Each player begins with sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, and eight pawns. every of the six piece sorts moves otherwise, with the foremost powerful being the queen and therefore the least powerful the pawn. the target is to checkmate[note 1] the opponent’s king by inserting it beneath associate inevitable threat of capture. to the current finish, a player’s items area unit accustomed attack and capture the opponent’s items, whereas supporting one another. additionally to checkmate, the sport is won by voluntary resignation of the opponent, which generally happens once an excessive amount of material is lost, or checkmate seems ineluctable. A game can even in many ways that finish in a very draw.
Chess is believed to own originated in India someday before the seventh century, being derived from the Indian game chaturanga, that is additionally the doubtless antecedent of the jap strategy games xiangqi, janggi, and shogi. (A minority read holds that chess originated in China.) The items assumed their current powers in Spain within the late fifteenth century; the principles were finally standardized within the nineteenth century. the primary typically recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886. Since 1948, the planet Championship has been regulated by FIDE, the game’s international organisation. FIDE additionally organizes the Women’s World Championship, the planet Junior Championship, the planet Senior Championship, the Blitz and speedy World Championships, and therefore the Chess Olympiad, a preferred competition among international groups. there’s additionally a Correspondence Chess World Championship and a World laptop Chess Championship. on-line chess has opened amateur and skilled competition to a large and varied cluster of players.
FIDE awards titles to ball-hawking players, the very best of that is player. several national chess organizations even have a title system; but, these don’t seem to be recognized by FIDE.
Until recently, chess was a acknowledged sport of the International Olympic Committee; some national sporting bodies like the Spanish Consejo Superior DE Deportes additionally recognize chess as a sport. Chess was enclosed within the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games.
Since the half of the twentieth century, computers are programmed to play chess with increasing success, to the purpose wherever the strongest home computers play at the next level than the simplest human players. Since the Nineties, laptop analysis has contributed considerably to chess theory, significantly within the endgame. The IBM laptop Deep Blue was the primary machine to beat a regnant World Chess Champion in a very match once it defeated Garry Gary Weinstein in 1997. the increase of robust laptop programs (called “engines”) runnable on hand-held devices has crystal rectifier to increasing issues regarding cheating throughout tournaments.
There also are several chess variants that utilize completely different rules, pieces, or boards. one amongst these, Chess960 (originally “Fischerandom”), has gained widespread quality additionally as restricted FIDE recognition.