Chess is a board game between two players. Each player controls 16 pieces including pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, queen, and king. The objective is to checkmate the opponent's king by placing it under direct attack where it cannot escape. Pieces each have unique movement rules like the knight's L-shape or the queen's ability to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Famous chess players include Jose Raul Capablanca, Wilhelm Steinitz, Bobby Fischer, Magnus Carlsen, and Mark Taimanov.