TACTICAL SPORTS
DECEMBER 3, 2021
20 Essential Chess Facts
20 essential chess facts you should know to improve your knowledge to the game and sharpen your play skill.
- Chess was invented in India around the 6 to 8th century. It developed over the centuries across Middle East and then medieval Europeans who modified the pieces’s names and appearances.
- Chaturanga, a popular war game from India was one of the ancestors of chess. It featured several key aspects of modern chess.
- The modern chess board like we know today appeared first in Europe in 1090.
- The longest champion chess title is held by a German named Dr. Emanuel Lasker who retained it for 26 years and 337 days.
- The first World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz is widely considered as the Father of Modern Chess.
- Chess is an acronym for Chariot (rock), Horse (knight), Elephant (bishop) and Soldiers (pawns).
- The new move where the pawn could move two steps instead of just one was introduced in Spain in 1280.
- When chaturanga landed in Persia, the name of the “king” changed from Sanskrit word “rajah” to Persian language “shah“.
- The word “checkmate” comes from Arabic words “shah mat”, meaning “the king is dead” in English.
- Garry Kasparov from Russia is considered as the God of Chess. He dominated the sport from 1985 to 2000. He won the World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22 and started ruling the chess world ever since.
- A study in Venezuela involving 4.000 second grade students found that they experienced significant increase in their IQ scores after learning chess in about 5 months.
- Between the 12th and the 15th centuries was very popular in Europe countries. Many works and literature were produced about chess between that era.
- Currently the greatest chess player is Magnus Carlsen. He is no 1 in ELO rating system with 2882 points. Garry Kasparov sits in the second.
- There are so many different chess opening and hundred of variants of it. The Oxford Companion to Chess lists, at least 1.327 named openings and variants are exist.
- If you playing a black knight then it is possible to attack the white king and the queen at the same time.
- Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization, FIDE. it is the highest title a chess player can retain.
- Abimanyu Mishra is the youngest chess grandmaster ever at the age of 12 years and 4 months old.
- The possible longest game of chess consists of 5.949 moves.
- The fastest way to checkmate your opponent in chess is the Fool’s Mate. It can occur when the white player makes two mistakes.
- The king is the most important piece in the game of chess. It can move one square in any direction and has a special move known as “castling”.
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