CHESS

HISTORY OF CHESS
 Chess can tell you a great deal about the way people lived in medieval times. Chess was played
many centuries ago in China, India and Persia.
 It was originated in India as “CHATURANGA” or SHATURANGA
- it was originated in India around A.D 600
- CHATURANGA meant “four-limbed”, which referred to the four parts of the ARMY:
1. CHARIOTS (2)
2. HORSES (2)
3. ELEPHANTS (2)
4. FOOT SOLDIERS (8)

*as well as pieces representing the RULER and his MINISTER

 CHATURANGA PIECES
1. The CHARIOTS- moved swiftly horizontally and vertically the cahriot became the ROOK.
2. The HORSES- could leap obstacles and turn quicly. The horse became the KNIGHT.
3. The ELEPHANTS- was limited to moving two squares diagonally. The elephant became the
BISHOP.
4. The FOOT SOLDIERS- the foot soldier became the PAWN, which cannot move backward to
retreat.
5. The MINISTER- could move only one square diagonally. This became the QUEEN.
6. The RULER- most important piece in chess, can move only one square at a time. The ruler
became the KING.

 CHECKMATE- was a win (in persia, “shah” (KING) “sha mat” (checkmate) played around 600 C.E
and named SHATRANJ
 STALEMATE- or “a bare king” (no pieces left), were also considered a win.
 PAWNS- could promote, but only to a minister (a weak piece)

London, 1851- the first professional chess tournament.

1924- world chess federation was founded in Paris.

 CHESS spread to EUROPE (EUROPEAN CHESS)

- Chess reached Europe by A.D 1000 from contacts with the muslim world.
- it was very popular with the knights and nobility.
- Chess was believed to reach the SPAIN by the 11th Century.
- Chess in the form it is today appeared in Southern Europe at the end of the 15th
Century.
 CHANGE in RULES
- 2 square pawn advance
- Capturing en passant
- Castling
- King remained
- Pawns remained foot soldiers
- Elephant became the bishop
- Chariot became the rook
- Queen became the most powerful piece

* in English term the Elephant changes to Bishop, Horse to Knight ( other Christian
countries adopted other names, German uses “springer” for knight), Ministes to Queen
and kept its weak moves until about 1475.

 Other forms of CHESS

- Chinese Chess or Shiang-Chi
- Japanese Chess or Shogi
- Sittuyin or Burmese Chess
- Korean Chess
- Cambodian Chess
 Other Chess Sets
- American Civil War
- Gothic
- Sherlock Holmes
- Viking Ralders
- Roman

17th Century- modern castling in a single move was born.

Around 13th Century- players were allowing the king to move two squares in first move.

In the 13th Century- pawns were allowed to move 2 square on the first move.

 En passant (in passing) captures was not allowed in some areas into the 19th century.
 Medieval chess treated stalemate as a win, but an English book in 1614 said “a stale is very
dishonorable to him that giveth it”, and declared a stalemate a loss for the player giving it.
 The loss by stalemate rule was used in England and American until the 19th Century, when the
stalemate draw rule became universal.

REPETICION de AMORES y ARTE de AJEDREZ

(by LUIS RAMIREZ de LUCENA)

- As of today this is the oldest known book of Chess

- It means REPEAT LOVES and ART of CHESS
 -
 GOVERNING BODY of CHESS
 FIDE- Federation Interational des Eches (International Chess Federation)
 USCF- United States Chess Federation

Karl Ernst Adolf Andersen

- was born on July 6, 1812

- a german chess master
- world’s leading chess player for much of the 1850’s and 1860’s
- was died March 13, 1879

Yuri Lvovich Averbakh

- oldest living chess grandmaster

- a Soviet and Russian chess player
- born February 8, 1922/

Chennais Gukesh

- youngest grandmaster of chess

- he is just only a 12 years old
- he is from the country India
 EQUIPMENTS

The Chessboard and its pieces

THE CHESSBOARD

- There are no official measurements for chess board and pieces in a tournament. There
are provisions for deciding on whose equipment is used in a tournament game. In
general, most tournament boards have 2 ¼ squares and in general the king is between 3
¾ and 4.

RULER- 2

MINISTER- 2

BISHOP- 4

KNIGHT- 4

ROOK- 4

PAWN- 16

The Chess Clock

- the typical time limit is 5 minutes for each player for all of the moves. Rapidplay is played
with typical time limits of 30 minutes for each player for all the moves. Local league chess
has typical time controls of 35 moves in 75 minutes and then perhaps 15 or 20 minutes
to finish the game.