This big volume will first retrace the history of the game of chess with the greatest 16 players who have been officially recognized as champions of the world, looking at their lives and the contributions they gave to the game. The following section will describe the most iconic matches - either because of their intensity or because of the rivalry between the two players as well as the political rivalry between countries, as the famous match between Russian Spassky and American Fischer during the Cold War. The final chapter will look at the modern-day chess scene and the rise of artificial intelligence in chess games.