Facts

1. The second book ever printed in the English language was about chess!

2. The first computer program for playing chess was developed in 1951, by Alan Turing. However, no computer was powerful enough to process it, so Turing tested it by doing the calculations himself and playing according to the results, taking several minutes per move.

3. The oldest recorded chess game in history is from the 900s, between a historian from Baghdad and his student.

4. The oldest surviving complete chess sets were found on the Isle of Lewis, in northern Scotland, and dates to the 12th century. They were probably made in Iceland or Norway, and their appearance was used in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the wizard chess pieces.

5. About 600,000,000 (Six hundred million) people know how to play chess worldwide!