European Chess History: From Past to Present
Europe is a continent that can amaze you from the first look. Even while having a lower population than other continents, it dominates a lot of things. The most popular sport? (We all know what sport I'm talking about ⚽) Dominated by Europe. The world? 🌍 Dominated by Europe.
Excluding our beloved America, The leading nations of our world are mostly from Europe (although subject to change, with the likes of developing countries like India, China, Indonesia, and The Philippines).
But how about we look at this from a different angle? They may dominate the most popular physical sport, but do they dominate the most popular mental sport - Chess? Let's take a look through their history, to see if they really do!
Disclaimer: As Russia is Eurasian, meaning it's not fully in Europe, I'll separate sections about Russia from sections about the whole of Europe. And I might sometimes use the word "Russian", and other times "Soviet" when referring to players or the region itself.
European Chess: The Russian Start
Chess has around a millennium of recorded history in Russia. Starting from the 9th century, chess was brought into Old Russia from a trade route that goes by the name of the Volga-Caspian. In the 10th century, Russia had cultural connections with the Byzantine Empire (mentioned later) and the Vikings. Some influence in Russian chess probably came from such connections.
Chess has been mentioned in Russian folk poems as a popular game and included in the Old Russian byliny. From 1262, Chess was called as "Shakhmaty" in Russia. Many foreign travellers that went to Russia at that time made a point of how "Chess is Popular among all classes in Russia". Ivan IV The Terrible, ruler of Russia from 1530 to 1584, Is said to have passed away while playing chess.
Ivan's dead body minutes after playing a beautiful game of chess. Maybe we shouldn't say he played a beautiful game, because if he was named "The terrible", he didn't do too many beautiful things for his country.
European Chess: The Mainland European Start
Shatranj, one of the earlier versions of chess, made it's way to Europe through the Islamic-Arabian empire. It spread to the Byzantine Empire, where it was named "zatrikion".
A modern day zatrikion set. I'd call it circular chess to be honest with you...
Chess popped up In Southern Europe at the ending of the first millennium, mostly coming to new lands through the conquering of armies, Like the Norman Conquest of England. Previously being almost unknown, chess became famous in Northern Europe after the introduction of figure pieces.
Around the 14th century, Timur made and played an enlarged version of the game which is usually referred to as Tamerlane chess. This complex variation included rules such as how every pawn had it's own purpose, and also additional pieces.
A modern day Tamerlane set. There are lots of differences, like the shapes of the pieces, it having 11 rows, and the back row having pieces do social distancing? Also, why are there 2 additional squares on each color's right side?
The social value of chess associated with lots of nobility and high culture was clear from worthy and excellently made chessboards from the medieval times.
Moorish women playing a good and fun game of chess, and a European woman randomly playing the lute? Strange, but the music better be good.
The popularity of the game in western society peaked from between the 12th to 15th centuries. The game was mentioned a lot in Latin language scriptures throughout europe, and many works related and about chess were created in the 12th to 15th centuries.
The pieces from Islamic countries took a change of shape in Europe due to Christian cultures. Carved images of men and animals reappeared, the shape of rooks changed, and the top of the piece now called as a bishop in present times, was often called a "fool's cap".
12th-century Lewis chessmen from the National Museum of Scotland. They seem a little devious...
In the middle of the 12th century, chess set pieces were being depicted as kings, queens, bishops, knights, and "men at arms". But during the mid 13th century, the usually nondescript pawn had found association as the footman, which symbolized infantry.
European Chess: 15th - 18th Century Relics Of History
The Queens and Bishops were still pretty weak, until between 1475 AD and 1500 AD, in The Kingdom of Valencia, (Inside of modern day Spain) the Queens and Bishops moves transformed and were changed into the way we move them today.
It started to change, and further spread into other regions in the world. This form of chess was sometimes named "Queen's Chess" or "Mad Queen Chess" (Italian alla rabiosa = with the madwoman). This made the value of the previously minor tactic of Pawn Promotion skyrocket.
This is how I feel after making a queen in the endgame. It still feels like a big gain to promote your pawn, seems like some things still stay the same even after 5 centuries!
These new rules and regulations spreaded quickly throughout Spain and the rest of Western Europe, except rules about the infamous stalemate, which were finalized in the 19th century. The modern move of the queen might have started as an extension of it's past ability to move two squares by jumping, straight, or diagonally moving. In some areas of Russia, the queen could even move like a knight!
The queen was not just a royal woman, but a knight. Meaning she balanced being powerful and being a gigachad. But of course, that's just from the Russian POV.
A poem Caïssa published in 1527, was one of the first things that led to the rook being called "the castle", and helped the modern rook gain its known shape today.
Being regarded as one of the first professional players of chess, Gioacchino Greco, was an Italian player. He wrote an analysis of a number of composed games that illustrated 2 different approaches to chess. His work was substantial in the growth of chess's popularity, and showed many theories interms of tactics and gameplay.
Many theories about how to play chess came in the 15th century. Spanish bishop Ruy Lopez de Segura (You might recognize him from the name!) developed elements of openings and started to analyze simple endgames.
In the 18th century, the center of European Chess moved from southern Europe, to France. The two most crucial french players were François-André Danican Philidor, a professional musician, who was one of the first to understand the important strategy behind pawns, and has a famous opening named after him. The other was Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais.
Photo of François-Andre Danican Philidor. The man that The Philidor's Defense was named after.
European Chess: Soviet/Russian Dominance Until Now
Vladimir Lenin was one of the leaders of the Soviet Union back in the early 20th century. He was not really one of the best people, but he was very influential for chess in the USSR to be popular. He was actually an avid chess player, and recommended everyone in his country to play chess and make it regularly played throughout the nation. He was the one who started the upcoming of chess in Soviet Russia.
Lenin in the month of July 1920. I wonder why he almost always looks like the rock in pictures. I guess he has extremely thick eyebrows.
Mikhail Botvinnik, former world champion between 1948-57, 1958-60, and 1961-63, was one of the first and most crucial players to develop in the USSR and is considered by many as one of the greats. Just after world war II, he was one of the five people who were in the 1948 World Chess Championship, and he was the winner, with a score of 14/20, 3 points clear. While on vacation to Riga after the tournament, a young eleven-year-old by the name of Mikhail Tal came knocking to his door, hoping to play a game of chess. It was answered by Botvinniks wife, telling him Botvinnik was taking a rest after winning his first championship.
The crowd during a 1948 WCC game between Botvinnik and Reshevsky. I don't think that's a screen, so I'm wondering who moves the pieces for the crowd to see...
He later continued his reign until 1957, where he finally had a challenge by Vasily Smyslov and lost. But that did not last very long, as in the rematch Botvinnik won and gained back his title. Smyslov said he was not in good health, so his form wasn't good during the rematch.
Botvinnik and Smyslov playing their little game of chess. They look pretty similar!
In 1960, the same little boy who wanted to challenge him to a regular game of chess, Mikhail Tal, challenged him for his title in the WCC and caused some problems, as Botvinnik lost. But Botvinnik won the rematch, as he avoided the closed endgames where Tal cooks in. But, reporters agree Tal played worse because of his bad health. Why couldn't they just avoid stuff like this by changing the date? Who knows...
Enough of Botvinnik, let me show you his pupils and the Russian talents he created. Being the patriarch of the Soviet Chess School means he was one great teacher, and this is proven by his two main pupils. First, let me show you Anatoly Karpov. His oldest student, who became one of the greatest.
Karpov was the World Champion between 1975 and 1985, and won the Chess Olympiads six different times with his country (1972, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1986, and 1988). In 1975, he was anticipated to face Bobby Fischer in a world championship match, but Fischer had different plans. He stated that it should be first to 10 wins, draws not counting, and if the score is 9-9, then the current champion retains his title. The FIDE President at the time, Max Euwe (former world champion as well), did not accept his terms, and Fischer didn't want to play with FIDE's conditions. So, Karpov got the title without playing a single game against the champion! But, Karpov said this years later about the incident.
"I don’t know how Fischer feels about it, but I consider it a huge loss that he and I never played our match. I felt like the child who has been promised a wonderful toy and has it offered to him but then, at the last moment, it’s taken away."
- Anatoly Karpov
The quote seems really sad, he might've really wanted to play Fischer. He even asked Fischer to play the game with his rules, regardless of FIDE's decision, and Fischer declined.
Karpov in 1976 with FIDE President and historic player Max Euwe and his wife. Euwe has that Squidward meme face. 🗿
Well, for the next 9 years, Karpov dominated the chess world as champion with his intelligence and style of play, until the 1984 WCC came. He faced off the other student of Botvinnik, who goes by the name of Garry Kasparov. The first player to win six games would win the matchup.
Karpov took an early lead with 4-0 after 9 games. But it wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would. As the next 17 games were drawn! In game 27, Karpov took his fifth win and he only needed one more. In game 31, he had a winning position, but failed to convert and settled for a draw.
He lost the next game, and 14 more drawn games finished. But, in game 41, he had a winning position which he blundered in. leading to a draw once again. (He must be cursed in games ending with one...) After Kasparov won game 47 and 48, FIDE President Florencio Campomanes terminated the game due to the players health seeing a clear downgrade. Karpov lost 10 KG (22lb) in the duration of the match.
If he played 500+ games, he could've lost as much weight as Mr. Nikocado Avocado here! 🏋️
They later had a rematch in 1985. Due to the incident before, FIDE returned to the previous format, with a limit of 24 games, and if the score was 12-12, Karpov would remained champion. Karpov would've needed to win the last match to draw and keep his title, but he lost and gave the title to Kasparov. The match finished 13-11 for Garry.
Karpov remained a formidable opponent and rival for Kasparov as world number 2 throughout the years that passed. He faced Garry multiple times in other WCC matches and in all of them he had winning chances but failed to get the win each time. In their 1987 match, Karpov needed only a draw the last game to get his title back. But, under time pressure, he missed a variation that led to a forced draw, and conceded other mistakes that further led to his demise, with the title ending up in Kasparovs hands once again.
1987, Karpov standing on a bridge with Kasparov (left) and Dutch Grandmaster Jan Tinman (right)
Let me move on to Kasparov. Many consider him, even in this day and age of chess where getting better and analyzing games is so easy with newly founded technology, the GOAT. If not, hes undisputedly top 3 of all time (I myself consider him the #2).
He holds the record for the most consecutive months of being world #1 (255 months), and held the record for highest FIDE rating until broken by Magnus Carlsen in 2013.
He was the youngest player to ever get the world chess champion title, and defended it three times Against Karpov. He kept this title until 1993, where a dispute between him and FIDE resulted in Garry making a rival association and breaking off from FIDE which meant he no longer had the undisputed champion title. Thankfully, they resolved that problem in 2006, and he is one classy player.
"Hardworking or Talent? Hardworking is a talent itself."
- Garry Kasparov
There are many other players important to the USSR and Russia's history. Like Mikhail Chigorin (from the 19th century), Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Vladimir Kramnik (He is a very controversial man, with interesting takes), Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, etc.
There are also still many current Russian players that are excellent at the game, and are well-known top GMs, although lots of them have changed federations since the Russian-Ukrainian war. Some names include: Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniatchi (contender for world champion last year), Alexander Grischuk, etc.
Nepomniatchi facing Ding Liren in the 2023 WCC final game—Looking frustrated after an infuriating mistake. I would be disappointed too if I made one in the WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP.
European Chess History: Actual European History From The 20th Century
Although most of Europe's chess history comes from Russia, don't be fooled by that. Lots and lots of history lies outside of Soviet territory. For instance, old Austrian player Wilhelm Steinitz from the late 19th century.
Steinitz was the first ever player to earn the World Champion title. Even while considering this fact, many statistical rating systems give Steinitz the lowest rating out of all chess champions in history. That doesn't mean he was a weak player though, as Steinitz was unbeaten in match play for 32 years between 1862 to 1894!
Although Steinitz became world no. 1 by going all out on his attack, he switched to a more positional play over the years that passed. Some people criticized him for his "cowardly" play. But he silenced them, as his positional play still could lead opponents into deadly tactical attacking positions.
Wilhelm Steinitz. He wore glasses, and I don't see too many chess players who wear glasses. Write in the comments if you wear glasses! 🤓
Steinitz was also a very prolific writer (You could call him a blogger 🤔) on chess and defended his new theories. The debate was so aggressive, that it was later called the "Ink War" (Dont ask me why...). But in the 1890s, Steinitz's approach to the game was respected and acknowledged by the next generation of chess, most notably the next world champion, Emanuel Lasker.
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, who worked as a Mathematician, and a philosopher at the same time. He was the second world chess champion, being the successor of Wilhelm Steinitz. Lasker held the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any recognized world champion.
Other players said that Lasker had a more psychological approach to the game, and sometimes played inferior moves on purpose to confuse the opponents. Lasker knew analyses of openings well but disagreed with many of them. He published chess magazines and five chess books in his time of being a chess player.
Photo taken of Emanuel Lasker. His mustache is very nice and exquisite. 🥸
Lasker contributed lots to the development of other board games. He was a first-class player of contract bridge and wrote about it, Go, and his own board game, Lasca. His philosophical works and drama that he co-created received little attention, however. For more detail on Lasker and his story, you can go to @2000Knight's intriguing blog that covers it.
Now, moving on to the present times, we have Alireza Firouzja, a 21 year old born in Iran, but representing the french federation since 2021. Firouzja is the youngest player to ever reach 2800, breaking Magnus's record by five months.
Firouzja has an older brother by the name of Mohammedreza (similar to Firouzja's first name). He plays competitive chess and sometimes streams with his little brother.
In 2016, he was given the International Master title by FIDE, despite being very young, at 13 years of age. In April 2017, he had his best performance to date when he scored 6/9 at the Aeroflot Open, a tournament consisting of about 80 grandmasters and several being in the top 100 players in the world. He won against many grandmasters during that tourney, which led him to his GM norm.
In 2019, he made a big leap in his rating. Going from 2618 at the start of the year, to 2723 at the end. On the 27th of December of that year, he announced he would stop playing for the Iranian chess federation, and played for FIDE for the time being.
For 2021, he finally started playing in July of that year. This was also one of the most crucial years of his career, as he hit his peak rating in December (2804) and hit an achievement of being world #2. Since then, his career has been steady and going great, and maybe we'll see him as a world champion one day!
Firouzja at the 2024 Candidates Tournament. I just realized he grew a beard!
Now, how about arguably the GOAT of chess, world no. 1 and former world champion Magnus Carlsen? He's Norwegian, which not many people realize is pretty unique. Norway is not known as a chess nation, but of course, they are the one's who get the GOAT.
He is still world no. 1, holding that title since 2011. He also holds the highest peak rating in history, that being 2882. He became world champion in 2013 after defeating Vishy Anand. He defended his title many times later. Defending it against Karjakin in 2016, defending it against Caruana in 2018, and defending it in 2021 against Nepo.
Magnus against Nepo in the WCC, 2021. I sometimes feel bad for Nepo, but I saw one video where he was being very arrogant and I'm not so sure anymore.
He refused to defend it in 2023, due to a lack of motivation. I once heard it's because he wasn't gonna face Firouzja, but I'm not sure about that. Ding Liren became his successor, after Nepo failed to earn the title once again.
He was even great at a young age. In March 2004, he won against Anatoly Karpov in a blitz tournament held in Iceland. It was an event leading up to a rapid tournament the next day. In that tourney, he faced Kasparov twice, when Kasparov was the highest rated player at that time. Although losing the 2nd game, leading to his knockout, he drew with the top-rated player. At such a young age, it was definitely an amazing feat.
13 year old Magnus Carlsen playing against Kasparov, if only people knew how legendary Carlsen would become in the future.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
If this seems rushed, it is. But try to write 2 whole long sections in 3 days! Anyways, Europe has always interested me with it's culture, tourist locations, and how they play their sports. We covered many players, like Steinitz, Lasker, Botvinnik, Tal, Smyslov, Kasparov, Karpov, Karjakin, Nepo, Firouzja, Magnus, etc.
By the way, thank you so much for reading! I hope it engaged you, especially because I haven't blogged in a while so I might be rusty. And to answer the question at the start: Yes, Europe definitely dominates chess, but there are still many strong chess nations outside of Europe like the US, India, Uzbekistan, China, and many more!
I'll have to end it here now, I hope you learned some history from this, and the information could help you in the future. I'll see you in the next one! 👋
