FIDE in the context of "Staunton chess set"

In chess, there are a number of ways that a game can end in a draw, in which neither player wins. Draws are codified by various rules of chess including stalemate (when the player to move is not in check but has no legal move), threefold repetition (when the same position occurs three times with the same player to move), and the fifty-move rule (when the last fifty successive moves made by both players contain no capture or pawn move). Under the standard FIDE rules, a draw also occurs in a dead position (when no sequence of legal moves can lead to checkmate), most commonly when neither player has sufficient material to checkmate the opponent.

Unless specific tournament rules forbid it, players may agree to a draw at any time. Ethical considerations may make a draw uncustomary in situations where at least one player has a reasonable chance of winning. For example, a draw could be called after a move or two, but this would likely be thought unsporting.

A chess variant is any board game related to, derived from, or inspired by orthodox chess. Chess variants can differ from standard chess in many different ways, including variant board sizes, non-standard fairy pieces, alternative starting positions, and additional rules. There are thousands of known chess variants (see list of chess variants). The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants catalogues around two thousand, with the preface noting that—since creating a chess variant is relatively easy—many were considered insufficiently notable for inclusion. While most chess variants are not widely played, some have reached modest levels of popularity, with the most successful being Chess960. Several well known modern chess masters like Capablanca, Fischer, and Yasser Seirewan developed their own chess variants.

"Classical", "orthodox" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be considered part of the same board game family. Modern chess itself developed from the Indian chaturanga via the Middle-eastern shatranj. During the Middle Ages, there were numerous popular chess variants, like Great chess and Courier chess. Modern chess variants are mostly all variations on standard Western chess. Though not technically variants of modern chess, there are also many regional games which are part of the same family, such as shogi (Japan), sittuyin (Burma), makruk (Thailand), hiashatar (Mongolia), and xiangqi (China). These games have their own history of variants (see shogi variants and xianqi variants).

Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (Ukrainian: Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on the FIDE world rankings three times (July 1991, July 1992, October 2007).

Ivanchuk has won Linares, Wijk aan Zee, Tal Memorial, Gibraltar Masters and M-Tel Masters titles. He has also won the World Blitz Championship in 2007 and the World Rapid Championship in 2016.

Algebraic notation is the standard method of chess notation, used for recording and describing moves. It is based on a system of coordinates to identify each square on the board uniquely. It is now almost universally used by books, magazines, newspapers and software, and is the only form of notation recognized by FIDE, the international chess governing body.

An early form of algebraic notation was invented by the Syrian player Philip Stamma in the 18th century. In the 19th century, it came into general use in German chess literature and was subsequently adopted in Russian chess literature. Descriptive notation, based on abbreviated natural language, was generally used in English language chess publications until the 1980s. Similar descriptive systems were in use in Spain and France. A few players still use descriptive notation, but it is no longer recognized by FIDE, and may not be used as evidence in the event of a dispute.

Descriptive notation is a chess notation system based on abbreviated natural language. Its distinctive features are that it refers to files by the piece that occupies the back rank square in the starting position and that it describes each square two ways depending on whether it is from White or Black's point of view. It was common in English, Spanish and French chess literature until about 1980. In most other languages, the more concise algebraic notation was in use. Since 1981, FIDE no longer recognizes descriptive notation for the purposes of dispute resolution, and algebraic notation is now the accepted international standard.

The rules of chess (also known as the laws of chess) govern the play of the game of chess. Chess is a two-player abstract strategy board game. Each player controls sixteen pieces of six types on a chessboard. Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king; checkmate occurs when a king is threatened with capture and has no escape. A game can end in various ways besides checkmate: a player can resign, and there are several ways a game can end in a draw.

While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. The rules also varied somewhat from region to region. Today, the standard rules are set by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), the international governing body for chess. Slight modifications are made by some national organizations for their own purposes. There are variations of the rules for fast chess, correspondence chess, online chess, and Chess960.

The fifty-move rule in chess states that a player can claim a draw if no capture has been made and no pawn has been moved in the last fifty moves (where a "move" consists of a player completing a turn followed by the opponent completing a turn). The purpose of this rule is to prevent a player with no chance of winning from obstinately continuing to play indefinitely or seeking to win by tiring the opponent.

Chess positions with only a few pieces can be "solved", that is, the outcome of best play for both sides can be determined by exhaustive analysis; if the outcome is a win for one side or the other (rather than a draw), it is of interest to know whether the defending side can hold out long enough to invoke the fifty-move rule. The simplest common endings, called the basic checkmates, such as king and queen versus king, can all be won in well under 50 moves. However, in the 20th century it was discovered that certain endgame positions are winnable but require more than 50 moves (without a capture or a pawn move). The rule was therefore changed to allow certain exceptions in which 100 moves were allowed with particular material combinations. Winnable positions that required even more moves were later discovered, however, and in 1992, FIDE abolished all such exceptions and reinstated the strict 50-move rule over the board. In correspondence chess, a rule that resembles these endgame exceptions is in effect. Players can claim a win or draw using seven-piece endgame tablebases; however, under ICCF rules, these tablebases do not take the 50-move rule into account.