Chess Life

Chess Life is a magazine associated with the United States Chess Federation, now commonly called US Chess. It began publication in 1946 and became a major periodical record of American chess. Its pages combine federation news, tournament reports, player profiles, instruction, columns, and annotated games.

The digital archive reveals more than results. It shows how players were presented, which issues concerned clubs, and how teaching and the written recording of moves changed. The archive also includes Chess Review material and the period when the publications were combined under the title Chess Life & Review.

Chess Life is not the same entity as US Chess: one is a publication, and the other is the organization that publishes it. Nor should every old issue be treated as a current source for rules or analysis. A game assessment may change after later research or examination by a chess engine, a program that calculates positions. As a cultural record, it has a role comparable to British Chess Magazine in Britain.