In 1895, the first transatlantic cable match (moves transmitted by telegraph) was played between the British Chess Club and the Manhattan Chess Club. In 1897 a cable match between the British House of Commons and the U.S. House of Repr... Read more »
Perhaps the most famous of coffee house where chess was played. This coffee house was opened up in Paris by an American in 1670. Chess players from Café Procope moved to the Café de la Regence. Around 1740 che... Read more »
The muse or goddess of chess, originally a wood-nymph, in a poem by Sir William Jones written in 1763 (and published in 1772) called Caissa. It was inspired by Vida’s Scacchia Ludus (written in 1513 and published in 1535), the poem tha... Read more »
Longest running annual match in chess. The traditional series began in 1873 with the help of future world champion Wilhelm Steinitz (won by Oxford University 10-3). The univerisities actually started playin in 1871, but the early match... Read more »
Florencio Basa Campomanes, born Feb 22, 1927, was the first non-European elected FIDE President (1982-1995). In 1956, he was the first National Master of the Philippines Chess Federation. He played Board 2 for the Philippines in the 19... Read more »
Chess has been played in Canada since at least 1759. General Sir John Hale and General Wolfe played chess during the taking of Quebec in 1759. The Montreal Chess Club was founded in 1844. The Canadian Chess Association (CCA) was ... Read more »
Esteban Canal (1896-1981) was a Peruvian International Master (1950) who received an Emeritus (honorary) Grandmaster title in 1977 at the age of 81. This made him the first Peruvian Grandmaster. Canal lived in Venice, Italy since 1923,... Read more »
Cuban-born, Jose Capablanca (1888-1942) was American-educated and sent to a private school (Woodycliff School of South Orange) in New Jersey when he was 16 in 1904. He joined the Manhattan Chess Club at that time and impressed many of the pl... Read more »
Ruth Cardoso was born in Salvador, Brazil on February 9, 1934. In 1970, she was awarded the title of Woman International Master (WIM) from FIDE. She won the South American Women’s Championship in 1966, 1969... Read more »
Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian child chess prodigy, was born Nov 30, 1990, and gained the Grandmaster title (2004) at the age of 13 years, 4 months and 27 days. He became the 2nd youngest GM in chess history, behind only Sergey Karjakin and Pari... Read more »