|
Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide in clubs, online, by correspondence, in tournaments and informally. Aspects of art and science are found in chess composition and theory. Chess is also advocated as a way of enhancing mental prowess. The first reference to chess in literature appears in Persia and dates around the 5th century AD. In the 18th century the center of European chess life moved from the Southern European countries to France. As the 19th century progressed, chess organization developed quickly. Many chess clubs, chess books and chess journals appeared. There were correspondence matches between cities; for example the London Chess Club played against the Edinburgh Chess Club in 1824. In 1975, Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title against Soviet Anatoly Karpov, and Karpov obtained the title by default. Karpov defended his title twice against Viktor Korchnoi and dominated the 1970s and early 1980s with a string of tournament successes. Karpov's reign finally ended in 1985 at the hands of another Russian player, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov and Karpov contested five world title matches between 1984 and 1990: Kasparov narrowly retained his title each time. Kasparov would proceed to dominate the chess world until his retirement in 2005. (Source: Wiki) In today's London Times an article makes a strong case for how chess played a part in the downfall of the Soviet regime and the Cold War. The following chess article has recently been submitted to the JackC Article directory and gives further details and direct links to other chess web sites. |
