Wilhelm Steinitz was dethroned in 1894, in a series of games played across North America. There are some grumbles about the man who would beat him, Emmanuel Lasker, namely that he hadn’t played either of the other potential challengers before squaring up to Steinitz. However, this seems to be sour grapes as the other two […]
Chess and religion haven’t always made for the happiest of bedfellows in fact they have a (excuse the pun) chequered history. Chess has been banned (and unbanned) by members of the Islamic faith, Catholics, Anglicans, Puritans and Jews. Back in 642 A.D. the Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) son-in-law decided that chess would be haram (forbidden) because […]
We’re going through our series of world chess champions from first to last, but as the current world championship begins this month it’s perhaps a good idea to have a quick peek at what’s going on. The current holder is an Indian national, Vichy Anand who is being challenged by Boris Gelfand. Vichy is one […]
For a game with a long and rich history it took a long time for Chess to produce a world champion. It can be argued that many historical greats were the world champions of their day but the first official champion was crowned in 1886 and he would remain champion for a further 8 years. […]
Chess may have a somewhat staid image at the moment, but nothing could really be further from the truth. At it’s core Chess is a strategic war game and while it has attracted many fine and upstanding citizens to the joys of the board – there are quite a few notable players that you wouldn’t […]