How is Chess Played?

How is Chess Played?

For down to earth beginner's basics on chess see Chesscorner.com, About.com and the US Chess Federation.

US. Correspondence Chess Champion Jon Edwards has a website at Princeton University which he calls Chess is Fun. There are numerous materials presented which are a great help for beginners to learn how to play chess.

An explanation of chess rules is found at ChessClub.com.

See FIDE for the full text of the official FIDE Laws of Chess.

Chess.net Online Chess

Chess.net Online Chess

Chess.net requires a free download of its chess software Chess.net for Windows which can be used during the free trial period. However, when I logged on as a guest, both under the name "guest" as well as under a new handle, I got the message that too many guests were logged on and that I would not be able to log into the site. That of course is a waste of my time, waiting to log in to such programs, and I removed this software immediately from my PC.

Garry Kasparov at the London Chess Centre

Garry Kasparov at the London Chess Centre

The London Chess Centre reports that Garry Kasparov will be signing his autograph to his newest book, My Great Predecessors and to his newest DVD, Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine on July 3, 2004 in London.

ChessBase Online Chess

Chessbase Online Chess

ChessBase, known for its comprehensive Chessbase database and makers of the superb chess software Fritz - now available as Fritz 8 - also have an online chess server at PlayChess.com with nearly 100,000 players. Software must be downloaded and play is free for the first 30 days. Thereafter, a serial number can be purchased for the software which is then good for a year.

A map of the world shows by dots where people all over the planet are online for Chess Online.

FIDE Women's Chess Championship 2004 Elista Kalmykia

FIDE Women's Chess Championship 2004 Elista Kalmykia

As reported at ChessGames.com, ChessBase.com and ChessCenter.com, the 25-year old Bulgarian, Antoaneta Stefanova, defeated the 30-year old Russian, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, in the final of the FIDE Women's World Chess Championships which were held May 21 through June 8 in Elista, Kalmykia.

FIDE covered the games live.

GM (Chess Grandmaster) Yuri Yakovich analyzes the final game in annotation.

Chessgames.com has the Games

Chessgames.com has the Games

Chessgames.com Online is one place to go to hone your fine skills in chess. Great games by top players can be viewed from start to finish in the ChessGames database. One of the best ways to learn how to play the game is to see the masters at work.

Chessgames.com features an "Opening Explorer" for the analysis of openings move by move.

Chessgames.com also features up-to-date chess news and a directory of thousands of top chess players around the world.

We have added a ChessGames.com search box - this is not advertising - in the left column of Magnifichess for you to search for chess games of your choosing.

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nf6 - Mate in 19 moves

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nf6 - Mate in 19 moves

I have been taking it on the chin at the various online chess sites, where I am experimenting with all kinds of strange openings and moves and often getting clobbered by the opposition in the process. But trial and error are the sources of learning.

Good games, of course, are always remembered fondly.

Here is a win I just completed at Game.Knot.com, which was particularly pleasing, resulting in a mate after only 19 moves.
Any checkmate under 20 is always a pleasure, as long as one is on the right side of the board, of course. The mate is already clear a number of moves previous to that since the king has nowhere to go.

[Event "Let's play chess"]
[Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=1850866"]
[Date "2004.06.04"]
[White "jan-p"]
[Black "magnifichess"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1229"]
[BlackElo "1200"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[Termination "normal"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. d3 d6
6. h3 h6 7. g3 Nd4 8. Nxd4 Bxd4 9. Ne2 Bb6 10. f4 Be6
11. f5 Bxc4 12. dxc4 Nxe4 13. c3 Bf2+ 14. Kf1 Nxg3+ 15. Kxf2 Ne4+
16. Ke1 Qh4+ 17. Ng3 Qxg3+ 18. Ke2 Qf2+ 0-1

Online Chess at Yahoo!

Online Chess at Yahoo!

Yahoo under its "Games" section also has thousands of online chess players. I played two nice games there, but the green and white chess board is so horrid that it hurts my eyes - and I could not find a way to change the colors - so I will not be returning there.

FIDE - World Chess Federation Online

FIDE - World Chess Federation Online

FIDE is the abbreviation for the World Chess Federation in French, Fédération Internationale des Échecs.

Chess is regarded to be a sport - only those who have never played find this hard to believe (a real chess game can be as exhausting as any other sport) - and FIDE is recognized by the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, as the supreme ruling body for world chess.

FIDE organizes the official world chess championship tournaments and its champions are generally regarded to be the world champions of chess, although in recent years there was a competing organization, the PCA, since disbanded, whose champions were generally accepted as the true world champions. In recent years, the political infighting and wrangling over the world championship of chess has continued, so that there is still no unified world chess champion. Read this report from the Corus Chess Tournament.

For a history of FIDE and the tournaments it organizes, see FIDE and the Wikipedia.

USCF US Chess Federation Chess Hall of Fame Live Online

Chess Hall of Fame Live Online Chess

Chess Hall of Fame Live is the official online chess service of the United States Chess Federation and the World Chess Hall of Fame.

US Chess Live software must be downloaded, either as a Windows program or as Java for other platforms.

Of all of the tested chess interfaces, this appears to be the best of the bunch and the one we will probably choose to use, though it is also the only one with no free guest use - you must become a paid registered member. Chess here is played seriously. [Update: actually if you register on the site, you have a free trial period before you have to pay.]

Members of the US Chess Federation - see US Chess Online - obtain reduced rates.

IN rating chess players, the ELO system is used which is described at the USCF site as follows:

"The USCF rating system, developed by statistician Arpad Elo in the early 60s, rates the performance of chessplayers in sanctioned tournaments. Most ratings fall between 400 and 2600, with an average of about 1350. The highest rated active member in the US is Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov, rated 2743 as of October 2003. In 1970, the World Chess Federation adopted the USCF rating method for international events. In 1993, World Champion Gary Kasparov achieved the highest international rating ever, 2805, breaking Bobby Fischer's 1972 record of 2780. GM Kasparov is now rated 2838, and remains the highest rated chessplayer internationally".

To see the actual rating of the Top Players worldwide, see the World Chess Federation Online, FIDE Online. FIDE is the abbreviation for the World Chess Federation in French, Fédération Internationale des Échecs.

Chess at World Chess Network

Chess at World Chess Network

The World Chess Network offers online chess. The World Chess Network software must be downloaded and installed (free).

Variations of Chess at ItsYourTurn

Variations of Chess at ItsYourTurn

Some strange variations of normal chess can be played at ItsYourTurn.