Chess Knowledge Hub

Chess Fun Facts

  • The longest possible chess game is 5,949 moves.
  • The word 'Checkmate' comes from the Persian phrase 'Shah Mat,' which means 'the King is dead.'
  • The first chess computer program was developed in 1951.
  • The number of possible unique chess games is much greater than the number of electrons in the universe.
  • The longest chess game in history lasted for 269 moves and ended in a draw.
  • The shortest possible chess game ending in checkmate is just two moves.
  • The first chess tournament was held in London in 1851.
  • The chess piece known as the 'queen' was originally called the 'vizier' in ancient chess.
  • Blindfold chess is played entirely from memory, without seeing the board.
  • The folding chess board was invented by a priest who was forbidden to play chess.
  • The oldest recorded chess game in history dates back to the 10th century.
  • Chess is called the 'Game of Kings' because for many centuries it was played primarily by nobility and the upper classes.
  • The longest time for a player to make a single move in a chess game was 2 hours and 20 minutes.
  • The first chess game played between space and Earth was in 1970.
  • There are more possible iterations of a game of chess than there are atoms in the known universe.
  • The first chess book was written by Luis Ramirez de Lucena in 1497.
  • The oldest known chess pieces were found in Uzbekistan and date back to 760 AD.
  • Bobby Fischer became a chess grandmaster at the age of 15, the youngest ever at the time.
  • The longest chess marathon lasted 50 hours and 15 minutes.
  • The first chess tournament for women was held in 1927 in London.
  • The first computer to defeat a reigning world chess champion was IBM's Deep Blue in 1997.
  • The knight is the only chess piece that can jump over other pieces.
  • The word 'stalemate' comes from the Middle English word 'stale,' meaning 'settle.'
  • The Turk, a chess-playing automaton, was a famous hoax from the 18th century.
  • Chess is recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee.
  • The Sicilian Defense is the most popular response to White's opening move of e4.
  • The longest chess game theoretically possible would last 5,949 moves.
  • The first official World Chess Champion was Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886.
  • The chess piece designs we use today are called the Staunton pattern, created in 1849.
  • Garry Kasparov is considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time.
  • The first chess clock was invented by Thomas Wilson in 1883.
  • The shortest possible chess game ending in stalemate is 10 moves.
  • The first chess match played by telegraph was in 1844 between Washington and Baltimore.
  • The term 'Grandmaster' was first officially conferred by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in 1914.
  • The longest tournament chess game ever played lasted 20 hours and 15 minutes.
  • The first chess program to compete in a human tournament was MacHack VI in 1967.
  • The most expensive chess set ever made is the Jewel Royale Chess Set, valued at $9.8 million.
  • The first chess magazine was published in 1836 in France.
  • The youngest person to ever beat a grandmaster was Awonder Liang at the age of 8.
  • The first international chess tournament was held in London in 1851.
  • The longest chess winning streak is 125 games, set by Wilhelm Steinitz.
  • The first chess olympiad was held in London in 1927.
  • The most moves without a pawn move or capture in a chess game is 100.
  • The first chess game played between the International Space Station and Earth was in 2008.
  • The first chess engine to beat a world champion in a match was Deep Blue in 1997.
  • The longest time for a chess move to be contemplated was 7 hours and 45 minutes.
  • The first chess book printed in English was 'The Game and Playe of Chesse' in 1474.
  • The first chess column in a newspaper appeared in 1813 in the Liverpool Mercury.
  • The first chess problem composed in America was published in 1845.
  • The first chess match by radio was played between the US and USSR in 1946.
  • The first computer chess tournament was held in New York in 1970.
  • The first chess game played by telephone was in 1878 between New York and London.
  • The first chess game played over the internet was in 1980.
  • The first chess program to achieve a master rating was Belle in 1983.
  • The first chess-playing computer program to win a game against a human in tournament play was MacHack VI in 1967.
  • The first chess program to defeat a grandmaster in a tournament game was Deep Thought in 1988.
  • The first chess engine to achieve a rating over 3000 was Stockfish in 2016.
  • The first chess world championship match was held in 1886 between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort.
  • The first official women's world chess champion was Vera Menchik in 1927.
  • The first chess game played in space was in 1970 by the crew of Soyuz 9.
  • The first chess tournament with a time control was held in London in 1883.
  • The first chess tournament with prize money was held in London in 1851.
  • The first chess tournament with an electronic chess clock was held in 1973.
  • The first chess tournament with live internet broadcasting was the 1995 Intel Grand Prix.
  • The first chess tournament with a million-dollar prize fund was the 1997 Kasparov vs Deep Blue match.
  • The first chess tournament with a perfect score was achieved by Bobby Fischer in 1963-64.
  • The first chess tournament with a round-robin format was held in London in 1862.
  • The first chess tournament with a Swiss system was held in Zurich in 1895.
  • The first chess tournament with a double round-robin format was held in St. Petersburg in 1895-96.
  • The first chess tournament with a knockout format was held in New York in 1857.
  • The first chess tournament with a Scheveningen system was held in Scheveningen in 1923.
  • The first chess tournament with a Sonneborn-Berger tiebreak was held in Vienna in 1873.
  • The first chess tournament with a rapid time control was held in Munich in 1930.
  • The first chess tournament with a blitz time control was held in Berlin in 1897.
  • The first chess tournament with an increment time control was held in 1992.
  • The first chess tournament with a Fischer random chess format was held in Yugoslavia in 1996.
  • The first chess tournament with computer participants was held in New York in 1970.
  • The first chess tournament with online play was the Internet Chess Club's Blitz Championship in 1995.
  • The first chess tournament with live commentary was the 1958 Interzonal Tournament in Portorož.
  • The first chess tournament with live board transmission was the 1998 Kasparov vs Kramnik match.
  • The first chess tournament with 3D visualization was the 2016 World Chess Championship.
  • The first chess tournament with virtual reality was the 2018 Isle of Man International.
  • The first chess tournament with blockchain technology was the 2018 World Chess Cryptocurrency Cup.
  • The first chess tournament with AI commentary was the 2019 Sinquefield Cup.
  • The first chess tournament with quantum computing analysis was the 2019 Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
  • The first chess tournament with neural network engines was the 2017 Chess.com Computer Chess Championship.
  • The first chess tournament with cloud computing engines was the 2014 TCEC Season 6.
  • The first chess tournament with crowdsourced analysis was the 2010 Anand vs Topalov World Championship match.
  • The first chess tournament with real-time engine evaluation for spectators was the 2014 Zurich Chess Challenge.
  • The first chess tournament with a million concurrent online viewers was the 2013 Anand vs Carlsen World Championship match.
  • The first chess tournament with live biometric data of players was the 2017 Isle of Man International.
  • The first chess tournament with augmented reality was the 2019 Altibox Norway Chess tournament.
  • The first chess tournament with machine learning-based predictions was the 2018 World Chess Championship.
  • The first chess tournament with AI-generated post-game analysis was the 2020 Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
  • The first chess tournament with real-time natural language commentary generation was the 2021 World Chess Championship.

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Notable Players

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Poisoned Pawn Variation

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Pawn Opening Victories

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Computer-Analyzed Openings

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Historical Games

Explore famous historical chess games and their key moves.