| 550 A.D. |
Chaturanga, the earliest precursor of chess, is created in the Punjab. Future variations on chess will use dice to determine the moves.
|
| 600 |
Chess is mentioned in Persian poetry and literature. |
| 620 |
Chess spreads to Egypt. |
| 690 |
Chess prohibited in Japan by Emperor Jito. |
| 700 |
Sa'id Bin Jubair plays the first game of blindfold chess. |
| 770 |
First mention of women playing chess. |
| 800 |
Chess spreads to Europe from the Moors into Spain and from Charlemagne's Empire. |
| 1000 |
Chess spreads to Russia from Byzantium. |
| 1010 |
Chess brought to England via the Danish invasion. |
| 1100 |
Chess is now a regularly accepted feature of noble life. |
| 1150 |
The oldest known chess set, the Isle of Lewis set, discovered in 1831, dates from this period. |
| 1175 |
A French manuscript uses Algebraic Notation. |
| 1220 |
Dice are no longer used to determine chess moves. |
| 1275 |
The optional double pawn move on the pawn's first move is introduced in Italy. |
| 1422 |
First mention of stalemate as a draw. |
| 1475 - 1500 |
Several books exclusively about chess are printed, the most notable being "The Game and Playe of the Chesse" by William Caxton. This is generally considered the birth of 'modern' chess. |
| 1490 |
The En Passant move is introduced. |
| 1496 |
"Art of Chess" is written by Luis de Lucena. |
| 1509 |
Chess is introduced to Indonesia (Java) by Portuguese explorers. |
| 1555 |
Castling as a single move is introduced. |
| 1561 |
Ruy Lopez de Segura (1530-1580) introduces the term gambit. He also proposes the 50-move draw rule. |
| 1613 |
In Shakespeare's "The Tempest" Ferdinand and Miranda play chess. |
| 1641 |
First mention of chess in the Americas by Dutch settlers. |
| 1656 |
The first published smothered mate occurs in Beale's "Royall Game of Chess Playe". |
| 1670 |
The Café de la Regence is established in Paris. |
| 1683 |
Piacenza describes flank openings as 'fianchetti'. |
| 1690 |
The first book to classify openings is published. |
| 1745 |
First edition of Hoyle's games published, with a section on chess. |
| 1749 |
"L'Analyse du Jeu des Echecs" by Philidor (1726 - 95) is published.
"Pawns are the soul of Chess"
|
| 1769 |
Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen invents "The Turk". |
| 1786 |
"The Morals of Chess" is written by Benjamin Franklin while in France, and published in London. |
| 1804 |
The first correspondence game is played between the Hague and Breda. |
| 1813 |
The first newspaper chess column appears in the Liverpool Mercury. |
| 1824 |
Evans (1790 - 1872) discovers the Evans Gambit. |
| 1825 - 1826 |
Edinburgh defeats London (+2-1=2) in a correspondence match. The Scotch Opening is named for this match. |
| 1827 |
"The Turk" is exposed as an automaton by the Baltimore Gazette. |
| 1834 |
Louis Charles Labourdonnais and Alexander McDonnell play 85 games in 6 matches. These are the first matches of consequence. |
| 1836 |
St. Amant is the first to suggest that chess have a time limit. |
| 1836 |
The first chess magazine, "Le Palamede", is published in France. |
| 1838 |
First use of the term "Grandmaster". |
| 1843 |
Staunton defeats St. Amant (+11-6=4) in a match and wins 100 pounds. This was the first match to use seconds. |
| 1844 |
Chess is first played by telegraph between Washington and Baltimore. |
| 1846 |
Stanley defeats Rousseau in the first organized chess event in the U.S. (+15-8=8) |
| 1849 |
The first documented chess tournament is held in London (Buckle won). |
| 1851 |
The first international chess tournament is held in London (Anderssen won). |
| 1854 |
The Turk is destroyed by fire in Philadelphia. |
| 1857 |
Paul Morphy wins the first official tournament in the U.S. |
| 1861 |
The first timed chess game is tried using an sandglass. |
| 1866 |
Wilheim Steinitz defeats Adolf Anderssen and becomes the first official World Champion. |
| 1867 |
First match with mechanical clocks. |
| 1868 |
English cabinet maker Charles Arthur Hooper invents "Ajeeb". |
| 1878 |
First use of a sealed move to adjourn a chess game. |
| 1878 |
Charles Godfrey Gumpel demonstrates "Mephisto". |
| 1882 |
Frideswide Beechey is the first woman to write a chess column and win a brillancy prize. |
| 1883 |
Forsythe notation is first used to describe a chess position. |
| 1884 |
The first patent for a double-faced chess clock is awarded. |
| 1884 |
The first woman's chess tournament takes place in Sussex. |
| 1892 |
First use of abbreviated Descriptive notation. |
| 1894 |
Emmanuel Lasker defeats Steinitz 12-7, to become World Champion. |
| 1895 |
The first cable match between England and the U.S. begins. |
| 1895 |
The title of Grandmaster is first bestowed in St. Petersburg. |
| 1895 |
First use of the Swiss pairing system takes place in Zurich, invented by Muller. |
| 1904 |
The British Chess Federation is founded. |
| 1906 |
First National Correspodence Assocation, the British CCA, formed. |
| 1911 |
First publication of "Modern Chess Openings". |
| 1914 |
Russian players participating in Mannheim tournament interned in Germany when WWI breaks out. |
| 1916 |
The Cafe de la Regence, after remaining open for almost 250 years, closes due to World War I. |
| 1920 |
Alekhine becomes the first Russian champion. |
| 1921 |
Jose Raul Capablanca defeats Lasker 9-5 to become World Champion. |
| 1922 |
Marshall Chess Club opens. |
| 1923 |
Reti's "Modern Ideas in Chess" is published. |
| 1924 |
"Federation Internationale des Echecs" (FIDE) is founded. |
| 1925 |
Nimozwitsch's "Mein System" is published. |
| 1927 |
Vera Menchik becomes the first Women's World Champion. |
| 1927 |
Alexander Alekhine defeats Capablanca 18.5 - 15.5 to become World Champion. |
| 1928 |
The IFSB is formed for correspondence chess. |
| 1930 |
Poland wins the first Chess Olympiad held in Hamburg. |
| 1935 |
Max Euwe defeats Alekhine 15-5 - 15.5 to become World Champion. Alekhine
regains title from Euwe two years later. |
| 1937 |
Koltanowski plays 34 blindfold games simultaneously, winning 24, drawing 10, and losing none. |
| 1945 |
Radio match is played between the USSR and USA. USSR wins 15.5 - 4.5. |
| 1946 |
The USSR finally joins FIDE. |
| 1946 |
The first offical USCF publication, "Chess Life", is launched. |
| 1947 |
Alan Turing specifies the first computer program for chess.
Three years later he will write the first chess program.
|
| 1948 |
Mikhail Botvinnik becomes World Champion two years after the death of Alekhine. |
| 1950 |
FIDE sanctions titles, including Master and Grandmaster. |
| 1957 |
Vassily Smyslov defeats Botvinnik to become World Champion. Botvinnik regains the
title in a rematch the following year. |
| 1959 |
First use of the Elo rating system. |
| 1960 |
Mikhail Tal defeats Botvinnik to become World Champion. Botvinnik, once again,
regains the title in the next year's rematch. |
| 1962 |
Bobby Fischer accuses Russians of cheating after placing 4th in a Candidates match. |
| 1963 |
Tigran Petrosian defeats Botvinnik to become World Champion. |
| 1966 |
Fischer wins 8th and final US Championship. |
| 1967 |
MacHACK VI becomes the first computer chess program to defeat a rated
human (1510) at the Massachussetts State Championship. |
| 1968 |
IM David Levy makes a $3000 bet that no chess computer will beat him
in 10 years. He wins his bet. |
| 1969 |
Boris Spassky defeats Petrosian to become World Champion. |
| 1969 |
Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games" is published. |
| 1970 |
The first all-computer championship is won by CHESS 3.0, from Northwestern University. |
| 1972 |
Bobby Fischer defeats Spassky (12.5- 8.5) in Iceland to become World Champion. |
| 1975 |
Fischer refuses to defend his title, and it is taken by default by Anatoly Karpov. |
| 1976 |
The first microcomputer chess playing machine, Chess Challenger, is created and
becomes immensely popular. |
| 1977 |
CHESS 4.5 wins the Minnesota Open. Stenberg becomes the first
Class A player to lose to a computer. |
| 1977 |
Gaprindashvili becomes the first woman to win a "men's" tournament at Lone Pine. |
| 1981 |
Cray Blitz wins the Mississippi State Championship with a perfect 5.0 score.
It was the first time a computer defeated a master in tournament play. |
| 1985 |
Garry Kasparov defeats Karpov 13 - 11 to become World Champion. |
| 1992 |
Fritz 2 defeats Kasparov in a 5-minute game. This is
the first time a World Champion loses to a computer in any chess game. |
| 1992 |
Fischer beats Spassky 17.5 - 12.5 in acclaimed rematch. |
| 1996 |
IBM's Deep Blue beats World Champion Garry Kasparov in a single game, the
first time the best human in the world is beaten by a computer at tournament time controls.
Kasparov wins the match by a score of 4 - 2. |
| 1997 |
Deep Blue defeats Kasparov 3.5 - 2.5 in a rematch. IBM announces
that Deep Blue is retired. |
| 2000 |
Vladimir Kramnik defeats Kasparov to become World Champion. |
| 2008 |
Viswanathan Anand defeats Kramnik to become World Champion. |
Now go make some chess history of your own...
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