Thanks to the critically acclaimed and insanely popular Netflix series, The Queen's Gambit, based upon Walter Tevis' 1983 book of the same title, Beth Harmon has become a household name. In interviews Tevis talked about his own troubled childhoo...
The Oxford Companion to Chess, 1984. Hooper, Wyld eds. The idea of classifying players by the handicap offered them by master class players was first recorded by Pietro Carrera in 1617 (Il Gioco degli Scacchi). Since there was no possibili...
With today's interview with IM Watu Kobese, Chess.com concludes our interview series on racism which shares the experiences of chess players around the world and asks what we as a community can do to address racism and inequality. Kobese is a 46...
St. Mary Magdalene Church in 1904 On May 17, 1898 Gertrude Field married Donald Anderson at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Wandsworth Common, England. Gertrude, known to her friends as Daisy (yes, Daisy ...
Preface: An official U.S. Women's Chess Championship has existed for over 80 years. The USCF lists 1937 as the first year. There have been many strong and important women players over the early years ...
There's a tendency for all of us to define chess through its best and most successful adherents. I've always been of the mind that, while there is no doubt that world champions, potential world champions and all other players near that str...
In 1843 Andrei Alexandrovich Ascharin was born in the Estonian coastal town of Pärnu. His parents were of mixed origins: Alexander, of Russian extraction and Louise, of German extraction. This was common amo...
This began many years ago as an experimental type of entry in the chess.com forums. Originally conceived to be an examination of the development of chess throughout the entire 19th century, since it never garnered the i...
Something Old Deep into the 19th century chess was still characterized by match play. The idea of tournaments was slow to catch on. Prior to the London International Tournament of 1851 (the...
At one time there were no official titles in chess. In 1950 FIDE created the Grandmaster, the International Master and the International Women Master titles. The first two sets of titles weren't based on rating...
[cover image from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll; illustrated by Peter Newell, 1902 ] ___________________________________________________________________________________________________...
The Introduction The U.S.S.R team totally demolished the U.S.A. team in a Radio Chess Match played from Sept.1-4, 1945. Not only did this event shine a glaring spotlight on the Soviet chess advancement, but it sp...
As in attics where things once used get stored out of sight and mind, old articles have a way of burying themselves under the weight of those that follow, becoming lost and forgotten. Sometimes it pays to put on an apron and gloves, wall...
The famous Ladies' Chess Club of London was organized at their first meeting on January 14, 1895. Predating that monumental event was the creation of the Women's Chess Club of New York. In 18...
A little perspective: At the turn of the 20th century Harry N. Pillsbury was the dominant American chess player. Most other well known American chess players of that time, such as Jackson Whipps Showalter, Albert Hodges and...
Of all the death notices for Paul Morphy, the following transcription from the New Orleans Times-Democrat, Sunday, July 13th, 1884, written by Charles de Maurian and graciously supplied by WilhelmThe2nd, is by far the best. &n...
A little over 5 years ago I published an article called Lesser Known Games of Prince Dadian in which I presented 29 games absent from all of the databases I consulted. I had found them in and transcribed them from va...
Maria Theresa and Frederick II play chess as Ares watches in an allegory for the Seven-Years War In a kind of Cold War allegory, the Sept. 29, 1947 issue of "Time" featured the Soviet Minister of Foreign...
I recently read an interesting article in Time, written in 2008 by then-world champion Viswanathan Anand, in which he argues that chess originated in India, and then traveled westward to Persia and ultimately to Spain. In the elegant f...
From September 2-21, 1957 the first International Women's Team Tournament (i.e. the first Women's Chess Olympiad) took place in Emmen, Holland. The U. S. team, comprised of Gisela Gresser and Jacqueline Piati...
This is simply a compilation of sparkling games. My original intention was to title this Chess Brilliancies but upon reflection, I wasn't convinced the definition was applicable. I tend to think of brilliancies...
Almost every chess player with the slightest interest in the development of the game knows of François-André Danican, better known by the appellation Philidor, a family name given to his grandfather, Michel Danican, an obois...
"All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray..." Serendipity: As you look for one thing, you often find all sorts of interesting items in the process. I had been searching through California newspaper a...
A classic movie and literary ploy is when the hero must stay out of sight behind enemy lines, and decides to disguise himself as one of his foes. Students of classical literature might recall the ancient story about Achilles, the Greek hero of the...
Note: The cover image was modified from that of a novel of that name written by John Donoghue. The story, set in Auschwitz, is much deeper and serious than this article. There has never been any doubt that chess ...
