- Here are all the fun facts for National Chess Day.
The second Saturday of October is National Chess Day, the day of the most popular board game in the world. Did you know that about chess? Here are more chess fun facts to celebrate the game.
- Chess was invented in India
- There are over 700 million chess players in the world.
- A chess board is made of 64 squares, with 8 rows and 8 columns, called “ranks” and “files” respectively.
- Chess began in India during the Gupta Empire before moving to the Persian Sassanid Empire, and then to the Middle East, post Muslims conquering Persia. From there, it went on to Europe and Russia.
- Chess players may use either a white or black set of pieces.
- Each player starts with 16 pieces including eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen, and one king.
- Pawns move forward unless they are capturing an opponent’s piece. In that case they can move diagonally.
- On the other hand knights can move in “L” shapes, either two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically. They can also jump over other pieces during the game.
- Bishops may move diagonally forwards or backwards across the board for any amount of spaces.
- For rooks, they move forwards or backwards, horizontally or vertically, across the board for any amount of spaces.
- Kings move one square in any direction.
- The longest chess game ever was I.Nikolic VS Arsovi in Belgrade in 1989. The game ultimately ended in 269 moves, in a draw.
- The number of possibilities of a Knight’s tour is over 122 million. Wow, that is one of the most fun chess fun facts!
- Chess is a required school subject in Armenia.
- In a single game of chess, there are 400 possible moves after each move played.
- It is possible to checkmate your opponent in just two moves.
- Chess is a proven way to improve memory function.
- The period of time from the 18th century until the 1880’s was known as the Romantic Era of chess. This time included the discovery of pawns as strategic pieces, stalemate rules, and the idea that white pieces moved first.
- The world record set in 1992 for the number of moves without capture is 100.
- About 70% of the adult population has played chess at some point.
- Queens move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, in any direction, and for any amount of spaces.
- The second book ever printed in the English language was about chess. Do you think this is one of the best of the chess fun facts?
- The Arabs coined the term “Shah Mat”, which translates to “the king is dead”. This is where the word “checkmate” came from.
- The oldest surviving complete chess sets were found on the Isle of Lewis, in northern Scotland, dating back to the 12th century.
- In Shatranj, the predecessor to chess, the Queen was a minister or vizier, and still is in many languages.
- The first of the chess sets were probably made in Iceland or Norway.
- 600 AD is the first clear reference to chess. It was referenced in a Persian manuscript that describes chess coming to Persia (Iran) from India.
- The appearance of the first of the chess sets made were used in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the wizard chess pieces.
- The oldest recorded chess game in history is from the 900s. It was between a historian from Baghdad and his student.
- In many languages, the Pawn is a foot soldier. However in German and Spanish, it’s a peasant or farmer.
- Until 1886 the title of world champion of chess was unofficial
- Each player must move on their turn and must not put their own king in check.
- Chess is proven to improve memory function.
- Around 1475, changes were made to chess and it evolved into its more current form. Also around this time formal rules began to appear.
- There are well over 1,000 different openings, including variations within larger openings/defenses that one can learn for the game of chess.
What’s your favorite Chess fun fact? Let me know in the comments if you want to see more articles like this!
For odd chess news, follow the link and read Chess Cup Player Accused of Cheating — With an Anal Sex Toy.