Chess Federation

Chess on a square Luxembourg stamp

On 26 September 2006 Luxembourg Post issued a stamp to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Luxembourg Chess Federation (FLDE).

Strategic and psychological game

There are several stories relating to the birth of this strategic, tactical, and psychological game. One of the well known is that it is of Indian origin. According to Dr. Forbes, in "The History of Chess", the game of chess had been invented 3000 B.C. by the Brahman Sissa to entertain Belkib, his depressed king and friend. Another story is that, according to a Greek legend, the game was invented by Palmède during the Trojan War to bolster the morale of the troops during the siege of the town in 1240 B.C.

History of chess

On the other hand, the history of chess generally cites the Indian game "chaturanga" as the most common predecessor. Then, the pieces were elephants, cavaliers, chariots, infantrymen... that is, different elements of an army. Adopted and transformed over the years by the Persians and the Arabs, the game reached Europe during the time of the Crusades, either through Moslem Spain around 1000 A.D. or by the south of Italy. The game was modified once again. The pieces were westernized, for example the vizir became queen, the elephant transformed into a bishop.
New rules were created in the Middle Ages, including two which clearly improved the speed of the game: the increased movement of the bishop and of the queen. As a result of this increased speed, players then began to find it preferable to announce "check" and "gardez la dame" ("protect the queen").

Modern chess

In the 20th century, the game of chess became well known through the personalities of illustrious world champions such as Lasker and Capablanca. In 1948 started the Russian domination with Botwinnik, which was only interrupted by the American Bobby Fischer. The two famous players at the end of the century were Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.
The Deep Blue computer challenged Kasparov. It was the first stirring confrontation between man and machine. Deep Blue won the second game and Garry Kasparov was not able to extract revenge because IBM stopped its research into computerized chess.

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