July 20 marks International Chess Day, recognizing the anniversary of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) being founded on this day in 1924, SIA cites Chess.com.

One of the oldest and most popular board games played between two players, the aim of the game is to use your pieces to checkmate your opponent’s king.

The earliest version of the game is believed to have originated in India more than 1,500 years ago before being taken up by the Muslim world and then to Europe.

Winning a World Chess Championship title is a great source of pride for many countries.

Since the first official World Chess Championship was held in 1886, only 20 players have held the prestigious championship title with nine of them having played for USSR/Russia.

Russian Grand Masters Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov share the record for the most number of championships with German Emanuel Lasker at six titles each.

Organized chess began in Azerbaijan shortly after the creation of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920, and the game soon became widespread. The first chess column appeared in the newspaper Bakinsky Rabochy in the early 1920s.

Since Azerbaijan gained its independence, Azerbaijani chess players have achieved high results in various international competitions, World and European championships. In 1992, the national team of women for the first time at the World Chess Olympiad in Manila, Philippines represented independent Azerbaijan and ranked 7th among 67 teams.

In 2012 and 2014, the men's team “SOCAR-Azerbaijan” won inter-club European Championships twice. Azerbaijani grandmasters Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Teymur Radjabov and Vugar Hashimov managed to rise to the 4th and 6th places in the world rankings.

In the list of FIDE chess Azerbaijani chess-players Teymur Radjabov, Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Vugar Hashimov were ranked among worlds 20 most powerful chess players.

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