CHESS TRIVIA!
Folding Chess Board
In 1125, the first folding chess board was invented by a priest. Bishop Guy of Paris threatened to excommunicate any priest caught playing chess. One such enthusiast devised a secretive folding board - one that simply looked like two books lying together.
The Queen
Initially, 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 Reconquista Spain, with its powerful queen Isabella, that the Queen became the strongest piece on the board.
Chess Computer
A computer called DeepThought became the first computer to beat an international grandmaster in November 1988, Long Beach, California.
MORE FUN FACTS!
Checkmate
The word “Checkmate” in chess comes from the Persian phrase “Shah Mat,” which means “The King is dead.”
Chess Squares
If you put one grain of wheat on the first square of the chessboard, two on the second, four on the third, eight on the fourth, and so on, how many grains of wheat do you need to put on the 64th square? The answer is 9,223,372,036,8 54,775,808(approximately 9.22x10^18) grains of wheat.
The Pawn
The new pawn move, where pawns were allowed to advance two squares on its first move instead of one, was first introduced in Spain in 1280.