Benefits of Board Games
Along with playing cards, board games are the most general and popular games in almost every culture in the world. Ancient findings in Egypt reveal board games that date back thousands of years. Board games were staple forms of activity in ancient civilizations. The tombs of royal leaders and their families have been found to have early board games believed to be the favorite games of these late families.

Generally, board games became popular only in the late 20th century. The Middle class catapulted board games to another level, and these games became more original, creative and fun. They are also the ones who had time and extra money to spend on board gaming. Modern board gaming today uses the help of technology to further push its ability of entertaining as well as competitiveness among its players. Online board games are slowly gaining in popularity world wide, and you can battle in chess or even play scrabble with a group of people that you haven’t meet individually on other side of the world.

Types:
There are many types of board games, and they are mostly encouraged by true social situations. Take for example Monopoly, where you have play money, and you use this money to acquire assets and properties, and sell other acquisitions. This is a recreation of the business of real estate in an economic backdrop. Chess is the most popular and oldest known strategy game, and is considered as a sport where you expect your opponent’s next move to win the game.

History:
Board games, as defined by the name itself, are games based on carrom boards. Players use boards as a stage and with the aid of other equipments such as dice, timers, and other pieces that would enhance the game. Others would be as complicated as monopoly, where dices and pieces only make up a small part of the game. In addition to this, some games would be a simple as a marker and a dice such as the game of luck in snakes and ladders.

Basically, board games are divided into three types of games: luck, strategy, and knowledge. Board games based on luck are generally controlled by dice. The winner is usually determined by the one who can happily roll the desired number on the dice. Games of plan on the other hand are a game of wits, skills, and logic. People who excel in this type of game truly excel, and a game of chance will not change their skills in any way. There are also games that need the player to be educated on certain topics like quizmasters and scrabble.

There are also board games that do not need only luck but also strategy in all aspects of the game. A classic example of this is monopoly, where a dice is rolled and players try to create an empire within the carrom board. It was only during the 20th century that board games started to be known by everyone, even though they were created even before the birth of Christ. It was after World War II that people became more attracted in the board games that were available at that time. The rise of board game was due to the increasing middle class. People opening to have more time of their own, and they started to look for games that would not require them to sweat.

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Magnus Carlsen of Norway was the favourite on form to win the London Classic Chess after seven rounds; Luke McShane of England had the best tiebreak; but it was the third joint leader Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, who provided the star turn towards the end of the competition. The Russian took a careful draw against Levon Aronian of Armenia in the last round on Monday and logged 16 points to finish clear first.

Hikaru Nakamura of US bounced back in the last round to rout tailender Michael Adams of England in the ninth and last round to gather 15 points for second place while Magnus Carlsen could mix out only a draw after 77 moves against Nigel Short of England and had to be content with the third place. Luke McShane of England (13 points) came fourth with a short draw in opposition to Viswanathan Anand, who completed fifth ahead of Levon Aronian on tiebreak.

Kramnik defeated Luke McShane in a long struggle and surged into sole lead with 15 points, two points clear of Carlsen in second place and three ahead of Hikaru Nakamura of US and Luke McShane. Kramnik was the only one to win in the penultimate round. The Russian finished the English rout when he beat McShane. David Howell finished his quota of eight board games with a draw with Levon Aronian after a long struggle. Aronian tried Pirc defence and could not make any headway after 54 moves though he was a pawn up in a rook and minor piece ending.

Nakamura and Short met in English Opening. The pawns shaped a solid line of defence across the board so that there was no breakthrough for either player. The position did not change much after 90 moves when the game was finally drawn. In the FIDE open that was played alongside the Classic, India enjoyed a good last round as top seed GM Abhijeet Gupta finished first with eight points from nine rounds. IM Sahaj Grover came second with 7.5 points while Arghyadip Das was joint third with seven points.

Classic final placings:
1. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) 16,
2. Hikaru Nakamura (US) 15,
3. Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 14,
4. Luke McShane (England) 13,
5. Vishy Anand (Ind) 9,
6. Levon Aronian (Armenia) 9,
7. Nigel Short (England) 6,
8. David Howell (England) 4,
9. Michael Adams (England) 3

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Playing with black pieces, Grand Master Koneru Humpy played her second successive draw against defending champion Yifan Hou of China in the second game of the Women’s World Chess championship. Having drawn the first game as white, Humpy ensured that the balance remained unbroken with a further fine piece of preparation.

Interestingly, for the second day running, the Indian was calling the shots as Yifan was totally surprised in the opening and got nothing with her white pieces. The score moved to 1-1 and with eight more board games to come in the 200,000 Euros championship, Humpy appears to have taken the emotional advantage.

The third game will now be played on Wednesday. It was a Petroff defense by Humpy. Yifan concede that she was not ready for such tactics.I didn’t expect Russian defense, so I did not prepare much for it,Yifan said. The Chinese exhausted about eighteen minutes on the ninth move and went for the castling on opposite flanks. However, just a few moves later, Yifan went for the trading of queens which led to a entirely equal endgame.

Further simplifications were important when Humpy rolled down her queenside passed pawns and the Indian gained an unimportant advantage too in the process. Yifan had to make a few correct moves to make sure parity and she did that without much ado. The game was drawn in 42 moves.It was totally equal, white did not get anything from the opening. So I went to the ending that is nothing for White but then I think I played not very well and gave the advantage to the opponent,Yifan admitted after the game.

Humpy was also of the view that there was not much for her.I was trying to press on the queenside but it was more or less equal.The Championship has taken its present – match-format – avatar after a gap of 12-years and according to experts this has been a perfect start for Humpy. The Indian has been high on training and should the trend continue, 17 year old Yifan is likely to face more heat in the coming games.

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A total of 38 countries are sending four-player teams to this nine-round Swiss, which will be dramatic from November 3-12 in the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort on the Halkidiki peninsula of northern Greece. We see famous names like Aronian, Karjakin, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Svidler, Topalov, as well as Kosintseva, Lahno, Muzychuk and Danielian in the women’s section.

A total of 38 countries have registered their contribution in the European Team Championship 2011, which starts next week. Each national federation united to the European Chess Union has the right to enter one team of four players plus one reserve in the open contest, and one team of four female players and one reserve in the women’s competition.

The ETCC is a nine-round Swiss, with one open section and one section for the women’s teams, considered split competitions. According to ECU and FIDE rules, the time control will be 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest of the game + 30 sec increment for every move played starting from the first move.

The board games will be played in the Olympic Hall Congress Center, within the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort, which is located in an interestingly luxuriant landscape in Halkidiki, Greece. Also called Chalkidiki the peninsula is one of the peripheral units of Greece, part of the margin of Central Macedonia.

Set like a gem in 1763 hectares of extremely beautiful grounds, it is a paradise of green, fringed by apparently endless sandy beaches, in fact nine kilometers of them! The Porto Carras Grand Resort is located 110 km south of the international airport of Thessaloniki, and contains in its 1763 hectares three hotel divisions, each in a dissimilar style, a casino, an ultra-modern thalassotherapy centre and spa, an international-standard 18-hole golf course, a private 315-berth marina, a 5,000 seat meeting centre and Greece’s largest organic vineyard.

Other chess events that were held in Porto Carras include the 2010 World Youth Chess Championships with almost 1400 participants, the Greek School Championships of 2008, 2009 and 2010 and the International Open “Summer Cup” tournaments of 2008, 2009 and 2010.

In addition to the 38 countries participating in the Open section, there are 28 teams in the women’s tournament. As the games start on November 3rd, the FIDE ratings of November 1st 2011 will apply.

Schedule of Chess Championship:

1. November-2: Arrival of Delegations
2. November-2: Captain’s Meeting – 22:00
3. November-3: Opening Ceremony – 14:30
   November-3: Round 1 – 15:00
4. November-4: Round 2 – 15:00
5. November-5: Round 3 – 15:00
6. November-6: Round 4 – 15:00
7. November-7: Round 5 – 15:00
8. November-8: Round 6 – 15:00
9. November-9: Round 7 – 15:00
10. November-10: Round 8 – 15:00
11. November-11: Round 9 – 13:00
    November-11: Closing Ceremony – 21:00
12. November-12: Departure of delegations

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Chess is a board game of skill; in fact, it is widely known that one cannot cheat at a game of chess. Since it is a game of deep plan, with moves contemplated well in advance, and an opponent’s move judged and weighed careful, be sufficient it to say a good chess game doesn’t end soon. Keeping this fact in mind, before setting up a chess board, it is important to find a relaxed location.

Step 1:

The first step get ready to play a game of chess is making sure the board is set properly. Look at the square in the lower right-hand corner for each player. This should be a light-colored square. An easy way to keep in mind this rule is the phrase white on right.

Step 2:

Placing the Rooks
Put the rooks — which in most set, look like small towers — in the four corner squares of the board. If your board has coordinates, place the white rooks on the first rank,and the black rooks on the eighth rank.

Step 3:

Placing the Knights
Place the knights next to the rooks of the same color.

Step 4:

Placing the Bishops
The bishops are placed next to the knights of the same color.

Step 5:

Placing the Queens
The queen is usually the second tallest piece in a chess set. It should be placed center square of its color. The white queen is placed on the lighter center square, which the black queen is place on the dark center square. A good way of identification this is queen on color

Step 6:

Placing the Kings
The king is generally the tallest piece in a chess set, and naturally has a cross on its head. Each king should be placed next to the queen of the same color. If your board has coordinates, the kings should be on the e-file.

Step 7:

Placing the Pawns
The pawns are the shortest and most several pieces in a chess set. You should have eight pawns of each color. These pawns should go in each square in the row in front of the other part of the same color. If your board has coordinates, the white pawns should be on the second rank, and the black pawns must be on the seventh rank.

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