Chess is a game of variety and of magical charm. A fine game can be as exciting as a good poem, but it is also a struggle between two people with personalities.

It is a battle that requires intelligence and imagination, perseverance, and tenacity. This is why chess has been compared to the trifecta of science, art, and sport.

1. The origins of chess

There are different theories about the origin of chess, but the more common view is that chess originated from the ancient Indian game of Chaturanga, which spread to Persia in the 7th century, to southern Europe in the 9th century, to Spain in the 10th century and to England in the 11th century. The modern game is played in much the same way as it was in the 19th century.

Chess is one of the oldest competitive games in the world. The origins of chess have been explored in four ways - legend, hypothesis, archaeology, and logic - and various conclusions have been drawn.

Chess spread from the East to the West through trade, and by the end of the 11th century, it had spread throughout Europe, where it became so popular during the Renaissance that it was listed in the literature of the time as one of the seven compulsory subjects in a knight's education, along with horsemanship, swimming, archery, fencing, hunting, and poetry.

2. Chess sets

The checkerboard

The checkerboard is a square, consisting of 64 small squares arranged in a staggered pattern of 8 squares across and down, one darker and one lighter.

The dark squares are called black squares and the light squares are called white squares, and the pieces are placed in these squares to move around, with the white square in the bottom right corner.

The 8 straight lines run from the left to the right of the white squares and are represented by the lowercase letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h respectively.

The 8 horizontal lines are represented by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 from the white square to the black square.

Pieces

There are thirty-two chess pieces, divided into two groups of sixteen each for black and white. The pawns are the same and are divided into six types: King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, and Pawn.

3. The rules of chess

White first, black second

The game is played with the white pieces going first and the black pieces going second, with both players taking turns, one move at a time until a winner or a draw is reached.

Touch it then move it

In a game, if you touch a piece on your side, you must move it. If the piece touched cannot be moved at all, only then may another piece be moved.

If a piece is to be squared, a verbal statement must be made to the opponent or the referee. If one touches an opponent's piece with one's hand, one must capture it. Only if you cannot take it with any of your own discs is another move allowed.

There is no regret in making a move

After a move has been made and the hand has left the piece, it cannot be changed If your hand has not left the piece, you may change to another square, but you must move the piece according to the "touch it and move it" principle.

Throughout history, many great men and women who have made great contributions to human society, revolutionary mentors, writers, scientists, scholars, and artists have been fans of chess. The story of Marx, Engels, and Liebknecht playing chess late at night has long been a popular one. Lenin was also a highly skilled chess player, a "grandmaster" among his revolutionary comrades.

He was able to play three sets of chess at the same time without looking at the board. The famous French scholar and philosopher Lusso, Franklin, who made great contributions to electricity, the Nobel Prize winner Madame Curie, and Mendeleev, the inventor of the periodic table of elements, were all enthusiasts of chess.