Chess

Chess is a turn-based board game for two players, and is generally considered the most popular game in the world. Chess has its roots in India, where locals played a game called Shaturanga. The earliest extant description of the game is contained in the Bhavishya Purana, which dates from A.D. 300 to A.D. 600. European travelers visited India in the 15th century, and brought back knowledge of the game, and modern chess was developed in southern Europe. The goal of the game is to place the opposing king into checkmate, that is, a position in which the king is attacked and cannot escape from this situation.

Shaturanga used dice, but Hinduism bans gambling. As a result, the game of chess developed free from any dice or chance.

Modern international chess has a powerful, sweeping queen who was not in the original game. The long reach of bishops today was also lacking at first. Maneuvers such as castling or capturing en passant have been developed within the past few hundred years.

Today, chess is one of the most popular board games in the world. International competition, including world championship events, is organized by an organization called FIDE and American competition organized by the USCF (United States Chess Federation). The only American world champion was Robert J. Fischer. The current world champion is Russian Vladimir Kramnik.

Pieces

Each player has a total of 16 pieces; 8 pawns, 2 bishops, 2 knights, 2 rooks, 1 queen, 1 king.

• The pawn moves one square forward, except on its first move, when it can optionally move two. It captures opposing pieces by capturing one square diagonally. It cannot capture in a backward diagonal motion. All other pieces capture opposing pieces by moving to the square on which the opposing piece is. A player cannot capture one of his own pieces.
  
• The bishop can move as many squares as desired diagonally.
  
• The knight, which is the only piece that can jump over other pieces, moves one square in one straight direction and two in the other.
  
• The rook can move as many squares as desired in a straight direction.
  
• The queen is the most powerful piece in the board. It can move as many squares as desired (without jumping over another piece), either straight or diagonally.
  
• The king, which is the most important piece on the board, moves one square, either straight or diagonally.

Gameplay & Strategy

The goal of the game is to protect your own King while attacking your opponent's. Every time the King is under direct threat from another piece - queen, bishop, et al, the King is said to be under check. When a player is in check, the King must be protected - no move that fails to remedy the check is acceptable.

When check is not correctable - as in, when the King is under check, and no move can be made to extract him, the King is under checkmate, and the opposing player wins. Alternately, if the King is NOT under check, but the player cannot move with any other piece, and the King cannot be moved without placing himself in check, stalemate occurs.