Timeline of chess
Early history
(See also: Origins of chess)
- 6th century - Chaturanga, the earliest form of chess, originated in northwest India.
- 600 CE - A reference in the Karnamuk-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan is the earliest surviving evidence of Chess.
- ca. 720 CE - Chess is brought to the Muslim world.
- ca. 840 CE - First chess problems by Caliph Billah of Baghdad.
- ca. 900 CE - Entry on Chess in the Chinese work Huan Kwai Lu.
- 997 CE - Versus de scachis is the earliest known work mentioning chess in Christian Western Europe.
- 1008 - Mention of chess in the will of Count Uregel, another early reference.
- 10th century - As-Suli writes Kitab Ash-Shatranj, the earliest known work to take a scientific approach to chess strategy.
- late 10th century - Dark and light squares are introduced on a chessboard.
- 1173 - First recorded use of algebraic notation.
- late 13th century - Pawns can now move two ranks on first move.
- late 14th century - The en passant rule is introduced.
- 1422 - A manuscript from Kraków sets the rule that stalemate is a draw.
- 1471 - The Gottingen manuscript is the first book to deal solely with chess.
- 1474 - William Caxton publishes The Game and Playe of Chesse, the first chess book in English.
- 1497 - Lucena publishes the first European work on chess openings.
- 1561 - Ruy López coins the word gambit to describe opening sacrifices.
- 1690 - Openings are now systematically classified by the Traite de Lausanne.
Modern history
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bar:champions1 from:start till:end color:grey
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bar:champions1 at:1740 text:"World Champions"
bar:champions2 at:1740 text:"World Champions"
bar:champions1 at:1993 text:"PCA" align:right shift:(-10,-5)
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from:1886 till:1894 color:ch1 $shift1 text:"
Steinitz"
from:1894 till:1921 color:ch2 $shift2 text:"
Lasker"
from:1921 till:1924 color:ch1 $shift1 text:"
Capablanca"
from:1993 till:2000 color:ch1 $shift1 text:"
Kasparov"
from:2000 till:end color:ch2 $shift2 text:"
Kramnik"
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from:1924 till:1927 color:ch1 $shift1 text:"
Capablanca"
from:1927 till:1935 color:ch2 $shift2 text:"
Alekhine"
from:1935 till:1937 color:ch1 $shift3 text:"
Euwe"
from:1937 till:1946 color:ch2 $shift4 text:"
Alekhine"
from:1948 till:1957 color:ch1 $shift1 text:"
Botvinnik"
from:1957 till:1958 color:ch2 $shift2 text:"
Smyslov"
from:1958 till:1960 color:ch1 $shift3 text:"
Botvinnik"
from:1960 till:1961 color:ch2 $shift4 text:"
Tal"
from:1961 till:1963 color:ch1 $shift5 text:"
Botvinik"
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Petrosian"
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Spassky"
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Fischer"
from:1975 till:1985 color:ch1 $shift1 text:"
Karpov"
from:1985 till:1993 color:ch2 $shift1 text:"
Kasparov"
from:1993 till:1999 color:ch1 $shift2 text:"
Karpov"
from:1999 till:2000 color:ch2 $shift3 text:"
Khalifman"
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Kramnik"
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Ponomariov"
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at:1744 text:"1744
Philidor plays ~two opponents blindfolded in Paris"
at:1763 text:"1763
William Jones invents
Caissa,~ the chess muse"
at:1769 text:"1769 Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen builds~ the
Mechanical Turk"
at:1783 text:"1783 Philidor plays blind chess (3_games)"
at:1802 text:"1802 1st American chess book,~
Chess Made Easy"
at:1813 text:"1813 World 1st chess column~in The
Liverpool Mercury"
at:1824 text:"1824 1st English~correspondence match"
at:1830 text:"1830 1st known modern~female chess player"
at:1834 text:"1834 1st intern. challenge match:~McDonnell (Eng) v~de la Bourdonnais (Fr)"
barset:skip
at:1840 text:"1840 1st postal stamps with~chess motifs"
at:1845 text:"1845 Match by telegraph~between London and Portsmouth"
at:1846 text:"1846 1st German chess magazine:~
Deutsche Schachzeitung"
at:1848 text:"1848 1st known game between~blind players"
at:1849 text:"1849 Staunton set created~by
Nathaniel Cook"
at:1852 text:"1852 1st use of sandglasses~to time a game"
barset:break
at:1857 text:"1857 1st American Chess Congress,~ won by
Morphy"
at:1857 text:"1857 The UK Chess Association is formed"
at:1861 text:"1861 Games are played~via transoceanic cables"
at:1867 text:"1867 Mechanical clocks introduced"
at:1870 text:"1870 1st tournament in Germany~(in_Baden-Baden)"
at:1871 text:"1871 1st book on endgames~(by_Durand)"
at:1873 text:"1873 1st use of
Steinitz vs
Zukertort"
at:1888 text:"1888 1st int. correspondence tournament.~1888 USA Championship starts"
at:1899 text:"1899 Chess clocks now have timeout flags"
at:1902 text:"1902 1st radio chess match~between two American ships"
at:1905 text:"1905 British national championship~for women starts"
at:1910 text:"1910
Capablanca wins major tournament~(in_New York) with a 100% score"
at:1911 text:"1911 1st simultaneous display~over 100 participants"
barset:break
at:1913 text:"1913
Harold Murray's monumental book~
A History of Chess"
at:1919 text:"1919 Capablanca plays a simul.~against 39 players"
at:1921 text:"1921 British correspondence championship starts"
at:1924 text:"1924 Establishment of
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FIDE"
at:1927 text:"1927 1st official
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London"
at:1937 text:"1937 A record for simul. blindfold play ~against 34 opponents"
at:1948 text:"1948 Reigning world champion
Alexander Alekhine~dies in
Portugal"
at:1949 text:"1949
Claude Shannon speculates~on computer chess"
at:1950 text:"1950 Candidates tournaments start"
at:1951 text:"1951
Soviet Union begins string of~Olympiad victories in Helsinki"
at:1977 text:"1977
Nona Gaprindashvili wins~men's tournament at
Garry Kasparov and~
Nigel Short break~from
FIDE to play~world champ. match,~ form
Deep Blue~beats
Kasparov"
</timeline>
- 1744 - Philidor plays two opponents blindfolded in Paris.
- 1763 - William Jones invents Caissa, the chess muse.
- 1769 - Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen builds the Mechanical Turk.
- 1783 - Philidor plays as many as three games simultaneously without seeing the board.
- 1802 - First American chess book, Chess Made Easy, by J. Humphreys.
- 1813 - The Liverpool Mercury prints the world earliest chess column.
- 1824 - First British correspondence match, London-Edinburgh.
- 1830 - First recorded instance of a modern female chess player (an American from Philadelphia).
- 1834 - First international challenge match: McDonnell (Ireland) v de la Bourdonnais (France) at the Westminster Chess Club, London.
- 1840 - Postal stamps with chess motifs begin to appear.
- 1845 - Telegraph is used to transmit moves in a match between London and Portsmouth.
- 1846 - Deutsche Schachzeitung is the first German chess magazine.
- 1848 - Earliest known instance of a game played between blind players.
- 1849 - Staunton set created by Nathaniel Cook.
- 1852 - Sandglasses are first used to time a game.
- 1857 - First American Chess Congress, won by Morphy.
- 1857 - The UK Chess Association is formed.
- 1861 - Games can now be played via transoceanic cables (Dublin-Liverpool).
- 1867 - Mechanical clocks are introduced in tournament play.
- 1870 - First tournament in Germany (Baden-Baden).
- 1871 - Durand publishes the first book on endgames.
- 1873 - The Sonneborn-Berger system is first used in a tournament.
- 1877 - Formation of the Deutsche Schachbund.
- 1883 - Invention of the Forsyth notation.
- 1886 - First official match for the champion title between Steinitz and Zukertort.
- 1888 - First international correspondence tournament.
- 1888 - USA Championship starts.
- 1894 - Emmanuel Lasker defeats Steinitz in a world championship match.
- 1895 - Grand International Chess Congress at Hastings, England
- 1899 - Chess clocks now have timeout flags.
- 1902 - First radio chess match by two American ships.
- 1905 - British national championship for women starts.
- 1910 - Capablanca is the first to win a major tournament (in New York) with a 100% score.
- 1911 - The first simultaneous display with more than 100 participants.
- 1913 - Publication of Harold Murray's monumental book A History of Chess.
- 1913 - The grasshopper is the first fairy piece invented, having its origin in the Renaissance "leaping queen".
- 1919 - Capablanca plays a simul in the House of Commons against 39 players.
- 1921 - British correspondence championship starts.
- 1924 - Establishment of FIDE.
- 1924 - Staunton set officially adopted by FIDE.
- 1927 - First official Chess Olympiad in London.
- 1935 - Alekhine loses his champion title to Max Euwe.
- 1937 - A record for simultaneous blindfold play against 34 opponents.
- 1948 - Reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine dies in Portugal, leaving his title up for grabs in a six-player tournament organised by FIDE.
- 1949 - Claude Shannon speculates on how computers might play chess.
- 1950 - Candidates tournaments start.
- 1951 - Chess World Junior Championship starts.
- 1952 - Soviet Union begins their string of Olympiad victories in Helsinki.
- 1977 - Nona Gaprindashvili wins the men's tournament at Lone Pine.
- 1993 - Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short break from FIDE to play their world championship match, forming the Professional Chess Association
- 1996 - Deep Blue beats Kasparov in the first game won by a chess-playing computer against a reigning world champion under normal chess tournament conditions.
- 2000 - Garry Kasparov loses his title to Vladimir Kramnik
