The game of chess

Chess has its origin in India during the Gupta Empire. At that time, military pieces were used to play this game. The military pieces include elephants, cavalry chariots, infantry, and of course, the monarchy. There are also many stories in the air that it was also played by ancient Egyptians.

Whoever played, it may be either first or second, and we must acknowledge that they have provided us with an excellent game. Later, it was Europeans who added new rules to the game.

During the 18th century, chess became popular in large cities and the popularity has raised the bar. It became a common game that was played in coffee shops. In 1851, the world's first chess tournament was held and it was won by Adolf Anderssen from Germany.

Chess pieces and their moves

• Kings can move in any direction for one square. It has to ensure that the move doesn’t kill the king in the next move of his or her opponent. Castling is a special move, which can be done with the help of rooks and the king.
• Queens can move in any direction. It cannot jump over the pieces.
• Bishops can move diagonally any number of squares. They cannot jump over the pieces.
• Rooks can move horizontally and vertically any number of squares but cannot jump over the pieces. When the king wants to castle, it is moved along with rooks.
• Bishops movediagonally any number of squares. They are unable to jump over pieces.
• Knights move in L shape. They are the pieces in chess that can fly over the pieces. L shape movement is by moving 2 squares horizontally or vertically and 1 square vertically or horizontally respectively.
• Pawns movevertically forward one square, with the option to move two squares if they have not yet moved. Pawns are the only piece to capture different to how they move. Pawns capture one square diagonally in a forward direction. Pawns cannot move backward. They can make a special move called En passant.

Basic rules

The aim of the chess game is to attack the opponent’s king and kill it with a move called checkmate. When the opponent’s king is locked and has no other option but has to be killed in the next move, it is termed as checkmate. The pieces are equally given and each piece has its own way as mentioned above.

For a turn, one can only move a single piece. There are different modes of playing chess. One is played by defining a certain time to make a move, it is quick chess. The other one is played by assigning likable time to make a move. It is a general model of chess. There are many popular names in chess and world-class tournaments are held every year all over the world.

To begin, you have 8 Pawns, 2 Rooks, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops, 1 Queen, and 1 King. When you land on an occupied square, you can claim the piece that is on it and remove it from your opponent’s arsenal and white always moves first. You got the basic rules and the world is yours. Start playing.