schack

Schack is the term for the game of chess in Swedish, where the game is commonly referred to as schack, and in Dutch where the noun is typically spelled schaak (with the verb form schaken). Chess is a two‑player abstract strategy game played on an 8x8 board. Each side starts with sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The objective is to checkmate the opponent’s king, meaning the king is under immediate threat of capture and has no legal move to escape.

The rules define how each piece moves: pawns advance forward and capture diagonally, the knight moves in an L shape, bishops move diagonally, rooks along ranks and files, the queen combines rook and bishop movements, and the king moves one square in any direction with the possibility of castling under certain conditions. Special rules include en passant, pawn promotion, and castling, which involves moving the king and rook to safeguard the king and activate the rook. Games can end in checkmate, stalemate, insufficient material, repetition, or agreement.

Chess has origins in India and Persia, evolving into modern chess in Europe by the late medieval period. The current international governance and rating systems are organized by FIDE, founded in 1924. The Elo rating system is widely used to estimate players’ strength. Chess is played worldwide in clubs, schools, tournaments, and online platforms, with numerous variants such as chess960 offering different starting positions.