This week’s Map Monday feature is about chess; specifically the distribution of the World’s Grandmasters. The origins of chess remain somewhat obscure. Most believe the modern game grew from chaturanga, a game played in the Gupta Empire in the 3rd-6th centuries. The first recognizable version of the game appeared in Persia in the early 7th century. Once they conquered Persia, Muslim traders introduced chess to Europe. By the 11th century it was widely popular. Over the next eight hundred years pieces evolved. Chaturanga’s original elephants, cavalry, chariots, and infantry became the modern bishops, knights, rooks, and pawns. Moves were standardized. In the mid-19th century the standardization of the stalemate finalized modern chess.
The World Chess Federation, known by its French initials FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs) was founded on 20 July 1924. It defines the rules of chess, organizes the World Chess Championship, and since 1950 awards the title of Grandmaster. Players hold the title of for life and can only lose it for corruption or cheating, which has never happened. FIDE currently lists 1497 Grandmasters, of which only 33 are women. The first woman Grandmaster was the 1978 Women’s World Champion, Nona Gaprindashvili. In 1991 Susan Polgar became the first woman to achieve the title by accumulating rank through tournament play.
Today’s Map
FIDE ranks the top chess countries by the average rating for their top ten players and the number of titles won by players from each country. Not surprisingly, the countries with larger chess playing populations rank better, e.g., Russia, with only relatively small Hungary and tiny Armenia breaking into the top ten. Natalia Pogonina a Grandmaster since she was only 19 posted an alternative per capita ranking based on Grandmasters per 100K inhabitants. This obviously hurts very populous countries with the top two FIDE ranked countries, Russia and China dropping to #26 & #73 respectively. The surprising leader was not the accomplished Armenians, but the thinly populated Icelanders. I wonder how long it will take for chess inspired names to make it to Mannanafnanefnd‘s list of approved names.
As always thanks for reading.
Armen