Curiosities
The human, curious and historical side of chess — water, chairs, coffee houses and the eccentric geniuses behind the game.
Water on the Board: Hydration and the Hidden Athleticism of Chess
Why grandmasters lose weight sitting still — and what a glass of water has to do with how well you calculate.
The Throne at the Board: Why the Chair Decides Long Games
Bobby Fischer had a chair flown across an ocean for his title match. He wasn't being a diva — he was being an athlete.
The Lighting, the Cameras, the Chair: Bobby Fischer's Stranger Demands
How perfectionism nearly sank the Match of the Century — and then produced one of its greatest comebacks.
Coffee, Revolution and the Royal Game: the Café de la Régence
For two centuries, the center of the chess world wasn't a federation or an arena — it was a Paris coffee house.
The Sleeping Gambit: Rest, Stamina and the Physical Toll of Championship Chess
A world title match once ended not in checkmate but in exhaustion. At the top, sleep is a weapon.
Does Chess Keep Your Brain Young? What the Research Actually Says
The honest answer to one of the game's favorite promises.
How Chess Masters Remember: The Secret Is “Chunking”
A master can rebuild a whole board from a glance — but only if the position makes sense.
Why So Many Chess Masters Are Musicians
From an opera composer to a world champion who sang, the board and the keyboard keep meeting.
The Turk: The 18th-Century Chess “Robot” That Fooled Emperors
For 84 years a wooden automaton beat Europe's finest — including Napoleon. Its secret was hiding in plain sight.
When the Queen Went Mad: How Chess's Weakest Piece Became Its Strongest
For centuries the queen could crawl one square at a time. Then, around 1475, she conquered the board.
The Lewis Chessmen: The Brooding Viking Warriors Found in the Sand
Discovered on a Scottish beach in 1831, these 12th-century ivory figures are chess's most famous treasure.
Sixty-Four Squares of Cold War: When Chess Was a Superpower Battlefield
For decades the USSR treated world chess supremacy as proof of a system. Then an American showed up.
Who Was Elo? The Physicist Who Put a Number on Chess Skill
Every rating from beginner to world champion traces back to one quiet professor.
Why the Bishop Is a “Fool”, an “Elephant” and a “Runner”: Chess Pieces Around the World
Follow the names of the pieces and you retrace chess's journey across three continents.
A Masterpiece at the Opera: Paul Morphy's Most Famous Game
In a Paris opera box in 1858, the world's best player won immortality in 17 moves — while the music played.
The Artist Who Quit Art for Chess: Marcel Duchamp
One of the 20th century's most influential artists walked away from art — to push wooden pieces around a board.
The Woman Who Beat the World's Best: Judit Polgár
She refused to play in women-only events — and became the strongest female player in history by beating the men.
Vera Menchik and Her “Club”: The First Women's World Champion
The men who lost to her were inducted, half-jokingly, into a club named after her. One was a future world champion.
The Day a Machine Beat the Champion: Deep Blue vs Kasparov, 1997
It took 227 years to get from a fake chess automaton to a real one that could topple the world's best.
Before the Clock, Games Lasted All Day: How the Chess Clock Changed Everything
The single most important piece of chess equipment isn't on the board. It's beside it.
The Longest Game Ever: 269 Moves and Over 20 Hours
Two players sat down over a chessboard and didn't get up, in effect, for the better part of a day.
The 12-Year-Old Grandmaster: Chess's Ever-Younger Prodigies
The title of grandmaster once belonged to grizzled veterans. Now it can belong to a seventh-grader.
Checkmate in Orbit: The First Chess Game Played from Space
In 1970, two cosmonauts took on Earth — and needed a specially built board so the pieces wouldn't float away.
Playing Without Seeing: The Astonishing Art of Blindfold Chess
Some masters can play dozens of games at once without looking at a single board — and one did it for the most human of reasons.
Chessboxing: The Sport That Mixes Checkmates and Knockouts
Alternating rounds of speed chess and boxing. Win with your mind or your fists — you'll need both.
Lose in Two Moves: The Fastest Checkmates in Chess
It is possible to lose a game of chess before you have really started it. Here's how — and how to avoid it.
“J'adoube”: The One French Word Every Chess Player Knows
Touch a piece and you may be forced to move it. Here's the rule that makes chess honest — and the magic word that suspends it.
The Queen's Gambit Effect: How a TV Show Made the World Play Chess
In late 2020, a fictional orphan named Beth Harmon did more for chess than any champion in decades.
The Queen's Gambit: The Opening Behind the Famous Name
The move that gave a Netflix hit its title is one of the oldest ideas in chess — and not really a gambit at all.
Castling: The Strange Move That Took Centuries to Evolve
The only move where two pieces move at once — invented to fix a problem the powerful new queen created.
Chess as Pure Art: The Hidden World of Problems and Studies
Some of the most beautiful chess ever created was never played in a game — it was composed, like music.
Chess by Mail: The Slow, Deep World of Correspondence Chess
Imagine a single game lasting years, one postcard at a time. For over a century, that was top chess for many.
The Champion's Curse: The Tragic Fates of Chess Legends
Some of the greatest minds the game has known met startlingly hard endings. Is genius at chess a gift or a burden?
From Deep Blue to AlphaZero: How AI Reinvented Chess Strategy
In 1997 a machine out-calculated us. Twenty years later, one taught itself to play — and changed how chess is understood.