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Dallas Chess Club

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A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess . Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways.

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64-717: The Dallas Chess Club (DCC) is one of the major chess organizations in the United States and a gold affiliate of the United States Chess Federation (US Chess, formerly USCF). The club has approximately 300 members, including a number of FIDE titled players such as: Grandmaster Alejandro Ramírez , GM Amon Simutowe , IM Jacek Stopa , IM Marko Zivanic, IM John Bartholomew , IM Robert Sanchez, IM Keaton Kiewra, FM Keith Hayward, GM Darwin Yang , FM Tommy He, and WIM Sarah Chiang. There are also

128-724: A 6×6 variant, was created in 1956 expressly for computers, its simplicity meant that it was possible for the MANIAC I computer to play it, with a victory over a beginner player the first instance of a computer winning a chess-like game against human opposition. Conversely, Arimaa was developed in 2003 to be deliberately resistant to computer analysis while easy for human players, though computers were able to comprehensively surpass human players by 2015. While solving chess has not yet been achieved, some variants have been found to be simple enough to be solved though computer analysis. The 5×5 Gardner's Minichess variant has been weakly solved as

192-408: A dark square. This may be remembered by the phrases "light on the right" and "queen on her own color". In formal competition, the piece colors for every matchup are allocated to players by the organizers. In informal games, colors are decided either by mutual agreement, or randomly, for example by a coin toss, or by one player concealing a white pawn in one hand and a black pawn in the other and having

256-817: A dozen of the USCF's 58-member World Youth team were also members of the DCC. Also in 2008, the DCC hosted the Girls National Championships, in conjunction with the Kasparov Chess Foundation. Furthermore, the DCC hosts the annual state scholastic tournament for elementary, high-school, and college students. Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games such as xiangqi (Chinese chess) and shogi (Japanese chess). Chess

320-499: A draw, and a lengthy analysis of losing chess managed to weakly solve this as a win for white. Chess variants have been invented in various fiction. In The Chessmen of Mars author Edgar Rice Burroughs describes Jetan which depicts a war between two races of Martian. An appendix fully defines the rules of the game. More commonly specifics of fictional variants are not detailed in the original works, though several have been codified into playable games by fans. An example of this

384-596: A number of US Chess masters such as: Dion Su, Mihail Bantic, Austen Green, Jimmy Heiserman, Adarsh Jayakumar, Nelson Lopez , Jarod Pamatmat, and Abhishek Mallela. International Master (IM) Stopa is the club's most prominent member, as he tied for first place at the US Open in Indianapolis in August, 2009. James T. Campion directed the club for many years from old East Dallas. Historically, the club's most famous member

448-437: A real sport in the early 21st century. Fictional chess variants can involve fantastical or dangerous elements that cannot be implemented in real life. The Chessmen of Mars describes a form of Jetan where the pieces are human beings and captures are replaced by fights to the death between them. The Doctor Who episode " The Wedding of River Song " depicts "Live Chess", which introduces potentially lethal electric currents into

512-680: A role it assumed in 1948. The current World Champion is Ding Liren of China. The reigning Women's World Champion is Ju Wenjun from China. Other competitions for individuals include the World Junior Chess Championship , the European Individual Chess Championship , the tournaments for the World Championship qualification cycle , and the various national championships . Invitation-only tournaments regularly attract

576-511: A series of games between two players, or a team competition in which each player of one team plays one game against a player of the other team. Chess's international governing body is usually known by its French acronym FIDE (pronounced FEE-day) ( French : Fédération internationale des échecs), or International Chess Federation. FIDE's membership consists of the national chess organizations of over 180 countries; there are also several associate members, including various supra-national organizations,

640-510: A simple trap known as the Scholar's mate (see animated diagram) can be recorded: Variants of algebraic notation include long algebraic , in which both the departure and destination square are indicated; abbreviated algebraic , in which capture signs, check signs, and ranks of pawn captures may be omitted; and Figurine Algebraic Notation, used in chess publications for universal readability regardless of language. Portable Game Notation (PGN)

704-540: A slightly modified form became known as shatranj . Modifications made to this game in Europe resulted in the modern game. Courier chess was a popular variant in medieval Europe, which had a significant impact on the "main" variant's development. Other games in the chess family, such as shogi (Japan), xiangqi (China), and ouk chatran (Cambodian) are also developments from chaturanga made in other regions. These related games are considered chess variants , though

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768-466: A starting point. In most cases the creators are attempting to create new games of interest to chess enthusiasts or a wider audience. Variants normally have the same public domain status as chess, though a few (such as Knightmare Chess ) are proprietary, and the materials for play are released as commercial products. The variations from chess may be done to address a perceived issue with the standard game. For example, Fischer random chess , which randomises

832-476: A wide variety of styles. The Staunton pattern is the most common, and is usually required for competition. Chess pieces are divided into two sets, usually light and dark colored, referred to as white and black , regardless of the actual color or design. The players of the sets are referred to as White and Black , respectively. Each set consists of sixteen pieces: one king , one queen , two rooks , two bishops , two knights , and eight pawns . The game

896-433: A wider range of board games, have created chess variants. These include Robert Abbott ( Baroque chess ) and Andy Looney ( Martian chess ). While chess, shogi , and xiangqi have professional circuits as well as many organised tournaments for amateurs, play of chess variants is predominately on a casual basis. A few variants have had significant tournaments. Several Gliński's hexagonal chess tournaments were played at

960-513: Is Tri-Dimensional Chess from Star Trek . On-screen play was not conducted to any specific rules, but a comprehensive rulebook has been since developed. Another well known example of fictional chess-like game are the Star Wars holochess, or dejarik . Chess boxing , a hybrid sport of chess and boxing , was depicted in Froid Équateur , a 1992 comic by Enki Bilal and was developed into

1024-399: Is a text-based file format for recording chess games, based on short form English algebraic notation with a small amount of markup . PGN files (suffix .pgn) can be processed by most chess software, as well as being easily readable by humans. Until about 1980, the majority of English language chess publications used descriptive notation , in which files are identified by the initial letter of

1088-496: Is able to play Crazyhouse , King-of-the-hill , Three-check chess , Atomic chess , Horde chess , and Racing Kings . The AI included in Zillions of Games is able to play almost any variant correctly programmed within it to a reasonable standard. Some variants, such as 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel , are implausible or even impossible to play physically and exist primarily as video games . Play in most chess variants

1152-424: Is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance . It is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to generically as "White" and "Black" , each control sixteen pieces : one king , one queen , two rooks , two bishops , two knights , and eight pawns . White moves first, followed by Black; then moves alternate. The object of

1216-415: Is compulsory; a player may not skip a turn, even when having to move is detrimental . Each piece has its own way of moving. In the diagrams, crosses mark the squares to which the piece can move if there are no intervening piece(s) of either color (except the knight, which leaps over any intervening pieces). All pieces except the pawn can capture an enemy piece if it is on a square to which they could move if

1280-423: Is controlled using a chess clock that has two displays, one for each player's remaining time. Analog chess clocks have been largely replaced by digital clocks, which allow for time controls with increments . Time controls are also enforced in correspondence chess competitions. A typical time control is 50 days for every 10 moves. Historically, many different notation systems have been used to record chess moves;

1344-399: Is not a permissible response to a check. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and there is no legal way to get it out of check. It is never legal for a player to make a move that puts or leaves the player's own king in check. In casual games, it is common to announce "check" when putting the opponent's king in check, but this

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1408-411: Is not required by the rules of chess and is usually not done in tournaments. Once per game, each king can make a move known as castling . Castling consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook of the same color on the same rank, and then placing the rook on the square that the king crossed. Castling is permissible if the following conditions are met: Castling is still permitted if

1472-562: Is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be considered variants of each other. Chess developed from chaturanga , from which other members of this family, such as ouk chatrang , shatranj , Tamerlane chess , shogi , and xiangqi also evolved. Many chess variants are designed to be played with the equipment of regular chess. Most variants have a similar public-domain status as their parent game, but some have been made into commercial proprietary games. Just as in traditional chess, chess variants can be played over

1536-422: Is played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks ) and eight columns (called files ). Although it does not affect game play, by convention the 64 squares alternate in color and are referred to as light and dark squares. Common colors for wooden chessboards are light and dark brown, while vinyl chessboards are commonly buff and green. To start the game, White's pieces are placed on

1600-491: Is recognized in FIDE-sanctioned events; game scores recorded in a different notation system may not be used as evidence in the event of a dispute. Chess is often played casually in public spaces such as parks and town squares. Contemporary chess is an organized sport with structured international and national leagues, tournaments, and congresses . Thousands of chess tournaments, matches, and festivals are held around

1664-587: Is sufficiently similar to chess that games can be recorded with algebraic notation , although additions to this are often required. For example, the third dimension in Millennium 3D Chess means that move notation needs to include the level number, as well as the rank and file—N2g3 means a knight move to the g3 square on the second level. When fairy chess pieces are used, notation requires assigning letters for those pieces. Various publications have been written regarding chess variants. Variant Chess magazine

1728-436: Is the current World Champion. A huge body of chess theory has developed since the game's inception. Aspects of art are found in chess composition , and chess in its turn influenced Western culture and the arts , and has connections with other fields such as mathematics , computer science , and psychology . One of the goals of early computer scientists was to create a chess-playing machine . In 1997, Deep Blue became

1792-833: Is used more broadly across writings about chess variants to describe chess pieces with movement rules other than those of the standard chess pieces. Forms of standardised notation have been devised to systematically describe the movement of these. A distinguishing feature of several chess variants is the presence of one or more fairy pieces. Physical models of common fairy pieces are sold by major chess set suppliers. Several chess masters have developed variants, such as Chess960 by Bobby Fischer , Capablanca Chess by José Raúl Capablanca , and Seirawan chess by Yasser Seirawan . Individuals notable for creating multiple chess variants include V. R. Parton (best known for Alice chess ), Ralph Betza , Philip M. Cohen and George R. Dekle Sr. Some board game designers , notable for works across

1856-526: Is usually calculated as 1 point for each game won and one-half point for each game drawn. Variations such as "football scoring" (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw) may be used by tournament organizers, but ratings are always calculated on the basis of standard scoring. A player's score may be reported as total score out of games played (e.g. 5½/8), points for versus points against (e.g. 5½–2½), or by number of wins, losses and draws (e.g. +4−1=3). The term "match" refers not to an individual game, but to either

1920-885: The International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), International Committee of Chess for the Deaf (ICCD), and the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA). FIDE is recognized as a sports governing body by the International Olympic Committee , but chess has never been part of the Olympic Games . FIDE's most visible activity is organizing the World Chess Championship ,

1984-556: The DCC hosts a number of adolescents who are ranked among the top 10 in the world for their age, this includes CM Tommy He, Jonathan Chiang, WCM Sarah Chiang, Jeffery Xiong, Andy Shao, FM Darwin Yang, Jarod Pamatmat, and a number of others. In 2007, Sarah Chiang received the silver medal at the World Youth Chess Championship held in Turkey. In 2008, Darwin Yang was the nation's top 11-year-old. In 2009, more than

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2048-501: The board, by correspondence , or by computer . Some internet chess servers facilitate the play of some variants in addition to orthodox chess. In the context of chess problems , chess variants are called heterodox chess or fairy chess . Fairy chess variants tend to be created for problem composition rather than actual play. There are thousands of known chess variants (see list of chess variants ). The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants catalogues around two thousand, with

2112-584: 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, with millions of players worldwide. Organized chess arose in the 19th century. Chess competition today is governed internationally by FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs ; the International Chess Federation). The first universally recognized World Chess Champion , Wilhelm Steinitz , claimed his title in 1886; Ding Liren

2176-404: The end of the game, " 1–0 " means White won, " 0–1 " means Black won, and " ½–½ " indicates a draw. Chess moves can be annotated with punctuation marks and other symbols . For example: " ! " indicates a good move; " !! " an excellent move; " ? " a mistake; " ?? " a blunder; " !? " an interesting move that may not be best; or " ?! " a dubious move not easily refuted. For example, one variation of

2240-448: The enemy pawn's two-square advance; otherwise, the right to do so is forfeited. For example, in the animated diagram, the black pawn advances two squares from g7 to g5, and the white pawn on f5 can take it en passant on g6 (but only immediately after the black pawn's advance). When a pawn advances to its eighth rank , as part of the move, it is promoted and must be exchanged for the player's choice of queen, rook, bishop, or knight of

2304-664: The first computer to beat a reigning World Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov . Today's chess engines are significantly stronger than the best human players and have deeply influenced the development of chess theory; however, chess is not a solved game . The rules of chess are published by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs; "International Chess Federation"), chess's world governing body, in its Handbook . Rules published by national governing bodies , or by unaffiliated chess organizations, commercial publishers, etc., may differ in some details. FIDE's rules were most recently revised in 2023. Chess sets come in

2368-423: The first rank in the following order, from left to right: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. Pawns are placed on each square of the second rank. Black's position mirrors White's, with equivalent pieces on every file. The board is oriented so that the right-hand corner nearest each player is a light square; as a result the white queen always starts on a light square, while the black queen starts on

2432-407: The first rank moves to e2"). For pawns, no letter initial is used; so e4 means "pawn moves to the square e4". If the piece makes a capture, "x" is usually inserted before the destination square. Thus Bxf3 means "bishop captures on f3". When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn departed is used to identify the pawn making the capture, for example, exd5 (pawn on the e-file captures

2496-436: The g-file, 5th rank" (that is, to the square g5). Different initials may be used for other languages. In chess literature, figurine algebraic notation (FAN) is frequently used to aid understanding independent of language. To resolve ambiguities, an additional letter or number is added to indicate the file or rank from which the piece moved (e.g. Ngf3 means "knight from the g-file moves to the square f3"; R1e2 means "rook on

2560-514: The game is to checkmate (threaten with inescapable capture) the enemy king. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw . The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga , in seventh-century India . After its introduction in Persia , it spread to the Arab world and then to Europe. The rules of chess as they are known today emerged in Europe at

2624-509: The game on chess.com and lichess. Several internet chess servers facilitate live play of popular variants, including Chess.com , Lichess , and the Free Internet Chess Server . The software packages Zillions of Games and Fairy-Max have been programmed to support many chess variants. Some chess engines are also able to play a handful of variants, for instance the version of Stockfish implemented on Lichess

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2688-406: The height of the variant's popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Chess960 has also been the subject of tournaments , including in 2018 an "unofficial world championship" between reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and fellow high-ranking Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura . Likewise Crazyhouse has seen prize-funded unofficial world championship tournaments with top grandmasters and experts of

2752-492: The majority of variants are, expressly, modifications of chess. The basic rules of chess were not standardized until the 19th century, and the history of chess before this involves many variants, with the most popular modifications spreading and eventually forming the modern game. While some regional variants have historical origins comparable to or even older than chess, the majority of variants are express attempts by individuals or small groups to create new games with chess as

2816-471: The most active club in the United States, with more than twice as many regulars as New York's Marshall Chess Club . Indeed, the DCC has been described as "one of the most active chess clubs" in publications by US Chess. This sentiment is echoed in one unaffiliated chess blog which in 2008 declared the DCC to be "one of the most active clubs in the nation with over 2000 events hosted since 1991". Part of

2880-449: The nearby cities of Fort Worth , Denton , Lewisville , and Plano . DCC utilizes volunteers for club activities. Two notable volunteer TD's are Luis Salinas and Robert Jones. DCC hosted Robert Smeltzer (1930–2010), who set the world record in 1995 for playing the most rated chess games in a single year, for a total of 2266. Smeltzer was subsequently featured on the cover of the official USCF monthly magazine, Chess Life . In addition,

2944-414: The opponent choose. White moves first, after which players alternate turns, moving one piece per turn (except for castling , when two pieces are moved). A piece is moved to either an unoccupied square or one occupied by an opponent's piece, which is captured and removed from play. With the sole exception of en passant , all pieces capture by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies. Moving

3008-442: The opponent has enough pieces left to deliver checkmate). The duration of a game ranges from long (or "classical") games, which can take up to seven hours (even longer if adjournments are permitted), to bullet chess (under 3 minutes per player for the entire game). Intermediate between these are rapid chess games, lasting between one and two hours per game, a popular time control in amateur weekend tournaments. Time

3072-427: The piece chosen is indicated after the move (for example, e1=Q or e1Q ). Castling is indicated by the special notations 0-0 (or O-O ) for kingside castling and 0-0-0 (or O-O-O ) for queenside castling. A move that places the opponent's king in check usually has the notation " + " added. There are no specific notations for discovered check or double check . Checkmate can be indicated by " # ". At

3136-443: The piece on d5). Ranks may be omitted if unambiguous, for example, exd (pawn on the e-file captures a piece somewhere on the d-file). A minority of publications use " : " to indicate a capture, and some omit the capture symbol altogether. In its most abbreviated form, exd5 may be rendered simply as ed . An en passant capture may optionally be marked with the notation " e.p. " If a pawn moves to its last rank, achieving promotion,

3200-555: The piece that occupies the first rank at the beginning of the game. In descriptive notation, the common opening move 1.e4 is rendered as "1.P-K4" ("pawn to king four"). Another system is ICCF numeric notation , recognized by the International Correspondence Chess Federation though its use is in decline. In tournament games, players are normally required to keep a score (record of the game). For this purpose, only algebraic notation

3264-532: The preface noting that—since creating a chess variant is relatively trivial—many were considered insufficiently notable for inclusion. The origins of the chess family of games can be traced to the game of chaturanga during the time of the Gupta Empire in India. Over time, as the game spread geographically, modified versions of the rules became popular in different regions. In Sassanid Persia ,

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3328-627: The reason for this success has been the chess program at the nearby University of Texas at Dallas , which is helmed by Director James Stallings, team coach IM Rade Milovanovic (who tied for first in the 2008 US Open in Dallas), assistant director Luis Salinas of the DCC, and senior lecturer Alexey Root (a former US women's national champion). The DCC is affiliated with the UTD Team, which is the nation's top-ranking collegiate team, and regularly hosts them in tournaments. The DCC also has local affiliates in

3392-429: The required piece is not available (e.g. a second queen) an inverted rook is sometimes used as a substitute, but this is not recognized in FIDE-sanctioned games. A game can be won in the following ways: There are several ways a game can end in a draw : In competition, chess games are played with a time control . If a player's time runs out before the game is completed, the game is automatically lost (provided

3456-402: The rook is under attack, or if the rook crosses an attacked square. When a pawn makes a two-step advance from its starting position and there is an opponent's pawn on a square next to the destination square on an adjacent file, then the opponent's pawn can capture it en passant ("in passing"), moving to the square the pawn passed over. This can be done only on the turn immediately following

3520-407: The same color. Usually, the pawn is chosen to be promoted to a queen, but in some cases, another piece is chosen; this is called underpromotion . In the animated diagram , the pawn on c7 can be advanced to the eighth rank and be promoted. There is no restriction on the piece promoted to, so it is possible to have more pieces of the same type than at the start of the game (e.g., two or more queens). If

3584-466: The second edition of the encyclopedia was completed and published by John Beasley under the title The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. A recent overview of historical and some modern variants was published under the title of A World of Chess in 2017. The Chess Variant Pages website includes a constantly expanding catalogue of variants. A few chess variants have been the subject of significant computational analysis. Los Alamos chess ,

3648-415: The square were unoccupied. Pieces are generally not permitted to move through squares occupied by pieces of either color, except for the knight and during castling. When a king is under immediate attack, it is said to be in check . A move in response to a check is legal only if it results in a position where the king is no longer in check. There are three ways to counter a check: Castling

3712-452: The standard system today is short-form algebraic notation . In this system, each square is uniquely identified by a set of coordinates, a – h for the files followed by 1 – 8 for the ranks. The usual format is The pieces are identified by their initials. In English, these are K (king), Q (queen), R (rook), B (bishop), and N (knight; N is used to avoid confusion with king). For example, Qg5 means "queen moves to

3776-463: The starting positions, was invented by Bobby Fischer to combat what he perceived to be the detrimental dominance of opening preparation in chess. Several variants introduce complications to the standard game, providing an additional challenge for experienced players, for example in Kriegspiel , where players cannot see the pieces of their opponent. The table below details some, but not all, of

3840-433: The ways in which variants can differ from the orthodox game: Variants can themselves be developed into further sub-variants, for example Horde chess is a variation upon Dunsany's Chess. Some variations are created for the purpose of composing interesting puzzles , rather than being intended for full games. This field of composition is known as fairy chess . Fairy chess gave rise to the term " fairy chess piece " which

3904-463: The world every year catering to players of all levels. Tournaments with a small number of players may use the round-robin format, in which every player plays one game against every other player. For a large number of players, the Swiss system may be used, in which each player is paired against an opponent who has the same (or as similar as possible) score in each round. In either case, a player's score

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3968-772: The world's strongest players. Examples include Spain's Linares event, Monte Carlo's Melody Amber tournament, the Dortmund Sparkassen meeting, Sofia's M-tel Masters , and Wijk aan Zee's Tata Steel tournament. Regular team chess events include the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Chess Championship . The World Chess Solving Championship and World Correspondence Chess Championships include both team and individual events; these are held independently of FIDE. Chess variant "International" or "Western" chess itself

4032-515: Was Ken Smith for whom the Smith-Morra Gambit is co-named, and the DCC hosts an annual tournament in his honor. In 2010, DCC hosted the state chess tournament. In September 2009 DCC hosted the annual Southwest Open , which had 240 players and was won by IM Gergely Antal . The club also has several smaller tournaments every week, with approximately one hundred participants during the weekly event on Friday night. This makes DCC arguably

4096-525: Was published from 1990 to 2010, being an official publication of the British Chess Variants Society from 1997. This outlined and introduced multiple variants, as well as containing in-depth analyses. A leading figure in the field was David Pritchard , who authored several books on the topic. Most significantly, he compiled an encyclopedia of variants which outlined thousands of different games. Following Pritchard's death in 2005,

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