Echesspedia

Chess became popular during the 15th century and the 16th century. Italian players like Boi and Curti  were touring with success in Europe. Later Del Rio and Ponziani mastered chess openings. The Federazione Scacchistica Italiana (FSI) was established in 1920. and joint FIDE in 1924 . The first national championship took place at Viareggio in 1921.

No great tournament were organized until the later 40’s with Venice in 1948 and 1949, Milan in 1975 and the 1981 World Chess Championship match Anatoly Karpov- Viktor Korchnoi at Merano. In the late 80’s the traditional tournament of Reggio Emilia became a must. Since 2000 few European team and individual championships were organized in Avier but the greatest Italian event came in 2006 with the Chess Olympiads of Turino.
The most prominent  players were Stefano Rosselli del Turco, Mario Monticelli, Vicenzo Castaldi, Stefano Tatai, Michele Godena and recently Fabiano Caruana.

The national team has participated in 32 Olympiads since 1927 (except 1930,1956, 1962 and 1978) and collected  6 individual medals. Its best achievement was 10th in 1927.

The national champions (unofficial till 1921) were: 1875 Seni, 1878 Sprega, 1881 Salvioli, 1883 Zannoni, 1886 Zannoni, 1892  Torre, V 1900 Reggio, 1901 Reggio, 1905 Reggio, 1906 Martinolich, 1911 Gladig, 1913 Reggio, 1916 Reggio, 1920 Rosselli, 1921 Marotti, 1923 Rosselli, 1929 Monticelli, 1931 Rosselli, 1934 Monticelli, 1935 Sacconi, 1936 Castaldi, 1937 Castaldi, 1939 Monticelli, 1943 Nestler, 1947 Castaldi, 1948 Castaldi, 1950 Porreca, 1951 Paoli, 1952 Norcia, 1953 Castaldi, 1954 Nestler, 1956 Porreca, 1957 Paoli,  1959 Castaldi, 1960 Cappello, 1961 Giustolisi, 1962 Tatai, 1963 Contedini, 1964 Giustolisi, 1965 Tatai, 1966 Giustolisi, 1967 Tatai, 1968 Paoli, 1969 Mariotti, 1970 Tatai, 1971 Tatai, 1972 Micheli, 1973 Micheli. 1974 Tatai, 1975 Toth, 1976 Toth, 1977 Tatai, 1979 Tatai, 1981 (1) Toth, 1981 (2) Messa, 1982 Toth, 1983 Tatai, 1984 Toth, 1985 Zichichi, 1985 (2) Tatai, 1986 Braga, 1987 Lanzani, 1988 Braga, 1989 Belotti, 1990 Tatai, 1991 Tatai, 1992-1993 Godena, 1994 Godena, 1995-1996 Tatai, 1995 Godena, 1996 Belotti, 1997-1998 Efimov, 1998 Efimov, 1999 Efimov and Bellini, 2000 Efimov and Arlandi, 2001 Belotti, 2002 Collutis, 2003 Sarno, 2004 Fabi, 2005 Godena, 2006 Godena, 2007 Caruana, 2008 Caruana, 2009 Ortega, 2010 Caruana.

The Italian team met the Russian at Khanty Mansiysk, 2010