Who Invented Chess, looking back at years from the Present to 1924:
Part of the Chess History Guide

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Chess History Guide
Who Invented Chess
[Present to 1924]

Present - 1924

Note: This article was created in January 2010. So that's the era covered by 'Present', in the title.

To anyone interested in the game as a Sport, it won't be long before you start looking to see who are the best players in the World.

With any competitive sport, you'll usually find some sort of World Championship, where only the top players compete until either a team or individual is crowned as the best of the best.

And, Chess is no different.

So, why 1924? Well, that's the year that the current World governing body, for international Chess - FIDE - was formed.

Since FIDE's inception, there have been 13 Undisputed World Champions (beginning with most recent and working backwards):

Viswanathan Anand | India | 2007 - present
Vladimir Kramnik | Russia | 2006 - 2007
Garry Kasparov | Russia & USSR (Azerbaijan) | 1985 - 1993
Anatoly Karpov | USSR (Russia) | 1975 - 1985
Bobby Fischer | USA | 1972 - 1975
Boris Spassky | USSR (Russia) | 1969 - 1972
Tigran Petrosian | USSR (Armenia) | 1963 - 1969
Mikhail Tal | USSR (Latvia) | 1960 - 1961
Vasily Smyslov | USSR (Russia) | 1957 - 1958
Mikhail Botvinnik | USSR (Russia) | 1948 - 1957, 1958 - 1960, 1961 1963
Max Euwe | Netherlands | 1935 - 1937
Alexander Alekhine | France & Russia | 1927 - 1935, *1937 - 1946
Jose Raul Capablanca | Cuba | 1924 - 1927

(Reference: World Chess Championship)

* Alexander Alekhine emigrated to Russia and played under the Soviet flag, where he continued his winning streak during 1937 to 1946.

So, that takes us back to 1924 ... but, competitive Chess - played as a sport - had been on the go much earlier; certainly, long before FIDE came into existence.

Read on, as we continue to piece together Who Invented Chess ...

Moving On: Who Invented Chess: looks back at years 1924-1850 (Page 3).