Chess is a game, played by two players. One player plays with the white pieces, and the other player plays with the black pieces. Each player has sixteen pieces in the beginning of the game: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns.

The game of chess is thought to have originated in what is now northern India sometime before 6OO AD but there are unverified claims that chess existed as early as 100 AD.

The variation familiar to Europeans and Americans traveled through Iran (Persia) to the main commercial centers of Italy and Spain by about 1000 AD. A bit later, sea-faring Vikings carried the game into Scandinavia and Iceland. By 1100-1200 AD, the game became known in central Europe, and was well-established across all of Europe by 1400 AD, with the game rules which we use today. However, Russia's dominance of chess is recent, dating from the communist revolution of 1917, after which government schools for talented chess players were established.

One variation of chess (called Shogi) is now popular in Japan; another variation is played in China. Many local variations in chess rules persist even today in isolated rural areas, for example in India.