Portal:Chess/Did you know archive

[edit] July 14 to August 22, 2006

...that Jonathan Penrose, whose father Lionel was a leading chess theorist of the 1930s, having captured the British Chess Championship ten times between 1958 and 1969, and having in 1961 won the Fédération Internationale des Échecs International Master title, began participating in correspondence chess in the mid-1970s, eventually earning a Grandmaster title from the International Correspondence Chess Federation?
...that pion coiffé is a form of chess handicap in which the stronger player is required to give checkmate with a particular pawn designated prior to the start of play, typically with the condition that the pawn not be promoted, thought by Sicilian author Pietro Carrera to disadvantage a player in a similar fashion to queen odds, in which the stronger player, given the white pieces, plays without his queen?
...that Georgians Nona Gaprindashvili, the first female player to earn the International Grandmaster title, and Maia Chiburdanidze, were, respectively, the sixth and seventh women's world champions, having collectively held the title from 1962 to 1991 and having combined to defend their titles against three countrymates—Nana Alexandria, Elena Akhmilovskaya, and Nana Ioseliani?
...that Belgian George Koltanowski (né Colton) played, in 1937 in Edinburgh, Scotland, 34 simultaneous games whilst blindfolded, setting a world record still recognized by Guiness World Records?

...that Russian Grandmaster Peter Svidler, having defeated Hungarian Grandmaster Péter Lékó in 2003 at the Mainz Chess Classic, contested in the eponymous city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and having defended his title against Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian and Hungarian Grandmaster Zoltan Almasi, is generally recognized as the Chess960 (originally, Fischer Random Chess) world champion?
...that between the 10th (held in 1952) and 29th (held in 1990 Chess Olympiads, the Soviet Union team claimed the team gold medal in every non-boycotted iteration save the 23rd, played in 1978 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which Hungary, behind Grandmaster Lajos Portisch, pictured infra, who scored 10 points across his 14 games to achieve an ELO performance rating of 2691, and Grandmaster Gyula Sax, who won a third board bronze medal and defeated Yugoslav Grandmaster Aleksandar Matanović in the final round to secure the Hungarian victory?
...that Tasman Grandmaster Ian Rogers and Victorian Grandmaster Darryl Johansen, respectively, the first- and second-ever Australian players to attain the Grandmaster title, combined to win nine of the fourteen Australian national championships held between 1980 and 2006?

...that German Grandmaster Robert Hübner and American Grandmaster Kenneth Rogoff sought, during a university team championship in 1972 in Graz, Austria, to draw a game in just one move–a draw was mutually beneficial to the teams each represented–but were ordered by arbiters to continue and so played a series of bizarre moves before once more attempting to draw the game, which was ultimately declared a forfeit victory for Rogoff?

...that Searching for Bobby Fischer, a film based loosely on the life of International Master Josh Waitzkin and featuring cameo appearances by Grandmasters Joel Benjamin and Roman Dzindzichashvili, was voted by the American Film Institute as the 96th-most inspirational English language film of all-time in 2006?
...that former women's world champion Susan Polgar gave a simulatenous exhibition in Palm Beach, Florida, in July 2005 in which she played 1,131 consecutive games, including 326 at once, winning 1,096 and setting four world records?
...that American Paul Morphy, who played prior to the institution of the world chess championship, is nevertheless widely considered to have been the sport's first world champion and was so viewed contemporaneously, including by Oliver Wendell Holmes, who called Morphy the best player in the world?
...that Tigran Petrosian, who once was awarded a Master of Philosophy diploma for his Chess Logic thesis, is the titular inspiration for two major opening systems, one in the King's Indian Defence and the other in the Caro-Kann Defence?
...that a 2005 endgame tablebase analysis demonsrated that, with perfect play by each player, a player with four knights may deliver checkmate to a player with one queen in 85 moves?

...that Boris Spassky won the second game of his world championship match against Bobby Fischer by forfeit when Fischer refused to play after organizers rejected his request to remove all cameras?
...that the number of possible chess games exceeds the number of atoms in the Universe?
...that the term checkmate comes from the Persian phrase Shah Mat (literally, the King ambushed)?
...that checkmate may be given in only two moves?
...that Ukraine's Sergey Karjakin is the youngest player ever to have been awarded the title of Grandmaster, having achieved the required performance aged 12 years and 7 months?
...that the current International Correspondence Chess Federation world champion is Joop van Oosterom, a Dutch billionaire who won the title despite having previously suffered a stroke?

… that after only four moves by each side, there are over 988 million possible distinct chess positions? [1]
… that the number of possible chess games exceeds the number of atoms in the Universe?
… that the game played in the 1963 James Bond movie From Russia with Love was an actual game won by Boris Spassky against David Bronstein in the 1960 USSR Championship?
… that in 1937 IM George Koltanowski played 34 simultaneous blindfold games, scoring 24 wins and 10 draws over a period of 13.5 hours?
...that the term "Check Mate" comes from the ancient Persian saying-"Shah Mat" meaning Your king is dead?
...that it is possible to finish a chess game in just 2 turns?