History of Chess

Chess was played in ancient Egypt, but modern chess, which we play, was played in India in the 3rd to 4th century AD. The first formal chess world championship was played in New York, America in 1886 and Wilhelm Steinitz became world champion of chess. He won against Johannes Zukertort.

Wilhelm Steinitz lost his world champion title in 1894 against Emanuel Lasker and managed to keep it until 1921. However, in 1921, he lost the title to Jose Raul Capablanca, who held it until 1927. Alexander Alekhine beat Capablanca in 1927 to become the world chess champion from 1927 to 1946. He was a good attacker in chess. Max Euwe beat Alexander Alekhine to become the world chess champion from 1935 to 1937, and in 1950, he became the first grandmaster in the Netherlands.

GM Mikhail Botvinnik was the first Soviet world chess champion from 1948-1963. He later became the coach for Karpor, Kasparov, and Kramnik (both of whom were world chess champions). Vasily Smyslov beat Botvinnik and became the world chess champion in 1957-1958.

They played three games in 1954, 1957, and 1958, but Smyslov won only one match in 1957. In 1960, Mikhail Tal became the world chess champion when he was just 23 years old and became the youngest world chess champion. He was a good defensive player and beat Boris Spassky twice, but lost against him in 1969.

In 1969, Boris Spassky became the world chess champion for three years, and he was the last world champion to play the king’s gambit. Bobby Fischer became the world chess champion from 1972-1975 when he defeated Spassky in 1972. He is widely considered to be the best chess player in the world. He is widely regarded as the best chess player in the world.

But he quit chess and doesn’t play chess for 36 years and died in 2008. Anatoly Karpov became world champion in 1975-1985. Gary Kasparov became world chess champion 1985-2000 and he is the best chess player in the world and he broke the record and became the youngest chess world champion when he was just 22. In 1997, Deep Blue (chess computer) won against world champion Garry Kasparov, and it’s a milestone for chess and humanity.

Vladimir Kramnik beat Garry Kasparov and became world champion from 2000 to 2007. Viswanathan Anand became world champion from 2007 to 2013. In 2013, Magnus Carlsen defeated Anand and became the world chess champion from 2013-2023. Some people believe that he is the best chess player in the world (including me) and he has the highest Elo rating in the world (2882). Magnus Carlsen is probably the best chess endgame player. The current world chess champion is Ding Liren, who won against Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2023. Ian Nepomniachtchi has lost twice in the world championship final.