Les origines du jeu d'échecs se perdent dans la nuit des temps entre légendes et une réalité historique souvent controversée. Une origine située dans le nord de l'Inde vers 600 (après J.C.) est aujourd'hui communément admise. L'ancêtre direct décrit par des textes est le chatranj que les Perses auraient reçu des Indiens (jeu dérivé du Chaturanga à deux joueurs).
http://www.iechecs.com/origine.htm

On aurait bien besoin de grands stratèges face à la Perse d'aujourd'hui !


la plupart des grands champions d’échecs sont juifs

Est-il excessif de croire que le judaïsme entretient avec les échecs une relation familière ? Impossible de l’affirmer avec certitude.

Quelques éléments, cependant, suscitent le questionnement.
Le jeu d’échec, à bien des égards, apparaît comme le miroir de l’univers, une réduction de l’infiniment grand, dont on cherche sans cesse le sens.

Il est tentant de rapprocher ce jeu de la tradition juive dont il partage le sort dans l’esprit des chrétiens de l’Occident médiéval – une invention diabolique.

L’intelligence y tient une place essentielle, et permet de rendre hommage à la beauté du monde. D’une manière plus nette, l’analyse des parties jouées provoque des discussions enflammées qui rappellent celles pratiquées dans les écoles talmudiques. Le jeu d’échec apparaît aussi comme un espace où repousser des limites, au risque du vertige, en sachant pertinemment qu’elles existent. Enfin, la nécessité de jouer encore une partie, n’est-elle pas une métaphore de l’attente, jamais encore satisfaite, de la venue du Messie ?
Il serait excessif d’aller plus loin et de considérer le jeu d’échec comme un prolongement profane de la spiritualité juive. Mais il est un phénomène indiscutable : la plupart des grands champions d’échecs sont juifs,et c’est évidemment en Union Soviétique que le phénomène apparaît le plus clairement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsG7sdF4X8k&feature=player_embedded
    

Aaron Alexandre, German-born French-English

• Evgeny Agrest, Belarusian-born Swedish grandmaster, Highest Rating through April 2007=2561
• Simon Alapin, Lithuanian
• Boris Alterman, Ukrainian-born Israeli grandmaster, 2615
• Arnold Aurbach, Polish-born French
• Yuri Averbakh, Russian grandmaster, 2445
• Boris Avrukh, Israeli grandmaster & World U-12 champion, 2652
• Abraham Baratz, Romanian-born French
• Liudmila Belavenets, Russian woman grandmaster
• Alexander Beliavsky, Ukrainian-born Slovenian grandmaster & World junior champion, 2710
• Joel Benjamin, United States grandmaster, 2662
• Hans Berliner, German-born U.S. World correspondence chess champion
• Ossip Bernstein, Ukrainian-born French grandmaster
• Arthur Bisguier, U.S. grandmaster, 2455
• Benjamin Blumenfeld, Belarusian-born Russian
• Mark Bluvshtein, Russian-born Canadian grandmaster, 2544
• Jácobo Bolbochán, Argentine
• Julio Bolbochán, Argentine grandmaster, 2485
• Isaac Boleslavsky, Ukrainian-born Soviet grandmaster
• Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian/Soviet grandmaster & World champion
• Gyula Breyer, Hungarian
• David Bronstein, Ukrainian-born Soviet grandmaster, 2590
• Oscar Chajes, Ukrainian/Polish/Austrian-born U.S.
• Rudolph Charousek, Hungarian
• Vitaly Chekhover, Russian
• Erich Cohn, German
• Wilhelm Cohn, German
• Josef Cukierman, Polish-born French, committed suicide during Holocaust
• Moshe Czerniak, Polish-born Palestinian/Israeli
• Arnold Denker, U.S. grandmaster, 2293
• Maxim Dlugy, Russian-born U.S. grandmaster, 2531
• Josif Dorfman, Ukrainian-born French grandmaster, 2610
• Arthur Dunkelblum, Polish-born Belgian
• Roman Dzindzichashvili, Georgian-born Israeli American grandmaster
• Berthold Englisch, Austrian
• Yakov Estrin, Russian grandmaster, CC WC 1972-76
• Larry Evans, U.S. grandmaster, 2530
• Samuel Factor, Polish-born U.S.
• Ernst Falkbeer, Austrian
• Movsas Feigins, Latvian-born Argentine
• Ruben Felgaer, Argentine grandmaster, 2624
• Reuben Fine, U.S. grandmaster

• Alexander Flamberg, Polish
• Salo Flohr, Ukrainian-born Czech & Soviet grandmaster
• Maurice Fox, Ukrainian-born Canadian
• Gunnar Friedemann, Estonian
• Paulino Frydman, Polish-born Argentine
• Semen Furman, Belarusian-born Russian grandmaster
• Boris Gelfand, Belarusian-born Israeli grandmaster
• Efim Geller, Ukrainian-born Soviet grandmaster
• Vitali Golod, Ukrainian-born Israeli grandmaster
• Harry Golombek, English
• Alon Greenfeld, U.S.-born Israeli grandmaster
• Gisela Kahn Gresser, U.S. woman master
• Yehuda Gruenfeld, Polish-born Israeli grandmaster, 2550
• Eduard Gufeld, Ukrainian grandmaster, 2565
• Boris Gulko, German-born Russian U.S. grandmaster, 2643
• Isidor Gunsberg, Hungarian-born English
• Ilya Gurevich, Russian-born U.S. grandmaster & junior World champion, 2575
• Mikhail Gurevich, Ukrainian-born Russian Turkish grandmaster, 2694
• Lev Gutman, Latvian-born Israeli German grandmaster, 2530
• Daniel Harrwitz, Prussian/Polish/German-born English French
• Israel Horowitz, U.S.
• Bernhard Horwitz, German-born English
• Alexander Huzman, Ukrainian-born Israeli grandmaster
• Dawid Janowski, Belarusian/Polish-born French grandmaster
• Gregory Kaidanov, Ukrainian-born Russian U.S. grandmaster, 2695
• Julio Kaplan, Argentine-born Puerto Rican U.S. grandmaster & World junior champion
• Mona May Karff, Moldovan-born U.S. woman master
• Isaac Kashdan, U.S. grandmaster
• Garry Kasparov, Azerbaijani-born Soviet/Russian grandmaster & World champion, 2851
• Alexander Khalifman, Russian grandmaster & World champion, 2702
• Alexander Koblencs, Latvian
• Artur Kogan, Ukrainian-born Israeli grandmaster, 2580
• Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Ukrainian-born Soviet grandmaster
• Ignatz von Kolisch, Hungarian/Slovakian-born Austrian grandmaster
• George Koltanowski, Belgian-born U.S. grandmaster
• Viktor Korchnoi, Russian-born Dutch Swiss grandmaster, 2695
• Yona Kosashvili, Georgian-born Israeli grandmaster, 2580
• Borislav Kostić, Austrian-born Serbian grandmaster
• Yair Kraidman, Israeli grandmaster, 2455
• Ljuba Kristol, Russian-born Israeli woman grandmaster, 2415
• Abraham Kupchik, Belarusian/Polish-born U.S.
• Alla Kushnir, Russian Israeli woman grandmaster
• Salo Landau, Polish-born Dutch, killed by the Nazis
• Edward Lasker, Polish/German-born U.S.
• Emanuel Lasker, Prussian/German/Polish-born U.S. grandmaster & World champion
• Anatoly Lein, Russian-born U.S. grandmaster, 2555
• Konstantin Lerner, Ukrainian grandmaster, 2575
• Grigory Levenfish, Polish/Russian-born grandmaster
• Irina Levitina, Russian-born U.S. woman grandmaster
• Vladimir Liberzon, Russian-born Israeli grandmaster
• Andor Lilienthal, Russian-born Hungarian/Soviet grandmaster
• Johann Löwenthal, Hungarian-born U.S. English
• Moishe Lowtzky, Ukrainian-born Polish, killed by Nazis
• Gyula Makovetz, Hungarian
• Jonathan Mestel, British grandmaster & World U-16 champion, 2540
• Jacques Mieses, German-born English grandmaster
• Victor Mikhalevski, Belarusian-born Israeli grandmaster
• Vadim Milov, Russian-born Israeli Swiss grandmaster, 2683
• Jacob Murey, Russian-born Israeli grandmaster
• Miguel Najdorf, Polish-born Argentine grandmaster
• Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian-born Danish
• Menachem Oren, Polish-born Palestinian/Israeli
• Julius Perlis, Polish-born Austrian
• Isaias Pleci, Argentine
• Judit Polgár, Hungarian grandmaster, 2735
• Susan Polgár, Hungarian-born U.S. grandmaster & World champion, 2577
• Zsófia Polgár, Hungarian-born Israeli international master, 2500
• Lev Polugaevsky, Belarusian/Soviet grandmaster, 2640
• Yosef Porath, German-born Palestinian/Israeli
• Lev Psakhis, Russian-born Israeli grandmaster, 2625
• Dawid Przepiórka, Polish, killed by Nazis
• Abram Rabinovich, Lithuanian-born Russian
• Ilya Rabinovich, Russian
• Vyacheslav Ragozin, Russian grandmaster
• Teymour Radjabov, Azerbaijani grandmaster
• Samuel Reshevsky, Polish-born U.S. grandmaster
• Richard Réti, Slovakian/Hungarian-born Czech
• Maxim Rodshtein, Israeli U-16 World champion
• Kenneth Rogoff, U.S. grandmaster
• Michael Rohde, U.S. grandmaster, 2585
• Michael Roiz, Russian-born Israeli grandmaster, 2611
• Samuel Rosenthal, Polish-born French
• Gersz Rotlewi, Polish
• Eduardas Rozentalis, Lithuanian grandmaster, 2688
• Akiba Rubinstein, Polish grandmaster
• Gersz Salwe, Polish grandmaster
• Emanuel Schiffers, Russian
• Adolf Schwarz, Hungarian-born Austrian
• Gregory Serper, Uzbekistani-born Russian U.S. grandmaster
• Leonid Shamkovich, Russian Israeli U.S. grandmaster
• Yury Shulman, Belarusian-born U.S. grandmaster
• Ilya Smirin, Belarusian-born Israeli grandmaster, 2702
• Vasily Smyslov, Soviet/Russian grandmaster & World champion, 2620
• Gennady Sosonko, Russian-born Dutch grandmaster
• Jon Speelman, English grandmaster
• Rudolf Spielmann, Austrian-born Swedish
• Leonid Stein, Ukrainian-born Russian grandmaster
• Endre Steiner, Hungarian
• Herman Steiner, Slovakian/Hungarian-born U.S.
• Lajos Steiner, Romanian/Hungarian-born Australian
• Wilhelm Steinitz, Czech-born Austrian & U.S. grandmaster & World champion
• Emil Sutovsky, Israeli grandmaster, 2697
• Peter Svidler, Russian grandmaster
• László Szabó, Hungarian grandmaster
• Mark Taimanov, Soviet/Russian grandmaster
• Mikhail Tal, Soviet/Latvian grandmaster & World champion, 2645
• Siegbert Tarrasch, Polish/German grandmaster & Senior World champion
• Savielly Tartakower, Russian-born Austrian/Polish/French grandmaster
• Jean Taubenhaus, Polish-born French
• Mark Tseitlin, Israeli grandmaster
• Anatoly Vaisser, Kazakhstani-born French grandmaster
• Boris Verlinsky, Ukrainian-born Soviet grandmaster
• Vladimir Vuković, Croatian
• Max Weiss, Slovakian/Hungarian-born Austrian
• Michael Wilder, U.S. grandmaster
• Simon Winawer, Polish
• Heinrich Wolf, Austrian, killed by Nazis
• Daniel Yanofsky, Polish/Ukrainian-born Canadian grandmaster
• Leonid Yudasin, Russian-born Israeli grandmaster, 2692
• Tatiana Zatulovskaya, Azeri-born Russian Israeli woman grandmaster
• Johannes Zukertort, Polish-born German English