Chess appeared on stamps as part of the great widening of subjects that postage stamps began to cover in the first half of the 20th century. A chess olympiad was first commemorated in 1935, when the Polish post used a special postmark. The first chess stamp was issued in 1947 in Bulgaria, with a face value of 9 leva, in a sports series marking the Balkan Games. It was followed in 1948 by a Soviet series, after which stamps and other collectibles on chess began to appear in many countries around the world.
Collectors build motif and thematic collections on this subject, and it enjoys a certain popularity among philatelists.
The chess theme covers stamps and other philatelic material showing famous players, fragments of games, chess pieces and the chessboard, chess symbols, books on chess theory, and books and other works whose plot is connected with chess.
1947. A Bulgarian postage stamp — the world's first chess stamp
1947. A Bulgarian postage stamp — the world's first chess stamp
Great chess players are keen philatelists too. Anatoly Karpov's stamp collection is considered one of the best in the world, and among philatelists he is no less respected than among chess players. In 2014 Karpov exhibited part of his collection in the Norwegian city of Tromsø, where FIDE's 41st Chess Olympiad was held.
Anatoly Karpov shows Andrei Filatov the stamp Norway issued for the Tromsø Olympiad
These exhibits come from Anatoly Karpov's own, extremely rich collection
Anatoly Karpov: “I keep the most valuable stamps in a bank”
This envelope, devoted to the 1960 Olympiad in Leipzig, was signed by Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal. With joint efforts the fourth autograph was identified too: most likely it was left by Paul Keres
A stamp issued in Central Africa showing the famous chess player and philatelist Karpov
The first chess stamps in Africa were issued in 1973 by the Republic of Mali. They were devoted to the sensational Spassky – Fischer match
From Euwe to Tal
From Petrosian to Kasparov
Andrei Filatov admitted that as a child he himself collected chess stamps, and when he grew up he gave them to his nephew. “Oh, if only I could find that album now!” exclaimed the president of the Chess Federation of Russia. Perhaps the world will soon have one more serious philatelist — Anatoly Karpov is known to have “infected” many of the friends he showed his collection to with this hobby
Among philatelists Anatoly Karpov is as well known as in the chess world.
1948: stamps were issued for the world championship tournament held in the USSR.
1948: stamps devoted to the world chess championship tournament.
1958: a stamp was issued for the 50th anniversary of the death of the first Russian grandmaster, M. I. Chigorin, organiser and winner of the first three All-Russian chess championships.
1958: the first Russian grandmaster, M. I. Chigorin
1962: a stamp devoted to the 30th USSR Chess Championship.
1963: stamps devoted to the world chess championship.
1966: a stamp devoted to the world chess championship.
1977: a stamp devoted to the 6th European Team Chess Championship.
1982: a stamp devoted to the Interzonal tournaments of the women's and men's world chess championships.
1984: a stamp devoted to the men's and women's world chess championships.
1985: a postage stamp devoted to the world chess championship.
1991: a stamp marking the 75th anniversary of the birth of the Soviet Estonian chess player P. P. Keres.
The most recent stamp in Russian philately so far appeared in 2000 in the series “Russia in the 20th Century”, devoted to the great Botvinnik.