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Chess
Chess is a board game played between
two players. The current form of the game emerged in Southern
Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving
from a similar, much older game of Indian origin. Today, chess is
one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people
worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in
tournaments.
The game is played on a chessboard,
which is a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an
eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player (one controlling the
white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls
sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two
bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate
the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in
"check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next
move.
The tradition of organized competitive
chess started in the 16th century. Chess today is a recognized
sport of the International Olympic Committee. The first official
World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886;
the current World Champion is Viswanathan Anand. Theoreticians have
developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the game's
inception. Aspects of art are found in chess
composition.
One of the goals of early computer
scientists was to create a chess-playing machine. Today's chess is
deeply influenced by the abilities of chess programs and the
opportunity for online play. In 1997 Deep Blue became the first
computer to beat the reigning World Champion in a match when it
defeated Garry Kasparov.
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