chess this article is about the western board game for other chess games or other uses see chess disambiguation a twoplayer strategy board game chesspart of a staunton chess set left to right white king black rook black queen white pawn black knight white bishopyears activec 6thcentury to presentgenresboard gameabstract strategy gamemind sportplayers2playing timecasual games usually last 10 to 60 minutes tournament games last anywhere from about ten minutes fast chess to six hours or morerandom chancenoneskills requiredstrategy tactics chess is a twoplayer strategy board game played on a chessboard a checkered gameboard with 64squares arranged in an 88 grid the game is played by millions of people worldwide chess is believed to have originated in india sometime before the 7thcentury the game was derived from the indian game chaturanga which is also the likely ancestor of the eastern strategy games xiangqi janggi and shogi chess reached europe by the 9thcentury due to the umayyad conquest of hispania the pieces assumed their current powers in spain in the late 15thcentury the rules were standardized in the 19thcentury play does not involve hidden information each player begins with 16 pieces one king one queen two rooks two knights two bishops and eight pawns each of the six piece types moves differently with the most powerful being the queen and the least powerful the pawn the objective is to checkmate the opponents king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture to this end a players pieces are used to attack and capture the opponents pieces while supporting each other during the game play typically involves making exchanges of one piece for an opponents similar piece but also finding and engineering opportunities to trade one piece for two or to get a better position in addition to checkmate a player wins the game if the opponent resigns or in a timed game runs out of time there are also several ways that a game can end in a draw the first generally recognized world chess champion wilhelm steinitz claimed his title in 1886 since 1948 the world championship has been regulated by the fdration internationale des checs fide the games international governing body fide also awards lifetime master titles to skilled players the highest of which is grandmaster many national chess organizations have a title system of their own fide also organizes the womens world championship the world junior championship the world senior championship the blitz and rapid world championships and the chess olympiad a popular competition among international teams fide is a member of the international olympic committee which can be considered as a recognition of chess as a sport also recognize chess as a sport chess was included in the 2006 and 2010 asian games there is also a correspondence chess world championship and a world computer chess championship online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players since the second half of the 20th century computers have been programmed to play chess with increasing success to the point where the strongest personal computers play at a higher level than the best human players since the 1990s computer analysis has contributed significantly to chess theory particularly in the endgame the ibm computer deep blue was the first machine to overcome a reigning world chess champion in a match when it defeated garry kasparov in 1997 the rise of strong chess engines runnable on handheld devices has led to increasing concerns about cheating during tournaments there are many variants of chess that utilize different rules pieces or boards one of these chess960 originally named fischerandom incorporates regular chess rules but with one of 960 different possible startup positions chess960 has gained widespread popularity as well as some fide recognition rules rules of chess the rules of chess are published by fide fdration internationale des checs chesss international governing body in its handbook rules published by national governing bodies or by unaffiliated chess organizations commercial publishers etc may differ fides rules were most recently revised in 2017 setup abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghinitial position first row rook knight bishop queen king bishop knight and rook second row pawns setup at the start of a game 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 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 righthand 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 the pieces are set out as shown in the diagram and photo with each queen on a square of its own color the white queen on a light square and the black queen on a dark movement the player with the white pieces always moves first after the first move players alternately move one piece per turn except for castling when two pieces are moved pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square or one occupied by an opponents piece which is captured and removed from play with the sole exception of en passant all pieces capture by moving to the square that the opponents piece occupies a player may not make any move that would put or leave the players own king under attack a player cannot pass at each turn one must make a legal move this is the basis for the finesse called zugzwang if the player to move has no legal move the game is over it is either a checkmate a loss for the player with no legal moves if the king is under attack or a stalemate a draw if the king is not each chess piece has its own way of moving in the diagrams the dots mark the squares where the piece can move if there are no intervening pieces of either color moves of the king abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefgh moves of a rook abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefgh moves of a bishop abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefgh moves of the queen abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefgh moves of a knight abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefgh moves of a pawn abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefgh the king moves one square in any direction the king also has a special move called castling that involves also moving a rook the rook can move any number of squares along a rank or file but cannot leap over other pieces along with the king a rook is involved during the kings castling move the bishop can move any number of squares diagonally but cannot leap over other pieces the queen combines the power of a rook and bishop and can move any number of squares along a rank file or diagonal but cannot 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 lshape 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 can move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file or on its first move it can advance two squares along the same file provided both squares are unoccupied black dots in the diagram or the pawn can capture an opponents piece on a square diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file by moving to that square black xs a pawn has two special moves the en passant capture and promotion castling castling examples of castling view animation once in every game each king is allowed to make a special move known as castling castling consists of moving the king two squares along the first rank toward a rook which is on the players first rank neither the king nor the rook have previously moved during the game there cannot be any pieces between the king and the rook the king cannot be in check nor can the king pass through squares that are under attack by enemy pieces or move to a square where it would result in a check note that castling is permissible if the rook is attacked or if the rook crosses a square that is attacked en passant en passant examples of pawn moves left promotion right en passant when a pawn advances two squares from its starting position and there is an opponents pawn on an adjacent file next to its destination square then the opponents pawn can capture it en passant in passing and move to the square the pawn passed over this can only be done on the very next move otherwise the right to do so is forfeit for example in the animated diagram the black pawn advances two squares from g7 to g5 and the white pawn on f5 can take it via en passant on g6 but only on whites next move promotion promotion chess when a pawn advances to the eighth rank as a part of the move it is promoted and must be exchanged for the players choice of queen rook bishop or knight of the same color usually the pawn is chosen to be promoted to a queen but in some cases another piece is chosen this is called underpromotion in the animated diagram the pawn on c7 can be advanced to the eighth rank and be promoted to an allowed piece there is no restriction placed on the piece that is chosen on promotion so it is possible to have more pieces of the same type than at the start of the game for example two queens check check chess abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghthe black king is in check by the rook when a king is under immediate attack by one or two of the opponents pieces it is said to be in check a response to a check is a legal move if it results in a position where the king is no longer under direct attack that is not in check this can involve capturing the checking piece interposing a piece between the checking piece and the king which is possible only if the attacking piece is a queen rook or bishop and there is a square between it and the king or moving the king to a square where it is not under attack castling is not a permissible response to a check the object of the game is to checkmate the opponent this occurs when the opponents king is in check and there is no legal way to remove it from attack it is illegal for a player to make a move that would put or leave the players own king in check in casual games it is common to announce check when putting the opponents king in check but this is not required by the rules of the game and is not usually done in tournaments end of the game win abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghwhite is in checkmate being unable to escape attack by the black bishops games can be won in the following ways checkmate the player whose turn it is to move is in check and has no legal move to escape check resignation either player may resign conceding the game to the opponent it is usually considered poor etiquette to play on in a truly hopeless position and for this reason highlevel games rarely end in checkmate win on time in games with a time control a player wins if the opponent runs out of time even if the opponent has a much superior position as long as the player still has a theoretical possibility to checkmate the opponent forfeit a player who cheats or violates the rules of the game or violates the rules specified for the particular tournament can be forfeited in highlevel tournaments players have been forfeited for such things as arriving late for the game even by a matter of seconds receiving a call or text on a cell phone refusing to undergo a drug test refusing to undergo a body search for electronic devices and unsporting behavior such as refusing to shake the opponents hand draw abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghblack is not in check and has no legal move the result is stalemate there are several ways games can end in a draw draw by agreement draws are most commonly reached by mutual agreement between the players the correct procedure is to verbally offer the draw make a move then start the opponents clock traditionally players have been allowed to agree to a draw at any point in the game occasionally even without playing a move in recent years efforts have been made to discourage short draws for example by forbidding draw offers before move thirty stalemate the player whose turn it is to move has no legal move and is not in check threefold repetition of position this most commonly occurs when neither side is able to avoid repeating moves without incurring a disadvantage in this situation either player can claim a draw this requires the players to keep a valid written record of the game so that the claim can be verified by the arbiter if challenged the three occurrences of the position need not occur on consecutive moves for a claim to be valid fide rules make no mention of perpetual check this is merely a specific type of draw by threefold repetition fiftymove rule if during the previous 50 moves no pawn has been moved and no capture has been made either player can claim a draw there are several known endgames where it is possible to force a mate but it requires more than 50 moves before a pawn move or capture is made examples include some endgames with two knights against a pawn and some pawnless endgames such as queen against two bishops historically fide has sometimes revised the 50move rule to make exceptions for these endgames but these have since been repealed some correspondence chess organizations do not enforce the fiftymove rule fivefold repetition of position similar to the threefoldrepetition rule but in this case neither player needs to claim the draw thus a tournament director can intervene and declare the game to be drawn this is a relatively recent 2014 addition to the fide rules seventyfivemove rule similar to the fiftymove rule however if the final move in the sequence resulted in checkmate this takes precedence as with the fivefoldrepetition rule this applies independently of claims by the players and allows a tournament director to intervene this rule likewise is a recent addition to the fide rules insufficient material if neither player has a theoretical possibility to checkmate the opponent for example if a player has only the king and a knight left and the opponent has only the king left checkmate is impossible and the game is drawn by this rule on the other hand if both players have a king and a knight left there is a highly unlikely yet theoretical possibility of checkmate so this rule does not apply draw on time in games with a time control the game is drawn if a player is out of time and the opponent has no theoretical possibility to checkmate the player time control modern chess clocks chess games may also be played with a time control if a players time runs out before the game is completed the game is automatically lost provided the opponent has enough pieces left to deliver checkmate the duration of a game ranges from long or classical games which can take up to seven hours even longer if adjournments are permitted to bullet chess under 3minutes per player for the entire game intermediate between these are rapid chess games lasting between 20minutes and two hours per game a popular time control in amateur weekend tournaments time is controlled using a chess clock that has two displays one for each players remaining time analog chess clocks have been largely replaced by digital clocks which allow for time controls with increments history history of chess predecessors a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h ashtpada the uncheckered 8x8 board sometimes with special marks on which chaturanga was played chess is believed to have originated in eastern india c 280550 the oldest archaeological chess artifacts ivory pieces were excavated in ancient afrasiab todays samarkand in uzbekistan central asia and date to about 760 with some of them possibly older the oldest known chess manual was in arabic and dates to 840850 written by aladli arrumi 800870 a renowned arab chess player titled kitab ashshatranj book of the chess this is a lost manuscript but referenced in later works the eastern migration of chess into china and southeast asia has even less documentation than its migration west the first reference to chess called xiang qi in china comes in the xun gua l record of the mysterious and strange dating to about 800 alternatively some contend that chess arose from chinese chess or one of its predecessors the game reached western europe and russia by at least three routes the earliest being in the 9thcentury by the year 1000 it had spread throughout europe introduced into the iberian peninsula by the muslims in the 10thcentury it was described in a famous 13thcentury manuscript covering shatranj backgammon and dice named the libro de los juegos 12001700 origins of the modern game knights templar playing chess libro de los juegos 1283 around 1200 the rules of shatranj started to be modified in southern europe and around 1475 several major changes made the game essentially as it is known today pawns gained the option of advancing two squares on their first move while bishops and queens acquired their modern abilities the queen replaced the earlier vizier chess piece towards the end of the 10thcentury and by the 15thcentury had become the most powerful piece particularly in asia where other games of the chess family such as xiangqi are prevalent since the 19thcentury the only rule changes have been technical in nature for example establishing the correct procedure for claiming a draw by repetition a tactical puzzle from lucenas 1497 book writings about the theory of how to play chess began to appear in the 15thcentury the repeticin de amores y arte de ajedrez repetition of love and the art of playing chess by spanish churchman luis ramirez de lucena was published in salamanca in 1497 lucena and later masters like portuguese pedro damiano italians giovanni leonardo di bona giulio cesare polerio and gioachino greco and spanish bishop ruy lpez de segura developed elements of openings and started to analyze simple endgames 17001873 the romantic era in chess franoisandr danican philidor 18thcentury french chess master the romantic era was characterized by opening gambits sacrificing pawns or even pieces daring attacks and brazen sacrifices many elaborate and beautiful but unsound move sequences called combinations were played by the masters of the time the game was played more for art than theory a profound belief that chess merit resided in the players genius rather than inherent in the position on the board pervaded chess practice in the 18th century the center of european chess life moved from the southern european countries to france the two most important french masters were franoisandr danican philidor a musician by profession who discovered the importance of pawns for chess strategy and later louischarles mah de la bourdonnais who won a famous series of matches with the irish master alexander mcdonnell in 1834 as the 19th century progressed chess organization developed quickly many chess clubs chess books and chess journals appeared there were correspondence matches between cities for example the london chess club played against the edinburgh chess club in 1824 chess problems became a regular part of 19thcentury newspapers bernhard horwitz josef kling and samuel loyd composed some of the most influential problems in 1843 von der lasa published his and bilguers handbuch des schachspiels handbook of chess the first comprehensive manual of chess theory chess was occasionally criticised in the 19th century as a waste of time the immortal game anderssen vs kieseritzky 1851 the first modern chess tournament was organized by howard staunton a leading english chess player and was held in london in 1851 it was won by the german adolf anderssen who was hailed as the leading chess master his brilliant energetic attacking style was typical for the time deeper insight into the nature of chess came with two younger players american paul morphy an extraordinary chess prodigy won against all important competitors except staunton who refused to play including anderssen during his short chess career between 1857 and 1863 morphys success stemmed from a combination of brilliant attacks and sound strategy he intuitively knew how to prepare attacks 18731945 birth of a sport pragueborn wilhelm steinitz beginning in 1873 described how to avoid weaknesses in ones own position and how to create and exploit such weaknesses in the opponents position chess players cairo by stanisaw chlebowski 18351884 after the end of the 19th century the number of master tournaments and matches held annually quickly grew some sources state that in 1914 the title of chess grandmaster was first formally conferred by tsar nicholas ii of russia to lasker capablanca alekhine tarrasch and marshall but this is a disputed claim it took a prodigy from cuba jos ral capablanca world champion 19211927 who loved simple positions and endgames to end the germanspeaking dominance in chess he was undefeated in tournament play for eight years until 1924 his successor was russianfrench alexander alekhine a strong attacking player who died as the world champion in 1946 he briefly lost the title to dutch player max euwe in 1935 and regained it two years later between the world wars chess was revolutionized by the new theoretical school of socalled hypermodernists like aron nimzowitsch and richard rti they advocated controlling the center of the board with distant pieces rather than with pawns thus inviting opponents to occupy the center with pawns which become objects of attack 1945present postworld war ii era after the death of alekhine a new world champion was sought fide which has controlled the title since then except for one interruption ran a tournament of elite players the winner of the 1948 tournament russian mikhail botvinnik started an era of soviet dominance in the chess world until the end of the soviet union there was only one nonsoviet champion american bobby fischer champion 19721975 in the previous informal system of world championships the current champion decided which challenger he would play for the title and the challenger was forced to seek sponsors for the match fide set up a new system of qualifying tournaments and matches the worlds strongest players were seeded into interzonal tournaments where they were joined by players who had qualified from zonal tournaments the leading finishers in these interzonals would go on the candidates stage which was initially a tournament and later a series of knockout matches the winner of the candidates would then play the reigning champion for the title a champion defeated in a match had a right to play a rematch a year later this system operated on a threeyear cycle botvinnik participated in championship matches over a period of fifteen years he won the world championship tournament in 1948 and retained the title in tied matches in 1951 and 1954 in 1957 he lost to vasily smyslov but regained the title in a rematch in 1958 in 1960 he lost the title to the 23yearold latvian prodigy mikhail tal an accomplished tactician and attacking player botvinnik again regained the title in a rematch in 1961 following the 1961 event fide abolished the automatic right of a deposed champion to a rematch and the next champion armenian tigran petrosian a player renowned for his defensive and positional skills held the title for two cycles 19631969 his successor boris spassky from russia champion 19691972 won games in both positional and sharp tactical style karpov defended his title twice against viktor korchnoi and dominated the 1970s and early 1980s with a string of tournament successes he defended his title the following year again against anand and is the reigning world champion notation for recording moves chess notation square names in algebraic chess notation chess games and positions are recorded using a system of notation most commonly algebraic chess notation abbreviated or short algebraic notation generally records moves in the format abbreviation of the piece moved file where it moved rank where it moved the pieces are identified by their initials in english these are k king q queen r rook b bishop and n knight n is used to avoid confusion with king for example qg5 means queen moves to the gfile and the 5th rank that is to the square g5 chess literature published in other languages may use different initials to indicate the pieces or figurine algebraic notation fan may be used to avoid language difficulties to resolve ambiguities one more letter or number is added to indicate the file or rank from which the piece moved eg ngf3 means knight from the gfile moves to the square f3 and r1e2 means rook on the first rank moves to e2 the letter p for a pawn is not used so that e4 means pawn moves to the square e4 if the piece makes a capture x is inserted before the destination square thus bxf3 means bishop captures on f3 when a pawn makes a capture the file from which the pawn departed is used in place of a piece initial and ranks may be omitted if unambiguous for example exd5 pawn on the efile captures the piece on d5 or exd pawn on the efile captures a piece somewhere on the dfile particularly in germany some publications have used rather than x to indicate a capture but this is now rare some publications omit the capture symbol altogether so that exd5 would be rendered simply as ed if a pawn moves to its last rank achieving promotion the piece chosen is indicated after the move for example e1q or e1q castling is indicated by the special notations 00 for kingside castling and 000 for queenside castling an en passant capture is sometimes marked with the notation ep a move that places the opponents king in check usually has the notation added the notation for a double check is considered obsolete checkmate can be indicated by at the end of the game 10 means white won 01 means black won and indicates a draw chess moves can be annotated with punctuation marks and other symbols for example indicates a good move an excellent move a mistake a blunder an interesting move that may not be best or a dubious move not easily refuted scholars mate for example one variation of a simple trap known as the scholars mate see animated diagram can be recorded 1 e4 e5 2 qh5 nc6 3 bc4 nf6 4 qxf7 10 the textbased portable game notation pgn which is understood by chess software is based on short form english language algebraic notation until about 1980 the majority of english language chess publications used a form of descriptive notation in descriptive notation files are named according to the piece which occupies the back rank at the start of the game and each square has two different names depending on whether it is from whites or blacks point of view for example the square known as e3 in algebraic notation is k3 kings 3rd from whites point of view and k6 kings 6th from blacks point of view when recording captures the captured piece is named rather than the square on which it is captured except to resolve ambiguities thus scholars mate is rendered in descriptive notation 1 pk4 pk4 2 qr5 nqb3 3 bb4 nb3 4 qxbp 10 a few players still prefer descriptive notation but it is no longer recognized by fide another system is iccf numeric notation recognized by the international correspondence chess federation though its use is in decline squares are identified by numeric coordinates for example a1 is 11 and h8 is 88 moves are described by the from and to squares and captures are not indicated for example the opening move 1e4 is rendered as 15254 castling is described by the kings move only for example 5171 for white castling kingside 5838 for black castling queenside strategy and tactics chess strategy consists of setting and achieving longterm positioning advantages during the game for example where to place different pieces while tactics concentrate on immediate maneuver these two parts of the chessplaying process cannot be completely separated because strategic goals are mostly achieved through tactics while the tactical opportunities are based on the previous strategy of play a game of chess is normally divided into three phases opening typically the first 10 moves when players move their pieces to useful positions for the coming battle then middlegame and last the endgame when most of the pieces are gone kings typically take a more active part in the struggle and pawn promotion is often decisive fundamentals of tactics chess tactics botvinnik vs yudovich 1933 abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghafter sacrificing a piece to expose blacks king botvinnik played 23bh5 and yudovich resigned as mate is inevitable 23bh5 and now 23kxh5 24ng3 kh4 25qe4 rf4 26qxf4 23kf5 24g4 23kh7 24nf6 double check kh8 25qh7 in chess tactics in general concentrate on shortterm actions so shortterm that they can be calculated in advance by a human player or by a computer the possible depth of calculation depends on the players ability in quiet positions with many possibilities on both sides a deep calculation is more difficult and may not be practical while in tactical positions with a limited number of forced variations strong players can calculate long sequences of moves simple onemove or twomove tactical actions threats exchanges of material and double attacks can be combined into more complicated combinations sequences of tactical maneuvers that are often forced from the point of view of one or both players a forced variation that involves a sacrifice and usually results in a tangible gain is called a combination fundamentals of strategy chess strategy chess strategy is concerned with evaluation of chess positions and with setting up goals and longterm plans for the future play during the evaluation players must take into account numerous factors such as the value of the pieces on the board control of the center and centralization the pawn structure king safety and the control of key squares or groups of squares for example diagonals open files and dark or light squares the most basic step in evaluating a position is to count the total value of pieces of both sides example of underlying pawn structure abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefgh after 12re8 in tarrascheuwe abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefgh and its pawn rauzer formation another important factor in the evaluation of chess positions is the pawn structure sometimes known as the pawn skeleton or the configuration of pawns on the chessboard phases opening chess opening a chess opening is the group of initial moves of a game the opening moves recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings and have been given names such as the ruy lopez or sicilian defense they are catalogued in reference works such as the encyclopaedia of chess openings there are dozens of different openings varying widely in character from quiet positional play for example the rti opening to very aggressive the latvian gambit in some opening lines the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to more than 30 moves professional players spend years studying openings and continue doing so throughout their careers as opening theory continues to evolve the fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar development this is the technique of placing the pieces particularly bishops and knights on useful squares where they will have an optimal impact on the game control of the center control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent king safety it is critical to keep the king safe from dangerous possibilities a correctly timed castling can often enhance this pawn structure players strive to avoid the creation of pawn weaknesses such as isolated doubled or backward pawns and pawn islands and to force such weaknesses in the opponents position most players and theoreticians consider that white by virtue of the first move begins the game with a small advantage this initially gives white the initiative black usually strives to neutralize whites advantage and achieve equality or to develop dynamic counterplay in an unbalanced position middlegame chess middlegame the middlegame is the part of the game which starts after the opening there is no clear line between the opening and the middlegame but typically the middlegame will start when most pieces have been developed similarly there is no clear transition from the middlegame to the endgame see start of the endgame because the opening theory has ended players have to form plans based on the features of the position and at the same time take into account the tactical possibilities of the position specific plans or strategic themes will often arise from particular groups of openings which result in a specific type of pawn structure an example is the minority attack which is the attack of queenside pawns against an opponent who has more pawns on the queenside the study of openings is therefore connected to the preparation of plans that are typical of the resulting middlegames another important strategic question in the middlegame is whether and how to reduce material and transition into an endgame ie simplify minor material advantages can generally be transformed into victory only in an endgame and therefore the stronger side must choose an appropriate way to achieve an ending not every reduction of material is good for this purpose for example if one side keeps a lightsquared bishop and the opponent has a darksquared one the transformation into a bishops and pawns ending is usually advantageous for the weaker side only because an endgame with bishops on opposite colors is likely to be a draw even with an advantage of a pawn or sometimes even with a twopawn advantage endgame chess endgame example of zugzwang abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghthe side having to move is at a disadvantage the endgame also end game or ending is the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board there are three main strategic differences between earlier stages of the game and the endgame pawns become more important endgames often revolve around endeavors to promote a pawn by advancing it to the furthest rank the king which required safeguarding from checkmate in the middlegame emerges as a strong piece in the endgame it is often brought to the center of the board where it can protect its own pawns attack enemy pawns and hinder moves of the opponents king zugzwang disadvantageous since it forces a player to move is often a factor in endgames but rarely in other stages of the game in the example diagram either side having the move is in zugzwang black to move must play 1kb7 allowing white to promote the pawn after 2kd7 white to move must permit a draw either by 1kc6 stalemate or by losing the pawn after any other legal move endgames can be classified according to the type of pieces remaining on the board basic checkmates are positions in which one side has only a king and the other side has one or two pieces and can checkmate the opposing king with the pieces working together with their king for example king and pawn endgames involve only kings and pawns on one or both sides and the task of the stronger side is to promote one of the pawns other more complicated endings are classified according to pieces on the board other than kings such as rook and pawn versus rook endgames place in culture chess in the arts noble chess players germany c1320 two kings and two queens from the lewis chessmen british museum 19thcentury decorative chess pawns china national museum in warsaw large chess set in franklin square tasmania a chess party with live figures in bitola 1924 premodern in the middle ages and during the renaissance chess was a part of noble culture it was used to teach war strategy and was dubbed the kings game gentlemen are to be meanly seene in the play at chestes says the overview at the beginning of baldassare castigliones the book of the courtier 1528 english 1561 by sir thomas hoby but chess should not be a gentlemans main passion castiglione explains it further and what say you to the game at chestes it is truely an honest kynde of enterteynmente and wittie quoth syr friderick but me think it hath a fault whiche is that a man may be to couning at it for who ever will be excellent in the playe of chestes i beleave he must beestowe much tyme about it and applie it with so much study that a man may assoone learne some noble scyence or compase any other matter of importaunce and yet in the ende in beestowing all that laboure he knoweth no more but a game therfore in this i beleave there happeneth a very rare thing namely that the meane is more commendable then the excellency many of the elaborate chess sets used by the aristocracy have been lost but others partially survive such as the lewis chessmen chess was often used as a basis of sermons on morality an example is liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the book of chess written by an italian dominican monk jacobus de cessolis c1300 this book was one of the most popular of the middle ages the knyght ought to be made alle armed upon an hors in suche wyse that he haue an helme on his heed and a spere in his ryght hande and coueryd wyth his sheld a swerde and a mace on his lyft syde cladd wyth an hawberk and plates to fore his breste legge harnoys on his legges spores on his heelis on his handes his gauntelettes his hors well broken and taught and apte to bataylle and couerid with his armes whan the knyghtes ben maad they ben bayned or bathed that is the signe that they shold lede a newe lyf and newe maners also they wake alle the nyght in prayers and orysons vnto god that he wylle gyue hem grace that they may gete that thynge that they may not gete by nature the kynge or prynce gyrdeth a boute them a swerde in signe that they shold abyde and kepe hym of whom they take theyr dispenses and dignyte known in the circles of clerics students and merchants chess entered into the popular culture of middle ages an example is the 209th song of carmina burana from the 13thcentury which starts with the names of chess pieces roch pedites regina modern during the age of enlightenment chess was viewed as a means of selfimprovement benjamin franklin in his article the morals of chess 1750 wrote the game of chess is not merely an idle amusement several very valuable qualities of the mind useful in the course of human life are to be acquired and strengthened by it so as to become habits ready on all occasions for life is a kind of chess in which we have often points to gain and competitors or adversaries to contend with and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events that are in some degree the effect of prudence or the want of it by playing at chess then we may learn i foresight which looks a little into futurity and considers the consequences that may attend an action ii circumspection which surveys the whole chessboard or scene of action the relation of the several pieces and their situations iii caution not to make our moves too hastily with these or similar views chess is taught to children in schools around the world today many schools host chess clubs and there are many scholastic tournaments specifically for children tournaments are held regularly in many countries hosted by organizations such as the united states chess federation and the national scholastic chess foundation through the lookingglass the red king is snoring illustration by sir john tenniel chess is often depicted in the arts significant works where chess plays a key role range from thomas middletons a game at chess to through the lookingglass by lewis carroll to vladimir nabokovs the defense to the royal game by stefan zweig chess is featured in films like ingmar bergmans the seventh seal and satyajit rays the chess players chess is also present in contemporary popular culture for example the characters in star trek play a futuristic version of the game called tridimensional chess wizards chess is featured in jk rowlings harry potter plays the hero of searching for bobby fischer struggles against adopting the aggressive and misanthropic views of a world chess champion controversy in religion in 2016 in saudi arabia grand mufti abdulaziz ibn abdullah al ashsheikh issued a religious fatwa ruling that chess is forbidden in islam because it constitutes gambling stating chess is a waste of time and an opportunity to squander money it causes enmity and hatred between people however this fatwa is not legally binding and chess remains a popular game in muslim countries composition chess problem chess composition is the art of creating chess problems also called chess compositions the creator is known as a chess composer there are many types of chess problems the two most important are directmates white to move first and checkmate black within a specified number of moves against any defense these are often referred to as mate in n for example mate in three a threemover two and threemove problems are the most common these usually involve positions that would be highly unlikely to occur in an actual game and are intended to illustrate a particular theme usually requiring a surprising or counterintuitive key move studies orthodox problems where the stipulation is that white to play must win or draw almost all studies are endgame positions chess composition is a distinct branch of chess sport and tournaments exist for both the composition and solving of chess problems example rti endgame study richard rti ostrauer morgenzeitung 1921 abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghwhite to move and draw this is one of the most famous chess studies it was published by richard rti 4 december 1921 it seems impossible to catch the advanced black pawn while the black king can easily stop the white pawn the solution is a diagonal advance which brings the king to both pawns simultaneously 1 kg7 h4 2 kf6 kb6 or 2h3 3ke7 and the white king can support its pawn 3 ke5 now the white king comes just in time to support his pawn or catch the black one 3 h3 4 kd6 competitive play organization of competitions contemporary chess is an organized sport with structured international and national leagues tournaments and congresses chesss international governing body is fide fdration internationale des checs most countries have a national chess organization as well such as the us chess federation and english chess federation which in turn is a member of fide fide is a member of the international olympic committee but the game of chess has never been part of the olympic games chess does have its own olympiad held every two years as a team event the former world chess champion viswanathan anand left playing chess against his predecessor vladimir kramnik the current world chess champion is magnus carlsen of norway other competitions for individuals include the world junior chess championship the european individual chess championship and the national chess championships invitationonly tournaments regularly attract the worlds strongest players examples include spains linares event monte carlos melody amber tournament the dortmund sparkassen meeting sofias mtel masters and wijk aan zees tata steel tournament regular team chess events include the chess olympiad and the european team chess championship the world chess solving championship and world correspondence chess championships include both team and individual events besides these prestigious competitions there are thousands of other chess tournaments matches and festivals held around the world every year catering to players of all levels chess is promoted as a mind sport by the mind sports organisation alongside other mentalskill games such as contract bridge go and scrabble titles and rankings chess titles grandmaster garry kasparov former world chess champion is considered by many to be one of the greatest chess players of all time the best players can be awarded specific lifetime titles by the world chess organization fide grandmaster shortened as gm sometimes international grandmaster or igm is used is awarded to worldclass chess masters apart from world champion grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain before fide will confer the title on a player the player must have an elo chess rating see below of at least 2500 at one time and three favorable results called norms in tournaments involving other grandmasters including some from countries other than the applicants there are other milestones a player can achieve to attain the title such as winning the world junior championship international master shortened as im the conditions are similar to gm but less demanding the minimum rating for the im title is 2400 fide master shortened as fm the usual way for a player to qualify for the fide master title is by achieving a fide rating of 2300 or more candidate master shortened as cm similar to fm but with a fide rating of at least 2200 all the titles are open to men and women separate womenonly titles such as woman grandmaster wgm are available beginning with nona gaprindashvili in 1978 a number of women have earned the gm title and most of the top ten women in 2006 hold the unrestricted gm title as of august 2011 there are 1363 active grandmasters and 3153 international masters in the world top three countries with the largest numbers of grandmasters are russia ukraine and germany with 208 78 and 76 the country with most grandmasters per capita is iceland with 11 gms and 13 ims among the population of 310000 international titles are awarded to composers and solvers of chess problems and to correspondence chess players by the international correspondence chess federation national chess organizations may also award titles usually to the advanced players still under the level needed for international titles an example is the chess expert title used in the united states in order to rank players fide iccf and national chess organizations use the elo rating system developed by arpad elo elo is a statistical system based on the assumption that the chess performance of each player in his or her games is a random variable arpad elo thought of a players true skill as the average of that players performance random variable and showed how to estimate the average from results of players games the us chess federation implemented elos suggestions in 1960 and the system quickly gained recognition as being both fairer and more accurate than older systems it was adopted by fide in 1970 publications chess libraries list of chess books and list of chess periodicals chess has a very extensive literature in 1913 the chess historian hjr murray estimated the total number of books magazines and chess columns in newspapers to be about 5000 mathematics and computers see also computer chess mathematical chess problem humancomputer chess matches deep blue versus garry kasparov chess engine and solving chess the game structure and nature of chess are related to several branches of mathematics many combinatorical and topological problems connected to chess have been known for hundreds of years combinatorics of chess and chess puzzles mathematicians euler legendre de moivre and vandermonde studied the knights tour the number of legal positions in chess is estimated to be about 1043 and is provably less than 1047 chess has inspired many combinatorial puzzles such as the knights tour and the eight queens puzzle computer chess one of the most important mathematical challenges of chess is the development of algorithms that can play chess the idea of creating a chessplaying machine dates to the 18thcentury around 1769 the chessplaying automaton called the turk became famous before being exposed as a hoax serious trials based on automata such as el ajedrecista were too complex and limited to be useful since the advent of the digital computer in the 1950s chess enthusiasts computer engineers and computer scientists have built with increasing degrees of seriousness and success chessplaying machines and computer programs he wrote the chess machine is an ideal one to start with since 1 the problem is sharply defined both in allowed operations the moves and in the ultimate goal checkmate 2 it is neither so simple as to be trivial nor too difficult for satisfactory solution 3 chess is generally considered to require thinking for skillful play a solution of this problem will force us either to admit the possibility of a mechanized thinking or to further restrict our concept of thinking 4 the discrete structure of chess fits well into the digital nature of modern computers 1990s chessplaying computer the association for computing machinery acm held the first major chess tournament for computers the north american computer chess championship in september 1970 chess 30 a chess program from northwestern university won the championship nowadays chess programs compete in the world computer chess championship held annually since 1974 at first considered only a curiosity the best chess playing programs have become extremely strong in 1997 a computer won a chess match using classical time controls against a reigning world champion for the first time ibms deep blue beat garry kasparov 32 it scored two wins one loss and three draws and computers would only win such a match again in 2006 in 2009 a mobile phone won a category 6 tournament with a performance rating 2898 chess engine hiarcs 13 running on the mobile phone htc touch hd won the copa mercosur tournament with nine wins and one draw the best chess programs are now able to consistently beat the strongest human players to the extent that humancomputer matches no longer attract interest from chess players or media with huge databases of past games and high analytical ability computers can help players to learn chess and prepare for matches internet chess servers allow people to find and play opponents all over the world the presence of computers and modern communication tools have raised concerns regarding cheating during games most notably the bathroom controversy during the 2006 world championship relation to game theory in 1913 ernst zermelo used chess as a basis for his theory of game strategies which is considered as one of the predecessors of game theory the 11category game theoretical taxonomy of chess includes two player nochance combinatorial markov state present state is all a player needs to move although past state led up to that point knowledge of the sequence of past moves is not required to make the next move except to take into account of en passant and castling which do depend on the past moves zero sum symmetric perfect information noncooperative discrete extensive form tree decisions not payoff matrices sequential computational complexity generalized chess played on nn board without the fiftymove rule is exptimecomplete combinatorial game theory some applications of combinatorial game theory to chess endgames were found by elkies 1996 psychology a childrens chess tournament in the united states there is an extensive scientific literature on chess psychology more recent research has focused on chess as mental training the respective roles of knowledge and lookahead search brain imaging studies of chess masters and novices blindfold chess the role of personality and intelligence in chess skill gender differences and computational models of chess expertise the role of practice and talent in the development of chess and other domains of expertise has led to much recent research ericsson and colleagues have argued that deliberate practice is sufficient for reaching high levels of expertise in chess chess and intelligence although the link between performance in chess and general intelligence is often assumed researchers have largely failed to confirm its existence a 2007 study of young chess players in the united kingdom found that strong players tended to have aboveaverage iq scores but within that group the correlation between chess skill and iq was moderately negative meaning that smarter children tended to achieve a lower level of chess skill this result was explained by a negative correlation between intelligence and practice in the elite subsample and by practice having a higher influence on chess skill variants list of chess variants gliskis hexagonal chess launched in 1949 became popular in eastern europe reaching half a million fans three cell colors and three bishops per side are the norm for hexagonal variants there are more than two thousand published chess variants including direct predecessors of chess such as chaturanga and shatranj traditional national or regional games that share common ancestors with western chess such as xiangqi shogi janggi makruk and sittuyin modern variations employing different rules eg losing chess different forces eg dunsanys chess nonstandard pieces eg grand chess or different board geometries eg hexagonal chess one rules variant that has gained significantly in popularity is chess960 named fischerandom by its inventor where the starting position is selected randomly among 960 unique possibilities including the classic chess initial position without change while the other 959 render the use of prepared opening lines impracticable infinite chess which has drawn the attention of mathematicians prime sources in english describing chess variants and their rules include david pritchards encyclopedias the website the chess variant pages created by hans bodlaender with various contributors and the magazine variant chess published from 1990 george jellis to 2010 the british chess variants society in the context of chess variants regular ie fide chess is commonly referred to as western chess international chess orthodox chess orthochess and classic chess reference aids outline of chess subjectwide table of contents glossary of chess index of chess articles lists list of chess books list of chess games list of chess players list of chess world championship matches list of strong chess tournaments chess portal strategy games portal notes bibliography adams jenny 2006 power play the literature and politics of chess in the late middle ages philadelphia university of pennsylvania press isbn9780812239447 oclc238812746 binet a 1894 psychologie des grands calculateurs et joueurs dchecs in french paris hachette oclc287413777 bird henry edward 2008 chess history and reminiscences forgotten books isbn9781606208977 graham burgess 2000 the mammoth book of chess new york carroll graf isbn9780786707256 burgess graham nunn john emms john 2004 the mammoth book of the worlds greatest chess games 2nd ed new york carroll graf isbn9780786714117 davidson henry a 1949 a short history of chess new york d mckay co isbn9780679145509 oclc17340178 de groot adriaan d 1965 thought and choice in chess english ed the hague mouton oclc4988227 de groot adriaan d gobet fernand 1996 perception and memory in chess heuristics of the professional eye assen nl van gorcum isbn9789023229490 de la villa jess 2008 100 endgames you must know new in chess isbn9789056912444 estes rebecca robinson dindy 1996 world cultures through art activities englewood co teachers ideas press isbn9781563082719 evans larry 1958 new ideas in chess new york pitman 1984 dover edition isbn9780486283050 franklin benjamin 2003 a benjamin franklin reader new york simon schuster isbn9780743257824 retrieved 12 december 2010 gobet fernand de voogt alex retschitzki jean 2004 moves in mind the psychology of board games hove uk psychology press isbn9781841693361 oclc53962630 grabner rh stern e neubauer ac march 2007 individual differences in chess expertise a psychometric investigation acta psychologica 124 3 398420 doi101016jactpsy200607008 pmid16942740 harding tim 2003 better chess for average players new york courier dover publications isbn9780486290294 oclc33166445 hartston william r 1985 the kings of chess new york pavilion books isbn9780060153588 holding dennis 1985 the psychology of chess skill hillsdale nj erlbaum isbn9780898595758 oclc11866227 hooper david whyld kenneth 1992 the oxford companion to chess second edition oxford new york oxford university press isbn9780198661641 oclc25508610 howard kenneth s 1961 how to solve chess problems new york courier dover publications isbn9780486207483 fenghsiung hsu 2002 behind deep blue building the computer that defeated the world chess champion princeton princeton university press isbn9780691090658 oclc50582855 kasparov garry 2003a my great predecessors part i london guilford ct everyman chess isbn9781857443301 oclc223602528 kasparov garry 2003b my great predecessors part ii london guilford ct everyman chess isbn9781857443424 oclc223906486 kasparov garry 2004a my great predecessors part iii london guilford ct everyman chess isbn9781857443714 oclc52949851 kasparov garry 2004b my great predecessors part iv london guilford ct everyman chess isbn9781857443950 oclc52949851 kasparov garry 2006 my great predecessors part v london guilford ct everyman chess isbn9781857444049 oclc52949851 keene raymond 1993 gary kasparovs best games london b t batsford isbn9780713472967 oclc29386838 lasker emanuel 1934 laskers chess primer london billings 1988 reprint isbn9780713462418 leibs andrew 2004 sports and games of the renaissance westport ct greenwood publishing group isbn9780313327728 levitt gerald m 2000 the turk chess automaton jefferson nc mcfarland company isbn9780786407781 oclc226148928 li david h 1998 the genealogy of chess bethesda md premier isbn9780963785220 oclc39281682 metzner paul 1998 crescendo of the virtuoso spectacle skill and selfpromotion in paris during the age of revolution berkeley university of california press isbn9780520206847 oclc185289629 murray hjr 1913 a history of chess northampton mass benjamin press originally published by oxford university press isbn9780936317014 oclc13472872 olmert michael 1996 miltons teeth and ovids umbrella curiouser curiouser adventures in history new york simon schuster isbn9780684801643 parlett david 1999 the oxford history of board games oxford university press inc isbn9780192129987 pritchard david 2000 popular chess variants london batsford chess books isbn9780713485783 oclc44275285 robbins tw anderson ej barker dr bradley ac fearnyhough c henson r hudson sr baddeley ad 1996 working memory in chess pdf memory cognition 24 8393 doi103758bf03197274 saariluoma pertti 1995 chess players thinking a cognitive psychological approach new york routledge isbn9780415120791 silman jeremy 1998 the complete book of chess strategy los angeles silmanjames press isbn9781890085018 shibut macon 2004 paul morphy and the evolution of chess theory new york courier dover publications isbn9780486435749 oclc55639730 steinitz william landsberger kurt 2002 the steinitz papers letters and documents of the first world chess champion jeferson nc mcfarland company isbn9780786411931 oclc48550929 tamburro pete september 2010 challenging the ruy lopez chess life 1821 tarrasch siegbert 1987 the game of chess new york courier dover publications isbn9780486254470 oclc15631832 vale malcolm 2001 the princely court medieval courts and culture in northwest europe 12701380 oxford oxford university press isbn9780199269938 oclc47049906 verwer renzo 2010 bobby fischer for beginners alkmaar new in chess isbn9789056913151 watson john 1998 secrets of modern chess strategy london gambit publications isbn9781901983074 weenink hgm 1926 hume g white ac eds the chess problem stroud office of the chess amateur oclc3617028 weissberger barbara f 2004 isabel rules qonstructing queenship wielding power minneapolis university of minnesota press isbn9780816641642 oclc217447754 wilkinson charles k may 1943 chessmen and chess the metropolitan museum of art bulletin new series 1 9 27179 doi1023073257111 jstor3257111 yalom marilyn 2004 birth of the chess queen new york harper collins publishers isbn9780060090647 dunnington angus 2003 chess psychology approaching the psychological battle both on and off the board everyman chess isbn9781857443264 fine reuben 1983 the worlds great chess games courier dover publications isbn9780486245126 oclc9394460 hale benjamin 2008 philosophy looks at chess open court publishing company isbn9780812696332 kotov alexander 1971 think like a grandmaster btbatsford ltd isbn9780713431605 lasker emanuel 1960 laskers manual of chess dover isbn9780486206400 mason james 1947 the art of chess dover publications isbn9780486204635 oclc45271009 see the included supplement how do you play chess pachman ludek 1971 modern chess strategy dover isbn9780486202907 reti richard 1960 modern ideas in chess dover isbn9780486206387 rizzitano james 2004 understanding your chess gambit publications isbn9781904600077 oclc55205602 listen to this article infodl this audio file was created from a revision of the article chess dated 20161018 and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article audio help more spoken articles chessat wikipedias sister projects definitions from wiktionary media from wikimedia commons news from wikinews quotations from wikiquote texts from wikisource textbooks from wikibooks resources from wikiversity data from wikidata chess at curlie international organizations fide world chess federation iccf international correspondence chess federation news chessbase news the week in chess vtechessoutline chess theory chess titles grandmaster list of grandmasters computer chess glossary matches engines software correspondence chess fide glossary history timeline rating system world rankings norms variants list world records equipment chess set chessboard pieces king queen rook bishop knight pawn chess box chess clock chess table score sheets rules castling check checkmate draw by agreement fiftymove rule perpetual check stalemate threefold repetition en passant pawn promotion time control fast chess touchmove rule terms blunder chess notation algebraic descriptive pgn annotation symbols symbols in unicode fianchetto gambit key square king walk pawns backward connected doubled isolated marczy bind passed open file halfopen file outpost school romantic hypermodern swindle tempo transposition trap tactics battery alekhines gun block checkmate patterns combination decoy deflection desperado discovered attack double check fork interference overloading pin sacrifice skewer undermining windmill xray zwischenzug strategy artificial castling compensation exchange the exchange initiative firstmove advantage middlegame pawn storm pawn structure piece values prophylaxis openingsflank opening english opening zukertort opening rti opening kings indian attack larsens opening birds opening grobs attack dunst opening benko opening kings pawn game alekhines defence carokann defence french defence modern defence nimzowitsch defence open game italian game semiitalian opening giuoco piano kings gambit petrovs defence philidor defence ruy lopez scotch game owens defence pirc defence scandinavian defense tennison gambit sicilian defence alapin dragonaccelerated dragon najdorf scheveningen queens pawn game dutch defence indian defence benoni defence modern benoni bogoindian defence grnfeld defence kings indian defence nimzoindian defence queens indian defence trompowsky attack london system queens gambit accepted declined slav defence catalan opening other list of openings theory table list of chess gambits irregular quick checkmates fools mate scholars mate endgames bishop and knight checkmate king and pawn vs king oppositecoloured bishops pawnless endgame queen and pawn vs queen queen vs pawn rook and bishop vs rook rook and pawn vs rook lucena position philidor position strategy fortress opposition tarrasch rule triangulation zugzwang study tablebase two knights endgame wrong bishop wrong rook pawn tournaments list of strong chess tournaments chess olympiad women world chess championship list candidates tournament chess world cup fide grand prix other world championships women team rapid blitz junior youth senior amateur chess composition solving computer chess computer speed chess chess engine related cheating in chess chess aesthetics chess in the arts in early literature chess books opening books endgame literature chess boxing chess club chess composer chess in europe gttingen manuscript chess libraries chess museums chess newspaper columns chess periodicals chess problem glossary joke chess chess prodigy gkyay association chess museum deep blue mutilated chessboard problem notable games pro chess league simultaneous exhibition solving chess staunton chess set top player comparison vteworld chess championships list of world chess championships candidates tournament chess world cup fide grand prix development interzonal interregnum knockout format 19982004 prefide 1886 1889 1891 1892 steinitz 1894 1897 1907 1908 1910 janfeb 1910 novdec lasker 1921 capablanca 1927 1929 1934 alekhine 1935 euwe 1937 alekhine fide 1948 1951 1954 botvinnik 1957 smyslov 1958 botvinnik 1960 tal 1961 botvinnik 1963 1966 petrosian 1969 spassky 1972 fischer 1975 1978 1981 karpov 1984 unfinished 1985 1986 1987 1990 kasparov split titlepcaclassical 1993 1995 kasparov 2000 2004 kramnik fide 1993 1996 1998 karpov 1999 khalifman 2000 anand 2002 ponomariov 2004 kasimdzhanov 2005 topalov fide 2006 kramnik 2007 2008 2010 2012 anand 2013 2014 2016 carlsen 2018 book category portal vtemajor invitational recurring international chess tournaments strong chess tournaments mini chess tournaments roundrobin chess tournaments major presentaverage rating 2700roundrobin system biel chess festival since 1968 dortmund sparkassen chess meeting since 1973 grand chess tour since 2015 grenke chess classic since 2013 london chess classic since 2009 norway chess since 2013 shamkir chess since 2014 sinquefield cup since 2013 tal memorial since 2006 tata steel chess tournament since 1938 zurich chess challenge since 2012 other presentswiss system generally aeroflot open since 2002 australasian masters since 1987 canadian open since 1956 capablanca memorial since 1962 cappellelagrande open since 1985 carlos torre repetto memorial since 1987 chigorin memorial since 1909 doeberl cup since 1963 dubai open since 1999 gibraltar chess festival since 2003 hastings international chess congress since 1920 lublin since 2009 paul keres memorial since 1969 qatar masters open since 2014 reykjavik open since 1964 riga technical university open since 2011 rubinstein memorial since 1963 south african open since 1962 us open chess championship since 1900 vidmar memorial since 1969 vlissingen since 1995 world open since 1973 xtracon chess open since 1979 zurich christmas open since 1977 recently cancelledafter 2000 alekhine memorial 19562013 irregular acropolis 19682009 aerosvit 20062008 amber 19922011 bilbao chess masters final 20082016 howard staunton memorial 20032009 linares 19782010 mar del plata 19282001 millionaire chess 20142016 mtel masters 20052009 north sea cup 19762008 pearl spring 20082010 reggio emilia 19472012 major past19th20th century american chess congress 18571923 carl schlechter memorial 19231996 dsb congress 18791932 general government 19401944 ibm international 19611981 konex 19771994 leopold trebitsch memorial 19071938 lone pine international 19711981 max euwe memorial 19871996 monte carlo 19011904 19671969 netanya 19611983 palma de mallorca 19651972 phillips drew kings 19801986 piatigorsky cup 19631966 san sebastin 19111912 silesian chess congress 19221939 tilburg 19771998 triberg 19141917 chess competitions national championships supranational championships vtechess piecesorthodox pieces rook knight bishop queen king pawn fairy pieces alfil amazon berolina pawn camel centaur dabbaba empress ferz giraffe grasshopper kirin mann nightrider phoenix princess threeleaper tripper wazir zebra related chess set chess box hippogonal colorbound piece point values vtechess variantsorthodox rulesdifferent starting position chess960 displacement chess transcendental chess different number of pieces dunsanys chess handicap unorthodox board balbos game circular chess cross chess cylinder chess double chess flying chess grid chess hexagonal chess infinite chess los alamos chess masonic chess millennium 3d chess minichess rhombic chess threedimensional chess trappist1 unorthodoxrules withtraditionalpiecesstandard88 board andernach chess atomic chess beirut chess checkless chess circe chess crazyhouse cubic chess dynamo chess extinction chess hostage chess knight relay chess legan chess losing chess madrasi chess monochromatic chess patrol chess plunderchess portal chess progressive chess threecheck chess way of the knight multimove variants avalanche chess kungfu chess marseillais chess monster chess progressive chess elements of chance dark chess dice chess knightmare chess kriegspiel penultima unorthodox rules onan unorthodox board alice chess apocalypse chad chessence congo diplomat chess dragonfly jeson mor parallel worlds chess rollerball unorthodoxrules usingnontraditionalpiecesstandard 88 board baroque berolina chakra chess with different armies duell falconhunter chess grasshopper chess pocket mutation chess empress andorprincess pieces almost chess capablanca chess capablanca random chess chigorin chess embassy chess grand chess janus chess maharajah and the sepoys modern chess seirawan chess unorthodox boards chesquerque chess on a really big board dragonchess gess omega chess stratomic triangular chess 2000 ad wildebeest chess wolf chess multiplayer bosworth bughouse chess business chess djambi enochian chess forchess fortress chess fourplayer chess quatrochess threeman chess threeplayer chess trichess inspired games arimaa jetan martian chess navia dratp the duke chessrelatedgameshistorical chaturaji courier chess grant acedrex shatranj short assize tamerlane chess regional banqi game of the three kingdoms hiashatar janggi jungle oukkhmer makruk manchu chess senterej shatar shogi sittuyin xiangqi software chessv fairymax smirf xboard zillions of games related correspondence chess fairy chess fairy chess piece fairy chess review the chess variant pages authority control bnf cb11931920t data gnd 40518917 lccn sh85023121 ndl 00573591 nkc ph116822 