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By now you should be familiar with the old adage that za’atar makes you smarter. But did you know that za’atar is the preferred diet for chess grandmasters?

We know, we know: correlation does not imply causation, but it’s nice to think that some of the first great chess players were dipping and dunking za’atar and olive oil between moves.

So it should also come as no shock to you that as first generation Arab American kids we were handed down the game of Chess by our baba. When we were growing up our dad would set up his old handed down board and teach us the game. If we weren’t careful about the next move he might soon say ‘checkmate.’ That comes from the Arabic al-shah mat, which means ‘the king is dead’. In chess, it means your king is captured, and you lose the game. You can read all about Arab contributions to Chess here!

We’d love to challenge you to a game, or help you learn! Use the Chess.com app and challenge us using the link below. If you don’t have the app or account, you can download it here for iOS & here for Android!