Some are huge fans of this game, obsessing over the tricks of getting the opponent into checkmate in the quickest possible time frame
Others simply couldn’t care less, while there are some who haven’t got a clue how to play this popular board game
Whatever your opinion of chess, there’s no escaping the fact that it has a fascinating history and boasts some pretty interesting facts
Did You Know
There are 5,949 moves possible in a chess game, which makes it very possible that somebody else might come along and steal their crown in the future
With 64 squares on a chess board, it’s impossible to imagine more than a couple of thousand outcomes of a game
However, after each player has had four moves, there are more than 318 billion possible positions
As chess players know, pawns can move either one space or two spaces on their first move. This is a rule which was brought about by the Spaniards in 1280
Over a century before the Spanish brought about this rule, a priest came up with an invention which we still use to this day
It was the year 1125, and the priest knew that he would be in trouble for playing chess, since this was against the rules of the Church
Rather than submit himself to this holy law, he devised the folding chessboard
He designed it to look exactly like two books when it was placed on a bookshelf, so nobody ever found out his little secret
The Origins of Chess
Chess is now played all over the world, but its origins supposedly began in India way back in the 6th Century
Historians don’t actually know exactly where chess came from, but the majority agree that India is the most likely place
The game has changed throughout the years, and it took almost a thousand years to make its way to Southern Europe
By the 15th Century, Spain was slowly but surely becoming a fan of this popular game, and the 19th Century saw the rules of gameplay standardized as chess tournaments began
The International Chess Tournament
London was the home of the first international chess tournament, which took place in 1851
Howard Staunton, an English master of chess, organized the event as a way of bringing together the best chess players in Europe
Adolf Anderssen won the event, beating 15 other players and subsequently becoming champion throughout the 1850’s and 1860’s
Wilhelm Steinitz is a name you should definitely know when it comes to the world of chess
Born in Austria, he won the first World Championship in 1886, and went on to win 25 chess matches in total and lose just two matches.
At the age of 58, he lost his title to Emanuel Lasker, who went on to be the longest reigning champion (26 years and 337 days).
Lasker was also a good friend of Albert Einstein, who stated that he didn’t have time for chess and didn’t want to endure anything which would force his mind to work any further after a hard da
However, Einstein became a fan of the board game in later life, but we don’t know whether or not it was Emanuel Lasker who talked him into it
However, he never played a game for as many hours as Stepak and Mashian did – this pair beat the world record after 24 hours and 30 minutes of gameplay in 1980
Nine years later, Nikolic and Arsovic beat the record for the most moves played in a chess game, totaling a staggering 269