THE CHESSBHUMI BLOG

Ideas, Openings & Improvement

Practical guides, legendary games and tactics deep-dives, written for players who want to get better.

Tag: firsts
The First World Chess Championship, 1886

No World Championship existed before 1886. This is the match, played across three cities and two and a half months, that invented the title from scratch.

Kasparov Becomes World Champion, 1985

Seven months after his first title match was stopped with no winner, Kasparov came back, fell behind again, and won the title by the narrowest possible margin.

How the Word "Grandmaster" Was Born

The most famous origin story in chess titling has a real problem: the earliest source for it dates to 1940, twenty-six years after it supposedly happened.

Judit Polgar Beats Garry Kasparov, 2002

Kasparov had been dismissive of women's chess for years. In Moscow in 2002, Judit Polgar gave him the most direct possible answer, over the board.

Paul Morphy: Chess's First Superstar

Before Fischer, before Capablanca, an unassuming 21-year-old from New Orleans crossed the Atlantic and beat every strong player in Europe. Chess had never had a star before.

Vera Menchik, the First Women's World Champion

The Women's World Championship has existed since 1927. Its first holder never lost it. She died still champion, seventeen years and eight titles into an unbroken reign.

The First Chess Olympiad, London 1927

Sixteen nations, one London hall, two new institutions born in the same two weeks: the Chess Olympiad and the Women's World Championship, side by side from day one.

Anand, the First Asian World Champion

He was technically the first Asian World Champion in 2000. Almost nobody outside India treated it that way until he won it again, differently, seven years later.

How Chess Clocks Were Invented

One game lasted almost fifteen hours. That was the moment competitive chess admitted it had a stalling problem, and started building machines to fix it.

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