The history of chess totals about one and a half thousand years. The Chess Museum in Moscow boasts the rarest chess sets created from the 17^th to the 21^st century.
Russia's first chess museum was opened in the Gogolevsky Boulevard of Moscow in 1980. It was under reconstruction for many years until reopened with updated and expanded exposition in September, 2014. The museum is housed in an ancient mansion that has the status of a cultural monument. The building belongs to the Russian Chess Federation. The first guides of the updated exposition were the Soviet Union champion (1954) Yuri Averbakh and the president of Chess Federation A. Filatov.
The exposition was based on V. Dombrovsky's collection, which was started at the beginning of the 20^th century. The exposition was replenished with gifts and trophies of the Soviet and Russian champions. The museum displays sports cups and paintings, engravings and lithographs on the chess subject, sculptures of great people, who were fond of chess and photos of chess champions.
The chess sets are the highlight of the exposition. They are made of marble and glass, ivory and wood, nacre and porcelain, silver and birch bark, grain crumb and wire.
Special place is given to chess sets that outstanding people used to play. Thus, the museum has sets of Alexander Pushkin, Dmitry Mendeleyev and Peter the Great. Besides, ancient sets of the 17^th century from Africa of the 17^th century, chess from Italy of the 18^th century, and the unique chess set Barley Grain made in Great Britain of the 19^th century are of great interest. Some exhibits are related to the tragic pages of our history — these are chess sets made in Leningrad under the siege of German Nazi troops and in the labor camps of GULAG.
The chess desk from the decisive game Karpov-Kasparov 1984-85 is kept as a special relic. 
The permanent exposition presents about three hundred objects; whereas over three thousand seven hundred exhibits more are kept in the museum fund.
The chess exposition traces the cultural and industrial history from the 17^th to the 21^st centuries.
The entrance is free. The exposition is open in the working days. Registration in advance is required for visiting the museum.