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| It is hard to write something new about chess, because it is a very well-known game. Millions of people play it around the world day by day, big tournaments are organized once in a while and the fans of chess constantly try to improve their game. So what can be written about chess in these conditions? I will try to sum up the main goal of the game; I will explain in what category of games it belongs to and I will also present its history, because it is very interesting. |
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Chess belongs to the category of skill and board games. The explanation is easy: chess is a skill game because it is not enough to know and understand the rules of the game; you will also need to exercise a lot in order to win. So winning depends on your skill level. It is also a board game because you will need a chess board in order to play the game. Let us talk a little bit more about the board. A chess board has 64 squares, arranged in an eight by eight grid. The first square from the left down side of the board is black, the next one is white, and they alternate like this. So the first square from the second line in the left side is white, the next one is black and so on. In order to play you will need the pieces too, not only the board. Every piece has its name and it is set in the rules how you can move a certain chess piece. Let us see now the pieces in detail. There are two sets of pieces, a black and the white one, both consisting of 16 units. Each set has the same pieces; they are differentiated only by their color. So a player will have a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. As a rule the player who has the white pieces starts the game.
Let us now see the history of the game. Its origin goes back until the sixth century India, where it was played under a different name. Somewhat later the game had arrived to Persia where the rules were further developed. Chess had reached Europe on at least three routes, the earliest notes were found to be from around 900. A hundred years later chess had spread throughout Europe. After it had arrived to Europe the rules started to develop even further and we can date the origins of the game to the 1450s. Soon after 1450 people started to write about the theory of chess, the earliest theory work dates back to 1497. It is important to mention this work, because this book was published, so it reached a lot of people who were interested in chess. A few years later chess spread quickly to the western part of Europe and its popularity grew even faster. By the nineteenth century a lot of people started to play chess and a few clubs opened. By the middle years of the nineteenth century chess was treated as a sport and there were many chess clubs and other organizations. The first manual of chess theory was published in 1843 entitled the ‘Handbook of Chess’. Nowadays chess is still a very popular game, tournaments are held quite often, and each year there is a chess world cup. Being a world champion in chess implies hard work and a little talent. Here are only a few great names, who managed to be world champions: Anatoly Karpov, Bobby Fischer, but probably the most famous of all is Gerry Kasparov.
Let us now see a few rules of the game. I will begin with the basic moves. As it was discussed before, the chess figures are placed on the board, by the following order. In the first row: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight and rook. If one has placed all the figures correctly, the queen should be on a square matching its color, so the white queen would be on a light square and the black queen would be on a dark square. On the second line there are eight pawns. As I had already said, all pieces have their own moving style. Let us start with the simplest move, the way the pawns move: they can move one or two squares ahead. The knight moves two squares ahead and one to the left or right. It also can move two squares to the left or right and one square up or down. The main idea with the move of a knight is that it should be the shape of the letter ‘L’, and it should cover three squares in total. The queen can move in any direction, it doesn’t matter if it is horizontally or vertically, the color of the squares is not important either. A bishop can move only diagonally on the squares colored the same as the bishop’s color. The rook can move both horizontally and vertically, but cannot go in a diagonal line. All the figures discussed above, except the knight and pawn can move as many squares as it is necessary. The king can move in any direction, but it is allowed to move only one square.
Now that you know all the rules, let us see the main goal of the game. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent’s king. This means that the king has to be under immediate attack, and cannot avoid it. Not all the games end in checkmate. Players are allowed to resign, if they consider that they cannot win the match, or they might run out of time if the game is a timed one. Usually championship and tournament games are timed only.
With the fast development of science, scientists have created chess software. This means that you can play chess on your computer or online. You might play against a real person, but you might also play against the software. One of the very famous games is when ‘Deep Blue’ (a chess-playing machine) managed to beat Gerry Kasparov. This was the first computer which managed to beat a world champion. And all this happened in 1997.
Now you know the basics of chess. As I said before, it is not enough to know the rules and the moves; you will have to practice a lot if you plan to enter tournaments or even championships. In this case playing online is not enough, you should visit a chess club and sign-up there. Or you should have a personal couch who will explain the tips, tricks and strategies. You can also read books about chess, there are many books written, containing the most important games, or strategies. But do not forget: it is not enough to read the books; you will have to try out what you know by playing. Since chess is a skill based game, you will have to develop the necessary skills if you want your name to be among the best names of chess.
I hop this article managed to reach its goal: to present the game of chess in a nutshell and eventually raise your interest in chess. If you are interested in playing chess, you can start by playing online, or you can contact the chess group from your neighborhood. Good luck in finding the best club and do not forget: exercise, exercise and exercise! |
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