What is Chess?

Chess is a game for two people who sit across the table facing each other during play. The Chess board looks exactly like a checkerboard; in fact, the game of Checkers is played on the same board as Chess. However, Chess is much more challenging than Checkers which is why small children generally don't play Chess.

Each player starts with 16 playing pieces or men. The pieces are generally black for one player and white for the other with white always making the first move. Eight of the playing pieces are pawns which are the least valuable pieces and the other eight are more valuable with the King and Queen being top of the pile and most valuable.

The object of Chess is to capture the King so that it can not move anywhere without being killed by the opposition. Once the king is killed or in the state of check-mate the game is over. Any player's game piece that lands on the same square as his opponent's piece will in effect be killing his opponent's chess piece and it will be removed from the board.

Chess has been played for centuries all over the world. There are chess tournaments, chess clubs and chess games for the computer. You can either play the computer or play another opponent halfway across the world when you play online chess.

There have been several specialty chess sets made. Since the chess pieces or men can be fashioned to look differently yet still be distinguishable from each other, chess game pieces have been fashioned after different television shows or characters such as Star Wars.

Chess is a rather serious game that takes a lot of concentration and can last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. Most people who play chess regularly have a series of opening moves that they use to open the game with. If their opponent too opens the games with a particular series of moves, the game may indeed go on for a very long time.

The World Champion of chess is determined by the annual World Chess Championship. Both men and women are allowed to compete for the title although the women have an additional competition to determine the Woman's World Champion.

Some people learn to master the game of chess by playing the computer over and over until they are able to beat it consistently. Although the particular moves are easy to understand and a novice can begin the game play immediately after learning how the pieces move, the strategy used during the game of chess usually takes a while to develop.

Whether you play chess online or as a board game, the rules are the same and remember, if you are the one with the white chess pieces, you get to go first!