"The checkering of the squares was a European innovation, introduced in the thirteenth century. The convention of White having the first move is much more recent than that. François-André Danican Philidor in the original (1749) edition of his famous treatise ""Analyse du jeu des Échecs"" cited one game in which Black moved first. Johann Horny, in a book published in Germany in 1824, wrote that Black moves first. Phillip Sergeant wrote in his book ""A History of British Chess"" of the great Alexander McDonnell (1798–1835), remembered today for his series of matches with Labourdonnais: He preferred to have Black, as"
"White places all his counters first, followed by Black; or one per turn if the players prefer.) After all counters have been placed, White moves any one of his counters as a regular chess piece of his choosing, then immediately replaces that counter with the corresponding chess piece. Black does similarly on his turn. These ""moves of identification"" obey the following rules: After each player has identified one chess piece, on subsequent turns players may choose to identify an additional piece from those still in-hand, or move one of their chess pieces already on the board. Chess pieces move, capture,"
"and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. That is, the first rank is or Two players alternate in making a move, with Black moving first. (The pieces are not differentiated by color; the traditional chess terms ""Black"" and ""White"" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A ""move"" consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by"
"warning!"" Walter Whiteman vs. Rib Orrell: 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bc4 Ng4 5.0-0 Nxf2+ 6.Rxf2 Bxf2+ 7.Kxf2 0-0 8.d3 d6 9.Ng5 Be6 10.Bxe6 fxe6+ 11.Ke1 h6 12.Nxe6+ Qh4+ 13.g3 Qxh2 ""Black threatens 14...Qg/h1 mate since a K move is illegal as it exposes the Q to check. If 14.Qg4 (only legal move for Q) Rf2 15.Ne2 (forced: Qxg7 is not mate—it's illegal!) Rxe2+ and mate in three."" Played on a regular chessboard, this variant is a simple race game: the first player to reach a square on the last with his king is the winner. Checking is not"
"together. On the other hand, material considerations are not all-important, because having fewer checkers also means having fewer to unite. The above moves illustrated the rules, but not necessarily good play. The following moves are more typical of expert play. Black plays b1-b3. The checker moves two squares vertically, because there are two checkers in the file: b1 and b8. This move gives White no opportunity to capture, and threatens to hem in the pieces on the a-file. White moves h4-f2. The checker moves two spaces because there are two checkers in the diagonal: h4 and e1. White threatens the"
"pieces are not differentiated by color; the traditional chess terms ""Black"" and ""White"" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A ""move"" consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by an opposing piece, thus capturing that piece; and optionally of promoting the moving piece, if the move enters the ""promotion zone"", or if it is a capture and any part of it is in the promotion zone. Two players, Black and White (or 先手 ""sente"" and 後手 ""gote""),"
"the blockade of the first rank. The checker moves three squares, jumping over a friendly checker. White, despite the substantial disadvantage of moving second, apparently is in the lead now due to the reduced mobility of Black's first-row checkers. White will soon play a2-d2, continuing to build his own bridge and forcing Black's checker on e1 to move sideways if it wants to join the game. It hardly helps for Black to try to escape with e1-c3, because that allows White to capture with a5:c3. In the diagram below, White has made a move that connects all his pieces while"
"Qh4+ 130.Kg7 Qg3+ 131.Kf8 Qd6+ 132.Qe7 Qh6+ 133.Qgg7 Qf4+ 134.Qgf7 Qb8+ and the position on the right is reached. Then the cross-check 135.Qee8+ (or Qfe8+) forks the king and queen, forces an exchange, and wins the game. Cross-checks are relatively infrequent in actual play, but are popular in chess problems since they make for a relatively unobvious solution. In the problem shown to the right, White is to move and mate in two moves against any defence. It is by G.F. Anderson and was first published in ""Il Secolo"" in 1919. The key 1.Kd6, threatening 2.Qb7#, gives the black king"
"a pawn must advance ""two"" squares—unless the pawn's first move is a capture. The normal rules for check and checkmate are contradicted—a player may ""not"" check the enemy king, but may move his own king ""into"" check. A player wins when his opponent cannot escape ""giving"" check. Players start with kings positioned as shown. White places his remaining pieces anywhere he likes on his side of the board, then Black does the same. White moves first. Checking the opponent is not allowed. (If a player has no move other than to give check, then he loses.) A player may make"
"or captured on the next move. Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after capture. Two players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The pieces are not differentiated by color, but rather by facing of the pieces, with the ""sharp"" end pointed at the opponent; the traditional chess terms ""Black"" and ""White"" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A ""move"" consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by an opposing piece,"
"ranks and files. Each player controls twelve checkers, which are initially arrayed as follows: The object of the game is to bring all of one's checkers together into a contiguous body so that they are connected vertically, horizontally or diagonally (8-connectivity). A checker may not jump over an enemy checker. Thus in the diagram below, White can't play a6-d6, even though there are three checkers in row 6. White might instead play a6-c4, moving two spaces because there are two checkers in the diagonal (a6-f1) in which White is moving. A checker may jump over friendly checkers. Thus Black may"
"procedure for determining who plays White. Instead, this decision is left open to tournament-specific rules (e.g. a Swiss system tournament or Round-robin tournament) or, in the case of non-competitive play, mutual agreement, in which case some kind of random choice is often employed. A common method is for one player to conceal a piece (usually a pawn) of each color in either hand; the other player chooses a hand to open, and receives the color of the piece that is revealed. Each type of chess piece has its own method of movement. A piece moves to a vacant square except"
"one who bears off all checkers first, wins the game. After rolling the dice a player must, if possible, move checkers the number of points showing on each die. The number on each die constitutes a separate move. For example, if you roll 5 and 6, you can move one checker 5 points and another 6 points. But you can also move a single checker 11 points (5+6), given that you have a free point (not blocked by the opponent) to land on in between, after moving the checker for 5 or 6 points. If a player rolls two of"
"chess variant shown on the diagram. The first player wins easily in this game (1. axb3+ Qxb3 2. cxb3+ Kxb3 (or 2...Kb4 3. bxc3 checkmate) 3. bxa3+ Kc4 4. Qa2 checkmate), so Silverman proposed a variant: Black can select a pawn, and White must make a first move with this pawn. However, in this case Black wins even more easily (select pawn b2, 1.bxa3 (or 1.bxc3) b2+ 2. Qxb2 Qxb2 checkmate). To make the variant more playable, Silverman finally proposed to insert a row between pawns and use the board 4×5. In this variant pawns can do double-move if target"
"an enemy king wins the game. At the beginning of the game the chessboard is laid out so that each player has a white (or light) colored square at his lower, right-hand side. The pieces are arranged the same way for each game: the queen goes to the left of the player's king, next are the bishops, then knights, then rooks in the corners. The second row () is filled with pawns. Players choose colors by any agreed method. White moves first, followed by Green, then Black, then White again, in a counterclockwise direction. Play continues to alternate in this"
"traditional chess terms ""Black"" and ""White"" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A ""move"" consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by an opposing piece, thus capturing that piece; and optionally of promoting the moving piece, if the move enters the ""promotion zone"" (that is, it starts outside the promotion zone and ends inside it), or if it is a capture and any part of it is in the promotion zone. Each of these options is detailed"
"problem by Alex Angos, White checkmates in four moves: A similar problem was composed by Johann Berger in 1890. The solution is: followed by In this composition by Alfred de Musset, White checkmates on the edge of the board in three moves with: In this study composed by Sobolevsky, White wins by checkmating with two knights: In this study composed by Ashot Nadanian, White wins by checkmating with two knights: If 1...Re7, then 2.N6f5! Re1 3.Rxg6+ Kxh5 4.Rxh6+ Kg5 5.Nf3+ and White wins. and checkmate on the next move, due to zugzwang; two white knights deliver four different checkmates: The"
"with an extra tempo. As late as the mid-to-late 19th century, the practice of White moving first had not yet become standard. George Walker in his popular treatise ""The Art of Chess-Play: A New Treatise on the Game of Chess"" (4th edition 1846), set forth the rules of London's St. George's Chess Club promulgated in June, 1841. ""Law III"" provided that the player who moved first had the choice of color; if the players played more games at the same sitting, the first move would alternate, but each player would continue to use the same colored pieces as he had"
"ch"". The ""Encyclopedia of Chess Openings"" omits any indication of check. Checkmate at the completion of moves can be represented by the symbol ""# "". (Some use ""++"" instead, but the USCF recommends ""# "".) The word ""mate"" is commonly used instead. Occasionally the double dagger (‡) is seen. A checkmate is represented by ""≠"" (the not equal sign) in the macOS chess application. In Russia and ex-USSR, where captures are indicated by "":"", checkmate can also be represented by ""X"", ""x"", or ""×"". The notation 1–0 at the completion of moves indicates that White won, 0–1 indicates that Black"
"check are king moves, as both checking pieces cannot be captured or blocked at once. In some cases, the king can capture one checking piece and escape the other in a single move. In exceptional circumstances, it is possible for the moved piece to not participate in the double check (i.e. to give a ""double discovered check"", though this name is not actually used). The only way for this to happen in orthodox chess is by way of an ""en passant"" capture. In the position shown, Black has just played 1...g7–g5. White replies 2.hxg6++. The result is a double check"
"had the choice of color. In 1889 Wilhelm Steinitz, the first World Champion, wrote that ""In all international and public Chess matches and tournaments ... it is the rule for the first player to have the white men"". Emanuel Lasker, the second World Champion, stated in ""Lasker's Manual of Chess"" (first published in 1927) that ""White makes the first move"". There has been a debate among chess players since at least 1846 about whether playing first gives White a significant advantage. Statistical analysis shows that White scores between 52 and 56 percent at most levels of play, with White's margin"
"game is drawn . If the white king moves to the fifth , Black takes the opposition. (See Opposition (chess)#Example for more details of this game.) In a position with a blocked pair of pawns (opposing pawns on the same , the key squares for a player's king extend for three files on either side of the opponent's pawn. In this position, the first king to reach one of his key squares will win the opponent's pawn and protect his own. Even though the white king is farther away from the pawns, White wins if he moves first: The white"
"who was white, had a stack of seven checkers, three stacks of two checkers and two ""blots"", checkers that stand alone on a point and are therefore in danger of being put outside the board by an incoming opponent checker. Zeno threw the three dice with which the game was played and obtained 2, 5 and 6. As in backgammon, Zeno could not move to a space occupied by two opponent (black) pieces. The white and black checkers were so distributed on the points that the only way to use all of the three results, as required by the game"
"game with 16 pieces of the specified color, which consist of one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The pieces are set out as shown in the diagram and photo, with each queen on a square of its own color, the white queen on a light square and the black queen on a dark. The player with the white pieces always moves first. After the first move, players alternately move one piece per turn (except for castling, when two pieces are moved). Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square or one occupied by"
"force checkmate. The only way to save the bishop is to move it, resulting in stalemate. A similar idea occasionally enables the inferior side to save a draw in the ending of bishop, knight, and king versus lone king. At right is a composition by A. J. Roycroft which was published in the ""British Chess Magazine"" in 1957. White draws with 1. c7! after which there are two main lines: Some chess problems require ""White to move and stalemate Black in ""n"" moves"" (rather than the more common ""White to move and checkmate Black in ""n"" moves""). Problemists have also"
"king at f8 with 6...Bg7 would have prolonged the game. White still wins with 7.Qf5! Nf6 8.Bh6 Bxh6 9.gxh7 Bxh1 (9...e6 opens another flight square at e7; then White checks with 10.Qg6+ Ke7) 10.Qg6+ Kf8 11.Qxh6+ Kf7 12.Nh3, but much slower than in the game. Fool's mate In chess, Fool's Mate, also known as the Two-Move Checkmate, is the checkmate in the fewest possible number of moves from the start of the game. This can be achieved only by Black, who can deliver checkmate on move 2 with the queen. Fool's Mate received its name because it can only occur"
"rules were most recently revised in 2017. Chess is played on a square board of eight rows (called ' and denoted with numbers ""1"" to ""8"") and eight columns (called ' and denoted with letters ""a"" to ""h""). The colors of the 64 squares alternate and are referred to as ""light"" and ""dark"" squares. The chessboard is placed with a light square at the right-hand end of the rank nearest to each player. By convention, the game pieces are divided into white and black sets, and the players are referred to as ""White"" and ""Black"" respectively. Each player begins the"
"It reverses the names ""Black"" and ""White"" to conform to international chess. Thus it becomes White who moves first, and his king starts at f1; the Black king starts at g12. (In the TSA notation, these squares are 7l and 6a respectively.) Double moves are indicated by the same method as in TSA notation (e.g. +Dxf6-g7). Igui, however, has no special notation but is written as the back-and-forth double move it is, while a turn pass is written as -- and not associated with a particular piece. Absence of a promotion + suffix implies deferral. Some WinBoard versions use a"
"also played with colors reversed. Queening a white pawn generally allows White to declare a checkmate within the next few moves. Also, with only the two kings on the board, White can easily force a Monster chess checkmate. Sometimes White's moves can be executed with humour. For example, both hands can be used to move two pawns simultaneously, or a black piece one square away from the white king can simply be removed from the board. In Monster Chess, White checkmates Black when, no matter where Black moves, White will always be able to take Black's king by making two"
"mobility of Black's checkers in the bottom row. Black plays d1:a4, jumping over his own checker (which is permitted) and capturing the white checker at a4. Note that Black moved three spaces, as there were three checkers in the diagonal: a4, b3, and d1. It isn't clear whether the capture is advantageous or not. Black does now have an extra checker, but the move didn't do much to block White or build a central mass for Black. Usually early captures on the edge are not especially powerful, whereas early captures in the center are extremely good. White plays h2-e2, continuing"
"Monochromatic chess Monochromatic chess is a chess variant with unknown origin. The initial board position and all rules are the same as in regular chess, except that pieces that begin on a black square must always stay on a black square and pieces that begin on a white square must always stay on a white square. This would mean that knights can never move, but ""The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants"" says that knights make a double jump. It has been suggested that a knight be replaced with a (3,1)-leaper. If knights are allowed to move (or are captured, clearing"
"to that, it had gradually become conventional, over a number of years, to have White move first in published analysis, and by about 1862 to have White move first in all published games. But it was evident that players could in many cases choose Black when they had the first move, even if the published game-score indicated that White had moved first. Three years after the example cited by McCrary, the ""Revised International Chess Code"" issued at the London 1883 tournament (one of the strongest in history) provided that the player who won by lot the right to move first"
"been known even earlier. From the diagram position at left, instead of 1...Nb6+??, Black would win quickly by threatening mate on d8 by 1. ...Na5, e.g. 2. Kd8 Ba4 3. Kc8 Bd7+ and the white king is forced to b8 with mate in 6. Bishop and knight checkmate The bishop and knight checkmate in chess is the checkmate of a lone king which can be forced by a bishop, knight, and king. With the stronger side to move and with perfect play, checkmate can be forced in at most thirty-three moves from any starting position where the defender cannot quickly"