CHESS
MARCH 14, 2021
a brief overview of chess
Chess is a very common strategy game played all around the world. This game is easy to accommodate and only requires two people or a computer to play.
The game started to emerge during 15th century in the Southern Europe evolving from older games originated in Persia and India. Some theories also mention that China was the land where chess was invented but this one does not show any convincing evidence. It could be revolve from Chinese strategy games like Backgammon, Shogi and Xiangqi that similar to chess but roots differently.
At this time, the one theory that is believed to be most accurate is that Chess coming from India, it was called Chaturanga, then carried to Arabic region as Shatranj. From there the game reached China and Europe continent.
The international governing body of modern chess today is Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) or International Chess Federation. It was founded in Paris, France, on July 20, 1924 and now based in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1999, International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized FIDE as one of their members.
The first official World Champion chess was Wilhelm Steinitz from Austria in 1886-1894. Then Emanuel Lasker defeated him and hold the title for 27 years, the longest so far for chess world champion holder.
The greatest rivalry in chess history was the war between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, both from Russia. They started the game on September 10, 1984 in the World Chess Championship and it was the first of 144 over the next six years with some battles lasting several months. Kasparov became the new World Chess champion in 1985 when he won the best of 24 games match with a score of 13 – 11. From all their 5 world championship matches Kasparov had 21 wins, 19 losses and 104 draws.
The word ‘Checkmate’ in chess originated from Persian ‘Shah Mat’ means “The King is Dead’
In the 20th century, technology was evolving so fast and reached every aspect of life including chess game. This game that requires two people to play in the past can now be played with a computer or even two computers against each other. But one thing stays the same, to become a great chess player you have to be patient, enough proper skills to win the games, adequate temperament and passion for the game that require the process of strategic thinking.
Perhaps, the most popular event of human against a machine in chess game was the match of Kasparov against a computer in 1997. Kasparov was known to heavily use computers for preparation and study of the game. He had defeated the strongest computers in late 1980s and early 1990s before. He was defeated by a supercomputer IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997. This was the first time a computer won a chess match against a reigning World Champion. Deep Blue was dismantled after the match then.
Currently the highest rated player in the world is Magnus Carlsen form Norwegia. He is also the highest rated player in the history of chess. His peak rating was 2882 reached in May 2014, higher than even Kasparov’s rating with 2851. The FIDE rating of Carlsen in March 2021 is 2863. He became the World Champion on November 22, 2013 by defeating Viswanathan Anand and hold the title from 2013 to present.
Born on November 30, 1990, this prodigy became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 148 days, the third youngest grandmaster in history. When FIDE rating was published on January 1, 2010 they put Carlsen in number one. This made him the youngest chess player in history to have number one rank, he was 19 years and 32 years old at the time.
The governing body of chess game in Indonesia is Persatuan Catur Seluruh Indonesia (PERCASI), it was founded on August 17, 1950 with Dr. Suwito Mangkusuwondo as the first chief. It was based in Jogjakarta at first but moved to Jakarta in 1955. In 1960 PERCASI becoming a member of FIDE.
One Indonesian chess player with outstanding achievement is Utut Adianto Wahyuwidayat. He learned chess at the age of six. FIDE awarded him the Grandmaster title in 1986. At the time he was the youngest Indonesian chess player to receive the title. From 1995-1999 Utut Adianto maintained the ELO rating over 2600. He serves as the deputy speaker of the Indonesian People’s Representative Council since March 2018. He is also the chief of PERCASI from 2017 to present.
The youngest grandmaster from Indonesia now is Susanto Megaranto who received the title when he was 17 years old in 2004.
So far there are 8 Indonesian Grandmaster players with Novendra Priasmoro being the most recent to receive the title from FIDE in 2020.