Chess

Chess is one of the most popular games in the world. It is played by two players, on a board divided into 64 black and white squares. Each player has 16 pieces: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks (also called castle), 2 bishops, 2 knights (sometimes called "horse") and 8 pawns. Each of these pieces moves differently. The goal of the game is to capture the opponent's king.

Chess, as we know it today, has been around since the 15th century. That's when people started playing the game in Europe. The game is actually a modern version of a game that was played in India, 1,500 years ago (!).

The rules of the game aren't too complicated, but if you want to win, you have to concentrate. The paradox of the game, is that although the king is the most important piece (if the king is captured, the game is over), it is also the weakest piece. It can only move one space in any direction. The queen on the other hand, is the strongest piece. The queen can move as many spaces as "she" wants, in any direction. It seems, that just like in real life, in the game of chess, the males have symbolic power, but the females are the ones who are really in charge.

In many families, the game of chess is a fun and educational activity that is passed on from generation to generation. In contrast to many other games, which have come and gone, it seems that chess has survived the test of time. This is probably because the game is both simple and complicated at the same time.

The rules, board, pieces and conditions needed to play are very simple. Even prisoners in jail can play chess. However, deciding what to do on each move is very complicated. The reason for this is that it is not enough to consider the possible consequences of your own moves. You must always try to anticipate how your opponent will react to your move. Unfortunately, knowing for sure what another person will do in any given situation is almost impossible.  

But chess isn't just a family game. In fact chess is played in tournaments all over the world. In most tournaments, the players use timers in order to regulate the time spent on each game (not on each move). This can make the game very stressful for both players. Chess is also considered a sport and it is played in the Olympics.

Today's world champion chess player is Viswanathan Anand from India. He has held this title since 2007. His mother taught him how to play chess, when he was only 6 years old. At the age of 16 he had already won the national chess championship.

This is the basic strategy of chess: protect your king, be very careful not to let your opponent capture your pieces and try to use all your pieces wisely. This kind of strategy exists naturally in most human beings. This is why it took a long time to invent a machine that could beat a world champion. This was finally accomplished in 1997, when a chess program, called "Deep Blue" beat the world champion, who was at that time Garry Kasparov.

The advantages of playing chess have been researched and proved many times. It strengthens children's ability to concentrate, to make short-term goals and make long-term plans for the future. In fact, research has proved that children that play chess are less violent and do better at school. But what's really important, is that chess is fun. For more information about chess, you can log onto "www.Chess.com".

Have fun!

Ishmael Ben Israel
English Online Team

Connect the names of the chess pieces to the matching pictures:

King
Rook/castle
Queen
Bishop
Pawn
Knight/horse

Find the correct translation of the following words from each paragraph:

Why is the word "she" in the 3rd paragraph in quotation marks ("  ")?