Chess is a logical game with lots of strategies and tactics. It is a game that involves a lot of brain skill as well as practice. There are many international chess tournaments held across the world. Chess is very popular in every country.

Chess game is played on a chess board with chess pieces. These pieces are totally 32 in number- 16 for each player, comprising of eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen and one king. Each player has one set of these sixteen pieces, which are all of the same color – either black or white. They are placed in two sets of 8 pieces each, facing the opponent’s pieces. The board is square in shape with 64 small squares drawn across. The squares are of alternate colors- generally black and white or any other contrasting colors.

The main aim in a chess game is to eliminate the opponent’s pieces while moving across the board towards them. A piece is eliminated if it comes in the way of the opponent’s piece. The game ends when the king is gone. Each kind of piece can move only in a certain way: the rooks can move any number of spaces vertically or horizontally; bishops can move any number of spaces in any direction diagonally; the queen can move any number of spaces diagonally, horizontally, or vertically; the king can move only one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally; Knight can move in L shape, i.e. two spaces horizontally and one space vertically – they can jump over occupied squares and moves. The moves are dependent mostly on the opponent’s moves hence the first player has an initial advantage. The game can also end as a draw, when neither opponent has a move to make.

There are free versions of chess games that are downloadable. These are usually trial versions. They have attractive screens, graphics, animations and even help and tutorial pages for learning the best moves. These require a Win 95/98/NT/ME/XP/2000 operating system and some basic PC requirements like a 32MB RAM. These games also have multiple levels of difficulty. Some popular online chess games are: Grandmaster Chess, Kasparov Chessmate, Net Chess and Chessmaster Challenge.