Archive for the ‘Cool Chess Facts’ Category
Chess Weather
Once again I find myself amazed by how cool chess can be. Not only can you play chess anywhere, but in any weather. Living the majority of my life in Chicago, I always saw those rainy days as the perfect time to play chess. That being said, when it snows, when its sunny, and really any weather is good for chess.
I did find some pictures of chess in extreme weather tho…enjoy!
The Basic Checkmates in Sand Castle Art
Do you know the basic checkmates? Knowing the basic mates is like knowing the alphabet. The alphabet of chess. I’m not going to show you all of them here in this article, but what I am going to do is show you one of them in a way so that you will never forget it. I went to Lake Michigan to visit my friend and her daughter. She wanted to learn chess. She wanted to see the basic mates. So we showed her one of them, the one with the rook and the knight. Did you know that if you get your opponent’s king into the corner you can checkmate him with just a rook and a knight? Can you picture how it’s done? Try it on your own with a board first and then watch our video where we did it in sand castle form!
Is Playing Chess Exercise?
There’s no argument in whether chess is good mental exercise but is chess actually physical exercise as well?
Recent studies show that playing chess actually burns calories!When I say this to non-chess players they laugh and often times say: “well everything burns calories, even breathing.”
Stanford Professor of Neurology Robert Sapolsky proved that playing chess actually burns a lot of calories, that relative to running a marathon! Thinking is hard work and when players really push themselves to use higher order thinking skills is takes us a lot of energy, and burns calories.
Spanish Chess Terms (Continued)
There are also a few other chess terms that may be helpful for you to know if you are going to play chess in a Spanish speaking county. If you want to say check during your chess game, you say Jaque during your chess game. For checkmate, you say JaqueMate.
A draw in chess is called tablas, which is what you would say if you wanted to offer one. A stalemate in chess is called ahogado. A castle in chess is called enroque.
Cool Chess Sets- Chess Set 4000-FM
This is a very cool chess set, it is 3d with a 2d appeal. It looks slick and makes sure that all the pieces are easily distinguishable. The pieces are made from soft calfskin leather and the board is made of pear-tree. The slots in the board hold the pieces perfectly to give the board a neat look whether you are starting the game or in the middle of the battle. Check out more about his board here.
Sitzfliesh - How the Chess Clock was Invented
Once you start playing in USCF rated chess tournaments, you will most likely be using a clock. The games are timed, so that one person isn’t allowed to ”sitzfliesch,” a German word they used to use meaning to sit there and not move until your opponent practically falls over from exhaustion! That’s what used to happen in chess tournaments before the chess clock was invented. One chess tournament lasted fourteen hours, which caused people to begin to try to come up with a solution. First they tried using hour glasses, but the differences in humidity caused problems and inconsistencies. Then they invented the “tumbler clock,” which was a great addition to the chess world, and allowed chess to become a spectator sport instead of a contest to see who could sit and stare at the board the longest.
Happy July 4th Chess Players!
Happy July 4th to all you Chess Players!
Independence day is a very important day when we celebrate the Independence of the United States from Great Britain as well as the people who played a role in this great event. Chess played a significant part in the American Revolution as well as the building of our great nation…from the founding father all the way down the ranks of soldiers.
Benjamin Franklin was credited with bringing chess to the United States! He wrote the essay The Morals of Chess and is quoted as saying: “Life is a kind of Chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events.”
So was Benjamin Franklin the only significant figure in the American Revolution that enjoyed chess? No. Thomas Jefferson played chess with his Protege, James Madison. Coincidentally, on a chess board that was given to him by Benjamin Franklin. it was recently uncovered and below is a replica of the set that they played on. To find out more check out the History Blog.
Earth Vs. Space Chess Match
Wow, I had known that chess spanned across the earth…but now chess is spanning the Galaxy!
Thats right, this is a Earth vs. Space Chess Match (which really is a team vs astronauts, sorry to disappoint all of you hoping to play chess against aliens) which is going on live right now! NASA Astronauts Greg Chamitoff and Greg H. Johnson launched into space on May 16th are playing against the Earth Chess Team.
Who you may ask is on this Earth Chess Team? EVERYONE! Anyone can vote to determine the Earths next chess move by visiting here:
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/11169/629/
On the right side of the screen you should see a chess board. When it is Earth’s turn in the Chess Match, a series of options will appear and chess players can then vote on what they think the Earth Chess Team should do. You can also follow the Earth Vs. Chess Match here as well.
Help Team Earth Win!
Chess Language- “CheckMate”
The chess phrase CheckMate - to attack (a chess opponent’s king) in such a manner that no escape or defense is possible, thus ending the game - by some theories comes from the Persian phrase ’shah mat,’ translating into ‘the king is defeated.’
Chess Tactics
Tactics puzzles are a must for anyone wanting to improve their chess game. It is a good idea to try and do ten minutes a day of tactics puzzles, or three puzzles a day, spending only a short amount of time on each puzzle and then checking to see if you got the answer. This way you get into the habit of looking for puzzles, and you see lots of tactical patterns over and over again. You can find tactics books, tactics puzzles online, often the newspaper will have a tactics puzzle, or you can even purchase software like Ct-art that generates tactics puzzles for you to solve. Colorado chess player and former editor of the Colorado Chess Informant has a section he publishes called Tactics Time that he has turned into a website full of tactics puzzles from real games, which is particularly useful, as these are tactics that have actually come up and either been missed by the player, or that actually happened in the game. Tactics are fun and are what make chess sparks fly! You can also check out CheckMates Chess Academy’s Online Resources for Chess Puzzles divided by skill level.
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