Do you have any chess fascinating facts to tell us.  E-mail us your facts to byca@supanet.com.

• Did you know that the very first postage stamp depicting a chess motif was issued in Bulgaria in 1947.

• Did you know that the shortest game ending in mate is two moves:  1. g6 e6 (or e5) 2. f3 (or f4) Qh4#.

• Did you know the number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of Chess is 318,979,564,000.

• Did you know that the word "Checkmate" comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat" which means "the King is dead".

• Did you know that the longest fully recorded game of chess between two professionals is an astonishing 192 moves!

• Did you know that on some chess sets one knight and rook on each side are stamped with a crown.  This knight and rook should be placed on the King's side of the board at the start.

• Did you know that a standard set of chess pieces is called Staunton.  This is so called because the man who set these rules, was called Howard Staunton.  He was a leading English player of the mid -19th century who worked long hours to forge agreements so that all the countries knew the uniformity of the rules of chess.  The pawns come via Chiswick House and the knights from the Elgin Marbles.

• Did you know that the word chess is derived from the Persian shah, meaning king.

• Did you know that probably the most famous of the early chess machines was called 'The Turk'.  Built in 1770 by Baron Von Kepelen, his apparatus, manipulated the board pieces with mechanical hands.  The machine displayed unquestionable human intelligence and played chess remarkably well!  How was this achieved?  Well hidden in the cabinetry of the machine was a very small man, who was quite a fine player.

• Did you know that on Madonna and Guy Ritchie's honeymoon they spent all their time learning how to play chess?  Well you do now.

• Did you know that when Deep Blue beat chess champ Gary Kasparov it cheated a bit.  Before it played it's moves it checked them with other Grandmasters across the country!  Even though it's still an amazing feat for a computer.