1. From the starting position there are eight different ways to mate in two moves and 355 different ways to mate in three moves.
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2. The names of the chess pieces - the queen, king, knight, rook and bishop came about during the middle ages when society was extremely oriented towards war and rigidly stratified.
During the Renaissance period, society became more dynamic and rules were added to enable rapid attack techniques. These include making the queen more powerful, and permitting pawns to move two squares on the first move.
3. The number of possible unique chess games is greater than the number of electrons in the universe ! . The number of electrons is estimated to be about 10^79 , while the number of unique chess games is about 10^ 120.
Post fun facts you know about chess and chess players.
shine5 wrote:
Post fun facts you know about chess and chess players.
If you play chess long enough, you will lose your mind.
About #3; I thought it was atoms, not electrons.
kleelof wrote:
About #3; I thought it was atoms, not electrons.
I checked again. It's electrons.
kleelof wrote:
Now , that makes sense. :)
shine5 wrote:
Post fun facts you know about chess and chess players.
If you play chess long enough, you will lose your mind.
kleelof wrote:
shine5 wrote:
Post fun facts you know about chess and chess players.
If you play chess long enough, you will lose your mind.
I don't know how long you have to play to lose your mind, but I have been playing for sixty years and am still sane. At least - that's what the voices keep telling me.
Jul 3, 2015
0
#11
Where did you get those 355 different ways to mate? That seems a little too much...
Sanity is all about state of mind.
4. Another fun fact about the queen- Starting out as being able to move only one square diagonally, it was later able to move two squares – and further along the road, able to move like a knight. Of course now, thankfully, the queen is able to move diagonally, horizontally, and vertically to the scope of another piece.
The Thais got it right; in Thai chess the queen can still ONLY move 1 square in each direction. 
mauricioflores wrote:
http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=http://www.thechessworld.com/learn-chess/18-general-information/185-40-facts-about-chess-most-people-dont-know&ei=cQW5EQIx&lc=en-IN&s=1&m=2&ts=1435952735&sig=AG8UculqDl_DaIQlX8xTYY2sUXT2-3tQPg
Where did you get those 355 different ways to mate? That seems a little too much...
Sounds like a challenge. Can anyone post a game with a mate in 3 from the start position?
kleelof wrote:
Did you play Thai chess?
The Thais got it right; in Thai chess the queen can still ONLY move 1 square in each direction.
kleelof wrote:
Great article about Makot!
YEs. Here is a blog I wrote about how to play.
I happened to read a lot of fun facts about chess on the web recently. Here's some of them. Also share facts you know about chess that's interesting.