WORLD S FAVORITE MIND CHALLENGING GAME Chess is the world s most popular board game It s also the world s oldest board game that is still played today Most people agree that chess was invented about 1 500 years ago in India Chaturanga is an Indian military strategy game with pieces that move on a board that is divided into squares The game was introduced to the royalty of Persia in the 7th century and soon after in Arabia As the new religion of Islam spread throughout the world the game followed The Moors introduced chess to Spain starting in the 10th century As the game spread through Europe players changed the style of the pieces and the way they move By the 15th century the game had its modern form There are also strategy games played in China that are similar to chess such as xiangqi But historians believe the game probably spread from India to China and from China to India DID YOU KNOW Staying in shape Early chess pieces were detailed carvings of soldiers elephants and horses The new religion of Islam banned images of humans or animals in art so chess pieces became more abstract The early European chess sets were based on the game played in the Islamic world A group of 12th century chess pieces with the pieces taking on more European Called the Lewis chessmen was identities such as bishop and queen The found in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis official chess set used today was designed in in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland 1849 and named for chess master Howard The pieces represent one of the rare Staunton It combined the simpler abstract style surviving medieval chess sets The top of chess in Islamic countries the European figures row shows king queen and bishop and the artistic style of the day The bottom row shows knight rook and
CHAMPION CHESS Today the top chess players in the world participate in international tournaments that lead to the World Chess Championship the highest prize in chess The championship is organized by the World Chess Federation or FIDE from the French name Fédération Internationale des Échecs The first World Chess Champion was Wilhelm Steinitz Both men and women can be champions Hou Yifan of China left won and there is no age requirement her fourth FIDE Women s World There is also a Women's World Chess Championship in March 2016 by defeating Mariya Muzychuk of Championship a World Youth Chess Ukraine the 2015 champion The Championship for boys and girls prizes included money a trophy a crown a gold medal and flowers under 18 and a Junior World Chess The match was played in Potocki Championship for players under 20 Palace in Lviv Ukraine DO NO NO NO NNN CHALLENGING COMPUTERS The best chess player in the world is a computer IBM's Deep Blue was the first chess playing computer and took more than 10 years to develop In 1996 Deep Blue won a game of chess against World Champion Garry Kasparov But Kasparov won three games and tied two winning the match 4 to 2 Then IBM made some adjustments In their 1997 rematch Deep Blue beat Kasparov by one game Today a computer will beat the best human player every time But the chess game on your computer is designed to play at different skill levels and is programmed to play like a human Great chess players often excel at an early age Garry Kasparov who was born in 1963 in Russia was well on his way to becoming a champion at age 11 above He held the top ranking in world chess from 1986 until he retired in
WHAT S IN THE GAME Chess is played on a square board made of 64 squares in rows of 8 The squares along each row alternate in color from white to black or light to dark Each player has 16 pieces 1 king 1 queen 2 bishops 2 knights 2 rooks and 8 pawns One player s pieces are white or a light color and the other player s pieces are black or a dark color The board must be set so that a white or light square is in the lower right hand corner Players take turns moving their pieces according to the rules and try to capture their opponent s pieces The object of the game is to trap your opponent s king so he can t escape This is called checkmate CHESS PIECES AND CHESSBOARD LAYOUT The rows that run from side to side are called ranks and are numbered ars from 1 to 8 beginning on the white 8 pe player s side The highlighted yellow line is an example ofa rank 200 ing 1 KI in a The rows that run from you to your opponent are called files and are labeled a to h from left to right on the white players side The highlighted green line is an example of a file A line of squares of the same color is called a diagonal The highlighted blue line is an example of a diagonal Each square on the board can be identified by its file and rank or its letter and number A white square must always be in the lower right hand corner of the
RECORDING CHESS CAMEs RECORDING Moves a 22 ADATE recorded as gh Once chess pieces leave Entire games of chess can be recorded on O their starting position their paper using chess notation The notation movements are registered using the letter and number uses K for king Q for queen R for rook combination grid B for bishop and N for knight Each move is recorded with the initial of the piece and This diagram shows a board the file and rank of the square it moves to H R three moves into the game such as Ra5 or Qh4 or Bс6 Ra5 means 1 e4 Nf6 2 D3 Nxe4 that rook where it to the moved from was 3 dxe4 square a5 Pawn moves are recorded with The diagrams below show details of individual just the square notation For example moves that led to the recording above CA means the pawn moved from where it was to square c4 You record a capture with an x In official games and matches chess players record each move they make Chess players use these records to study Move 1 white e4 black Nf6 their own games and the games of the 11 a chess masters aw a 1 AgaOn a gh NoTATION SYMBOLS AND LETTERS 11 gh gh Move 2 white d3 black Nxe4 Move 3 white dxe4 R R A1AAA Thed in front of xe4 specifies from which file the pawn did his capture Pawns have no notation letter The notation letter for because they are so many of a rook is R them It is easier to record them by their position on the board A Test Your Chess Skills Page 28 The notation letter for a knight is N The notation letter for a bishop is B The notation letter The notation letter for a queen is Q for a king is
