International Chess Day is celebrated annually on 20 July to honour the foundation of the Federation Internationale des Eches (FIDES) founded in 1924.
Last year it was celebrated as a virtual event and was attended by chess players, United Nations and government officials, permanent missions to the UN, representatives of civil society, academia, and other relevant stakeholders. The high-Level virtual event was focused on “Chess for Recovering Better”.
International Chess Day History
The game of chess originated in India in the 5th century. It was originally known as “chaturanga” (the name means “four members of an army” in Sanskrit). From India, the game spread to Persia and then the Arab world.
It was the Muslim world that eventually took up chess, along with the rest of Persia, after the Arabs conquered it. Later, chess spread to Europe, and it changed and evolved into its current form by the 15th century. The game of chess went through some extensive improvements in Europe. By the late 15th century, it had survived a series of restrictions and Christian Church sanctions to almost take the shape of the modern game as the world know it today.
Gradually, various chess tournaments were held with exciting new variations of the game. By implementing reliable timing mechanisms in 1861, improving rules, and adding charismatic players to the game.
Chess, a board game for two players with 32 pieces in each team and 16 squares in each side, originated in Iran in AD 600, and is still enjoyed today.
Chess remains a widely played board game. An international survey, conducted in 2012, found that chess players make up a sizable proportion of the world’s population.
As of May 2022, there are 200 nations member federations of FIDE.
In 1851, the first modern chess tournament was held in London and won by German Adolf Anderssen. The FIDE (World Chess Federation), founded in 1924 at the eighth summer Olympic games in Paris, France, is an international organization that manages chess tournaments and organizes world championship matches.
In 1966, on the same day as the founding of FIDE (the World Chess Federation), International Chess Day began. The idea to celebrate this day came from UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Today, chess tournaments are held all over the world on International Chess Day.
How Can You Celebrate International Chess Day?
Here are some ideas to celebrate the occasion:
1. Play the Game of Chess
Ask your friend, colleague or a family member to play chess with. If can’t find a chess mate, least you can do is play chess online. These days there are lot of chess apps and online games available.
2. Share a Chess Story on Social Media
You can also share your any story related to chess or chess partner among your friends via social media. This way you can encourage other too play chess.
3. Have a Chess Party
Call your friends and throw a small party at home or outside by having good food and playing chess. It could be a great fun and good way to destress yourself.
4. Watch a Chess Movie
You can also celebrate the chess day by watching a movie related to chess like:
- Pawn Sacrifice
- Queen of Katwe
- Brooklyn Castle
- Dangerous Moves
5. Watch any Chess Tournament Online
This is also a good way to see some great tournaments online or a match of your favourite players such as Viswanathan Anand (India), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Pentala Harikrishna (India), Garry Kimovich Kasparov (Russia)
6. Join a Chess Club
Cities have chess clubs, which can be found at high schools , sports complex, in community centers or sports clubs, and even in local communities. Look around the city for a local chess club; go play a game! Just go and play!
We hope you have a suitable idea for how to celebrate International Chess day. Whatever you decide to do make sure you enjoy your chess and leave the stresses of life behind for a few hours!
Some Amazing Facts About Chess
- The word “Checkmate” in Chess derived from the Persian phrase “Shah Mat,” which means”the King is dead.”
- The longest chess game can last for possible 5,949 moves
- In November 1988, DeepThought, a computer made by Carnegie Mellon University and later at IBM, became the first to beat an international grandmaster.
- Suppose you put one grain of wheat on the first square of a chessboard, two on the second, four on the third, eight on the fourth and so on until you reach the 64th square. How many grains of wheat would you need to put on each square? The answer is 9,223,372,036,8 54,775,808 (approximately 9.22×10 18 ).
- The number of different ways to play the first 10 moves of a game of chess is approximately 169,518,829,100 ,544,000,000,00 0,000,000 (1.70×10 29) as per America’s Foundation for Chess.
- The Queen can move only one square at a time, diagonally. But later, she can move two squares at a time, diagonally. It wasn’t until the Reconquista, with its powerful queen Isabella, that the Queen became the strongest piece on the board.
- The World Chess Champion title was retained by Dr. Emanuel Lasker from Germany for 26 years and 337 days, more than any other player.
- In 1985, Eric Knoppert played 500 games of 10-minute Chess in 68 hours.
