HISTORY OF CHESS

The game of chess is said to be one of the oldest games of skills known to man. Some historians date it as early as the 2nd century, and its country of origin to be China. In China, at that time people were playing a game very similar to chess called Xiangqi. Yet others think that chess (played very similar to what we know today) originated in India around 6th century where it was played as Chataranga (in Sanskrit). Mention about the game was found at the same time in Persia where it was known by the name of Shatranj (very similar to the Indian name, Chataranga). Documented evidence of the game is found around the 7th century where there is clear mention about the description of the chess pieces – though not exactly as we know them today. First the game spread across Asia; in Japan it was called Shogi, in China Xiangqi, and in Persia Shatranj. In the mid 9th century the chess game navigated to Europe, most like through invasions by Persian and other Moslem armies. There the name of the chess had been altered to Shah (King in Persian) alluding to the game rules, as we know them today. By 10th century the game of chess was well known all over Europe. From Europe the chess went n to conquer new worlds, this time America – carried around by the sea-faring Vikings of Scandinavia around 1100 AD. The game was received exceptionally well wherever it went and very soon it covered the whole world. The modern chess pieces, as they are used today, are traced to the 18th century. They were designed and manufactured by Staunton who was himself a chess master. The first documented chess tournament was held in the year 1851 at London and Adolf Anderssen, a German national, won it. This was however, an unofficial tournament and hence there was no title or any reward. Andersen was beaten by Paul Morphy (an American citizen) a little later. The first official tournament took place in London in 1856. This time Steinitz who was a Chechoslovanian national won it. Although third in the line, Steinitz entered the annals of the history as the first official champion of a chess tournament. He kept the title for four decades, till 1894 when Emanuel Lasker beat him. In 1921 Jose Casablanca who is considered one of the best ever chess players in the world, took the title form Emanuel. Two other share the honor if being know as the best ever players, i.e. Bobby Fischer and Morphy. Fischer became a world champion at the tender age of only 14! He was the first American to claim the title. Excellent players from Russia dominated the 19th century period. Anatoli Karpov and Gary Kasparov became world champions at the same time by a peculiar quirk of fate. The mantle was recently passed over to Vishv Anand, an Indian national. This is a very brief outline of the history of chess, just sufficient to follow the thread from the beginning to the present. However, the game and its evolution taken in depth can fill up volumes.

CHESS CHAMPIONS OF TODAY

The chess world was totally dominated by the Russians between 1948 and 1972. FIDE took over in 1924, however Soviet Union had not wanted to be part of it. After Alekhine’s death though, since the title went under their control, Russia registered as a member. The first tournament after this event was held n 1948 where Mikhail Botvinnik won after playing against five best world chess players. FIDE enjoyed the role of the organizer so much, that it continued to do so thereafter as a natural outcome. As the past system was quite informal, FIDE had laid new rules to formalize the title. Now, there was a pre-qualifying game, followed by inter-zonal tournaments, and then the last ‘knock-out matches’. The winner of this series of games would challenge the chess champion. If the champion was defeated, he could ask for a re-match after a minimum gap of one year. FIDE then set the game period to a cycle of three years. Botvinnik was a tireless worker and an admirable engineer while playing the game.. He has defended his title brilliantly against David Bronstein and Vasily Smyslov in 1951 and 1954 only to be defeated in 1957 by Smyslov. True to the rules of re-match after a year, Botvinnik won his title back in 1958, making Smyslov the shortest time world champion of chess. Botvinnik repeated this feat against Mikhail Tal in 1960, after being defeated by him in 1959. Botvinnik lost for the third time to Tigran Petrosian and this time could not play a re-match because FIDE abolished the rule. Tigran lost his title in 1968 to Spassky after defending it successfully against the same challenger in 1966. The Russian chess had been at its peak during this time. In 1972, the title went to an American by the name of Bobby Fischer. Fischer defeated his opponents with such grace and effortlessness that he was invariably compared to another world class champion and co-countryman, Paul Morphy. In 1975 in a very peculiar turn of events, Fischer refused to defend his title from the challenger Anatoly Karpov. He had acted in this manner saying that his demands were not met. What the demands were is not very clear. He relinquished his membership of FIDE but remained chess champion, until 1992, when he rematched with Spassky. FIDE or the world did not really take heed to this match. On the other hand, Karpov shot to fame in 1970 by winning a series of exceptional chess games and for the next ten years the Russian chess again reigned supreme. Karpov proved repeatedly his excellent grasp of the game when he played against some of the best chess players and came out of its unscathed. When he lost the title, he did so against one of his own compatriot, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov had remained on the top as the best ever chess player in the world.

CHESS CHAMPIONS OF THE PAST

Chess is one of the oldest games man has known. Some historians date it as long back as the 2nd century. This game has entertained human beings for a very long time, through specially held competitions or challenge events called chess tournaments where chess champions played against one another for the title of world champion of chess. In the past era of chess games, i.e. before the 19th century has a good number of chess champions who have set examples of excellent strategy and planning. You have Ruy Lopez de Segura winning in 1560 as the uncontested chess champion until 1575, when he lost his title to Paolo Boi and Leonardo de Cutri. Alessandro Salvio claimed the title in 1600 and lost it to Gioachino Greco in 1620. Though the names of these people went down in the annals of history, the real chess championships, the ones were actually started only in 1843 when Fournier de Saint Amant won himself the title of the world’s best chess player of his time, after defeating Howard Staunton. The French actually dominated the 18th century where names like Kermour, Philidor, Deschapelles and Bourdonnais found mention as chess champions. In 1851, at the first official chess tournament at London Fournier de Saint-Amant relinquished his title to Adolf Andersen who reigned until 1858 when he played against the brilliant strategist, Paul Morphy. Morphy was renowned for his speed in excellent moves. Morphy was so brilliant that he was not overthrown even once throughout his life. He died a champion in 1884. Upon his death, the title went back to Andersen who played brilliantly in the chess tournament in 1862. Four years later, he lost the title of the best chess player to Wilhelm Steinitz. This is supposed to have been the first official chess tournament ever. The first world chess championship match was advertised and held as such only in 1886 when Steinitz won without trouble. In this way, Steinitz became the first ever world chess champion. This game established the precedent of a series of games where the chess champion would be challenged at a game and if defeated – the winner would be known as the next world chess champion. This was done in a very informal way.
Steinitz lost to Lasker in 1894, who kept the title for a long period of 27 years, possible only because he was an impulsive player, one who could brilliantly strategize his game to hassle his opponent into defeat. In 1914, the Tsar of Russia changed the name of the chess world championship, to that of Grandmaster of Chess. Hence, this name was bestowed upon Lasker, Capablanca (an excellent Cuban chess champion), followed by Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall. All these people held the title of Grandmaster of Chess.Capablanca was recognized as the most brilliant chess champion of all times. From 1921 to 1927 he was literally untouchable, and then was defeated by Alekhine; Alekhine lost his title to Euwe, a Dutch amateur chess player and Math Professor. After long battles, Alekhine regained his title from Euwe n 1937 and managed to defend it well till 1946, when he died. From 1948 to 1972 enters the dominance of Russia in the world of chess and a new era of chess champions begins.

Chess Boss Games

Play Chess with CubesAs you make progress and play a better game there are a number of chess variants that can be of great interest to someone who wants to play chess on ChessBoss.com. The first that comes to mind is chess with cube. This new variant of chess has been patented and is offered only on ChessBoss.com. Part of the game is playing with same cubes as are used in backgammon to double the stakes. Play Loser’s ChessThe Losers Chess is one of the most popular variants. The main objective is to lose all your pieces or get mated. It is mandatory to make a capture. As you play chess of this genre, keep in mind – you play to lose! Play Random ChessThis is a variant of Orthodox Chess. As you play chess, the initial set up of the pieces is chosen at random. It is a computer program that fixes each new set up. The pieces on the last row can be arranged in a different manner e.g. the king can be switched with the rook. As you play chess there is a random generator on the site that sets up new and original chess starting positions. We at ChessBoss make sure that all setups are random and no player has any unfair advantage over another. Play Bughouse ChessYou could also try your hand at Bughouse. In this online chess game, there are teams of two who play against each other. If a “piece” on one board is captured, it is passed to your partner on the other board. You can either make a normal move, or "drop" a piece. Only those pieces can be dropped that you have in hand, from your partner's captures. Learn with ChessBossChessBoss offers basic Chess Rules, History of Chess and Chess Champions and much more. For more information such asChess Openings, Chess Middle Game, Chess Endgame, Strategy and Tactics check out the Learn Chess section of the side menu. To play chess that ensures your victory each time, the best option is to go online and practice --- opportunity is knocking at your door, go right ahead and answer it because ChessBoss.com is considered to be the best online chess server on the web today!

HISTORY OF CHESS

The game of chess is said to be one of the oldest games of skills known to man. Some historians date it as early as the 2nd century, and its country of origin to be China. In China, at that time people were playing a game very similar to chess called Xiangqi. Yet others think that chess (played very similar to what we know today) originated in India around 6th century where it was played as Chataranga (in Sanskrit). Mention about the game was found at the same time in Persia where it was known by the name of Shatranj (very similar to the Indian name, Chataranga). Documented evidence of the game is found around the 7th century where there is clear mention about the description of the chess pieces – though not exactly as we know them today. First the game spread across Asia; in Japan it was called Shogi, in China Xiangqi, and in Persia Shatranj. In the mid 9th century the chess game navigated to Europe, most like through invasions by Persian and other Moslem armies. There the name of the chess had been altered to Shah (King in Persian) alluding to the game rules, as we know them today. By 10th century the game of chess was well known all over Europe. From Europe the chess went n to conquer new worlds, this time America – carried around by the sea-faring Vikings of Scandinavia around 1100 AD. The game was received exceptionally well wherever it went and very soon it covered the whole world. The modern chess pieces, as they are used today, are traced to the 18th century. They were designed and manufactured by Staunton who was himself a chess master. The first documented chess tournament was held in the year 1851 at London and Adolf Anderssen, a German national, won it. This was however, an unofficial tournament and hence there was no title or any reward. Andersen was beaten by Paul Morphy (an American citizen) a little later. The first official tournament took place in London in 1856. This time Steinitz who was a Chechoslovanian national won it. Although third in the line, Steinitz entered the annals of the history as the first official champion of a chess tournament. He kept the title for four decades, till 1894 when Emanuel Lasker beat him.
In 1921 Jose Casablanca who is considered one of the best ever chess players in the world, took the title form Emanuel. Two other share the honor if being know as the best ever players, i.e. Bobby Fischer and Morphy. Fischer became a world champion at the tender age of only 14! He was the first American to claim the title. Excellent players from Russia dominated the 19th century period. Anatoli Karpov and Gary Kasparov became world champions at the same time by a peculiar quirk of fate. The mantle was recently passed over to Vishv Anand, an Indian national. This is a very brief outline of the history of chess, just sufficient to follow the thread from the beginning to the present. However, the game and its evolution taken in depth can fill up volumes.

Correspondence Chess

Invented by Professor J.W.D. Wildt of Gottingen, Germany. A Chess game played using the postal service or by electronic means (using a modem). The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was founded in 1961 and publishes a monthly magazine ‘Fernschach’ in German for traditional Chess players. This was a very popular way of playing Chess in the 19th century due to the price of a postage stamp being reduced to one penny in 1840. Correspondence notation is used for transmitting the moves of a game. Each cell is defined by two digits (the file first, the rank second) i.e., A-PA5-$E02/E04 translates into 5254. %K = 5171. A promoted piece is shown by a 5th digit i.e., 1, 2, 3 and 4, for Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight. According to the ‘The Chess Players’ Chronicle of 1878, the first Chess game to be played by telephone, was between F. Thompson, editor the Derbyshire Advertiser, and a friend on January 25, 1878. The first county telephone match to be played in England was between Norfolk and Gloucestershire in 1934. The first telephone Chess match was between Cardiff and Swansea on March 18,1884.

Japanese Chess - Shogi

Japanese form of Chess, the history of which is also obscure (nebulous). Traditionally it is thought to have originated in India and to have been transmitted to Japan via China and Korea. Shogi like traditional Chess is played on a squared board with pieces of varying powers, and the object is checkmate (++CM) of the opposisng King. It is played on a square board of 9 x 9 or, 81 cells with pieces of differing powers. Two distinctive features, however, differentiate Shogi from European Chess: 01 Captured pieces are not dead but may be pointed in the opposite direction and replayed as part of your own or your opponent’s forces. 02 The minor pieces (JPs - Japanese Pawns) capture one cell straight ahead. Both players have twenty pieces each at the beginning of the game (ISP). Each player has 20 pieces, which oppose each other on a board composed of 9 horizontal and 9 vertical rows. There are 9 minor pieces (Fu), a RO (Hisha), a BS (Kaku), one King (Osho), 2 Gold Generals (JGs, Kinsho), 2 Silver Generals JSs (Ginsho), 2 JKs (Keima), and 2 Lance (Kyosha, JL).