To celebrate the establishment of the World Chess Federation on July 20, 1924, in Paris, UNESCO designated July 20 as World Chess Day.
Presently, the World Chess Federation has 187 member countries. Their main objective is to expand the global chess player community to a minimum of 1 billion. The “Chess in Schools” project holds great significance for the World Chess Federation and is being actively implemented in numerous countries worldwide.
Some interesting facts about chess:
• The longest possible game in chess consists of 5,949 moves.
• The longest recorded game ended after 269 moves.
• Dr. Emanuel Lasker holds the most championships in chess. He was the chess champion for 26 years.
• The second book ever printed in English was about chess.
• The longest recorded chess match lasted 20 hours and 15 minutes.
• The oldest recorded chess game in the world was registered in the 9th century AD in Baghdad.
• Approximately 6,000 people in the world know how to play chess.
• Checkmate, the act of trapping the opponent’s king, is only possible in two moves.
• The oldest complete set of chess pieces found was discovered on the Isle of Lewis in northern Scotland. These pieces likely date back to the 12th century AD.
Chess in Iran:
Chess was introduced to Iran during the reign of King Khosrow Anushirvan of the Sasanian Empire. Iranians familiarized Europe and Russia with the game of chess starting from the 9th century AD, which is why the name of this game in most European languages is derived from the Persian word “shatranj” or “shah” (the main piece of the game). Moreover, the names of most chess pieces are also derived from their Persian names. Chess underwent some changes in Europe and became faster and more exciting with alterations in the movement of certain pieces.
According to Kental Travel, 19 Iranian chess players have achieved the title of Grandmaster. The first person to receive this title was Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami in 2001, and since then, 18 other individuals have also achieved this title. In 2010, Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami broke the world record after 25 hours and 15 minutes of effort and defeating 590 chess players, and his name and Iran were registered in the Guinness Book of World Records.
