Chess is played on a square board of eight
rows (called ranks and denoted with numbers 1 to 8) and eight columns (called files and denoted with letters a to h) of
squares. The colors of the 64 squares alternate and are referred to as "light" and "dark" squares. The chessboard is
placed with a light square at the right-hand end of the rank nearest to each player.
By convention, the game
pieces are divided into white and black sets, and the players are referred to as "White" and "Black" respectively. Each
player begins the game with 16 pieces of the specified color, which consist of one king, one queen, two rooks, two
bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. Each of the six piece types moves differently. The most powerful piece is the
queen and the least powerful piece is the pawn. The objective is to 'checkmate' the opponent's king by placing it under
an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a player's pieces are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces,
while supporting their own. In addition to checkmate, the game can be won by voluntary resignation by the opponent,
which typically occurs when too much material is lost, or if checkmate appears unavoidable. A game may also result in a
draw in several ways.
Chess is believed to have originated in India, some time before the 7th century; the Indian
game of chaturanga is also the likely ancestor of xiangqi and shogi. The pieces took on their current powers in Spain in
the late 15th century; the rules were finally standardized in the 19th century. The first generally recognized World
Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886.
The World Championship is now controlled by FIDE,
the game's international governing body. FIDE also organizes the Women's World Championship, the World Junior
Championship, the World Senior Championship the Blitz and Rapid World Championships and the Chess Olympiad, a popular
competition among teams from different nations. There is also a Correspondence Chess World Championship and a World
Computer Chess Championship.
Chess games may also be played with a time control, mostly by club and professional
players. If a player's time runs out before the game is completed, the game is automatically lost (provided his opponent
has enough pieces left to deliver checkmate). The duration of a game ranges from long games played up to seven hours to
shorter rapid chess games, usually lasting 30 minutes or one hour per game. Even shorter is blitz chess, with a time
control of three to 15 minutes for each player, and bullet chess (under three minutes). In tournament play, time is
controlled using a game clock that has two displays, one for each player's remaining time.
How to play
chess?
- The king moves one square in any direction. The king has also a special move which is called castling and
involves also moving a rook.
- The rook can move any number of squares along any rank or file, but may not leap
over other pieces. Along with the king, the rook is involved during the king's castling move.
- The bishop can
move any number of squares diagonally, but may not leap over other pieces.
The queen combines the power of the rook
and bishop and can move any number of squares along rank, file, or diagonal, but it may not leap over other
pieces.
- The knight moves to any of the closest squares that are not on the same rank, file, or diagonal, thus
the move forms an "L"-shape: two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one
square vertically. The knight is the only piece that can leap over other pieces.
- The pawn may move forward to
the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file, or on its first move it may advance two squares along
the same file provided both squares are unoccupied.
Featured in Elo Rating Chess (desktop) are:
- Single Game
(play with your friend).
- Multiplayer Game (simultaneous play with your team or simultaneous chess game).
- 3
board (gold, silver, bronze).