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Chess History |
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Written by John Knightly
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Wednesday, 20 September 2006 |
A comprehensive history of the highly popular match of wits, the game of chess.
The most common theory regarding the origins of chess is that it derives from a game played in India around 600 AD called Chaturanga. An alternative theory suggests that the earliest version of the game was Xiangqi, a game played in China from the second century BC. Whatever the true origin, the game made its way into Persia, where it was named Chatrang. The Persian word “shah”, meaning king, is thought to be the origin of the English name “Chess” and the phrase “shah mat”, the king is dead, the origin for the word checkmate.
The Arabian conquest of Persia introduced the game into the Islamic world. There it flourished under the name of Shatranj and it is at this point that the first works of Chess literature appear. From Persia Chess continued to spread into Russia and Scandinavia via various trade routes, into the Balkans via the Byzantine Empire and by means of further Arabic conquests into western Europe.
The end of the 10th century sees the earliest reference to Chess in European literature. The game soon became popular with the nobility, a fact which contributed to its spread through the continent. An array of literary references as well as artwork and a few surviving boards and pieces give us clues as to how the game was played.
Towards the end of the 15th century, a change of rules originating in Italy transformed the game of Chess into the game we know today. Within a few decades only, the slow, old version of the game was replaced by a rapid and exciting new one, and soon the best players were investigating the finer subtleties of the opening and of the endgame.
So what was this major revolution? Most notably the firz, a weak piece placed next to the King in the Arab game Shatranj, and the fil (elephant), a piece limited to diagonal two-square steps, were given more powers, the first eventually becoming the powerful modern Chess Queen and the second transforming into the far-ranging Bishop. New rules such as castling, the two-square Pawn advance and the “en passant” capture were also added.
New chess literature, written and published mostly in the Italian and Iberian peninsulas by the greatest talents of the period, contributed to the development of skill in those regions and to an early understanding of Chess theory. The greatest of these player/writers was the Italian Gioacchino Greco, though there were others, such as the Spanish priest Ruy Lopez, who also had a claim to fame. In other countries development was slower, although in royal circles the game never wavered in popularity.
The Italian and Iberian dominance did not remain unchallenged. By the mid-18th century, France had caught up and for the next hundred years it was the French players who reigned supreme. Chess was now played in nearly every café in Paris, most notably in the Café de la Régence, where men of note such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Philidor, Robespierre, Napoleon and Deschapelles as well as others were numbered among the players. Philidor, one of the great French players, wrote the first book to treat the strategical side of chess in depth and gave his name to 1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6, the Philidor Defense.
In the early 19th century a series of matches between French and English top players marked the rise of England as the world leader in Chess. In 1834 the Irish player McDonnell was beaten by the French La Bourdonnais but only a few years later, in 1843, it was England's greatest player Staunton who came away victorious, beating the French Saint-Amant. The McDonnell-La Bourdonnais match is the first recorded international challenge match and both matches are considered today as an unofficial world championships.
Early 19th century is also the period that saw the appearance of the first Chess clubs, Chess magazines and Chess columns in the general press as well as further distribution of books on the subject, all of which contributed to the growing popularity of the game. Parsloe's and the London Chess Club were among the first clubs to be established, both visited by the greatest players of the day. The first Chess magazine, Le Palamède, appeared in France in 1836 and the first Chess column in the press appeared in 1813, in the “Liverpool Mercury”. Although the great players were traveling internationally to play against each other already from the second half of the 16th century, it was only in 1851 that the first international tournament took place, in London, organized by Staunton. Other tournaments followed and in 1927 the first official Chess Olympiad took place, also in London.
While France and England were battling it out with each other, interest in the game was rising in other countries in Europe and beyond. In Germany a group of players known as the Pleiades were showing real talent and other strong players were making an appearance in Eastern Europe, notably in Hungary. America followed shortly after with players such as Paul Morphy.
Russia too was witnessing at this time the rise of its first great players of the modern era. Books were published, clubs founded and by the end of the 19th century the country had produced its first world class player, Mikhail Chigorin. He was followed by the likes of Alexander Alekhine and Mikhail Botvinnik, whose victory at the world championships in 1948 fully established the Soviet hegemony in the field. In the following decades the world title remained firmly in Soviet hands, the only exception being Robert Fischer from the USA, who won the title in 1972. The Soviet teams were equally dominant, loosing only twice in the Olympiads since playing for the first time in 1952. Such hegemony meant that the Soviet individual championship was often the strongest chess event in the world in a single year and the list of winners includes the biggest names in 20th century Chess.
The first official match for the title of world champion took place in 1886 and was won by Wilhelm Steiniz. The championship was conducted in an informal way, the reigning champion being challenged by any player who felt strong enough and the winner of the match becoming the new champion. When in 1946 Alekhine died unchallenged, a new solution had to be found and for the first time FIDE, founded in 1924, was brought into the picture. In 1948 Fide organized a tournament between five of the world's leading players, the winner Botvinnik becoming the new champion. FIDE continued to organize the championship until in 1993, claiming corruption and lack of professionalism within the organization, the champion Kasparov and his challenger Nigel Short broke with FIDE to set up the Professional Chess Association. Since then there have been to simultaneous world champions an championships. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 October 2006 )
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