Chess Turns Out to Be Surprisingly Fun

I have to admit, I never thought I would learn to play chess. The game gets a bad rap, especially on TV shows and in movies. Let's face it; it's never a bunch of cool kids whenever they show the chess club and it always leads to bunch of bad stereotypes.

My first venture in to the game of chess came at age eighteen. My brother was home for the weekend from school and asked if I wanted to play him. I laughed and let him know that wouldn't be happening any time soon. But my brother being who he is, he persisted and I ended up relenting to his imploring.

As we sat down to the chess board, I was not expecting much. Honestly, I thought it was going to be more like checkers when I looked at the board. How wrong I was. It was nothing like checkers! All of the different pieces enthralled me and caught my imagination. And how they moved, this was truly a new and exciting experience for me. It was a game of strategy and I was immediately hooked. In fact, I was the one who ended up doing the pestering to play chess from then on, although he never complained.

It never gets old for me. There's always a new strategy to try and no reason to follow the same pattern. No other game provides the constant promise of combining moves and game pieces in an attack manner that differs each time I sit down at a chess board. Sometimes I sacrifice my pawns to pave the way for my more important pieces to assail my opponent. Other times I like to let my knights go charging ahead of the pack to see just how much damage I can do with those two pieces. I like to have fun with it, never forgetting why I became hooked on the game.

This game lets you be creative and actually use your mind. It's not just a bunch of button pushing and loud noises, which are all videogames are these days. It allows true face-to-face interaction with another player. The game forces you to see your opponent, hear your opponent, and study your opponent. When was the last time that a videogames was able to give you that? So give it a try if you haven't already. You won't be disappointed.

Antique Collectible - The Isle Lewis Chess Set

No one knows how the game of Chess began. It is not clear whether one person invented it, or whether several different board games gradually merged into one. Indoor board games have been played for millenniums, but the game Chaturanga, linked to modern-day Chess can be traced back to seventh-century India. Its roots probably go back further. The game may even have emerged from a religious ceremony held in order to divine the balance between good and evil. Since it's so hard to draw exact conclusions from such sparse evidence, we may never know for sure where Chess really originated. Regardless of where it originated, chess is the most enjoyable board game that gentlemen can play. The use of strategy to make and plan moves is loved by many.

From India, Chess spread quickly to Persia (present-day Iran), and after the Arabian conquest, it reached the Arab world. Chaturanga now renamed Shatranj, thrived in the "Golden Age of Islam" between the eight and the eleventh century. The Arabs were great mathematicians, and the numerical nature of Chess complemented their scientific interests. Chess arrived in Europe by a variety of different trade routes and by the early invasions of Spain and Sicily. The Vikings took Chess farther westward, and by the beginning of the eleventh century, Chess was already well known across Europe.

In a short span of time, Chess became the most popular board game in Europe. A very interesting set of chess pieces called the Isle Lewis chess set was found at Nig, in the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. The Isle Lewis chess set dates back to about the twelfth century. The Isle Lewis chess set forms the oldest surviving complete Chess set. The Isle Lewis chess set pieces are usually carved from walrus ivory and depict characters in a variety of bad moods, from rage to gloom. The backs are carved with elaborate interlacing designs like those on the reverse of the old Tarot cards. The Queens rest their cheeks on their right hands, the Kings have swords laid across their laps, while the Bishops are mitered and are seated. The contemporary Isle Lewis chess set is a collection of all chess pieces you need to play a game of Chess.

Many a debate has been settled with the playing of the game. Chess uses advanced strategies in order to plan your moves ahead of time. Without this planning, it is easy to loose a game of chess rather quickly.

7 Deadly Sins Of Chess

1/ Don't move your pieces out to the side. Always aim for the centre where they will guard more squares. For example a knight in the middle of the board could cover 8 or 10 squares but knight at the side of the board may only cover 4. The same can be said for all the pieces. If you take the centre stage your opponent has no option than to attack you from the flanks and this will be a weakened attack.Control the centre and you control the game.

2/ Don't castle too late. Get your King tucked in to the corner as soon as possible and out of harms way. A King left in the centre is vulnerable to attack. By the same token, try to castle to the Kings side as it is safer. If you do have to castle to the Queen's side it will take and extra move to get your King tucked in. A word of caution. Take note of what your opponent is planning. If it looks as if there is going to be an all out assault on the Kings and you cannot stop it side then it would probably be safer to castle Queens side.

3/ Do not move your Queen out to the centre of the board in opening play unless there is a very good reason to do so. A Queen can be chased around the board by a host of pieces and while your Queen a running about like a headless chicken your opponent is developing all his pieces.

4/ The oldest Don't in the book. Don't move one piece twice until you have moved all your pieces once. When I say pieces this does not include the pawns. Your pieces should move as a unit. As one galvanized fighting force all covering for each other. The chess board is no place for individual heroes. Again, this is a guideline and not a hard and fast rule. There will be many times in your chess games where it would be dangerous to do this just for the reason that it is best practice. Also, do not miss an opportunity to take a piece or to move to a good position just because it means moving a piece twice.

5/ Don't get blocked in by your own pawns. Try to move the middle pawns out 2 squares at the beginning to let you bishops and knights out into open play. Nevertheless, remember you can not move pawns backwards and therefore when moving them forward make sure they are going to a safe square and by moving them you will not weaken your defence. Give them back up from other pawns and other pieces.

6/ It here are only two Kings and some pawns left on the board during the end game Don't follow your pawns up to 8the rank with your King for promotion. Try to get your King in from of your own pawns. This prevents the opponents King getting in and blocking your pawns. On the subject of promotion Don't always opt for a Queen. I saw a game once where a player was struggling but managed to promote a pawn but realising this was going to be tool late to save a checkmate opted for a knight. This put the opponents King in immediate check and te King had only one move and he was instantly checkmated. Had he gone for a Queen the King would not have been in check and he would have been checkmated himself in the next move.

7/ If you want to continue improving you chess. Do not forget to record each game you play and go over the positives and the negative moves. Remember when you start playing chess you will lose most of your games. Nonetheless, if you learn from each defeat you will start to win. It took me years to beat my Dad but when I was 12 I studied chess books and practiced what the masters did and low and behold I not only beat my dad totally wiped the floor with him. It was my proudest moment and probably my dad's as well but he would not admit it.

Improving Your Chess Game - How to Play Smarter Than a Fifth Grader

One of the hottest prime-time shows right now is "Are You Smarter Then a 5th Grader", pitting grown ups against kids in a battle of wits. Now I'm not sure if it's rigged or if people really are that "lost" (to put it nicely) but regardless of how you would fare on a show like this, here are a few tips to make sure that at least your chess game is "smarter than a 5th grader's".

Read up on Chess and Chess Strategy

While you may be thinking that you can only improve your game by playing it, this is not true. You can actually find many helpful tips and strategies by reading books and magazines that are about chess. Try to internalize what you learn when you are reading, and then play a game using what you have learned. Then, go back and read some more until you have what you read down pat.

As you are reading, you may also want to take some notes on what you are reading as well. Keep a notebook of new strategies and moves that you read about so you can study them over and over again. Writing them down will also help to imprint them into your mind more deeply as well. Later when you are playing you may want to look at your notes for a bit of help until you can remember the moves on your own.

Play with Advanced Players

Another great way that you can work to improve your chess game is to play with advanced players. Usually it is best if you play with a handicap to make the game more interesting for both players. While you are playing with a more advanced player you can learn from the strategies they use and learn how to combat their strategies as well. The more you play with an advanced player, the more skill you will develop as well.

Practice by Using Computer Software

One way of improving your skills that many people overlook is by using computer software. There are a variety of different computer chess games that you can get so you can play chess against the computer. You can also purchase portable chess games as well so you can play almost anywhere. These games are developed to not only allow you to play the game, but many of them also have a special teaching mode as well that will help you learn how to pick the best moves.

Just taking the time to use these methods of learning can help you enhance and develop your chess skills. While they will help you improve, you probably should not expect to be winning against seasoned players overnight. Learning and improving takes time, but the more you work, the better you will become at this game. Using just one of these methods will help, but using them all together will bring about the best results.

Chess Opening Strategies and Moves To Winning More Tournaments

Many comments have been made about the objectives of the opening play and perhaps the best advice we've heard is the one about being able to get to the middle game with a playable position. This ideally means that you have your king safeguarded, your pieces have decent mobility and scope, you also have sound pawn structures, and you have opportunities to create real threats to decisively win material or even cause a checkmate.

Most chess instructional books will list the following as important opening concepts to achieve the above:-

- Controlling the Centre

- Develop your pieces

- Safeguarding your king, ideal defence, maintaining the integrity of the castled king

- Hinder your opponent's attempts to do any/all of the above

The player who can get the job done quicker will usually be rewarded with a superior middle game position. Tempi is therefore a very critical factor in the opening. Every move counts towards securing key positions, getting another piece orchestrated into the attack and/or keeping the king out of harm's way. Many less skilled players tend to overlook the importance of this. So avoid making futile moves in the opening or attacking too early without sufficient attacking pieces or insufficient backup.

TEMPI is basically how to get there faster.

Some openings are deceptively passive and "quiet" favouring a slow strategical battle and gradually building up tactical opportunities which explodes later into the middle game. Some others are aggressive and explosive very early in the game abounding in tactical opportunities for both with lots of threats and counter threats. And, yet others get very quickly into the middle and the end game usually with a race for pawn promotions determining the eventual winner.

Find an opening that suits your style of play and let it well. Gambits and hypermodern openings are usually favoured by strong tactical players as they often present many exciting tactical opportunities.
Always remember, different openings to suit different style of play.

Strategy and Tactics in Chess

Chess is a very consuming game and it needs your focus, attention, and strategy skills. To win a game, you need chess strategy and tactics. That may seem alike to you but they are not.

Chess strategy and tactics are differentiated by long term and short term. A chess strategy is a strategy you use for the entirety of the game - you move your pieces in a way that is harmonious and interconnected.

On the other hand, chess tactics are for short term goals. Chess tactics are a series of moves that help you get your pieces where you want to be. A tactic could be a fork, a pin, or a sacrifice. A tactic can be used to make your opponent move a zugzwang which means an undesirable move. It means a urging or compulsion to move in German.

Chess strategies are used in your opening, middle game and end game. All three aspects of the game are important and should be balanced. Your opening should provide opportunity for your middle game and your middle game should help you end the game and achieve your goal of capturing your opponent's king or a check mate.

Chess strategy and tactics are learned through vigorous and constant play. You can also read up on chess strategy and tactics, practice them on your board. It is best to be familiar with the chess board before employing all sorts of chess strategy and tactics. Remember, chess strategy and tactics are used to achieve a main goal, they are not the end themselves.

Understanding Chess Move By Move

It is so much to learn when you first started playing chess. These includes understanding the chess board, understanding chess move by move and so on. No doubt the more you take time to learn and apply the strategies you learnt, the better you would be in the long run.
With that said, it is worthwhile to understand chess move by move, both basic and special moves. In a game of chess, each piece moves in a different way. Normally, a piece can not pass through squares occupied by other piece. However, it can move to a square occupied by the opponent's piece. When a piece moves to a square occupied by the opponent, it is said to 'capture' the opponent. Hence, the piece which is captured is eliminated from the board for the remainder of the game.

There are six different pieces in a chess game, namely - King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight and Pawn. The King moves orthogonally and diagonally across only one square at a time. The Queen moves orthogonally or diagonally across any number of squares. The Rook moves forward, backward, left or right across any number of squares. Bishop moves diagonally across any number of squares. The Knight moves in two squares in one direction and one space orthogonal to it. It is the only piece which jumps over other pieces, the rest cannot jump over a square occupied by a piece. The Pawn can move only one square at a time backward or forward. However, if the Pawn is the first piece moved at the start of a game, i.e. if it is the opening move of the game, it can move two squares forward. The Pawn can move one square diagonally in front to capture an opponent piece. It cannot capture an opponent piece by moving forward straight.

Apart from the basic moves, it is also important to understand special chess moves as well. One such move is called 'Castling'. This involves the King and the Rook. If the King and the Rook have not moved yet and all the squares between them are blank, then the King moves two squares forward, towards the Rook. At the same time the Rook moves the two spaces the King has just jumped over. However, this move cannot happen if the King is threatened or has to move through a danger square.

Another special chess move involves the Pawn. If the Pawn moves two squares forward on its first move, it can be captured on the square it has jumped over, as if it had moved only one square only, during the turn immediately after its two-square move. This can be done only by another Pawn.

Remember, the more you increase your understanding of chess move by move, the better chess player, you will become.

Chess - The Ultimate Game of the Mind

Introduction

Chess is a fascinating game of the mind played between two players. Chess is a strategy board game that has been played for hundreds of years. Chess is generally believed to be created in India during the Gupta Empire around the 6th century. The pieces used in the game represented the four divisions of their military which were the infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry. Today those same for divisions have evolved into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook. The game of chess is so intense and competitive, that it is recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee. I know from my experience playing chess that it is fairly easy to learn but it take years to master. I have a chess tutorial that I use when I want to brush up on my skills.

The basics of chess

Chess is not as bad to learn as many make it out to be but can be somewhat complicated because each piece can be moved differently. Chess is played on a square board of eight rows and eight columns. The eight rows are rows called ranks and are referred to with numbers 1 to 8. The eight columns are called files and are referred to with letters a to h. The players are referred to as "White" and "Black" and they each begin the game with 16 pieces. Each player starts the game with 2 bishops, 1 king, 2 knights, 8 pawn, 1 queen, and 2 rooks. (Once the board is properly setup this is where things go wrong for me and I pull out my chess tutorial).

To begin play, pieces are moved to an unoccupied square, or one occupied by an opponent's piece. If you move you piece on your opponents occupied piece you have captured it is removed from the board. When a king is under direct attack by one or two of the opponent's pieces, it is said to be in check and the game can end. A game of chess is usually divided into three parts: the opening which is around the first 10 to 25 moves, (this is when players move their pieces into positions for the upcoming battle); the middle-game, which is said to be the most exciting part of the game; and the endgame, (at this point most of the pieces are gone) when kings usually take a more active part in the struggle.

Chess games do not always end when a king is in check because either player may resign at anytime if they feel they can not win. When it comes time to moving a chess piece, use this basic hint, count the total value of pieces of both sides. Then modify those moves by factors to accommodate for position of the piece (to explain, advanced pawns are usually more valuable than those on their initial squares), the coordination between the pieces (for example, a pair of bishops usually coordinates better than the pair of a bishop and knight), and the type of position (knights are usually better in closed positions with many pawns while bishops are more dominant in open positions).

Chess on the Internet

Internet chess has been popularized by many websites because it allows people to play against the computer, which really provides a challenge. Online chess also improves the game by making a world wide community of chess players accessible for play, despite their geographic location or time zone. People ask me all the time if they can get the chess tutorial I use so they can try and beat a relative in a different state. With so many websites hosting chess games, a person should have no problem finding an online chess game or tournament to participate in.

Conclusion

Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, and in tournaments. In some cases a chess game can go on for days or even weeks without end. Chess is a game that truly enables one to see and predict the consequences of their actions. A good chess strategy can be the difference in winning or losing the game. If one does not really know the mechanics of the game it would not be a bad thing to get purchase a chess tutorial. One of the funniest analogies I've heard refers to chess as a "beautiful mistress to whom we keep coming back, no matter how many times she rejects us."

Chess Clock - How We Use One In A The Modern Game Of Chess

An increasingly popular variation on the standard 'International' chess is known as speed chess. The game involves the use of a chess clock to measure a set period of time in which each player has to make their move, and if the chess clock runs out on a player, they automatically forfeit the match. Not for the feint hearted, speed chess is only recommended for advanced players with an in-depth knowledge of the game, etiquette and strategy of chess.

Speed Chess takes its origins in standard chess, and is a more convenient way of squeezing in a game in your coffee break, or whenever you have spare moment. All you need is a standard chess board and set, a chess clock (which will have two independent clocks and the ability to singularly stop each clock as they count down) and a willing opponent. All the normal rules of chess apply, except in a few specific instances when they are overridden by new rules to regulate such speedy play.

An interesting twist on the rules of speed chess as opposed to standard International Chess rules, is that it is the players obligation to watch both his and his opponents chess clock. If the either clock runs out, the player with the active clock automatically wins, although it is up to him to call his victory, and if he fails to take notice, the game may continue until he does take notice. Having said that, the status of the clocks outweighs any positioning on the board, so even if a player would have won a standard game, if his clock runs out he forfeits. Additionally, in speed chess, if a player makes an illegal move at any stage in the game, regardless of the chess clock, he again forfeits to his opponent.

In speed chess, the chess clock may be set to either 3 or 5 minutes, although rarely other timings can be used. It is a fast-paced, entertaining game, which is both riveting and inspiring to watch, and arguably would draw more attention than an ordinary standard match. Before learning or playing speed chess as a separate entity, it is vital to master the fundamentals of standard International chess, as many of the same foundational rules apply, as well as allowing you to get a grip on the various pieces and their uses. Speed chess is only really recommended for the more accomplished player, as it demands lightening fast reactions to avoid the chess clock, although for the beginner to intermediate, it is also great fun. It is also advisable to get a full run down on the rules which can easily be located online, to avoid the potential for any disputes which may arise from this great variation on the standard game of chess.

So if you have the time, why not give speed chess a go? There's a fair chance if you go to your local chess club, someone will be game for a match, or why not try teaching a friend how to play? The best idea for improving at speed chess is practice, and in no time at all, you'll realize a startling improvement to both your speed chess and your understanding of the game as a whole.