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This is a timeline of chess. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Timeline of chess. ... Chess is an abstract strategy board game for two players. ...

Early history

Further information: Origins of chess

• 5th century BC - The earliest references to a version of chess are found in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata written in India around this time. It refers to the game of Chaturanga, which appears to have been the ancestor of Chess.
• 6th century AD - The game Chaturanga probably evolved into its current form around this time.
• ca. 600 - The Karnamuk-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan contains references to the Persian game of Shatranj, the direct ancestor of modern Chess. Shatranj was initially called "Chatrang" in Persian (named after the Indian version), which was later renamed to Shatranj.
• ca. 720 AD - Chess spreads across the Islamic world from Persia.
• ca. 840 AD - Earliest surviving chess problems by Caliph Billah of Baghdad.
• ca. 900 AD - Entry on Chess in the Chinese work Huan Kwai Lu ('Book of Marvels').
• 997 AD - Versus de scachis is the earliest known work mentioning chess in Christian Western Europe.
• 1008 - Mention of chess in the will of Count Uregel, another early reference.
• 10th century - As-Suli writes Kitab Ash-Shatranj, the earliest known work to take a scientific approach to chess strategy.
• late 10th century - Dark and light squares are introduced on a chessboard.
• 1173 - Earliest recorded use of algebraic notation.
• late 13th century - Pawns can now move two ranks on first move.
• late 14th century - The en passant rule is introduced.
• 1422 - A manuscript from Kraków sets the rule that stalemate is a draw.
• 1471 - The Gottingen manuscript is the first book to deal solely with chess.
• 1474 - William Caxton publishes The Game and Playe of Chesse, the first chess book in English.
• 1497 - Lucena publishes the first European work on chess openings.
• 1561 - Ruy López coins the word gambit to describe opening sacrifices.
• 1690 - Openings are now systematically classified by the Traite de Lausanne.

Error creating thumbnail: convert: unable to open image `/mnt/upload3/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Youth_at_chess_with_suitors_-_Haft_Awrang. ... (6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) The 5th and 6th centuries BC are a period of philosophical brilliance among advanced civilizations. ... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम् ; pronunciation : ) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ... The Mahabharata (Devanagari: महाभारत, phonetically Mahābhārata - see note), sometimes just called Bharata, is one of the two major ancient Sanskrit epics of India, the other being the Ramayana. ... Chaturanga. ... This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... Look up AD, ad-, and ad in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Chaturanga. ... For other uses, see number 600. ... For other uses of this term see: Persia (disambiguation) The Persian Empire is the name used to refer to a number of historic dynasties that have ruled the country of Persia (Iran). ... Shatranj. ... Persian (known variously as: فارسی Fārsi or پارسی Pārsi, local name in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Tajik, a Central Asian dialect, or Dari, another local name in Tajikistan and Afghanistan) is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Events Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz succeeded by Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik The Nihonshoki (日本書紀), one of the oldest history books in Japan, is completed Births Bertrada, wife of Pippin III (d. ... The Islamic world is the world-wide community of those who identify with Islam, known as Muslims, and who number approximately one-and-a-half billion people. ... Events After the death of Louis the Pious, his sons Lothar, Charles the Bald and Louis the German fight over the division of the empire, with Lothair succeding as Emperor. ... Location of Baghdad within Iraq Baghdad (Arabic: ‎ translit: , Kurdish: Bexda, from Persian Baagh-daad meaning given by God) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... Events Persian scientist, Rhazes, distinguished smallpox from measles in the course of his writings. ... Events City of Gdansk is founded Saint Adalbert of Prague is sent to Prussia by Boleslaus I of Poland Samuil of Bulgaria crowned Tsar by Pope Gregory V The town of Trondheim is founded. ... Versus de scachis is a Medieval Latin poem about chess. ... Events Olof, king of Sweden, is baptized. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Abu-Bakr Muhammad ben Yahya as-Suli (circa 880 - 946) was an Arab shatranj (an ancestor of chess) player who came to prominence sometime in between 902 and 908 when he beat al-Mawardi, the court shatranj champion of al-Mukafti, the Caliph of Baghdad. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Events Canonization of Saint Thomas a Becket, buried at Canterbury August 9th - Construction starts on the Leaning tower of Pisa Castle at Abergavenny was seized by the Welsh. ... Algebraic chess notation is the method used today by all competition chess organizations and most books, magazines, and newspapers to record and describe the play of chess games. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... The pawn (♙♟) is the weakest and most numerous piece in the game of chess, representing infantry, or more particularly pikemen. ... Events August 31 - Henry VI becomes King of England. ... Tomb of Kazimierz the Great St. ... Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move has no legal moves but is not in check. ... This article is about the year 1471, not the BT caller ID service accessible by dialling 1-4-7-1. ... Events December 12 - Upon the death of Henry IV of Castile a civil war ensues between his designated successor Isabella I of Castile and her sister Juana who was supported by her husband, Alfonso V of Portugal. ... William Caxton (c. ... 1497 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Categories: Stub | 1465 births | 1530 deaths | Chess players ... // Events The Edict of Orleans suspends the persecution of the Huguenots. ... Spanish stamp on the Chess Olympiad 2004. ... Events Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiters atmosphere. ...

Modern history

• 1744 - François-André Danican Philidor plays two opponents blindfolded in Paris.
• 1763 - William Jones invents Caissa, the chess muse.
• 1769 - Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen builds the Mechanical Turk.
• 1783 - Philidor plays as many as three games simultaneously without seeing the board.
• 1802 - Earliest known American chess book, Chess Made Easy, by J. Humphreys.
• 1813 - The Liverpool Mercury prints the world earliest chess column.
• 1824 - Earliest known British Correspondence chess match, London-Edinburgh.
• 1830 - Earliest recorded instance of a modern female chess player.
• 1834 - Earliest recorded international challenge match: Alexander McDonnell (Ireland) v Louis de la Bourdonnais(France) at the Westminster Chess Club, London.
• 1840 - Postal stamps with chess motifs begin to appear.
• 1845 - Telegraph is used to transmit moves in a match between London and Portsmouth.
• 1846 - Deutsche Schachzeitung is the first German chess magazine.
• 1848 - Earliest known instance of a game played between blind players.
• 1849 - Staunton set created by Nathaniel Cook.
• 1851 - First international tournament (in London), won by Adolf Anderssen.
• 1852 - Sandglasses are first used to time a game.
• 1857 - First American Chess Congress, won by Paul Morphy.
• 1857 - The UK Chess Association is formed.
• 1861 - Games can now be played via transoceanic cables (Dublin-Liverpool).
• 1867 - Mechanical Game clock are introduced in tournament play.
• 1870 - Earliest recorded tournament in Germany (Baden-Baden).
• 1871 - Durand publishes the first book on endgames.
• 1873 - The Neustadtl score system is first used in a tournament.
• 1877 - Formation of the Deutsche Schachbund.
• 1883 - Invention of the Forsyth notation.
• 1886 - First official match for the champion title between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort.
• 1888 - First international correspondence tournament.
• 1888 - USA Championship starts.
• 1894 - Emmanuel Lasker defeats Wilhelm Steinitz in a world championship match.
• 1895 - Hastings 1895 chess tournament at Hastings, England
• 1899 - Chess clocks now have timeout flags.
• 1902 - First radio chess match by two American ships.
• 1905 - British national championship for women starts.
• 1910 - José Raúl Capablanca is the first to win a major tournament (in New York) with a 100% score.
• 1911 - The first simultaneous display with more than 100 participants.
• 1913 - Publication of Harold Murray's monumental book A History of Chess.
• 1913 - The grasshopper is the first fairy piece invented, having its origin in the Renaissance "leaping queen".
• 1919 - Capablanca plays a simul in the House of Commons against 39 players.
• 1921 - British correspondence championship starts.
• 1924 - Establishment of Fédération Internationale des Échecs.
• 1924 - Staunton set officially adopted by FIDE.
• 1927 - First official Chess Olympiad in London.
• 1935 - Alexander Alekhine loses his champion title to Max Euwe.
• 1937 - A record for simultaneous blindfold play against 34 opponents.
• 1946 - Reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine dies in Portugal, leaving his title up for grabs in a six-player tournament organised by FIDE.
• 1949 - Claude Shannon speculates on how computers might play chess.
• 1950 - Candidates Tournament start.
• 1951 - World Junior Chess Championship starts.
• 1952 - Soviet Union begins their string of Olympiad victories in Helsinki.
• 1972 - Bobby Fischer beats Boris Spassky for the World Championship, in the process giving Chess an unprecedented level of publicity.
• 1977 - Nona Gaprindashvili wins the men's tournament at Lone Pine.
• 1993 - Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short break from FIDE to play their world championship match, forming the Professional Chess Association.
• 1996 - Deep Blue beats Garry Kasparov in the first game won by a chess-playing computer against a reigning world champion under normal chess tournament conditions.
• 2000 - Garry Kasparov loses his title to Vladimir Kramnik.

See also

• Origins of chess