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By convention, the 64 squares alternate in color and are referred to as light and dark squares common colors for chessboards are white and brown, or white and green.įirst row: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. The game is played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks) and eight columns (called files). Each set consists of sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The players of the sets are referred to as White and Black, respectively. Chess pieces are divided into two sets, usually light and dark colored, referred to as white and black, regardless of the actual color or design. The Staunton pattern is the most common, and is usually required for competition. FIDE's rules were most recently revised in 2023.Ĭhess sets come in a wide variety of styles. Rules published by national governing bodies, or by unaffiliated chess organizations, commercial publishers, etc., may differ in some details.
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The rules of chess are published by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs "International Chess Federation"), chess's world governing body, in its Handbook. Today's chess engines are significantly stronger than the best human players and have deeply influenced the development of chess theory however, chess is not a solved game. In 1997, Deep Blue became the first computer to beat the reigning World Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov. One of the goals of early computer scientists was to create a chess-playing machine. Aspects of art are found in chess composition, and chess in its turn influenced Western culture and the arts, and has connections with other fields such as mathematics, computer science, and psychology. A huge body of chess theory has developed since the game's inception. The first universally recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886 Ding Liren is the current World Champion. Chess competition today is governed internationally by FIDE (the International Chess Federation). Organized chess arose in the 19th century. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw. The game is won by checkmating the opponent's king, i.e. At the start, each player controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. It is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games played by millions of people worldwide.Ĭhess is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance. The rules of chess as they are known today emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by the end of the 19th century. The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga, in seventh century India. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games such as xiangqi (Chinese chess) and shogi (Japanese chess). Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king.
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