Imagine sitting down with the black pieces to face the most violent attacking player since Alekhine, who needs the full point to gain the right to play for the World Championship! That’s what baritone Vasily Smyslov did when he faced Paul Keres in the deciding game of the Candidates’ Tournament, Zurich, 1953. Watch Smyslov thread [...]

William “Stinkin’ Bill” Steinitz (1836–1900) was the self-proclaimed first World Chess Champion. He announced himself thus after a match with Anderssen in 1866, and nobody argued with him. He held the crown for twenty eight years, successfully defending the title against the likes of Blackburne, Zuckertort and Tchigorin. All accounts indicate that Stinkin’ Bill was [...]

What better than to have a gander at one of the final encounters of two chess immortals, Emmanuel Lasker and Jose Capablanca? This game, played in Moscow in 1936, was one of the last in a series heralding all the way back to 1919. Both players were well past their prime, but this rivalry always [...]

Edward Lasker called him the greatest inventive genius the game had ever seen; Euwe called him the greatest attacking player of all time. He was a giant in an age of giants, securing his place in chess history by taking the World Championship title from Capablanca in 1927. In tournaments, he took sole first thirty [...]

A short story by James Schroeder [Click for floating game board.] Spanish Joe, Fast Eddie, Harry the Horse, Little Bishop and Derby Don were enjoying the sights of nature at the Polski Weight-Lifting, Chess and Draughts Emporium when Johnny Double sauntered in and informed one and all that he had just seen Doc Venture and [...]