International Chess Day and Everything About Chess

Table of Content:

• When is International Chess Day Celebrated?
• What is FIDE?
• Chess
• Chess Game Rules
• How to Setup a Chess Board
• Movement of Chess Pieces
• End of the Game in Chess
• How Time Control Works in Chess Game
• Online Chess
• Various Chess Tournaments
• FIDE World Chess Champions

International Chess Day:

When is International Chess Day Celebrated?

International Chess Day is celebrated every year on 20^th July. International Chess Day is celebrated on this day because International Chess Federation (FIDE) was founded on this very day in 1924. UNESCO suggested celebrating this day and after that, this is celebrated annually since 1966. UN General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to approves this day on December 12^th, 2019.
 

What is FIDE?

FIDE is International Chess Federation which was founded in 1924. FIDE have 18 Chess Federations as its members. All around the world FIDE organizes Chess Competitions and events on 20^th July to celebrate the spirit of International Chess Day.  

Chess:

• Chess is a strategic and competitive board game that is played between 2 players.
• Origin of Chess: Chess was originated in India. Later from India, this game has spread all over the world. In today’s time, chess is one of the most popular games of the world that is played at clubs, home, online and in tournaments by people worldwide.
• Chess Board: Chess is played aboard. Chess Board comes in a square shape in which 64 squares are there which are arranged in an 8x8 grid. Chess has one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. There are two sets of these pieces one is coloured white and another one is Black coloured.
• The Objective of the Chess game: The main objective of the game of chess is to check and defeat the opponent's king. In this situation, the king is attacked by another player and there is no other way to defend the king. Sometimes chess games can end in a draw.

Chess Game Rules:

FIDE has published the rules for the chess game. The international governing body of chess published rules for a chess game in their Handbook.

1. How to Setup a Chess Board :

Generally, Chess pieces are coming in two colours white and black. It is not necessary that Chess pieces should come in Black and White they may come in other colours too but still, they will be called Black and White. Each set contains 16 Chess Pieces in which there are one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The Chess is played on the square board which have 64 squares in alternative colours that are known as Black and White squares. Chess pieces are settled as shown in the pic.

Chess Pieces are placed in order - first rank pieces: Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, King, Bishop, Knight, Rook and in second rank pieces are placed in a row of eight pawns. The actual positions of King and Queen can be remembered by using the phrase “queen on her own colour” which means if the queen is white then the queen will be placed on the light square and the black queen will be placed on a black square.

2. Movement of Chess Pieces:

Whoever has While coloured Chess pieces that person will start the game by forwarding the white chess piece. After that player moves their chess pieces alternatively. Every chess piece has its own moves, they can move in a particular way only. Here are the moves of every Chess Pieces-

• How King Moves in Chess: The King is the most valuable Chess piece in a chess game cause if the king dies or the game is over. The whole chess game is mainly played to save the king. The King can move one square in any direction. There is one special move known as Castling, in which the king and rook’s movement is involved.
• How Bishop Moves in Chess: A Bishop have the power to move any number of squares diagonally and can’t leap over any other pieces.
• How Rook Moves in Chess: A Rook can move any number of squares along with a rank and file. It is also can’t leap over any other pieces. Rook takes part in Castling move along with King.
• How Queen Moves in Chess: A Queen have the capabilities of a rook and A bishop. This means a queen has the power to move any number of squares along with rank, file or diagonal and it is also can’t leap over any other pieces.
• How Knight Moves in Chess: A Knight can move to any close square which is not on the same rank, file or diagonal. It moves in L shape means two squares horizontally and one square vertically or vice versa. The Knight is the only Chess pieces that can leap over any other pieces.
• How Pawn Moves in Chess: In its first move a pawn can move two squares and after that one square only in the forward direction. A pawn possesses two special moves – the en passant capture and promotion.

3. What is Check and Checkmate in Chess Game?

 In a chess game when a King is under attack it is said to be in check. The main objective of the chess game is checkmating the other player.

4. What is Castling in Chess Game?

In every chess game, the king has a special move that can be used once only. This special move of the king is known as Castling. In Castling king can move two squares along with the player’s first rank towards the rook on the same rank, and then the rook can be placed on the last square that the king has crossed.

5. What is Promotion in a Chess game?

In chess during the game a pawn reaches the 8^th rank while moving then it is promoted and can be exchanged with queen, bishop, rook, or knight as per the player’s choice.

6. End of the Game in Chess:

In a game of chess, a game can be won in the following ways-

• Checkmate: If the king is in check and the opponent ran out of the moves.
• Resignation: A player can resign in a hopeless position.
• Win on Time: In a Chess game time is very important especially in tournaments. A player wins if the other players ran out of time.
• Forfeit: When a player cheats in a game or break any rule of the game then that tournament can be forfeit.

7. Draw:

There are some ways a game can be ended in a draw-

• Dead Position: If both the players are not able to checkmate the other one then the game is considered to be drawn.
• Stalemate: If a player has no legal move and is not in check this situation is knowns stalemate and the game are drawn.
• Draw by Agreement: Players are allowed to agree on the draw by the mutual agreement.
• Drawn on Time
• Threefold Repetition
• Five-Move Rule

How Time Control Works in Chess Game:

The tournament and competition chess games are always played with time control. If a player runs out of time, then that player lost the game. For Time Control a special Chess clock is used. This Chess clock has two displays one for each player’s remaining time. Previously Analog clock was used in chess which is now replaced with digital clocks. The duration of the game for long games can take up to 7 hours to bullet chess that is 3 minutes per player. In Intermediate rapid chess, game time lasts between 20 minutes to two hours per game.

Online Chess:

• A game of Online chess can be played over the internet using a computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet. Online chess has seen growth during the covid-19 pandemic due to lockdown in various countries. Downloading of the Chess apps has been risen up to 63% on App Store and Google Play Store. The most popular Online chess is offered by Chess.com
• First Computer to Beat the World Chess Champion was Deep Blue Computer. The Deep Blue Computer defeated Gary Kasparov in 1997.
• The Queen’s Gambit is a popular Web Show based on Chess of Netflix.
• Chess Composer: The Creator of the Chess Compositions (the art of creating chess problems) is known as Chess Composer.

Various Chess Tournaments:

• World Chess Championship
• Grand Master
• International Master
• FIDE Master
• Candidate Master
• World Junior Chess ChampionshipChess Olympiad

FIDE World Chess Champions

• Anatoly Karpov (1993-1999), Russia
• Alexander Khalifman (1999-2000), Russia
• Viswanathan Anand (2000-2002), India

Undisputed World Chess Champions

• Vladimir Kramnik (2006-2007), Russia
• Viswanathan Anand (2007-2013), India
• Magnus Carlsen (2013-Present), Norway