There have been many chess clubs throughout the history of the game. About some of these we know a lot of details through books, periodicals and newspapers. About others we know practically nothing. Even some great clubs have left us bereft...
The Order of the Mandarins of the Yellow Button In the second half of the 19th century, a group of chess players in the Boston area formed a somewhat informal, yet exclusive coterie along the lines of the famous German...
The style of journalistic writing from over a half century ago is somewhat different than that of today, in some ways perhaps a bit harder to read but in other ways more enjoyable. Looking through old "Time" magazines is also enjoyable and o...
Cafés or Coffee Houses probably originated in 16th century Turkey and quickly expanded into Persia, Arabia, Egypt and other Islamic nations. Even there they were havens for political idealists, philoso...
In the last quarter of the 19th century several Berlin cafés stood out as places where chess and other games could be played. It was at theses places where the great German players who would lead the chess world into the 20th century learned...
(This article was written/translated from the original Russian by WilhelmThe2nd ) In its day, in its particular place, in its brief moment in time, the Warsaw Café was a well-known establishment in Kiev. Even the building itself couldn'...
There is no question that chess masters are lightyears ahead of the average player in both technical skill and understanding. Sometimes we even think of these players as superhuman at least in chess terms and that perception remains pretty ...
This article came about in a most curious fashion. I was looking deeply into the "celebrated" (as George Walker called it in 1838) La Bourdonnais - M'Donnell match of 1834. This sniffing around led me into a discussion with a gentleman abou...
During the first quarter of the 18th century when Deschapelles and Labourdonnais reigned supreme at the highest level of French chess, it's said that the next level was occupied by Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant, Hyacinthe Henri Bon...
Tschigorin had written in 1880: "In the chess world there are not a lot of names with such a wide and well-deserved reputation as the that of our compatriot Carl A. Jaenisch." Carl von Jaenisch (1813-1872) Jaenish, a railroad engi...
"After Anderssen's departure, Paul Morphy declared he would play no more even matches, and, certainly, his resolve was justified by the unheard of manner in which he had walked over all opponents." -Frederick Edge &n...
What some people may not realize is that before Anderssen rose to fame by winning the first international tournament at London in 1851, before his Immortal and Evergreen games, before his stunning loss to Morphy and less stuning loss to Ste...
Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint Amant (also written: Pierre Charles-Fournié de Saint-Amant) After the death of La Bourdonnais, the mantle of leading chess player of France fell upon the shoulders of Pierre Char...
Benjamin Franklin - 1706-1790 Born the ...
Ivan Alexandrovich Butrimov, who was born in St. Petersburg March 7, 1782, produced Russia's first chess book, "Chess Play," in 1821. &nb...
I have some games of Prince Andrei Dadiani of Mingrelia that one usually can't find in any database. I had published these elsewhere, but wanted to put them all in one place. First a few...
Most people even remotely interested in 19th century chess know about Mrs. John W. Gilbert and her extremely long announced mates. What seems to be less appreciated today is the sheer strength of this lady chess pl...
Isaac Leopold Rice I had, of course, heard about Prof. Isaac L. Rice and his gambit as well as his famous Rice Gambit Tournaments. But my superficial impression over the years was that the gambit wasn't particularly good and that ...
Ernest Morphy was Paul Morphy's uncle. Ernest Morphy was probably also young Paul's greatest admirer. Besides sending Paul's games (and his only chess problem) to various publications, in Eu...
Louis Paulsen was a conte...
Today, especially on the Internet, fast games are probably more the rule than the exception. Most of the fast games played fall under the "Blitz" and "Bullet" or "Lightning" heading. Time clocks, particularly...
Today, possibly 90% of chess is played on the internet and possibly 90% of the chess games on the internet are played at fast time controls. Classical chess is still the Gold Standard, but fast games...
I know of very few chess players who do not like puzzles. I can't think of a more enjoyable way to pass a few random minutes here or there than in sharpening my tactical sense trying to solve some poser. One problem, though, is that unless I ...
There are all sorts of ways to merge chess with art or music. Music critic and chess writer and aficionado, Harold Schonberg considered chess itself an art "in that it deals with the materials and processes of creation and evokes an aesthetic re...
