Chess

Chess is one of the most popular board games in the world, but it's also one of the most complex and mentally challenging sports disciplines out there. Nothing is left to chance when master strategists like Bobby Fischer (poster), Garry Kasparov (poster) og Magnus Carlsen (poster) sit down at the board. The game holds an infinite complexity, giving each iconic chess match a unique expression on the poster.

Chess Posters with Iconic Moments

It is extremely rare for a decisive sports match to be named - or even named after a player. And when it happens in the world of chess, only the most iconic and groundbreaking matches are honored. Among these, one can highlight 'The Game of the Century' won by a then only 13-year-old Bobby Fischer, the world's most talked-about match; the infamous 'Deep Blue – Kasparov 1996' match, which was the first chess game where a computer defeated a reigning world champion; and not least one of chess's most iconic and beautiful matches: 'The Opera Game' with grandmaster Paul Morphy, which inspired the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit".

A Modern Sports Poster

With THE PLAY®, you get a modern sports poster that fits perfectly into your home. Our posters offer a chance for sophisticated and stylish decoration, where the man of the house can still be involved. The artwork is created in a timeless design that combines simple geometry with strong visual interpretations. The Nordic minimalist style reinvents the traditional sports poster in a format that visualizes the athletes' performance and captivates the viewer.

The Greatest Chess Players

It can be a controversial topic when discussing the best chess players of all time, and the list is also a good mix of both new names and old favorites. Magnus Carlsen has been the reigning world champion since 2013, but predecessors like Garry Kasparov, Paul Morphy, and Bobby Fischer cannot be overlooked when the conversation turns to chess. Jose Raul Capablanca gave blitz chess a whole new meaning, and Mikhail Botvinnik, who after his own heyday became a chess coach, has contributed to legends like Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, and Vladimir Kramnik.

10 Quick Facts about Chess

1. The word 'Checkmate' comes from the Persian phrase 'Shah Mat', which means 'the king is dead'.
2. The longest official chess game was played between I. Nikolic and Arsovic in 1989, lasted over 269 moves (more than 20 hours), and ended in a draw.
3. Soviet Garri Kasparov became the youngest world champion in 1985 when he was only 22 years old.
4. The folding chessboard was invented in 1125 by a priest who had been forbidden to play chess - when it was packed together on a bookshelf, it was camouflaged as a couple of books.
5. German Dr. Emanuel Lasker is the chess player who held the world championship title for the longest time; 26 years and 337 days.
6. The second first book printed in English, ever, was about chess.
7. In Budapest in 1960, Janos Flesch set the record for the most consecutive wins in chess with a blindfold. He won 31 out of the 52 games.
8. Originally, pawns could only move one square forward, but in Spain in 1280, it was introduced that they could move two squares on the first move.
9. The longest possible chess game theoretically consists of 5,949 moves.
10. Mathematically, there are more possible chess games (10^120) than there are atoms in the universe (10^80).
    

History of Chess

The origin of the game of chess is believed to go all the way back to ancient northern India, Tibet, and China. When the game, at the end of antiquity, spread to Persia, chess got its current name from the word 'shah', which had to be announced during the game when the king was threatened. The Arabs embraced the board game and introduced the chess notation we still use today, and from here, chess quickly spread through Europe, where the game flourished in cultural life. The first major tournament was held in London in 1851, where Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen emerged victorious and was declared the sport's first world champion.

Danish Moments

The Danes also embraced the mental sport early on and have created a number of great Danish chess names over the years. These include grandmaster Bent Larsen, 12-time Danish Champion Erik Andersen, Erling Mortensen, who became the record holder for winning 163 out of 175 international matches, senior world champion Jens Kristiansen, and Holger Norman-Hansen, who delivered the best Danish chess result with a silver medal in the first Chess Olympiad in 1927.