19-18 things that no one told you about chess
The Great Union was made on 1st December 1918 when all historical provinces were united in the same national state, Romania. Initially, I wanted to write 1918 interesting facts about chess and chess players. After some thoughts I considered there are slightly more chances that you will start (re)reading the Shogun, so I decided to choose 19 or 18 anecdotes. It remains to be seen at the end how many curiosities I managed to gather.
1. In a classic chess game, which lasts about 3-4 hours, a professional chess player consumes more calories than a football player in a match.
2. The longest possible game of chess can have a maximum of 5898 moves! If you don't take my word for it, you can count the moves in the game below.
3. If you play chess for a longer period, you can prevent Alzheimer's. So far, no professional chess player has been diagnosed with this serious disease.
4. The second book published in English was about… chess! To be more precise, in 1474, William Claxton translated the book "The Game and Play of Chess" from French and published it two years later.
5. In many countries, the pawn is called soldier, but in German it has probably the nicest nickname: bauer. Which can be translated by farmer or peasant.
6. The estimated number of atoms in the universe is 1079, and the number of possible moves in a game of chess is 10120.
7. Cleveland police suspended a chess tournament in 1973. The tournament director was arrested on charges of gambling (winning cash prizes) and possession of gambling devices (chess sets).
8. Initially, the Queen could only move one square diagonally. Things changed after the "reconquista" of Spain in the 15th century, when Queen Isabella intervened to change this rule. Since then, the Queen has become the strongest piece on the board and can move in all directions.
9. Magnus Carlsen appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons", where he tried to help Homer.
Two years ago today aired the 611th episode of @TheSimpsons with @MagnusCarlsen cameo.
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) February 19, 2019
"Homer, I'm afraid you cannot run away from chess," says Carlsen through the computer screen. Isn't it true for every chess fan? #chess #animation #cameo #simpsons #homersimpson pic.twitter.com/GikmIfECvb
10. The longest chess game was played in 1989, in Belgrade, and lasted 269 moves. The protagonists who became heroes were Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic. In the end, they decided enough is enough and they agreed to a draw.
11. There are 400 different possible positions after each move. There are 72,084 different possible positions after two more moves. There are over 9 million different possible positions after three more moves.
12. The first folding chessboard was invented in 1125 by a priest. At the time the Church forbade priests to play chess, he hid his chessboard so that it looked like two books placed one on top of the other.
13. Judith Polgar, the best women chess player in history, came to break all records after an experiment. Her father wrote a book called "Geniuses are made, not born", which was the model after he raised his daughters.
14. The blindfold chess! Most chess players can play a single game without having the board in front of their eyes. But Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world champion, wanted to raise the stake. In 2014, he offered a simultaneous 10 meals without seeing the pieces. Don't try this at home!
15. In 1999, Garry Kasparov played against "World". More than 50,000 people from 75 countries have been part of the world team. The match lasted 4 months and 62 moves. After move 62, pawn to g7, 51% of the voters decided it was time to resign.
16. The first mechanical chess clock was invented by Thomas Wilson in 1883. Until then, hourglasses were used. It was only in 1973 that digital clocks were invented, the ones we are still using today.
17. In the Harry Potter series, the oldest set of chess pieces was used. It was discovered on the Lewis Island in Scotland, but was made somewhere in Scandinavia and is believed to date from the 12th century.
18. Emanuel Lasker held the World Champion title for 26 years and 337 days. Upon retiring from the first stage, he wanted to offer the title to Capablanca, but the Cuban player wanted to win the title on the "field". Among other things, Emanuel Lasker was a good friend of Albert Einstein, whom he tried to bring to the world of chess, but without success.
19. The first American to defeat a player from the former Soviet Union was Frank Marshall. It happened in 1924, in New York. The same Frank Marshall was the US champion for 30 years.
Since you've come this far, where do you think I slipped the same information twice? I had to somehow get from 19 to 18, instead of 1918. 😊
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