What is chess?
Chess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders - Savielly Tartakower
Chess is a beautiful mistress. - Larsen
Chess is life - Bobby Fischer
Chess is like life - Boris Spassky
Chess is everything - art, science, and sport. - Karpov
Chess is 99 percent tactics. - Teichmann
Chess is really 99 percent calculation - Soltis
Chess is mental torture. - Kasparov
Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people. - Nigel Short
Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe - Indian proverb
Chess is as much a mystery as women - Purdy
2. Brief History of Chess
• Chess has been dated back roughly 1500
years, originating in India, then spreading
to Persia and then Europe.
• Europe, in the 15th century, is where
chess
developed into its current form.
• Chess tournaments began in the 19th
century, and the first ever World Chess
Championship was held in 1886.
3. Chess Pieces
• The Pawn: Can only move forward, from its
original starting position it can move two
spaces, but if it is not in its original position
it can only move one space. The Pawn can
only capture one square diagonally
forward.
• The Night: Can move from one corner to
another in any 2x3 set of squares. It also is
the only piece that can jump over another
chess piece.
4. Chess Pieces
• The Bishop: Can move any number of
squares diagonally; however it cannot jump
over any pieces.
• The Rook: Can move any number of
squares horizontally or vertically but
cannot jump over any pieces.
• The Queen: Can move any number of
squares diagonally, vertically, or
horizontally; however she cannot jump over
any pieces.
5. Chess Pieces
• The King: Is the main chess piece, he can
move one square in any direction. The side
who’s King is captured first loses.
6. General Rules of Chess
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The ultimate goal in the game of chess is to capture your
opponent’s King, and this is called “checkmate”.
White always moves first, and players take alternating
turns, moving one chess piece at a time. Movement is
required.
Each chess piece has its own movement (as described in the
previous slides). A piece may capture an opponent’s piece or
move to an unclaimed square.
A piece is captured by landing on the appropriate square
with the moving piece and removing the defending piece from
play.
7. World Chess Championship
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The championship started in 1886 when the two best chess
players at the time faced each other.
From 1948-1993 the championship was administered by the
world chess federation (FIDE).
In 1993 the reigning champion, Garry Kasparov, separated
from FIDE leading to two rival championships.
In 2006 the titles were finally unified to create the World
Chess Championship. Men and Women of any age are
eligible to compete for the title.
There is also a separate title for women only to compete for
the Woman’s World Championship. Also there are separate
competitions and titles for juniors, seniors, and computers.
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Brief History of Computers
The word “computer” used to imply a person under a
mathematician’s instruction who performed mechanical
calculations.
As early as 1837, Charles Babbage was the first to design a fully
programable computer. He was unable to construct it however do
to various reasons.
Analog computers became increasingly popular in the early 20th
century for many computing tasks, however like most
technology, became obsolete.
Next came the first digital computer called the Atanasoff Berry
computer which used a binary system of arithmetic, parallel
processing, as well as regenerative memory.
Atanasoff Berry Computer
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Brief History of Computers
The Atanasoff Berry computer also was the first to use Binary
math and electronic circuits, which are both used in today’s
computers.
In the 1930’s and 40’s more efficient computers were
developed, including key features like digital electronics and
flexibility of programming, both of which we see today.
Later, a critical technique known as “stored program architecture”
was developed, which is currently the foundation by which all
modern computers are derived.
In the 60’s valve-driven computers were replaced with a
transistor-driven design. These computers were
smaller, faster, and cheaper, and therefore commercially viable.
Finally in the 1970’s integrated circuit technology reduced
production costs to an all-time low which resulted in the birth of
the personal computer.
10. Chess-Playing Computers
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This is a computer encompassing software and
hardware with the ability to play chess
autonomously, without human guidance.
These computers are designed for solo
entertainment when no human opponent is
available, aids in chess analysis, computer chess
competitions, and helps in research in
understanding human cognition.
Since the 1970’s chess playing computers have
been available for purchase, and are now
accessible to the average consumer.
11. Human vs. Machine
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In 1996 IMb’s Deep Blue defeated the reigning world
champion Garry Kasparov, for his first loss to a computer at
tournament time controls. However Kasparov regrouped to
win three and draw two of the next five games of the match.
But Deep Blue wasn’t finished, in 1997 an updated version
defeated Kasparov in a rematch 3.5-2.5.
There was a documentary made in 2003 about this match
regarding accusations of cheating by the Deep Blue. The
documentary is titled Game Over: Kasparov and the
Machine.
IBM’s Deep Blue
12. Human vs. Machine
• To put it into perspective of how tough a
computer is to beat, and also how good a
world class chess player is know that IBM’s
Deep Blue was a mix of special purpose
software and hardware with an IBM
RS/6000 SP2, capable of examining 200
million moves/second, or 50 billion
positions, in the three minutes allocated for
a single move in a chess game.
13. Chess-Playing Cell Phones?
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In 2009 a mobile phone won
a category 6 tournament
with an impressive
performance rating.
From August 4-14, 2009 the
mobile phone HTC Touch
HD, running Pocket Fritz
4, won the Copa Mercosur
tournament in Argentina
with nine wins and one
draw!
14. Chess-playing Computers
• Though these programs may seem
impossible to beat now, especially for the
untrained and unexperienced, there is still
room to grow. Who knows how strong
computers (and mobile phones) will become
and whether humans will ever beat them