definitions Aug09

chess
“The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it, so as to become habits, ready on all occasions. For life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effects of prudence or the want of it. By playing at Chess, then, we learn,
I. Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action…
II. Circumspection, which surveys the whole chess-board, or scene of action…
III. Caution, not to make our moves too hastily…”
- Analysis of the Game of Chess by AD Philidor, 1826

Chess is a board game played between two players. The current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from a similar, much older game of Indian origin.
Chess is commonly believed to have originated in India during the Gupta empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as caturaṅga. In Sassanid Persia around 600 the name became shatranj and the rules were developed further. Shatranj was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia (633-644). The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe. Around 1200, rules of shatranj started to be modified in southern Europe, and around 1475, several major changes made the game essentially as it is known today.
The game is played on a square checkered chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid of black and white squares. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move
- wikipedia

infinite
adj.
1. Having no boundaries or limits.
2. Immeasurably great or large; boundless: infinite patience; a discovery of infinite importance.
3. Mathematics
a. Existing beyond or being greater than any arbitrarily large value.
b. Unlimited in spatial extent: a line of infinite length.
c. Of or relating to a set capable of being put into one-to-one correspondence with a proper subset of itself.
- dictionary.com

labyrinth
noun
1. an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit.
2. a maze of paths bordered by high hedges, as in a park or garden, for the amusement of those who search for a way out.
3. a complicated or tortuous arrangement, as of streets or buildings.
4. any confusingly intricate state of things or events; a bewildering complex.
5. Classical Mythology. a vast maze built in Crete by Daedalus, at the command of King Minos, to house the Minotaur.
6. Anatomy. the internal ear, consisting of a bony portion and a membranous portion.
- dictionary.com