chess, one of the oldest and most popular board games, played by two opponents on a checkered board with specially designed pieces of contrasting colours, commonly white and black. White moves first, after which the players alternate turns in accordance with fixed rules, each player attempting to force the opponent’s principal piece, the king, into checkmate—a position where it is unable to avoid capture.
Chess first appeared in India about the 6th century ce as a game called chaturanga. By the 10th century it had spread from Asia to the Middle East and Europe. Since at least the 15th century, chess has been known as the royal game because of its popularity among the nobility. Rules and set design slowly evolved until both reached today’s standard in the early 19th century. Once an intellectual diversion favoured by the upper classes, chess went through an explosive growth in interest during the 20th century as professional and state-sponsored players competed for an officially recognized world championship title and increasingly lucrative tournament prizes. Organized chess tournaments and Internet chess now attract men, women, and children around the world.
Individual moves and entire games can be recorded using one of several forms of notation. By far the most widely used form, algebraic or coordinate notation, identifies each square from the point of view of the player with the light-coloured pieces, called White. The eight ranks are numbered 1 through 8 beginning with the rank closest to White. The files are labeled a through h beginning with the file at White’s left hand. Each square has a name consisting of its letter and number, such as b3 or g8. Additionally, files a through d are referred to as the queenside, and files e through h as the kingside.
The board represents a battlefield in which two armies fight to capture each other’s king. A player’s army consists of 16 pieces that begin play on the two ranks closest to that player. There are six different types of pieces: king, rook, bishop, queen, knight, and pawn; the pieces are distinguished by appearance and by how they move.Each player has two rooks formerly also known as castles,which begin the game on the corner squares a1 and h1 for White, a8 and h8 for Black. A rook can move vertically or horizontally to any unobstructed square along the file or rank on which it is placed.
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