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1 -  A Past Almost Unknown

The history of chess in Lebanon is very ambiguous. It is known that this royal game was practiced at the Omeyyad period, with some differences from the present day game. But, even though the Lebanese land was a prosperous  trading center and a civilization hub, chess was limited to few families. Only checkers and backgammon were wide spread among people. Several attempts were made to uncover traces about the history of chess in Lebanon. Even books and references covering the Ottoman  period rarely mention anything about chess.

The oldest information of interest dates back to the period of Naoum Bacha (1892-1902). The historian Youssef Yazbeck points in his writings that the most famous players of that time were Cheikh Khalil Bechara el Khoury, father of our former President, Salim Bek Ammoun, Daoud Aboud Nahoul, Doctor Hassan el Kassir, Hajj Hassan Bayhom and the well-known Aldamad Ahmad Nami Bek, former President of Syria. Aldamad, who lived his last days in Beirut, was probably the best player of the Arab world in his time and played several games against the temporary world champions. He used to play against the Russian-born Bassil Majarov and the  famous doctor Zico. These three were definitely the best players in Lebanon in the first half of the twentieth century.

2 -  Determining stages in the History of the Lebanese Chess Federation

The post-war period was marked by Maurice Gabriel, Charles Salameh, Edgard Chalabi (died in 1963) who participated in 1958's and 1960's Olympiads, and Serge Majarov, son of Bassil. Then came Andre Tarazi and Antoine Ghaleb (both died in 1988) and Jacques Bedros. In 1943, and as a first attempt to have a Lebanese Championship, a tournament was organized by the players themselves, and Charles Salameh won the tournament. In 1953, Salim Batlouni held another tournament, and Charles Salameh won it again. He was considered later the first chess champion in the History of Lebanon. In 1954, Batlouni organized a team championship in which 5 teams participated. This event was a great success and a step toward creating the executive committee of what was called the Lebanese Chess Club, formed as follows: Salim Batlouni : President Salim Othman : Vice-President Mohammed Succar : General Secretary Georges Khalife : Treasurer Mohammed Doweik : Games Representative Iskandar Ghaleb : Technical Advisor After that, Chess in Lebanon started its first official steps. Competitions were held on a periodic basis. A national rating was adopted and consequently the number of players increased. One of the most active figures was Mohammed Mourad Succar who was the first to communicate and cooperate   with the Arab and the international chess community. As a result, Lebanon welcomed the Hungarian International Master Tibor Florian who played against the Lebanese top players and played the first simultaneous chess demonstration in Lebanon; He defied 40 players at the same time. The outstanding relation between the Lebanese Chess Club and the Hungarian Master, who was closely related to the world federation, opened the way  in 1956 to the admission of Lebanon, and exceptionally as a club, to the FIDE (Federation Internationale Des Echecs). It was an honor to Lebanon being the first Arab country to join FIDE.

On the 26th of January 1965, and after the approval of the Ministry of Interior, the Lebanese Chess Federation was founded and Mohammed Succar was officially agreed upon to be the President, a position he willingly left in 1997, after being for more than 50 years one of the most prominent figures of the Lebanese chess history.

In January 1970 the Lebanese Chess Federation became officially controlled by the General Directorate of Youth and Sports.

In 1994, a radical change affected the internal and basic status of the Lebanese Chess Federation which , as a result, became controlled by the Ministry of Culture and Education. A new board was also elected.

The year 1997 ended with Succar's resignation, and a new era began with the election of Dr Ammar Houry as a President of the Lebanese Chess Federation. A new board was elected in 1998 and once more the Lebanese Chess Federation returned back under the control of the General Directorate of Youth and Sports.

3 -  Development of Chess in Lebanon

Unlike other countries, the development of chess in Lebanon was always interrupted by the regional and local conflicts. For all that, considerable efforts were made in different domains: The 25th of December 1955 witnessed the first appearance of a chess corner in Al Hayat newspaper, directed by Mohammad Succar. Four months later, Edgard Chalabi did likewise with the French language newspaper Orient-Le-Jour. Lebanon was a founder member of the Arab Chess Federation in 1975. Later on, Mohammad Succar was elected General Secretary of the ACF (top position at that time) for more than two years (1977-1979); he then occupied for three years different positions at the Executive Board. Lebanon was also a founder member of the Mediterranean Sea Nations Federation in 1987. In 1998, and during the Elista Olympiad, Dr Ammar Houry was elected member of FIDE Executive Board- Asian Representative.

The first official Lebanese Championship took place in 1953 and continued there after except during the years of war: 1969, 1973, 1975 to 1991. The 1963 event was also absent due to Edgard Chalabi's death. The first Women's Championship took place in 1994

The first Schools' and Universities' Championship was organized in 1973.One day was spared for this event. The participants were divided into different age categories. At the end there were three winners for each category and by adding all the results, AUB Engineering contained the first place in the general ranking. After forceful interruption during the years of war, rigorous restarting of these championships was in 1993. It is only in 1997 that the Schools' day became a qualification round for more serious championships formed of different categories: under 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10. This competition  had to be done over many days, like the usual Men's Championship. The small number of girls made it difficult to adopt parallel girls' championships. It was decided that the girls who managed to obtain, at least, half of the total were officially considered as Girls' champions for the equivalent categories.

On the other hand, Lebanon was a pioneer of the rapid play when he introduced during the war the "long day of Chess", a tournament that started and ended in the same day. Rapid play championships started in 1993.

A growing interest in blitz tournaments was spreading in the world , as it was more exciting than the regular and rapid play. The first Lebanese Blitz Championship took place in 1995. This competition reached an end in 1997.

The first attempt for Clubs' Championship took place in 1954, but it became active and official in 1996.

1973 witnessed the first national rated tournament. Nevertheless good rating basis took a long time to be established. Starting 1989, national ratings were produced periodically. In 1997, rigorous FIDE rating rules started to be adopted to compensate the past inaccuracies.

The first face to face encounter between the machine and the human brain in Lebanon was in 1988 with the introduction of an  electronic board designed by Saitek and based on Kasparov's database. With the rapid growth of microprocessors, chess software became easy to install on any PC. In February 1999, Extreme won the CTS Bir el Abd closed tournament.

In order to be a part of the rapid progress in technology, gradual importance started to be given to the internet. Top Lebanese players could defy any opponent from any country using the Internet Chess Club at the Beirut Hall Termium 1998's exhibition.

In August 1998, and in an effort to improve our chess standards, the Lebanese Chess Federation agreed with the Romanian Grand Master Theodor Ghitescu to train the Lebanese team. On the other hand, the famous Hungarian International Master Tibor Karolyi who led GM Peter Leko to the top, had a similar agreement with College Notre-Dame des Freres from June to August 1999.

4 -  International Events in Lebanon

5 -  International achievements

Lebanon was omnipresent in the Asian and the Arab events like the Asian Teams Championship, the Asian Cities Team Championship, the Asian Individual Championship, the Arab Teams Championship, the Arab Clubs Championship, the Arab Individual Championship including categories for under 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 years.

In Qatar 1985, Haytham Omar won the bronze medal in the first Arab Junior Championship. Also in Qatar, one year later, Walid Dagher became the first Lebanese Arab Champion for under 14 years. In the Bekaa festival in 1993, Haytham Omar renewed his success by winning the bronze medal on the third board. In 1998, Hani Ammoun won the silver medal in the Arab Teams Championship in Amman. Also in Amman, and in the course of the 9th Pan Arab Games, Ahmad Najjar and Antoine Kassis won both a bronze medal for the Lebanese Olympic delegation, respectively on the first and the third boards.

Lebanese women's participation was rather shy. Indeed, the first women's local tournament, won by Josette Moukhbatt, was in 1973. After that, 15 years elapsed before our first women's participation in a Chess Olympiad- Salonique 1988. The Lebanese delegation consisted of Daniele Bedrossian Ghattas, Carole Rizkallah, Mariane Imad and Josette Moukhbatt.

Daniele was the first to participate in a zonal competition in Qatar 1990. In Dubai 1991, Daniele won the Bronze medal in the Arab Women's Individual Championship. In Sanaa, Yemen 1996, Daniele achieved the 2nd place

In 1998, Eva Repkova Eid- WGM won the Arab Women's Individual Championship in Morocco and the second place in the Asian Individual Women's Championship in Teheran.

In April 1999, Fadi Eid was ranked 3^rd in a Sheveninge Beirut tournament where 10 Lebanese players were opposed to 10 IM from Europe and the Middle East. In the open tournament which was held in the same location, Eva Repkova Eid won the 2^nd place.

The year 1999 was crowned by 2 important achievements: Fadi Eid obtaining his IM ttle after his stunning performance in the Iran zonal, and Knarik Mouradian winning also the WIM title after her smashing victory in the Arab Chess Championship.

In March 2000, Lebanon welcomed the Asian Cities Team Championship. He was represented by 4 cities of which Beirut and Zahleh managed to win the 5^th rank after renowned nations such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

In the 4^th Arab festival held from 4 till 15 August 2000, Lebanon was the first country to organize in the same event 7 tournaments: the Individual Arab Championship for Men and Women, the Individual Arab Championship for U20, U18, U16 and U14 plus the Arab Armies Team Championship

In September 2001, the LCF organized in cooperation with Freres Chess Club the 1^st Arab Team Cup where Freres (Ermenkov, Eid, Najjar, Kassis and Sakr) could win the 2^nd place. After his team success, Fadi Eid won the Aksa tournament among many IM and FM.

During the committee for Chess Development, held in Morocco in 2001, Mohammad Succar was awarded the title of "best arbiter of the 20th century".

 During the 75th FIDE jubilee, Mohammad Succar initials were stamped forever in the golden book, in appreciation for his excellent contribution to the development of chess in the world.

 The Arab Chess Federation awarded Mohammad Succar the title of "Pillar of the Arab Chess Community", a title already awarded to him by the Lebanese Chess Federation.