Chess in History

• 1857-11-10 First American Chess Congress is won by Paul Morphy; beats Louis Paulson, 6-2 for a tournament record of 14 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss
• 1858-06-21 Louisiana chess prodigy Paul Morphy arrives in Europe
• 1859-02-26 Paul Morphy's chess match vs Augustus Mongredien begins; Morphy wins
• 1859-04-30 American Paul Morphy, widely regarded as the world's best chess player, retires after returning from a 10-month chess tour of Europe
• 1894-05-26 German Emanuel Lasker becomes undisputed World Chess Champion by beating Austrian-American defending titleholder Wilhelm Steinitz, 10-5 (4 draws) in Montreal, Canada

• 1927-11-29 Russian-French player Alexander Alekhine becomes the fourth world chess champion, defeating reigning champion Cuban José Raúl Capablanca in Buenos Aires
• 1935-12-15 In major upset, Dutch grand master Max Euwe becomes World Chess Champion beating Russian Alexander Alekhine (9 wins, 13 draws, 8 losses) in Zandvoort, Netherlands
• 1937-12-07 Russian chess player Alexander Alekhine recaptures his final world title from Dutch grand master Max Euwe by a large margin (+10−4=11)
• 1945-09-04 American chess grandmaster Reuben Fine wins 4 simultaneous rapid (10 seconds per move) games blindfolded in New York City

• 1958-05-09 Russian Mikhail Botvinnik recaptures world chess championship
• 1960-05-07 Michael Tal beats Mikhail Botvinnik 12½-8½ for world chess championship
• 1961-05-12 Russian Mikhail Botvinnik wins world chess championship for 3rd time
• 1970-08-07 First all-computer chess championship is conducted in New York and won by CHESS 3.0 (CDC 6400), a program written by Slate, Atkin & Gorlen at Northwestern University
• 1972-09-01 American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer beats Russian champion Boris Spassky 12.5-8.5 in Reykjavik, Iceland; most publicised world title match ever played; Fischer 1st American to win title
• 1975-04-03 Bobby Fischer stripped of world chess title for refusing to defend it, title awarded to Russian Anatoly Karpov
• 1977-04-23 Czech chess master Vlastimil Hort plays 201 games simultaneously & only loses 10

• 1988-11-25 US & Soviet chess grand masters Donaldson & Akhmilovskaya wed
• 1990-12-26 Garry Kasparov defeats fellow Russian Anatoly Karpov to retain the world chess championship
• 1992-11-05 "Revenge Match of the 20th century" American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Russian Boris Spassky to win an unofficial match in Belgrade
• 1993-10-21 Garry Kasparov defeats Nigel Short for chess championship
• 1994-01-30 Péter Lékó becomes the youngest chess grand master.
• 1994-08-31 Pentium computer beats world chess champ Garry Kasparov
• 1996-02-10 IBM chess-playing computer Deep Blue becomes the first computer to win a game of chess against a reigning (human) chess champion, Garry Kasparov
• 1996-02-17 Garry Kasparov defeats chess-playing computer Deep Blue 4-2
• 1997-05-03 Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov begins chess match with IBM supercomputer Deep Blue
• 1997-05-11 Chess-playing computer Deep Blue developed by IBM defeats Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov 3.5-2.5 in chess
• 1998-01-09 Anatoly Karpov defeats Viswanathan Anand to retain chess title
• 2012-05-30 Vishwanathan Anand wins his fifth World Chess Championship
• 2012-09-09 Armenia wins the 40th FIDE Chess Olympiad
• 2012-12-01 Ukrainian Anna Ushenina beats Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria, 3½-2½ in 2 rapid tie breaks to win the World Women's Chess Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
• 2012-12-10 Norwegian chess champion Magnus Carlsen breaks Garry Kasparov’s 13-year Elo rating record
• 2013-01-01 Magnus Carlsen breaks Garry Kasparov's chess FIDE rating, reaching 2,861

• 2013-11-22 Norwegian, Magnus Carlsen defeats Viswanathan Anand to win the 2013 World Chess Championship
• 2014-11-23 Magnus Carlsen defends his World Chess Championship title after defeating Vishy Anand
• 2018-06-23 Indian chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa becomes the second-youngest grandmaster at 12 years, 10 months, 13 days
• 2019-07-02 Newly rediscovered Lewis chess piece sells at auction for £735,000 in London
• 2021-06-30 American Abhimanyu Mishra becomes the youngest chess grandmaster ever at 12 years and 4 months, surpassing Sergey Karjakin
• 2023-08-24 Norwegian Magnus Carlsen defeats Indian teenager Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in a tiebreak to win his first Chess World Cup championship [1]
• 2024-02-18 Singaporean chess prodigy Ashwath Kaushik at eight years old is the youngest player to defeat a grandmaster in a classic tournament game at the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open, Switzerland [1]

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 101

• 1726-09-07 François-André Danican Philidor, French composer and chess champion, born in Dreux, France (d. 1795)

• 1794-02-12 Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player, writer (first great Russian chess master), born in Biserovo, Russia (d. 1867)
• 1818-07-06 Adolf Anderssen, German World Chess Champion (1851-66), born in Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1879)
• 1833-11-14 Antonius von der Linde, Dutch-German librarian and historian (history of chess), born in Haarlem, Netherlands (d. 1897)
• 1836-05-17 Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian World Chess Champion (1866-94), born in Prague, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (d. 1900)

• 1842-09-07 Johannes Zukertort, German chess player, born in Lublin, Russian Empire (d. 1888)
• 1845-02-14 Cecil De Vere, English chess player (1st official British chess champion (1866), born in London, England (d. 1875)
• 1856-11-07 Semyon Alapin, Russian chess master, born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire (d. 1923)
• 1860-08-06 Fernando Canon, Filipino revolutionary general, poet, and the Philippines 1st National Chess Champion, born in Biñan, Laguna, Captaincy General of the Philippines (d. 1938)
• 1862-03-05 Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player (d. 1934)
• 1866-03-14 Alexey Troitsky, Russian chess problemist, born in St. Petersburg, Russia (d. 1942)
• 1868-12-24 Emanuel Lasker, German World Chess Champion (1894-21), born in Barlinek, Poland (d. 1941)
• 1872-12-05 Harry Nelson Pillsbury, American chess player, born in Somerville, Massachusetts (d. 1906)
• 1877-08-10 Frank Marshall, American chess player (US Champion 1909-36), born in New York City (d. 1944)
• 1880-12-01 Akiba Rubinstein, Polish chess player (openings theorist), born in Stawiski, Congress Poland (d. 1961)
• 1883-12-26 Carl Ahues, German Chess Master (1950), born in Bremen, Germany (d. 1968)
• 1885-06-22 Milan Vidmar, Slovenian engineer and chess player (d. 1962)
• 1886-11-07 Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian chess player (openings theorist), born in Riga, Russian Empire (d. 1935)
• 1887-02-21 Savielly Tartakower, Austrian-Polish-French chess player, born in Rostov-on-Don, Russian Empire (d. 1956)

• 1889-04-14 Efim Bogoljubov, Russian-German chess player, born in Stanislavchyk, Tarashcha Uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1952)
• 1889-07-29 Lajos Asztalos, Hungarian chess player (International Chess Master 1950), born in Pécs, Hungary (d. 1956)
• 1892-11-01 Alexander Alekhine, Russian, French chess player (world champion 1927-35, 37-46), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1946)
• 1896-09-16 André Chéron, French chess player (French Champion, 1926, 1927 & 1929) and endgame theorist, born in Colombes, France (d. 1980)
• 1901-05-20 Max Euwe, Dutch World Chess Champion (1935-37), born in The Netherlands (d. 1981)
• 1903-08-25 Arpad Elo, American chess writer and creator of the Elo rating system for two-player games such as chess, born in Egyházaskesző, Hungary (d. 1992)
• 1906-02-16 Vera Menchik, Russian-born British chess master, 1st official women's world chess champion (1927-39), born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1944)
• 1907-04-15 Gerald Abrahams, English author (Teach Yourself Chess), born in Liverpool, England (d. 1980)
• 1911-03-01 Harry Golombek, British chess grandmaster and author (3-time British champion), born in London, England (d. 1995)

• 1911-11-26 Samuel Reshevsky, Polish-American chess grandmaster (World C'ship 3rd 1948; 8 x US C'ship gold), born in Ozorków, Poland (d. 1992)
• 1913-02-15 Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (grandmaster 1952), born in Innsbruck, Austria (d. 1997)
• 1914-02-21 Arnold Denker, American chess champion (1944-46), born in New York City (d. 2005)
• 1916-01-07 Paul Keres, Estonian and Soviet chess grandmaster (1950), born in Narva, Estonia (d. 1975)
• 1916-08-20 Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian-German chess player, born in Narva, Estonia (d. 1984)
• 1917-03-19 Laszlo Szabo, Hungarian chess player (d. 1998)
• 1919-06-09 Izaak Boleslavsky, Soviet chess player, born in Zolotonosha, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (d. 1977)
• 1922-02-08 Yuri Averbach, Russian chess player (first centenarian FIDE Grandmaster), born in Kaluga, Russia (d. 2022)
• 1924-02-19 David Bronstein, Ukrainian chess player (d. 2006)
• 1927-07-06 Jan Hein Donner, Dutch chess grand master, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1988)
• 1928-01-03 Frank Ross Anderson, Canadian International Chess Master (1954)
• 1928-04-20 Robert Byrne, American chess player (FIDE Grandmaster), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2013)
• 1928-07-15 Pál Benkő, Hungarian-American chess player, author (Grandmaster; record 8 US Open Championships), born in Amiens, France (d. 2019)
• 1929-05-14 Vladimir Antoshin, USSR, International Chess Grandmaster (1964)
• 1929-06-17 Tigran Petrosian, Soviet Armenian World Chess Champion (1963-69), born in Tiflis, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union (d. 1984)
• 1931-03-28 Anatoly Lein, Soviet-American chess player (Grandmaster 1968; World Chess Hall of Fame), born in Leningrad, Russia (d. 2018)
• 1931-07-23 Viktor Korchnoi, Russian-born chess grandmaster, born in Leningrad (d. 2016)
• 1932-03-22 Larry Evans, American chess grandmaster, author and journalist (5 x US Chess C'ship; 20+ books), born in New York City (d. 2010)
• 1933-03-05 Evgeni Vasiukov, Russian chess grandmaster (World Senior Champion 1995), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 2018)
• 1935-12-08 Tatiana Zatulovskaya, Israeli chess player (Women's Soviet Chess Championship 1960, 62, 63), born in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR (d. 2017)
• 1936-09-09 Mikhail Tal, Soviet Latvian World Chess Champion (1960-61), born in Riga, Latvia, USSR (d. 1992)
• 1937-01-30 Boris Spassky, Russian chess player (world champion 1969-72, born in Leningrad, Russia
• 1937-03-11 Milan Vukcevich, Yugoslavian chemist and a grandmaster of chess problem composition, born in Belgrade, Serbia (d. 2003)
• 1941-05-03 Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian world women's chess champ (1962-78), born in Zugdidi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union

• 1943-11-11 Jan Adamski, Polish International Chess Master (1976)
• 1944-01-12 Vlastimil Hort, Czechoslovak-born German chess player, born in Kladno, Czech Republic
• 1946-08-21 Lev Alburt, International Chess Master (1976), born in Orenburg, Russia
• 1946-10-06 Aleksandr Dronov, Russian Chess Grandmaster (3 x World Correspondence Champion), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 2023)
• 1947-01-08 Igor Ivanov, Russian-born Canadian chess champion (1981-84, 1985- ), born in Leningrad, USSR
• 1949-01-10 Walter S. Browne, Australian-born American chess Grandmaster (1974-78, 1980-84), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 2015)
• 1949-12-13 Nana Alexandria, Georgian International Woman's Chess Grandmaster (1976), born in Poti, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union

• 1951-06-27 Ulf Andersson, Swedish International Chess Grandmaster (1972), born in Västerås, Sweden
• 1951-12-14 Jan Timman, Dutch chess player, born in Amsterdam
• 1955-01-23 Ruth Haring, American chess player and president of the US Chess Federation, born on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (d. 2018)
• 1955-04-23 Tony Miles, English chess player (first Englishman to earn the Grandmaster title), born in Birmingham, England (d. 2001)
• 1955-04-25 John Nunn, English chess grandmaster, born in London
• 1957-03-11 Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya, Leningrad, Soviet Union, Chess Grandmaster, (d. 2012)
• 1960-02-13 Artur Yusupov, Russian chess player, born in Moscow, Russia
• 1960-10-20 Konstantin Aseev, Russian chess player (d. 2004)
• 1961-01-17 Maia Chiburdanidze, Soviet women's world chess champ, born in Kutaisi, USSR
• 1962-10-14 Jaan Ehlvest, Estonian chess player

• 1963-07-25 Julian Hodgson, English chess player, born in London
• 1964-08-25 Vassilios Kotronias, Greek chess grandmaster, born in Athens, Greece
• 1964-10-01 Jonathan Sarfati, New Zealand chess player, scientist, and author (FIDE Master), born in Ararat, Australia
• 1965-06-01 Nigel Short MBE, English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, commentator (Vice-President FIDE; World #3 1988-89), born in Leigh, England
• 1966-01-18 Alexander Khalifman, Russian chess player, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 1966-03-06 Maurice Ashley, American chess player, 1st Black Grandmaster, born in St. Andrews, Jamaica
• 1966-03-30 Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess grandmaster and author, born in Aigio, Greece
• 1969-03-18 Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess player
• 1969-09-06 Ben Finegold, American chess player, born in Detroit, Michigan
• 1969-12-11 Vishwanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster, born in Mayiladuthurai, India
• 1971-12-07 Vladimir Akopian, Armenian chess Grandmaster, born in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
• 1974-06-02 Gata Kamsky, American chess player
• 1975-03-15 Veselin Topalov, Bulgarian chess player
• 1975-06-25 Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess grandmaster, born in Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai, Russia
• 1976-07-23 Judit Polgár, Hungarian chess player (only female chess player to make world's top 10), born in Budapest, Hungary
• 1978-01-08 Boris Avrukh, Israeli chess grandmaster, born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan
• 1978-09-05 Zhang Zhong, Chinese-Singaporean chess player, born in Chongqing, China
• 1983-10-11 Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukrainian chess player, born in Horlivka, Ukraine
• 1984-04-23 Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess grandmaster (Women's World Chess Champion 2008-10), born in Perm, Russia
• 1987-03-31 Humpy Koneru, Indian chess player (youngest woman to achieve title of grandmaster), born in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
• 1988-12-11 Murugan Thiruchelvam, English chess player, born in England
• 1990-01-12 Sergey Karjakin, Ukrainian chess player, born in Simferopol

• 1994-02-27 Hou Yifan, Chinese chess player, born in Xinghua, China

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• 1795-08-31 François-André Danican Philidor, French composer and chess champion, dies at 68
• 1867-04-22 Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player, writer (first great Russian chess master), dies at 73

• 1874-06-22 Howard Staunton, English World Chess Champion, designer of chess pieces, dies at 84
• 1875-02-09 Cecil De Vere, English chess player (1st official British chess champion (1866), dies from tuberculosis at 28
• 1879-03-13 Adolf Anderssen, German World Chess Champion (1851-66), dies at 60

• 1888-06-20 Johannes Zukertort, German chess player, dies at 45
• 1900-08-12 Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian World Chess Champion (1866-94), dies at 64
• 1906-06-17 Harry Nelson Pillsbury, American chess player, dies at 33
• 1908-04-11 Henry Bird, English Chess player and author (b. 1829)
• 1934-02-17 Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player, chess writer, and chess teacher, dies at 71
• 1935-03-16 Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian-born chess player (b. 1886)
• 1938-07-18 Fernando Canon, Filipino revolutionary general, poet, and the Philippines 1st National Chess Champion, dies at 77
• 1941-01-11 Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (b. 1868)

• 1944-06-02 Vera Menchik, Russian born British chess master, 1st official Women's World Chess Champion (1927-39), dies in a London air raid at 38
• 1944-11-09 Frank Marshall, American chess player (US Champion 1909-36), dies at 67
• 1946-03-24 Alexander Alekhine, Russian-French chess player (world champion 1927-35, 37-46), dies choking on meat at 53
• 1952-06-18 Efim Bogoljubov, Russian-German chess player, dies at 63
• 1956-02-05 Savielly Tartakower, Austrian Polish French chess player, dies at 74
• 1956-11-01 Lajos Asztalos, Hungarian chess player (International Chess Master 1950), dies at 67
• 1961-02-09 Grigory Levenfish, Russian International chess grandmaster, dies at 70
• 1961-03-14 Akiba Rubinstein, Polish chess player (openings theorist), dies at 80
• 1968-12-31 Carl Ahues, German Chess Master (1950), dies at 85
• 1973-07-04 Leonid Stein, Russian chess player, dies at about 39
• 1975-06-05 Paul Keres, Estonian and Soviet chess player, dies at 59
• 1977-02-05 Izaak Boleslavski, Russian chess player, dies at 67
• 1980-03-15 Gerald Abrahams, English author (Teach Yourself Chess), dies at 72
• 1980-09-12 André Chéron, French chess player (French Champion, 1926, 1927 & 1929) and endgame theorist, dies at 84
• 1981-11-26 Max Euwe, Dutch World Chess Champion (1935-37), dies at 80
• 1984-08-11 Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian-German chess player, dies at 67
• 1984-08-13 Tigran Petrosian, Soviet Armenian World Chess Champion (1963-69), dies of stomach cancer at 55
• 1988-11-27 Jan Hein Donner, Dutch chess grand master, dies at 61
• 1992-04-04 Samuel Reshevsky, Polish-American chess grandmaster (World C'ship 3rd 1948; 8 x US C'ship gold), dies of a heart attack at 80
• 1992-06-28 Mikhail Tail, Soviet Latvian World Chess Champion (1960-61), dies at 55
• 1992-11-05 Arpad Elo, Hungarian physicist (chess classification system), dies at 89
• 1995-01-07 Harry Golombek, British chess grandmaster, author (3-time British champion), dies at 83

• 1997-02-02 Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (grandmaster 1952), dies at 83
• 1999-04-13 Ortvin Sarapu, New Zealand chess player, dies at 74
• 2001-11-12 Tony Miles, English chess player (first Englishman to earn the Grandmaster title), dies from heaart failure at 46
• 2003-05-10 Milan Vukcevich, Yugoslavian chemist and a grandmaster of chess problem composition, dies at 66
• 2004-08-22 Konstantin Aseev, Russian chess player (b. 1960)
• 2005-01-02 Arnold Denker, American chess champion (1944-46), dies at 90
• 2006-12-05 David Bronstein, Ukrainian-born chess grandmaster, dies at 82

• 2010-11-15 Larry Evans, American chess grandmaster, author and journalist (5 x US Chess C'ship; 20+ books), dies following gallbladder surgery at 78
• 2011-02-12 Mato Damjanović, Croatian chess grandmaster (b. 1927)
• 2012-11-18 Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya, Russian Woman Grandmaster of chess, dies from brain cancer at 55
• 2013-01-19 Anatoly Bannik, Ukrainian chess master, dies at 91
• 2013-04-12 Robert Byrne, American chess player (FIDE Grandmaster), dies from Parkinson’s disease at 84
• 2016-06-06 Viktor Korchnoi, Russian-born chess grandmaster, dies at 85
• 2017-07-02 Tatiana Zatulovskaya, Israeli chess player (Women's Soviet Chess Championship 1960, 62, 63), dies at 81
• 2018-03-01 Anatoly Lein, Soviet-American chess player (Grandmaster 1968; World Chess Hall of Fame), dies at 86
• 2018-05-10 Evgeni Vasiukov, Russian chess grandmaster (World Senior Champion 1995), dies at 85
• 2018-11-29 Ruth Haring, American chess player and President of the US Chess Federation, dies at 63
• 2019-08-25 Pál Benkő, Hungarian-American chess player, author (Grandmaster; record 8 US Open Championships), dies at 91
• 2022-05-07 Yuri Averbach, Russian chess player (first centenarian FIDE Grandmaster), dies at 100
• 2023-12-07 Aleksandr Dronov, Russian Chess Grandmaster (3 x World Correspondence Champion), dies at 77

• Anatoly Karpov
• Garry Kasparov
• José Raúl Capablanca
• Magnus Carlsen
• Mikhail Botvinnik
• Paul Morphy