Chess history of origin briefly. Chess and chess pieces: the history of the origin of names. Making chess an international sport

Players have been arguing about the essence of chess, perhaps, since its inception in India about two thousand years ago. Some consider chess gambling intellectual game. Others - entertainment and leisure activities. Someone - art, and on a par with theater or science. And still others draw an analogy with a military battle. But the most popular opinions, especially now, are two. First, chess is a sport, and a professional one at that. Second, they are just a hobby.

In different countries, this game has its own name: in England - chess (chess), in Spain - ahedres (el axedres), in Germany - check (Schach), in France - echecs (echecs). The Russian name originates from the Persian language: “shah” and “mat”, which means “the ruler is dead”.

The history of chess has at least one and a half thousand years. It is believed that the progenitor game, chaturanga, appeared in India no later than the 6th century AD. As the game spread to the Arab East, then to Europe and Africa, the rules changed. In the form that the game has at present, it was formed by the 15th century, the rules were finally standardized in the 19th century, when international tournaments began to be systematically held. So invented in India in 5 - 6 Art. Chess has spread almost all over the world and has become an integral part of human culture.

There are several ancient legends about the origin of chess.

The great scientist Al-Biruni tells about one of them in the book "India", which attributes the creation of chess to a certain Brahmin (this is a social group in India). For his invention, he asked the rajah for an insignificant, at first glance, reward: as many wheat grains as there will be on a chessboard if one grain is placed on the first cell, 2 grains on the second cell, 4 on the third, 8 on the fourth, and 8 on the fifth - 16, for the sixth - 32. etc. It turned out that there is no such amount of grain on the entire planet (it is equal to 264 - 1 ≈ 1.845 × 1019 grains, which is enough to fill the storage with a volume of 180 km³).

This is how the legend goes:

When the Hindu Raja Sheram met her, he was delighted with her wit and the variety of positions possible in her. Having learned that it was invented by one of his subjects, the king ordered to call him in order to personally reward him for a successful invention.
The inventor, his name was Seta, came to the throne of the ruler. He was a modestly dressed scientist who received his livelihood from his students.
“I wish to adequately reward you, Seta, for the wonderful game that you have come up with,” said the raja.

The sage bowed.
- I am rich enough to fulfill your most daring wish, - continued the Raja. - Name the reward that will satisfy you, and you will receive it.
Seth was silent.
“Don’t be shy,” the Raja encouraged him. - State your wish. I will spare nothing to fulfill it.
“Great is your kindness, my lord. But give me time to think about the answer. Tomorrow, after mature reflection, I will communicate my request to you.
When the next day, Seta again appeared at the steps of the throne, he surprised the Raja with the unparalleled modesty of his request.
“Lord,” said Seta, “order me to give me one grain of wheat for the first cell of the chessboard.”
“A simple grain of wheat? - Raja was amazed.
- Yes, sir. For the second cell, order to give out 2 grains, for the third 4, for the fourth - 8, for the fifth - 16, for the sixth - 32 ...
“Enough,” the rajah interrupted him with irritation. “You will receive your grains for all 64 cells of the board, according to your desire: for each, twice as much as the previous one. But know that your request is not worthy of my generosity. By asking for such an insignificant reward, you disrespectfully disregard my grace. Truly like a teacher you could show best example respect for the goodness of his sovereign. Go. My servants will bring you your sack of wheat.

Seta smiled, left the hall and waited at the gates of the palace.
At dinner, the raja remembered the inventor of chess and sent to find out if the reckless Seta had already taken away his miserable reward.
“Lord,” was the answer, “your command is being carried out. Court mathematicians calculate the number of grains to follow.
the raja frowned. He was not accustomed to his orders being carried out so slowly.
In the evening, going to bed, the raja once again inquired whether Seta had left the palace fence with his sack of wheat.
“Lord,” they answered him, “your mathematicians work tirelessly and hope to finish counting before dawn.
Why are they delaying this case? the Raja exclaimed angrily. “Tomorrow, before I wake up, every last grain must be given to Seth. I don't order twice.
In the morning, the rajah was informed that the foreman of the court mathematicians asked to listen to an important report. the Raja ordered him to be brought in.
“Before you speak of your case,” Sheram announced, “I want to hear if Seth has finally received the insignificant reward that he assigned himself.
“That is why I dared to appear before you at such an early hour,” the old man replied. The number is so big...
“No matter how great it is,” the raja interrupted arrogantly, my granaries will not become scarce. A reward has been promised and must be given...
“It is not in your power, lord, to fulfill such desires. In all your barns there is not such a number of grains as Seth demanded. Nor is it in the granaries of the whole kingdom. There is no such number of grains in the entire space of the Earth. And if you want to give out the promised reward without fail, then order to turn the earthly kingdoms into arable fields, order to dry up the seas and oceans, order to melt the ice and snow covering the distant northern deserts. Let all their space be completely sown with wheat. And all that is born in these fields, order to give to Seth. Then he will receive his reward. With amazement, the king listened to the words of the elder.
“Give me that monstrous number,” he said thoughtfully.
“Eighteen quintillion four hundred and forty-six quadrillion seven hundred and forty-four trillion seventy-three billion seven hundred nine million five hundred and fifty-one thousand six hundred and fifteen, O Lord!”

Such is the legend. Whether what is said here really happened is not known, but that the reward of which the tradition speaks was to be expressed in just such a number, you yourself can see for yourself by patient calculation.
Starting with one, you need to add the numbers: 1, 2, 4, 8, etc. Otherwise, this sum can be written like this:
1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + . . . = 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + . . . + 263.
The last term shows how much was due to the inventor for the 64th cell of the board.
Let's simplify the resulting sum based on the following considerations. Denote
S = 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + . . . + 263,
then
2S = 2 (20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + . . . + 263) = 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + . . . + 264
and
S = 2S - S = (21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + . . . + 264) - (20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + . . . + 263) = = 264 - 20 = 264 - 1.
Required number of grains
S = 264 - 1.
So, the calculation is reduced only to the multiplication of 64 twos! (And then we can subtract one).
S = 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 – 1.
To make calculations easier, let's divide the 64 multipliers into 6 groups of 10 twos each and one last group of 4 twos. The product of 10 twos, as you can easily see, is 1024, and 4 twos is 16. Hence, the desired result is equal to
S = 1024 1024 1024 1024 1024 1024 16 – 1.
Because
1024 1024 = 1048576,
then
S = 1 048 576 1 048 576 1 048 576 16 – 1.
Let's be patient and accurate in the calculations and get: S = 18446744073709551615.
This amount of grain is about 1,800 times the world's wheat harvest per year (in the 2008-2009 agricultural year, the harvest was 686 million tons), that is, it exceeds the entire wheat harvest harvested in the history of mankind.
In units of mass: if we assume that one grain of wheat has a mass of 0.065 grams, then the total mass of wheat on the chessboard will be about 1.200 trillion tons: = 1 199 038 364 791, 120 t.
If the mass of wheat is converted into volume (1 m3 of wheat weighs about 760 kg), then approximately 1500 km3 is obtained, which is equivalent to a barn with dimensions of 10 km x 10 km x 15 km. This is the largest volume of Mount Everest.
The Hindu king was not in a position to issue such an award. But he could easily, if he were strong in mathematics, free himself from such a burdensome debt. To do this, it was only necessary to invite Seth to count himself grain by grain, all the wheat due to him.
In fact: if Seta, having taken up the account, kept it continuously day and night, counting one grain per second, he would have counted only 86,400 grains on the first day. To count a million grains, it would take at least 10 days of tireless counting. He would count one cubic meter of wheat in about half a year. And it would remain to count another 1,499,999,999,999 m3. You see that if he devoted even the rest of his life to the account, Seta would receive only a tiny fraction of the reward he demanded.

A description of another legend was found in the Persian poet Firdousi, who wrote the epic about a thousand years ago. In one Indian kingdom lived a queen and her two twin sons Gav and Talhand. The time had come for them to reign, but the mother could not decide who to put as king, because she loved the sons of a lonely one. Then the princes decided to arrange a fight, the winner would become the ruler. The battlefield was chosen on the seashore and surrounded by a moat of water. They created such conditions that there was nowhere to retreat. The condition of the tournament was not to kill each other, but to defeat the enemy army. A battle began, as a result of which Talhand died. Upon learning of the death of her son, the queen fell into despair. She reproached the arrived Gav for the murder of his brother. However, he replied that he did not cause bodily harm to his brother, he died himself from exhaustion of the body. The queen asked to tell in detail about how the battle took place. Gav, along with people from his entourage, decided to recreate the battlefield. To do this, they took a board, marked out the cells and placed on it the figures depicting the belligerents. The opposing troops were placed on opposite sides and placed in rows: infantry, cavalry and again infantry. In the middle row, in the center, stood the prince, next to him - his main assistant, then two figures of elephants, camels, horses and Rukh birds. Moving various figures, the prince showed his mother how the battle went. Thus, it is clear that the ancient Chess board had 100 cells and the figures on it stood in three lines.

The following legend says that once in India, when it was a very strong country, it was ruled by one ruler. And all the power of the army was in specially trained war elephants. With their help, he had already defeated all the armies of his opponents and for many years did not know what to do. Once he announced that the one who manages to come up with something that he likes will get whatever he wants. And insanely many wise men from all countries came to him and brought him everything very beautiful and made only of gold or jewelry. But everything that these wise men brought was not to the liking of the ruler. And once a poor Shah came to him. He came with a small board and figurines but the whole game was made of wood and as soon as the ruler saw it. He was terribly angry. “What is this? All the products that they show me are made of gold or jewelry, and you came here with some pieces of wood, ”the Shah answered so“ the interest of games is not in gold, but in wisdom ”and at that moment the ruler saw that the figures looked like and his army. The ruler became interested and agreed to take a look. And when the Shah showed the ruler how to play the game with the words "Your army is majestic and invincible, but can you win here on a small board with your army and with an enemy with the same army" When the ruler began to play, he liked this game and he was sure that will win the Shah with ease, but in the first game Shah defeated the ruler and the ruler tried again but already thinking about each move, and in the second game he won. After that, he really liked this game. And every time he attacked the enemy king, he said “check” (she check) warning that the king was in danger, and when he won, he said “Shahu mat” which meant the king died. But as you remember, the ruler promised everything he wanted to the one who would make the product that he liked and the king decided to fulfill his promise and he asked what the Shah wanted and the shah answered at first glance a small reward “if one grain is put on the first cell of the chessboard on the second two to the third four and so on, but it turned out that there is no such number in the whole kingdom. After all, this is 92,233,720,000,019 grains. History has not been told how the ruler paid off with the check. But there is another legend about how this wonderful game appeared.

Once in India there was a very wise ruler during his reign in the countries flourished, but he had a son, twins, they differed only in that they liked to wear different clothes. One liked to walk in white clothes, and the other in black. Before his death, the wise ruler did not know which of his sons to make king and divided the government equally. But soon the brothers wanted to have one ruler, and each believed that he should become it. The brothers quarreled and a big war began in which an awful lot of people died. After some time, the brothers realized that the war is uncountable, but no one stopped the war, because the one who ends the war will lose and will not become the ruler. But still, every brother wanted to make peace and find a way to become a ruler. And once an old man came to them and said that if they finish the war in which half of India died, then he will show them how to honestly determine the ruler. The brothers agreed and the old man took out a wooden board and figurines of black and white color, he told the brothers the rules of the game and a many-day “war” began in which every move was carefully thought out. And in this game "White" won, and after this incident, White is the first to move in chess, and a lot of people began to play chess.

The first official mention of chess is a book that describes in detail the process of penetration of chess from India to Persia. The Indians tried to appease the Persian king Khosrov I Anushiravan (who ruled Iran from 531 to 579) with their offerings. The book describes in detail absolutely everything related to chess. Special attention is given to terminology, as well as the possibilities of each of the figures. The next written document describing chess is a poem by the famous Persian poet Ferdowsi. In his poem, he described in detail the outlandish thing presented to the Persian king by the grateful Indian people. Such a thing is "pretty entertaining game". Here is what Ferdowsi himself wrote: “Among the gifts presented to the Persian king, there was a rather entertaining thing. It was a game. She reproduced the battle of two armies: black and white.

Persian chess players

Not later than the beginning of the 6th century, the first game known to us related to chess appeared in northwestern India - chaturanga. It already had a completely recognizable “chess” look (a square game board of 8 × 8 cells, 16 pieces and 16 pawns, similar pieces), but fundamentally differed from modern chess in two features: there were four players, not two (they played a pair against a pair) , and the moves were made in accordance with the results of throwing dice. Each player had four pieces (chariot (rook), knight, bishop, king) and four pawns. The knight and the king walked in the same way as in chess, the chariot - within two fields vertically and horizontally, the elephant - first one field forward or diagonally, later he began to "jump" across one field diagonally, moreover, like a horse, during the course he could step over his own and enemy pieces. There was no queen at all. To win the game, it was necessary to destroy the entire army of opponents.

Arabic transformations

In the same 6th or possibly 7th century, Chaturanga was adopted by the Arabs. In the Arab East, the chaturanga was transformed: there were two players, each received two sets of chaturanga pieces under control, one of the kings became a queen (walked one square diagonally). They abandoned the bones, they began to walk one move strictly in turn. Victory began to be fixed not by the destruction of all the opponent's pieces, but by setting a checkmate or stalemate, as well as at the end of the game with the king and at least one piece against one king (the last two options were forced, since checkmate with weak pieces inherited from chaturanga , was not always successful). The resulting game was called by the Arabs and Persians "shatranj". The Buryat-Mongolian version was called "" or "hiashatar". Later, having got to the Tajiks, shatranj received the name "chess" in Tajik (in translation - "the ruler is defeated"). The first mention of Shatranj dates back to around 550. 600 - the first mention of shatranj in fiction- Persian manuscript "Karnamuk". In 819, at the court of Caliph Al-Mamun in Khorasan, a tournament was held for the three strongest players of that time: Jabir Al-Kufi, Abyljafar Ansari and Zayrab Katai. In 847, the first chess book was published, which was written by Al-Adli.

Thanks to abstract figures, the game gradually ceased to be perceived by the people as a symbol of a military battle and was increasingly associated with everyday ups and downs, which was reflected in the epic and treatises on the game of chess (Omar Khayyam, Saadi, Nizami).

Chess in Southeast Asia

Simultaneously with the promotion chess game to the west, it spread to the east. Apparently, either a variant of chaturanga for two players, or some of the early versions of shatranj, came to the countries of Southeast Asia, since their features have been preserved in the chess games of this region - the moves of many pieces are made over short distances, there are no typical for European chess castling and captures on the aisle. Under the influence of the cultural characteristics of the region and the board games that were in circulation there, the game changed noticeably in appearance and acquired new features, becoming the basis for Chinese game xiangqi. From her, in turn, came korean game changi. Both games are original appearance and mechanism. First of all, this manifests itself in changing the size of the board and in the fact that the pieces are placed not on the squares of the board, but on the intersections of lines. These games have limited-area pieces that can only move within a part of the board, and the traditional "jumping" pieces have become linear (neither a knight nor a bishop can jump over squares occupied by other pieces), but a new "cannon" piece "- can beat the opponent's pieces, only jumping over another piece when hitting.

The Japanese version that appeared later - shogi - is considered a descendant of xiangqi, but has its own characteristics. The shogi board is simpler and more similar to the European one: the pieces are placed on the squares, not on the intersections, the size of the board is 9x9 cells. In shogi, the rules of moves have changed and a transformation of pieces has appeared, which was not in xiangqi. The transformation mechanism is original - a figure (a flat chip with a printed image), having reached one of the last three horizontal lines, simply turns over to the other side, where the sign of the transformed figure is depicted. And the most interesting feature of shogi is that the opponent's pieces taken by the player can be placed by him in any place of the board (with some restrictions) as his own instead of the next move. Because of this, in the shogi set, all the pieces have the same color, and their belonging is determined by the setting - the player places the piece on the board with the tip towards the opponent.

Classical European chess is not particularly common in this region, xiangqi and shogi are much more popular to this day.

The appearance of chess in Russia

Around 820, chess (more precisely, the Arabic shatranj under the Central Asian name “chess”, which in Russian turned into “chess”) appeared in Russia, coming, as it is believed, either directly from Persia through the Caucasus and the Khazar Khaganate, or from the Central Asian peoples, through Khorezm. The Russian name of the game is consonant with the Central Asian “chess”, the Russian names of the pieces most of all correspond to Arabic or Persian ones (bishop and horse are translations of the corresponding Arabic terms, queen is consonant with Persian “farzin” or Arabic “firzan”). The rook, according to one of the assumptions, got its name due to the fact that the corresponding Arabic figure "rukh" depicted a mythical bird, and looked like a stylized image of a Russian boat. A comparison of Russian chess terminology with the terminology of Transcaucasia, Mongolia and European countries shows that neither the name of the game, nor the names of the pieces could be borrowed from these regions either in meaning or in consonance.

Changes in the rules, later introduced by the Europeans, with some delay penetrated into Russia, gradually turning the old Russian chess into modern. It is believed that the European version of the chess game came to Russia in the 10th - 11th centuries, from Italy, through Poland.

Penetration into Europe

In the 8th - 9th centuries, during the conquest of Spain by the Arabs, shatranj came to Spain, then, over several decades, to Portugal, Italy and France. The game quickly won the sympathy of Europeans, by the 11th century it was already known in all countries of Europe and Scandinavia. European masters continued to transform the rules, eventually turning shatranj into modern chess. By the 15th century, chess acquired, in general, a modern look, although due to the inconsistency of changes, for several centuries different countries had their own, sometimes quite bizarre, features of the rules. In Italy, for example, until the 19th century, a pawn that reached the last rank could only be promoted to pieces that had already been removed from the board. At the same time, it was not forbidden to move a pawn to the last rank in the absence of such pieces; such a pawn remained a pawn and became the first piece captured by the opponent at the moment when the opponent captured it. Castling was also allowed there if there was a piece between the rook and the king and when the king passed through a beaten field.

Chess in art

With the spread of chess in Europe, both chess itself and works of art began to appear that tell about this game. In 1160, the first chess poem appeared, which was written by Ibn Ezra. In 1283, the first chess book in Europe, a treatise by Alphonse X the Wise, was published. This book is of significant historical interest, as it contains a description of both new European chess and the now obsolete Shatranj.

Beginning in the 16th century, chess books were published more and more often, chess constantly appeared in works of art. In the 18th century, chess had a patron muse. It was invented by the English poet William Jones, a great chess fan. He published a poem about the origin of chess, in which Mars, the god of war, fell in love with the forest nymph Caissa; the nymph did not reciprocate the fan, and in order to achieve his goal, Mars invented chess and taught Caissa to play it. In general, the motif of the chess game of the ancient gods was often found in art.

Christian church against chess

Since the advent of chess, a sharply negative position in relation to them has taken Christian church. Chess was equated with gambling and drunkenness. It is noteworthy that representatives of various directions of Christianity were united in this. In 1061, the Catholic Cardinal Damiani issued a decree banning the game of chess among the clergy. In his letter to Pope Alexander II, he called chess "an invention of the devil", "an obscene, unacceptable game." Bernard, the founder of the Knights Templar, spoke in 1128 about the need to fight against the passion for chess. The French Bishop Hades Sully in 1208 forbade the Paters "to touch chess and have them at home." The head of the reformist wing of the Protestant Church, Jan Hus, was also an opponent of chess. Under the influence of church rejection, the game of chess was forbidden by the Polish King Casimir II, the French Louis IX (Saint), and the English Edward IV.

In Russia, the Orthodox Church also banned the game of chess under the threat of excommunication, which was officially enshrined in the helmsman's book of 1262.

Despite church prohibitions, chess spread both in Europe and in Russia, and among the clergy there was no less (if not more) passion for the game than among other classes. So, on the Nerevsky excavation site alone in Novgorod, archaeologists found many chess pieces in the layers of the 13th - 15th centuries, and in the layer of the 15th century, chess is found in almost every excavated estate. And in 2010, the chess king was found in a layer of the 14th - 15th centuries in the Novgorod Kremlin, next to the residence of the archbishop. In Europe, in 1393, the Regensburg Cathedral removed chess from the list of prohibited games. In Russia, there is no information about the official abolition of the church ban on chess, but at least since the 17th - 18th centuries this ban has not actually been in effect. Ivan the Terrible played chess (according to legend, he died at the chessboard). Under Alexei Mikhailovich, chess was common among the courtiers, the ability to play it was common among diplomats. Documents of that time have been preserved in Europe, which, in particular, say that the Russian envoys are familiar with chess and play it very well. Princess Sophia was fond of chess. Under Peter I, assemblies did not pass without chess.

Development of chess theory

By the 15th and 16th centuries, the rules of chess had largely settled down, which began the development of a systematic chess theory. In 1561, Ruy Lopez published the first complete chess textbook, which dealt with the currently distinguished stages of the game - opening, middlegame and endgame. He was the first to describe a characteristic type of opening - "gambit", in which an advantage in development is achieved by sacrificing material.

Philidor made a great contribution to the development of chess theory in the 18th century. He seriously revised the views of his predecessors, first of all, the Italian masters, who believed that the best style of play was a massive attack on the opponent's king with all available means and used pawns only as auxiliary material. Philidor developed what is now called the positional style of play. He believed that the player should not rush into reckless attacks, but systematically build a strong, stable position, inflict precisely calculated blows on the weaknesses of the opponent’s position, if necessary, resort to exchanges and simplifications if they lead to a profitable endgame. The correct position, according to Philidor, is, first of all, the correct arrangement of pawns. According to Philidor, “Pawns are the soul of chess; only they create attack and defense, victory or defeat depends entirely on their good or bad location. Philidor developed tactics for advancing the pawn chain, insisted on the importance of the pawn center, and analyzed the struggle for the center. In many ways, his ideas formed the basis of the chess theory of the next century. Philidor's book "Analysis of a Chess Game" became a classic, it went through 42 editions only in the 18th century and was reprinted many times later.

Making chess an international sport

Since the 16th century, chess clubs began to appear, where amateurs and semi-professionals gathered, often playing for a cash bet. Over the next two centuries, the spread of chess led to the emergence of national tournaments in most European countries. There are chess publications, at first sporadic and irregular, but over time gaining more and more popularity. The first chess magazine, Palamede, was published in 1836 by the French chess player Louis Charles Labourdonnet. In 1837 a chess magazine appeared in Great Britain, and in 1846 in Germany.

In the 19th century, international matches (since 1821) and tournaments (since 1851) begin to be held. The first such tournament, held in London in 1851, was won by Adolf Andersen. It was he who became the unofficial "chess king", that is, the one who was considered the strongest chess player in the world. Subsequently, this title was challenged by Paul Morphy (USA), who won the match in 1858 with a score of + 7-2 = 2, however, after Morphy left the chess scene in 1859, Andersen again became the first, and only in 1866 Wilhelm Steinitz won the match against Andersen with a score of +8-6 and became the new "uncrowned king".

The first world chess champion to officially hold this title was the same Wilhelm Steinitz, who defeated Johann Zuckertort in the first match in history, in the agreement on which the expression "world championship match" appeared. Thus, a system of succession of the title was formed on a whim: the new world champion was the one who won the match against the previous one, while current champion reserved the right to agree to a match or reject an opponent, and he himself determined the conditions and venue of the match. The only mechanism capable of forcing the champion to play with the challenger was public opinion: if a strong, admittedly, chess player could not win the right to a match with the champion for a long time, this was considered as a sign of the champion's cowardice, and he, saving face, was forced to accept the challenge. Typically, the match agreement provided for the champion's right to a rematch if they lost; victory in such a match returned the title to the previous owner.

In the second half of the 19th century, time controls began to be used in chess tournaments. At first, an ordinary hourglass was used for this (the time for a move was limited), which was rather inconvenient, but soon the English amateur chess player Thomas Bright Wilson (T.B.Wilson) invented a special chess clock that made it possible to conveniently implement a time limit for the entire game or for a certain number moves. Time control quickly entered into chess practice and soon began to be used everywhere. By the end of the 19th century, official tournaments and matches without time control were practically non-existent. Simultaneously with the advent of time control, the concept of "time pressure" appeared. Thanks to the introduction of time control, special forms have arisen chess tournaments with a greatly reduced time limit: "rapid chess" with a limit of about 30 minutes per game for each player and "blitz" - 5 - 10 minutes. However, they became widespread much later.

Chess in the 20th century

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, the development of chess in Europe and America was very active, chess organizations grew larger, more and more international tournaments were held. In 1924, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) was created, initially organizing the World Chess Olympiads.

Until 1948, the system of succession to the title of world champion that had developed in the 19th century was preserved: the challenger challenged the champion to a match, the winner of which became the new champion. Until 1921, Emanuel Lasker remained the champion (the second, after Steinitz, the official world champion, who won this title in 1894), from 1921 to 1927 - Jose Raul Capablanca, from 1927 to 1946 - Alexander Alekhine (in 1935 Alekhine lost the match for the championship peace to Max Euwe, but in 1937 he returned the title in a rematch and held it until his death in 1946).

After the death in 1946 of Alekhine, who remained undefeated, FIDE took over the organization of the world championship. The first official World Chess Championship was held in 1948, the winner was the Soviet grandmaster Mikhail Botvinnik. FIDE introduced a system of tournaments for winning the title of champion: the winners of the qualifying rounds advanced to the zonal tournaments, the winners of the zonal competitions advanced to the interzonal tournament, and the winners of the best results in the latter took part in a candidate tournament, where the winner was determined in a series of knockout games, who I had to play a match against the reigning champion. The formula for the title match has changed several times. Now the winners of zonal tournaments participate in a single tournament with the best (by rating) players in the world; winner and becomes world champion.

A huge role in the history of chess, especially in the second half of the 20th century, was played by the Soviet chess school. The wide popularity of chess, active, purposeful teaching of it and the identification of capable players from childhood (there was a chess section, a children's chess school in any city in the USSR, there were chess clubs at educational institutions, enterprises and organizations, tournaments were constantly held, a large amount of special literature was published) contributed to the high level of play of Soviet chess players. Attention to chess was shown at the highest level. The result was that from the late 1940s until the collapse of the USSR, Soviet chess players almost completely dominated world chess. Of the 21 chess Olympiads that took place from 1950 to 1990, the USSR team won 18 and became a silver medalist in one more, out of 14 chess Olympiads for women during the same period, 11 were won and 2 "silver" were taken. Of the 18 draws for the title of world champion among men in 40 years, only once a non-Soviet chess player became the winner (it was the American Robert Fischer), and twice more the contender for the title was not from the USSR (moreover, the contender also represented the Soviet chess school, it was Viktor Korchnoi, fled from the USSR to the West).

In 1993, Garry Kasparov, who was then world champion, and Nigel Short, who became the winner of the qualifying round, refused to play another match for the world championship under the auspices of FIDE, accusing the federation leadership of unprofessionalism and corruption. Kasparov and Short formed new organization- PCHA (Professional Chess Association), and played a match under its auspices.

There was a split in the chess movement. FIDE stripped Kasparov of his title, and Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman, who at that time had the highest chess rating after Kasparov and Short, competed for the title of FIDE world champion. At the same time, Kasparov continued to consider himself a "real" world champion, since he defended the title in a match with a legitimate contender - Short, and part of the chess community was in solidarity with him. In 1996, the PCHA ceased to exist as a result of the loss of a sponsor, after which the champions of the PCA began to be called the "world champion in classical chess." In fact, Kasparov revived the old title transfer system, when the champion himself accepted the challenge of the challenger and played a match with him. The next "classic" champion was Vladimir Kramnik, who won a match against Kasparov in 2000 and defended the title in a match with Peter Leko in 2004.

Until 1998, FIDE continued to play the championship title in the traditional order (Anatoly Karpov remained FIDE champion during this period), but from 1999 to 2004 the format of the championship changed dramatically: instead of a match between the challenger and the champion, the title was played in a knockout tournament in which the current champion must was to participate on a general basis. As a result, the title constantly changed hands and five champions changed in six years.

In general, in the 1990s, FIDE made a number of attempts to make chess competitions more dynamic and interesting, and therefore more attractive to potential sponsors. First of all, this was expressed in the transition in a number of competitions from the Swiss or round robin system to the knockout system (in each round there is a match of three knockout games). Since the knockout system requires an unequivocal outcome of the round, additional games in rapid chess and even blitz games have appeared in the tournament regulations: if the main series of games with the usual time control ends in a draw, an additional game is played with a shortened time control. Sophisticated time control schemes began to be used to protect against hard time pressure, in particular, the "Fischer clock" - time control with an addition after each move.

The last decade of the 20th century in chess was marked by another important event - computer chess has reached enough high level to surpass the human chess player. In 1996, Garry Kasparov lost a game to a computer for the first time, and in 1997, he also lost a match to Deep Blue by a one-point margin. The explosion of performance and memory capacity of computers, combined with the improvement of algorithms, led to the fact that by the beginning of the 21st century there were public programs capable of playing at the level of grandmasters in real time. The ability to connect pre-accumulated opening databases and a table of small-figure endings to them further increases the strength of the machine's game. This resulted in changes in the format of high-level competitions: tournaments began to use special measures to protect against computer prompts, in addition, they completely abandoned the practice of postponing games. The time allotted for a game was also reduced: if in the middle of the 20th century the norm was 2.5 hours for 40 moves, then by the end of the century it decreased to 2 hours (in other cases, even up to 100 minutes) for 40 moves.

Current state

After the Kramnik-Topalov unification match in 2006, FIDE's monopoly on holding the world championship and awarding the title of world chess champion was restored. The first "unified" world champion was Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), who won this match.

The current world chess champion is Viswanathan Anand, who won the 2007 World Chess Championship. In 2008, a rematch between Anand and Kramnik took place, Anand retained his title. In 2010, another match was held, in which Anand and Veselin Topalov took part; Anand again defended the title of champion.

The championship formula is being adjusted by FIDE. In the last championship, the title was played in a tournament involving the champion, four winners of the challenger tournament and three personally selected players with the highest rating. However, FIDE has also retained the tradition of holding personal matches between a champion and a challenger: according to the existing rules, a grandmaster with a rating of 2700 or higher has the right to challenge the champion to a match (the champion cannot refuse), provided that funding is secured and deadlines are met: the match must end no later than six months before start of the next World Cup.

"Live Chess"

When the system of playing chess acquired a finished look, the so-called "live chess" came into fashion - theatrical performances held in large open areas marked like a chessboard. The first mention of "live chess" dates back to 1408. It was then that at the court of Sultan Mohammed, who ruled Grenada, a chess performance that surprised many took place for the first time.

Today "live chess" has not lost its popularity. For example, once every 2 years in the Italian commune of Marostica, a similar action takes place, in which city residents take part. And in London, based on "live chess", the Spanish designer Jamie Hayon placed huge chess pieces on Trafalgar Square as part of the Design Festival.

Chess in an Iranian souvenir shop

Chess has long been one of the sports. But this does not prevent millions of people from playing chess just like that, finding joy in the game. Chess is the most exciting intellectual game. In the "Persian Shop" you can find exclusive Iranian chess with wood, bone and metal inlays and traditional Persian painting. Handmade chess is a great gift for a boss, colleague, friends or loved ones.

Benefits of the game

Experts have found that the benefits of chess for the brain are simply enormous. Indeed, during the game, a person uses two of his hemispheres at once. Chess battles accompany the development of logical thinking, short-term and long-term memory. They teach the ability to predict events, make the right decisions.

Rules of the game

Beginning of the game
At the beginning of the game, the chessboard should be positioned so that each player has a white (or light) cell in the lower right corner. Chess pieces are placed in the same way in each game. Pawns are placed on the second and seventh lines. The rooks are in the corners, the knights next to them, then the bishops, and finally the queen, who always stands on a square of the same color as her (white queen on white, black queen on black), and the king next to the queen.
The player with the white pieces always goes first. Prior to this, players usually decide who gets which pieces by drawing lots. White moves first, then black, then white again, then black again... And so on until the end of the game.

How the pieces move
All six pieces move differently. Pieces, with the exception of the knight, cannot “jump” over other pieces, and cannot move to squares occupied by pieces of their own color. Pieces can occupy the squares on which the opponent's pieces are located by capturing them. Pieces should generally be positioned so that they threaten to capture opponent's pieces, defend their own pieces, or control important squares.

King
The king is the most important but also the weakest piece. The king can only move one square in any direction - up, down, sideways, diagonally. The king cannot move to those squares where he will be in check (that is, he can be taken).

Queen
The queen is the strongest piece. He can move in any straight line (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) for any possible distance, but without jumping over the pieces of his color. And, like all pieces, if the queen captures an opponent's piece, its movement ends.

Rook
The rook can move any distance, but only horizontally and vertically. Rooks are especially strong when they protect each other and work together!

Elephant
The elephant can move as far as it wants, but only diagonally. Each elephant starts on its own color square, and must always stay on the same color squares. The elephants work well together as they cover weak sides each other.

Horse
The knight moves differently than all the other pieces. First, the knight moves two squares horizontally or vertically, and then one square perpendicular to the original direction (like the Russian letter “Г”). Also, the knight is the only piece that can "jump" over other pieces and pawns.

Pawn
Pawns differ from other pieces in that they move and capture differently: they move straight forward, and the capture is carried out diagonally. Pawns only move forward one square at a time, except on their very first move, when they can move forward two squares. A pawn can move to a square occupied by an opponent's piece (pawn), which is located diagonally on an adjacent file, simultaneously capturing this piece (pawn). Pawns cannot move (capture) backwards. If there is another piece or pawn directly in front of the pawn, it cannot move past or capture that piece or pawn.

transformation
Pawns have one distinguishing feature- they can transform into other figures. A pawn that has reached the last rank (8th for white, 1st for black) is replaced by any (except the king) piece of the same color at the choice of the player making the move. The transformation is performed immediately (in the same move) regardless of the presence of pieces of the same name on the board. Usually a pawn is promoted to a queen. Only pawns can promote to other pieces.

Taking on the pass
Another rule related to pawns is called “passing on the way” (from “en passant,” French for “on the way”). An aisle capture is a special pawn move in which it captures an opponent's pawn that has been moved two squares at once. But under attack is not the square on which the second pawn stopped, but the one that was crossed by it. The first pawn completes the capture exactly on this crossed square, as if the opponent's pawn moved only one square. Such a situation becomes possible only in those cases when the pawn is located on the fifth (for white pawns) or fourth (for black pawns) rank, and the square that the opponent's pawn crosses is under attack. The capture of an opponent's pawn can be carried out only immediately after it has been moved two squares. Capturing on the aisle is only possible with a return move, otherwise the right to capture on the aisle is lost.

Castling
Another special rule is called castling. This move allows you to do two important things at the same time: secure your king and get your rook out of the corner of the board and into a more active position. Castling consists in moving the king to the side of the rook of its color by 2 squares and then the rook to the square next to the king on the other side of the king. Castling is possible under the following conditions:
This must be the first move of the king in this game;
This must be the first move of the moved rook in the given game;
The squares between the rook and the king are free, there are no other pieces on them;
The king must not be in check and the square it must cross or occupy must not be attacked by one or more of the opponent's pieces.
Note that at the beginning of the game in one direction, the king is closer to the rook. If you castle this way, it is called kingside castle. Castling in the other direction, across the square on which the queen stood at the beginning of the game, is called castling on the queenside. Regardless of which side the castling takes place, the king moves two squares.

Checkmate
As stated above, the object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king. This happens when the king comes under check and cannot get out of it. The king can get out of check in three ways: move to a safe square (castling is forbidden!), hide with another piece, or capture a checker piece. If the king cannot avoid checkmate, then the game is over. Usually, when a checkmate is made, the king is not removed from the board, and the game is considered over.

Draw
Sometimes there is no winner in a chess game, but a draw is fixed.

There are 5 rules chess game ends in a draw:
Pat, that is, a position in which a player who has the right to move cannot use it, since all his pieces and pawns are deprived of the opportunity to make a move according to the rules, and the king is not in check.
Players can simply agree to a draw and stop playing.
There are not enough pieces on the board to checkmate (eg king and bishop against king).
A player declares a draw if the same position on the board is repeated three times (not necessarily three times in a row).
Fifty consecutive moves were played, with none of the players making a pawn move or capturing a piece or a pawn.

Fischer Chess (960)
Chess960 (also called Fischer's chess) is a chess variant in which the same rules are used as regular chess, but where "opening theories" are not played big role in the game.. The initial position of the pieces is formed randomly, using only 2 rules: the bishops stand on squares of different colors, and the king must be between the rooks. Black and white figures are arranged symmetrically. There are exactly 960 possible starting positions that follow these rules (hence the prefix “960”). The castling rule is unusual: everything is the same here (the king and rook have not moved before, they castle not in check or through a square with check), plus all the cells between the king and rook must be free of pieces.
Many tournaments use identical rules. These rules do not have to be applied if you are playing at home or online..

Got it - go!
If a player touches a piece, then he must move it.. If a player touches an opponent’s piece, he must capture it.. A player who wants to touch a piece only to correct it on the board must first declare his intention, usually saying "correct".

Time control.
Most tournaments use time control for the whole game, not for each move.. Both players get an equal amount of time per game, each player can decide how to use this time.. After a player makes a move, he presses the button on the clock to start the opponent's clock. If a player runs out of time and the opponent claims it, the player who runs out of time loses. The exception is when the player who declared does not have enough pieces to checkmate - in this case the game ends in a draw.

Basic Strategies
Protect your king
Move the king to a corner of the board, as a rule, it is safer there. Don't put off castling. As a general rule, you should castle as quickly as possible. Remember, it doesn't matter how close you are to checkmate your opponent as long as he checkmates you first.!
Don't give away figures aimlessly
Don't lose your pieces mindlessly! Each piece has a price, and you cannot win the game without the pieces needed to checkmate. There is a simple scale that allows you to evaluate the relative value of each figure:
Pawn - basic unit
A knight is worth 3 pawns
Bishop is worth 3 pawns
A rook is worth 5 pawns
A queen is worth 9 pawns
The king is priceless
Why do we need to know the comparative strength of the figures? First, it determines the overall utility of the piece. That is, a rook usually brings more value on the board than, say, a bishop. Secondly, the value of a piece must be realized when exchanging ..

Control the center of the board
You must control the center of the board with your pieces and pawns. If you control the center, then you have more opportunities to place your pieces well on the board, and it is harder for your opponent to find good squares for his pieces. In the example above, white makes good moves to control the center, black moves are bad..
Use all your shapes.
Your pieces do no good by sitting in the rear. Try to develop all your pieces so that you can use them when attacking the opponent's king. Using only one or two pieces to attack will not work against a strong opponent.

Getting Better in Chess
Knowing the rules and fundamentals of strategy is only the beginning - there is so much to learn from playing chess that it would take a lifetime to learn everything! To get stronger, you need to do three things:
- Play
Just keep playing! Play as much as possible. You must learn from every game you lose and win.
- To study
If you really want to improve your skill quickly, then get a chess book. There are also many resources on the internet to help you learn and improve your game.

have fun
Don't be discouraged if you don't win all your games!. Everyone loses sometimes - even world champions. If you learn to learn from losing games, you can always enjoy chess!

Look on the site:
Evpatoria

Good day, dear friend!

The generally accepted view is that the origin of chess is Indian. The specific authorship of the chess game has not yet been established. Who Invented Chess? Historians believe that the invention of chess is the fruit of the collective creativity of several peoples.

The birthplace of chess

There are several legends about the origin of chess. The most common one is:

Around the sixth century, a game called chaturanga appeared in India.

The board in chaturanga looks like this: Four people play. Two against two. Each has its own "army" of a certain color. The objective of the game is to destroy all the opponent's pieces.

Subsequently, as the chaturanga spread in the ancient East, the number of players decreased to two, and 16 pieces each. That is approximately the way we know chess today.

Interesting fact: in chaturanga, moves were generated not by players, but by dice.

Historians agree that chess with rules of the game similar to modern ones appeared in the 6th century. It is this time that the found manuscripts are dated, in which chess was first mentioned.

Worldwide distribution

Around the 7th century, Arabs, Chinese and other peoples became interested in chaturanga. South-East Asia. Accordingly, the game has undergone changes, including the name.

Shatranzh among the Arabs, among the Persians - shatrang. To the east, the Chinese xiangqi, across the sea, the Japanese version, shogi. In Thailand, makruk. These varieties still occupy a dominant position in the East.

Around the 8th - 9th centuries, chess settled in Europe. Starting from Spain, where the Arabs "brought" shatranzh. Then France and by the end of the 9th century chess won the hearts of most of the peoples of Europe, including Scandinavia.

On Russian soil, chess, as historians say, first appeared straight from Persia around the ninth century. Then, as usual, the influence of enlightened Europe made itself felt, and around the tenth century, chess in Russia finally acquired European outlines.

The rules of chess also changed gradually.

Interesting fact: In Italy in the eighteenth century, there was a rule: a pawn, upon reaching the promotion square, can only become a piece that is not on the board in this moment. A pawn on the last rank could remain a pawn. The transformation took place at the moment of capture of any figure by the opponent. The pawn became this captured piece.

persecution

In the 14th-16th centuries, chess was practiced both in the logical version and in the "gambling" one. The rules were similar to the Chaturanga rules. When the move was determined by the number rolled on the dice.

This type of chess was perceived as a kind of dice game and was banned by the church as a game of chance.

The rejection of "gambling" chess was also demonstrated by many statesmen, equating chess with an idle pastime.

However, bans were bans, but chess spread in European culture more and more. . By the way, including among the clergy. During excavations, chess was found and is being found in almost every estate of the 15th century.

Gradually, the prohibitions began to be simply ignored. Moreover, among the courtiers, diplomats, the ability to play chess well was recognized as a rule of good form.

Development of the theory

In the 16-17th century, the rules of chess were gradually unified. It became possible to develop theoretical models of the game.

According to Philidor, pawn position plays a key role in the game. It is around pawn chains that the whole game is built.

In 1585, the first international tournament was held in Spain.

Kind of sport

From the 17th century, chess clubs began to form. The first professionals appeared.

Interesting fact: The Italian master Lorenzo Busnardo, according to unconfirmed reports, already in the 17th century earned a fortune by participating in tournaments.

In the 18th century, national championships began to be held, then international tournaments and matches.

The first unofficial world champion was announced by Adolf Andersen, who won the tournament in London in 1851. The crown then went to Paul Morphy, then back to Andersen after Morphy stopped performing.

And finally the first official world champion was Wilhelm Steinitz, who defeated J. Zukertort in a match in 1886.

Another milestone event is the establishment of time control. In the beginning there were simple hourglasses. The inventor of a real chess clock is an Englishman T. Wilson

It is with time control that the sports component is largely connected, which eventually forced the world community to recognize chess as a sport.

Ways of development of chess

Chess developed rapidly in the 20th century. The Soviet chess school made a significant contribution to this process. In the USSR, chess was cultivated and supported by the state.

With the collapse of the country in chess, there has been some stagnation. It is difficult for chess to compete in terms of entertainment and profitability with sports such as football, for example.

FIDE is making efforts to make tournaments more spectacular and attractive to sponsors. So, the round robin was replaced by a knockout system and some other changes, mainly related to the speeding up of the game.

The end of the 20th century was marked by another epochal event - the computerization of chess. Today, the best computer programs play better than humans.

Deep study of the theory and computerization have led to an increase in the popularity of non-traditional types of chess. For example, where the significance of the opening theory is practically reduced to nothing.

And yet chess is being revived in our country. This is a welcome fact. There is confidence that this is not a one-time surge, but a long-term trend.

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Have a nice day!

For those who have a desire to spend their free time for the benefit of the mind and mood, there is such a sport as chess. This is a special sport that does not require physical activity from a person. But in return for this activity, chess requires mental activity from the player. Chess has been played for many centuries both at the professional level and by players in amateur clubs. Let's try to get to know history of chess and the principles of the game.

What is chess?

As mentioned above, chess is a special kind of sport. This is a board game for 2 players. The game takes place on a special chessboard with black and white markings and 64 cells of the same size. The line of cells is marked horizontally with numbers - from 1 to 8, vertically with letters - from a to h. The next important component of the games is a set of chess pieces. They are white and black, each player gets one of them. The set of chess pieces includes:

pawns - 8 pieces;

elephants - 2 pcs;

horses - 2 pcs;

rooks - 2 pcs;

kings - 2 pieces;

queens - 2 pcs.

In the history of chess, there is a special section devoted to the appearance of pieces, and most importantly, their name.

According to the established rules, the game starts with the one who has the white set of pieces. Further, all moves are carried out in turn order. The essence of the game is that one player must hit his opponent by checkmate him. Checkmate - when the opponent does not have the opportunity to move, and his king piece is under the opponent's check. The game can be stopped when the opponent is completely defeated and if there is a draw. All moves have a certain time limit. If the game limit is exceeded and there is no winner, a technical win or a draw is credited.

Where and when did chess first appear?

The history of chess began about 1.5 thousand years ago. According to some scholars, the game originated in India as early as the 5th-6th century AD. It is believed that the progenitor of chess was indian game chaturanga. The exact nuances and rules of this game are not known to anyone now, but there is some information that fully confirms their relationship with modern chess: a black and white board with markings and squares, as well as 16 pieces similar to our usual pawns. There were 4 players, not 2.

According to historians, at the same time, the Indian Chaturanga was borrowed by the Arab peoples. In modern terms, the Arabs significantly modified the game. The first transformation affected the name - from chaturanga it turned into shatranj. Later, when the game came to the Tajiks and Persians, they called it "chess", which translates as "the lord is defeated." This dates back to 580-600 AD.

In 800-900, when the Arabs conquered European cities with lightning speed, chess also penetrated here. In Europe, this game took pride of place and became part of the cultural life of those people. It was only in the 15th-16th centuries that the basic rules of the game, familiar to modern man, were firmly established.

Modern chess

With the development of technology, changes have also affected such ancient game like chess. The rules have remained the same, but now computers have a tremendous influence on the game. Now matches and tournaments under the slogan "man against machines" have become quite popular. It would seem that the computer will not leave a person any chance of winning, but this is not so. AT modern history chess there are many examples of world tournaments when great grandmasters won artificial intelligence.

A real chessboard with figures today has acquired the role of souvenirs and gifts more than a playing accessory, and this is of course sad, but chess of the kind that our consciousness is used to is losing its former popularity. Now amateurs and beginners prefer to compete with a computer engine, and not with a real opponent. But you can also meet on the Internet. There are also advantages: in the process of playing with the machine, you will be able to improve your skills in the shortest possible time.

Good day, dear friend!

Most experts believe that the history of the emergence of chess is rooted in Eastern cultures.

Origin

Many historians are of the opinion that the birthplace of the chess game is India. Others, more cautious, believe that chess is rather a product of the collective creativity of several peoples, and they developed in those ancient times, in parallel in several countries.

The most intelligible legend regarding the origin of chess is this:

At the turn of the fifth and sixth centuries, a game was born in India, which was called chaturanga. For the modern perception of chess, the game looks very strange:

Four are playing. Two for two. Each player has his own set of white or black pieces. The goal of the game is to destroy the "troops" of opponents.

Curious fact: in this game, it was not the players who came up with the moves. What the move should be was determined by throwing the dice.

Gradually, the game developed and spread. The white and black sets of pieces "united", instead of 4 players, two remained. Chaturanga gradually took on the contours of the game we know today as chess.

In general, most historians believe that chess, according to rules similar to modern ones, began to be played in sixth century. The first manuscripts related to the mention and description of chess date back to the sixth century.

Worldwide distribution

It is believed that a little later, a century in 7 , the game has spread to the Arab world, China and some other regions of the East. The game was gaining popularity and acquiring national features characteristic of these peoples.

The names that have survived to this day have also changed. Shatrang, shatranzh, such Arabic and Persian names are unusual for us, modern chess players. In Japan - shogi, among the Chinese - xiangqi, still occupy a prominent place in the cultures of these peoples.

Over time, the Arab shatranzh "penetrated" into Spain. According to historians, this happened in 8 century.

AT 9 century in line France, a little later "under pressure" attractive game other European nations did not resist.

At the same time, in 9 century, chess appeared on Russian earth. And directly from the East. However, cultural ties with Europe played a role. Gradually, chess in Russia took on a European look and by the end of the 10th century was completely “Europeanized”.

Gradually the rules changed. In different countries with their own characteristics

Curious fact:

“In Italy in the eighteenth century, there was a rule: a pawn, upon reaching the promotion square, can only become a piece that is not on the board at the moment. A pawn on the last rank could remain a pawn. The transformation took place at the moment of capture of any figure by the opponent. The pawn became this captured piece."

Period of persecution

At some point in history, a century in 15-16 , chess was divided into two branches - the version we are used to and " gambling". In the gambling version of the game, the rules were similar to chaturanga, and the move was made by throwing the dice .

Not surprisingly, this version was perceived more as a game of chance, since it looked a lot like a game of dice. gambling and then they did not particularly complain and were often persecuted by the church and the state. Chess as a whole also fell under this image.

Not particularly understanding the nuances, church and state officials enthusiastically used their right to “keep and not let go”, considering chess one of the types of idle pastime.

However, sprouts appear on the stones and trees grow. Forbidden fruit, you know... The game spread and became more and more prominent in European culture.

By the way, during excavations, chess was also found in church institutions, not to mention just estates and houses of people of different classes.

Prohibitions, as is often the case, were ignored "by default". Moreover, the ability to play chess well has become fashionable and almost obligatory for people of an intellectual kind of activity.

Development of game theory

So far, servicemen have been breaking spears, the rules of the game in various countries have gradually been shaken, unified and it has become possible to communicate on a common basis.

AT 16 and 17 century began to appear various theoretical models. One of the founders of this approach was Philidor. He introduced the concept of the struggle for the center, countergabit ideas.

Philidor believed, and found quite a few supporters, that the key factor around which the game is built is location. 1585 The 1st international tournament dates back to the year. It took place in Spain.

Chess as a sport

Curious fact: Chess maestro from Itlia Lorenzo Busnardo amassed, according to unconfirmed reports, a fortune by organizing and playing matches and tournaments.

National championships have also been held since the eighteenth century. International tournaments have become regular.

The logical continuation was the establishment of an unofficial world championship. First carrier informal champion's crowns Adolf Andersen, who won the London tournament 1851 of the year.

AT 1886 the first official match took place. championship crown. Wilhelm Steinitz who won over Johann Zuckertortand became the ownerchampionship title.

The next fateful event for chess is the introduction of control. First an hourglass, then they came up with and designed ( T. Wilson) special chess clock.

It was the control of the time spent on thinking that became the starting point in the recognition of chess by the world sports community as one of the sports.

Curious facts

• The record holder for thoughtfulness is a chess player from Brazil F. Trois. One day he thought about his move 2 hours 20 minutes.
• By the duration of the party record 20 full hours and fifteen minutes. Total has been done 268 moves. The party ended in a draw. Perhaps after that the rule was adopted 50 moves, when in the absence of capturing pieces or moving pawns, a draw is declared.

At the turn of the millennium

In the twentieth century, chess developed by leaps and bounds. However, like other types of human activity. In Russia, and especially in the USSR, chess was actively supported and was on a par with the most popular sports.

Still, let's be objective, chess is specific in terms of entertainment, and, accordingly, profitability, cannot compete with football or tennis.

And yet the chess niche is strong enough. It is impossible to replace chess with football in the heart . For example, I have them quite coexist with each other.

AT recent times there has been a tendency to increase the entertainment of tournaments and matches. In my opinion, positive. Mostly in terms of playing and using knockout tournaments and matches.

Another objective trend is computerization. . Everyone has already come to terms with the fact that the computer beats the person.

Hence the desire of leading grandmasters to discover new paths in theory, the growing popularity of rare game formats, for example,

Interest in chess is resurgent. People understand that this is not only a game, a sport or a science, which has been arguing for many years with foam at the mouth.

Chess - personal development tool. No more and no less . I hope this understanding in the minds of people will only grow stronger.

Thank you for your interest in the article.

If you found it useful, please do the following:

• Share with your friends by clicking on the social media buttons.
• Write a comment (at the bottom of the page)
• Subscribe to blog updates (the form under the social network buttons) and receive articles in your mail.