Chess is the oldest game in the world. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide. Some people play chess games online, others go to chess clubs and others play the game chess in tournaments.

The history of the game of chess - chess was played many centuries ago in India, China, and Persia.  It is thought that chess originated in what is now northern India or Afghanistan sometime before 6OO AD, but no one knows for sure.

Somewhere between the eighth and tenth century, an army of Arabs known as Moors invaded Persia. The army learned how to play chess from the Persians and when later they invaded the country of Spain, the soldiers brought the game of chess with them and soon the Spanish too started to play chess. The Persian name for chess, shatranj was changed by the Spanish to ajedrez.  From Spain, the game chess quickly spread throughout all of Europe.

 In the Middle Age, chess was a part of noble culture, representing different groups of warriors, and enemy forces, chess was used to teach war strategies and was called the "King‘s Game".

 As the 19th century progressed, chess organization developed quickly. Many chess clubs, chess books and chess journals appeared. There were correspondence chess matches between cities

 The first international chess tournament was the London Tourney of 1851, won by Adolf Anderssen from Germany, who then became known unofficially as the world's best chess player.

The first official championship chess tournament was played in 1866, also in London. This tournament was won by Steinitz, a Czechoslovakian Jew, who then became the world's first official chess champion, holding this title until 1894.