Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games such as xiangqi (Chinese chess) and shogi (Japanese chess). The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga, in seventh-century India. The rules of chess as they are known today emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by the end of the 19th century. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, and is played by millions of people worldwide.
Chess is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance. It is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. At the start, each player controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. White moves first, followed by Black. The game is won by checkmating the opponent's king, i.e. threatening it with inescapable capture. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw.
Organized chess arose in the 19th century. Chess competition today is governed internationally by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs; the International Chess Federation). The first universally recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; Ding Liren is the current World Champion. A huge body of chess theory has developed since the game's inception. Aspects of art are found in chess composition, and chess in its turn influenced Western culture and the arts, and has connections with other fields such as mathematics, computer science, and psychology. (Full article...)
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (/kəspɑːrəf/ kə-SPAH-rəf; born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. From 1984 until his retirement from regular competitive chess in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world no. 1 for a record 255 months overall. Kasparov also holds records for the most consecutive professional tournament victories (15) and Chess Oscars (11).
Kasparov became the youngest-ever undisputed world champion in 1985 at age 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov. He defended the title against Karpov three times, in 1986, 1987 and 1990. Kasparov held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association. In 1997, he became the first world champion to lose a match to a computer under standard time controls when he was defeated by the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a highly publicised match. He continued to hold the "Classical" world title until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. Despite losing the PCA title, he continued winning tournaments and was the world's highest-rated player at the time of his official retirement. Kasparov coached Carlsen in 2009–10, during which time Carlsen rose to world no. 1. Kasparov stood unsuccessfully for FIDE president in 2013–2014. (Full article...)Rank | Player | Rating |
---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
2830 |
2 | ![]() |
2803 |
3 | ![]() |
2789 |
4 | ![]() |
2765 |
5 | ![]() |
2762 |
6 | ![]() |
2760 |
7 | ![]() |
2758 |
8 | ![]() |
2757 |
9 | ![]() |
2756 |
10 | ![]() |
2755 |
11 | ![]() |
2751 |
12 | ![]() |
2750 |
13 | ![]() |
2748 |
14 | ![]() |
2747 |
15 | ![]() |
2745 |
16 | ![]() |
2743 |
17 | ![]() |
2733 |
18 | ![]() |
2732 |
19 | ![]() |
2732 |
20 | ![]() |
2731 |
Index: | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (0–9) |
Glossary: | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
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