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Fortress (chess)
In chess, a fortress is an endgame drawing technique in which the side behind in sets up a zone of protection that the opponent cannot penetrate. This might involve keeping the enemy king out of one's position, or a zone the enemy cannot force one out of (e.g. see the opposite-colored bishops example). An elementary fortress is a theoretically drawn (i.e. a ) position with reduced material in which a passive defense will maintain the draw. Fortresses commonly have the following characteristics: # Useful pawn are not possible. # If the stronger side has pawns, they are firmly blocked. # The stronger side's king cannot penetrate because it is either cut off or near the edge of the board. #Zugzwang positions cannot be forced because the defender has available. Fortresses pose a problem for computer chess: computers fail to recognize fortress-type positions and are unable to achieve the win against them despite claiming a winning advantage. Fortress in a corner Perhap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games, such as xiangqi (Chinese chess) and shogi (Japanese chess). The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga, in seventh-century India. The rules of chess as we know them today emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by the end of the 19th century. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide. Chess is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no use of dice or cards. It is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacrifice (chess)
In chess, a sacrifice is a move that gives up a piece with the objective of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value. Any chess piece except the king may be sacrificed. Because players usually try to hold on to their own pieces, offering a sacrifice can come as an unpleasant surprise to one's opponent, putting them off balance and causing them to waste precious time trying to calculate whether the sacrifice is sound or not, and whether to accept it. Sacrificing one's queen (the most valuable piece), or a string of pieces, adds to the surprise, and such games can be awarded . Types of sacrifice Real versus sham Rudolf Spielmann proposed a division between sham and real sacrifices: * In a ''real sacrifice'', the sacrificing player will often have to play on with less than their opponent for quite some time. * In a ''sham sacrifice'', t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wijk Aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee ( literally ''Neighborhood at Sea'') is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament or the Hoogovens tournament) takes place there every year. Due to its seaside location, Wijk aan Zee has become a popular destination among tourists. This is reflected in the village economy, which consists to a large extent of bars and hotels. Cultural Village of Europe 1999 In 1999, Wijk aan Zee named itself "Cultural Village of Europe", recognizing the special nature of village life in general. This was three years after the Danish village of Tommerup had claimed such a title, but this time a large project was to ensue. Wijk aan Zee came together with villages from England, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, Denmark, The Czech Republic and Hungary in an effort to determine the role and future of villag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (USSR), Korchnoi defected to the Netherlands in 1976, and resided in Switzerland from 1978, becoming a Swiss citizen. Korchnoi played four matches, three of which were official, against GM Anatoly Karpov. In 1974, Korchnoi lost the Candidates Tournament final to Karpov. Karpov was declared World Champion in 1975 when GM Bobby Fischer declined to defend his title. Korchnoi then won two consecutive Candidates cycles to qualify for World Chess Championship matches with Karpov in 1978 and 1981 but lost both. The two players also played a drawn training match of six games in 1971. Korchnoi was a candidate for the World Champio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valery Salov
Valery Salov (born 26 May 1964) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was once ranked the third best player in the world. Competitive chess career Salov was awarded the International Master title in 1984 and the Grandmaster title in 1986. He was the World under-17 Champion in 1980 and the European Junior Champion in 1983–84. He shared first place with Alexander Beliavsky in the 1987 USSR Championship, but he lost the tiebreaker match with Beliavsky (+0−2=2). At the 1988 USSR Championship he finished tied for third with Artur Yusupov, behind Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov. He qualified twice for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship. In the 1988 Candidates Tournament for the 1990 Classical Chess World Championship he was defeated in the round of 16 (the first match) by Jan Timman (+0−1=5). In the Candidates Tournament for the 1996 FIDE World Chess Championship he won his first two matches against Alexander Khalifman (+4−0=2) and Jan Timman (+2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endgame Tablebase
An endgame tablebase is a computerized database that contains precalculated exhaustive analysis of chess endgame positions. It is typically used by a computer chess engine during play, or by a human or computer that is retrospectively analysing a game that has already been played. The tablebase contains the game-theoretical value (win, loss, or draw) in each possible position, and how many moves it would take to achieve that result with perfect play. Thus, the tablebase acts as an oracle, always providing the optimal moves. Typically the database records each possible position with certain pieces remaining on the board, and the best moves with White to move and with Black to move. Tablebases are generated by retrograde analysis, working backward from a checkmated position. By 2005, all chess positions with up to six pieces, including the two kings, had been solved. By August 2012, tablebases had solved chess for almost every position with up to seven pieces, but the positio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Tweed Whitaker
Norman Tweed Whitaker (April 9, 1890 – May 20, 1975) was an American International Master of chess, a lawyer, a civil servant, and a chess author. He was convicted of several crimes, was disbarred from the practice of law, and served several terms in prison. His most infamous criminal escapade was a confidence trick involving the Lindbergh kidnapping in 1932. Early life, family and education Whitaker was born in Philadelphia, and grew up in an upper middle class, socially prominent family. His father Dr. Herbert Whitaker was a respected mathematics teacher with a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, while his mother was well known as a champion whist player. Norman attended high school there, graduating in 1908, and was involved in many extra-curricular school activities.Denker and Parr, p. 262 Whitaker graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor's degree in German Literature. He graduated from Georgetown University with a law degree. Chess in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen (chess)
The queen (♕, ♛) is the most powerful chess piece, piece in the game of chess. It can move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or , combining the powers of the Rook (chess), rook and Bishop (chess), bishop. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first next to the King (chess), king. Because the queen is the strongest piece, a pawn (chess), pawn is promotion (chess), promoted to a queen in the vast majority of cases. The predecessor to the queen is the ''Ferz (chess), ferz'', a weak piece only able to move or capture one step diagonally, originating from the Persian game of shatranj. The modern queen gained its power and its modern move in Spain in the 15th century during Isabella of Castile, Isabella I's reign, perhaps inspired by her great political power. Placement and movement The white queen starts on d1, while the black queen starts on d8. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts on a white square a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Check (chess)
In chess and similar games, check is a condition that occurs when a player's king is under threat of on the opponent's next turn. A king so threatened is said to be in check. A player must get out of check if possible by moving the king to a safe square, interposing a piece between the threatening piece and the king, or capturing the threatening piece. If the player cannot get out of check by any of these options, the game ends in checkmate, and the player loses. Players cannot make any move that puts their own king in check. Many chess variants feature check, such as shogi, xiangqi, and janggi. Overview A check is the result of a move that places the opposing king under an immediate threat of capture by one (or occasionally two) of the player's pieces. Making a move that checks is sometimes called "giving check". Even if a piece is pinned against the player's own king, it may still give check. For example, in the diagrammed position, White has just played Be4+, simultane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrong Bishop
In a chess endgame, a wrong bishop is a bishop that would have been better placed on the opposite square color; in other words, a bishop is unable to guard squares of the other color. This most commonly occurs with a bishop and one of its , but it also occurs with a rook versus a bishop, a rook and one rook pawn versus a bishop, and possibly with a rook and one versus a bishop. Rook versus bishop White wins in this position. The defender has the wrong bishop if it is on the same color as the corner where his king is confined. Black's bishop is on the wrong color of square for it to form a fortress in the corner (i.e. with the black king on the h8-square and the bishop on the g8- or h7-square). White wins: :1. Kf5! Kg8 :2. Ra4!! The only way to win. If 2.Kg6? Kf8 and the black king is able to get out of the "dangerous corner" or "wrong corner" and head to a "safe corner" or "right corner" where he can set up the fortress. :2... Be1 :3. Kg6 Kf8 :4. Rf4+!, followed by 5. Re4, winn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rook (chess)
The rook (; ♖, ♜) is a piece in the game of chess. It may move any number of squares horizontally or vertically without jumping, and it may an enemy piece on its path; additionally, it may participate in castling. Each player starts the game with two rooks, one in each corner on their own side of the board. Formerly, the rook (from Persian رخ ''rokh''/''rukh'', meaning "chariot") was alternatively called the tower, marquess, rector, and comes (count or earl). The term "castle" is considered to be informal, incorrect, or old-fashioned. Placement and movement The white rooks start on squares a1 and h1, while the black rooks start on a8 and h8. The rook moves horizontally or vertically, through any number of unoccupied squares (see diagram). The rook cannot jump over pieces. The rook may capture an enemy piece by moving to the square on which the enemy piece stands, removing it from play. The rook also participates with the king in a special move called castling, wherein i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rook And Pawn Versus Rook Endgame
The rook and pawn versus rook endgame is a fundamentally important, widely studied chess endgame. Precise play is usually required in these positions. With optimal play, some complicated wins require sixty moves to either checkmate, capture the defending rook, or successfully promote the pawn. In some cases, thirty-five moves are required to advance the pawn once. The play of this type of ending revolves around whether or not the pawn can be promoted, or if the defending rook must be sacrificed to prevent promotion. If the pawn promotes, that side will have an overwhelming advantage. If the pawn is about to promote, the defending side may give up their rook for the pawn, resulting in an easily won endgame for the superior side (a basic checkmate). In a few cases, the superior side gives up their rook in order to promote the pawn, resulting in a winning queen versus rook position (see Pawnless chess endgame#Queen versus rook). A rule of thumb (with exceptions) is: ''if the kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
