Chess

Chess

I

INTRODUCTION

Chess, game of skill and strategy between two people, played using specially designed pieces on a square board comprised of 64 alternating light and dark squares in eight rows of eight squares each. Chess, with a history that extends back thousands of years, is a popular game played around the world.

II

HOW CHESS IS PLAYED

In chess 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 chess figures, it technically 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. 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.

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.

B1

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.

B2

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 nor a 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

Historians do not know for sure how old the game of chess is or who invented it. 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—which inspired the four types of pieces in that game.

Chaturanga spread eastward to China, and then through Korea to Japan. It also appeared in Persia after the Islamic conquest (638-651). In Persia the game was first called chatrang, the Persian form of chaturanga, and then shatranj, the Arabic form of the word. The spread of Islam to Sicily and the invasion of Spain by the Moors brought shatranj to Western Europe, and it reached Russia through trade routes from several directions. By the end of the 10th century, the game was well known throughout Europe. It attracted the serious interest of kings, philosophers, and poets, and the best players recorded their games for posterity. Problems, or puzzles, in which the solver has to find a solution—such as a forced checkmate in a given number of moves—became popular during the 12th and 13th centuries.

A

Modern History

The game of chess as it exists today emerged in southern Europe toward the end of the 15th century. Some of the old shatranj rules were modified, new rules were added—such as castling, the two-square pawn advance, and the en passant capture—and the powers of certain pieces were increased. The most important changes turned the fers (counselor), a weak piece in shatranj, into the queen, the strongest piece in chess, and the alfil, which moved in two-square steps, into the far-ranging chess bishop. The new game achieved popularity all over Europe. Some of the best players of the 15th and 16th centuries, notably Lucena and Ruy Lopez of Spain and Damiano of Portugal, recorded their games and theories in widely circulated books of chess instruction. In the second half of the 16th century, Italian players such as Polerio and Greco dominated the game.

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 London against the best English player, Alexander McDonnell. Bourdonnais won 45 of the 85 games and lost 27 (there were 13 draws). The games played in these matches were published and analyzed worldwide. In 1843 English player Howard Staunton decisively defeated the leading French player, Pierre Charles de Saint-Amant, by a match score of 11 wins, 6 losses, and 4 draws. Staunton, the world’s foremost chess figure in the mid-19th century, wrote several important theoretical works and commissioned a new design for chess pieces which remains the standard. He also organized the first international chess tournament, held in London in 1851, which was won by German player Adolf Anderssen.

The first great American chess player was Paul Morphy. In 1858 Morphy traveled to Europe, having demonstrated his superiority over all his American rivals at an early age, to prove himself against the finest players in the world. Within six months he had won matches by overwhelming scores against several prominent players, including Anderssen. Because of his youth and the extraordinary quality of his games, Morphy was hailed as a genius and was recognized as the best chess player in the world. But after returning to the United States, Morphy became mentally ill and never again played chess competitively.

In the mid-19th century the center of chess activity returned to Europe, where Wilhelm Steinitz, Siegbert Tarrasch, Emanuel Lasker, and other great masters advanced the theory and practice of chess through their games and writings. Chess had long been popular in Russia, and after the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Communist government began a program of chess education for children, sponsored many important chess events, and provided financial support for its best players. As a result, players from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) have long dominated international chess. The only interruption of Soviet chess power came in 1972 when American Bobby Fischer won the world championship from Boris Spassky in the most widely publicized chess match in history. However, in 1975 another Soviet, Anatoly Karpov, won the championship by default when Fischer’s demands for new match rules were not accepted and he refused to defend his title.

Although the USSR ceased to exist in 1991, the highest levels of world chess are still dominated by players trained under the Soviet system. The hegemony of these players is being threatened by a new influence on the game: computers. The first computer programs that could play chess emerged in the 1960s. Although the programs played according to the rules, they were easily defeated. Rapid improvement followed, and today computer chess programs can defeat top players.

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, 3.5 games to 2.5. 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 United States and particularly among children. The growing availability of computer programs that can play chess from the beginner to the master level or better makes it possible for enthusiasts to improve their game by competing against any level of player at any time.

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 Prague (now the capital of the Czech Republic), and Johann Zukertort, from Poland. Each had achieved great successes in previous tournaments and matches. Steinitz defeated Zukertort in a match in 1872, but when Zukertort won the great London tournament of 1883 ahead of Steinitz, another match was arranged in 1886. Steinitz won it decisively with 10 wins, 5 losses, and 5 draws, and he became the first official world chess champion.

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 France. Alekhine lost to Dutch player Machgielis (Max) Euwe in 1935, but regained the title in a rematch two years later. When Alekhine died in 1946 he still held the title, so the World Chess Federation (FIDE, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, also known as the World Chess Federation) set out to find a new champion. FIDE had been founded in 1924, but not until Alekhine’s death in 1946 was the organization able to take control of the world championship. In 1948 FIDE organized a special competition among the world’s five best players, and Mikhail Botvinnik of the USSR won the title.

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 player 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.

Fischer was stripped of his title when he refused to play a championship match in 1975, and Anatoly Karpov began a ten-year reign as world champion. The first title match between Karpov and Garry Kasparov began in 1984 but was halted without a decision after nearly six months of play in early 1985 by Florencio Campomanes, the president of FIDE. 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. The players 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 had secured. 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 laid claim to the world title after winning a FIDE-sanctioned match against Jan Timman of The Netherlands.

Kasparov successfully defended his PCA title against Viswanathan Anand of India in 1995. Even though the PCA soon fell apart, Kasparov was still widely considered the “real” world champion.

FIDE held its world championship tournament in 1998 under a new “knockout” format, in which participants were seeded in a large draw and played short matches, with the winner advancing and the loser being eliminated. Karpov won the first title under this new format, but he was unhappy with the tournament arrangements for the next event and refused to participate. Aleksandr Khalifman of Russia captured the 1999 FIDE title, only to lose it the following year to Anand.

After five years without facing a challenge for his title, Kasparov was finally able to secure sponsorship for a world championship contest in 2000. The contest was called the Classical World Chess Championship. Kasparov then lost the match to his former pupil, 25-year-old Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.

In 2001 18-year-old Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine became the youngest male FIDE champion in history, then successfully defended his title the following year. Kasparov remained atop the FIDE world chess rankings, however, because they are determined by a points system separate from the world title.

Although top chess officials, players, and fans continued to call for a unified championship, repeated attempts to arrange a match between Kasparov and the FIDE champion failed. In 2004 Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan captured the FIDE world title. The following year Kasparov announced his retirement from competitive chess, and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria won the FIDE world title. In 2006 the FIDE world chess championship was held to unify the title. The match pitted Topalov against Kramnik, who was regarded as the Classical World Chess Champion by virtue of his 2000 win over Kasparov and the successful defense of his title in 2004. Kramnik won the 2006 match and became the undisputed world chess champion.

But Kramnik lost his title the following year to Anand, who had last held the FIDE title in 2000. Anand edged Kramnik by one point, winning nine points in a 14-round event in Mexico City. 

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