Chess - one of the oldest
and most popular board games, played by two opponents on a
checkered board with specially designed pieces of contrasting
colours, commonly white and black. White moves first, after
which the players alternate turns in accordance with fixed
rules, each player attempting to force the opponent's principal
piece, the King, into checkmate—a position where it is unable to
avoid capture.
Chess first appeared in India about the 6th
century and by the 10th century had spread from Asia to the Middle
East and Europe. Since at least the 15th century, chess has been
known as the “royal game” because of its popularity among the
nobility. Rules and set design slowly evolved until both reached
today's standard in the early 19th century. Once an intellectual
diversion favoured by the upper classes, chess went through an
explosive growth in interest during the 20th century as professional
and state-sponsored players competed for an officially recognized
world championship title and increasingly lucrative tournament
prizes. Organized chess tournaments, postal correspondence games,
and Internet chess now attract men, women, and children around the
world.
Chess is played on a board of 64 squares arranged in eight vertical
rows called
files and eight horizontal rows called
ranks. These squares alternate between two colours: one light,
such as white, beige, or yellow; and the other dark, such as black
or green. The board is set between the two opponents so that each
player has a light-coloured square at the right-hand corner.
Individual moves and entire games can be recorded using one of
several forms of notation. By far the most widely used form,
algebraic (or coordinate) notation, identifies each square from the
point of view of the player with the light-coloured pieces, called
White. The eight ranks are numbered 1 through 8 beginning with the
rank closest to White. The files are labeled a through h beginning
with the file at White's left hand. Each square has a name
consisting of its letter and number, such as b3 or g8. Additionally,
files a through d are referred to as the queenside, and files e
through h as the kingside.
Moves
The board represents a battlefield in which
two armies fight to capture each other's king. A player's army
consists of 16 pieces that begin play on the two ranks closest
to that player. There are six different types of pieces: king,
rook, bishop, queen, knight, and pawn; the pieces are
distinguished by appearance and by how they move. The players
alternate moves, White going first.
King
White's king begins the game on e1.
Black's king is opposite at e8. Each king can move one
square in any direction; e.g., White's king can move from e1
to d1, d2, e2, f2, or f1.
Rook
Each player has two rooks (formerly also
known as castles), which begin the game on the corner
squares a1 and h1 for White, a8 and h8 for Black. A rook can
move vertically or horizontally to any unobstructed square
along the file or rank on which it is placed.
Bishop
Each player has two bishops, and they
begin the game at c1 and f1 for White, c8 and f8 for Black.
A bishop can move to any unobstructed square on the diagonal
on which it is placed. Therefore, each player has one bishop
that travels only on light-coloured squares and one bishop
that travels only on dark-coloured squares.
Each player has one queen, which combines
the powers of the rook and bishop and is thus the most
mobile and powerful piece. The White queen begins at d1, the
Black queen at d8.
Knight
Each player has two knights, and they
begin the game on the squares between their rooks and
bishops—i.e., at b1 and g1 for White and b8 and g8 for
Black. The knight has the trickiest move, an L-shape of two
steps: first one square like a rook, then one square like a
bishop, but always in a direction away from the starting
square. A knight at e4 could move to f2, g3, g5, f6, d6, c5,
c3, or d2. The knight has the unique ability to jump over
any other piece to reach its destination. It always moves to
a square of a different colour.
Capturing
The king, rook, bishop, queen, and knight
capture enemy pieces in the same manner that they move. For
example, a White queen on d3 can capture a Black rook at h7
by moving to h7 and removing the enemy piece from the board.
Pieces can capture only enemy pieces.
Pawns
Each player has eight pawns, which begin
the game on the second rank closest to each player; i.e.,
White's pawns start at a2, b2, c2, and so on, while Black's
pawns start at a7, b7, c7, and so on. The pawns are unique
in several ways. A pawn can move only forward; it can never
retreat. It moves differently than it captures. A pawn moves
to the square directly ahead of it but captures on the
squares diagonally in front of it; e.g., a White pawn at f5
can move to f6 but can capture only on g6 or e6. An unmoved
pawn has the option of moving one or two squares forward.
This is the reason for another peculiar option, called
en passant—that is, in passing—available to a pawn when
an enemy pawn on an adjoining file advances two squares on
its initial move and could have been captured had it moved
only one square. The first pawn can take the advancing pawn
en passant, as if it had advanced only one square. An en
passant capture must be made then or not at all. Only
pawns can be captured en passant. The last unique
feature of the pawn occurs if it reaches the end of a file;
it must then be promoted to—that is, exchanged for—a queen,
rook, bishop, or knight.
Castling
The one exception to the rule that a
player may move only one piece at a time is a compound move
of king and rook called castling. A player castles by
shifting the king two squares in the direction of a rook,
which is then placed on the square the king has crossed. For
example, White can castle kingside by moving the king from
e1 to g1 and the rook from h1 to f1. Castling is permitted
only once in a game and is prohibited if the king or rook
has previously moved or if any of the squares between them
is occupied. Also, castling is not legal if the square the
king starts on, crosses, or finishes on is attacked by an
enemy piece.
Relative piece values
Assigning the pawn a value of 1, the values
of the other pieces are approximately as follows: knight 3,
bishop 3, rook 5, and queen 9. The relative values of knights
and bishops vary with different pawn structures. Additionally,
tactical considerations may temporarily override the pieces'
usual relative values. Material concerns are secondary to
winning.
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