Category: Chess

Did you know that chess is a skill game? A skill game is a game in which the outcome is determined by physical or mental skill rather than chance. Because chess uses both mental and physical mindsets, it is harder to learn than most games. In the game chess there are 32 chess pieces. On each side there is one king, one queen, two bishops, two knights, two rooks, and eight pawns. Each piece moves in a different way and the game is played with two sides, black and white. Each side takes turns moving and capturing pieces until the king is captured. This last move is called “Checkmate”. In this essay you will learn all about chess history, chess evolution, and chess and AI.

History

The very first form of chess was a game called chaturanga. Played in India It means “four branches of the army” in sanskrit. This is because the pieces were named after the real indian armies during that time period. The game soon spread to Persia where it was called chatrang. When the Arabs invaded Persia they learned the game and named it Shatranj. When the Arabs expanded towards Europe it became popular there too. At first only the people who had enough money and time could play, but then the merchants made it available for everyone.

Evolution of Chess

When chess was first played in Europe the rules were very different. Eventually new rules were made and some rules stayed the same. Some examples are: the rule that allows white to move first was not official until 1889, the queen could only move one space at a time, and there were three ways to win, you could capture all your opponents pieces, capture the king, or your opponent gives up. Today the rules are very different then they were.

Chess and AI

In the 1980s it was believed that humans were the only beings who could play chess. Some animals like chimpanzees could play, but they could never beat people. Chess grandmaster Gary Kasporov even claimed that artificial intelligence could not beat him. In 1989 he played two matches against an AI computer called Deep Thought. He won both games, but in 1996 he played against Deep Thought’s successor Deep Blue six times and eventually Deep Blue beat him. Gary Kasporov was the first chess champion to lose to an AI computer. This proves how AI computers have evolved with chess over time.

Chess seems attractive and a fun game. But for actual it’s not an easy game like Ludo Star or Cards to start. Are you thinking to start playing it? I will suggest you think thrice about it as for whether it can be a Mess or a Mastermind turn of your life. You may feel like the most genius person, if and only if you learn, how to be played. But if you don’t know, then stepping back is the best choice.

Whereas learning this game to be played will never make you feel time wasted. It has many advantages and fewer disadvantages. But you see, some people play this game after getting impressed by the chess sets. Hey Fellas, don’t underestimate this game ever. You will surely pay for it if you do.

The chess pieces are worth to be imagined and touched. Oh Gosh, those classy chess pieces. Never mind, I had never played this game, but the results after stepping in it can be as:

It can be a mastermind turn:

• Sharp those planning skills: Chess steps are to taken very wisely. And with the best possibilities of what will comes after you. Turns have to be played with intense planning. And because of this, your planning skills get sharped even for your daily life. You started to think about the results and outcomes of every turn.

And it is tremendous if you could think of more than one shift. Experts believe thrice of all the tricks. As they know to plan and exhibit it. Try to use chess pieces very attentively. Chess boards are your execution centre, play it well, man.

• Makes you concentrated: If the chess sets are eye-catching, then you better should focus well. Anyhow, this game not only builds your analytical or planning skills, but it also keeps you focused. You learn to achieve the results as positive or negative, till the end. It allows you to show concentration for being played. Chess requires it a lot. You got distracted; you could lose it. Simple is it, have consistency, and win it.
• Build up your confidence: I found many people who stay confused. What to do and what not to do? They think a lot. What I see in them is a lack of confidence. The ones who cannot decide the actions. The same is the case in chess. You are hesitating to play your turn; you are losing your confidence in front of your opponent.

These games help you regain it. The quicker with the trick you play, the more confidence you will get to face the results.

• Promotes your Brain to Think and Grow: The ability of thinking is a great need. One should have the tact to think profoundly and decide. This practice and exercise help your brain to think and grow. And this is the best game to turn yourself a mastermind trickery.

Yes, you hear me. Start playing it, and make your brain think. As it is well said, the minds that are idols are the best to be used. Make your brains get used to it, to think deeply and grow. These games allow you to communicate with your mind fast. As you can say, replace your brain as a computer processor.

• Increases your IQ Level: What you say? Do only smart people play chess? I say no, it makes, even turn people sharp. It is also proved through a scientific study that playing this game can change the IQ level of a person. It was studied on 400 students, with a period of four months and the results were astonishing. Having a low IQ level? Do people make fun of you for this? Or are you disturbed with it? Then why are you here? Grab your chess boards and chess pieces and start to increase your IQ level. But be patient as it requires time, practice and passion.

It can be a mess:

• Change in Behavior: Many people play games as it is just for fun and time pass. But there are also those kinds of people who took board games very seriously. As for them, it’s a kind of thing DO or DIE. Come on, Peeps, I mean Grow up.

Anyways, chess can have a significant effect on your behaviour and mood. The ones who are addicted to it know it well. They started to think that if they are a failure, who cannot win. They began to feel frustrated. But for actual, I do believe that luck has a significant part in these games.

Leave everything; in these scenarios, I only think about the chess pieces. Please be kind to them, PLEASE.

• Time Consuming: It takes a lot of your time. Mark my words, even you can forget to eat, drink even blinks sometimes. Don’t take it as start it today, and finish it today. This only game gives you your entire life to complete a single chessboard.
• Practice Required: If you don’t know how to play it. And you are desired to learn this game. Then VOILA, Congrats you are going to die. Sorry. It requires practice and practice. Just like mathematics problems. The more they practice, the better the skills. So it can create a mess with many other tasks of your life. Try to balance your time requirements and other practices.

In the end, the choice is yours. Getting impressed and astonished by those luxurious kinds of chess boards and chess sets could be dangerous. But for real, this is a game people die for.

Chess is the only board game that is having the same status and value for the past 1500 years. Experts and highly intelligent people play this game. But the ones who are dumb, and having difficulty with their mathematical skills. It’s an excellent suggestion to start at least practising it. It will surely turn your life experiences.

Free Will means the freedom to make choices unfettered by divine influence. Free will in inherently human, and Homer knows it. In the iliad, the warriors make choices clearly determined by their own consciences. Diomedes chooses to attach Aphrodite, Menelaus chooses to defend the dead body of Patroclus, and Achilles chooses to remain idle in his ship. The question of fate is not one of free will, but rather one of a planned future. Homer illustrates this concept like a game of chess. On one hand, fate allows for autonomous, conscious, and intelligent decision-making. Achilles is able to choose to remain with the Achaean army or to return to his homeland. On the other hand, after is a necessary constraint. Chess players may only move their pieces in certain direction.s, but they may choose whichever direction they wish.In this way, Achilles is doomed to make one of two choices. The tragic warrior is doomed even further when he decides to fight, in one moment signing and sealing an early death.

Religion is another human necessity, and one acknowledged by Homer. Both eh Achaeans and Trojans worship Zeus and the personable gods of Olympus. This ancient religion affirms the belief that the gods and fate are one. Divine intervention, therefore, means a change in the course of fate. In one instance, Paris faces a wrathful Menelaus, but Aprohodite whisks him away to his bedroom. In a more dramatic instance, Athena materializes a spear in Achilles’ empty hand as he charges a bewildered Hector. The men of the Iliad accept these moments as necessary changes of fate procured by Zeus. Homer mocks this primitive belief in his portrayal of the gods. The allegory of the chessboard is taken further with men as pawns and gods as more powerful pieces. Just as pieces like the knight or ship allow for more dynamic moves, so do the gods intervene and propel the action of the battle. However, just as every piece is restricted to the same chessboard, fate likewise wills the actions of men and gods. The gods are simply powerful, yet limited entities in the eyes of Homer. He accepts that men of the Iliad worship the will of the gods, but never once consigns himself to this belief.

Evidently, fate wills the efforts of individuals, both gods and men. Honest and insightful, Homer makes quiet remarks about the nature of fate and man’s acceptance of it. This leaves the question of whether fate’s course is cruel or fair. Despite man’s best efforts, fate marches forward with an inevitable conclusion.

I learnt to play chess when I was in 4-5 class. With the sight of the chess board I had understand. That I would have an affection with this chess game. It made me resonated deeply on personal level. While playing chess, it needed problem solving and deep as well as critical thinking which are the main skill needed For playing chess. From my childhood I always love the games and that needs high creativity, high strategy and enormous utilization of brain, rather than other physical games like Volleyball and football.

Other friends have strength in physical fitness but brain was my strength. I used to play chess whole day, whole week, whole month without any boarden. I hadn’t learnt that for time pass, I had learnt chess because I had adored it as my life from my inner instinct of heart. I always want to play and defeat the higher skilled chess player, normally of higher class, just to know how much I am intellectually fit and fine. Everyone’s, my nearest ones used to say “It becomes my drug.”

Later, playing chess, I realize that it was the biggest invaluable lesson that it has taught me the entrepreneurship and makes such a confident that how to win the race of business and life too. I believe, chess had taught me very important principles of entrepreneurship that today it become my life.

Planning

I learnt while playing chess, if we won’t have a long-term plan and always tries to win the race fast, it is the biggest foolishness we are ever doing, that comes with high chance of losing. Shortcut methods bears high risk of losing. Starting from short term moves will certainly helped you to move to long term goal. This principle is applied to everyone’s life. To reach to the Everest of success, we must have a long-term plan guided by short term steps in our brain. Nobody directly becomes billionaire, it includes short term steps that made possible to reach to that Everest of success. Entrepreneurship exactly runs from this.

Sacrifice

I always remember, I used to sacrifice crucial piece, in order to have a checkmate of opponents. I become a perfect master to sacrifice small pieces like Rook or Bishop, to have a checkmate of my opponent. Today, I realize entrepreneurship also runs from same principle, we have to sacrifice small things in order to achieve high success. If you want to achieve big in your life, you have to sacrifice small things through out the way. Sacrifice doesn’t mean to lose up, it can be in the terms of venture bearing, giving out the luxuries and working hard for your achievement. You can clearly see the examples in our society, ones who are able to sacrifice in the short term are found to achieve the success in long term.

Value key piece

While playing chess, some pieces have higher value where some has lower value. The value of the pawn is very smaller as compared to queen. The power of pawn can’t have same power as compared queen. Similarly, a pawn can’t be matched with the Rook. That concludes that in order to win the game, it is very essential to know the worth of the pieces, and effectively leverage them as much effectively as you can, while making long term plan in mind. If you neglect the queen and expect other pieces could help to win the game, then you will lose the game easily. If you won’t able to protect queen or rook, then no one can help you to save the game from losing in general term. This principle is replicable in the society of entrepreneurship as well. When I start entrepreneurship, I had struggle very much to find the right, highly skilled, highly creative team and I used to hire the people with less value, that made me lose the business race. After that I came to know, as similar to chess, I realize that the work of best employee can’t be done by the normal people. They help us to win the business by utilizing their skills, talent and creativity. Hiring people who are skilled by spending money can’t be a bad choice. And It is very essential to value those employees, as if they are satisfied, then they will do their best to win the race.

Timing

Once the opportunity is missed, it has rarely chance to return. Doing thing doesn’t matter, doing things in the right time matters the most, if you missed the time to checkmate the queen of opponent, then your opponent might win it. Similarly, in business, doing the decisions in right time and investing at right place at right time can make your business success. Would the Facebook have been so big if Zuckerberg would launch it in 2019 instead of 2004? Certainly not, you cannot launch Facebook like website in 2019 and even expect to become #1 social networking. It is the perfect example of timing, he launched when it was just beginning of the internet society and every people need it to connect with each other, that strategy and right utilization of time made him success. Right utilization in the business is like making quick good decisions, before someone took that idea or strategy before it being implemented.

Mistakes are inevitable

Making mistakes in chess is often a problem. If you repair that mistake in time, then you might have some chance to win the game. But if you made mental decisions that your goanna lose the game, majority of time, then you would lose it absolutely, even if it has a possibility of winning. Similarly, in business also same thing happens, you have to quickly realize your mistake, and fix it as soon as possible. If you learn from that mistake, and keep believing then you can eventually win the game in your business life.

Have fun

You won’t become a perfect chess player, if you are forced by someone to play it. I had played it because it was full of fun, it was full of thrilling. I had a smile on my face when my opponent falls into my trap, because it made me satisfied. Similarly, doing entrepreneurship is not as hard as doing calculus of higher class, you have to enjoy the whole game, even though you might have some percentage to lose it. People are spending their whole life by doing the things that they don’t like or hate it. Entrepreneurship must have a sole fun into the game of business, even if you lose the race, the journey have to made our happy.

Although I won’t play chess this time, but I came to realize that I had learnt the real lesson of entrepreneurship from playing chess, Controlling the game is in our own hand. We can make our business success by setting long term goals followed by short steps. Playing chess really made me an perfect entrepreneurship. Those principle that I learnt from playing chess, really made me good entrepreneur.

Introduction

‘Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a chessboard, and this game

is played by millions of people worldwide’ (cited from Wikipedia). To begin with, I wish to introduce the biggest and most important chess organization in the world because it plays an essential role in chess. ‘The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition’ (cited from Wikipedia).

In addition, I need to introduce the definition of rating in chess. ‘A chess rating system is a system used in chess to calculate an estimate of the strength of the player, based on his or her performance versus other players. The Elo system was invented by Arpad Elo and is the most common rating system. It is used by FIDE and other organizations’ (cited from Wikipedia). In other words, the rating is the most direct and effective approach to measure how strong a chess player is. There are several rating systems in chess, and they are used by different organizations. But all ratings that I mention in this project are Elo rating for convenience.

What is more, there are roughly three basic types of chess. They are standard, rapid, and blitz chess. Pranav Narhire states that ‘according to FIDE rules, the difference between rapid chess and blitz chess is as follows. In Rapid Chess Competitions, the players get 15 minutes and +10 seconds (extra time) for each move. In Blitz Chess Competitions, the player gets only 3 minutes and +2 seconds (extra time) for each move’ . Standard chess is a chess game that players have a longer time than rapid chess and blitz chess. ‘FIDE has a single, classical time control for most of its major events: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one’ (cited from Wikipedia). Also, standard time control games count towards player’s standard rating, not his bullet or blitz rating. In this project, I am talking about standard rating only.

There are two main research questions in the project. Question 1: Do white chess players have better performance than African American chess players in the U.S.? Question 2: Do male chess players have a better performance than female chess players in the world? To put it another way, I would like to know what is the relationship between race and chess performance as well as what is the relationship between gender and chess performance.

Motivation and Background

I am interested in studying race and gender in chess because chess is currently dominated by males and some nations/ races. Male players usually are considered to have better performance than female players, as well as whites and Asians seem to have more top players than other races. This is similar to the stereotype about math and computer science, people often think that Asians and white males have outstanding performance in the fields of mathematics and computer science. However, chess is an intelligential sport instead of a physical sport, men are supposed to have more advantages than women.

For the project, I will address Invisible Man, and I will converse with the themes of race and gender. In Invisible Man, the society is dominated by white males, and African Americans are invisible as well as they experience discrimination. What is more, there are solely several female characters in Invisible Man. Females are unimportant in the book, and there is a inequality between men and women. Thus, I wish to figure out whether race and gender have an impact on chess performance, which are my research questions in part one. Also, I would like to know will the current condition of African American chess players and female chess players agree with the situation described in Invisible Man or disagree with it.

Dataset Visualization

First, I want to illustrate titles of master in chess, and there are four master titles in total. They are Grandmaster, International Master, FIDE Master, and Candidate Master in decreasing order. Men’s titles and women’s titles are separated because women and men often compete separately. Nevertheless, women are allowed to play men’s tournaments. For example, Yifan Hou earned her title of male grandmaster in 2008 when she was 14 years old

TIt is notable that being a female chess master is easier than being a male chess master. As I stated early, the rating is the most common way to measure a chess player’s performance. Hence, we can see that female grandmaster and male FIDE master are on the same level, as well as female international master and male candidate master are on the same level.

I define that advanced players in men as players who have a rating between 2000 and 2200. Also, I define club player and amateur in both males and females as players whose rating is between 2000 and 1700, and between 1700 and 1000, respectively. Furthermore, in terms of the strongest male grandmasters, Magnus Carlsen has a peak rating 2882 and Garry Kasparov has a peak rating 2851. When it comes to the strongest female grandmasters, Judit Polgar has a peak rating 2735 and Yifan Hou has a peak rating 2735 (data from https://www.sparkchess.com/chess-players-titles-and-ratings-in-2019.html).

I divide seven levels of rating into two categories to obtain. To be more specific, I combine four levels of master into one category of master. Besides, I combine the remaining three levels as the other category, that is non-master. The reason I decided to combine levels is to get a better understanding of the data in a more practical view, and indeed we would not lose too much information.

Boxplot consists of five major components, they are maximum, minimum, Q1, Q3, and median. The maximum of the data is the top line, and the minimum of the data is the bottom line. The first quartile (Q1) is defined as the middle number between the smallest number and the median of the data set, which is the bottom of the box. The third quartile (Q3) is the middle value between the median and the highest value of the data set, which is the top of the box. The second quartile (Q2) is the median of the data, which is the line in bold within the box.

Methodology (Statistical Analysis)

I will use similar techniques to answer both the first question and the second question. The approaches I will use in this project include odds ratio, Wald confidence interval, two sample test, and Boxplot. For odds ratio, my null hypotheses are that gender and being master are independent as well as race and being master are independent. My alternative hypotheses are that gender and being master are not independent/ dependent as well as race and being master are not independent/ dependent. More precisely, one alternative hypothesis is that males are easier to become master than females or male chess players have a higher rating than female chess players on average. Besides, the other is that whites are easier to become master than African Americans or African American chess players have a lower rating than white chess players on average.

Discussions and Conclusions

Personally, as a chess amateur, I know a few white American grandmaster while I never hear any African American grandmaster before doing this project. So this is similar with the situation in Invisible Man, African American chess players seem to be invisible to the public. We can see that 47.6% (10/21) of male grandmasters are white in America while only 9.5% (2/21) of them are African American. In addition, white Americans occupy 25% (3/12) in the group of female grandmasters, but there is no African American female grandmaster at all. Thus, whites do have better performance than African American although top chess players are not dominated by whites

There is no specific data about the number of white chess players and the number of African American chess players. However, playing chess is actually popular for African Americans. Shabazz (2016) states that African American chess players can be seen at tournaments around the world and are enthusiastic about competition. Likewise, Ellis (2017) says that chess is one of very common board games amongst African Americans although it is quite regional. Ellis (2017) writes that plenty of black people who are top chess players and lots of other folks who are passionate about the game in some highly urban areas, particularly New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington DC. Even if many African Americans play chess, the number of African American grandmaster is largely less than the number of white grandmaster, and solely a few African American chess players are famous.

Shabazz (2016) states that ‘Race is always a controversial subject when discussing merit-based activities like chess. There has been no empirical research conducted to show that systematic racism has prevented Black players from excelling in chess. American players like Walter Harris was certainly excluded from certain opportunities in the 60s ‘. Therefore, discrimination for African American players in chess did exist, which agrees with the situation of African Americans in Invisible Man.

There are several possible reasons why there are only a few African American grandmasters. First of all, Shabazz (2016) indicates that the majority of the top Black chess masters are either not active or playing quite little rated games. Financial issue could be the biggest of challenge for Black players because earning the required norms for FIDE titles. More specifically, Shabazz (2016) points out that There is the high costs associated with training and traveling for African Americans even if they live in the U.S. and ‘Blacks tend to face greater financial hardship (on average) for a multitude of socioeconomic and historical reasons’.

In addition, Shabazz (2016) writes that the coaching is not always available and most African American chess players are self-taught and do not have any formal coaching. Furthermore, Ellis (2017) that the chess boards at the public parks in some aforementioned cities like New York are appropriate places to play, learn and converse chess. But many other neighborhoods may not have such convenient access for African American to play chess.

I calculate that odds ratio is approximately 0.607. It means that the estimated odds of a success are 0.607 times as large as in group of male chess players than in group of female chess players. In other words, the estimated odds of a success are 1.647 times as large as in group of female chess players than in group of male chess players. Here odds of a success is the probability that a chess player become a master. Then I compute 95% Wald confidence interval for odds ratio. With 95% confidence, the odds of a success is between 0.585 and 0.629 times as large for male chess players than female chess players. Since my 95% confidence interval does not contain 1, I believe that female chess players are easier to become master than male chess players worldwide.

Likewise, I also conduct two sample test of proportions to confirm my conclusion. I get 95% confidence interval between -0.053 and -0.046, which does not contain 0. Therefore, the probability that a male player become male chess master and the probability that a female player become female chess master are different. However, we must note that requirements of being a male chess master and requirements of being a female chess master. Next, I will compare current rating of top 100 male grandmasters and rating of top 100 female masters (actively only) in America.

The average rating of top 100 male grandmasters (actively only) in the U.S. is 2493.79, and the standard derivation is about 95.49. Additionally, we can see three small circles in the figure, and they are considered as outlier in statistics. In this case, it means that the top 3 male grandmaster are much stronger than others among top 100 male chess players in the United States. The average rating of top 100 female masters (actively only) in America is 1925.38, and the standard derivation is approximately 206.28. Compared with males, it is clear that the average rating of top 100 female masters in America is reduced by about 570, which is a huge difference. Moreover, the standard derivation of rating top 100 female masters is doubled compared with the counterpart in males.

Howard (2014) indicates that ‘chess talent may consist of a mix of ability and personality traits at which males on average may excel or there may be more males at the top extreme due to greater male variability. Stars in chess and in physical sports often have the famed “killer instinct”, the desire to win at all costs’. However, there is no theory to confirm that an offensive chess players have a higher chance to win. Meanwhile, Howard (2014) finds that ‘women typically play many fewer FIDE-rated games than males, only about one third of the number on average. Most players who persist to 900 rated games become grandmasters , but women tend to drop out much earlier ‘.

Various explanations have been proposed for the female under-representation at the top in chess and in science and technology areas. There are two main theories to explain male predominance at the apex of intellectual achievement: some attribute it to some innate evolutionary ability differences, others to social factors of present-day society.

Some researchers say that it is all due to social factors. There are no ability or personality differences between the sexes. Instead, social pressures discourage women from being competitive and from outdoing men, women face stereotype threats, which downplay female achievement and limit female opportunity.

Howard (2014) concludes that ‘the male predominance in chess parallels that in domains such as mathematics, physics and engineering, which may tap some similar abilities and propensities. Males on average may have some innate advantages in developing chess skill due to previous differing evolutionary pressures on the sexes. However, Females may have greater talent on average in other domains’. Therefore, the situation in chess agrees with the condition in Invisible Man, inequality does exist between women and men since male chess players’ performance is better than female chess players’ performance in general.

Reflections and Suggestions

From this project, I refresh my memory about statistical knowledge and more importantly I use the knowledge in real life. First of all, I use the statistical procedure in categorical data analysis. In addition, I carefully collect data, choose appropriate research methods. Lastly, I produce informative plots and tables, and communicates the results with the readers clearly. Research questions seem to be easy, but I encounter more unexpected challenges when I really do the project. I spent around 20 hours totally on the project, the most challenging part for me is data collection.

Data are valuable, finding useful and reliable data is difficult. I cannot find the data about chess players in the 20th century and statistics about chess players in different races in America. Otherwise, I can make a comparison between current situation about chess players in the United States and past condition to see how things are changed. Moreover, I could conduct a time series analysis for potential future improvement if I am able to find data in consecutive years. Seeking advice from the instructor or TA is helpful since it guarantees a good start, and comments from peer view should also help me to develop the project.

Next, I wish to provide some suggestions about how to ameliorate the current situation in the world of chess, and in America in particular. First, the government, schools, and society ought to encourage more females and minorities such as African American to play chess. Resources are the key in education, and they are also quite important in learning chess. The government and the communities could invite qualifies volunteers to teach free chess lessons locally, and I believe that many masters and coaches are willing to help. For example, Aaron Ellis points out that ‘Chess is best learned when one has a good teacher. Many of the great black players like Maurice Ashley tend to stay in their neighborhood and teach the next generation, like Joshua Colas’. It is also a good idea to set up some special foundations so that they can cover travelling expenses and accommodation fee, etc for chess players who are talented but not wealthy.

Furthermore, it should be helpful to establish more organizations for female chess players and players from minorities. For instance, The Women’s Commission for Chess (WOM) is a part of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). ‘It was formed to represent women’s interests in chess, their goals include generating positive publicity and recognition for women in chess and women’s chess events, helping increase certified female organizers, arbiters and coaches, and supporting talented young female players as much as possible’ (cited from http://womenchess.fide.com/). In addition, we ought to pay more attention to train talented girls and gifted minorities.

References

1. Ellis, Aaron, ‘Is chess part of American black culture?’ Quora. Web. 18, April 2017. https://www.quora.com/Is-chess-part-of-American-black-culture .
2. Howard, Robert. “Explaining Male Predominance in Chess.” Chess News. Web .19 June 2014. https://en.chessbase.com/post/explaining-male-predominance-in-chess.
3. Shabazz, Daaim. “The Challenges of Black Chess Masters.” The Chess Drum. Web. 6 Nov. 2016. www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2010/08/19/the-challenges-of-black-chess-masters/.

Introduction

Chess is one of the oldest and most prestigious board games in the world. Its complicated strategies and tactics have kept people playing for hundreds of years. The game started in India around the sixth century and has since spread to the Middle East and Europe, where it changed over time. By the early 19th century, the rules and patterns were set in stone. It’s a two-player game played on a grid, with each player controlling a different set of pieces based on color, usually white and black. The main goal is to achieve checkmate, which means that the other player’s king is in a situation where it can’t escape capture.

The essence of chess lies in its mix of deep simplicity. Each player starts with 16 pieces, such as the king, queen, rooks, bishops, knights, and pawns, each with its own movements and roles. Chess is different from other games because it is entirely based on skill, not luck. Winning depends on strategic foresight, tactical ingenuity, and a deep understanding of your pieces and what they can do.

Throughout history, chess has been dubbed the “royal game” due to its popularity among the nobility. The 20th century saw an explosion in its appeal as it transformed into a professional pursuit with organized tournaments, fostering a global community of enthusiasts.

100 Words Essay about Chess

In the world of strategy games, chess is a sign of intelligence, planning, and tactical skill. Two people play on a 64-square board, and each player controls an army of 16 pieces that can move in different ways. The object of the game is to checkmate your opponent’s king so that it can’t get away. You can’t just wing it at chess; you have to plan ahead, think deeply, and be able to guess your opponent’s moves. It goes beyond language and culture barriers, making it a strategic battle language that everyone can understand. Chess is a timeless and mentally stimulating game that helps players learn how to think critically, be patient, and adapt to new situations.

250 Words Essay about Chess

Chess, an old board game that goes back more than a thousand years, is a great example of how art, science, and psychology can all work together. Two people play against each other on a square board with 64 smaller squares inside it. Each player controls 16 pieces that move and do different things. The end goal of the game is to get a checkmate, which means that the other player’s king is in danger of being captured and can’t get away.

It’s beautiful how simple and deep chess can be at the same time. Even though the rules are simple, the strategies are incredibly complicated, which means there are an astronomically large number of possible places and games. Because it’s so hard, chess is both a game and a discipline. Like in school, players study openings, middlegames, and endgames.

Chess is a good example of how smart people are. It requires players to think ahead and plan several moves ahead of time, taking into account the effects of each move. It also tests how flexible you are because players have to change their plans all the time based on what their opponents do. The game is a useful teaching tool because it helps kids learn how to think critically and solve problems.

Moreover, chess transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries, uniting people across the globe in a shared intellectual endeavor. It’s a competitive sport, with professional players dedicating their lives to mastering its intricacies, and an inclusive community activity, accessible to all ages and skill levels.

In essence, chess is more than a game; it’s a mental duel, an art form, and a universal language of strategic thinking. It encapsulates the triumphs and challenges of human intellect, making it a timeless and captivating pursuit.

400 Words Essay about chess

Chess is a very old game with a history that goes back more than 1500 years. It is a great example of how art, science, and society can come together. It started in India and spread to Persia and the Islamic world before becoming popular in Europe, where it changed into the form it has now. This journey has given chess a unique cultural background that has made it a worldwide phenomenon that goes beyond language and geography boundaries.

At its core, chess is a strategic battle played on an 8×8 square board, where two opponents command an army of 16 pieces each, including the king, queen, rooks, knights, bishops, and pawns. Each piece moves according to specific rules, and the game’s ultimate objective is to checkmate the opponent’s king, effectively capturing it without a legal move for escape.

The beauty of chess lies in its infinite complexity and the intellectual challenge it presents. It is a game of unlimited possibilities, with more potential moves than atoms in the observable universe, making every game a unique exploration of strategic depth. Chess requires not just tactical acumen but also strategic foresight, as players must anticipate their opponent’s moves, devise long-term plans, and adapt to the shifting dynamics of the game.

Chess also mirrors the human psyche, embodying themes of conflict, struggle, and triumph. Moreover, chess has a vibrant cultural presence. It is not merely a game but a subject of artistic and literary inspiration, reflecting the intellectual and creative spirit of societies. The game has its own grandmasters and prodigies, whose legendary games and life stories contribute to the rich tapestry of chess lore. Chess tournaments attract global attention, showcasing the game’s competitive spirit and its role in promoting international camaraderie.

The digital age has further democratized chess, making it accessible to a broader audience through online platforms. This has sparked a renaissance in chess’s popularity, allowing players from around the world to connect, compete, and learn from each other, fostering a global chess community.

In conclusion, chess is more than a mere pastime; it is a profound expression of human intellect and creativity. Its ability to challenge the mind, teach valuable life skills, and bring people together across cultures makes it a timeless and universally cherished game. Chess is not just played on the board but in the minds and hearts of millions around the world, making it a true testament to the enduring power of intellectual pursuit and cultural exchange.

500 Words Essay about chess

Chess, often referred to as the “game of kings,” has captivated minds for over a millennium. Originating in northern India during the 6th century AD, chess has evolved from its early incarnation known as “chaturanga” to the highly structured international game we know today. This evolution has seen chess imbued with rich cultural, historical, and intellectual significance, making it much more than a mere board game.

Chess is a simple strategy game for two people played on a checkerboard with 64 squares set up in an 8×8 grid. There is a king, a queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns for each person to start with. Each piece moves in its own way. The goal is to make it so that the other player’s king can’t get away. This is called “checkmate,” and it means the end of the game. Chess, on the other hand, is incredibly complicated and deep, even though it looks simple to play. Chess has over 10^120 different game scenarios, which means there are almost infinite ways to play strategically.

Chess is a mirror to the intellectual endeavors of humanity, encapsulating the dualities of art and science, intuition and logic, competition and collaboration. It is both a rigorous mental discipline, where players engage in intense tactical and strategic battles, and an art form, where creativity and imagination dictate the orchestration of pieces in a harmonious and often unpredictable ballet on the board.

The game’s educational value is immense, promoting critical thinking, foresight, problem-solving skills, and the ability to concentrate and think under pressure. It teaches the importance of planning and the consequences of decisions, as each move on the board can lead to a ripple effect, dramatically altering the course of the game. Chess also instills discipline and patience, as mastering the game requires extensive study and practice, analyzing games of skilled players, and learning from one’s own successes and failures.

Chess transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries, creating a universal language understood by millions around the globe. It bridges gaps between different ages, backgrounds, and nationalities, fostering a sense of community and mutual respect among its practitioners. The game’s global appeal is evident in its widespread presence, from bustling city parks to prestigious international tournaments, and its integration into educational systems worldwide.

The way people play, learn, and watch chess has changed a lot since computers came along. Online platforms, software, and databases have made the game easier to access. Players can now play against opponents from around the world, look back at a huge library of games, and analyze their own play with a level of detail that has never been seen before. This digital growth has made chess more famous, introducing it to a new generation and starting a renaissance in its study and appreciation.

Also, chess is a big part of literature, movies, and art, and it’s often used as a metaphor for things like political conflict, strategic thinking, or how complicated people are. In chess’s long past, there have been many famous players, from ancient masters to modern grandmasters. Each of them added to the stories, strategies, and theories that keep making the game better.

ABSTRACT

This paper is the introduction to Artificial intelligence (AI). Artificial intelligence is exhibited by artificial entity, a system is generally assumed to be a computer. AI systems are now in routine use in economics, medicine, engineering and the military, as well as being built into many common home computer software applications, traditional strategy games like computer chess and other video games. I tried to explain the brief ideas of AI and its application to various fields. It cleared the concept of computational and conventional categories. It includes various advanced systems such as Neural Network, Fuzzy Systems and Evolutionary computation. AI is used in typical problems such as Pattern recognition, Natural language processing and more. This system is working throughout the world as an artificial brain. Intelligence involves mechanisms , and AI research has discovered how to make computers carry out some of them and not others. If doing a task requires only mechanisms that are well understood today, computer programs can give very impressive performances on these tasks. Such programs should be considered “somewhat intelligent”. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence.I can learn something about how to make machines solve problems by observing other people or just by observing our own methods. On the other hand, most work in AI involves studying the problems the world presents to intelligence rather than studying people or animals. AI researchers are free to use methods that are not observed in people or that involve much more computing than people can do. I discussed conditions for considering a machine to be intelligent. If the machine could successfully pretend to be human to a knowledgeable observer then one certainly should consider it intelligent.

INTRODUCTION

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as intelligence exhibited by an artificial entity. Such a system is generally assumed to be a computer. Although AI has a strong science fiction connotation, it forms a vital branch of computer science, dealing with intelligent behaviour, learning and adaptation in machines. Research in AI is concerned with producing machines to automate tasks requiring intelligent behavior. Examples include control, planning and scheduling, the ability to answer diagnostic and consumer questions, handwriting, speech, and facial recognition. As such, it has become a scientific discipline, focused on providing solutions to real life problems. AI systems are now in routine use in economics, medicine, engineering and the military, as well as being built into many common home computer software applications, traditional strategy games like computer chess and other video games.

History

The intellectual roots of AI, and the concept of intelligent machines, may be found in Greek mythology. Intelligent artifacts appear in literature since then, with real mechanical devices actually demonstrating behaviour with some degree of intelligence. After modern computers became available following World War-II, it has become possible to create programs that perform difficult intellectual tasks.

• 1950 – 1960:-The first working AI programs were written in 1951 to run on the Ferranti Mark I machine of the University of Manchester (UK): a draughts-playing program written by Christopher Strachey and a chess-playing program written by Dietrich Prinz.
• 1960 – 1970 :-During the 1960s and 1970s Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert publish Perceptrons, demonstrating limits of simple neural nets and Alain Colmerauer developed the Prolog computer language. Ted Shortliffe demonstrated the power of rule-based systems for knowledge representation and inference in medical diagnosis and therapy in what is sometimes called the first expert system. Hans Moravec developed the first computer-controlled vehicle to autonomously negotiate cluttered obstacle courses.
• 1980’s ONWARDS :-In the 1980s, neural networks became widely used with the back propagation algorithm, first described by Paul John Werbos in 1974. The 1990s marked major achievements in many areas of AI and demonstrations of various applications. Most notably Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer, beat Garry Kasparov in a famous six-game match in 1997.

Categories of AI- AI divides roughly into two schools of thought:

• Conventional AI.
• Computational Intelligence (CI).
• Conventional AI :-Conventional AI mostly involves methods now classified as machine learning, characterized by formalism and statistical analysis. This is also known as symbolic AI, logical AI, neat AI and Good Old Fashioned Artificial Intelligence (GOFAI).

Methods include:

• Expert systems: apply reasoning capabilities to reach a conclusion. An expert system can process large amounts of known information and provide conclusions based on them.
• Case based reasoning
• Bayesian networks
• Behavior based AI: a modular method of building AI systems by hand.
• Computational Intelligence (CI) :- Computational Intelligence involves iterative development or learning (e.g. parameter tuning e.g. in connectionist systems). Learning is based on empirical data and is associated with non-symbolic AI, scruffy AI and soft computing.

Methods include:

• Neural networks: systems with very strong pattern recognition capabilities.
• Fuzzy systems: techniques for reasoning under uncertainty, has been widely used in modern industrial and consumer product control systems.
• Evolutionary computation: applies biologically inspired concepts such as populations, mutation and survival of the fittest to generate increasingly better solutions to the problem. These methods most notably divide into evolutionary algorithms (e.g. genetic algorithms) and swarm intelligence (e.g. ant algorithms).

APPLICATIONS OF AI

• Game Playing :-You can buy machines that can play master level chess for a few hundred dollars. There is some AI in them, but they play well against people mainly through brute force computation–looking at hundreds of thousands of positions.
• Speech Recognition :-In the 1990s, computer speech recognition reached a practical level for limited purposes. Thus United Airlines has replaced its keyboard tree for flight information by a system using speech recognition of flight numbers and city names. It is quite convenient. On the other hand, while it is possible to instruct some computers using speech, most users have gone back to the keyboard and the mouse as still more convenient.
• Understanding Natural Language :-Just getting a sequence of words into a computer is not enough. Parsing sentences is not enough either. The computer has to be provided with an understanding of the domain the text is about, and this is presently possible only for very limited domains.
• Computer Vision :-The world is composed of three-dimensional objects, but the inputs to the human eye and computer’s TV cameras are two dimensional. Some useful programs can work solely in two dimensions, but full computer vision requires partial three-dimensional information that is not just a set of two-dimensional views. At present there are only limited ways of representing three-dimensional information directly, and they are not as good as what humans evidently use.
• Expert Systems :-A “knowledge engineer” interviews experts in a certain domain and tries to embody their knowledge in a computer program for carrying out some task. How well this works depends on whether the intellectual mechanisms required for the task are within the present state of AI. One of the first expert systems was MYCIN in 1974, which diagnosed bacterial infections of the blood and suggested treatments. It did better than medical students or practicing doctors, provided its limitations were observed.
• Heuristic Classification :- One of the most feasible kinds of expert system given the present knowledge of AI is to put some information in one of a fixed set of categories using several sources of information. An example is advising whether to accept a proposed credit card purchase. Information is available about the owner of the credit card, his record of payment and also about the item he is buying and about the establishment from which he is buying it (e.g., about whether there have been previous credit card frauds at this establishment).

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that aims to create intelligent machines. It has become an essential part of the technology industry. Research associated with artificial intelligence is highly technical and specialized. The core problems of artificial intelligence include programming computers for certain traits such as: Knowledge, Reasoning, Problem solving, Perception, Learning, Planning, and Ability to manipulate and move objects. Knowledge engineering is a core part of AI research. Machines can often act and react like humans only if they have abundant information relating to the world. Artificial intelligence must have access to objects, categories, properties and relations between all of them to implement knowledge engineering. Initiating common sense, reasoning and problem-solving power in machines is a difficult and tedious approach. Machine learning is another core part of AI. Learning without any kind of supervision requires an ability to identify patterns in streams of inputs, whereas learning with adequate supervision involves classification and numerical regressions. Classification determines the category an object belongs to and regression deals with obtaining a set of numerical input or output examples, thereby discovering functions enabling the generation of suitable outputs from respective inputs. Mathematical analysis of machine learning algorithms and their performance is a well-defined branch of theoretical computer science often referred to as computational learning theory. Machine perception deals with the capability to use sensory inputs to deduce the different aspects of the world, while computer vision is the power to analyze visual inputs with a few sub- problems such as facial, object and gesture recognition. Robotics is also a major field related to AI. Robots require intelligence to handle tasks such as object manipulation and navigation, along with sub-problems of localization, motion planning and mapping.

Deep learning while flashy is really just a term to describe certain types of neural networks and related algorithms that consume often very raw input data. They process this data through many layers of nonlinear transformations of the input data in order to calculate a target output. Unsupervised feature extraction is also an area where deep learning excels. Feature extraction is when an algorithm is able to automatically derive or construct meaningful features of the data to be used for further learning, generalization, and understanding. The burden is traditionally on the data scientist or programmer to carry out the feature extraction process in most other machine learning approaches, along with feature selection and engineering. Feature extraction usually involves some amount dimensionality reduction as well, which is reducing the amount of input features and data required to generate meaningful results. This has many benefits, which include simplification, computational and memory power reduction, and so on. Programmers would train a neural network to detect an object or phoneme by blitzing the network with digitized versions of images containing those objects or sound waves containing those phonemes. If the network didn’t accurately recognize a particular pattern, an algorithm would adjust the weights. The eventual goal of this training was to get the network to consistently recognize the patterns in speech or sets of images that we humans know as, say, the phoneme “d” or the image of a dog. This is much the same way a child learns what a dog is by noticing the details of head shape, behavior, and the like in furry, barking animals that other people call dogs.

Machine learning came directly from minds of the early AI crowd, and the algorithmic approaches over the years included decision tree learning, inductive logic programming. clustering, reinforcement learning, and Bayesian networks among others. As we know, none achieved the ultimate goal of General AI, and even Narrow AI was mostly out of reach with early machine learning approaches. As it turned out, one of the very best application areas for machine learning for many years was computer vision, though it still required a great deal of hand-coding to get the job done. People would go in and write hand-coded classifiers like edge detection filters so the program could identify where an object started and stopped; shape detection to determine if it had eight sides; a classifier to recognize the letters “S-T-O P.” From all those hand-coded classifiers they would develop algorithms to make sense of the image and “learn” to determine whether it was a stop sign. Good, but not mind-bendingly great. Especially on a foggy day when the sign isn’t perfectly visible, or a tree obscures part of it. There’s a reason computer vision and image detection didn’t come close to rivaling humans until very recently, it was too brittle and too prone to error. Time, and the right learning algorithms made all the difference.

CONCLUSION

AI is an extremely powerful and exciting field. It’s only going to become more important and ubiquitous moving forward, and will certainly continue to have very significant impacts on modern society. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) and the more complex deep learning technique are some of the most capable AI tools for solving very complex problems, and will continue to be developed and leveraged in the future. While a terminator-like scenario is unlikely any time soon, the progression of artificial intelligence techniques and applications will certainly be very exciting to watch! AI is an exciting and rewarding discipline. AI is branch of computer science that is concerned with the automation of intelligent behavior. The revised definition of AI is – AI is the study of mechanisms underlying intelligent behavior through the construction and evaluation of artifacts that attempt to enact those mechanisms. So it is concluded that it work as an artificial human brain which have an unbelievable artificial thinking power.

REFERENCE

• Castrounis, A. (2017). Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, and Neural Networks, Explained. [online] Kdnuggets.com. Available at: http://www.kdnuggets.com/2016/10/artificial-intelligence-deep-learning-neural- networks-explained.html [Accessed 28 Sep. 2017].
• The Official NVIDIA Blog. (2017). The Difference Between AI, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning? | NVIDIA Blog. [online] Available at: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2016/07/29/whats-difference-artificial-intelligence- machine-learning-deep-learning-ai/ [Accessed 28 Sep. 2017].
• Albus, J. S. (2002). ‘4-D/RCS: A Reference Model Architecture for Intelligent Unmanned Ground Vehicles’ (PDF). In Gerhart, G.; Gunderson, R.; Shoemaker, C. Proceedings of the SPIE AeroSense Session on Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology. 3693. pp. 11–20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2004.
• Brooks, Rodney (1990). ‘Elephants Don’t Play Chess’ (PDF). Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 6: 3–15. doi:10.1016/S0921-8890(05)80025-9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2007.
• Buchanan, Bruce G. (2005). ‘A (Very) Brief History of Artificial Intelligence’ (PDF). AI Magazine: 53–60. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2007.

The game of chess can be so much fun that some people devote most of their waking time to the game. As time goes on their intelligence and skill for the game grows, which can make the game more interesting and compelling. Chess is a game where every decision made has an impact on the remaining game. Just like in life, one decision can land someone in a horrible situation and change their whole life forever. Life is one huge chess board and all the pieces represent the types of people in this world. In both chess and life, our possible paths are practically infinite. Yet, chess is just a game and if you lose then you can just start all over, but life it’s not a game it’s reality and when you mess up you can’t just start all over again.

Chess is a strategic board game played all over America today. The chessboard is made up of sixty-four checkered tiles with sixteen pieces lined up on the each ends of the board. Each side consists of a king, a queen, two rooks (castles), two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. All the pieces on the board can move in different strategic positions and each has different limitations. Each piece on the chessboard is moved strategically to over power the opponent’s King and how players win the game.

Before starting a game of chess, one must know how to move the pieces correct positions just like how in life before becoming a responsible adult, one must mature and finish school. Most schools don’t teach young people how to survive in life which leads to many of the youth to turn to the world. On the streets of this world, many people offer mobility and security at times. Some appear to be “lucky” and have already been planted into positions of power. Yet, others have to work vigorously harder to be successful or move up the chain of life. A chess pieces’, power is linked to its mobility just like in life how someone makes choices to become more successful. The more mobile a piece is the more powerful it is.

Chess is all moving the pieces in the right strategic way and outsmarting the opponent. Pawns can only move forward one, but on their first move it can move two squares if desired. It can capture an opponent’s piece by moving one square forward diagonally. Even though pawns can’t do much and can only move one space at a time but they can be a huge advantage. Sometimes in our world people treat others in their life like pawns. Constantly, people are so arrogant and use others like they aren’t even people by using them to their own advantage. This is good in chess but, bad in life. It’s often forgotten that pawns aren’t people. Human beings should never be abused or used like slaves. In life though, sometimes one has to sacrifice the things you love for the better.