Chess

In standard chess, two players take turns moving pieces on an eight-by-eight board. Each begins with sixteen pieces—king, queen, rooks, bishops, knights and pawns—whose legal moves differ. The aim is to attack the opponent's king so that no legal reply can remove the threat, a position called checkmate. A game may also end in a draw, including when neither side can possibly deliver checkmate. The rules also cover special moves, pawn promotion, clocks and conduct in competition. Chess is a game of complete information: the position of every piece is visible to both players, and standard chess involves no dice or hidden cards.

No single inventor or exact starting point for chess is established. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes chaturanga, a war game flourishing in northwestern India by the seventh century, as the earliest known precursor with two enduring features: pieces had different powers, and the king was central to victory. How chaturanga developed into later forms is uncertain. A related game called shatranj was played across parts of South and Central Asia after the seventh century. Chess then travelled along interconnected routes eastward and westward; in the west, forms of it reached Europe through Persia, Byzantium and the expanding Islamic world. Distinct regional games developed in Asia as well, so not every game in the wider chess family uses the same board or rules.

Chess was played with substantial regional variation for centuries. From the late fifteenth century, rule changes gave the queen and bishop much greater range, making attack and defence faster and helping produce the modern style of play. Other rules, including castling and en passant, became widely accepted more gradually, and some details continued to vary into the nineteenth century. Standardized equipment also emerged over time: the Staunton pattern, designed in the nineteenth century, became the familiar form used in formal international play.

Chess competition grew from local clubs and informal matches into international tournaments and championship contests. The world-champion title was used before a common governing system existed; the first match specifically designated as a world championship took place in 1886. The International Chess Federation, known by its French acronym FIDE, was founded in Paris in 1924. It now serves as chess's international governing body and regulates international competitions. Its Laws of Chess set out the standard rules for over-the-board play, while events may use different time controls and tournament formats.

Chess has also been a material art: the form and names of pieces changed as the game entered new societies. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Scandinavian ivory bishop, dated 1150–1200, reflects a medieval European piece that replaced the elephant of earlier Islamic chess traditions. The Lewis Chessmen, found on the Isle of Lewis in 1831 and commonly associated with medieval Norway, are another famous example of chess pieces as carved objects. Their precise place of manufacture and the circumstances of their burial are not certain. Such objects show how chess histories are connected to craft, trade and local ideas about social roles, as well as to rules and strategy.

By the seventh century CE: chaturanga was flourishing in northwestern India and is regarded as an early precursor of chess. Late fifteenth century: expanded moves for the queen and bishop helped create a faster form of the game. 1886: the first match specifically designated as a world-championship contest was played. 1924: FIDE was founded in Paris to provide an international federation for chess.