Chess

A sport for the mind, chess has origins extending back to 6th Century AD in India, with the popularity of this checker-board game spreading across the Middle East and then Europe. Although it’s not considered a spectator sport, chess did enjoy some television prime time in the 70s and 80s with the likes of Garry Kasparov, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov becoming the real rock stars of chess.

A brief overview of chess

Chess betting is quite difficult if you haven’t got a grasp on the rules of the game, so here is a quick explanation. Played on a checker-board of 64 alternating black-and-white squares, each player has 16 chess pieces consisting of:

• King (1)
• Queen (1)
• Rooks (2)
• Pawns (8)
• Bishops (2)
• Knights (2)

Each chess piece is governed by rules of movement, requiring tactical thinking and strategic moves. The aim of the entire game is to checkmate the opponent’s king, ensuring there is no way for it to escape being captured.

Chess Betting

This highly strategic game provides ample opportunity for chess betting, and there are many ongoing tournaments to choose from, including the FIDE Grand Prix, the World Chess Championships, the World Cup, Tata Chess Steel Masters, Zurich Chess Challenge, European Individual Chess Championship and the Grand Slam Masters Final to bet on. Although it was an exhibition sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the bid for chess to be included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics failed. There is a chance it could be included in the Paris 2024 Olympics.

With online chess betting, there is no score necessarily, so you can bet on the winner, loser or that there will be a draw. Some bookmakers might give the option of betting on matches with handicaps, but all in all, chess betting is relatively straight-forward. Don’t miss out on any of the exciting betting opportunities by signing up with Sportingbet SA today!