Interesting facts about chess. All the most interesting things in one magazine The longest game of chess

currently on the list: 77 games In this note, I want to collect both the best and most famous chess games in history, as well as games that have become popular as curiosities or elements of works of art. No unnecessary words, only direct links through which the game is played online, the article will be updated. To play games online, you need Javascript enabled in your browser ( wait for the game to load in a new window (tab) and click on the buttons< ... >under the board).

Classics of the genre

The first three games, in my opinion, should be known to absolutely everyone who is even slightly interested in chess... the rest is not ordered by time, but rather by “spirit” :)

Immortal. A. Andersen - L. Kieseritzky, 1851. This party even has. Andersen sacrifices a bishop, two rooks, a queen... and wins with checkmate :)
Evergreen, also known as Unfading. A. Andersen - J. Dufresne, 1852. Again a beautiful cascade of sacrifices - two knights, a rook for a knight, a queen, and checkmate on the 24th move. In "Wiki".
Opera (Night at the Opera). P. Morphy - Consultants, 1858. The bishop and rook checkmate the entire black army. In "Wiki".
Battle of Hastings. W. Steinitz - K. Bardeleben, 1895. Standard example of a combination game. Shocked, Bardeleben staggered out of the gaming room and refused to finish the game:)
R. Reti - A. Alekhine, 1925. Perhaps, black here exemplarily makes it clear what an attack is in chess. Alekhine considered this game one of his highest creative achievements.
By the way:
first Russian world chess champion Alexander Al e Khin - no Alyokhin, and hated when they called him that
G. Pillsbury - Um. Lasker, 1895/96. The interaction of black pieces and Lasker's combinational genius is something.
M. Chigorin - Z. Tarrasch, 1893. Dr. Tarrasch shows what plan and counterplay are.
Em. Lasker-M. Chigorin, 1895. The originality of the style in which Chigorin defeats the world champion is unsurpassed :)
M. Chigorin-V. Steinitz, 1889. And here the Russian master demonstrates a unique level of position assessment, and without any computers.
D. Bruhl-F. Philidor, 1783. Another striking example of positional play without any computers, the pawn race in the endgame is class.
Em. Lasker - I. Bauer, Amsterdam, 1889 - a classic example of the power of Horwitz's bishops, which were sacrificed and allowed White to win in Bird's opening
G. Maroczy - S. Tartakover, Teplitz-Schönau, 1922. Black sacrifices a rook “out of the blue” and wins beautifully
R. Reti - M. Euwe, Rotterdam, 1920. Reti boldly sacrifices 2 rooks in my favorite manner and wins on move 19.
E. Adams - K. Torre, New Orleans, 1920. A classic example of a “mad queen” persistently offering herself as a sacrifice (from White’s 18th move).
Sacrifice of three queens. E. Bogolyubov - A. Alekhine, 1922. You don’t see this often.
Checkmate Legal. C. de Legal - Saint-Brie, Paris, 1750. In Wiki. Classic way to lose quickly :)
A. McDonnell - L. de Labourdonnais, London, 1834 - classic hack, in which 3 black pawns on the second rank win
Hunt for the King, aka Fatal Attraction. Ed. Lasker-D. Thomas, 1912, "five minutes" at the City of London Chess Club. Queen sacrifice and incredible checkmate to the black king on the g1 square. By the way, a refutation of the fact that you cannot checkmate with the king :) The funniest thing is that this not the one Lasker, in the sense, is not world champion Emmanuel Lasker, but his namesake and colleague Eduard Lasker.
A. Hoffmann - A. Petrov, Warsaw, 1844, the most famous game of the Russian master and the classic extraction of the king by black in the “Italian”.
Mill. K. Torre - Um. Lasker, 1925. This time Lasker is the one, and he loses to the young master Torre in a very beautiful ending. White's 25th move with the queen sacrifice demonstrates a classic example of the "mill", included in all chess textbooks.
“The Immortal Zugzwang Party”, F. Semisch - A. Nimzowitsch, 1923, Carlsbad. A classic example of a miniature showing how to zugzwang an opponent.
By the way:
A “miniature” is considered to be a game containing up to 25 moves inclusive
Another “Immortal”, this time by Akiba Rubinstein, who played black against G. Rotlevi, 1907. How to play the Queen’s Gambit :)
"A Thing of the Passed", M. Botvinnik - H.-R. Capablanca, 1938. This is the curious name of the game on chessgames.com. One way or another, this is Botvinnik’s most famous game. Kasparov called the diagram after 29 moves “the most famous in the history of chess.” White wins by sacrificing 2 pieces.

But this is not so well known, but it’s funny, I dug it myself

This and subsequent lists are ordered chronologically.

Marshall's Deception, S. Levitsky - F. Marshall, 1912, Breslau. After Black's spectacular 23rd move, White's seemingly flawless defense falls apart and he immediately admits defeat.
D. Breuer - D. Esser, Budapest, 1917. White's good 14th move with the king opens an all-out attack with sacrifices in my favorite style.
Em. Lasker - Ed. Lasker, 1924, New York. First a rook against two knights, then a long confrontation and an epic draw between two Laskers.
H.R. Capablanca - A. Alekhine, 1927, Buenos Aires, 1st game of the match for the world title. Capablanca sensationally and for the first time in his life loses to Alekhine, who played the French defense with black. It is curious that after this game Capa did not play 1. e4 for the entire match, and some freaks even today write this:
Once again about the complete solution 1 e4. This solution, as quite a large number of chess players know, is the French Defense. This was known to Capablanca and Alekhine (see the first game of their match, after which Capablanca abandoned 1 e4), Botvinnik, Keres, Korchnoi, and so on.
L. Steiner - E. Bogolyubov, Berlin, 1928. One of the longest meditations in the history of chess is, of course, in tournaments played with clocks. Bogolyubov thought about Black's 24th move for 2 hours, after which... he blundered a piece in 2 moves and lost.
H.R. Whitecap Capablanca - K. Treibal, Carlsbad, 1929. Capa changes the pawn structure 4 times per game to win, and Victoria has a "V" shape :)
H.-R. Capablanca - V. Menchik, Hastings, 1929. After White’s 55th move in the classic endgame “Rook and Pawn against Rook,” a series of inexplicable errors begins on both sides... S. Davydyuk writes in detail about this game in the book “Captive of Chess” . Capa still wins, but only because her opponent was just as wrong as he was. Black was played by the famous Vera Menchik, the first world chess champion in history, who defeated many “male” grandmasters.
E. Ortueta - A. Sanz, Madrid, 1933. In the miracle endgame, 3 black pawns beautifully defeat the rook and knight.
D. Bronstein - V. Mikenas, Rostov-on-Don, 1941. An excellent illustration of how superiority in development leads to an inevitable attack.
P. Keres - M. Botvinnik, 1941, match for the title of absolute champion of the USSR. The most brutal defeat in Keres’ career :)
W. Mayfield - W. Trinks, US Open, 1959. What could be cooler than a “baby mat”? But this is the most curious game of 2 half moves, in which it is impossible to imagine that it was played in the 20th century in a tournament at the level of the US Championship :) A type of “stupid checkmate” with black.
M. Tal - M. Botvinnik, Moscow, 1960. Game 17 of perhaps the most famous world championship match in history, in which student Tal defeated Professor Botvinnik. White's shocking 12th move f4 and his subsequent absolutely “illogical” victory seemed to be decisive in the match. An excellent illustration of Tal's vibrant creative style.
H. Vesterinen - P. Keres, 1969. Starting from the 38th move, black makes 44 checks to achieve a draw... and achieves it :)
R. Fischer - M. Taimanov, 1971. 4th game of the dry Candidates match (6:0 in 6 games in favor of Fischer). White's game is perhaps exemplary in terms of balance.
Kaissa (USSR) - Franz (Austria), Stockholm, 1974. A game from the first World Computer Championship, which was confidently won by the Soviet program.
Lew Wenze - Hein Donner, Buenos Aires, 1978. Chinese immortal. The future founder of the Chinese chess school, in an aggressive style and with a queen sacrifice, “demolishes” the Dutch grandmaster with White in 20 moves.
A. Karpov - G. Kasparov, game 16 of the 1985 match. An incredible defeat of the invincible champion - with White, with an extra pawn and in a position with no obvious weaknesses.
G. Kasparov - V. Salov, Barcelona, 1989. Future V.B. Salov literally ritually melts the world champion in the English beginning.
G. Kasparov - T. Radzhabov, 2003, Linares. And here Garik sensationally lost to his 15-year-old fellow countryman, being left without a piece by move 30, after which he freaked out wildly, literally:
Kasparov, grabbing the microphone, shouted from the stage: “How could you award a prize for a beautiful game in a game in which I lost due to a stupid mistake? You chose it only because it was the only one I lost! I regard your choice as public insult and humiliation! Then approaching a group of journalists, he asked who they voted for, and then exclaimed: “This is the greatest insult that journalists have inflicted on me in my entire life. You insulted not only me, you insulted chess! If you think that this game was the most beautiful in Linares, you are harming chess... Radjabov has practically already lost this game.”

Parties that inevitably became historical

Mars versus Venus, 1475. A game from the poem "Chess of Love", written by a group of poets from Valencia. Possibly the oldest recorded game, in which Castelvi (Mars) plays the whites, Vignoles (Venus) plays the blacks, and the eldest of the three poets, Abbé Fenollard (Mercury), comments on the developments. There was no notation yet, the game was described in verse.
G. Greco - NN, Rome, 1619. One of the earliest recorded games, white sacrificed the queen on the 7th move and won on the 8th:)
Napoleon Bonaparte - General G. Bertrand, 1820. This game is believed to have been won by the exiled Emperor on the island of St. Helena. Napoleon shows combativeness and good knowledge of tartan. Read more about Napoleon's games in Wiki
Em. Lasker - W. Steinitz, game 7 of the match for the world title, 1894. After losing this game, the first world champion Steinitz began to lose the match... in fact, it became fatal in his career.
IN AND. Lenin against... A. Hitler, Vienna, 1909 (Wiki link). Most likely, this game, in which Ilyich allegedly won, is a fake, in contrast to the considered more reliable game of Lenin, which Ilyich allegedly cheated on the writer M. Gorky in Capri in 1908.
Alas, the game with Gorky is also not the same:
“I’m not a chess player, and, frankly speaking, I don’t see the difference between chess and fishing.”
M. Gorky, quote from the book by S. Voronkov
And the game, according to experts, was played between the ships "Lenin" and "Gorky" in 1962. Source: Informator, 1962/64.
R. Reti - S. Tartakover, Vienna, 1910 - classic “educational” miniature on the theme of the double check.
H.-R. Capablanca - G. Steiner, Los Angeles, 1935 - not only a beautiful victory for Capa, but also a game with living pieces as part of the Living Chess Exhibition, the photo is on the game page.
N. Ryumin - M. Botvinnik, Moscow, 1935. It is generally accepted that this game was described by M. Bulgakov in The Master and Margarita. Pay attention to White's 33rd move, when Ryumina's king stood on g2, after which Black put in check.
“The king is on square two,” Woland said without looking at the board.
“Messire, I’m terrified,” the cat howled, feigning horror on its face, “there is no king on this square.”
L. Aronin - V. Smyslov, USSR Championship, 1951. It is believed that it was because of this draw (instead of winning the game) that grandmaster Aronin gradually went crazy. Quotes: “Aronin convincingly outplayed his partner and by the time of adjournment had a huge advantage. Having several paths to victory, to his misfortune, with the first move he made during the completion of the game, he went into a pawn endgame that seemed completely won. But it was there, in the home analysis, that V. V. Smyslov found a study draw, which he demonstrated to his partner when finishing the game..." (see from White's 42nd move) "Karen Grigoryan recalled that, when he came to Aronin, every time he saw him behind this position, thoughtfully rearranging the pieces"
"Paper Machine" Turing vs A. Glenny, Manchester, 1952. The brilliant mathematician Alan Turing developed a chess algorithm back in those years, but there was nothing to implement it on. In this game, Turing played his algorithm written down on paper against one of his colleagues. I lost, but the trouble has begun :)
Astronaut against the computer "Hall", a game from Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey", 1968. In fact, this is the Röth-Schlage game from the 1910 tournament in Hamburg, reproduced by the director in the film... blacks prophetically won, that is, computer, in 15 moves :)
Space-Earth, 1970. Soviet cosmonauts play chess with the Mission Control Center. In "Wiki".
Gioconda, or Mona Lisa, the part of V. Bagirov - E. Gufeld, so named by the winning Gufeld and promoted by him all over the world, 1973:) With comments by the author.
V. Korchnoi (black) against... the spirit of grandmaster Maroczy (1870-1951), contact with whom took place through the medium R. Rollans. The party lasted from 1985 to 1993.
6th game of the match Deep Blue - G. Kasparov, 1997. Kasparov loses and for the first time the match “Protein World Champion - Computer” ends in favor of the computer. Since then it has been like this :) In "Wiki".
G. Kasparov - the whole world, 1999. A consultation game in which the whole world, or rather the whole Internet, played against Harry. So far the first and only one of its kind... especially since Kasparov defeated the planet! Today, every amateur can be convinced that the final position of the game (FEN: 8/6P1/5K2/8/3pq3/8/5Q2/2k5 w - - 0 1) is indeed assessed as hopelessly lost for Black.
Harry Potter and friends against Professor McGonagall, from the film... unfortunately, the game created by Jeremy Silman specifically for the film released in 2001 was “cut” during the director, so the moves shown are inconsistent... , a game similar in idea to chessbase.
A. Slyusarchuk - Rybka IV, 2011 - the largest modern deception in chess. A Ukrainian rogue showman named Slyusarchuk allegedly beats the strongest chess program in the world at that time, Rybka IV (by the way, later also declared plagiarism:), also.
B. Gates - M. Carlsen, 2014. Billy loses to the world champion in 9 moves, giving rise to countless memes and jokes.

1. Chess originates from the ancient Indian game of the 6th century chaturanga, whose name is translated from Sanskrit as “four divisions of the army,” which includes infantry, cavalry, bishops and chariots, which are represented in chess by the pawn, knight, bishop and rook. In the 7th century the game came to Persia and was renamed Shatranj. The name chess comes from the Persian language. Players said "Check" (from the Persian for "king") when attacking the opponent's king, and "Checkmate" (from the Persian for "the king is dead").

2. In 1770, the Hungarian inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen created a chess machine. The machine was a human-sized figure of a “Turk” who sat behind a huge wooden cabinet whose doors opened, showing the public complex mechanisms. The mechanical arm moved pieces around the field and beat such famous opponents as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin. As it turned out many years later, the chess machine was not a machine. Inside the machine was a chess player who moved around inside and hid while the complex mechanisms of the smart “machine” were shown to the public.

3. The shortest chess game is called stupid mate, consisting of two moves: 1. f3 e5 and 2. g4 Qh4++. A draw or loss can also occur before players begin making moves, either due to a certain scenario in the standings or as a result of a player not showing up to play.
The longest chess game was played between Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic in Belgrade in 1989. It lasted 20 hours and 15 minutes, 269 moves were made during the game, and it ended in a draw. Theoretically, the game could last even longer, but after the introduction of the 50-move rule, this number can be somehow limited.

4. Garry Kasparov once said that “chess is a torture of the mind.” Apparently that's why someone decided to combine chess with physical tests by creating chessboxing. Dutch artist Ipe Rubing became the founder of chessboxing after he saw the idea of combining chess and boxing in one comic book. Chessboxing alternates rounds of chess and boxing and its motto is “Battles are fought in the ring, but wars are fought on the board.” Chessboxing is becoming increasingly popular and is governed by the World Chessboxing Organization.

5. The queen or queen chess piece has undergone many changes throughout the history of chess. It all started with the fact that she could only move along one square diagonally, later she moved two squares, and then further and further, like a knight. Now this figure can move both diagonally, horizontally, and vertically. The queen holds the record for “eating” enemy pieces: during one game, the queen took 11 pieces.

6. Blindfold chess is a variant of the game in which the player makes all his moves without looking at the chessboard. As a rule, there is an intermediary in the game who moves the pieces. Blindfold chess is an impressive ability that many of the top chess players possess. One of the record holders in blindfold chess was the Hungarian chess player Janos Flesch, who played 52 opponents simultaneously blindfolded and won 32 games.

7. After three moves, there are more than nine million possible positions on each side. An American mathematician calculated the minimum number of non-repeating chess games and derived Shannon's number. According to this number, the number of possible unique batches exceeds the number of atoms in the visible Universe. The number of atoms is estimated to be 10^79, and the number of unique chess games is 10^120.

8. Chess computers are now an important part of chess. World champion Garry Kasparov, considered the strongest player in the history of chess, lost to the computer Deep Blue in 1997, and this was a real shock to the entire chess world. In 2006, world champion Vladimir Kramnik was defeated by the computer Deep Fritz, once again highlighting the power of chess computers. Today, chess programs are often used by players to analyze and improve their games.

9. At first, chess games were played without a clock. At the same time, players could play for many hours, or even days in a row, driving each other to exhaustion. In 1851, during a chess tournament, the assistant referee recorded that "the game was not completed due to the players eventually falling asleep." After that, a year later, time control in the form of an hourglass was introduced at an international tournament, and in 1883 the first mechanical chess clock appeared, created by the British Thomas Wilson.

10. One of the Turkish sultans had the habit, while playing chess, of thoughtfully rubbing his bare foot on the cushion of the sofa. He did this in vain: he was poisoned by soaking a sofa cushion in poison.

11. Indian Raja Akbar, who lived in the 19th century, loved to invite several dozen dancers to his garden, and he himself climbed a high marble tower. So he played chess, where the pieces were dancers. Gradually, the Raja released the girls as the pieces were removed from the field.

12. In ancient and medieval chess there were many exotic modifications of pieces: dragons, centaurs, bishops, horsemen, etc. With the development of civilization, their set was replenished, including grenadiers, sappers and other military specialists, and the 20th century enriched chess with tanks, airplanes, and even an atomic bomb, into which a pawn turns when it reaches the last rank.

13. In ancient India, chess was played with fingers. The loser's finger was cut off.

14. On the personal instructions of Juan Antonio Samaranch, in 1997, one of the Belgian institutes conducted a study from which it followed that playing chess is the most difficult activity in terms of stress. A person doing this must be physically resilient and have a strong nervous system. They say that it was while playing chess that Ivan the Terrible and Queen of Belgium Marie Henriette Anne died.

15. It was this terribly indecent game that the wife of Thomas Paine, a French citizen sentenced to the guillotine for suggesting that Louis XVI should not be executed, but simply expelled from the country, was offered to play by Robespierre. Payne's wife won her husband's life at chess. Paine went to America and became one of the fathers of American democracy.

16. Late 19th-century writer Rose Maireder was a feminist theorist who constantly outraged her contemporaries with her shocking behavior. Not only did she defiantly not wear a corset, she also did not hesitate to declare that she liked to play chess. In those days, playing chess was considered completely indecent for a woman.

17. The position of players in society often influenced their style of play. For example, both Napoleon and Charles XII believed that it was shameful for the king to hide, and therefore they never castled in chess. At the same time, Karl was shamelessly losing.

18. Many great people loved chess: Charlemagne, Spinoza, Cardinal Richelieu, Pushkin, Stefan Zweig, Tolstoy, Turgenev and Tamerlane. According to one legend, Guinevere seduced Lancelot during a chess game.

19. The seven arts that future knights learned were called the “Seven Knightly Virtues.” These are fencing, swimming, falconry, composing poems in honor of the lady of the heart, wielding a spear, horse riding and playing chess.

20. Al-Biruni in his book “India” tells a legend that attributes the creation of chess to a certain Brahmin. Thousands of years before our era, there lived a king named Maharaja Ranveer, who ruled in the ancient city of Magadha, on the banks of the sacred Ganga River. He loved battles so much that he was always either preparing for war or returning from a campaign. But not everyone in his kingdom shared this passion, and the ministers were tired of his continuous military campaigns. It was necessary to come up with something to rid the king of his obsession. And so, the first minister called Anantha, a reclusive Brahmin, famous astrologer and mathematician, and asked him to help. A week later, Anantha announced that he had found a medicine, which he would demonstrate at court the next morning. The next morning Anantha appeared with a black and white checkered board and 64 pieces and taught Maharaja Ranveer how to play chess. In those days, when going to war, the ruler took with him elephants, camels, horses and foot warriors. The army was led by the first minister. So the game felt like a real battle. Maharaja Ranveer liked her so much that he promised to give Anantha whatever he wanted. Anantha's request seemed very modest: one grain of rice placed on the first square, two on the second, four on the third, and so on until all the squares of the chessboard were filled. The king at first thought that Anantha had fallen into insanity, until he realized that with each cell the number of grains doubled and by the end of the third row it took 17 million grains (and 27 weeks to count them). If all the cells were filled, it would take a very long time to count the 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains of rice per last cell... It is estimated that the total weight of rice would be more than 460 billion tons. It ended with the Maharaja appointing Anantha as Minister of Finance and never going to war again, enjoying the game of chess.

21. The composition of the US team (!) at the XXX Chess Olympiad in Manila: Irina Levitina, Elena Akhmylovskaya, Anna Akhsharumova, Esther Epstein. Coach - Alexander Ivanov.

22. Checkers is older than chess.

Do you want to become a chess grandmaster? Let's be honest, to achieve your goal you will need to know a little more than the facts below. However, chess is one of the most famous strategic games on our planet; its history goes back several centuries and is extremely interesting in itself.

India, the era of the Gupta state (about 1400 years ago), is considered the birthplace of chess. From there the game came to Eranshahr (the territory of modern Iran and Iraq), then to the Middle East, to Europe.

The first pawn move to move two squares instead of one was invented in Spain in 1280.

Chinese Emperor Sui Wen once executed two overseas chess players after hearing them call one of the pieces the emperor. Sui Wen-di's rage was caused by the mention of the high title of the ruler of the Celestial Empire in a simple game.

The first mention of chess in America dates back to 1641 and is associated with the city of Esther Singleton, where Dutch settlers lived at that time. The first chess tournament in the United States took place in New York in 1857.

The longest move in terms of time belongs to the Brazilian Francisco Trois: the chess player spent two hours and twenty minutes thinking about it.

The first “Space - Earth” game took place on June 9, 1970. She was played by the crew of the Soyuz-9 spacecraft and representatives of the cosmonaut training center on Earth. The game ended in a draw.

Initially, the queen could only move one square diagonally, then two. This continued until Queen Isabella of Spain ordered that the queen (and in Europe she is called the queen) be made the most powerful piece on the board.

The oldest recorded chess game dates back to the year 900, a game between a Baghdad chronicler and his student.

Legendary scientist Alan Turing wrote the world's first computer program for playing chess in 1951. Since at that time there was no machine capable of processing this program, for the test game Turing had to perform algorithmic calculations himself, making one move in a few minutes.

"Deep Blue" became the first program to lose to a grandmaster in November 1988. However, nine years later, it also won two games in a match with Garry Kasparov in 1997 and also became the first machine to beat a human.

The oldest surviving chess set was found on the Isle of Lewis in Northern Scotland. It dates back to the 12th century AD, and is believed to have been created in Iceland or Norway. Its original design served as the model for the magical chess pieces in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Emmanuel Lasker remained the longest-serving world chess champion in history: 26 years and 337 days, from 1894 to 1921.

The second book published in English after the stories about the Trojan War was a work on chess.

In 1561, the Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura wrote On the Ingenuity and Art of Chess, which became the first serious study of the game. The name of Ruy Lopez is associated with the creation of the Spanish opening, since Lopez paid most attention in his work to the beginning of the game.

Chess is often cited by doctors as an example of an effective means of improving memory. This game also trains the mind by solving complex logic problems, so it is recommended for combating Alzheimer's disease.

The name "chess" comes from the Persian words "checkmate" and "checkmate", which are often translated as "the king is dead", although a more accurate equivalent would be "the king is trapped" or "the king cannot escape".

In 1972, during the Fischer-Spassky match in Reykjavik, the Soviet delegation suspected challenger Fischer of using various electronic and chemical devices to throw the world champion off balance. Spassky's chair was guarded around the clock, and after the games it was sent to the laboratory, but nothing unusual was found in it.

Filipino boy Alekhine Nuri became the youngest FIDE Master in the world. Now he is 9 years old.

In English, the word rooky, denoting an outstanding chess player, comes from “rook” - rook. As a rule, rooks come into play closer to the endgame and, together with the queen, are the most powerful pieces.

The folding chessboard was invented in 1125 by a chess priest. The church forbade priests from playing chess, so the ingenious pastor simply folded the board in half to make it look like books stacked on top of each other.

The chess clock was invented by Thomas Wilson in 1883, before which the hourglass was used. Chess clocks acquired their modern appearance by 1900, when the switching mechanism was invented.

In 1985, Garry Kasparov became the youngest world chess champion at the age of 22 years and 210 days. Until now, the thirteenth world champion is recognized by many experts as the greatest chess player in history.

The longest match in terms of the number of moves was played between chess players Nikolic and Arsovic in Belgrade in 1989. The game lasted 20 hours and 15 minutes and ended in a draw. 269 moves were made during the game. After this match, FIDE introduced the 50-move rule: if not a single piece is captured in 100 moves, the players have no right to delay the game any longer and a draw is declared.

However, theoretically, the longest chess game could have 5,949 moves.

The number of possible unique chess games is greater than the number of electrons in the entire universe. The number of smallest particles of matter is about 10 to the 79th power, while the number of non-repeating chess combinations is more than 10 to the 120th power.

The shortest and longest chess game

The shortest chess game is called “stupid mate”, consisting of two moves: 1. f3 (or f4) e5 and 2. g4 Qh4x. A draw or loss can also occur before players begin making moves, either due to a certain scenario in the standings or as a result of a player not showing up to play. Every year the rules at official competitions become stricter. According to the Zero tolerance rule, any delay to a game (even a minute) results in a loss. And besides, at all tournaments now, for a mobile phone ringing (or any sound made by this device), the judge will give you a zero.

The longest chess game was played between Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic in Belgrade in 1989. It lasted 20 hours and 15 minutes, 269 moves were made during the game, and it ended in a draw.

Kempelen chess machine

In 1770, the Hungarian inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen created a chess machine. The machine was a human-sized figure of a “Turk” who sat behind a huge wooden cabinet whose doors opened, showing the public complex mechanisms.

The mechanical arm moved pieces around the field and beat such famous people as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin.

As it turned out many years later, the chess machine was not a machine. Inside the machine was a chess player who moved around inside and hid as the complex mechanisms of the smart “machine” were shown to the public.

Different roles of the queen

The Queen or Queen chess piece has undergone many changes throughout the history of chess. It all started with the fact that in Shatranj she could only move along one square diagonally, then she moved two squares, and then further and further.

In the chess we have today, the queen can move diagonally, horizontally, or vertically. At first, the queen was the weakest, but became the strongest piece in chess.

Endless Possibilities

After three moves, there are more than nine million possible positions on each side. An American mathematician calculated the minimum number of non-repeating chess games and derived Shannon's number.

According to this number, the number of possible unique batches exceeds the number of atoms in the visible Universe. The number of atoms is estimated to be 10^79, and the number of unique chess games is 10^120.

The power of chess computers

Chess computers are now an important part of chess. World champion Garry Kasparov, considered the strongest player in the history of chess, lost to the computer Deep Blue in 1997, and this was a real shock to the entire chess world.

In 2006, world champion Vladimir Kramnik was defeated by the Deep Fritz computer, further highlighting the power of chess computers. Today, chess programs are used by players for analysis, and viewers often watch broadcasts of games with computer evaluation of moves. Not a single player can compete on equal terms with the best programs.

Chess clock - to avoid falling asleep

At first, chess games were played without a clock. At the same time, players could play for many hours in a row, driving each other to exhaustion. In 1851, during a chess tournament, the assistant referee recorded that "the game was not completed due to the players eventually falling asleep."

Two years later, in the Harwitz-Leventhal match, for the first time the opponents were limited to a 10-minute time limit for thinking over a move. Hourglasses were used, each had their own, and for exceeding the time a fine was imposed. In 1866, in the Andersen-Steinitz match, the hourglass was replaced by a mechanical one, although it was not a chess clock with two buttons, but an ordinary one.

The first special chess clock was designed by the English engineer and amateur chess player Thomas Bright Wilson from Lancashire, and used at a tournament in London in 1883.

Most tournaments these days use electronic clocks. Most often, a certain time is given for the entire game and the player is given a few seconds for each move made.

The birthplace of chess is India

25. The birthplace of chess is considered to be India, the era of the Gupta state (about 1400 years ago). From there the game moved to Eranshahr (the territory of modern Iran and Iraq), then to the Middle East, Europe and Russia. Perhaps this is what the first chess games looked like

24. The first pawn move to move two squares instead of one was invented in Spain in 1280. Exclusive right of a pawn on the first move

23. Chinese Emperor Sui Wen-di once executed two overseas chess players after hearing them call one of the pieces the emperor. Sui Wen-di's rage was caused by the mention of the high title of the ruler of the Celestial Empire in a simple game. Emperor Wen of Sui apparently did not approve of chess

22. The first mention of chess in America dates back to 1641 and is associated with the city of Esther Singleton, where Dutch settlers lived at that time. The first chess tournament in the United States took place in New York in 1857.
Lithographs of participants in the first chess tournament in the United States

21. The longest move in terms of time belongs to the Brazilian Francisco Trois: the chess player spent two hours and twenty minutes thinking about it.
It took the Brazilian chess player more than two hours to think about his move (pictured in a black vest)

The first game "Space - Earth"

20. The first game “Space - Earth” took place on June 9, 1970. She was played by the crew of the Soyuz-9 spacecraft and representatives of the cosmonaut training center on Earth. The game ended in a draw.
The match between the astronauts and the Earth ended in a draw.

19. Initially, the queen could only move one square diagonally, then two. This continued until Queen Isabella of Spain ordered that the queen (and in Europe she is called the queen) be made the most powerful piece on the board.
From the weakest piece, the queen became the strongest

18. The oldest recorded chess game dates back to 900 - it was a game between the Baghdad chronicler and his student.
Illustration for the oldest chess game

17. Legendary scientist Alan Turing wrote the world's first computer program for playing chess in 1951. Since at that time there was no machine capable of processing this program, for the test game Turing had to perform algorithmic calculations himself, making one move in a few minutes.
Turing was also interested in chess

16. "Deep Blue" became the first program to lose to a grandmaster in November 1988. However, nine years later, it also won two games in a match with Garry Kasparov in 1997 and also became the first machine to beat a human.
The computer has learned to play chess no worse than a human

The oldest chess set

15. The oldest surviving chess set was found on the Isle of Lewis in Northern Scotland. It dates back to the 12th century AD, and is believed to have been created in Iceland or Norway. Its original design served as the model for the magical chess pieces in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The oldest chess set played a role in the Harry Potter movie

14. Emmanuel Lasker remained the longest-serving world chess champion in history: 26 years and 337 days, from 1894 to 1921. Emmanuel Lasker remained invincible for many years

13. The second book published in English after the stories about the Trojan War was a work on chess. Illustration for one of the first printed books on chess

12. In 1561, the Spanish priest Ruy Lopez de Segura wrote the book “On the Ingenuity and Art of Chess,” which became the first serious study of this game. The name of Ruy Lopez is associated with the creation of the Spanish opening, since Lopez paid most attention in his work to the beginning of the game. The first theoretical work on chess was written by Ruy Lopez de Segura

11. Chess is often cited by doctors as an example of an effective means of improving memory. This game also trains the mind by solving complex logic problems, so it is recommended for combating Alzheimer's disease.
According to doctors, chess improves memory and trains the mind

Where does the name chess come from?

10. The name "chess" comes from the Persian words "check" and "checkmate", which are often translated as "the king is dead", although a more accurate equivalent would be "the king is trapped" or "the king cannot escape."
The king cannot escape!

9. In 1972, during the Fischer-Spassky match in Reykjavik, the Soviet delegation suspected challenger Fischer of using various electronic and chemical devices to throw the world champion off balance. Spassky's chair was guarded around the clock, and after the games it was sent to the laboratory, but nothing unusual was found in it.
The psychological pressure of Robert Fischer on Boris Spassky was never established

8. Filipino boy Alekhine Nuri became the youngest FIDE Master in the world. Now he is 9 years old.
The youngest FIDE Master is 9 years old

7. In English, the word rooky, denoting an outstanding chess player, comes from “rook” - rook. As a rule, rooks come into play closer to the endgame and, together with the queen, are the most powerful pieces.
A strong chess player is like a rook

6. The folding chessboard was invented in 1125 by a chess priest. The church forbade priests from playing chess, so the ingenious pastor simply folded the board in half to make it look like books stacked on top of each other.
An inventive priest found a way to circumvent the ban on chess

Thomas Wilson invented the chess clock

5. The chess clock was invented by Thomas Wilson in 1883, before that time the hourglass was used. Chess clocks acquired their modern appearance by 1900, when the switching mechanism was invented.
It is impossible to hold a chess tournament without a watch

4. In 1985, Garry Kasparov became the youngest world chess champion at the age of 22 years and 210 days. Until now, the thirteenth world champion is recognized by many experts as the greatest chess player in history.
Garry Kasparov became the youngest world champion

3. The longest match in terms of the number of moves was played between chess players Nikolic and Arsovic in Belgrade in 1989. The game lasted 20 hours and 15 minutes and ended in a draw. 269 moves were made during the game. After this match, FIDE introduced the 50-move rule: if not a single piece is captured in 100 moves, the players have no right to delay the game any longer and a draw is declared.
The longest match in chess history ended in a draw

2. However, theoretically, the longest chess game can have 5,949 moves.
It is possible to make more than five thousand moves in a chess game

1. The number of possible unique chess games is greater than the number of electrons in the entire universe. The number of smallest particles of matter is about 10 to the 79th power, while the number of non-repeating chess combinations is more than 10 to the 120th power.
All kinds of chess games are unlikely to ever be played

Many scientists do not doubt that chess has an extremely positive effect on a person: it develops memory, trains the mind, and it is not for nothing that it is even considered a sport, and therefore there is no doubt that this unique game will not go down in history for a long time.