The Mammoth Book of Chess: With Internet Chess

A handbook on all aspects of chess which has been written to enable players to progress to good club level or better. It includes sections on computer and Internet chess, main chess openings, test positions for players of all standards, practical advise on further study, information and advice on club and tournament chess, courses in tactics and attacking strategy, first hand accounts of local, national and international chess events and a selection of the greatest games ever played.
The origins of chess are shrouded in mystery. Board games were certainly played by the ancient Egyptians and Romans, but nobody knows the rules of these games or whether they were the ancestors of any games played today. The earliest date to which a definite precursor of chess can be traced is about AD 600. Travelling from India via the Arab world to Europe, chess has exerted its peculiar fascination over a wide range of cultures. This universal appeal, stretching for a span of 1400 years, surely indicates that chess taps some deeprooted elements of the human mind. Chess almost certainly had its origins in a type of war game, and the sporting or competitive element is still one of its most seductive features. The urge to compete is undoubtedly a fundamental part of the human psyche, and while one may argue as to how much of this urge is a result of upbringing and how much is genetically based, the fact is that it exists and is likely to do so for the foreseeable future.