page_title: Chess
section_title: Organization of competitions
hierarchical_section_title: Chess / Competitive play / Organization of competitions
caption_attribution_description: English: World Chess Championship 2008. Anand — Kramnik Deutsch: Schachweltmeisterschaft 2008. Anand — Kramnik Русский: Матч на первенство мира по шахматам 2008. Ананд — Крамник
context_page_description: Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 square grid. Played by millions of people worldwide, chess is believed to be derived from the Indian game chaturanga sometime before the 7th century. Chaturanga is also the likely ancestor of the East Asian strategy games xiangqi, janggi, and shogi. Chess reached Europe via Persia and Arabia by the 9th century, due to the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. The queen and bishop assumed their current powers in Spain in the late 15th century, and the modern rules were standardized in the 19th century.
  Play involves no hidden information. Each player begins with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. Each piece type moves differently, with the most powerful being the queen and the least powerful the pawn. The objective is to checkmate the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a player's pieces are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces, while supporting one another.
context_section_description: Contemporary chess is an organized sport with structured international and national leagues, tournaments, and congresses. Chess's international governing body is FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs). Most countries have a national chess organization as well (such as the US Chess Federation and English Chess Federation) which in turn is a member of FIDE. FIDE is a member of the International Olympic Committee, but the game of chess has never been part of the Olympic Games; chess has its own Olympiad, held every two years as a team event.
  The current World Chess Champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway. The reigning Women's World Champion is Ju Wenjun from China.
  Other competitions for individuals include the World Junior Chess Championship, the European Individual Chess Championship, and the National Chess Championships. Invitation-only tournaments regularly attract the world's strongest players. Examples include Spain's Linares event, Monte Carlo's Melody Amber tournament, the Dortmund Sparkassen meeting, Sofia's M-tel Masters, and Wijk aan Zee's Tata Steel tournament.
  Regular team chess events include the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Chess Championship. The World Chess Solving Championship and World Correspondence Chess Championships include both team and individual events.
  Besides these prestigious competitions, there are thousands of other chess tournaments, matches, and festivals held around the world every year catering to players of all levels. Chess is promoted as a "mind sport" by the Mind Sports Organisation, alongside other mental-skill games such as contract bridge, Go, and Scrabble.
caption: Former world champion Viswanathan Anand (left) playing against his predecessor Vladimir Kramnik
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