Chess Facts and Trivia
Chess has a long history, which makes it even more exciting to play it. To make progress in this game, it is necessary not only ingenuity but patience. Chess has over a thousand years of history. Many legends circulate about their origin, and different countries attribute their invention. Today it is believed that chess constitutes an evolution of the board game called “shatranj,” which in turn comes from the “chaturanga,” devised in India in the 6th century. Many rules and strategies are good to know, and whether you’re a great player or haven’t tried yet, surely these chess curiosities will please you.
- The longest game
The longest chess game in history was that of Ivan Nikolic against Goran Arsovic in 1989 and consisted of 269 moves. However, theoretically, the longest game could be up to 5949 moves.
- An old riddle
There is an old riddle that says: if a grain of wheat is placed in the first space of the board, two in the second, and double the number in each subsequent space, how many grains should be placed in the number 64? The answer is 9,223,372,036,854,775,808.
- Space game
The first chess game between Earth and space was in 1970 by the Soyuz-9 crew.
- Star Trek
Star Trek stars Kirk and Spock played chess three times in the episodes, and Kirk always won.
- Checkmate
The phrase Checkmate comes from a Persian phrase, Shah Mat, which means “the king is dead.”
- The youngest winner
Garry Kasparov, a Russian chess master, who became the youngest chess world champion in 1985, at the age of 22.
- Improves memory
The necessity of using logic and resolution of problems, make that chess is a good cure for memory problems, including Alzheimer’s. It has also been used in schools to improve the concentration of children and their grades.
- Computer program
The first program created to play chess was carried out by Alan Turing in 1951. However, no computer was ready to use it, so he did the calculations himself and performed according to them.
- The oldest pieces
The game of chess oldest found in Scotland and is of the TWELFTH century. It was probably created in Norway or Iceland, and you can recognize its original appearance in the Harry Potter film, which used it as inspiration.
- Queen
At first, the Queen was not so powerful. She could only move a diagonal space until later, she gained power. It was initially thought of as a counselor or prime minister, but in 1400 it was changed to be the strongest.
- Computer versus human
In 1997 Garry Kasparov was defeated by IBM’s Deep Blue computer, although later there were allegations of cheating and fraud.
- Check is not notified.
While in the friendly games you play when you are learning chess, the check is announced, the usual thing in competitions or games between expert players is not to do so. Although many children do it in their chess games, experienced players do not need it and detect the threat against the king by sight. So it’s good to know that it’s not mandatory to announce the check.
- Players can get off the table.
This is one of the issues I have seen that often surprise viewers of a chess championship when they attend for the first time. Of course, it is not usual to get up in fast games, where time is short, and you have to take every second to think about the game. But in long games, it is reasonable to get up to stretch your legs, take a little walk and relax a bit or go to the bathroom.