Beyond the Trivia-Chess

Have you ever played chess? Today is International Chess Day. It's a game played with pieces on a board with the goal of checkmating your opponent's king, where he is in check and cannot escape. Of the following four statements about chess, which are true? (1.) The board can be used for checkers. (2.) There are four kinds of chess pieces. (3.) The World Chess Hall of Fame is in Missouri. (4.) Chess was developed in Spain.

Answer:

The game of chess has been around since the 15th century and became more popular than ever during the pandemic. The game of chess is played on a board with 64 squares, eight by eight. Is it the same board as a checkerboard? The colors of the squares can vary, but, yes, you can play chess on a checkerboard. Are there four kinds of chess pieces? Yes, but not just four, so statement two is false. There are six chess pieces, the king, queen, bishop, rook, knight and pawn. With two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns, that makes sixteen pieces. Have you ever heard of a World Chess Hall of Fame? There is such a place, and it is in Missouri, specifically in St. Louis just east of Forest Park.

Did the game of chess, as we know it, come from Spain? Statement four is true. Chess evolved from a game in India called chaturanga. There is no random chance in chess. It's all about strategy and tactics. When computers were in the early stages of development, one of the goals of computer programmers was to develop the technology so a computer could defeat a chess champion. That happened in 1997 when a computer named Deep Blue defeated reigning world champion Garry Kasparov. Now, computer chess engines are significantly stronger than the best human players and the moves made by computers have changed some of the theories about how successful chess should be played.

St. Louis is gaining recognition as one of the top chess capital of the world, ever since businessman Rex Sinquefield established the St. Louis Chess Club and the World Chess Hall of Fame. The site chess.com lists St. Louis as second in the world, just behind Moscow. St. Louis was one of three U.S. cities (along with New York and New Orleans) that hosted the first official World Championship match in 1886 when Wilhelm Steinitz of Austria became the first World Chess Champion. The city has hosted the last six U.S. Chess Championships, and next month it will host the largest chess tournament in history, the Sinquefield Cup.