CHESS FACTS
Added on: 18th Nov 2015
CHESS ORIGINATED IN INDIA DURING THE GUPTA EMPIRE
(ALMOST 1,400 YEARS AGO), AND FROM THERE IT SPREAD
TO THE PERSIAN SASSANID EMPIRE, AND THEN TO THE
MIDDLE EAST AFTER MUSLIMS CONQUERED PERSIA.
FROM THERE, IT SPREAD TO EUROPE AND RUSSIA.
THE PAWN MOVE THAT ADVANCES THE PIECE TWO SQUARES
ON ITS FIRST MOVE INSTEAD OF ONE WAS FIRST
INTRODUCED IN SPAIN IN 1280.
THE CHINESE EMPEROR WEN-TI EXECUTED TWO FOREIGN
CHESS PLAYERS AFTER LEARNING THAT ONE OF THE
PIECES WAS CALLED “EMPEROR.” HE WAS UPSET THAT
HIS TITLE OF EMPEROR COULD BE ASSOCIATED WITH A
MERE GAME AND SO HE FORBID IT.
THE FIRST MENTION OF CHESS IN AMERICA OCCURRED IN
1641 IN ESTHER SINGLETON’S HISTORY OF THE DUTCH
SETTLERS. THE FIRST AMERICAN CHESS TOURNAMENT
WAS HELD IN NEW YORK IN 1843.
THE LONGEST RECORDED TIME FOR A CHESS PLAYER
TO MAKE A MOVE GOES TO THE INTERNATIONAL
GRAND MASTER TROIS FROM BRAZIL WITH TWO HOURS
AND TWENTY MINUTES ON THE SEVENTH MOVE.
THE FIRST CHESS GAME THAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN
ASTRONAUTS IN SPACE AND SOMEONE ON EARTH WAS
PLAYED ON JUNE 9, 1970, BY THE SOYEZ-9 CREW.
THE GAME ENDED IN A DRAW.
ORIGINALLY, THE QUEEN COULD ONLY MOVE ONE SQUARE
AT A TIME, DIAGONALLY. LATER, SHE COULD MOVE TWO
SQUARES AT A TIME, DIAGONALLY. IT WASN’T UNTIL SPAIN
AND QUEEN ISABELLA ROSE TO POWER THAT THE QUEEN
BECAME THE STRONGEST PIECE ON THE BOARD.
THE OLDEST RECORDED CHESS GAME IN HISTORY IS
FROM THE 900’S, BETWEEN A HISTORIAN FROM
BAGHDAD AND HIS STUDENT.
LEGENDARY COMPUTER SCIENTIST ALAN TURING
DEVELOPED THE FIRST COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR
PLAYING CHESS IN 1951. 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.
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