CHESMAYNE
Chess
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Above Link: David Murray Chess Collections - Silver Chess Sets
Because of its previous preeminence among intellectual pastimes favoured by the upper classes, it is also called the ‘Royal Game’. It originated in India, or China, during or before the 6th century from ancient forms, derivations of which still persist in certain regional variants, such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Malay and Burmese chess. Sir William Jones, in his essay ‘On the Indian game of chess’, maintained that Hindustan was the cradle of chess, the game having been known since ancient times by the name of Chaturanga, that is, the four (Chatur) Anga(s), or parts of an army, said to be elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers. QU1 has undergone changes in name, sex and power. In Shanranj this MP was called (Farz or, Firz), meaning ‘Counsellor or, General’. The French may have changed it into ‘Fierce, Fierge’, and ‘Vierge’ (Virgin), which if true, might explain its becoming female. Another view is that a PA on reaching the 8th rank was elevated in value and became a ‘Farz’ and not any other MP - a promotion that was of the same kind as that in Draughts or, Checkers - in French: Dames. Thus the PA became a ‘Dame’ or, QU as in the latter game, and thence ‘Dama’, ‘Donna’ etc. The BS among the Persians was called ‘Pil’ (elephant), but the Arabs not having the letter ‘p’ in their alphabet, wrote it ‘Fil
’, or, with their definite article, ‘Al-Fil’. It was the next in command and a force assisting the ‘Counsellor’ or ‘Minister’ (the QU).A most intriguing intellectual challenge,
played in a cultured manner according to strict rules and regulations. The object of the game is to crush your
opponent! Chessmen: Pieces.
The RO is the sketched condensation of an Indian chariot, protecting the army’s
flank. The cinderella-type
transformation called enrobing/promotion, is also called Queening because the usual choice is QU2, the most powerful
MP. If it is not QU2 it is called an underpromotion. In
Ancient
‘It’s as large as life, and twice as natural’ - ‘Through the Looking Glass,
1872’.
‘Leisure with honour’.
‘It’s more than a game. It’s an institution’.
Chess as a war game dates back at least 14
centuries. Chess played on a board of
64 cells originated in Ancient
Contributed By: Burt Hochberg
Author of ‘The
64-Square Looking Glass’ and other books.
Editor of ‘Power
Chess’ and other books.
See an
outline for this article.
Further Reading
HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE
”Chess,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001.
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
I. Introduction
Chess, game of skill between two
people that is played using specially designed pieces on a square board
comprised of 64 alternating light and dark squares in eight rows of eight
squares each. The vertical columns on
the board that extend from one player to the other are called files, and the horizontal rows are
called ranks. The diagonal lines across
the board are called diagonals.
II. How Chess is Played
Each player controls an army comprised of eight pawns and
eight pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks (sometimes called “castles”), two
bishops, and two knights. Although the term pieces is
sometimes used to refer to all 16 chessmen, it usually does not refer to
pawns. The two armies are of
contrasting colors, one light and the other dark, and are always called White and Black regardless of their
actual colors.
A. Initial Setup
The board is always placed for play with a light square in
the corner to the right of each player.
White’s pieces are set up on White’s first rank from
left to right in the following order: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king,
bishop, knight, rook. Black’s
pieces are set up on Black’s first rank from left to right in the order of
rook, knight, bishop, king, queen, bishop, knight, rook. The pieces face their exact counterparts at
opposite ends of the board, and each queen stands on a square of its own
color. The pawns are placed on the
second rank of each player, directly in front of the pieces.
B. Moves of the Pieces
White always moves first, and the
players then alternate turns. A move
consists of transferring a man to another square that is either vacant or
occupied by an opponent’s man. If it is
occupied, the opponent’s man is captured
(removed from the board and replaced by the capturing man). The only exception is the king, which is
never captured (see Object of the Game below).
A move to capture is not required unless it is the only possible
move.
Only one piece may be moved each
turn except when castling (see below). All pieces except the knight move along
straight, unobstructed paths; only the knight may move over or around other
pieces. The king moves one square in
any direction, but not to a square that is attacked by an enemy piece—that is,
a square to which an enemy piece can go on the next move. The queen moves as far as desired in any
uninterrupted direction. The rook moves
as far as desired in any horizontal or vertical direction. The bishop moves as far as desired in any
diagonal direction, but is confined to squares of the color on which it began
the game. The knight moves a distance
of exactly two squares to a square of the opposite color. The path of the move resembles the letter
L—two squares horizontally or vertically combined with one square at a right
angle. The knight may go over or around
any piece in its way.
1. Castling
A player may move more than one
man during a turn only when castling, a special maneuver involving the king and
one rook. In castling, the king moves
two squares to the left or right, and the rook on that side moves to the square
next to the king on the opposite side.
Castling is allowed only if (1) the king has not yet moved during the
game and is not threatened; (2) the rook on the castling side has not yet moved
during the game; (3) the squares between the king and that rook are vacant; (4)
the king does not pass through or end its move on a square that is attacked by
an enemy piece.
2. Moves of the Pawns
Each pawn, on its first move only, may move straight ahead
either one or two squares to a vacant square.
After that it may advance only one square at a time. Pawns, unlike the other pieces, do not
capture in the direction they move but capture diagonally one square
forward. When a pawn advances two
squares on its first move and lands next to an opponent’s pawn that is on an
adjacent file and the same horizontal row, the opponent’s pawn may capture it
as if it had advanced only one square.
This capture is known by its French name, en passant (“in passing”).
An en passant capture must be carried out immediately or not at all
(though the advancing pawn may later be captured in the normal fashion).
When a pawn reaches the last
rank on the opposing side of the board, it is promoted—that is, converted to
any other piece of the same color (except another pawn or the king). The powers of the new piece take effect immediately. Since a pawn is usually promoted to the
strongest piece—the queen—the move is often called queening.
The number of possible promotions is limited only by the number of pawns
of each player. A player may have two
or more queens or other pieces at the same time.
III. Object of the Game
Each player’s goal is to attack the enemy king such that
the king cannot deflect or remove the attack and cannot escape. When a king is attacked, it is “in
check.” Check does not have to be
announced, but the player whose king is in check must attempt to escape on the
next move. There are three
possibilities: (1) moving the king to a safe square, (2) capturing the
attacking piece, or (3) cutting off the attack by interposing a piece or pawn
between the attacking piece and the king.
If none of these moves is available, the king is checkmated. Checkmate ends the game at once—the king is
never actually captured—and the player who gives the checkmate wins. The word “checkmate” (often abbreviated to
“mate”) comes from the ancient Persian shah
mat, meaning “the king is helpless (defeated).”
IV. Draws
A tie, called a draw, is neither
a win or loss for either side. If
players do not want to continue a game for any reason they may agree to call it
a draw, but in certain situations a draw is mandated by the rules. When a player cannot make any move but is
not in check, the game is a draw by stalemate (if the king were in check,
however, it would be checkmate).
In formal play, the game is a
draw if 50 consecutive moves are made by each side without a capture or a pawn
move, or if the same position is about to be repeated for the third time with
the same player having the move. This
often occurs when one player checks the enemy king repeatedly without being
able to give mate, known as perpetual check.
If the game has left neither side with enough material to force
checkmate, it is a draw.
V. Chess Notation
There are two standard methods of
recording chess moves: the algebraic system and the descriptive system. In both systems, the pieces are designated
by capital initials: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and N
for knight. The initial P for pawn is
used in the descriptive system only.
Castling is noted as either 0-0 (“short” castling on the king’s side) or
0-0-0 (“long” castling on the queen’s side).
Each square is part of both a
file and a rank, and in the algebraic system, that unique “address” gives the
square its name. In this system, the
board is viewed from the White side only.
The files, beginning on the left, are lettered from a
to h and the ranks are
numbered from 1 to 8 beginning with White’s first rank. A move by a piece is indicated by its
initial and the square it moves to; for example, Nf3 is a knight move to the
square f3. A pawn move names only the
square. The letter x traditionally
indicates a capture (Nxf3) but is often omitted.
In the descriptive system each
square has two names, one from White’s perspective, the
other from Black’s perspective. Each
file is named for the piece that stands on it at the start of the game. For example, the file farthest to White’s
left and Black’s right (the a file in the algebraic system) is the QR-file because
the queen’s rooks—the rooks on the queen’s half of the board—start there. The ranks are numbered 1 to 8 from White’s
side, and also 1 to 8 from Black’s side.
White’s first rank is Black’s eighth rank and, for example, White’s QR4
is the same square as Black’s QR5. A
move is indicated by the initial of the moving piece or pawn and the square it
moves to from the perspective of the moving player. A capture always includes the letter x and
the initial of the captured piece instead of the square; for example, NxB means a knight captured a bishop.
VI. Origin and History
The earliest written mention of a chesslike game
appeared around 600, and the fact that it was mentioned without explanation
suggests that it was already well known by that time.
A. Early History
Chess is one of a group of games descended from chaturanga, a game believed to have originated
in India in the 6th century or perhaps earlier, which itself may be
related to a much older Chinese game. Chaturanga is a Sanskrit word referring to the four arms
(or divisions) of an Indian army—elephants, cavalry, chariots, and
infantry—from which come the four types of pieces in that game.
Chaturanga spread eastward to China, and then through
B. Modern History
The game of chess as it exists today emerged in southern
The greatest
figure in the early history of modern chess was the 18th-century
French player François-André Danican Philidor. He was
the leading chess player of his time and a renowned composer. In 1749 Philidor
published one of the most influential theoretical works in chess history, L’analyse du jeu des Échecs
(Analysis of the Game of Chess), which was eventually translated into
many languages. Philidor
was the first to analyze many of the main strategic elements of chess and to
recognize the importance of proper pawn play.
French players
continued their dominance of the game into the 19th century. In 1834 Louis Charles de la Bourdonnais played a series of six matches in
The first great
American chess player was Paul Morphy. In 1858 Morphy
traveled to
In the mid-19th
century the center of chess activity returned to
Although the
During the
1990s, computer scientists working for International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) developed a chess computer named Deep Blue that was capable of
analyzing millions of chess positions every second. In 1996, world chess champion Garry Kasparov defeated the computer in a highly publicized match, 4 games to 2. Kasparov faced an improved version of Deep
Blue a year later in a rematch. The
enhanced computer was capable of processing 200 million positions per
second. (It is estimated that Kasparov
is capable of analyzing 3 positions per second.) Kasparov won the first game of the rematch,
but after Deep Blue secured draws in games 3, 4, and 5 and victories in games 2
and 6, Kasparov lost, 2.5 games to 3.5. The event marked the first-ever series
defeat of a world chess champion by a computer.
Computer chess
is increasing the popularity of the game, especially in the
VII. World Champions
Although players such as Philidor and Morphy clearly were stronger players than their
contemporaries, it was not until 1886 that a match was held specifically to
decide who could legitimately claim the title of world chess champion. The players were Wilhelm Steinitz,
from
In 1894 Steinitz lost the title to 25-year-old German player Emanuel Lasker, who subsequently held the title for a record 27 years. Lasker was deposed
as champion in 1921 by Cuban player José Raúl Capablanca, who was replaced as champion in 1927 by Russian-born Alexander Alekhine of
Since 1948 FIDE
championship matches have been held every few years. Botvinnik reigned
as world champion for almost 15 years, losing his title briefly to two Soviet
players—in 1957-1958 to Vassily Smyslov and in 1960-1961 to then 22-year-old Mikhail Tal. Botvinnik
lost to Soviet Tigran Petrosian in 1963, and subsequently announced his retirement from championship
play. Boris Spassky defeated Petrosian for the world championship
in 1969, but in 1972 Spassky lost to Bobby Fischer,
who became the first American world champion and the first non-Soviet to win a
world championship under the rules adopted after 1945.
After Fischer
refused to defend the title in 1975, Anatoly Karpov
began a ten-year reign as world champion.
The first title match between Karpov and Garry
Kasparov (1984-1985) was halted by Florencio Campomanes, the president of FIDE, after it had lasted for
six months without producing a winner. Campomanes said he was trying to protect the health of the
players, who appeared exhausted. But Kasparov believed that Campomanes
wanted to save the title for his friend Karpov. In their next match in 1985, Kasparov won
the title from Karpov and then successfully defended
it against the former champion three times.
In 1993
Kasparov and his official challenger, Nigel Short of England, rejected FIDE’s proposed arrangements for their world championship
and set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association (PCA),
hoping to gain commercial sponsorship and television coverage on a much larger
scale than FIDE was able to accomplish.
After he defeated Short under the auspices of the PCA, Kasparov claimed
the title of world champion. But Karpov, who remained loyal to FIDE, also claimed the title
after winning a FIDE-sanctioned match against Jan Timman
of The
The split
remained for the rest of the 1990s.
Kasparov successfully defended his PCA title against Viswanathan
Anand of India in 1995, but the association fell
apart soon after. FIDE held a world
championship in 1998 under a new “knockout” format, in which participants are
seeded in a large draw and must advance through a number of rounds in a short
time. Karpov
won the first title under this format but was unhappy with the tournament
arrangements in 1999. He refused to
participate, and Aleksandr Khalifman
of
Grande weighted chess.
This
is an elegant classic chess set. It
features a beautiful 22” square solid wood board with weighted chess pieces and
a large 6” king for the finest in chess.
It also offers a partitioned storage compartment under the board. King
height is 6”.
What is Chess?
I
have seen and taken part in many discussions about what chess “really” is.
Is chess a mere game? Is chess a sport? Is chess an art? Is chess a science?
Everyone
seems to have an opinion on this and for the most part one person’s opinion is
as valid as any other’s. But throughout
the modern history of the game, certain, influential individuals with their individual
visions of chess, determined the manner in which the game itself developed and
evolved.
Before
the 20th century chess was for the most part a diversion, a pastime,
and there were few professional players.
Those that did play professionally were considered akin to gamblers and
card sharks. Playing chess for money
gained a bit more repute after the St. Petersburg Tournament of 1914 when Czar Nicholar II proclaimed the
original Grandmasters - Capablanca, Lasker, Tarrasch, Marshall and Alekhine. With this
newly establish designation chess seemed to become something more than a mere
game.
Lasker was the main proponent of
chess as “a fight”, a struggle, and that the winner would always be the player
with the strongest character and not necessarily the player with the greatest
technical skill. He discounted chess as
an art, believing that winning was the most important thing. Concerning his main adversary, Tarrasch, he wrote,
“Dr. Tarrasch is a thinker, fond of deep and complex
speculation. He will accept the
efficacy of a move if at the same time he considers it beautiful and
theoretically right. But I accept this
sort of beauty only if and when it happens to be useful. He admires an idea for it’s
depth. I admire it for it’s efficacy. My
opponent believes in beauty, I believe in strength. I think that by being strong, a move is
beautiful too”.
Capablanca, the World Champion after Lasker, didn’t accept Laskers
ideology. He considered chess less a
struggle of character and certainly not an intellectual pursuit. He once said, “To play chess requires no intelligence at all”. But rather, due to his clarity of vision and
innate, intuitive style of play, he considered chess a high art form; an art in
which two people create together. His
games reflected this flow of artistic beauty.
Alekhine followed Capablanca as the champion of the world. His style was completely opposite that of Capablanca. If Capa loved simplicity and clarity, Alekhine
lived for complexity. It’s peculiar
that with these two opposed styles, they both had the
same vision of chess. Alekhine, even more than Capablanca,
was intrigued by the artistic side of chess and at the same time frustrated at
the difficulties this presented. He
wrote, “Right here enters the moment
where the art of chess may be called the most tragic of arts, because the chess
artist, in a measure, is dependant on an element that is totally outside the
scope of his power: that element is the hostile co-workers who through
carelessness constantly threaten to wreck a flawless mental ediface. The chess player who tries to demonstrate
the ‘how’ of a game will view the single point scored a poor offset for the
failure to gratify his artistic yearnings”.
Nonetheless, Alekhine created many wondrous works of chess art.
With
the death of Alekhine, Botvinnik
became the new World Champion and with him came a new approach to chess. Botvinnik was an
electrical engineer who wrote such books as ‘The Theory and Prospects of
Application of Asynchronized Synchronous
Machines’. Quite an ordered mind! His entire life was equally structured, as
was his approach to chess. Botvinnik left nothing to chance. Every second of his day was planned and
accounted for; every aspect of his opponent was taken into consideration. He was always prepared thoroughly in mind
and body. He wrote, “If acoustics was a science that informed
the world about sounds, then music was an art that revealed the beauty of that
art; if logic was a science that revealed the laws of thought, then chess, in the form of artistic images, was an art that
illuminated the logical side of thought”.
To him Art and Logic were synonymous. He made chess a science.
He
was World Champion for a long time and lost and regained the title against Smyslov and Tal. Smyslov probably
should never have won the championship, but Tal is a
different story.
Tal was the exact opposite of Botvinnik. Totally
unorganized, Tal reveled in
chaos. He created
impossible-to-calculate diversions on the board, defying logic and reason. To Tal chess was a
battle of wills. He could spin threads
of magic and dare his opponent to unravel them and prove it was just
sleight-of-hand - few could, not even Botvinnik.
But Tal’s health problems cut his career short and Botvinnik’s sustaining power allowed him to regain the
title. He soon lost it again. This time to Petrosian. Petrosian’s syle was defensive
and, like Smyslov, he added little to the idea of
chess. Spassky
took the title from Petrosian. Spassky was an
incredibly versatile player. He didn’t
regard chess as an art or science. In
fact he probably didn’t spend all his time thinking of chess. His seemed to view chess as a contest or a
sport: “may the better man win”.
He appeared almost relieved to give up his title, and the responsibility it
required, to Fischer.
Fischer
saw chess different than anyone else.
He viewed it as a personal thing.
It was an extension of himself and he was it’s
logical extension. If anything, he looked
at chess as a truth and his duty was to find and expose this truth judging
everything else in relationship to this truth.
He was a culmination of all those who went before him. Once he proved he was the best in the world, that also became his truth - and one that he never
could allow to be challenged and possibly destroyed - so he, in effect, retired
without ever having to re-prove himself.
Karpov became World Champion by
default and, because of this, always felt the need to prove himself. He saw chess as a technical achievement -
gain a tiny advantage and nurse it into a winning advantage through precise
technical skill.
Kasparov,
on the other hand, was and possibly still is, a creative genius. He was a lot like Tal
but with control. He could envision
possibilities like no one before him and coupled that with superior technical
skills to make the seemingly impossible happen through sheer will power and an
insatiable drive to win. He was Tal, Alekhine and Botvinnik rolled into one: the final product of the Russian
chess machine. He saw chess as a fight,
as an art, as a science, as a sport, as anything but a mere game. And he has shown the world during his tenure
that chess is not one thing nor another, but rather a
fertile ground for ideas.
Who knows what tomorrow will teach us.
Chess
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Interesting Links
Beginners
Chess if Fun - some fairly easy chess lessons. An
introduction to chess strategy.
Virtual Chess Coach - lessons for the absolute
beginner through intermediate.
Deep
Blue versus Kasparov
Jun 24 - PC Magazine - Kasparov's Chess Mess
"IBM Owes Mankind A
Rematch" by Garry Kasparov