The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix has cast a cool spotlight on what’s often been considered the “nerdy” game of chess. While its origin is frequently debated, most agree that the game we know today evolved during the 16th century. The pieces were standardized in the 19th century, and the official world championship title followed. Modern chess theory dates back to the early 20th century. Computer engines and databases came into play at the end of the 20th century.

The two-player abstract strategy game represents medieval warfare on a playing board of alternating light and dark squares. The goal is to use one’s queen, pawns, bishops, knights, and rooks to checkmate the opponent’s king. But, as the following world records show, there are a lot of other ways to “win” at chess:

10 Craziest Events In The History Of Chess

10 Jeweler Sets Record for the World’s Smallest Chess Set

In August 2020, Los Angeles-based jewelry artist Ara Ghazaryan created the world’s smallest handmade chess set, measuring just 8 mm x 8 mm. The game board is fashioned from 18-carat yellow and white gold with Armenian apricot wood. It rests on a frame made of platinum, yellow gold, diamonds, and rubies. The playing pieces range in size from 1-mm pawns to 2.4-mm kings.

Contrast this with the world’s largest chess set, created in 2009 by the Medicine Hat Chess Club in Canada. The board measures 5.89 m on each side. The king is 119 cm tall and 37.4 cm wide.

Fun Fact: The largest single chess piece in the world is a king that stands 6.09 m tall and 2.79 m in diameter at its base. It was built by the World Class Museum, Inc. DBA World Chess Hall of Fame (USA) in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, in April 2018 for the purpose of setting a world record. The king, constructed of Sapele African Hardwood, is 53 times the size of a standard king piece.

9 Guy From Idaho Arranges a Chess Set in Half a Minute

In a game that can be long and drawn out, it’s fun to know that there’s competition for the fastest game setup. In Boise, Idaho on February 3, 2021, Davis Rush set the world record by arranging a chess set in just 30.31 seconds. Rush has achieved the record multiple times. And he has also won the team-of-two version with his wife, Jennifer.

Random Fun Fact: The second book ever printed in the English language was about chess!

8 Two Speed Chess Players Set a Marathon Record

Casual chess games typically play out in under 60 minutes, while tournament play can last anywhere from 10 minutes to six hours or longer. Speed chess, on the other hand, refers to games with time controls (e.g., three to five minutes per player). Some purists suggest that the faster a time control, the lower the quality of the game. “This may be true, but the rush one gets from playing or watching fast time controls is difficult to match,” write the experts at Chess.com. “Pre-moves, unusual and offbeat openings, blunders, and other craziness define speed chess.”

In November 2018, despite the time controls, Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad of Norway set the record for the longest chess marathon for players 16 and older: 56 hours, 9 minutes, 37 seconds.

Fun Fact: In 1985, Eric Knoppet played 500 games of 10 minute chess in 68 hours.

7 The Most Expensive Chess Set Features Precious Metals and Gems

In 2005, a Great Britain jewelry company created the costliest chess set ever made: the Jewel Royale. The solid gold and platinum playing pieces boast lavish gemstones, including diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and black and white pearls. The playing surface is made of yellow and white gold and set with diamonds. Each corner features a crystal ball with a gold center post. Each piece—apart from the knights—boasts a 16-carat yellow gold spiral of diamonds. The 18-carat yellow gold king weighs 165.2 grams and on its own is worth $100,000. The set in its entirety is valued at more than $9.8 million. If that’s too pricey for you, consider the knockoff version selling for about $40,000.

Random Fun Fact: The word “Checkmate” in Chess comes from the Persian phrase “Shah Mat,” which means “the King is dead.”

6 Swiss Schoolchildren Comprise World’s Largest In-Person Chess Lesson

Anyone can stream a chess lesson or watch a YouTube tutorial. But in September 2018, a whopping 1,459 participants gathered for the world’s largest-ever in-person chess lesson. Two chess clubs and two schools in Switzerland—Schachklub Muttenz, Kinderschachclub Muttenz, Primarschule Muttenz, and Sekundarschule Muttenz—invited local children to participate. The lesson was held outdoors, where pairs of children cozied up on picnic blankets to play on donated chess sets.

Some children don’t need such lessons, as they’re born with a gift for the game. Like Soviet chess master Garry Kasparov, who won the world chess championship in 1985 at just 22 years old. But in a 2019 Washington Post opinion piece, Kasparov explained that providing such lessons to children is still important. “Talent is universal, but opportunity is not, and talent cannot thrive in a vacuum,” he wrote. “Finding talent is a numbers game—the more players there are, the more excellent ones will be found.”

Fun Fact: An estimated 600 million people worldwide know how to play chess!

5 The Chess Game with the Most Moves on Record Ended in a Draw

If you Google “How many moves in an average chess game,” the answer you’ll most often find is 40. Some sources cite official tournament records; others draw conclusions from the aptly named Mega Database. The numbers vary depending on the caliber of the players, but 40 remains the accepted unofficial standard.

In a 1989 tournament in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, however, players Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic played their Master game to a draw. It took them 20 hours and 15 minutes to record 269 moves! And in a game in the 1969 World Junior Championship (Rogoff-Williams, Stockholm), the players seemed to be really attached to their pieces: there was not a single capture until the 94th move! The record for moves without a capture is 100 (Thorton-M. Walker, 1992).

Fun Fact: The longest chess game theoretically possible is 5,949 moves.

4 The World’s Oldest Chess Piece Is More Than 1,500 Years Old

In July 2002, a carved ivory figure with a cross on top was discovered in Butrint, an ancient city in southern Albania. Found in an old palace, the statuette stands just 5 cm tall and is dated to 465 AD. If it truly is a chess piece, then it’s the world’s oldest.

The earliest known pieces were discovered at Afrasaib in Uzbekistan. A coin dated 761 was found along with a king, chariot, vizier (queen), horse, elephant, and two soldiers. These, too, were made of ivory.

Random Fun Fact: The number of possible unique chess games is much greater than the number of electrons in the universe. The number of electrons is estimated to be about 1079, while the number of unique chess games is 10120.

3 Turkish Man Sets Record for Having Largest Collection of Chess Sets

When Akin Gökyay set a world record for owning the largest collection of chess sets in 2012, he had 412 of them. He began his hobby in 1975 and has been growing it ever since. They are all on display at the Gökyay Foundation Chess Museum in Turkey. With more than 700 chess sets from 110 countries, it’s the world’s largest collection.

Each set is numbered and displayed behind glass. The variety is fantastic and includes city skylines (Dallas, London, Ankara), safari animals, mythological figures, Army vs. Navy, police vs. firefighters, The Simpsons, the Smurfs, and even a 9/11-themed set.

2 Blindfold Chess Has Its Own Set of Records

Blindfold chess requires no game board or pieces. Rather, players visualize the game and communicate moves via chess notation. Strong players possess the skills needed to keep track of the game’s complexities, and new players can improve their skills by training with blindfold chess.

Grandmaster Timur Gareyev holds the world record for blindfold chess. In Las Vegas in 2016, the then 28-year-old American was blindfolded and riding an exercise bike while playing 48 games simultaneously. In a 23-hour timespan, he won 80% of those games (and cycled the equivalent of 50 miles).

1 The Second World Chess Champion Reigned Longest

In 1894, Emanuel Lasker (Germany) defeated the first World Chess Champion, Austrian-American Wilhelm Steinitz, in matches played in New York, Philadelphia, and Montreal. Lasker won the championship with 10 wins, 2 losses, and 5 draws. He retained his title for more time than any other player: 26 years and 337 days. He lost the title in 1921 but remained in the top rank of players. He remained one of the world’s greatest until he ended his career in 1936.

Fun Fact: Throughout his illustrious chess career, Lasker (who was good friends with Alber Einstein) published books about mathematics, games theories, and philosophy.

Top 10 Greatest Chess Players in History

About The Author: Who knew chess could be so exciting?

To win a Nobel Prize is one of the greatest honors in the academic world. Scientists, writers, politicians, journalists, and more are nominated each year to receive the coveted award at the Nobel Prize Ceremony, held in Stockholm. While the Nobel Prize Foundation’s committee is busy deciding who will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to society that year, another group is making selections of a different type.

The Annals of Improbable Research is a satirical magazine that publishes news of real but peculiar goings-on in the world of science. Each year, they celebrate individuals who have made a mark with their strange and humorous scientific research. This lighthearted award is designed to “honor achievements that make people laugh, then think,” and its ceremony is held at Harvard University every September.

Here are ten hilariously weird winners of the Ig Nobel award.

10 Researcher Lives as a Goat

In 2016, the Ig Nobel Biology Prize was awarded jointly to Charles Foster and Thomas Thwaites. Throughout his career, Foster, who is an Oxford University graduate, lived in the wild as a bird, a badger, a deer, an otter, and a fox. He explains that his motivation in all his research is to discover “who or what are we?” and “what on earth are we doing here?”

Thomas Thwaites, however, had his own reasons for building prosthetic leg extensions and traveling to the Alps to live among a herd of goats. He explains, “I tried to become a goat to escape the angst inherent in being a human. The project became an exploration of how close modern technology can take us in fulfilling an ancient human dream: to take on characteristics from other animals.”^[1]

9 Levitating Frogs

Andre Geim of the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Sir Michael Berry of Bristol University, England, won the prize in physics for their research into levitation. Using a Levitron, a device consisting of opposing magnets that interact to create a magnetic field, the researchers managed to levitate a living frog six feet (1.82 meters) into the air.

Frogs weren’t the only species to have a turn floating in mid-air, however. The researchers also caused a fish to levitate, as well as a mouse and some vegetables. Geim’s brilliant mind and out-of-the-box thinking have earned him the distinction of being the first person ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize, as well as the Ig Nobel Prize.^[2]

8 Management vs. Voodoo

In 2017, the Ig Nobel Economics prize was taken home by six researchers for their joint effort in discovering whether voodoo dolls could be used to help employees deal with their abusive bosses. The team states that it is natural for people to want to retaliate against mean management but also that direct retaliation may do more harm than good. The solution? Round up a large group of employees, give them access to voodoo dolls, ask the participants to name the doll with the initials of their boss, and go to town!

Using pins, pliers, and flame, the group was encouraged to punish the little playthings while thinking of a time they were wronged by their doll’s namesake. The results speak for themselves. After beating up their voodoo dolls, the participants experienced a reduction in their internal sense of injustice. Not to worry, though. None of the ills inflicted on the voodoo dolls affected management… we think.^[3]

7 Insect Stings on the Penis for Science

Justin Schmidt was jointly awarded the Physiology and Entomology prize for his mission to rank over 83 insects based on the painfulness of their sting. Outrageously, Schmidt took it upon himself to personally experience each and every sting. With the results of his research, he created the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which sorted each creature on a scale of 1 to 4. Schmidt rated one of the most painful stings as coming from the bullet ant. He ranked its sting as a 4 and described it as “pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail embedded in your heel.”

The other winner that year was Michael L. Smith. He conducted his research into the painfulness of a honey bee’s sting. Not just once but 28 times, all over his body, including the back of his knee, the arch of his foot, and his nipple. He then ranked their painfulness on a scale of 1 to 10. Smith stated that the most painful places to be stung by a bee were on the nostril, the upper lip, and the penis shaft.^[4]

6 Tanks for Solving a Parking Issue

It’s not only scientific researchers who are awarded for their ingenuity when it comes to the Ig Nobels. Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2011, took to the streets to remedy the problem of luxury car owners parking illegally and blocking the city’s bicycle lanes. Using a tank-like armored vehicle, Zuokas was filmed joyfully rolling over an expensive-looking car, completely crushing it.

Available for viewing on YouTube, the narrator in the video states that a tank is the best solution to deal with drivers who think they’re above the law. Whether the action was genuine or a stunt remains to be seen but likely left local drivers wondering if parking illegally is worth the risk.^[5]

5 Narcissists and Their Eyebrows

The 30th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, which was held in 2020, was the first time the ceremony was hosted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Miranda Giacomin and Nicholas Rule jointly received the Psychology Prize. Their research was dedicated to discovering whether those with grandiose narcissism can be identified by only the thickness and density of their eyebrows.

The broader aim of the pair’s research was to potentially help others identify narcissists in their everyday lives and thereby know who to avoid. Throughout their experiments, the researchers claim that “distinctive eyebrows reveal narcissists’ personality to others, providing a basic understanding of the mechanism through which people can identify narcissistic personality traits with potential application to daily life.”^[6]

4 Do I Smell Bacon?

In 2014, a group of four researchers from the Detroit Medical Center in Michigan discovered that sometimes old treatments are just what the doctor ordered. For those who suffer from serious recurring nosebleeds, all manner of remedies have been tested over the years, mainly in the form of packing the nose with different materials.

In this particular case, the four researchers decided to give an old wives’ tale a try. And it worked. A patient’s serious nosebleed disorder was treated like this: “cured salted pork crafted as a nasal tampon and packed within the nasal vaults successfully stopped nasal hemorrhage promptly, effectively, and without sequelae.” If it works, it works!^[7]

3 Wombat Mystery Poop

Bare-nosed wombats are chubby, cuddly-looking marsupials that are endemic to Australia. Their closest living relative is the koala, with which they share their herbivorous diet. Unlike koalas, however, they have cube-shaped poop. In fact, wombats are the only known animals to have this unusual dung. And in 2019, a group of seven researchers came together to get to the bottom of it.

Wombats who had previously fallen victim to South Australian drivers were collected and dissected by the team who examined them. It was established that wombats have circular bottoms, not square and that the molding actually takes place inside the intestines. Some parts of the intestine turned out to be firm, while other sections were soft. This, combined with the way the insides contract during digestion, was what turned out to produce the poop that had previously been a mystery to us all.^[8]

2 Beards for Self Defense

Beards—what are they good for? Catching crumbs? Attracting mates? How about dampening punches to the face? In 2021, Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, and David Carrier completed their research into the topic and won an Ig Nobel Peace prize as a result. Instead of having volunteers struck in the face for science, prosthetic bones were created for the experiment and covered in sheepskin. Some of these samples had wool intact, while some had been shorn. They were then struck, and the pressure was measured.

The results did indeed show that hair (or wool) absorbs a significant amount of blunt force. Some researchers have hypothesized that, like male lions, male humans may have developed longer hair around the neck and jaw to protect these delicate areas from attack.^[9]

1 Decongestants or Orgasms?

In 2016, a small team of researchers from Germany, Turkey, and the UK worked together to discover whether sexual orgasms can compete with decongestants when it comes to clearing the airways. The group states that “a physiological connection between the nose and the genitals has long been proposed.” One of the men who once delved into this area of research was an ear, nose, and throat doctor and a close friend of Sigmund Freud.

Instead of a strange Freudian link, however, the relation between sex and clearing a blocked nose may be down to the combination of physical exercise along with the hormonal changes that occur during intercourse. Both of these things have previously been shown to have decongestant properties. Either way, the results were clear. Sexual climax can improve nasal breathing to the same degree as a nasal decongestant for up to 60 minutes in those with a blocked nose. Good to know for the cold and flu season!^[10]