Timeline of chess
This is a timeline of chess.
Early history
- 6th century - The game chaturanga probably evolved into its current form around this time in India.
- 569 - A Chinese emperor wrote a book of xiangqi, Xiang Jing, in AD 569.
- c. 600 - The Karnamuk-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan contains references to the Persian game of shatranj, the direct ancestor of modern Chess. shatranj was initially called "Chatrang" in Persian (named after the Indian version), which was later renamed to shatranj.
- c. 720 - Chess spreads across the Islamic world from Persia.
- c. 840 - Earliest surviving chess problems by Caliph Billah of Baghdad.
- c. 900 - Entry on Chess in the Chinese work Huan Kwai Lu ('Book of Marvels').
- 997 - 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 - Earliest recorded use of algebraic chess notation.
- 1283 - Alfonso X compiles the Libro de los juegos, with an extensive collection of chess problems.
- 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 Göttingen 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.
- 1475-1525 - The modern moves for the queen, bishop, and castling are slowly adopted.
- 1475 - Scachs d'amor the first published game of modern chess, written as a poem.
- 1497 - Luis Ramirez Lucena publishes the earliest surviving work on the modern European game.
- 1510 - Marco Girolamo Vida wrote Scacchia ludus(The Game of Chess) with the first reference to a goddess of chess.
- 1512 - Pedro Damiano publishes one of the first chess treatises, Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li partiti
- 1561 - Ruy López coins the word gambit to describe opening sacrifices.
- 1690 - Openings are now systematically classified by the Traite de Lausanne.
18th century
19th century
- 1802 - Earliest known American chess book, Chess Made Easy, by J. Humphreys.
- 1813 - The Liverpool Mercury prints the world's earliest chess column.
- 1824 - Earliest known British correspondence chess match, London-Edinburgh.
- 1830 - Earliest recorded instance of a modern female chess player.
- 1834 - Earliest recorded international challenge match: Alexander McDonnell (Ireland) versus Louis de la Bourdonnais (France) at the Westminster Chess Club, London.
- 1843 - Howard Staunton (England) wins a match against Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant (France) in Paris.
- 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 chess set created by Nathaniel Cook.
- 1851 - First international tournament is held in London, and won by Adolf Anderssen.
- 1852 - Sandglasses are first used to time a game.
- 1857 - First American Chess Congress, won by 20-year-old Paul Morphy, causes a chess epidemic across the U.S.
- 1857 - The UK Chess Association is formed.
- 1858 - The California Chess Congress is held in San Francisco, won by Selim Franklin
- 1859 - Paul Morphy declared unofficial world champion after two years of international play
- 1861 - Games played via transoceanic cables (Dublin-Liverpool).
- 1867 - Mechanical game clocks are introduced in tournament play.
- 1870 - Earliest recorded tournament in Germany (Baden-Baden).
- 1871 - Durand publishes the first book on endgames.
- 1873 - The Neustadtl score system is first used in a tournament.
- 1877 - Formation of the Deutsche Schachbund.
- 1879 - First New Zealand Chess Championship, the longest running national chess championship in the world.
- 1883 - Invention of Forsyth notation.
- 1884 - Paul Morphy dies.
- 1886 - First official World Chess Championship match held between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort. Steinitz wins decisively with the score 12½-7½ to become the first official world champion.
- 1888 - First international correspondence tournament.
- 1888 - U.S. Chess Championship starts.
- 1894 - Emanuel Lasker defeats Wilhelm Steinitz in a world championship match to become the second official world champion.
- 1895 - Hastings 1895 chess tournament at Hastings, England.
- 1899 - Chess clocks now have timeout flags.
20th century
- 1902 - First radio chess match by players on two American ships.
- 1904 - British Chess Federation (BCF) is established.
- 1905 - British national championship for women starts.
- 1907 - Lasker-Marshall World Championship match in several US cities.
- 1910 - José Raúl Capablanca is the first to win a major tournament (in New York) with a 100% score.
- 1911 - The first simultaneous exhibition with more than 100 participants.
- 1913 - Publication of H. J. R. 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.
- 1921 - José Raúl Capablanca defeats Emanuel Lasker in Havana +4 −0 =10 to become the third official world champion.
- 1924 - Establishment of Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE).
- 1924 - Staunton set officially adopted by FIDE.
- 1927 - First official Chess Olympiad in London.
- 1927 - Alexander Alekhine defeats Capablanca at Buenos Aires with +6 −3 =25 and became the fourth official world champion.
- 1935 - Max Euwe wins the world championship title from Alexander Alekhine in Zandvoort, The Netherlands +9 −8 =13 and became the fifth official world champion.
- 1937 - A record for simultaneous blindfold play against 34 opponents.
- 1937 - Alexander Alekhine regains his champion title from Max Euwe in The Netherlands +10 −4 =11.
- 1941 - Basic Chess Endings by Reuben Fine published.
- 1945 - USA vs USSR Radio match is the first international sporting event after World War II. The USSR scores an overwhelming victory and would dominate world chess for the next 25 years.
- 1946 - Reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine dies in Portugal, leaving the title vacant. FIDE moves to gain control of the world championship.
- 1947 - The first postage stamp with a chess motif was printed by Bulgaria.
- 1948 - Mikhail Botvinnik wins the 1948 World Chess Championship, which was held at The Hague and Moscow. He became the sixth official world champion.
- 1949 - Claude Shannon speculates on how computers might play chess.
- 1950 - FIDE introduces the International Grandmaster (GM) and International Master (IM) titles.
- 1950 - First Candidates Tournament is held in Budapest. David Bronstein wins after a playoff against Isaac Boleslavsky.
- 1951 - Mikhail Botvinnik retains his title after the World Championship match with challenger David Bronstein ends in a 12-12 tie.
- 1951 - First World Junior Chess Championship held.
- 1952 - Soviet Union begins their string of Chess Olympiad victories in Helsinki.
- 1953 - Vasily Smyslov wins the Candidates Tournament at Zurich. The tournament is the subject of a well-known book by David Bronstein.
- 1954 - Mikhail Botvinnik retains his title after the World Championship match with challenger Vasily Smyslov ends in a 12-12 tie.
- 1956 - Vasily Smyslov wins the Candidates Tournament in Amsterdam. Paul Keres finishes second.
- 1957 - Vasily Smyslov defeats Botvinnik by the score 12½-9½ and became the seventh official world champion.
- 1958 - Botvinnik defeats Smyslov in a rematch by the score 12½-10½ to regain the title.
- 1958 - Bobby Fischer qualifies for the 1959 Candidates Match, becoming the youngest ever Grandmaster. This record would stand until 1991.
- 1959 - Mikhail Tal wins the Candidates Tournament in Yugoslavia. Paul Keres finishes second.
- 1960 - Mikhail Tal defeats Botvinnik +6 −2 =13 to become the eighth official world champion and the youngest-ever world champion (a record later broken by Garry Kasparov, who earned the title at 22).
- 1961 - Botvinnik defeats Tal in a rematch by the score +10 −5 =6 to regain the title.
- 1962 - Tigran Petrosian wins the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao, going through the tournament without a defeat. Paul Keres finishes second in a Candidates Tournament for the third consecutive time.
- 1963 - Tigran Petrosian defeats Botvinnik 12½-9½ to become the ninth World Chess Champion.
- 1965 - Boris Spassky wins Candidates Matches against Paul Keres, Efim Geller, and Mikhail Tal.
- 1966 - Tigran Petrosian successfully defends his World Championship title against Boris Spassky, 12½-11½.
- 1967 - Bent Larsen wins the Sousse Interzonal after Bobby Fischer withdraws after ten games while leading with 8½ points. Larsen also wins the first Chess Oscar.
- 1969 - Boris Spassky defeats Petrosian 12½-11½ to become the tenth World Chess Champion.
- 1970 - Bobby Fischer wins the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal 3½ points ahead of his nearest rival.
- 1971 - Bobby Fischer blazes through his Candidates Matches, defeating Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen each 6-0 and Tigran Petrosian by 6½-2½. Fischer establishes a 20-game winning streak in 1970 and 1971.
- 1972 - Bobby Fischer beats Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship 1972, giving chess an unprecedented level of publicity. The score was 12½-8½ to become the eleventh World Chess Champion.
- 1975 - Anatoly Karpov becomes the twelfth World Champion without having defeated the reigning champion as Fischer forfeits his crown.
- 1977 - Female player Nona Gaprindashvili wins the men's tournament at Lone Pine.
- 1978 - Nona Gaprindashvili becomes the first woman to receive the FIDE Grandmaster title.
- 1978 - FIDE Master (FM) introduced as a title below International Master.
- 1978 - First Sargon (chess) chess-playing software for personal computers introduced at the 1978 West Coast Computer Faire.
- 1981 - Anatoly Karpov convincingly defeats challenger Viktor Korchnoi six wins to two to retain the World Championship.
- 1984 - In a controversial decision, the FIDE president abandons the first World Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov after 48 games with Karpov leading 5-3.
- 1985 - Garry Kasparov defeats Anatoly Karpov to become the thirteenth World Chess Champion 13-11, and then dominates world chess for the next 15 years.
- 1986 - Theatrical version of Chess opens in London's West End.
- 1991 - Judit Polgár becomes the youngest ever Grandmaster, breaking Bobby Fischer's record by about a month.
- 1992 - Bobby Fischer plays Boris Spassky in FR Yugoslavia in a rematch of the 1972 World Championship.
- 1993 - Searching for Bobby Fischer motion picture released (in the United Kingdom as "Innocent Moves").
-
- - Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short break from FIDE to play their world championship match, forming the Professional Chess Association.
21st century
- 2001 - FIDE introduces shortened time controls for the knockout world championship held later that year, amid controversy.
- 2002 - Sergey Karjakin becomes the youngest ever Grandmaster at age 12 years and 7 months.
- 2003 - In two separate matches, Kasparov battles Deep Junior and X3D Fritz to draws. These would be the last notable human-computer chess matches that did not result in victory for the computer.
- 2004 - Rustam Kasimdzhanov wins the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 by beating Michael Adams in the final.
- 2004 - Vladimir Kramnik successfully defends his title in the Classical World Chess Championship 2004 against Peter Leko.
- 2005 - Veselin Topalov wins the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 with 10/14 (+6 −0 =8).
- 2006 - World Chess Championship reunited when Vladimir Kramnik defeats Veselin Topalov in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006.
- 2007 - Viswanathan Anand becomes the fifteenth World Chess Champion after winning the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament held in Mexico City. Anand finished the tournament with a score of 9/14 (+4 −0 =10).
- 2008 - Former World Champion Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland at age 64.
- 2008 - Viswanathan Anand successfully defends his title against Vladimir Kramnik in the World Chess Championship 2008.
- 2009 - Eighteen-year-old Magnus Carlsen wins the super-grandmaster (Category 21) Nanjing Pearl Spring Tournament, scoring an undefeated 8-2 in the double round robin event. Carlsen's performance rating for the tournament is 3002, one of the highest in history, and his rating goes over 2800, making him the fifth player (and by far the youngest) to attain that rating level.
- 2009 - Kasparov and Karpov play each other once more, as a commemoration of their World Championship Match 25 years ago.
- 2010 - Viswanathan Anand defends his world title against Veselin Topalov in the World Chess Championship 2010.
- 2011 - Boris Gelfand wins the 2011 Candidates tournament and qualifies to challenge Anand in the World Chess Championship 2012.
- 2012 - Magnus Carlsen achieves an Elo rating of 2861, surpassing Garry Kasparov's record of 2851. Anand defends his world title against Gelfand.
- 2013 - Magnus Carlsen defeats Anand to become the new world champion.
- 2014 - Magnus Carlsen reached his top Elo rating of 2882, the highest in history, in May.
- 2014 - Magnus Carlsen successfully defends his championship against Anand, who had won the Candidates Tournament.
- 2016 - Magnus Carlsen set to defend his championship against the best of a field of challengers who will play off in the Candidates Tournament in Moscow in March.
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