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This section looks briefly at the careers and sporting styles of the greatest
Chess players of all time, the world champions. One of the best ways to improve your strength at the
Chessboard is by studying the games of the most distinguished proponents of the art of
Chess from the past. Each champion has their own particular brand of play - be it aggressive, attacking, tactical or strategic - which is just as personal as their signature.
Try to identify which champion’s appeal most to you and then study them in depth. This will provide you with a systematic method of playing. The ‘adopt a legend’ technique has worked well for many
Chess experts. This is probably the best way to improve your playing style once you have got over the hurdle of the elementary stage. Choose a hero/heroine and examine h/er games in depth. An attacking player could choose from
Tal, Alekhine or
Kasparov. The strategic player could emulate
Petrosian, Botvinnik or
Capablanca.
The first officially recognized world
Chess championship was held in 1886, when
Wilhelm Steinitz beat Johannes Zukertort in a match held in the USA. The outstanding players before this date are known, but there were no official champions.
Ruy Lopez achieved his reputation by beating the best Italian players and by writing the ‘Libro del Axedrez’, a collection of
Chess openings and general advice and analysis.
The leading Italian players at this time were
Paolo Boi and Leonardo da
Cutri. Boi was renowned for his ability to play three games at once without sight of the board, a skill that astonished his contemporaries. A generation later,
Gioaccchino Greco was the best known Italian master. He traveled throughout Europe playing matches for high stakes and compiled manuscripts on
Chess openings, two of which survive in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Library in London.
In 1620 he wrote his analysis of some composed games and illustrated two different ways to play
Chess - the player who tries to capture as many of the opponent’s
pieces as possible and the player who sacrifices pieces. He considered tactics very important.
The 18th century player,
Philidor, was a master of blindfold Chess. Francois Andre
Danican Philidor, musician and composer, dominated French and English
Chess circles for nearly half a century. He was the first player to try to systematize
Chess knowledge and his ‘Analyse du Jeu des Echecs’ (Chess Analyzed), is a very influential book of the period which appeared in 100+ editions.
Philidor was the first great player to understand the importance of
Pawns, which he described as ‘the soul of Chess’ and drew attention to their strengths and weakness in his book. Philidor’s middle game advice was his most important contribution to posterity. He saw planning as an extremely important part of the game (once your
pieces are developed you should plan an overall goal - kingside or queenside attack etc).
He believed that a mobile mass of
Pawns were an important factor during the middle game. Allowing Pawns to be isolated, doubled or backward was another important insight and he was also the first to discuss how a
Bishop could be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending on the Pawn structure.
He also discussed the ‘Positional Sacrifice’ by which a player obtains an advantage
i.e., major piece mobility or minor piece structure. Another Frenchman, Alexandre
Deschapelles was an extremely talented player and his pupil
Louis La Bourdonnais was recognized as unofficial world champion. In 1834 he defeated the leading Irish player
Alexander McDonnell over 85 games.
By 1843
Howard Staunton became Europe’s leading player. In 1841 he founded the first successful
Chess magazine the ‘Chess Player’s Chronicle’. His two great contributions to
Chess literature were the books ‘Chess Praxis’ and ‘The Chess Player’s Handbook’.
Wilhelm Steinitz became world champion when he defeated
Johann Zukertort in 1886. His influence on modern
Chess was immense.
Steinitz understood the importance of building up positional advantages in order to win, and his ideas were published in his book ‘Modern Chess Theory’. He remained world champion until 1894 when he was 58 years of age. He coined the term 'hole' (a
vulnerable cell that has lost its Pawn protection and may be occupied by an opposing
major piece) and is seen as the first player to take an academic/scientific approach to
Chess playing.
Emanuel Lasker won the title in 1894 and held it for a record 27 years. In 1921
Jose Capablanca won the title.
Max Euwe had a brief two years as champion.
Smyslov became champion in 1957/58. The greatest attacking genius of modern
Chess,
Mikhail Tal was champion from 1960 to 1961.
The world champion between 1963-1969 was
Tigran Petrosian. 1969 saw Boris Spassky take the title.
Bobby Fischer became champion in 1972. Anatoly Karpov became champion in 1975.
Gary Kasparov became world champion in 1985.
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