Editing Chess (section)

===1873–1945: Birth of a sport===
[[File:Wilhelm Steinitz2.jpg|thumb|right|upright 0.8|[[Wilhelm Steinitz]], the first official [[World Chess Champion]], from 1886 to 1894]]
{{Chess diagram small
|tright
|Rubinstein vs. Nimzowitsch, 1925
|rd|nd|  |qd|kd|  |  |rd  
|pd|bd|  |pd|pd|pd|bd|pd
|  |  |  |  |  |nd|pd|  
|  |  |pd|  |  |  |  |  
|  |  |pl|  |  |  |  |  
|  |pl|  |  |  |nl|pl|  
|pl|bl|  |  |pl|pl|bl|pl
|rl|nl|  |ql|kl|  |  |rl  
|Nimzowitsch later commented: "Each side castles now with a clear conscience, for not even the most hypermodern pair of masters can produce more than four fianchettoed Bishops!"<ref>{{harvp|Nimzowitsch|1925|p=140}}</ref>
}}
[[Prague]]-born [[Wilhelm Steinitz]] laid the foundations for a scientific approach to the game, the art of breaking a position down into components<ref>{{harvp|Kasparov|2003a|p=6}}</ref> and preparing correct plans.<ref>{{harvp|Kasparov|2003a|p=11}}</ref> In addition to his theoretical achievements, Steinitz founded an important tradition: his triumph over the leading German master [[Johannes Zukertort]] in 1886 is regarded as the first official [[World Chess Championship]]. This win marked a stylistic transition at the highest levels of chess from an attacking, tactical style predominant in the Romantic era to a more positional, strategic style introduced to the chess world by Steinitz. Steinitz lost his crown in 1894 to a much younger player, the German mathematician [[Emanuel Lasker]], who maintained this title for 27 years, the longest tenure of any world champion.<ref>{{harvp|Kasparov|2003a|p=117}}</ref>

After the end of the 19th century, the number of master tournaments and matches held annually quickly grew. The first [[Chess Olympiad|Olympiad]] was held in Paris in 1924, and [[FIDE]] was founded initially for the purpose of organizing that event. In 1927, the [[Women's World Chess Championship]] was established; the first to hold the title was Czech-English master [[Vera Menchik]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=13277 |title=Vera Menchik |website=[[Chessgames.com]] |access-date=26 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026031307/http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=13277 |archive-date=26 October 2008}}</ref>

A prodigy from Cuba, [[José Raúl Capablanca]], known for his skill in endgames, won the World Championship from Lasker in 1921. Capablanca was undefeated in tournament play for eight years, from 1916 to 1924. His successor (1927) was the Russian-French [[Alexander Alekhine]], a strong attacking player who died as the world champion in 1946. Alekhine briefly lost the title to Dutch player [[Max Euwe]] in 1935 and regained it two years later.<ref>{{harvp|Kasparov|2003b|p=9}}</ref>

In the [[interwar period]], chess was revolutionized by the new theoretical school of so-called [[Hypermodernism (chess)|hypermodernists]] like [[Aron Nimzowitsch]] and [[Richard Réti]]. They advocated controlling the {{chessgloss|center}} of the board with distant pieces rather than with pawns, thus inviting opponents to occupy the center with pawns, which become objects of attack.<ref>{{harvp|Hooper|Whyld|1992|p=178}}</ref> Among the innovations popularized by hypermodernists was the [[fianchetto]]: the development of bishops away from, rather than towards, the center, onto the b- and g-files.