CHESS

a game for (usually) two players, using a checkered board and specially designed pieces. Each player moves the 16 pieces of his set in accordance with fixed restrictions on the movement of each type of piece, attempting to force the opponent's principal piece, the king, into a position where it is unable to escape capture-in "checkmate." Chess originated in India, or China, during or before the 6th century from ancient forms, derivations of which may still persist in certain regional variants such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Malay chess. The game spread westward through Persia to Arabia and thence was most likely passed on to the Spaniards by the Muslims and to the Italians by the Byzantines. In later times it even acquired a patron goddess, Caissa, the muse of chess, first appearing in a poem by Sir William Jones in 1763. one of the oldest and most popular board games, played by two opponents on a checkered board with specially designed pieces of contrasting colours, commonly white and black. White moves first, after which the players alternate turns in accordance with fixed rules, each player attempting to force the opponent's principal piece, the King, into checkmate-a position where it is unable to avoid capture. Chess first appeared in India about the 6th century AD and by the 10th century had spread from Asia to the Middle East and Europe. Since at least the 15th century, chess has been known as the "royal game" because of its popularity among the nobility. Rules and set design slowly evolved until both reached today's standard in the early 19th century. Once an intellectual diversion favoured by the upper classes, chess went through an explosive growth in interest during the 20th century as professional and state-sponsored players competed for an officially recognized world championship title and increasingly lucrative tournament prizes. Organized chess tournaments, postal correspondence games, and Internet chess now attract men, women, and children around the world. This article provides an in-depth review of the history and the theory of the game by noted author and international grandmaster Andrew Soltis. To accompany his article, Grandmaster Soltis has selected and annotated 25 historic games that influenced the development of chess theory. These games and their annotations can be viewed at select points in the Chess article through a Java-capable browser. Additional reading David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess, 2nd ed. (1992), is an alphabetical dictionary of chess terms and biographical sketches of players and composers, with many illustrative games and compositions. Journals include Chess Informant (3/yr.), a compendium of the best recent games with annotations, considered indispensable by serious players; Chess Life (monthly), published by the U.S. Chess Federation; The British Chess Magazine (monthly); and New in Chess Magazine (8/yr.).Harry Golombek, Chess: A History (also published as A History of Chess, 1976), provides a well-illustrated survey of the game's progress from the war game chaturanga to medieval Europe to modern grandmaster tournaments. Jos R. Capablanca, A Primer of Chess (1935, reissued 1983), by a world champion, offers beginners an elegantly simple introduction to the game's rules and general principles, covering all the basics from standard opening moves to endgames. Emanuel Lasker, Lasker's Manual of Chess (1927, reissued 1991; originally published in German, 1925), by another world champion, covers the same material but with a philosophical approach and an explanation of the classical approach to theory as set down by a third world champion, Wilhelm Steinitz. Richard Rti, Modern Ideas in Chess, trans. by John Hart (1923, reissued 1960; originally published in German, 1922), definitively describes the development of chess theory from the Romantics to the Hypermoderns, with many illustrated games. M. Euwe, The Development of Chess Style, trans. from Dutch (1968, reissued 1978), reviews middlegame thinking beginning with Greco and ending with the Soviet school. A candid autobiography by the first Soviet world champion, M.M. Botvinnik, Achieving the Aim (1981; originally published in Russian, 1978), helps explain the development of Soviet hegemony in chess and the author's much-copied method of pregame preparation. Aron Nimzowitsch, My System: 21st Century Edition, ed. by Lou Hays (1991; originally published in German, 1925), is an often witty explanation of positional chess and the Hypermodern approach to the middlegame. A.J. Roycroft, The Chess Endgame Study: A Comprehensive Introduction, 2nd rev. ed. (1981), approaches studies from different points of view-from casual solver and enthusiast to composer and competition judge-and includes 433 studies and their solutions. Bobby Fischer, My Sixty Memorable Games (1969, reissued 1995), is considered by many the finest autobiographical game collection ever written. David Levy and Monty Newborn, How Computers Play Chess (1991), a nontechnical explanation of how computers evaluate and select moves, includes a historical review of computer chess and profiles of leading programmers. An appreciation of the founder of American problem composing is found in Alain C. White, Sam Loyd and His Chess Problems (1913, reissued 1969), with more than 700 examples and explanations of their themes and creation. Andrew E. Soltis