Brief History of Chess

• The modern design of chess pieces bears the name Staunton, who was an English master in the mid-1800's.
• London Tourney - the first international chess tournament played in 1851
• Adolf Anderssen - a German who won the game, London Tourney.
• Adolf Anderssen became the unofficial best chess player of the world because he did not receive any award or title.
• Paul Morphy – the first great American-born chess player
• Paul traveled to Europe in the 1850's, where he beat all challengers, including Adolf Anderssen.
• However, the English champion of the time (Staunton) refused to play with Morphy, so Morphy never became a world chess champ.
• The first official championship chess tournament was played in 1866 in London, with sand clocks to restrict the length of a game.
• Steinitz - a Bohemian (Czechoslovakian) Jew who won the game
• Steinitz - became the world's first official chess champion, holding this title until 1894.
• Recently, Russia dominates the game of chess. This results from the establishment of government schools for talented chess players after the communist revolution of 1917.
• Since 1927, many of the top chess players have been citizens of the former USSR, and include: Tal, Alekhine, Petrosian, Spassky, Smyslov, Anatoli Karpov, and Gary Kasparov.