marshfield area chess association

The variation familiar to Europeans and Americans traveled through Iran (Persia) to the main commercial centers of Italy and Spain by about 1000 AD. A bit later, sea-faring Vikings carried the game into Scandinavia and Iceland. By 1100-1200 AD, the game became known in central Europe, and was well-established across all of Europe by 1400 AD, with the game rules which we use today. However, Russia's dominance of chess is recent, dating from the communist revolution of 1917, after which government schools for talented chess players were established. The modern design of chess pieces, such as those offered for sale from USCF, bears the name Staunton, who was an English master in the mid-18OO's. It is now used in all tournaments worldwide.

Paul Morphy

The first international chess tournament was the London Tourney of 1851, won by Adolf Anderssen of Germany, who then became known UNOFFICIALLY as the world's best chess player, though he did not receive any award or title.	Bobby Fischer, age 14
The first great American-born chess player was Paul Morphy, of Irish ancestry, who lived in the civil war era. He travelled to Europe in the 185O's, beating all challengers, including Adolf Anderssen. However, the English champion of the time (Staunton) refused to play, so Morphy never became a world chess champ.
The first OFFICIAL championship chess tournament was played in 1866, also in London, with sandclocks to restrict the length of a game. This tournament was won by Steinitz, a Bohemian (Czechoslovakian) Jew, who then became the world's first OFFICIAL chess champion, holding this title until 1894.

Emanuel Lasker, an American born in Germany, also Jewish, became champion by defeating Steinitz, remaining champion until 1921, at which time Jose Capablanca, a Cuban, took the title until 1927. Many people today consider Capablanca as one of the top 3 chess players who ever lived, the others being Morphy and Bobby Fischer. Fischer has recently passed away, shortly after playing another former world champion (Boris Spassky) in Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Fischer, shown to the right at about age 14, when he became US champion, was the first native-born U.S. citizen to have held the title of World Chess Champ.

Anatoly Karpov, Gary Kasparov: London, 1984

Since 1927, most good chess players have been citizens of the former USSR, and include: Tal, Alekhine, Petrosian, Spassky, Smyslov, Anatoli Karpov, and Gary Kasparov (last two at right). A dispute over tournament procedures between Kasparov and the international chess organization F.I.D.E. has resulted effectively in TWO World co-champions: Karpov and Kasparov. American Ben Franklin was a well-known but not particularly good chess player.   A dispute over tournament procedures between Kasparov and the international chess organization F.I.D.E. had resulted effectively in TWO world co-champions: Karpov and Kasparov. Recently, however, Vishy Anand has won the F.I.D.E. championship and is seen by most as the world's chess champ.