Stroebeck is called "The Chess Village" ("Das Schachdorf" in German) due to its famous chess history. In the year 1011 A.D., Bishop Arnulf II of Halberstadt was brought a Wendish duke by the name of Guncellin as a prisoner. Guncellin was incarcerated in the Stroebeck watchtower, where he was guarded by local peasants. Boredom tormented not only the noble prisoner, but his guards as well. Guncellin carved 32 chess figures and painted a chess board on the table. Then he taught the guards how to play the game. Chess thrived in the village and was passed down from generation to generation. It was played in families, in the village tavern and in the weaving shops. This was at a time when chess was normally restricted to the royal courts and monasteries. Despite the almost complete destruction of Stroebeck in the Thirty-Years War (1618-1648), the chess tradition has remained alive up to the present day.
 
In Stroebeck, chess games with living figures (see the screenshot) began in 1688. In Germany, Stroebeck is unique with respect to its school: Since 1823, chess is a compulsory subject in Stroebeck's secondary school. This tradition was never abolished, even not by the Nazis and also not by the communists in the GDR. But nowadays the German state ''Saxonia-Anhalt'' is so short of money that all secondary schools with less then 20 pupils per year shall be closed. And in Stroebeck for the new fifth class - to start in a few weeks after the summer vacation - only 13 pupils are expected. And administration has said that even 19 pupils would not be enough to save class five! So, Stroebeck's "Chess" School is in severe danger to die in 2003.
 
News flash July 26, 2003 (source: Braunschweiger Zeitung):

The (local) rural districts "Halberstadt" (to which Stroebeck belongs) and "Wernigerode" decided that from now on pupils from the nearby villages "Derenburg" und "Silstedt" are also allowed to go to school in Stroebeck...