Top 10 Unbelievable Chess Facts You Probably didn't know!
- Chess is a required school subject in Armenia.
- The earliest form of chess was first developed in India at least 1500 years ago.
- You Don't Have to Announce Check
- Many players are taught to announce check as a courtesy; after all, opponents can't legally make a move that leaves their King in danger, so you can't really "sneak" a check into a checkmate (unless your group house rules it). However, nothing actually forces players to announce check, and it almost never occurs in professional matches.
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Chess Is Unsolved
A "solved" game is one where the ideal moves are known. For instance, checkers has been solved, and if two perfect players squared off, would end in a draw. However, chess is much more complicated, and not only is it not solved, but we're also not even sure how such a game would end.
- Blind Chess Expert!
- Darpan Inani is a prolific blind Indian chess player and a Chartered Accountant from Vadodara. He is currently the highest-rated visually impaired chess player in India, with an ELO rating of 2135 as of January 2020. He won a bronze medal on his respective board in the 16th World Chess Olympiad for visually impaired held in Greece in 2021. He was also a bronze medalist at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Belgrade. He is the youngest player to have ever won the National blind chess championships. He is the only Indian visually impaired chess player to have ever won international first prize at the Creon Open chess tournament in France in August 2018. This was a historic moment for Indian chess when a visually impaired player won first prize in international open sighted tournament in his rating category. He is honoured with the Yuva Ratna award by All India Marwari Yuva Manch in April 2018 in Siliguri, West Bengal. He is the recipient of the Navratna Award - 2018 awarded by Yuma Television. He has featured in a commercial for HDFC Life.
- How Many Chess GMs are there?
- As per the FIDE database search done on 28 November 2021, there are 1742 Grand Masters and the number of active chess grandmasters is 1315. The grandmaster title is awarded to the chess players by the International Chess Federation FIDE.