Learn Chess

Chess is a classic strategy game for two players, and is based entirely around skill, with no luck involved. There is one exception, which is in the initial choice of which player gets the black or white pieces - this is often done at random - but even this element of chance can be removed by the playing a series of games with both players starting as black and white an equal number of times.

Chess is known to be an ancient game, but its exact origins are shrouded in the ancient past and thus somewhat uncertain. Many countries have laid claim to having invented the game, but it is probably fair to say that the majority of historians would probably attribute the creation of chess to ancient Persia (modern day Iran).

The game of chess is based around each player taking turns moving one of their pieces (each player begins the game with 16 pieces) around a board containing a 8 X 8 grid of squares. Each player has several different types of pieces (Pawns, Rooks, Knights, Bishops, Queen and King), and each of the different types of pieces have different movement capabilities. The objective of the game is to "checkmate" the opponent's King, that is to say to threaten the opponent's King with capture in the next turn in such a way that no responsive move could prevent the capture of the King.

The challenge (and complexity) of the game arises from not only planning how to use your own pieces in concert several moves ahead of time, but also in anticipating your opponent's likely moves in the upcoming turns.

By S. Tanna. Learn Chess was first published at http://www.downloadfocus.com/cat_hobbies_chess.php

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