The history of chess can be traced back nearly 1500 years, although the earliest origins are uncertain. The earliest predecessor of the game probably originated in India, by the 7th century AD. From India, the game spread to Persia. When the Arabs conquered Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world and subsequently spread to Southern Europe. In Europe, chess evolved into roughly its current form in the 15th century.
"Romantic chess" was
the predominant chess playing style from the late 18th century to the 1880s. Chess
games of this period emphasised more on quick, tactical maneuvers rather than
long-term strategic planning. The Romantic era of play was followed by the
Scientific, Hypermodern, and New Dynamism eras. In the second half of the 19th
century, modern chess tournament play began, and the first official World Chess
Championship was held in 1886. The 20th century saw great leaps forward in
chess theory and the establishment of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). In 1997,
a computer first beat a chess world champion in the famous Deep Blue versus
Garry Kasparov match, ushering in an era of computer domination. Since then,
computer analysis – which originated in the 1970s with the first programmed
chess games on the market – has contributed to much of the development in chess
theory and has become an important part of preparation in professional human
chess.
