30 Chess Coloring Pages to Print for Free!

Chess is one of the most popular board games that exist, do you know why? Because it's estimated that there are around 500 million people who play it.

This is a board game between two opponents, which consists of putting the other in check. It consists of 16 pieces, where each one of them has a specific way of moving.

The exact origin of the game is unknown; however, there are several theories, some say it arose in Europe and others in Asia. In any case, we would love to tell you more about this game, do you know how we'll do it? Through the chess pictures to color.

Above each one you'll find very fun facts about chess that will leave you speechless. At Coloring Together we always think of everything! So we didn't want you to leave before having learned something new.

1. It's estimated that in the world there are more than 500 million people who play chess. Amazing!
2. In theory, it's estimated that the longest game of chess could have up to 5,949 moves.
3. In 1450, to make chess more fun, the rules were modified so the queen could move in any direction. It was such a radical change that the French called it “esches de la dame enragée,” or “chess of the furious lady.”
4. One of the theories about the origin of chess is that it was born in India, approximately in the year 600 A.D., and from there it passed to Persia. Without a doubt a very long time ago!
5. The first version of chess consisted of a board of 64 fields and 16 pieces on each side, and the game ended when all the pieces were captured (except the king or the Shah) or when no one could win.
6. In the Star Trek series, the main characters, Kirk and Spock, played chess 3 times in the episodes, and Kirk always won.
7. Many experts recommend chess because it's a game that can improve memory, and prevent Alzheimer's.
8. The longest chess game in history was the one of Ivan Nikolic against Goran Arsovic, in the year 1989. This game consisted of 269 moves. Amazing!
9. Every July 20 World Chess Day is celebrated. If you like this game, don't forget to celebrate it!
10. The first board with dark and light squares arranged alternately appeared for the first time in Europe, in 1090.
11. Do you know what the phrase “checkmate” means? It comes from the Persian “Shah Mat” and means “the king is dead.”
12. In the beginning, the queen in chess could only move one square at a time, and diagonally. It hardly had any moves!
13. The oldest chess pieces were found in Scotland, and date from the 12th century. They were probably created in Norway or in Iceland.
14. It's said that the folding chess board was created by a priest who was forbidden to play chess, so he invented a way to fold it so it would look like two books on a shelf when closed.
15. It's believed that chess was invented in Asia, somewhere in India, and that from there it spread to China, Russia, Persia and Europe.
16. In 1985, Garry Kasparov became the youngest World Chess Champion, at just 22 years old. Incredible!
17. Thanks to the need to use logic, chess has been used in many schools to help students improve their concentration and their grades.
18. The first program that was created to play chess was made by Alan Turing in 1951, however, since no computer could run the program, he ended up playing on his own according to his calculations.
19. In 1989 the computer company IBM hired a team of engineers to make a program that would defeat the world chess champion (Garry Kasparov at the time), and at that moment Kasparov beat the computer “Deep Thought” and its next version, until he lost in the rematch in 1997.
20. In 1997 Garry Kasparov was defeated by IBM's Deep Blue computer, however, some time later there were accusations of cheating and fraud.
21. José Raúl Capablanca in 1922 played against 103 chess opponents simultaneously. He won 102 games, with 1 draw.
22. In 1861 chess timers were introduced for the first time, with hourglasses that lasted three hours each. Later, these clocks evolved into the “pushable” ones.
23. Did you know there was a chess match between Earth and space? It took place on June 9, 1970 by the crew of the Soyuz-9. The match ended in a draw.
24. Emanuel Lasker was a German who held the title of world chess champion longer than any other player: it was 26 years and 337 days.
25. The first World Chess Champion was William Steinitz, titled in 1886, by defeating Johannes Zukertort in a match for the championship title.
26. There are around 400 different possible positions after a single move in chess. And after two moves the figure rises to 72,084. Amazing!
27. Magnus Carlsen is one of the great superstars of chess. He became a grandmaster at 13 years old and was World Champion from 2013 to 2023, in addition to holding the first spot in the world ranking for many years.