Eighteenth Century Chess Set

2 nd Century game pieces from Uzbekistan (probably a part of a chess set)

7th century (left) and 9 th century (right) game pieces

Ornate Islamic King

Seventh Century Afrasiah Chess Pieces

The spread of the game of chess from its cradle near present day Iran following trade routes to north Africa and the Roman Empire (Spain and Italy) and eventually inland and northward to Russia, Germany, and Scandinavia

Ninth century chess pieces of abstract form, showing the influence of the Islamic prohibition against creating images of animals

Abstract form of Islamic chess pieces (knight and bishop)

Tenth century Spanish chess set in the Islamic style

Eleventh century Anglo-Saxon bishop carved from whale bone

Isle of Lewis chess pieces, a Knight (left) and three Kings

Diagram from an old text in Farsi (Persian)

Modern Chess pieces in current standard Staunton design

Howard Staunton, gave his name to the current shape of chess pieces

Paul Morphy, first very good chess player born in USA (image about 1859)

Adolf Anderssen (right, 1st UNofficial world chess champ) plays Emanuel Lasker

Wilhelm Steinitz, 1 st official world chess champ, emigrated to America

Emanuel Lasker (right) and Pillsbury

Jose Capablanca of Cuba

Alexander Alekhine of Russia

Max Euwe of The Netherlands

Mikhail Botvinnik, born in 1911 in Kuokkala, which was part of Finland (near St. Petersburg) until 1944, after which it was annexed to Russia. Botvinnik became a master chess player at 16, world champion in 1948.

Vasily Smyslov with father, about 1945 (left); Smyslov in 2004 (right)

Mikhail Tal plays Mikhail Botvinnik

Tigran Petrosian of Soviet Armenia

Boris Spassky of Russia

Bobby Fischer, US champ at age 17 in Leipzig

Fischer vs Spassky, world championship held in Iceland

Kasparov and Karpov in London. Gary Kasparov attained the highest chess rating in the history of chess: 2851

Vaselin Topalov, a Bulgarian chess grandmaster

Vishy Anand, recently lost his title of world chess champion to Magnus Carlsen of Norway, shown here playing in Chennai, India

Magnus Carlsen, born Nov 1990 in Norway. In 2012, rated 2835, the second highest rating ever attained in chess.

The Polgar family about 1988 Sofia (b.1974), Susan (b.1969), Judith (b.1976)

Judith Polgar (about 2000)

Hou Yi Fan, born Feb 1994 in China. In 2012, with a chess rating of 2639, is the current womens chess champ

Humpy Koneru, born March 1987 in India. In 2012, with a chess rating of 2614, is the second ranked female chess player

Benjamin Franklin being beaten by Lady Howe. Franklin was an avid chess player, but not a good one.

One of Thomas Jeffersons several chess sets, this set a gift from the French government

Chinese Chess set

Japanese Chess (Shogi) set