Founded in 1809, the Zurich Chess Club is the world’s oldest chess organization. Throughout its two centuries of existence it has been a meeting point for many remarkable personalities in the fields of art, literature, science, economy, politics and chess.

This historical text examines how the club, a driving force behind Swiss chess, also became a major player on the international chess scene. Topics covered include the storied development of the club, its outstanding members and its memorable activities.

Its historical tournaments are covered in-depth, including such competitions as those held in 1934 (Lasker, Alekhine, Euwe), 1953 (Smyslov, Bronstein, Reshevsky) and 1959 (Tal, Fischer, Keres).

The tournament history culminates in the spectacular bicentenary celebrations in summer 2009, featuring the world champions Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Topalov.

Richard Forster holds a doctorate in computational linguistics and the international master title in chess. He works as a technical writer in information technology and is also the chess columnist of the Neue Zurcher Zeitung.

He has participated in four chess Olympiads, and in 2010 he won third prize in the strongest Swiss championship to date, scoring his second grandmaster norm.

He is the author of the highly-acclaimed chess biography Amos Burn (McFarland, 2004) and co-editor of the monumental German monograph Emanuel Lasker: Denker, Weltenburger, Schachweltmeister (Exzelsior Verlag, 2009).