THE CHESS

INTRODUCTION
Chess is a board game for two players, a game board is used.
composed of a square made up of 64 squares arranged in 8 rows and 8 columns, the
the squares are of two colors and are alternated by color, each player at the beginning of the game
it has 16 pieces.

The objective of the game is to place the opposing king in a position where it cannot escape.
being captured, this position is called checkmate.

WHAT IS CHESS?
Chess is a game of skill, for two players, in which chance does not intervene.
absolute and requires significant intellectual effort. Each player has
sixteen pieces. One player plays with the white pieces and another with the black ones.
Each set of pieces consists of a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, two rooks and
eight pawns.

It is played on a board divided into 64 alternating colored squares (normally

black and white). The board is placed in front of the players in such a way that the square of the
the corner located to the right of each of them should be white.

PURPOSE OF CHESS
The objective of the game is to capture the other player's king. The capture is not completed.
never, but once the king is attacked and cannot escape that capture, it is said that
It's checkmate and the game ends.

THE PIECES

The King:
The king is the most important piece on the chessboard. The king can move in
all directions, including diagonally but only one square. It should not be
captured and if it is in danger it must be put to safety immediately. If it is not possible
keep the king safe then we can consider the game lost.

The Queen:
The queen is the most powerful piece on the board. This is because it can control more.
squares than any other piece. It moves forward or backward and diagonally.
without limitation of squares. However, it cannot jump over any other piece.
The Tower:
The rook moves in a straight line towards all the squares of the line and of the
column a that corresponds, and cannot jump over other pieces

Elephant:
It has its line of action on the diagonal, always by its color, and moves in this direction.
through the squares it occupies. It cannot jump any piece and moves
always by squares of the same color.

The Horse
The knight is the most eccentric piece (it is the only piece that can jump between the
others). Jump by describing an arc over the squares surrounding the one of
his position, and he places himself in one of the immediate ones. His arrival square is always of
color different from the box it occupies.

The Pawn:
The pawn moves forward, advancing one square at a time except when it leaves its
initial square, making its first move of the game, in which it can advance two
squares. Additionally, the pawn has a diagonal move; but it is only allowed for
eat or capture the pieces or pawns from the immediate squares.

RULES AND MOVES OF CHESS

At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged in the following order: the queen is placed
white piece in the central white square of the first row of the board, and the black queen in the
central black square on the opposite side. Next to the queen is the king, and to the right
the bishop, the knight and the rook.

The player with the white pieces makes the first move. After that, each player
it has a single turn to move. In fact, a player only has to make one move
in each turn. In other words, you cannot skip the turn to
mover.

HOW TO PLAY
A move consists of placing a piece in a different square, following
the rules of movement.
A player can capture an opponent's piece by moving one of their pieces to the square.
in which the opponent's piece is located. The opponent's piece is removed from the board and
will remain out of play for the rest of the game.

Origin of chess
The main legend about the origin of chess speaks of a king from India.
called Belkib. Looking to end his boredom, he offered a reward
in exchange for some distraction. It is said that it was the wise Sissa who proposed to him
chess, a game that involved a small war on a board of
wood.

The king, excited, offered him whatever he wanted as a reward. In exchange

Sissa asked for a grain of wheat on the first square of the board.
chess. Then, two on the second and so on, doubling each time the
amount. The king thought it was a modest amount and agreed, but when
the calculations began, it was discovered that in the last box there would have to be
deposit more than nine trillion grains of wheat.

Another legend of chess says that it was the Greeks who invented it.
chess, to distract during the long siege of Troy beyond the year 1000 BC
The truth is that the only reliable reference for the origin of chess is found
in the northwest of India, starting from a game calledchaturanga
mentioned in some writings in the 5th century.
Who invented chess
The inventor of chess is the wise Sissa, in India, during the 6th century. It is
it is difficult to know with certainty who invented chess, but it is considered to be
more accepted this theory: In sixth century India, the philosopher and brahman Sissa,
son of Dagir, invented for the recreation and entertainment of his lord (king Belkib)
a game called chaturanga or 'game of the four parts'.

It was a war strategy game that gave ideas about how to ...
to arrange, distribute, and move the wings of the army in battle, and whose pieces
the originals will be the king, a minister, horses, carts, and foot soldiers or infants. Not...
they moved like today: the cart corresponded with the current towers and they moved
in a straight line, since the cars really lacked a turning angle. A
Unlike today, the king could jump up to three spaces and could be captured.

From India it passed to China. The Persians called it Shatranj: from the word sha=
king, from where it was said checkmate: the king is dead.

In Persia, the Arabs became acquainted with this game, which they introduced to Spain around
the year 1000. Surely, the first Western city to play
chess was Córdoba. But there were some differences in the pieces that
you can see further down.

Evolution of chess
Regarding the evolution and expansion of chess, 1,000 years after the
first mention of a similar game in the Hindu sacred book Mahabharata.
Some authors believe that chess develops and evolves in China.
which is strongly influenced by the proximity of its borders. In the year 600,
the game spreads to Russia and also to Persia, where it is called chatrang, and the
Arabs copy it like shatranj.

Between the 9th and 10th centuries, it was just beginning to develop, except that some elements are
different, for example, the bishop is an elephant, and instead of queen we have a
bishop that can only move one square. Chess enters Europe from the
hand of the Spanish Arabs.

Caliph Harun al-Rashid gifts him a chess set made in the late 9th century.
Carlomagno that is still preserved in the French National Library. Around 1475,
in Spain, the queen piece, which replaces the Arab counselor or vizier, acquires
the current movements.

The oldest known chess book is calledRepetition of loves and art

of chess, by Luis Ramirez de Lucena, the first recognized master, and it was published
in Salamanca in 1497.

The first modern chess tournament was held in 1851 in London.

won by the German Adolf Anderssen against the Estonian Lionel Kieseritzky in the
called "Immortal Game".

The first world champion was Master Wilhelm Steinitz, an Austrian.

born in Prague of Jewish descent, who defeated the German master Johannes
Zukertort in 1886.

He held the title until 1894, when he was defeated by the German mathematician.
Emanuel Lasker, who held the title for 27 years, a new record, until 1921.
he was snatched by the Cuban Raúl Capablanca.
Evolution of chess pieces
Now we know a checkered board with black and white squares and with
una variedad de fichas diferentes con distinta posibilidad de movimientos. Pero
In ancient times, it was not like in our days. For example: The minister or
counselor, companion of the king in the original game, became in the Age
Media, perhaps in France, in the figure of the queen, possibly motivated by a
linguistic confusion.

At the beginning, the queen moved like the king: one space in any direction and
angle, and it was the weakest piece, apart from the pawn. From the 15th century, the queen
became the most important figure in chess, the most powerful and
dangerous.

The bishop continued to be important to her, the persapil = elephant, which became
bishop around the same time. The movements of this piece were limited: two
diagonal spaces. The only pieces that have hardly changed.
since its origins, they have been the horse and the pawns.

Curiosities of the history of chess

The playing field or board, as well as the colors white and black of the
the current chess boards emerged in the 13th century. Apparently designed by Alfonso X
the Wise one at the court of Toledo. It was always an absorbing game, so much that at
At times it was banned, as in the case of the Council of Paris in the 13th century.
In the second half of that century, the author of the Divine Comedy, Dante, accounts
that being young he met in Florence a Muslim capable of maintaining three
chess games in progress and winning them.

Another curiosity of the history of chess is that the kings or

leaders from some countries liked to play human chess. That is, with
real people and horses. This is the case, for example, of the image that you can
see below, taken in the year 1924 in a palace in Russia:
History of chess in Spain
It was an important game throughout the Renaissance and the Golden Centuries in Spain.
where there were writers, theorists, and great masters of the importance of Ruy
López de Segura (1561), author of the Book of the liberal invention and art of
checkers.

Ruy López de Segura playing chess

The current rules of the game of chess date back to that time. The first
an international chess competition was organized in Castile in 1562, and in it
the Spanish teachers Alfonso Cerón and Rui López faced the Italians El
Putino and The Siracusano. The Italians won because El Putino lived up to his
striking surname and incurred numerous irregularities.

Some say that the first world chess champion was the
Ruy López de Segura. Author of the Book of Liberal Invention and Art
of the game of Chess published in Alcalá de Henares in 1561.

In 1560 he had defeated the most renowned Italian masters, including the
master Leonardo da Cutri, best player in Italy, whom he won against twice in
his country. However, when Philip II summoned the best players from Italy
to compete with the Spanish chess players in Madrid. In what is considered the
first international chess tournament, in 1575.
It was Leonardo who won, pocketing the thousand ducats of the prize, a cape.
of ermine and the exemption from paying taxes. That item is the first
documented, and the first in which the opening called gambit is played
of king.

Summary of the history of chess

If you are looking for a brief history of chess summarized, here it is.
you will be able to find it in the form of a chronology or timeline.
This way you won’t miss any historical events or important milestones:

Fifth to sixth centuries: the legend says that King Belkib, from India, asked
one of his wise men who invented a game to avoid boredom. Sissa gave him
he proposed chess,
Year 600: a game very similar to chess, derived from chaturanga
India spreads through Persia, reaches the Arab world and arrives in Spain,
from where it will be introduced in Europe.
15th century: chess acquires its current forms and rules, due to
especially the invention of the printing press. In the year 1497, the book is published
the oldest known chess, Repetition of loves and art of chess
from Luis Ramírez de Lucena,
Year 1737: the Syrian Philip Stanma from Aleppo publishesThe noble game of
chess proposes algebraic notation as a way to represent the
sequence of moves in a chess game
Year 1813: the first specialized chronicle on chess appears in the
English newspaper Liverpool Mercury. The first magazine appears in Paris.
dedicated to chess, Le Palamede, in homage to the Greek Palamedes, who
for a time he was considered the inventor of chess during the war of
Troy.
 Year 1851: the first modern chess tournament takes place in
London, won by the German Adolf Anderssen.
Year 1886: celebration of the first world chess championship,
won by the Austrian born in Prague Wilhelm Stemitz.
Year 1924: the International Chess Federation (FIDE) is created, which
will govern the world of chess from then on.
Year 1927: the first women's world championship is contested
chess, won by the Czechoslovak Vera Menchik, who died in a
bombing in World War II.

Chess: man against machine

At the beginning of the 20th century, the primacy or initiative in chess matters
it continued to be in Spanish hands. Leonardo Torres Quevedo created by
then the magical chess. This brilliant automaton from Cantabria was so fertile in
inventions that in 1951, at the Cybernetic Congress in Paris, Norbert Wiener
he was amazed by that ingenious device, it defeated him in a game
very sounded.

It was an electromagnetic metal board with three pieces. The automaton

plays white only with the king and a rook, while their opponent plays with the
black king, being able to move it as he wishes. What makes its
movements determine those of the white pieces, which always win.

The first chess match played against a computer took place in

1959 between the American Arthur Samuel and the machine, which was the one that won.
the game. And the first chess microcomputer was the Chess Challenger 3,
United States, in the 1970s.