A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHESS

The exact origins of chess are unknown, but most sources trace it to an Indian game called
chaturanga, which first appeared sometime during the 6th century C.E. Chaturanga is thought to
be the first game played on a board made of squares that also featured different types of pieces,
each with their own distinct properties. The word chaturanga translates roughly as four
divisions, which is a reference to the four divisions of the military represented by the different
kinds of pieces in the game.
The game was brought to Persia during the 7th century where its name evolved into
shatranj. The rules continued to evolve as well, and the custom of calling out Shah (Persian
for King) when attacking the king was born. In fact, Shah mat, meaning the king is
helpless, is the term that eventually became Checkmate.
The game continued to grow and undergo changes as different cultures were introduced to it
throughout the Middle East and Russia, and by the 11th century it had spread throughout Europe,
where many of the changes that made chess into the game we play today took place. The names
of the pieces were changed to king, queen, rook, knight, bishop and pawn and by the 15th
century the basic rules we still use today were deemed official. Those rules underwent some
small changes intended to speed up the game and force more skirmishes between the pieces,
eventually producing our modern version of chess.
PROLIFIC PLAYERS
During the 1800s chess started to become a competitive endeavor, much like a sport, and the
first modern chess tournament took place in London in the year 1851. A relatively unknown
German player named Adolf Anderssen won that tournament and soon became known as the
worlds leading chess master. He easily defeated most everyone he played until a prolific
American player named Paul Morphy burst onto the chess scene in 1857.
attacking play that none of his contemporaries could match. He beat Anderssen in a one-on-one
match by the score of 8 - 3, causing Anderssen to declare Morphy the strongest player ever to
play the game! Morphy had become famous for his chess and was considered by all to be the
unofficial world champion. He began the practice of playing simultaneous exhibition games
(more than one game at a time against different opponents) while blindfolded so that he could
not see the board, relying only on his memory and his ability to visualize. In those exhibitions he
regularly defeated as many as eight opponents at a time! Unfortunately, he played competitively
for only eight years before declaring himself retired in 1863.
Around the same time that Morphy quit playing chess, a new greatest player in the world had
come onto the scene. Born in Prague (part of the Austrian empire at the time), Wilhelm Steinitz
quickly rose through the ranks of chess players to become the best of his era. He was called the
Austrian Morphy as the changing of the guard took place, and though Morphy had retired from

active play, Steinitz was able to arrange a match in 1862 with Adolf Anderssen. Steinitz won that
match by the score of 8 - 6, making him the unofficial world chess champion. Steinitz soundly
defeated everyone he played in any serious match for the next 20+ years.
THE OFFICIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The first official World Champion was crowned in 1886 when Steinitz defeated his biggest rival,
Johannes Zukertort in a one-on-one match. It was Steinitz who insisted that the contract for the
match read, for the Championship of the World and thus it could be said that he created the
title of official World Chess Champion. The reason he and Zukertort were the competitors in that
match is that they finished in the top two spots (by a wide margin) at the famous London
tournament in 1883, which featured the best players in the world.
After Steinitz victory over Zukertort, it became customary for the World Champion to defend
his title in a one-on-one match against a challenger of his choosing, with the terms of the match
determined privately between the two competitors. Of course this practice led to a large number
of disputes among the players, and many would-be challengers were never able to actually play
for the World Championship because the terms simply could not be agreed upon. In 1887 there
was an effort by the American Chess Congress to establish a set of rules that would govern
World Championship contests, but it was not well received.
Steinitz defended his title three times over the next eight years, but in 1894 Emanuel Lasker took
him down, handing Steinitz his first defeat ever in a serious match and capturing the World
Championship title. Lasker was undoubtedly one of the strongest players ever to play the game,
having spent 27 years as the undisputed World Champion still the longest reign of any World
Chess Champion in history!
The third player to take the title was Jose Raul Capablanca, an incredibly gifted player from
Cuba who was nicknamed The Human Chess Machine. He learned to play chess at the age of
four simply by watching his father play, and the very first time he ever sat down to play he beat
his father not once, but twice! Shortly after that, his father took him to the Havana Chess Club
and as a teenager Capablanca beat the Cuban champion Juan Corzo in a match. Capablanca was
best known for his impressive endgame skill and after beating Lasker in 1921 to become World
Champion, he held the title for six years.
Alexander Alekhine won the title from Capablanca in 1927 amid great fanfare, as it was widely
believed at the time that Capablanca was invincible! After Alekhine offered Capablanca a
rematch that never did take place, he successfully defended his title twice before narrowly losing
to Max Euwe (pronounced OY-vah) in 1935. Euwes victory was a huge upset, but his reign as
World Champion did not last long. Alekhine easily won the title back from him just two years
later. The score in the rematch was 15 9.

Alekhine remained the World Champion from 1937 to 1946 and was in preparation to defend his
title against the Soviet player Mikhail Botvinnik when he suddenly passed away in his hotel
room at the age of 54.
From 1946 to 1948 there was no World Champion. The officials of international chess, a group
called FIDE, spent those years deciding what to do. Alekhine had died as the reigning World
Champion and up until now, the only way to become the champion had been to beat the
champion. In order to resolve the issue, FIDE organized a tournament with the five best players
in the world, and Mikhail Botvinnik won that tournament in May of 1948.
The tournament was the first time that an official governing body decided the procedure for
determining the World Chess Champion, and the procedure also came with a structure for
determining future challengers to the title. Later, FIDE would become the center of great
controversy regarding its rules for the World Championship.
Aside from being World Champion, Botvinnik was also one of the primary founders of the
famous Soviet School of Chess, which produced much of the top chess talent in the world
through the end of the 20th century, including all but one World Champion during that time.
Botvinnik's reign as World Champion came in three parts, as he lost the title to fellow Soviets
Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal (both products of the Soviet School) for one year each in 1957
and 1960, respectively. Though Botvinnik immediately won his title back from each of those
players, he lost it for good to Tigran Petrosian, another player who was raised in the Soviet
School, in 1963.
Petrosian was a unique player at the time, as he emphasized safety above all else playing with a
style that featured a seemingly impenetrable defense. Despite a reputation for being one of the
most difficult players of all time to beat, Petrosian only successfully defended his title once,
beating challenger Boris Spassky in 1966. Three years later, Spassky earned the right to
challenge Petrosian again and this time the challenger won by the narrow margin of 12 10.
Spasskys win marked the fifth straight Soviet player to hold the World Championship title, all
from the Soviet School, spanning a period of over 20 years. Then in 1972, one of the most
famous players ever stepped up to challenge him. Bobby Fischer, still the only American player
to ever hold the title of official World Chess Champion, rose through the ranks like no other
player before him to become Spasskys challenger. He won 20 consecutive games against the top
players in the world, including two perfect 6-0 scores in the Candidates Matches, an
unprecedented accomplishment. In 1972, at the height of the Cold War, Fischer won his match
with Spassky an opponent he had never beaten before in five prior games by the score of 12
8.
Unfortunately for chess followers everywhere, Fischer never sat down for another serious match
again. Due to a number of disputes with FIDE, he walked away from competitive chess, leaving
the title vacant. The man who was supposed to challenge him, Anatoly Karpov, was awarded the

title by default in 1975. Karpov himself has since expressed regret that he was never able to take
on Fischer for the title.
Karpov, also a Soviet player and also a product of the Soviet School, did not let the
circumstances of gaining the World Championship title stand in his way. He quieted all doubters
who believed that he hadnt earned his title by staying World Champion from 1975 to 1985 an
impressive 10 year span! After a number of successful defenses he lost the title to (who else?)
another player groomed in the Soviet School of Chess: Garry Kasparov.
Kasparov is considered by some modern chess analysts to be the greatest player of all time, and
there is no question that he is one of the greatest players ever. He held the title of World Chess
Champion for 15 years, although in 1993 he fought with FIDE (much like Fischer had) and
ultimately formed his own organization called PCA - the Professional Chess Association. Being
the current official World Champion, Kasparovs departure from FIDE left that organization in
search of its own World Champion, and so from 1993-2006 there were two official World
Champions - FIDE and the PCA each had their own!
The FIDE title went back to Anatoly Karpov after he defeated Jan Timman and both Karpov and
Kasparov were official World Champions. Over the next 13 years, the FIDE title changed hands
five times while the PCA title did so only once, when Vladimir Kramnik (another player from the
Soviet School) defeated Garry Kasparov in the year 2000. After the collapse of the PCA in 2006,
Kramnik was invited to challenge the current FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in a
unification match, which Kramnik won after the match went to a tiebreak played under rapid
chess rules. Chess had an undisputed World Champion again!
Including his time as PCA World Champion, Kramnik held the title of World Champion for
seven years before losing a title defense match in 2007 to the current World Champion
Viswanathan Anand the first Indian-born player to become World Champion. Anand has
successfully defended his title three times so far, most recently in May, 2012 against Boris
Gelfand from Belarus.
While it remains to be seen what lasting impact Anand's reign as World Champion will bring, he
has already proven himself a worthy champion and as of September 2012 he holds a FIDE rating
of 2780. Anand is one of only six players in the entire history of chess to ever achieve a FIDE
rating over 2800, peaking at 2817 in May, 2011.
The Game Board
Chess is played on a board containing a total of 64 squares laid out in a grid 8 squares by eight.
These squares alternate in color across the board; half of them are black and half of them are
white. At the start of a game, the two players sit across the board from each other. They each start

with 16 pieces, and their pieces are arranged on the two rows of squares closest to them. One
player uses white pieces and the other one use black pieces; the player with the white pieces
always starts.
Chess Pieces & Their Moves
There are six different types of chess pieces, as follows.

King

Queen

Rook

Bishop

Knight

Pawn

A player starts with one king and one queen, two of each of the rook, bishop and knight, and
eight pawns. During their turn they move one of their pieces, to either an empty space on the
board or to one occupied by an opponents piece. If they move to a space occupied by an
opponents piece, then that piece is captured and removed from the board.
Each piece can move in different ways. The king can move one space, and one space only, in any
direction (horizontally, vertically or diagonally). It cannot be moved into a position where it may
be captured. The queen can also move in any direction, but it can also move multiple spaces. It
cannot jump pieces though.
The rook can move multiple spaces either horizontally or vertically, and the bishop can move
multiple spaces diagonally. These cannot jump pieces either. The knight can jump pieces, and
moves in an L shape pattern. That is to say it can move two squares horizontally and one
square vertically, or two squares vertically and one square horizontally.
Moves involving pawns are a little more complicated. They can move one space forward,
providing the destination space isnt occupied, or they can move one space diagonally if they are
capturing an opponents piece. They cannot move backward. If a pawn hasnt yet been moved at
all during a game, it may be moved two spaces forward, providing the destination space isnt
occupied.
The pawn is also the online piece that can be promoted. If its moved to the furthest row, then
it can be exchanged for any other piece. A queen is usually chosen. In theory, a player may

promote all eight of their pawns so its technically possible for one player to have nine queens on
the board. Such a scenario is extremely unlikely though.
Check and Checkmate
If a player moves a piece to a square where, on their next move, they would be able to capture
their opponents king, they have put their opponent in check. Their opponent must remove their
king from check on their turn. This can be done by moving their king, blocking the check with
another piece, or capturing the piece that has placed their king in check. No player may ever
make a move that either leaves or places their king in check.
When a players king is in check and theres no legal move they can make to escape check, this
is checkmate and their opponent wins. A game can also end if a player resigns, or if the two
players both agree to a draw. Additionally a game can end in stalemate, which is a draw, if a
players king isnt in check, but that player has no legal moves they can make.
Chess as a Gambling Game
Chess isnt traditionally considered to be a gambling game, but it can be played for real money
stakes if two opponents agree. It would usually involve each player putting up a set dollar
amount with the winner of the game taking all the money.
Its possible to play chess for money online, against other human players. There are a few
gambling sites where you can do this. Its probably not a good idea to play chess for real money
unless you are reasonably skilled, but you dont have to be an expert either. There are players of
various standards so you should be able to find someone thats a fair match.

The Goal of Chess

Chess is a game played between two opponents on opposite sides of a board containing 64
squares of alternating colors. Each player has 16 pieces: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2
knights, and 8 pawns. The goal of the game is to checkmate the other king. Checkmate happens
when the king is in a position to be captured (in check) and cannot escape from capture.
Starting a Game
At the beginning of the game the chessboard is laid out so that each player has the white (or
light) color square in the bottom right-hand side. The chess pieces are then arranged the same
way each time. The second row (or rank) is filled with pawns. The rooks go in the corners, then
the knights next to them, followed by the bishops, and finally the queen, who always goes on her

own matching color (white queen on white, black queen on black), and the king on the remaining
square.
The player with the white pieces always moves first. Therefore, players generally decide who
will get to be white by chance or luck such as flipping a coin or having one player guess the
color of the hidden pawn in the other player's hand. White then makes a move, followed by
black, then white again, then black and so on until the end of the game.
How the Pieces Move
Each of the 6 different kinds of pieces moves differently. Pieces cannot move through other
pieces (though the knight can jump over other pieces), and can never move onto a square with
one of their own pieces. However, they can be moved to take the place of an opponent's piece
which is then captured. Pieces are generally moved into positions where they can capture other
pieces (by landing on their square and then replacing them), defend their own pieces in case of
capture, or control important squares in the game.
The King
The king is the most important piece, but is one of the weakest. The king can only move one
square in any direction - up, down, to the sides, and diagonally. Click on the '>' button in the
diagram below to see how the king can move around the board. The king may never move
himself into check (where he could be captured).

The Queen
The queen is the most powerful piece. She can move in any one straight direction - forward,
backward, sideways, or diagonally - as far as possible as long as she does not move through any
of her own pieces. And, like with all pieces, if the queen captures an opponent's piece her move
is over. Click through the diagram below to see how the queens move. Notice how the white
queen captures the black queen and then the black king is forced to move.
The Rook
The rook may move as far as it wants, but only forward, backward, and to the sides. The rooks
are particularly powerful pieces when they are protecting each other and working together!
The Bishop
The bishop may move as far as it wants, but only diagonally. Each bishop starts on one color
(light or dark) and must always stay on that color. Bishops work well together because they
cover up each others weaknesses.
The Knight

Knights move in a very different way from the other pieces going two squares in one direction,
and then one more move at a 90 degree angle, just like the shape of an L. Knights are also the
only pieces that can move over other pieces.
The Pawn
Pawns are unusual because they move and capture in different ways: they move forward, but
capture diagonally. Pawns can only move forward one square at a time, except for their very first
move where they can move forward two squares. Pawns can only capture one square diagonally
in front of them. They can never move or capture backwards. If there is another piece directly in
front of a pawn he cannot move past or capture that piece.
Promotion
Pawns have another special ability and that is that if a pawn reaches the other side of the board it
can become any other chess piece (called promotion). A pawn may be promoted to any piece.
[NOTE: A common misconception is that pawns may only be exchanged for a piece that has
been captured. That is NOT true.] A pawn is usually promoted to a queen. Only pawns may be
promoted.
En Passant
The last rule about pawns is called en passant, which is French for in passing. If a pawn
moves out two squares on its first move, and by doing so lands to the side of an opponents pawn
(effectively jumping past the other pawns ability to capture it), that other pawn has the option of
capturing the first pawn as it passes by. This special move must be done immediately after the
first pawn has moved past, otherwise the option to capture it is no longer available. Click through
the example below to better understand this odd, but important rule.
Castling
One other special rule is called castling. This move allows you to do two important things all in
one move: get your king to safety (hopefully), and get your rook out of the corner and into the
game. On a players turn he may move his king two squares over to one side and then move the
rook from that sides corner to right next to the king on the opposite side. (See the example
below.) However, in order to castle, the following conditions must be met:

it must be that kings very first move

it must be that rooks very first move

there cannot be any pieces between the king and rook to move

the king may not be in check or pass through check

otice that when you castle one direction the king is closer to the side of the board. That is
called castling kingside. Castling to the other side, through where the queen sat, is called
castling queenside. Regardless of which side, the king always moves only two squares
when castling.

Check & Checkmate

As stated before, the purpose of the game is to checkmate the opponents king. This
happens when the king is put into check and cannot get out of check. There are only three
ways a king can get out of check: move out of the way (though he cannot castle!), block
the check with another piece, or capture the piece threatening the king. If a king cannot
escape checkmate then the game is over. Customarily the king is not captured or removed
from the board, the game is simply declared over.

Draws
Occasionally chess games do not end with a winner, but with a draw. There are 5 reasons why a
chess game may end in a draw:

The position reaches a stalemate where it is one players turn to move, but his king is
NOT in check and yet he does not have another legal move
The players may simply agree to a draw and stop playing

There are not enough pieces on the board to force a checkmate (example: a king and a
bishop vs.a king)

A player declares a draw if the same exact position is repeated three times (though not
necessarily three times in a row)

Fifty consecutive moves have been played where neither player has moved a pawn or
captured a piece

Chess 960
Chess960 follows all the rules of standard chess, except for the starting position of pieces on the
back rank, which are placed randomly in one of 960 possible positions. Castling is done just like
in standard chess, with the King and Rook landing on their normal castled squares (g1 and f1, or
c1 and d1). 960 plays just like standard chess, but with more variety in the opening.

Some Tournament Rules

Many tournaments follow a set of common, similar rules. These rules do not necessarily apply to
play at home or online
Touch-move
If a player touches one of their own pieces they must move that piece as long as it is a legal
move. If a player touches an opponents piece, they must capture that piece. A player who wishes
to touch a piece only to adjust it on the board must first announce the intention, usually by saying
adjust.
Introduction to Clocks and Timers
Most tournaments use timers to regulate the time spent on each game, not on each move. Each
player gets the same amount of time to use for their entire game and can decide how to spend
that time. Once a player makes a move they then touch a button or hit a lever to start the
opponents clock. If a player runs out of time and the opponent calls the time, then the player
who ran out of time loses the game (unless the opponent does not have enough pieces to
checkmate, in which case it is a draw).
Basic Strategy
There are four simple things that every chess player should know:
#1 Protect your king
Get your king to the corner of the board where he is usually safer. Dont put off castling. You
should usually castle as quickly as possible. Remember, it doesnt matter how close you are to
checkmating your opponent if your own king is checkmated first!
#2 Dont give pieces away
Dont carelessly lose your pieces! Each piece is valuable and you cant win a game without
pieces to checkmate. There is an easy system that most players use to keep track of the relative
value of each chess piece:

A pawn is worth 1

A knight is worth 3

A bishop is worth 3

A rook is worth 5

A queen is worth 9

The king is infinitely valuable

At the end of the game these points dont mean anything it is simply a system you can
use to make decisions while playing, helping you know when to capture, exchange, or
make other moves.

#3 Control the center

You should try and control the center of the board with your pieces and pawns. If you
control the center, you will have more room to move your pieces and will make it harder
for your opponent to find good squares for his pieces. In the example above white makes
good moves to control the center while black plays bad moves.

#4 Use all of your pieces

In the example above white got all of his pieces in the game! Your pieces dont do any
good when they are sitting back on the first row. Try and develop all of your pieces so
that you have more to use when you attack the king. Using one or two pieces to attack
will not work against any decent opponent.

Getting Better at Chess

Knowing the rules and basic strategies is only the beginning - there is so much to learn in
chess that you can never learn it all in a lifetime! To improve you need to do three things:

#1 Play

Just keep playing! Play as much as possible. You should learn from each game those
you win and those you lose.

#2 Study

If you really want to improve quickly then pick up a recommended chess book. There are
many resources on Chess.com to help you study and improve.

#3 - Have fun

Dont get discouraged if you dont win all of your games right away. Everyone loses
even world champions. As long as you continue to have fun and learn from the games
you lose then you can enjoy chess forever!