuscript covering shatranj, backgammon, and dice named the Libro de los juegos.[5]
Another theory, championed by David H. Li, contends that chess arose from the game xiangqi, or at least a predecessor thereof, existing in China since the 2nd century BC
Another theory, championed by David H. Li, contends that chess arose from the game xiangqi, or at least a predecessor thereof, existing in China since the 2nd century BC
Origins of the modern game (1450–1850)
Around 1200, rules of shatranj started to be modified in southern Europe, and around 1475, several major changes rendered the game essentially as it is known today.[7] These modern rules for the basic moves had been adopted in Italy[8] and in Spain.[9] Pawns gained the option of advancing two squares on their first move, while bishops and queens acquired their modern abilities. This made the queen the most powerful piece; consequently modern chess was referred to as "Queen's Chess" or "Mad Queen Chess".[10] These new rules quickly spread throughout western Europe, with the exception of the rules about stalemate, which were finalized in the early nineteenth century.[11]
This was also the time when chess started to develop a corpus of theory. The oldest preserved printed chess book, Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess) by Spanish churchman Luis Ramirez de Lucena was published in Salamanca in 1497.[12] Lucena and later masters like Portuguese Pedro Damiano, Italians Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona, Giulio Cesare Polerio and Gioachino Greco or Spanish bishop Ruy López de Segura developed elements of openings and started to analyze simple endgames. In the eighteenth century the center of European chess life moved from the Southern European countries to France. The two most important French masters were François-André Danican Philidor, a musician by profession, who discovered the importance of pawns for chess strategy, and later Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais who won a famous series of matches with the British master Alexander McDonnell in 1834.[13] Centers of chess life in this period were coffee houses in big European cities like Café de la Régence in Paris[14] and Simpson's Divan in London.[15]
As the nineteenth century progressed, chess organization developed quickly. Many chess clubs, chess books and chess journals appeared. There were correspondence matches between cities; for example the London Chess Club played against the Edinburgh Chess Club in 1824.[16] Chess problems became a regular part of nineteenth century newspapers; Bernhard Horwitz, Josef Kling and Samuel Loyd composed some of the most influential problems. In 1843, von der Lasa published his and Bilguer's Handbuch des Schachspiels (Handbook of Chess), the first comprehensive manual of chess theory
This was also the time when chess started to develop a corpus of theory. The oldest preserved printed chess book, Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess) by Spanish churchman Luis Ramirez de Lucena was published in Salamanca in 1497.[12] Lucena and later masters like Portuguese Pedro Damiano, Italians Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona, Giulio Cesare Polerio and Gioachino Greco or Spanish bishop Ruy López de Segura developed elements of openings and started to analyze simple endgames. In the eighteenth century the center of European chess life moved from the Southern European countries to France. The two most important French masters were François-André Danican Philidor, a musician by profession, who discovered the importance of pawns for chess strategy, and later Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais who won a famous series of matches with the British master Alexander McDonnell in 1834.[13] Centers of chess life in this period were coffee houses in big European cities like Café de la Régence in Paris[14] and Simpson's Divan in London.[15]
As the nineteenth century progressed, chess organization developed quickly. Many chess clubs, chess books and chess journals appeared. There were correspondence matches between cities; for example the London Chess Club played against the Edinburgh Chess Club in 1824.[16] Chess problems became a regular part of nineteenth century newspapers; Bernhard Horwitz, Josef Kling and Samuel Loyd composed some of the most influential problems. In 1843, von der Lasa published his and Bilguer's Handbuch des Schachspiels (Handbook of Chess), the first comprehensive manual of chess theory
Birth of a sport (1850–1945)
The first modern chess tournament was held in London in 1851 and was won, surprisingly, by German Adolf Anderssen, relatively unknown at the time. Anderssen was hailed as the leading chess master and his brilliant, energetic—but from today's viewpoint strategically shallow—attacking style became typical for the time.[17] Sparkling games like Anderssen's Immortal game or Morphy's Opera game were regarded as the highest possible summit of the chess art.[18]
Deeper insight into the nature of chess came with two younger players. American Paul Morphy, an extraordinary chess prodigy, won against all important competitors, including Anderssen, during his short chess career between 1857 and 1863. Morphy's success stemmed from a combination of brilliant attacks and sound strategy; he intuitively knew how to prepare attacks.[19] Prague-born Wilhelm Steinitz later described how to avoid weaknesses in one's own position and how to create and exploit such weaknesses in the opponent's position.[20] In addition to his theoretical achievements, Steinitz founded an important tradition: his triumph over the leading German master Johannes Zukertort in 1886 is regarded as the first official World Chess Championship, and Steinitz the first champion. He lost his crown in 1894 to a much younger player, German mathematician Emanuel Lasker, who maintained this title for 27 years, the longest tenure of all World Champions It took a prodigy from Cuba, José Raúl Capablanca (World champion 1921—1927), who loved simple positions and endgames, to end the German-speaking dominance in chess; he was undefeated in tournament play for eight years until 1924. His successor was Russian-French Alexander Alekhine, a strong attacking player, who died as the World champion in 1946, having briefly lost the title to Dutch player Max Euwe in 1935, before regaining it two years later.[22]
Between the two world wars, chess was revolutionized by the new theoretical school of so-called hypermodernists like Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti. They advocated controlling the center of the board with distant pieces rather than with pawns, inviting opponents to occupy the center with pawns which become objects of attack.[23]
Since the end of nineteenth century, the number of annually held master tournaments and matches quickly grew. In 1914, the title of chess grandmaster was first formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who awarded it to Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall. This tradition was later continued by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), founded in 1924 in Paris. In 1927, a World Champion title for women was established; the first to hold it was Czech-English master
Deeper insight into the nature of chess came with two younger players. American Paul Morphy, an extraordinary chess prodigy, won against all important competitors, including Anderssen, during his short chess career between 1857 and 1863. Morphy's success stemmed from a combination of brilliant attacks and sound strategy; he intuitively knew how to prepare attacks.[19] Prague-born Wilhelm Steinitz later described how to avoid weaknesses in one's own position and how to create and exploit such weaknesses in the opponent's position.[20] In addition to his theoretical achievements, Steinitz founded an important tradition: his triumph over the leading German master Johannes Zukertort in 1886 is regarded as the first official World Chess Championship, and Steinitz the first champion. He lost his crown in 1894 to a much younger player, German mathematician Emanuel Lasker, who maintained this title for 27 years, the longest tenure of all World Champions It took a prodigy from Cuba, José Raúl Capablanca (World champion 1921—1927), who loved simple positions and endgames, to end the German-speaking dominance in chess; he was undefeated in tournament play for eight years until 1924. His successor was Russian-French Alexander Alekhine, a strong attacking player, who died as the World champion in 1946, having briefly lost the title to Dutch player Max Euwe in 1935, before regaining it two years later.[22]
Between the two world wars, chess was revolutionized by the new theoretical school of so-called hypermodernists like Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti. They advocated controlling the center of the board with distant pieces rather than with pawns, inviting opponents to occupy the center with pawns which become objects of attack.[23]
Since the end of nineteenth century, the number of annually held master tournaments and matches quickly grew. In 1914, the title of chess grandmaster was first formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who awarded it to Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall. This tradition was later continued by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), founded in 1924 in Paris. In 1927, a World Champion title for women was established; the first to hold it was Czech-English master
Post-war era (1945 and later)
After the death of Alekhine, a new World Champion was sought in a tournament of elite players ruled by FIDE, who have, since then, controlled the title. The winner of the 1948 tournament, Russian Mikhail Botvinnik, started an era of Soviet dominance in the chess world. Until the end of the Soviet Union, there was only one non-Soviet champion, American Bobby Fischer (champion 1972–1975).[25]
In the previous informal system, the World Champion decided which challenger he would play for the title and the challenger was forced to seek sponsors for the match. FIDE set up a new system of qualifying tournaments and matches. The world's strongest players were seeded into "Interzonal tournaments", where they were joined by players who had qualified from "Zonal tournaments". The leading finishers in these Interzonals would go on the "Candidates" stage, which was initially a tournament, later a series of knock-out matches. The winner of the Candidates would then play the reigning champion for the title. A champion defeated in a match had a right to play a rematch a year later. This system worked on a three-year cycle.
Botvinnik participated in championship matches over a period of fifteen years. He won the world championship tournament in 1948 and retained the title in tied matches in 1951 and 1954. In 1957, he lost to Vasily Smyslov, but regained the title in a rematch in 1958. In 1960, he lost the title to the Latvian prodigy Mikhail Tal, an accomplished tactician and attacking player. Botvinnik again regained the title in a rematch in 1961.
Following the 1961 event, FIDE abolished the automatic right of a deposed champion to a rematch, and the next champion, Armenian Tigran Petrosian, a genius of defense and strong positional player, was able to hold the title for two cycles, 1963–1969. His successor, Boris Spassky from Russia (1969–1972), was a player able to win in both positional and sharp tactical style The next championship, the so-called Match of the Century, saw the first non-Soviet challenger since World War II, American Bobby Fischer, who defeated his Candidates opponents by unheard-of margins and clearly won the world championship match. In 1975, however, Fischer refused to defend his title against Soviet Anatoly Karpov when FIDE refused to meet his demands, and Karpov obtained the title by default. Karpov defended his title twice against Viktor Korchnoi and dominated the 1970s and early 1980s with a string of tournament successes.[27]
Karpov's reign finally ended in 1985 at the hands of another Russian player, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov and Karpov contested five world title matches between 1984 and 1990; Karpov never won his title back.[28]
In 1993, Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short broke with FIDE to organize their own match for the title and formed a competing Professional Chess Association (PCA). From then until 2006, there were two simultaneous World Champions and World Championships: the PCA or Classical champion extending the Steinitzian tradition in which the current champion plays a challenger in a series of many games; the other following FIDE's new format of many players competing in a tournament to determine the champion. Kasparov lost his Classical title in 2000 to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2006 reunified the titles, when Kramnik beat the FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov and became the undisputed World Chess Champion.[29] In September 2007, Viswanathan Anand became the next champion by winning a championship tournament
In the previous informal system, the World Champion decided which challenger he would play for the title and the challenger was forced to seek sponsors for the match. FIDE set up a new system of qualifying tournaments and matches. The world's strongest players were seeded into "Interzonal tournaments", where they were joined by players who had qualified from "Zonal tournaments". The leading finishers in these Interzonals would go on the "Candidates" stage, which was initially a tournament, later a series of knock-out matches. The winner of the Candidates would then play the reigning champion for the title. A champion defeated in a match had a right to play a rematch a year later. This system worked on a three-year cycle.
Botvinnik participated in championship matches over a period of fifteen years. He won the world championship tournament in 1948 and retained the title in tied matches in 1951 and 1954. In 1957, he lost to Vasily Smyslov, but regained the title in a rematch in 1958. In 1960, he lost the title to the Latvian prodigy Mikhail Tal, an accomplished tactician and attacking player. Botvinnik again regained the title in a rematch in 1961.
Following the 1961 event, FIDE abolished the automatic right of a deposed champion to a rematch, and the next champion, Armenian Tigran Petrosian, a genius of defense and strong positional player, was able to hold the title for two cycles, 1963–1969. His successor, Boris Spassky from Russia (1969–1972), was a player able to win in both positional and sharp tactical style The next championship, the so-called Match of the Century, saw the first non-Soviet challenger since World War II, American Bobby Fischer, who defeated his Candidates opponents by unheard-of margins and clearly won the world championship match. In 1975, however, Fischer refused to defend his title against Soviet Anatoly Karpov when FIDE refused to meet his demands, and Karpov obtained the title by default. Karpov defended his title twice against Viktor Korchnoi and dominated the 1970s and early 1980s with a string of tournament successes.[27]
Karpov's reign finally ended in 1985 at the hands of another Russian player, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov and Karpov contested five world title matches between 1984 and 1990; Karpov never won his title back.[28]
In 1993, Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short broke with FIDE to organize their own match for the title and formed a competing Professional Chess Association (PCA). From then until 2006, there were two simultaneous World Champions and World Championships: the PCA or Classical champion extending the Steinitzian tradition in which the current champion plays a challenger in a series of many games; the other following FIDE's new format of many players competing in a tournament to determine the champion. Kasparov lost his Classical title in 2000 to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2006 reunified the titles, when Kramnik beat the FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov and became the undisputed World Chess Champion.[29] In September 2007, Viswanathan Anand became the next champion by winning a championship tournament
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