BASIC RULES OF PLAY
Article 1: The nature and objectives of the game of chess
1.1
The game of chess is played between two opponents who move pieces
alternately on a square board called a 'chessboard'. The player with the
white pieces commences the game. A player is said to 'have the move'
when his opponent's move have been made. (See Article 6.7)
1.2 The objective of each player is to place the opponent's
king 'under attack' in such a way that the opponent has no legal move.
The player who achieves this goal is said to have 'checkmated' the
opponent's king and to have won the game. Leaving one's own king under
attack, exposing one's own king to attack and also 'capturing' the
opponent's king are not allowed. The opponent whose king has been
checkmated has lost the game.
1.3 If the position is such that neither player can possibly checkmate, the game is drawn.
Article 2: The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard
2.1
The chessboard is composed of an 8x8 grid if 64 equal squares
alternately light (the 'white' squares) and dark (the 'black' squares).
The chessboard is placed between the players in such a way that the near
corner square to the right of the player is white.
2.3 The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows: (Published on Feb. 23-March 01, 2009 Issue).
2.4
The eight vertical columns of squares are called 'files'. The eight
horizontal rows of squares are called 'ranks'. The straight line of
squares of the same color, running from one edge of the board to an
adjacent edge, is called 'diagonal'.
Article 3: The moves of the pieces
3.1
It is not permitted to move a piece to a square occupied by a piece of
the same color. If a piece moves to a square occupied by an opponent's
piece, the latter is captured and removed from the chessboard as part of
the same move. A piece is said to attack an opponent's piece if a piece
could make a capture on that square according to the Articles 3.2 to
3.8. A piece is considered to attack a square even if such piece is
constrained from moving to that square because it would then leave or
place the king of its own color under attack.
3.2 The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands.
3.3 The rook may move to any square along the file or the rank on which it stands.
3.4 The queen may move to any square along the file, the rank or a diagonal on which it stands.
3.5 When making these moves the bishop, rook or queen may not move over any intervening pieces.
3.6 The knight may move to one of the squares nearest to that on which
it stands but not on the same rank, file or diagonal.
3.7 a. The pawn may move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in from of it on the same file, or
b. On its first move the pawn may move as in 3.7 .a:
alternately it may advance two squares along the same file provided both
squares are unoccupied, or
c. The pawn may move to a square occupied by an opponent's piece which
is diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file, capturing that piece.
d. A pawn attacking a square crossed by an opponent's pawn which has
advanced two squares in one move from its original square may capture
this opponent's pawn though the latter had been moved only one square.
This capture is only legal on the move following this advance and is
called an 'en passant' square.
e. When a pawn reaches the rank furthest from its
starting position it must be exchanged as part of the same move on the
same square for a new queen, rook, bishop or knight of the pawn's color.
The player's choice is not restricted to pieces that have been captured
previously. This exchange of a pawn for another piece is called
'promotion' and the effect of the new piece is immediate.
THE 3.8 a. CONTINUATION WILL BE PUBLISHED NEXT ISSUE.
There
is a possibility that Palau can send also a female player in the
Oceania Zonal Chess Championship if the budget for it will be approved.
The
promise of an airfare discount from Philippine Airlines in going to
Australia by Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino is not yet
clear but a news that an Australian airline will fly Koror-Manila and
Manila-Australia is a very much welcomed news.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 13 & 15
Volume 18
April 13-19, 2009
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES (OLYMPIAD BOUND)
Two of the Papua New Guinea's Chess Olympiad bound team members Rupert Jones, left, and Brian Jones are having a discussion before the Oceania Zonal Chess Meeting in Australia. The other 2 members of the team are Joselito Marcos, PNG's top player and Shaun Press, the 2009 Solomon Islands Invitational Chess championship titlist. The 2010 World Chess Olympiad will be held in Russia on Sept. 19- Oct. 04, 2010. (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
HISTORY OF CHESS OLYMPIAD
THE CHESS Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organized by World Chess Federation (FIDE), which selects the host nation.
The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics, an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympic Games but this failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players.
While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris. FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20, 1924, the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad.
FIDE organized the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London. The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.
There were 16 participating nations in the 1st Chess Olympiad, 1927. By the 37th Chess Olympiad, 2006, there were 133 participating nations.
The Olympiad was created by a Maltese man by the name of Joseph Pisani-Rosi.
Chess is a recognized sport by the International Olympic Committee with FIDE being the recognized International Sports Federation for chess since June 1999.
As a member of International Olympic Committee, FIDE adheres to its rules, including controversially having doping tests.
The prospects of chess becoming as Olympic sporting event at some future date remain unclear.
The naming of FIDE's team championship as the "Chess Olympiad" is of historical origin and implies no connection between this event and the Olympic Games.
Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad (for the United Kingdom, one team for each of the 4 countries plus Guernsey and Jersey can enter a team separately).
Each team is made up of 6 players, 4 regular players and 2 reserves (changed to 4+1 in Dresden 2008).
Initially, each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years, this became impossible.
At first, team seeding took place before the competition. Later, certain drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976, a Swiss tournament system was adopted.
The trophy for the winning men's team is the Hamilton-Russel Cup, which was offered by the English magnate Frederick Hamilton-Russell as the prize for the 1st Olympiad (London 1927).
The cup is kept by the winning team until the next event, when it will be consigned to the next winner.
The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup, the first Women's World Chess Champion.
The 2008 Olympiad was held in Dresden, Germany. The 2010 Olympiad is going to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, and the 2012 Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
The bids for the 2014 Olympiad include Tromso, Norway and Albenia, Bulgaria.
The 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad in Paris, France was won by Czechoslovakia (31 points), followed by Hungary (30) and Switzerland (29).
The 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad (1926) in Budapest, Hungary, the host nation won it with 9 points, followed by Yugoslavia (8) and Romania (5).
In the 1st Chess Olympiad in London, UK, Hungary kept the title with 40, followed by Denmark (38.5) and England (36.5)
The 3rd Olympiad title of Hungary came from the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague, Netherlands with 44, USA (39.5) and Poland (37).
The next 3 Olympiads was won by USA in 1931 (Prague, Czechoslovakia) with 48, Poland (47) and Czechoslovakia (36.5); in 1933 (Folkestone, UK) with 39, Czechoslovakia (37.5) and Sweden (34); in 1935 (Warsaw, Poland) with 54, Sweden (52.5) and Poland, 52.
Hungary got its 4th title in the 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad (non-FIDE) in Munich, Germany with 110.5, Poland 108 and Germany 106.5.
USA likewise got its 4th title in 1937 at Stockholm, Sweden with 54.5, Hungary 48.5 and Poland 47.
Germany got its only title in the 1939 Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires, Argentina by a mere half point over Poland with 36 points and 3rd place Estonia with 33.5.
In the proceeding Chess Olympiad in 1950 at Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, the host nation got also it first and only title with 45.5, Argentina (43.5) and West Germany --40.5.
In the next 12 Chess Olympiads, a span of 24 years (1952-1976), USSR showed their domination in chess, winning in Helsinki, Finland (1952), Amsterdam, Netherlands (1954), Moscow, Soviet Union (1956), Munich, West Germany (1958), Leipzig, East Germany (1960), Varna, Bulgaria (1962), Tel Aviv, Israel (1964), La Habana, Cuba (1966), Lugano, Switzerland (1968), Siegen, West Germany (1970), Skopje, Yugoslavia (1972) and Nice, France (1974), where GM Eugene Torre became Asia's first Grandmaster.
The streak was snapped when in 1976 Chess Olympiad in Haifa, Israel, the USSR and other communist countries did not compete for political reasons.
USA got its 5th title with 37, Netherlands 36.5 and England 35.5.
Hungary likewise got its 5th Olympiad title after besting USSR in 1978 at Buenos Aires, Argentina. USA is 3rd with 35 points. Only a point separated 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
The next 15 Chess Olympiad were dominated again by USSR and its other split states. Russia won 6 straight (1992, Manila, Philippines); 1994 Moscow, Russia; 1996 Yerevan, Armenia; 1998 Elista, Russia; 2000 Istanbul, Turkey; and 2002 Bled, Slovenia.
Ukraine won the 2004 Olympiad in Calvia, Spain and Armenia won the last 2 in 2006, Turin, Italy and 2008 Dresden, Germany.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Volume 19 Issue 21
Pages 13 & 15
May 24-30, 2010
