By M.S. Unnikrishnan
Chess is a serious mind game, but it’s great fun if you play it the Viswanathan Anand way! Anand says chess champions are no morons who sit glued to the 64-square board, for hours together, till they outwit their opponents.
The great man is modest to the core. The swollen-headed cricketers and sportspersons with bloated egos should take a leaf out of Anand’s book of modesty. Anand is not affected by fame or wealth.
He has a great sense of humour, is friendly, amiable and accessible. Anand, who lives in Collano Medano, Spain, was once named among the 40 most important people in Spain!

Chess is a game of intellectuals and Indians have always been good at it. It is also no wonder that this classic game was originated in India only. Today, Indians like Vishwanathan Anand don the cap of world champion in this classic game. You could also be the next super hero of this game. All you have to do to be a champ is download the game Chess Magician from www.home.mastersites.com/mailexpert/chess.htm .
Chess Magician is a multi-featured chess game for Windows. However, unlike the conventional way, for playing this game you do not need another player as you can pitch yourself against the gigantic computer. Chess Magician is basically Internet-integrated to connect you to the official server. The opponent is designed to be difficult, though you can set the level of difficulty from one to nine (or, 900 ELO to 2400 ELO). Thus you can test your chess skills and can also improve it further as this game offers tips whenever you need them. The selection of the skill level makes it a very user-friendly game as anybody can play this game, though it will have a lot of punch for the experts. Furthermore, it is also the best way of learning this game as this download provide extensive help at every stage and regardless of skill level, Chess Magician has the potential to improve your overall game.

Probably the quietest sport, chess has given India all the reason to shout about. We have a world champion, Viswanathan Anand.
This sure must have inspired some of us to go back to the chequered board. After all, if in the cricket season everyone takes to three sticks, even if in the middle of a road, why not chess; moreover, it’s all in black and white and not mud coloured as in the game of white clothes. The Net has a plethora of content for the chess buff, or even the novice for that matter. Beginning with learning, you can read up on all the chess news, have discussions on the mind sport, debate on the famous games played, and, the best of all, actually play it online at all levels. You’ll even come across online tournaments.

ONLY Viswanathan Anand plays chess for a living! This one-liner from a TV commercial just about sums up an average Indian's concept of the game. For millions of countrymen smitten by the cricket bug, any other sport would hold their fancy only as long as it is in public memory, thanks to the media.
The gold-medal winning performance by Mr Bindra and the superlative efforts of our olympians seem destined for the same fate. Cricketers sharing the dais with cine-stars is an indication of the obsession we have for the game. No sincere efforts have ever been made to bridge the ever-widening chasm between cricket and other sports.

This is a rule which applies only to Pawns. If, when making its first move, a Pawn moving two squares forward, lands beside a Pawn of the opposition, it can be taken "en passant", e.g. a black Pawn moving from E7 to E5 lands beside a white Pawn on D5. The black Pawn has moved over E6 which is controlled by the white Pawn on D5. Therefore, the white Pawn can capture on E6. The white Pawn is placed on E6 and the black Pawn is removed. (Note: this capture can only be carried out on the move when it becomes possible. It may not be deferred to a later move).

It's important to know how powerful each piece is in relation to the other pieces.
Pawn = 1
Knight = 3
Bishop =3
Rook = 5
Queen = 9
It is common for chess players to talk about capturing the pieces through trades or exchanges. Important for the students' decision making, chess players use this information to their advantage. Strong chess players use their chess pieces as a team.

Chess is played with 32 men. Each player having sixteen pieces of opposite colors including one King, one Queen, two Bishops, and two Knights, two Rooks, and eight Pawns.
The eight up and down columns called files and the eight side-to-side rows called ranks make up the 64 squares of the checkered chess board. The 8 files have letter names : a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h. The 8 ranks have number names: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Place the chess board between players so that each player has a white square at the right hand corner of the board. White always moves first. The letters of the 8 files begin from white's left-hand side--a-h. The square in the upper left hand corner of the board would then be named a8 while the square in the bottom right hand corner would be named h1. Using this algebraic notation, you can easily follow the chess pieces around the board. For a full game, set up the pieces in the positions as follows. The white pieces are placed on rank 1 with a1 rook b1 knight c1 bishop d1 queen e1 king f1 bishop g1 knight h1 rook with the white pawns in front of them on rank 2 on a2 through h2. The black pieces are placed on rank 8 with a8 rook b8 knight c8 bishop d8 queen e8 king f8 bishop g8 knight h8 rook with the black pawns in front of them on rank 7 on a7 through h7.

The Pawn moves forwards only, never backwards. On its first move only, it may move one or two squares. After that, it can move only one square at a time, capturing only on the diagonal.
Promoting of Pawns:
When a pawn arrives at its eighth rank on the other side of the board, it must be exchanged for one of the following: a Queen, Rook, Bishop, or Knight of the same color without regard to the number of such pieces already on the board.. As the game nears the ending, the Pawns become increasingly valuable.

Each side gets only one Queen in which she moves along the diagonals, and the ranks, and the files. The Queen can move as far as she wants in any direction until she encounters another chess piece or the edge of the game! The Queen is the most powerful piece on the board.

Bishops move straight along diagonals and do not jump.

The Rook is next in power to the Queen. The Rook moves in straight lines, never on diagonals. Most often the power of the Rooks is evident in the endgame.

The Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. The Knight moves in an L-shape but he can capture only on the square where he finishes his jump. Always the Knight moves first two squares forward or backwards or sideways, and then finishes the L-shape by moving right or left one more square.

In chess, you have one King that can move one square in any direction. The King is the most important piece in a game of chess, but it is very limited. The King can go in any direction, forward, backwards, to the sides, or diagonally, but only one square at a time. The King can capture any enemy piece or pawn that is undefended and must always stay at least one square away from the opposing King.
CHECK

The World Chess Championship will be held from October 11 to 30, 2008 in the Art and
Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn , between Viswanathan Anand
( India ) and Vladimir Kramnik ( Russia ).
Viswanathan Anand (37) and Vladimir Kramnik (32) are the two outstanding personalities in chess today. The world championship match between them is keenly anticipated by chess fans all over the world. It is part of a 120-year tradition of chess history, which includes matches like Capablanca-Alekhine, Fischer-Spassky, Kasparov-Karpov and Kramnik-Topalov.

What of the mediocre performances of late from former top dogs Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik? Both have fallen dramatically from grace at Bilbao and the Tal Memorial to be respectively #5 and #6 - all of which calls into question the credibility of their $2m world title match starting soon in Bonn.
The 12-game, $2 million plus match will run October 14th to November 2nd in the Art and Exhibition Hall in Bonn, Germany, under the patronage of German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrük, and sponsored by Evonik Industries AG.

In less then 2 weeks, the world championship of chess will begin at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn. The build up to this event has been tense and there have been a few "psychological tricks" played by the the former World Champion - Vladimir Kramnik, while the current world champion Vishwanathan Anand, has quitely parried these away saying that "As a champion you should learn to play all formats and accept the results."
This was some months earlier. Since then things have been very quiet and both players have suffered severe defeats at the hands of the other grandmasters at the Masters Tournament in Bilbao for Anand and at the Tal Memorial for Vladimir Kramnik. Both Anand and Kramnik have now dropped out of the top 3 in chess rankings, which has been taken over by Topalov, Morozevich and Ivanchuk.

Just this evening one of the chess players I knew about 3 years ago contacted me through this blog. He did not remember me that well i guess as he is still a young boy 14 years of age and at that time must have been 10 or 11. I was in Belgaum then and was just a club player (Now it is just a hobby). He was an upcoming talent and due to lack of coaching and also due to financial reasons was stuck playing local competitions.

There is bright future for chess players in Goa provided there is more governmental support, parental help and expert coaching exposure.Ivana Maria Furtado, Bhakti Kulkarni, Anurag Mhamal, Pranav Zantye, Riya Sawant, Cyrus Pereira, Umang Kaisare, Anirudh Bhat are already doing exceedingly well among the younger lot, winning state championships with promising performances at national levels in their age-group categories. However, to make a mark at the higher level, be it international or national, the budding players will need the help of expert coaches who are not available in Goa.