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| Origins
of Chess |
| The
exact origins of Chess are somewhat disputed, as different
countries, from time to time, have had variations of modern chess
played today. Most historians credit China with the invention
of chess well into 1500 B.C. It was China who brought the game
to India around the sixth century, A.D. where it was later spread to
Europe. Ancient manuscripts taken from China reveal a game of
similar nature, but many experts claim that the ancient Chinese were
referring to another game, called Go.
It is agreed
upon, however, that Chess became a very popular game in India during
the sixth century A.D. Ironically, great Hindu philosophers of
India were never actually interested in Chess, as it was a
game. It wasn't until very recently did India join the FIDE
(International Chess Federation).
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| Hobby,
Occupation or Life? |
| Chess,
unlike most if its thought-invoking relatives, is a sport that has
captured more minds and audiences than any physical activity
invented. Whether it be a hobby for the working man or an
occupation for a grandmaster, Chess mimics much the way life
operates. "There
are many aspects of chess that resemble life to an astonishing
degree," said Garry Kasparov in an interview before taking on
IBM's Deep Blue in a world-watched rematch.
Famous
physicist, Albert Einstein, arguably the greatest thinker of our
time indulged in Chess later in his life. It's also been noted
that the famous French painter, Marcel DuChamp, gave up his work as
an artist to pursue a life in Chess. And Johan de Konig, who
was famous for his devotion to the game, later went mad and
committed suicide.
Chess is a
game of precise decision making. The passion that is involved
in each and every game and the shear amount of participation and
speculation is what has made Chess such an incredible
activity.
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| Landmarks in
Chess |
| There
have been many significant events that surround Chess and its impact
on the world. Perhaps one of the most underrated person of all
time was a man by the name of Paul Morphy:
Paul
Morphy grew up New Orleans during the 1800's. His most
notable success was making Chess the competitive game it is
today. Morphy won the first American Championship in Chess in
1857, and was financed to compete against the best in Europe.
During the American Championship, he went undefeated (9-0) and
triumphed over Louis Paulsen, in the final match with a Queen
sacrifice.
In Europe,
he defeated Anderssen from Germany, Harrwitz from France,
Lowenthal from the Netherlands, and others. It was said that
the European grandmaster at the time, Howard Staunton, from
England, refused to play Morphy. He retired in his twenties,
yet, and died a premature death. His contribution chess with
rapid piece development during his three years of fame has remained
a spectacular event in history.
Bobby
Fischer was perhaps the most unusual chess player in
history. He's been noted as the greatest and most exciting
player of the millennium according to recent polls.
Fischer grew
up in Chicago, Illinois, in 1943. He learned the rules of
Chess by age six. By the age of twelve, he recorded his first
tournament game. By fifteen, he achieved an international
grandmaster title.
The mind of
Bobby Fischer has been somewhat of a challenge to understand.
It's been said that his I.Q. was around 180, well above the genius
level. Although he never publicly revealed this statistic
(as he was, in fact, embarrassed by his intelligence), a friend of
his reported to the Soviet chess weekly, that Fischer's I.Q. was
"astronomical." Many people claimed Fischer was an
idiot savant as his odd behavior revealed. Masters, who have
played Fischer in speed chess, have performed post-modern studies to
analyze Fischer's intelligence. Results show that Fischer was
able to see three or four moves ahead in any position within a
second or two. If he were to spend the entire 5 seconds
allotted, he could see five or six moves ahead. During one
such speed-chess tournaments, Fischer was able to recall each of the
twenty games he won, move for move!
His most
famous feat was defeating the Soviets for the world title in the
early 1960's. This victory, considered by many to be the
decisive "Capitalism vs. Communism" match was an important
landmark in chess history.
Garry
Kasparov, currently the number one rated chess player in the
world, was a very close second to Bobby Fischer. Alekhine
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| Computing |
| It
may astonish someone, especially one who has become deeply involved
with Chess, that Chess is a game like any other with rules like any
other and a determined one at that! Yes, Chess, if played the
"perfect game" can be determined. We are currently
unaware if one side will definitively win, lose or draw, but we are,
however, certain that it can be determined, given enough computing
time and power to decide so.
After the
first four initial moves each, there are more than 288 billion
possible positions to be considered. With that said, it's easy
to see why computing power is insignificant when attempting to solve
the game of Chess. Currently, there are methods being used in
the field of Artificial Intelligence to create a decent playing
computer which involve large databases of known games and genetic
algorithms to evaluate a specific position. It's also
estimated that the total number of positions seen during the so
called "perfect game" exceeds the number of atoms that
exist in our universe. In order to compute those sort of
numbers, computer scientists are turning to the world of physics
(quantum computing, in specific) to evaluate the game.
Progress in this area has, in general, been mostly theoretical.
On an
optimistic note (or pessimistic, if you will), Garry Kasparov
predicted that no computer could defeat an international grandmaster
before the year 2000. Ironically enough, he was defeated by
IBM's Deep Blue in 1997, a match that millions watched closely and controversy
continues to follow.
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