Bill Wall's Chess Blog

  First American Chess Congress - From October 5, 1857 to November 10, 1857, the First American Chess Congress was held in New York.  It was the first American chess tournament to determine the national champion.  It was won by 20-year-old Paul Morphy.  The top 16 players in the country took place in the Major tournament.  William Horner won the 16-player Minor tournament. First American chess tournament — In 1843, the first documented American chess tournament was held, a local event in New York. First American international chess tournament -  In 1889, America organized the 6 th  American Chess Congress and its first international chess tournament, held in New York.    The event was won by Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908) after a play-off with Miksa Weiss.    It was a 20-player round robin.    Chigorin won 27 games in this event.    MacLeod lost 31 games in this event, the most losses ever i...

  Here are some world records in chess of interest. Active chess players in the world — There were 486,000 players active on the 2015 FIDE players list. There are about 100,000 online people playing at any time in the Internet. There about 605 million people who play chess in the world, making it the second most popular sport in the world. (Soccer has 4 billion followers). Best chess match player — William (Wilhelm) Steinitz (1836-1900) played 27 chess matches from 1862 to 1896, and won 25 of the 27 matches. He lost to Emanuel Lasker in 1894, and also lost a rematch in 1896-97. He won 160 games, lost 70, and drew 57 in match play. Best results of world chess championship matches — Garry Kasparov (1963- ) won the world chess championship 5 times, one drawn result, and one loss, between 1985 and 2000. In the five world championship matches, Kasparov had 21 wins, 19 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games. Best Selling Chess Book — Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess has sold over one million ...

  Here is a list of chess terms and personalities and their pronunciation. Abramov (ah-BRAHM- ahf ), Lev - Russian arbiter and Correspondence International Master (IM) Acs (larch), Peter - Hungarian GM Adorjan (A-door- yan ), Andras - Hungarian Grandmaster Akhmilovskaya ( akh - mih -LOEV- ska - ya ), Elena - woman grandmaster Akhsharumova ( akh - sha -ROO-ma- va ), Anna - woman grandmaster; Boris Gulko's wife Alapin (ah-LAH-pin), Semyon - Russian master Alatortsev (a-LAH- tahrt - seff ), Vladimir - honorary Soviet grandmaster Alburt , (AHL- bert ), Lev - grandmaster Alekhine ( ahl -YO- KHeen ), Alexander - former world champion Alexandria (ah- lek -SAHN- dree - ya ), Nana - woman grandmaster Antoshin ( ahn -TOE-sheen), Vladimir - Soviet grandmaster Aronin (a-ROE- neen ), Lev - Soviet International Master Averbakh (ah- ver -BAKH), Yuri - Soviet grandmaster Balashov (bah- lah -SHOFF), Yuri - Soviet grandmaster Barcza (BAR- tza ), Gedeon (GEH- deh -on) ...