Online chess community where you can play chess, learn strategies and tactics, read chess news, see book reviews, find rules & tips, get free downloads, and more! http://www.chess.com/ 2007 Chess.com Here are a few of the first chess clubs, in chronological order, up to the 20th century.  Most have disbanded.  I tried to list the founding date and the disbanded date if known. Naples (1610), Café de la Regence (1670-1916), Café Procope (16...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-clubs---a-chronologySat, 28 Jan 2012 18:21:19 -0800http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-clubs---a-chronologyYesterday, January 17, was the day Robert James Fischer (1943-2008), the reclusive 11th World Chess Champion,  died in Iceland at the age of 64.  Here is some trivia on his last years in Iceland. Bobby Fischer was in a Japanese detention cente...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/fischers-last-years-in-icelandWed, 18 Jan 2012 11:49:10 -0800http://blog.chess.com/billwall/fischers-last-years-in-icelandI met Mikhail Tal in 1990 at the Kasparov-Karpov world championship match in New York in which I was a journalist for a few chess magazines.  I also met him in March 1991 in San Francisco and interviewed him during the Pan-Pacific GM chess tourna...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/tal-talesThu, 12 Jan 2012 08:30:29 -0800http://blog.chess.com/billwall/tal-tales Kaissa (the legendary goddess of chess) was a Soviet chess program that dominated international computer chess from 1974 to 1977. Kaissa made use of a pruning technique called "the method of analogies," meaning postions that were so alike that t...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/kaissa-computer-chess-programThu, 29 Dec 2011 21:40:48 -0800http://blog.chess.com/billwall/kaissa-computer-chess-programOn this Veterans Day (11/11/11) I want to pay tribute to all the U.S. Armed Forces chess champions.  In my 25 year USAF military career (1970-1995), I played in many base and Air Force championships, but always missed out qualifying for the Armed...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/us-armed-force-chess-championsFri, 11 Nov 2011 09:52:13 -0800http://blog.chess.com/billwall/us-armed-force-chess-championsI recently read the Q&A Way in Chess by Bruce Pandolfini and found some interesting chess advice as he answered over 200 questions about chess from his readers.  I thought I would pass some of that advice on. Pandolfini first starts out by s...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/pandolfinirsquos-advice-in-chessWed, 12 Oct 2011 07:17:09 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/pandolfinirsquos-advice-in-chessIn 1622, Gioacchino Greco was robbed of all his money (5,000 crowns) that he won in Paris from playing chess while on his way to London. In 1897, William Wilson, age 55, a prominent member of the Franklin chess Club in Philadelphia and bookseller...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/crimes-against-chess-playersThu, 06 Oct 2011 08:47:18 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/crimes-against-chess-playersIn 1783, Philidor played three blindfold games simultaneously. In 1858, Louis Paulsen (1833-1891) played 15 games blindfolded simultaneously in Dubuque, Iowa.  The display was stopped after 9 hours of play.  He may not have finished all the gam...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/simultaneous-and-blindfold-displaysThu, 29 Sep 2011 11:42:09 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/simultaneous-and-blindfold-displaysBefore there was Vasik Rajlich and Rybka, before there was IBM and Deep Thought and Deep Blue, there was the Slate/Atkin program called Chess x.x. Chess x.x (Chess 2.0 to 4.9) was the modified version of the chess program Chess, which was a compu...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/the-slateatkin-program-and-chess-xxFri, 23 Sep 2011 13:37:54 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/the-slateatkin-program-and-chess-xxVladimir Vladimorovich Nabokov was born on April 22, 1899 (April 10, 1899 Old Style) in St. Petersburg, Russia.  After the 1917 February Revolution, his family was forced to flee St. Petersburg.  They moved to the Crimea and lived at a friend'...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/nabokov-and-chessFri, 09 Sep 2011 16:50:36 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/nabokov-and-chessWith the 100th anniversay of Mikahil Botvinnik's birthday, I thought it would be a good idea to add some Botvinnik trivia. Mikhail (Mischa) Moiseyevich Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911, which was August 4, 1911 old style as recognized in Rus...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/botvinnik-triviaTue, 06 Sep 2011 19:49:29 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/botvinnik-triviaTom Swifties derive their name from Tom Swift, a courageous and inventive hero and inventor in adventure novels that first appeared in 1910.  The series main writer was Edward Statemeyer (1862-1930) who gave Tom a simple statement and added a qua...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/tom-swiftiesThu, 01 Sep 2011 11:54:27 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/tom-swiftiesPerhaps the oldest anecdote of violence and chess is the case of al Walid I (668-715) who was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 705-715.  He was playing chess (shatranj) with one of his courtiers, who was a much stronger player than the Caliph, bu...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-and-violenceSat, 27 Aug 2011 21:33:38 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-and-violenceA few years ago, I wrote an article at geocities on Presidents Who Played Chess.  I then included it in an article at Chessville.  Recently, I saw that someone else wrote a similar article that looked a lot like my original article, mentioned at...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/us-presidents-who-played-chessTue, 23 Aug 2011 11:30:34 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/us-presidents-who-played-chessLarry Melvyn Evans was born in New York City on March 22, 1932. In 1944, at age 12, he leaned the game of chess. In 1945, at age 13, he joined the Marshall Chess Club. In 1946, at age 14, he tied for 4th-5th in the Marshall Chess Club champions...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/evans-on-chessSat, 13 Aug 2011 16:39:36 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/evans-on-chessIn 1734, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) played the first reported chess game in America. In December 1734, Reverend Lewis Rou (1680?-1750) of New York City may have been the first American to write about chess.  He wrote a manuscript on chess in ...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-in-early-americaTue, 02 Aug 2011 08:17:31 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-in-early-americaBefore there was the telephone and the Internet, there was the electrical telegraph.  Unlike the telephone, the telegraph was used much more for commercial than social purposes.  The telegraph companies advertised chess matches to show the pract...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/the-telegraph-and-chessFri, 29 Jul 2011 06:23:41 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/the-telegraph-and-chessThere have been quite a few chess book collectors and dealers who have collected large chess libraries.  Here a a few of the more well-known chess book collectors and dealers.  I am sure there are a lot more, including some readers here. George...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-book-collectors-and-dealersWed, 27 Jul 2011 12:14:02 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-book-collectors-and-dealersMany chess players were born in one country but moved or settled in another country to play chess.  Here is a list of some chess players and their adopted countries. Elena Akhmilovskaya (1957- ) was born in Leningrad.  In 1977, she was awarded ...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-plaers-and-adopted-countriesSat, 23 Jul 2011 14:13:22 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/chess-plaers-and-adopted-countriesIn 1624, playwright Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) was arrested in London after producing a play, A Game of Chess, that satirized the proposed marriage of Prince Charles with a Spanish princess.  The play was performed in the Globe Theater in Londo...http://blog.chess.com/billwall/arrested-chess-playersFri, 22 Jul 2011 12:01:50 -0700http://blog.chess.com/billwall/arrested-chess-players