A New & Boring Subject--Chess

The game of kings and queens, what I mean is the game that kings and queens are supposed to really enjoy playing. I wonder why. Anyhow, let's think of some facts that you may not have known about this old game.

Of course, the word that chess players want to be able to truthfully say is "Check Mate". What does that phrase mean, and where did it originate? My source says that the term is from Iran (Persia before the country name change). The Persian phrase is "Shah Mat" carrying the meaning "the king is dead". In the game, when a player is at the point of saying "Check mate", he is the winner of the match. It is the point of the game, actually.

Guess what! Iran does not allow the playing of chess since the rule of Ayatolla Khomeini. The religious leader of the country claimed that the game could cause damage to the brain. In my opinion, the game may cause damage to a relationship if the chess player spends too much time online with chess matches.

We use a derivation of a chess word in our everyday language in English. The word 'rookie' is derived from the chess piece, the rook. Usually, the rook is one of the last pieces to play in chess. A rookie on a sports team is usually one of the last team players to be used in a real match.

Did I mention that I find the game boring? Well, according to theory, the longest chess game possible involved 5949 moves. I wonder how the person who counts those moves stays awake.

For board games with squares, I think checkers is superior, mostly because you can win or lose within about ten minutes. I may be too intelligent to want to spend hours on a board game when there are important things with which to use my time.