Week of March 8, 2020

Sunday

Pawns are the lowest-ranking chess piece, yet can still be strategically valuable. Hence, to say someone is a “pawn” suggests they have little real power and are being used by others in some larger plan.

Monday

In chess, a king is “checked” or “put in check” when threatened with immediate capture, such that the checked player’s next possible moves become very limited. A person is said to be “put in check” or “checked” when corrected, controlled, or stopped, a term that seems to derive directly from chess.

Tuesday

If the threatened player fails to get out of check, that king is “checkmated,” a term derived from “shah mat,” which translates to “the king died” (Arabic) or “the king is stumped, helpless” (Persian).

Wednesday

Able to travel any distance in any direction, the queen is the chess board’s most powerful piece, and a real-life powerful queen made her so. The chess queen’s predecessor piece was male and able to move only two spaces at a time. When Isabella, the queen who united Spain, was crowned in 1475, that chess piece got a gender change, but could only match the king in moving one space at per turn. Twenty years later, when Isabella had become Europe’s most powerful woman, the queen got upgraded to her current great power, enshrined in the game rules still used today. Symbolically, the king piece remained more important, just like Isabella’s husband King Ferdinand, but far less powerful than the queen.

Thursday

Chess dates back to at least 6^th century India, where the board was conceived as a battlefield. However, as the game got bigger in Europe, the original military characters became characters of a royal court. The original Indian pieces, known as counselor, infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots, transformed into the queen, pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively.

Friday

Legendary pioneering blues and rock record company Chess Records was not named for the game, but Jewish Polish immigrant brothers Phil and Leonard Chess.

Saturday

There are more possible chess games than there are electrons in the observable universe. (10¹²³ vs. 10⁸⁰)