Eighteenth Century Chess Set
2nd Century game pieces from Uzbekistan
• (probably a part of a chess set)
7th century (left) and 9th century (right) game pieces
Ornate Islamic King
• Seventh Century Afrasiah Chess Pieces
The spread of the game of chess from its cradle near present day Iran following
trade routes to north Africa and the Roman Empire (Spain and Italy) and
eventually inland and northward to Russia, Germany, and Scandinavia
Abstract form of Islamic chess pieces (knight and bishop)
Tenth century Spanish chess set in the Islamic style
Eleventh century Anglo-Saxon bishop carved from whale bone
Isle of Lewis chess pieces, a Knight (left) and three Kings
Diagram from an old text in Farsi (Persian)
Modern Chess pieces in current standard Staunton design
Howard Staunton, gave his name to the current shape of chess pieces
Paul Morphy, first very good chess player born in USA
(image about 1859)
Adolf Anderssen (right, 1st UNofficial world chess champ) plays Emanuel Lasker
Wilhelm Steinitz, 1st official world chess champ, emigrated to America
Emanuel Lasker (right) and Pillsbury
Jose Capablanca of Cuba
Alexander Alekhine of Russia
Max Euwe of The Netherlands
Mikhail Botvinnik, born in 1911 in Kuokkala, which was part of Finland
(near St. Petersburg) until 1944, after which it was annexed to Russia.
Botvinnik became a master chess player at 16, world champion in 1948.
Vasily Smyslov with father, about 1945 (left); Smyslov in 2004 (right)
Mikhail Tal plays Mikhail Botvinnik
Tigran Petrosian of Soviet Armenia
Boris Spassky of Russia
Bobby Fischer, US champ at age 17 in Leipzig
Fischer vs Spassky, world championship held in Iceland
Kasparov and Karpov in London. Gary Kasparov attained
the highest chess rating in the history of chess: 2851
Vaselin Topalov, a Bulgarian chess grandmaster
Vishy Anand, recently lost his title of world chess champion to Magnus
Carlsen of Norway, shown here playing in Chennai, India
Magnus Carlsen, born Nov 1990 in Norway. In 2012, rated 2835,
the second highest rating ever attained in chess.
The Polgar family about 1988
Sofia (b.1974), Susan (b.1969), Judith (b.1976)
Judith Polgar (about 2000)
Hou Yi Fan, born Feb 1994 in China. In 2012, with a chess
rating of 2639, is the current womens’ chess champ
Humpy Koneru, born March 1987 in India. In 2012, with a
chess rating of 2614, is the second ranked female chess player
Benjamin Franklin being beaten by Lady Howe.
Franklin was an avid chess player, but not a good one.
One of Thomas Jefferson’s several chess sets,
this set a gift from the French government
Chinese Chess set
Japanese Chess (Shogi) set