Twelve stories, two minutes each.

Story 1 · 2 minute read The king who could not pay A reward so small the king laughed — and so large his kingdom could not pay it. India, a very old legend Story 2 · 2 minute read The four arms of the army Before it was chess it was chaturanga — and the army on the board was a real one. Northern India, about 1,500 years ago Story 3 · 2 minute read The poem that was a horse A poet hid a knight’s journey inside a verse — and it is the oldest one we know. Kashmir, about 1,100 years ago Story 4 · 2 minute read The counsellor who became a queen For eight hundred years the piece beside the king was the weakest on the board. Then somebody changed one rule. Spain and Italy, around 1475 Story 5 · 3 minute read The champion who trusted his eyes He could not read the chess books. He beat the people who wrote them. Punjab and London, 1929 to 1933 Story 6 · 2 minute read The machine with a man inside It beat emperors at chess. It also had a secret. Vienna, 1770 Story 7 · 2 minute read The machine that counted Two hundred years after the fake, a real machine sat down against the world champion. New York, 1997 Story 8 · 2 minute read Ninety-two ways A question in a chess magazine that mathematicians could not leave alone. Germany, 1848 Story 9 · 2 minute read The first queen of chess She won the first women’s world championship — and then went looking for harder games. London, 1927 Story 10 · 3 minute read Three sisters and an experiment A teacher believed that champions are made, not born. He decided to prove it at home. Budapest, the 1970s and 1980s Story 11 · 2 minute read The clock with two faces Once, a player could think for as long as he liked. Then somebody lost patience. London, 1883 Story 12 · 2 minute read The boy who would not wait At eighteen he became the youngest world chess champion there has ever been. Chennai and Singapore, 2024