Chess is a two-player board game that is both enjoyable and competitive. Regarded distinguish it from kindred games like xiangqi, it is sometimes referred to as Western or international chess. After evolved from similar, much older Indian and Persian games, the modern form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century.

Chess is an abstract strategy game and involves no hidden information. It is played on a square chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way for it to escape. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw.