The earliest known chess column appeared in the '' Lancet'' in 1823, but due to lack of popularity disappeared after less than a year.

Historical development

The first column to establish itself was that of George Walker in '' Bells Life'' in 1834 which survived until 1873. From February 15, 1845, onwards it faced competition from Howard Staunton's column in the ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'', a column which outlived Walker's, but only by 5 years. During this time a chess column also appeared in the ''Pictorial Times'' lasting from February 1845 to June 1848. In 1882 Henry Bird in his '' Chess History and Reminiscences'' estimated that there were 150 chess columns. Less than thirty years later in 1913 H. J. R. Murray in his ''

A History of Chess ''A History of Chess'' is a book written by H. J. R. Murray (1868–1955) and published in 1913. Details Murray's aim is threefold: to present as complete a record as is possible of the varieties of chess that exist or have existed in differen ...

'' estimated there existed at least 1,000 chess columns worldwide. George Koltanowski became the chess columnist for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', which carried his chess column every day for the next 52 years until his death, publishing an estimated 19,000 columns. American Grandmaster Robert Byrne wrote a column for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' from 1972 to 2006. GM Lubomir Kavalek's column in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' ran from 1986 to 2010. GM

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...

wrote a chess column for the '' Sunday Telegraph'' from 1995 to 2005, and then for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' from 2005 to 2006. GM Jon Speelman wrote for ''

'' from 2005 to 2008. GM

Patrick Wolff Patrick Gideon Wolff (born February 15, 1968) is an American chess Grandmaster. He is the son of philosopher Robert Paul Wolff and brother of law professor Tobias Barrington Wolff. Wolff won the United States Chess Championship in 1992 and ...

was co-writing a column for the ''Boston Globe'' in 2012.

Current day

Raymond Keene Raymond Dennis Keene (born 29 January 1948) is an English chess grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author. He won the British Chess Championship in 1971 and was the first player from England t ...

's column appears daily in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' and ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. Bill Cornwall's "Chess: A Knight's Tour" has been published by

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

since 1993, and appears in the ''

Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Broward County, an ...

'' and

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

. A record of longevity has been achieved by

Leonard Barden Leonard William Barden (born 20 August 1929, in South Croydon, London) is an English chess master, writer, broadcaster, journalist, organizer and promoter. The son of a dustman, he was educated at Whitgift School, South Croydon, and Balliol ...

, who still writes weekly chess columns for ''

'' and has done since September 1955 (61 years as of August 2017), and daily columns for the

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

since June 1956 (61 years as of August 2017). As of June 2022 the writer for the ''New York Times'' chess column is Daniel Naroditsky.

Sources

*The main bibliographical source for chess columns is Ken Whyld's 'Chess Columns: A List' (Caissa-90, Olomouc, 2002). {{Chess, state=collapsed Chess publications