Echesspedia

Chess game is an ancient tradition in Iran that goes right back almost to the time when the game was invented. Iran joint FIDE a bit before 1956 and the Chess Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1990. Iran has participated in 18 Olympiads since 1956 (except 1960, from 1978 until 1990 and in 1992) and collected 2 individual medals. Its best achievement was 28th in 1956.

The country has hosted the 2000 -2001 World Championship Final, the 1998 and 2008 Asian Individual Championships, the Asian Youth Championships in 1998, 2002 and 2004 and the 2005 Asian Team Championship. The Fajr chess festival is the most important event organized in the country.

In 2010, the country listed 6 IGMs (Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, Elshan Moradiabadi, Morteza Mahjoob, Homayoon Toufighi, Amir Bagheri and Shojaat Ghane), 1 WGM (Atousa Pourkashiyan), 10 IMs and in total 61 titled players.

The national champions were: 1956/1957 Yousof Safvat, 1957/1958 Yousof Safvat, 1958/1959 Houshang Mashian, 1959/1960 Yousof Safvat, 1960/1961 Robert Lalazarian, 1961/1962 Touraj Ebrahimi, 1962/1963 Morteza Hemmasian, 1963/1964 Mansour Jelveh, 1964/1965 Keikhosro Kahyaei, 1965/1966 Yousof Safvat, 1966/1967 Mohammad Hossein Farboud, 1967/1968 Mohammad Hossein Farboud, 1968/1969 Nasser Hemmasi, 1969/1970 Nasser Hemmasi, 1970/1971 Nasser Hemmasi, 1971/1972 Khosro Harandi, 1972/1973 Kamran Shirazi, 1973/1974 Mehrshad Sharif, 1974/1975 Mehrshad Sharif, 1975/1976 Anoush Der Sarkissian, 1976/1977 Mehrshad Sharif, 1977/1978 Mehrshad Sharif, 1980/1981 Mehrshad Sharif, 1990/1991 Khosro Harandi 1991/1992 Hadi Momeni, 1992/1993 Hossein Aryanejad, 1993/1994 Hadi Momeni, 1994/1995 Esmaeil Safarzadeh, 1995/1996 Hossein Aryanejad, 1996/1997 Mohammad Deljoo, 1997/1998 Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami 1998/1999 Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, 1999/2000 Hassan Abbasifar, 2000/2001 Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, 2001/2002 Elshan Moradi, 2002/2003 Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, 2003/2004 Mohsen Ghorbani, 2004/2005 Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, 2005/2006 Morteza Mahjoub, 2006/2007 Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, 2007/2008 Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, 2008/2009 Morteza Mahjoub, 2009/2010 Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami

The national team at the Olympiad in 2010.