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Chess
Chess is a two player turn based board game which originated in India in the sixth century. In its early days it was known as “Chaturanga” and evolved to its modern form in Southern Europe in the fifteenth century. Chess is widely acknowledged and appreciated as a game of intense tactics and genius. The chess board is an 8x8 grid of alternating black and white cells. Two players start playing with the same set of 16 pieces, which includes eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king. The game starts with a move from the player who has the white set of pieces, followed by the player with the black set. With alternating movements and taking over the other player's pieces, each player tries to checkmate the opponent's king. Checkmate refers to the condition when the king is under immediate attack (check) and there is no way to remove it to safety in the next move. Today chess is a popular sport worldwide. Apart from individual games many competitions are arranged at the regional, national and international levels. Most international events are organized under the supervision of FIDE or World Chess Federation. FIDE also connects various national chess federations. Though chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee, it was never played in the Olympics. Instead, chess has its own Olympiad which is held every two years as a team event. Each international player is rated and titled by FIDE. The highest title of chess is grandmaster followed by other titles such as International Master, FIDE Master, etc. To be a grandmaster one must achieve a rating of 2500 and won three grandmaster norms. Niaz Murshed was the first player to be a grandmaster (1987) from Bangladesh as well as from South Asia. The current world champion of chess is also from South Asia, Viswanathan Anand, from India. The highest rated female chess player is Judit Polgar, a Hungarian. Computers can also be programmed to play chess. Nowadays, they are becoming more adept due to technological advancements. Deep Blue in 1997 proved it by defeating a reigning world champion, Garry Kasparov. It would be interesting to see who reigns in the world of Chess in the coming future, Man or Machine. Cities of the World
Once upon a time there was a city in Germany named Hamelin which was full of rats. One day, a pied piper came and made all the rats disappear by playing a magical tune on his flute…….We have all gone through the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin from our very childhood and thus first got acquainted with different cities of the world. Later as we grew up, the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum introduced Paris while the Big Ben and the Statue of Liberty represent London & New York to us. Nowadays, cities with a population of more than 10 million are referred to as mega cities. New York, Mumbai, Tokyo and Mexico City are some of them. Shanghai is the world's most populous city. Capital cities are the centre of administrative and commercial activities in a country. Many cities are better known to us with nicknames rather than real names like ROME as the City of Seven Hills and JAIPUR as the Pink City. Cities have been the focus of many ancient civilizations, as Athens was to Greek civilization. River banks are also an important factor in the rise of some affluent cities like Kolkata beside the Hoogly River and Paris besides the Seine. Many cities are popular for some special products. Paris is especially a favourite to perfume lovers and Swiss cities are special for watches. Apart from these, some amazing facts make cities even more special to us. La Paz (the capital city of Bolivia) is the highest capital city in the world. Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) in Turkey is the only city lying between two continents, Asia and Europe!! Log on to www.champs21.com now to participate in Brain Brats contest and get questions related to this article!!!
Chess is a two player turn based board game which originated in India in the sixth century. In its early days it was known as “Chaturanga” and evolved to its modern form in Southern Europe in the fifteenth century. Chess is widely acknowledged and appreciated as a game of intense tactics and genius. The chess board is an 8x8 grid of alternating black and white cells. Two players start playing with the same set of 16 pieces, which includes eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king. The game starts with a move from the player who has the white set of pieces, followed by the player with the black set. With alternating movements and taking over the other player's pieces, each player tries to checkmate the opponent's king. Checkmate refers to the condition when the king is under immediate attack (check) and there is no way to remove it to safety in the next move. Today chess is a popular sport worldwide. Apart from individual games many competitions are arranged at the regional, national and international levels. Most international events are organized under the supervision of FIDE or World Chess Federation. FIDE also connects various national chess federations. Though chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee, it was never played in the Olympics. Instead, chess has its own Olympiad which is held every two years as a team event. Each international player is rated and titled by FIDE. The highest title of chess is grandmaster followed by other titles such as International Master, FIDE Master, etc. To be a grandmaster one must achieve a rating of 2500 and won three grandmaster norms. Niaz Murshed was the first player to be a grandmaster (1987) from Bangladesh as well as from South Asia. The current world champion of chess is also from South Asia, Viswanathan Anand, from India. The highest rated female chess player is Judit Polgar, a Hungarian. Computers can also be programmed to play chess. Nowadays, they are becoming more adept due to technological advancements. Deep Blue in 1997 proved it by defeating a reigning world champion, Garry Kasparov. It would be interesting to see who reigns in the world of Chess in the coming future, Man or Machine. Cities of the World
Once upon a time there was a city in Germany named Hamelin which was full of rats. One day, a pied piper came and made all the rats disappear by playing a magical tune on his flute…….We have all gone through the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin from our very childhood and thus first got acquainted with different cities of the world. Later as we grew up, the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum introduced Paris while the Big Ben and the Statue of Liberty represent London & New York to us. Nowadays, cities with a population of more than 10 million are referred to as mega cities. New York, Mumbai, Tokyo and Mexico City are some of them. Shanghai is the world's most populous city. Capital cities are the centre of administrative and commercial activities in a country. Many cities are better known to us with nicknames rather than real names like ROME as the City of Seven Hills and JAIPUR as the Pink City. Cities have been the focus of many ancient civilizations, as Athens was to Greek civilization. River banks are also an important factor in the rise of some affluent cities like Kolkata beside the Hoogly River and Paris besides the Seine. Many cities are popular for some special products. Paris is especially a favourite to perfume lovers and Swiss cities are special for watches. Apart from these, some amazing facts make cities even more special to us. La Paz (the capital city of Bolivia) is the highest capital city in the world. Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) in Turkey is the only city lying between two continents, Asia and Europe!! Log on to www.champs21.com now to participate in Brain Brats contest and get questions related to this article!!!
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