Timeline of Chess - 20th Century

20th Century

• 1902 - First radio chess match by players on two American ships.
• 1904 - British Chess Federation (BCF) is established.
• 1905 - British national championship for women starts.
• 1907 - Lasker-Marshall World Championship match in several US cities.
• 1910 - José Raúl Capablanca is the first to win a major tournament (in New York) with a 100% score.
• 1911 - The first simultaneous exhibition with more than 100 participants.
• 1913 - Publication of Harold Murray's monumental book A History of Chess.
• 1913 - The grasshopper is the first fairy piece invented, having its origin in the Renaissance "leaping queen".
• 1919 - Capablanca plays a simul in the House of Commons against 39 players.
• 1921 - British correspondence championship starts.
• 1921 - José Raúl Capablanca defeats Emmanuel Lasker in Havana +4 -0 =10 to become the third official world champion.
• 1924 - Establishment of Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE).
• 1924 - Staunton set officially adopted by FIDE.
• 1927 - First official Chess Olympiad in London.
• 1927 - Alexander Alekhine defeats Capablanca at Buenos Aires with +6 -3 =25 and became the fourth official world champion.
• 1935 - Max Euwe wins the world championship title from Alexander Alekhine in Zandvoort, The Netherlands +9 -8 =13 and became the fifth official world champion.
• 1937 - A record for simultaneous blindfold play against 34 opponents.
• 1937 - Alexander Alekhine regains his champion title from Max Euwe in The Netherlands +10 –4 =11.
• 1941 - Basic Chess Endings by Reuben Fine published.
• 1945 - USA vs USSR Radio match is the first international sporting event after World War II. The USSR scores an overwhelming victory and would dominate world chess for the next 25 years.
• 1946 - Reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine dies in Portugal, leaving the title vacant. FIDE moves to gain control of the world championship.
• 1947 - The first postage stamp with a chess motif was printed by Bulgaria.
• 1948 - Mikhail Botvinnik wins the 1948 World Chess Championship, which was held at The Hague and Moscow. He became the sixth official world champion.
• 1949 - Claude Shannon speculates on how computers might play chess.
• 1950 - FIDE introduces the International Grandmaster (GM) and International Master (IM) titles.
• 1950 - First Candidates Tournament is held in Budapest. David Bronstein wins after a playoff against Isaac Boleslavsky.
• 1951 - Mikhail Botvinnik retains his title after the World Championship match with challenger David Bronstein ends in a 12–12 tie.
• 1951 - First World Junior Chess Championship held.
• 1952 - Soviet Union begins their string of Chess Olympiad victories in Helsinki.
• 1953 - Vasily Smyslov wins the Candidates Tournament at Zurich. The tournament is the subject of a well-known book by David Bronstein.
• 1954 - Mikhail Botvinnik retains his title after the World Championship match with challenger Vasily Smyslov ends in a 12–12 tie.
• 1956 - Vasily Smyslov wins the Candidates Tournament in Amsterdam. Paul Keres finishes second.
• 1957 - Vasily Smyslov defeats Botvinnik by the score 12.5-9.5 and became the seventh official world champion.
• 1958 - Botvinnik defeats Smyslov in a rematch by the score 12.5-10.5 to regain the title.
• 1958 - Bobby Fischer qualifies for the 1959 Candidates Match, becoming the youngest ever Grandmaster. This record would stand until 1991.
• 1959 - Mikhail Tal wins the Candidates Tournament in Yugoslavia. Paul Keres finishes second.
• 1960 - Mikhail Tal defeats Botvinnik +6 -2 =13 to become the eighth official world champion and the youngest-ever world champion (a record later broken by Garry Kasparov, who earned the title at 22).
• 1961 - Botvinnik defeats Tal in a rematch by the score +10 -5 =6 to regain the title.
• 1962 - Tigran Petrosian wins the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao, going through the tournament without a defeat. Paul Keres finishes second in a Candidates Tournament for the third consecutive time.
• 1963 - Tigran Petrosian defeats Botvinnik 12.5–9.5 to become the ninth World Chess Champion.
• 1965 - Boris Spassky wins Candidates Matches against Paul Keres, Efim Geller, and Mikhail Tal.
• 1966 - Tigran Petrosian successfully defends his World Championship title against Boris Spassky, 12½–11½.
• 1967 - Bent Larsen wins the Sousse Interzonal after Bobby Fischer withdraws after ten games while leading with 8½ points. Larsen also wins the first Chess Oscar.
• 1969 - Boris Spassky defeats Petrosian 12½-11½ to become the tenth World Chess Champion.
• 1970 - Bobby Fischer wins the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal 3½ points ahead of his nearest rival.
• 1971 - Bobby Fischer blazes through his Candidates Matches, defeating Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen each 6–0 and Tigran Petrosian by 6½–2½. Fischer establishes a 20 game winning streak in 1970 and 1971.
• 1972 - Bobby Fischer beats Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship 1972, giving chess an unprecedented level of publicity. The score was 12.5-8.5 to become the eleventh World Chess Champion.
• 1975 - Anatoly Karpov becomes the twelfth World Champion without having defeated the reigning champion as Fischer forfeits his crown.
• 1977 - Female player Nona Gaprindashvili wins the men's tournament at Lone Pine.
• 1978 - Nona Gaprindashvili becomes the first woman to receive the FIDE Grandmaster title.
• 1978 - FIDE Master (FM) introduced as a title below International Master.
• 1978 - First Sargon (chess) chess-playing software for personal computers introduced at the 1978 West Coast Computer Faire.
• 1981 - Anatoly Karpov convincingly defeats challenger Viktor Korchnoi six wins to two to retain the World Championship.
• 1984 - In a controversial decision, the FIDE president abandons the first World Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov after 48 games with Karpov leading 5–3.
• 1985 - Garry Kasparov defeats Anatoly Karpov to become the thirteenth World Chess Champion 13-11, and then dominates world chess for the next 15 years.
• 1986 - Theatrical version of Chess opens in London's West End.
• 1991 - Judit Polgár becomes the youngest ever Grandmaster, breaking Bobby Fischer's record by about a month.
• 1992 - Bobby Fischer plays Boris Spassky in FR Yugoslavia in a rematch of the 1972 World Championship.
• 1993 - Searching for Bobby Fischer motion picture released (in the United Kingdom as "Innocent Moves").

- Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short break from FIDE to play their world championship match, forming the Professional Chess Association.

• 1994 -
• 1995 -
• 1996 - Deep Blue beats Garry Kasparov in the first game won by a chess-playing computer against a reigning world champion under normal chess tournament conditions. Kasparov recovers to win the match 4–2 (three wins, one loss, two draws).
• 1997 - Garry Kasparov loses a rematch to chess supercomputer Deep Blue (2½–3½), becoming the first World Champion to lose a match to a computer.
• 1998 -
• 1999 - Kasparov plays and wins against the World whose moves were determined by plurality of vote via Internet.