Chess is an abstract strategy board game for two players. It is played on a square board of eight rows (known as ranks) and eight columns (known as files), giving sixty-four squares of alternating color. Each player begins the game with sixteen pieces, each of which moves in a prescribed manner; each player's pieces comprise eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen and one king. All pieces can remove opponent's pieces by landing on the space they occupy. Pieces are progressively eliminated as the game proceeds, and the ultimate object of the game is to deliver checkmate to the opponent, i.e., to prevent his or her king from moving to escape capture.
Chess is one of the world's most popular games; it has been described not only as a game but also as an art and a science. Chess is sometimes seen as an abstract wargame; as a mental martial art, such that teaching chess has been advocated as a way of enhancing mental prowess. Chess is played both recreationally and competitively in clubs, tournaments, online, and by mail (correspondence chess).
Many variants and relatives of chess are played throughout the world. Chess is thought to have evolved from the Indian chaturanga and later to have developed into Chinese xiangqi, Japanese shogi, Korean janggi, and Thai makruk; in view of its many relatives, chess in Asia is often referred to as Western or international chess.
Selected article of the week
Wilhelm Steinitz, who in 1889 claimed chess is a draw with best play
The first-move advantage in chess refers to the inherent advantage of the player (called "White") who makes the first move in chess. Chess players and theorists generally agree that White begins the game with some advantage. Statistics compiled since 1851 support this view, showing that White consistently wins slightly more often than Black, usually scoring between 53 and 56 percent. Statistics show that White's winning percentage[1] is slightly lower in rapid games and in games between weaker players. The advantage is about the same, however, for tournament games between humans and games between computers.
Chess players and theoreticians have debated whether, given perfect play by both sides, the game should end in a win for White or a draw. Since at least 1889, when World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz addressed the issue, the overwhelming consensus has been that a game of chess should end in a draw with best play. Some players have expressed fears of a "draw death" as chess becomes more deeply analyzed, and World Champions José Raúl Capablanca and Bobby Fischer both proposed chess variants to renew interest in the game. A few notable players, disagreeing with the general consensus, have argued that White's advantage may be sufficient to win: Weaver Adams and Vsevolod Rauzer claimed that White is winning after the first move 1.e4, while Hans Berliner argued that 1.d4 may win for White. It is possible that computers will eventually resolve the debate by determining the correct outcome of a perfectly played game of chess.
Read more about First-move advantage in chess...
The articles listed in A-class are also recognised as Good articles.
- ...that, of the twenty-three iterations of the United States Women's Chess Championship contested between 1938 and 1971, in only six did neither Woman International Master (WIM) Gisela Kahn Gresser nor WIM Mona May Karff finish in at least equal first, and that each woman, Gresser in 1969 and Karff in 1974, won her final title aged at least sixty years?
- ...that Hydra, a chess-playing computer principally programmed by German Christian Donninger, has, notably having scored five-and-one-half points over six games against English Grandmaster Michael Adams, then the world's seventh-ranked player, and having scored three points over four games against former Fédération Internationale des Échecs world champion Grandmasters Russian Alexander Khalifman (1999), pictured, Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov (2002) and Uzbek Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2004), never lost over-the-board to an unaided human player but did lose a two-game correspondence chess match to German Grandmaster Arno Nickel and in its current form achieved only a draw against Nickel?
- ...that Jonathan Penrose, whose father Lionel was a leading chess theorist of the 1930s, having captured the British Chess Championship ten times between 1958 and 1969, and having in 1961 won the Fédération Internationale des Échecs International Master title, began participating in correspondence chess in the mid-1970s, eventually earning a Grandmaster title from the International Correspondence Chess Federation?
- Join the Chess WikiProject
- Expand a short article
- A general stub, such as FIDE Master, Romantic chess, Ajeeb, Chess or the King's Game, Peruvian Immortal, or "Versus de scachis";
- A biographical stub, such as Olga Rubtsova, Ed Edmondson, Louis-Charles de La Bourdonnais, John Purdy, or Lora Yakovleva;
- An opening stub, such as Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, Irregular chess opening, King's Pawn Game, London System, Mieses Opening, or Wing Gambit
- Expand existing top and high importance articles, such as International Master, World Chess Championship 2009, Open file, Queen (chess), Chessboard or Chess middlegame
- Add references to existing articles, such as Chess strategy, Queen's Gambit, Chess tactics, Gambit, or Pawn storm
- Create and write a requested article, such as Marcus Kann or Chess Hall of Fame, or one of the most wanted chess pages, such as Rafael Leitao
- Find and upload a requested image, such as for Grandmaster (chess), Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov, Fast chess, USSR Chess Championship, Florencio Campomanes, Alexandre Deschapelles, Ernst Grünfeld, Nona Gaprindashvili or Ernst Falkbeer
- Improve this portal
- Augment the Chess Wikibook
|
Sports 
Games 
American football 
Association football .jpg){kind=small}
Baseball 
Basketball 
College football 
Chess 
Cricket 
Cycling 
Golf 
Gymnastics 
Ice hockey 
Olympics 
Rugby league 
Swimming 
Tennis
