Playing the Popular Sport of Chess Online

The game of chess is believed to have originated in India, from where it moved to Europe and the Middle East. The earliest literary reference to the game dates back to Persia in the fifth century A.D. It is among the most popular games that the world has known, and a mind-boggling number of people are aware of the rules of the game. Even the uninitiated are familiar with the name of Garry Kasparov who achieved the highest rating by the World Chess Federation till date. As recently as September 2007, Vishwanathan Anand became the World Champion.

The game of chess required us to put on our thinking caps. Football and tennis may reveal the physical fitness of a sportsperson, but a well-played game of chess exhibits the mental agility of the player. The game may be slow, but enthusiasts will assert that it is not at all boring. The strategies and tactics that are utilized by the players reveal their skill at the game. Over the centuries, strategies of various kinds have been developed by expert chess players such as Philidor and Steinitz. Today, hundreds of chess books offer to help beginners learn the tricks of the game.

The kings of the past may have used the game to develop their strategy for war. Nowadays, it has transformed into a popular sport. Playing the game online has become quite an obsession. However, the basic principles remain unchanged. The chess player must still exercise foresight and caution before making a move. If one is looking to win, one cannot afford to make rash moves.

It would not be wrong to say that the Internet has fuelled a further craze for the game of chess. In the fast-paced world that we inhabit, it is often difficult to find a fellow enthusiast who has the time for a game. However, on turning to the online world, we can find other like-minded players. Alternatively, we can play against the computer itself. The rise of online chess has ensured that more and more people are beginning to fine tune their chess-playing skills.

We may read scores of books that tell us "How to Play Chess". We may seek advice from people who are fairly expert at the game. However, the best advice comes from actually playing the game. Those of us who are hooked to the online version of chess will testify that it has helped us hone our skills to a great extent.

All You Need to Know About Virtual Chess and Checkers

Without a doubt, strategy games are way better than any other kinds of games such as action games or first person shooter games. The reason I love strategy games so much is that they, aside from providing good entertainment also improves ones intellectual abilities. Strategy games improve the players decision making capabilities. Download able games and free online strategy games are rapidly gaining popularity nowadays due to the entertainment they provide and also due to the fact that they can be so easily downloaded and played.

Strategy games are widely played as board games and as virtual games. The virtual games are slowly gaining popularity over the board games due to the benefits they provide. To play a board game you need another opponent to play the game with you, with an opponent you will not be able to enjoy the game, also in strategy games it is very difficult to find an opponent that is of your intellectual level. The opponent will either be too easy or too difficult to play with. All these problems are solved in virtual games, if they are free online strategy games or download able games, in such games the slot of the opponent is filled in by the computer, what's better is that you can even choose the level of difficulty for your opponent. If you are a beginner at that game then an easy level will suit you or if you are experienced at the game you are playing and are looking for a challenge then you should choose a harder difficulty.

All strategy games are enjoyable to play but the kings of strategy games are chess and checkers. These games have been around for as long as I can remember and we have been playing them as board games. But thanks to today's computer world both of these games can be downloaded and played for free. Chess and checkers have been created in stunning 3-D graphics. The level of difficulty can be chosen by the player and it does not matter if you are a complete beginner at the game as most of the games today also teach you how to play while you play the game, explain every move and also tell you why this move was better than the other moves available to us. So in other words we get a virtual tutor who is ever patient and friendly.

Checkers is much simpler than chess, there are only 2 colors on the board one player chooses one color while his opponent chooses the other. Victory is achieved by clearing the board of the other players pieces. Chess on the other hand is much more complicated and therefore more fun to play. In chess each player controls 16 pieces; one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponents king.

People who have not yet played chess and would like to learn it should download a game today, since I already mentioned how games also help the players learn the game while they play it. Playing with the computer is also ideal for those who want to improve their game because playing with harder difficulty will really improve your game and once you can beat the computer at high difficulty levels no human player will be able to defeat you in that game.

The Best Abstract Strategy Board Games

Abstract Strategy is the title given to the types of board games which offer direct competition between two players with no hidden information or random chance involved. When two players face off, head to head, the only obstacles present are the puzzles that they present to each other. For this fact and the fact that every time a move is made, everything about that move, save for the player's intention, are immediately known, these games are given over to a form of abstract strategy, hence the name. Players need to outsmart their opponent in order to win, no amount of luck will aid them in victory.

Chess is highly considered to be one of the most popular abstract strategy games available. Considering that Chess is one of the most popular games in the world, it is no wonder that it is given some of the best recommendations in the world of abstract strategy. The game is played on a square board, with 8 rows and 8 columns of squares. Players choose a side, generally either white or black, and set their pieces according to a standard format. 8 pawns make up the inner row while the back row consists of the specialty pieces, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, the queen, and the king. Each piece has a special way of moving and cannot break that pattern. By using these different pattern movements, players must try to "checkmate" the other player's king piece, putting it into a position where it will be captured and nothing can be done to stop this. The player who can do this first is declared the winner of Chess.

Other games exist within the abstract strategy realm, however. Go, a game that dates back to Ancient China, is considered to be even more popular than Chess. It has much simpler rules yet requires just as much strategic thought as its European counterpart. Two players, again black and white, take turns placing a colored stone on the board, which has been marked with a 19 by 19 grid of perpendicular lines. Once a stone has been placed on one of the intersections, it cannot be moved from that space, and players try to make chains between their stones. When a chain of stones has been made, no matter the size, it cannot be broken, only removed from the board.

If one player is able to completely surround another player's chain, those player's stones are removed from the board. Play continues until both players can find no more moves available to them, and scoring commences. There a few different styles to tabulating the scores of Go, but both methods generally consider both the number of stones on the board as well as the number of stones which have been captured. These two numbers are often directly in proportion to each other, as stones captures come from areas surrounded, which is considered to be another form of scoring.

Abstract strategy games allow players to think outside the box when they are confronting an opponent, which can be refreshing to many players who tire quickly of traditional board games that rely mainly on luck. These games are often the games which have lasted through history, always providing something that other games do not. They can be used to help educate and keep the mind sharp, and for this reason, they are some of the most beloved games available today.

The Great Benefits Of Chess - Improve At Chess Now, Enjoy 3 Huge Benefits And Valuable Life Skills

Chess - with thousands of books written about it (tactics, strategy, openings, its history, etc.), this 64-squared board game is, without a doubt, the most popular of its kind.

Now, you may be thinking: "Aside from the bragging rights of being the best chess player around the block and winning games, why are people all over the globe are trying really hard to improve at chess? What are the great benefits of chess?"

The answer: A LOT!

I would go as far as saying that learning chess the right way makes you a better and well rounded person - more productive, more disciplined, better at decision making, etc. than those who don't!

Great Benefits Of Chess 1

Unlike other popular sports and games out there, you don't need to be physically strong or mentally talented to enjoy the game.

Heck! Believe it or not, even the world's greatest players (Reshevsky, Carlsen, etc.) are NOT the smartest guys among their peers. These world-class chess players only have average or above average IQs. This is something.

YES, chess is something you can excel in. It's a game that could bring fulfillment no matter what your age, IQ, etc. is.

Great Benefits Of Chess 2

Playing, learning, and improving in chess expose you to a disciplined environment. Getting better at chess requires you to regularly study all its 3 phases -

1. Chess opening

2. Learn chess tactics and strategies

3. Master the subtleties of the endgame.

Being disciplined is something that you can take with you and benefit from no matter where you are - whether you are working at the corporate world, as a freelancer, building your own business, and everything else in between.

Great Benefits Of Chess 3

Life is full of challenges, and so is a game of chess!

How to face your opponent's opening novelties? Which strategy to pursue in a branching variation of the Sicilian Defense? Should you pursue an aggressive and tactical strategy or one that is quiet and try to acquire positional advantages?

These are just some of the questions and challenges that a chess player faces every time he sits at the board. When you are used to these kinds of chess problems and challenges, when you can keep your head cool and clear despite the hardships, dealing with life, which can be a prick, is MUCH easier!

Visualwize Chess Training Software: A Review

Chess enthusiasts of all levels are always seeking ways to improve their chess skills, so that they can win at chess games, whether they play professionally or socially.

One of the most effective ways to improve your chess skills is to use a chess visualization software, which enables you to practice and improve your visualization skills. Visualization is one of the most important skills you need to succeed in chess.

A program that is apparently gaining a lot of popularity and is helping many people to improve their chess is Visualwize Chess Training Software.

Let's address the basic questions on this software.

What is it?

Visualwize is a chess training software that trains your ability to have a clear mental picture of chess moves before you make these moves on the board. This enables you to assess the implications of your moves before you make the actual moves. This therefore enables you to play better at chess, as you will be able to make the right decisions and avoid making some mistakes that would make you lost a game.

This program has 240 visualization training exercises which are designed to develop your visualization skills. It has and more than 1200 moves to visualize. These moves are real moves made by a master player in real chess games. With the software, you can train to visualize up to 8 moves ahead.

The program consists of 4 levels, level 1 being rather easy and level 4 being hard. You can order the level that suits your needs. For those who really want to significantly improve their skills, level 4, the complete program, is recommended.

How does it work - what does the program actually do?

In simple terms, the program shows a chess position from a game between two chess masters, and then, with arrows, it shows the next few moves that have been made in that position by the renowned chess masters. The arrows stop in a position where a tactic, i.e., a combination that wins the game exists.

Unlike other programs and books that use written annotations for the moves, this program uses arrows on the board. This means it reflects a realistic playing scenario, and you don't have to take your attention and eyes from the board to read written annotations.

This is one major factor that separates this program from others that are available on the Internet today. Rather than building up the skill of moving your eyes between notation and the board, Visualwize trains you in the art of seeing unfolding moves without actually affecting the board.

On the website where the program is offered, there are many informative and short videos that you can watch, which describe how the program works.

Why is it important - what benefits can you get from this program?

It is recommended that chess players wanting to take their chess to the next level use this program because it offers several benefits:

• You will be able to see more chess moves ahead, before you actually make any move on the board, giving you an opportunity to assess the consequences of every move before you make it.
• You will avoid making mistakes which can make you lose a game in an instant.
• You will make the most of your training time since you will be able to easily visualize the notation below chess diagrams.
• You become an efficient and effective chess player - you won't need to calculate variations several times over because you will be able to clearly the consequences of your move in your mind, saving you a lot of time.
• You will make a wise investment that will help you significantly improve your chess - the program is favourably priced at only $30. If you were to hire a chess coach, you would pay a very high fee per hour of the coach's time to train you.
• It is convenient - once you purchase the program, you can train at any time of the day or night, as much as you want.

With several books and programs on how to improve chess, available today, Visualwize is considered to be a cut above the rest among many chess enthusiasts.

Training Chess Tactics - Is Visualwize The Best Software For Improving Your Chess Tactical Skills?

Chess is primarily about tactics; hence improving your chess tactics is essential. Richard Teichmann, a famous German chess master, said in 1908: "Chess is 99 percent tactics", and he was right.

Whether you are just starting out in the fascinating game of chess, or a seasoned player, you'll know that it is important to make the right moves and have excellent tactics.

Today, there are several programs that claim they can help you improve your chess tactics and visualization skills, and it can be daunting to establish which one is the best.

Visualwize is a chess training software designed to train your visualization ability in the game. Developed by Louis Holtzhausen, a software developer, chess coach and chess enthusiast, Visualwize is a program that allows you to replicate the exact moves used by masters in actual chess matches, enabling you to advance your visualization skills. As your visualization capabilities improve from using this program, your tactical, decision making, and strategy expertise automatically improve.

What makes Visualwize unique?

Visualization is a basic and essential skill that you need if you want to advance from being an amateur to a master chess player, or if you just want to beat all your friends and chess opponents, and impress them with your abilities.

Visualwize is a program that trains your ability to see chess moves in your mind even before you make them on the board, allowing you to think about the outcomes of your moves before you make the actual moves. This particular skill is what separates winners from losers in this game.

There are some books that claim that they can train you to improve chess visualization skills. However, these books use written chess notations, and this is the major drawback as you will need to continually take your eyes and concentration away from the board to read the notations.

There are some software programs on the Internet that also claim to help your chess visualization skills - but, just like the books, they also use written notation, which means you will need to take your eyes off the board to read these. This is an ineffective and unnatural way to visualize your chess moves, and is not the best way to advance your skills.

Visualwize is unique because the program uses on-the-board arrows to show the moves to visualize, which means you keep your concentration on the board, enabling you to practice your concentration abilities.

What makes this program probably the best tool for training your chess tactics and visualization skills?

• There are no other programs available that train chess visualization ability like Visualwize does, using on-the-board arrows. This means you do not have to take your eyes off the board to read notation first. This simulates the reality when you are sitting behind the board in a match.


• You will increase your tactical awareness since the program requires you to see the tactics in an imaginary position, helping you to make your moves with confidence.


• You will save a lot of thinking time since you will not need to calculate many variations because you will be able to clearly see the consequences of your move in your mind.


• The program's exercises come from actual master games and have been hand-picked from a large database of high level chess games. This ensures top quality material, and represents a realistic game scenario.

Practice makes perfect. This adage applies to many things in life, but more so to the game of chess. When it comes to training the visualization and tactical aspect of chess, Visualwize is perhaps the best tool available. You can improve your chess tactics and visualization skills with Visualwize, and all that you need to do is to get the program and practice.

Chess Sets - How to Find the Right One

Are you thinking about purchasing a chess set for yourself or for someone as a gift? Chess sets come in a lot of different styles, are made from a variety of materials, and are used for different purposes so you will want to know what you are looking for. Chess is a game of skill and strategy that takes a little practice and knowledge to get good at, but once you have learned the game it is a fun and relaxing pastime that you will be hooked on. If you are looking for the right chess board set this information will help you out.

If you are just starting to learn how to play the game of chess then there are a few different types of chess boards you may be interested in. A magnetic chess set will allow for you to be able to play chess when you are taking a road trip in a vehicle, flying on a plane or on your breaks at work. You will never have to worry about the pieces moving around while you are not around your board. Some beginning chess players choose to play with a wooden chess set which can be found in a lot of different styles. You may find wooden chess sets that have plastic chess pieces or you may find ones that have solid wood pieces for you to play with. You will also find a folding chess board set that is made of wood and will provide storage for the chess pieces while you are not playing with them.

If you are an advanced chess player you may want to choose a chess board that has a little bit more to offer. Since most beginner chess sets are usually low end and made mostly for those who want to learn the game and get good before they invest in a chess board set on the next level, you will find more high quality sets that are more durable and will allow you to use them longer. You will find different types of wood that the chess boards and pieces are made from which will be able to provide you with the look that you want. You will pay a little bit more for a professional set but the quality will match the price.

If you are looking for a chess board set for children you will be able to find several great kids chess sets that they will love playing with. You can find Disney chess sets that feature characters from six of their favorite Disney movies. Also, if your child is a Harry Potter fan you will be able to find the Harry Potter chess set that is played with in the movie. Many of the kids chess sets are very beautiful, elegant, and durable so they are perfect for children to carry out their own fantasy while learning how to play the game of chess. There are a lot of kid chess sets that are not being made by the manufacturer any longer so they are hard to find. This means that they are not only perfect for children but collectors love them as well.

There are several other chess sets that you may be interested in. If you are a beginning chess player you may want to choose a magnetic or folding board that you can take with you on the go and play every chance you get. If you are an expert or professional player you will want to select a board that is more durable and sturdy so that it will last you for a long time. There are also several chess boards for kids and collectors to enjoy. No matter which type of chess board set you are looking for you will be able to find the perfect one to play the best game on Earth.

Unique Chess Sets And The Game Of Chess

The game of chess as we know it today has its roots in the 2nd half of the 15th century emerging out of Southern Europe. Once an obscure game considered to be an intellectuals only game, it has blossomed into one of the most popular games on the planet with clubs devoted to nothing but strategy and execution of the game.

The game itself is played on a 64 square checkered board with a fairly complex set of rules. The game is very strategic with some players calculating moves out several moves in advance. A number of books have been written on the subject of strategy and knowledge when it comes to the game of chess and you can simply do a Google search for Chess Strategy to be inundated with options.

As with any popular sport, the equipment involved in the game has been improved on and perfected over the years. Many chess connoisseurs take their chess sets very seriously. It's not uncommon for any participant in any sport to want nothing but the very best equipment available. A number of unique chess sets have appeared over the years with everything from current events to movie characters finding their way onto the chess board. I have seen:

• Dragon Chess Sets
• Gothic Chess Sets
• Pewter Chess Sets
• Civil War Chess Sets
• Lord of the Rings Chess Sets
• Jade Chess Sets
• Crystal Chess Sets
• Staunton Chess Sets
• Franklin Mint Collectible Chess Sets
• Egyptian Chess Sets
• Marble Chess Sets
• War Chess Sets
• Handmade Chess Sets

You name it, just about any kind of chess set imaginable is available out there. Many of these unique chess sets are absolutely stunning and are considered a work of art by those who appreciate the game. Some of Unique Chess Sets or Decorative Chess Sets are almost too good to play the game with, you would want to use them for decoration only.

Speaking of decoration, nothing can finish off a room or office like a beautiful unique chess set that is tailored to the personality of the owner. If you are looking for a thoughtful, personal and very unique gift then a chess set might be the ticket.

Teach Yourself Chess - Calling All Beginners and Children

When a beginner comes to play chess for the first time, it is inevitable that they will be somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer complexity and volume of material they need to learn. Just grasping the mere basics of this wondrous game is in itself intimidating. However, like anything else we want to master, once we can get our psychology sorted, motives, anticipation of pleasure to come and the satisfaction of having a brand new skill, we are well on the way to ultimate victory.

The very first step is to set up your board. Next, learn the basic moves moving the piece strategies and what the main aim of your game is. Let me give you a brief overview in this article as to how to set about this. I'll do my level best to make it as simple as possible. I'll even use the ABC method. You may have heard the old adage "simplicity is the essence of genius". I have no idea who said that, but I fully agree! So, here goes:

A) The Board: You will see that the board has been divided into alternate black and white squares. These are set as 8 rows of 8 squares. The pieces are placed, according to the rules of chess two rows in front of each player on opposite sides of the board.

B) The Pieces: Although the pieces are, according to tradition usually termed "black" or "white", they can actually be any colour. Each of the players possesses 8 pawns, two rooks/castles, two knights/horses, two bishops, one queen and one king. Pawns are placed in the front row and rooks, knights, bishops and king and queen at the back row.

C) The Moves: The Pawns can move forwards two squares for the initial move, and forward one square thereafter. In a "capture" move to take their opponent's piece they are allowed to move diagonally one square to the right or the left.

Rooks: They are able to move forwards, backwards or sideways, but are not allowed to jump over a piece.

Knights: This rule is a little more complicated. They move erratically -two spaces forward and one square to the right or left in an L shape.

Bishops: This piece can move in a diagonal across the board but are not allowed to jump pieces.

Queen: She is able to move forward, backward, side to side but again, cannot jump any of the other pieces.

King: He can move one square in any direction: forward, backwards sideways or diagonally.

The purpose at all times in the game of chess is to capture your opponents King, whilst carefully guarding your own of course. You'll also want to sweep the board of all their other pieces too, or as much as possible. As you start, falteringly perhaps at the start of your training, and as you gain more skill (which with practice is inevitable), you'll soon be able and competent to play the more complex rules and strategies of the great game of chess. Good Playing!

Tips That Every Chess Player Should Know

Chess is a game which can employ a number of different strategies and tactics. Every player needs to discover their own style, trial and error is some of the best ways for a player to learn what works and what doesn't. A number of different styles all can lend themselves to a great game of Chess and each of those styles can perfectly fit different players and personalities. However, as different as each Chess player is, there are a number of tips that each and every good Chess player will follow and keep in mind throughout the game.

The most important part of playing a smart Chess game is to always pay attention. It sounds simple, but this is actually the downfall of most players. They miss an opponent's move or are so concentrated on what their next step might be that they miss something crucial and ruin their entire game. In addition to paying attention, it is important that the player always be thinking ahead. Having a plan is important in constructing a great Chess strategy, but being adaptable is also important.

Whenever an opponent makes a move, it is important for a player to fully evaluate that move, trying to determine why it was made. Players don't make Chess moves simply for the sake of moving, there is always a reason and a plan behind the move being made. Figuring out the opponent's plan is a key part of playing a smart Chess game. If a player can figure out an opponent's plan before it has been fully hatched, it is possible to thwart the plan ahead of time. This can throw the opponent off and buys the player more time, for they now do not need to rush to react to an event that played out on the board.

It is also vitally important for any player to realize just how much the pieces on a board are worth. Each Chess piece has been given a ranked number based on how important they are. Pawns are considered to be worth 1 point each, while Knights and Bishops are worth 3. Rooks are 5 and Queens are 9 points each. Knowing these point values are handy because they can help players keep in mind what is important when it comes to strategy. A Queen is very valuable, as it has the most range and can do the most damage, yet two Rooks can accomplish even more. Many times, sacrifices need to be made in a Chess game and knowing which piece is better to sacrifice will help in the long term of the game.

Keeping the endgame in mind is always a smart investment as well. For example, if a sacrifice needs to be made between a Bishop and a Knight, it is good to keep in mind that a Bishop has a farther range during the endgame. However, on the other hand, this may not be of much importance if the Knight will help more in getting a player to the endgame. There are a lot of things that any good Chess player needs to juggle during a game. Practice is the best key in building all of these skills. Keeping these few tips in mind during a game, however, will show drastic improvements in any player's results.

Chess Tactics & Strategy

Chess tactics and strategy are incredibly complicated, to the point where even a computer can't work out the best strategy in every situation. There are literally millions of possibilities, making it impossible to evaluate them all.

For this reason, chess strategy has been getting gradually more advanced through the ages, as masters of the time write books about their strategies and influence the next generation of players. This also means that observing a particular player's strategies can make it easier to work out how to beat them, regardless of how much you know about chess itself.

While advanced chess strategy and tactics would take years or even a lifetime to learn (it is, in fact, pretty much impossible to learn it all), we can lay out two basic moves here, just to get you started.

To begin with, pretty much the most common move in any game of chess is to pin the other player's pieces. Pinning is when you use one of your pieces to stop the other player from moving one of theirs, as doing so would allow you to take an important piece such as a rook or a queen. A skilled chess player can easily stop almost all your pieces from moving anywhere, effectively controlling your side of the board as well as their own.

A skewer is pretty much the same move as a pin, only the other way around: the more important piece is the one in front, not the one behind. It appears that you are moving your piece into the line of fire, but in reality they are covered. If your opponent takes your piece, they will lose their important piece to your covering piece in the next move, but if they don't take it, then your piece is in a position to take them. This forces them to move their important piece out of the way, allowing you to take the weaker one behind.

Chess - The Game Of Skill

"Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent's mind." - Bobby Fischer.

Chess, the most popular game in the world, has a long history dating back more than a thousand years. Board games similar Chess have been discovered on ancient Egyptian sculptures. Handwritten manuscript, over a thousand years old, referring to Chess has been found. Remnants that seem to be chess units have been excavated in Italy, and some people believe they should be dated at the second century AD. People have been playing chess with objects on some kind of chess table for centuries, and the earliest version that has definitely been linked to chess is a game called Chaturanga, played in India almost 1600 years ago.

Before anything else, the apprentice must learn the name or rather the two names of each of the squares on the chessboard and must practice recognizing the squares by their names. Just as the larger army usually has the advantage in a battle, so in Chess the player on the chess table with extra forces is more likely than his opponent to win the game. Albeit much of the fun lies in finding the exceptions to this law, the notion of material advantage is crucial to any understanding of the logic of the chess table. The normal protocol at the chess table is that one does not announce that one is about to checkmate the opponent.

The Great War between the Northern and Southern states of the "United States" possess a peculiar interest for civil war chess set enthusiasts, not only because it was a struggle between two sections of people akin to us, but because of the epic courage with which the weaker party with ill-fed, ill-clad and ill-equipped troops, for four years sustained the contest with an opponent not only possessed of immense numerical superiority, but having the command of the sea, and being able to draw its arms and munitions of war from all manufactures of Europe. It is truly amazing the way the civil war ragged on for four years and ended with the obvious victor!

Luck has no part in the game of chess. Now, your apponent can "niss" an important move, but that is a lack of skill rather than chance. The game takes concentration and strategy in order to be the victor of the game. Each piece of the board can move in only certain directions and combinations, making the element of skill necessary to win to be that much greater. I have personally played chess many times and find that my skill level needs improvement. The best ways to improve your skill of the game is to practice and study books that teach different methods of playing in order to win the game.

Internet Chess - Chess Meets The Internet

With the emergence of the Internet, chess has left its pristine physical domain and logged on to a highly popular online, virtual form. The Internet enables chess players to play real time chess with players from all over the world. Chess games are hosted over the Internet on special chess servers. Users download the game, which comes with special, easy-to-install software that allows users to play and chat with other players from distant locations. Java-enabled websites are also available in which a Java enabled browser is used.

There are many sites that offer a large variety of chess games. Chess servers like the Internet Chess Club (ICC) and the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) are available to help you play online chess.

The Internet Chess Club (ICC) is one of the best environments for online games, as the interface is extremely easy to use. The Free Internet Chess Server (FICS), as the name suggests, is a free chess server like the ICC and Chess.net. It requires a player to download a graphical interface like CClient, Winboard or Slics.

Internet chess games are also available at Chess.net. Chess.net has features similar to ICC and FICS with its own graphical interface that must be purchased. Because of the cost involved, Chess.net is less popular than its free counterparts.

Playsite is another site for online chess games. It has multiple games that require a Java enabled browser. Downloading the Java component usually takes time, but this time can be cut down by using a Castanet Tuner. The Castanet Tuner downloads all the codes and graphics from Playsite the first time around, so that in future sessions players only have to download the updates. Over the years many Internet chess servers have been created, including ChessLive, ChessAnyTime, and the World Chess Network.

There are two ways to play chess on the Internet. One way is for players to play a real-time game with another online player. Real-time games have to be completed within a specific timeframe. The other method is to play an opponent who is not online at the same time. With this option, there is no time limit. A player has complete control over the game. Players can chat and study their games in detail, and can also play multiple games simultaneously.

Chess is My Life - Victor Kortchnoi

There are a variety of books on the market that one can pick up and read to learn to play chess. Why buy from a famous Chess player and biographer over some one else you have never heard of? I can think of a few good reasons. First not only will you learn basic strategy and movements of the different pieces such as Rook, or Knight. These colossal giants of Chess bring with them their wisdom and years of experience with them.

Players such as Viktor Kortchnoi are doubtlessly one of the most electrifying personalities of the chess world. While playing successful & writing his novel My Life of Chess Vol 1 & 2, the 73-year-old former double world championship finalist is also famous for his candid language. Kortchnoi was never one for mincing his words. So it is befitting that such a man not known for his words creates two wonderful books to help you learn to better your game tactics with. This is an extraordinary DVD interactive set that allows you to hear him taunt to praise you in your game. This DVD set 1, presents eight of his most brilliant effort from the years 1949-1979, among them games against Smyslov, Geller, Tal, Huebner and Karpov.

This new Interactive DVD Chess game offers more than three hours of first-class chess training, plus an extensive interview with Viktor himself. His resume he states as "two-times contender for the world championship, is a piece of living chess history. In the 60 years of his career, "Victor the Terrible" crossed swords with practically all great players of the past and presence, including Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. A relentless fighter at the board, he expressed his never-ending love for the royal game in a very simple phrase - "Chess is my life". Victor Kortchnoi.

On Volume two of his DVD you get four hours of Victor presenting among other things his games against Kasparov in 1986, Spassky in 1989 and Short in 1990 in his typical gripping style. Detailed commentaries are embedded within the game of Kortchnoi's biography.

Your Computer requirements you may want to check to ensure you meet these standards before purchasing or installing. A Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive.