“On February 10, 1996, Deep Blue became the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion (Garry Kasparov) under regular time controls. However, Kasparov won three and drew two of the following five games, beating Deep Blue by a score of 4–2 (wins count 1 point, draws count ½ point). The match concluded on February 17, 1996.
Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded (unofficially nicknamed “Deeper Blue”) and played Kasparov again in May 1997, winning the six-game rematch 3½–2½, ending on May 11. Deep Blue won the deciding game six after Kasparov made a mistake in the opening, becoming the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls.”
The chess players were enraptured by this article, which was the first time that chess was officially played by something other than human.
Deep Blue
Viswanathan Anand is an Indian Grandmaster who is maintaining the title: world chess champion since year 2007. He is very tactical man, and also known as speed-player. After Deep Blue, a lot of other mechanical chess computers were produced; however, the effects were not great as 1980s. Eventually, Viswanathan Anand defeated the world’s smartest chess computer.
Potential player
James Black. He is known as the youngest chess grandmaster with age of 12 only.
“He’s got a fantastic memory and is very clever at forcing plays,” -Elizabeth Vicary, Black’s chess coach at Intermediate 318
Some of useful techniques to escape from the ‘beginner’ level
Even you have not played chess before, from learning some of these useful techniques and traps, it is really easy of getting out of the ‘beginner’.
1) You get more advantage when your pieces are controlling the ‘center points‘
The center points refer to 4 squares on the middle of the board(D4, D5, E4, and E5), and these squares are as significant as your king, that by controlling them, more chances you can lead the game, and finish the opponent ultimately(the quickest attacking route from one sector of the board to another is through the center). To control center the points, placing your pieces on that squares is not mandatory, but just have to place them on any squares unless their potential attacking ranges are out of the center points.
Green Squares refer to the center points
2) (Another thing to remember when you play chess, you must make the best move as possible each time you get a turn) Relevant to the center points, the ‘openings‘ are one of the most significant things to stabilize your entire game.
There are either 3 choices when you begin your first move; moving a pawn one or two squares forward, or moving a knight over a pawn.
Excluding the knight effect, there are major tactical differences between moving the pawns in front of king&queen, and moving the pawns in front of other pieces, usually by the idea of ‘Center point’. About 90% of the beginners move the pawns in front of the rooks, (which is not a best move), but you will get more advantage when you move the pawns in front of the king&queen.
3) Avoid any errors. Perhaps this is the reason why people lose their games.
4) Use your time wisely. Most of chess games require timer; approximately an hour, and short as 5 minutes for each player. You will lose if you spend your time quicker than the opponent, so be aware.
Basic Chess Terms:
Check: When your(or opponent’s) king is currently being attacked by any of opponent’s(or your) piece(s)
Checkmate: When your(or opponent’s) king is currently being attacked by any of opponent’s(or your) piece(s), but still cannot escape from ‘check‘ when the king is moved to the other squares.
Promotion: When the pawn advances to the final rank(the 8th rank, in the case of ‘white’ player), it is promoted and must be exchanged for the player’s choice of queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color.
Checkmate
Advanced ChessTerms:
Castling: Moving the king and rook simultaneously, and it is the only time in the game where two pieces can move in the same turn. It is moving king two squares to right or left, and placing rook beside the king. However, there must not any piece between the king and rook. Furthermore, the player cannot do this action while under check.
It is trading pieces. Trading minor piece for the opponent’s piece is called ‘winning the exchange’.
Stalemate: A situation which the player has nothing to move even though it is his turn. Then, it is a drawn game.
Their are over 200 chess terms that are used during a chess match; however, commonly used ones do not exceed 10~20 or more. It will be difficult to understand some of the terms, but if you play chess for a while, you will able to understand it very easily.
The basic rules of chess and how it is composed of
Chess is played on a square board of eight rows and columns, and the colors of the sixty-four squares alternate and are referred to as “light squares” and “dark squares”.
There are six different types of pieces, and each player receive 16 white or black pieces; 1 king&queen, 2 bishops&knights&Rooks, and 8 pawns.
They are set up like the pictures on the top.
Things that should not be forgotten:
1) To determine whether the piece is king or queen, the king has a ‘cross‘(Like a Pope’s crown) illustration and the queen has not.
2) Players have to reset the entire pieces if the color of the ‘right’ square on your first row(H1, where your right ‘rook’ is on) is black, thus, always check that your right square is ‘white’ before the game starts.
3) The player with the ‘white‘ sets, always start the game first.
How the Pieces are moved:
The king moves one square in any direction
* The rook can move any number of squares along any rank or file, but may not leap over other pieces
* The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but may not leap over other pieces
* The queen combines the power of the rook and bishop and can move any number of squares along rank, file, or diagonal, but it may not leap over other pieces
* The knight moves to any of the closest squares which are not on the same rank, file or diagonal, thus the move forms an “L”-shape two squares long and one square wide. The knight is the only piece which can leap over other pieces
* The pawn may move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file, or on its first move it may advance two squares along the same file provided both squares are unoccupied, or it may move to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece, which is diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file, capturing that piece
Chess is considered as one of the most global and prominent board-games that many people play, and it is adequate for the family-game as well. However, some people regard chess as a mere interesting game, and thus treat it like any other ordinary games such as “Brick-builders or Monopoly”. But chess was originated since the 6th century A.D., and was popularly played in the medieval age, Europe, usually among the kings and nobles. Not that the chess has maintained the venerable historical values, but it was proven that playing chess is a lot obliging for the human brains, such as significant advancement in a spatial, numerical and administrative-directional abilities , and furthermore to the reinforcement of concentration, patience, and perseverance. Typical strategies which exist solely for chess reinforce the taste of the game, in fact, chess is fairly complicated entertainment, and thus it requires certain age to reach into professional level, unlike to some other games which only needs a little bits of skill and most of the fortune. By this aspect, most of the beginners are not recommended to play chess with professionals (if ones wish to enjoy the game), as they can be checkmated within the first 4 or 8 moves.
“News broke this week that Blizzard and KeSPA, the Korean e-Sports Association, were close to reaching an agreement on the broadcast rights for StarCraft games in South Korea. A court appearance for a hearing between the two parties scheduled for May 13 has been postponed, reportedly due to an understanding being reached between OnGameNet, MBCGame and Blizzard.
Blizzard’s position that KeSPA and its member bodies were broadcasting their intellectual property illegally without license was one that had been consistently rejected by the Korean association, who argued that Blizzard’s proposed licensing fees were excessive, and in fact it was Blizzard who owed them for popularising StarCraft as an e-sport in Japan. The issue was sidestepped when Blizzard gave broadcast rights for the entire franchise, including Starcraft II to the smaller GoMTV, who have now made quite a name for themselves running the very successful and entertaining GSL series.
According to Korean e-sports website Fomos.kr, both OnGameNet and MBCGame will receive licenses from Blizzard to make their broadcasts of Starcraft: Brood War games official (including display of the Blizzard logo during broadcasts), in return for receiving an annual negotiated licensing fee from KeSPA and the broadcasters. Blizzard have also agreed not to restrict the sale of any derivative products from the broadcasts, including such things as DVD replays”
This article has brought a significant change in Korean e-Sports, which also impacted 2011 WCG that will be held in Korea, Busan. Considering that the Korean Starcraft organization is not cooperative to Blizzard company, WCG plans to remove starcraft 1, but include starcraft 2 instead.
You may find a nickname ‘Remind’ that represents Kim Sung Sik; Koreannational player of Warcraft III. Each e-Sports player has his or her nickname or second name, which is quite necessary because the players are also competing against the foreign players while practicing through cyberspace. As a result, this nickname represents the player to the people in the world, and thus foreign fans usually know the player as his or her nickname.
Basically, Kim Sung Sik defeated Manuel Schenkhuizen in WCG 2010 Warcraft III final, and gained gold medal for the first time in Korean history.
GG or gg means ‘Good games’, and a player types these letters when he is admitting his defeat.
People who are not familiar of games would not understand why these commentators are sobbing to delight. But, it is comprehensible if you have known Korean’s resentment against the Warcraft III.
Warcraft III that was followed by Starcraft
In 2002, when there was a great upward trend of e-Sports because of the effects of Starcraft; Blizzard company presents Warcraft 3.
Warcraft III was selected as WCG sport since Blizzard released it in 2003; Korea could not miss this category in order to maintain as the best e-sports nation, and thus many Koreans began to play Warcraft III. Among these people, those who were outstanding in their talents were named as Warcraft pro-gamers.
It is strange why Warcraft III is not so popular in Korea; unlike, the world enjoys this more than Starcraft
Like Starcraft League, the Warcraft league had accumulated a number of fans and its reputation within Korea; however, the line of degradation appeared due to ‘Warcraft III Matching-Manipulation’ case.
Like there is a Soccer League and Baseball League, Korea has an e-Sports league, which is a first game league in the history.
Due to fans’ disappointment, the Warcraft III pro-league was shut down, and thus Korea has gradually lost Warcraft pro-gamers, which ironically created abnormal development of e-Sports between Starcraft and Warcraft league.
However, the world including China, U.S.A and Netherlands were different than Korea. They have enhanced their e-Sports cultures by creating numerous Warcraft III leagues.
Korean Warcraft players had to attend to the foreign countries’ leagues in order to continue their jobs as a pro-gamers. They just did not have a chance to play a match in Korea.
Still, the Koreans got a title: the strongest
Despite the environment, the Korean Warcraft players were in the top in terms of their talents; defeating champions a number of times.
Still, Korea did not acknowledge Warcraft in spite of the players’ efforts. The Koreans desired to finish their struggles, and thus their target was obviously moved toward the WCG.
However, the fortune was not allowed to Koreans. Since Warcraft III was officially selected as a World Cyber Game sport in 2003; Korean Warcraft players lost their gold medals until WCG 2009.
WCG warcraft III records (2001~2009): two silver medals in 2004 and 2008; bronze medals in 2007 and 2009.
Korean pro-gamers may had wanted to quit their jobs or change their profession to other games. This seven years period would had been a nightmare to the players.
Park Jun (above) and Jang Jae Ho (Below). Although they had unfair environment, they had talents to compete against the Warcraft masters.
Gold Medal, Finally
Kim Sung Sik earned Korea’s first gold medal for Warcraft III in 2010 WCG. This was an impressive achievement because the opponent that Kim Sung Sik competed in the final match was Manuel Schenkhuizen(very talented Netherlander), who was world rank no. 1, plus he even defeated a Korean player Park Jun by 2:0 in the semi-final match before playing against Kim.
Kim Sung Sik, Korean Warcraft III Player
People Cried Together
Kim Sung SIk’s victory was not a mere winning in a game competition. Due to Starcraft’s popularity, Korean Warcraft pro-gamers had to move to oversees to continue their jobs. Acknowledged by foreigners, but not by Koreans. Maybe this was possible because of Korean players’ maintained thier wills. Warcraft commentators knew this circumstance more than anyone did, and thus it was natural for their cries.
But, how would the result be?
Maybe this achievement will disappear as a mere memory. But there is a chance that this event may motivate the Koreans to recreate warcraft III leauges.
Since WCG was held in 2001, Korea has aced in this contest by getting in top three places for every single grand finals. Typically, Korea has been outstandingly unassailable in ‘Starcraft’ category; earning all gold, silver, and bronze medals for Starcraft championship in 2010 grand final. Because Korea is absolutely strong in ‘Starcraft’, the Korean Starcraft national team has never given up a gold medal to foreign country so far.
WCG, like the Olympic games, targets at a variety of different sports when selecting. The players of each national team compete against the foreign players from another national team; those who win the sport gains gold medal, 2nd place gets silver, and 3rd gets bronze. The comprehensive winning nation is selected on the last day of grand final by counting the gathered medals for each nation.
So, Why is Korea the Best E-Sports Team?
Until 10 years ago, the idea of ‘Games‘ was commonly recognized as ‘time-wasting‘ entertainment; however, “Blizzard”, a famous American game company, released its masterpiece “StarCraft” and this perception has been diluted by the efforts of many people.
Blizzard’s top masterpiece, StarCraft, which initially created the job ‘Pro-gamers’
Korea initially created “pro-league” from Starcraft that eventually established the title of “pro-gamer’. Any Koreans would likely heard the name “Lim Yo Hwan”, who ventured as the first pro-gamer, and he has been earning substantial amount of comparable salary to that of office workers in decent companies are earning, as well as publicly popular like any other super-stars. Later he gains a consecutive gold medals for Starcraft category in 2001 and 2002.
Lim Yo Hwan and Manuel Schenkhuizen
At this point, nobody can easily mention that “games” are harmful. Hence, the world began to give attention toward Korea, and they aimed at a variety of games with similar systems, producing many global pro-gamers like Manuel Schenkhuizen, the champion of ‘Warcraft III: the Fronzen Throne’ in 2004 and 2008.
Grand Final vs National competition
As you have been reading this, you may have questioned what is ‘grand final’ exactly? Well, it is the final competition for the players who placed either 1st, or 2nd, or 3rd places in their national competition. Here is an example of Korean Starcraft Korean 2007 WCG national competition chart.
The top 20 KesPa rank Korean players are chosen for this WCG national competition. Then, only three players from this contest can fly over to WCG grand final site (for ex: it was Los Angeles in 2008; Beijing in 2009) where these Korean players now have to compete against the foreign players who also aced in their WCG national competition.
This is 2010 WCG Starcraft Grand final chart.
What is KeSPA Rank?
KeSPA rank is ‘Korean e-Sports Players Association rank. Most Koreans think that KeSPA rank is for Starcraft Players; however, it is wrong, though I have to admit that top 100 KeSPA ranks consist of all starcraft players.
The logo symbolizing 10th Anniversary and The logo of WCG
There is a world tournament for E-sports(Games), like those major sport festivals; FIFA world cup, and Olympics. The ‘WCG’
(World Cyber Games) is the name for this contest, which accomplished the 10th anniversary this year, and it will be a lot easier to view it as the Game Olympics if you are still uncertain about it. WCG’s 10th anniversary is an incredible thing to talk about as the Game Olympics itself was initially created by the great popularity of the game, ‘Starcraft: the broodwar’ in the South Korea.
(Lee Jae Dong; given the title: best Starcraft Player in the world)
Most of the Sport Olympics are held for every 4 years, but WCG is held annually. This year, the festival was held in LA, the United States, and thus, it was hotter than the any previous years.
WCG was held since 2001, and it is operated by ‘Samseung’ Company. Korea was proven that they are the top country representing the E-Sports, winning 6 WCG total-medal awards out of 10 festivals, and Korea never gave the gold medal for ‘Starcraft’ to other foreign counties since the WCG started. There are 12 different games of competition(in 2009 version) For PC games: Starcraft, Warcraft 3, Counter Strike, Fifa 09, Carom 3D, Red Stone and Track Mania, For X-Box games: Guitar Hero and Virtua fighter 5, For Mobile games: Asphalt 4 and Wise Star 2, and lastly, For promotion games: Dungeon&Fighter. 58 countries in the world attended 2010 WCG, it has settled its importance all over the world.
The perceptions toward Electronic Sports (E-Sports) differ between the Asians and the Westerners. As Western culture freely allows the people to enjoy the E-Sports, the Asians usually had negative notion about it because they think it that E-Sports are merely games which contaminate the people’s minds. However, this prejudice has changed in the 21st century, and I would like to talk about this procedure. What were the Korean adults ideas toward games since they appeared in Korea. Harmful, addictive, ext.. as you see, the Koreans regarded the games like ‘drugs’, and this was much seriously taken than the Japanese and Chinese. Study and study… it was true that the games interrupt the students’ studies; however, there is a clear difference between a mere games and E-Sports.
Why does ‘E-sports’ called as a part of a sports? Because the world has changed the perception of games into a sports, and the original country who started this was Korea.
As the world moves into the 21st century, there has been a shift in gaming that now each countries are sending their ‘players’ to compete and enjoy each others like a Fifa world cup and Olympics.This is called the WCG or World Cyber Games.
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