This post has come about because I watched a wildlife documentary about lions and the narrator was saying how some animals (antelope) play a sort of chess game with the hunting lions and are willing to sacrifice the smaller weaker animals (aka: pawns) for the great good for the heard. But don’t worry, I am not going to show you anything that I saw in that program, it would give you nightmares for weeks! But I do have to wonder if any other animals like to play chess…
BONUS CONTENT: Top 10 Facts About Chess
Chicken Playing Chess
10 – “I played an egg once! It came 2nd.”
Fact: The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves for both sides in a game of chess is 318 Billion!
Hamster playing Chess
9 – “You don’t believe I can get a whole pawn in my mouth?!? Then watch this…”
Fact: The first chessboard with alternating white and black squares was made in Europe in around 1090!
Squirrel playing Chess
8 – “I will not be whites again, you know I find them un-lucky!”
Fact: The rules that say a new pawn is allowed to advance two squares on its first move instead of just the one was first introduced in Spain in 1280 over almost 200 years after the game was invented!
Rabbit playing Chess
7 – “OK, we will have one last game, but I will only beat you again and again!”
Fact: Checkmate in Chess comes from a Persian phrase “Shah Mat,” which literally means “the King is dead.”
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Horse playing Chess
6 – “Mr. Ed is not as stupid sounding as Wilbur Post! Now be quiet it is your turn.”
Fact: Provided each player is perfectly matched, the longest chess game theoretically possible is just under 6,000 moves!
Dogs playing Chess
5 – “Listen, kid, I was playing chess with your father when you were still in nappies!”
Fact: The Police raided a Chess Tournament in Cleveland way back in 1973 and confiscated the Chess sets on charges of allowing gambling!
Chimp playing Chess
4 – “I’m not going to lie, love, you play a good game of chess, but that dress is still awful!”
Fact: The longest official chess game lasted 269 moves, played by Nikolic Vs Arsovic, in Belgrade in 1989.
Rats playing Chess
3 – “Do you really think that learning to play chess will stop us being eaten by the cat?!?”
Fact: From the starting positions there are eight very different ways to “Mate” in two moves and 355 different ways to “Mate” in three moves!
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Budgie playing Chess
2 – “You call me a bird brain, I just took your queen in 4 moves!!!”
Fact: Dr. Emanuel Lasker from Germany held onto the World Chess Championship title for 26 years and 337 days!
Cat playing Chess
1 – “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. No wonder it is so easy to rule over you humans!”
Fact: During World War II some of the top Chess players were hired as code breakers, in fact, it was a British master chess player that broke the Nazi Enigma code!