In this article we intend to address, from a sociological point of view, the "sports history" of chess in order to restore some of the ruptures and tensions inherent in the process of setting up practice as a subfield of modern sports. More precisely, we present some of the major structural changes that were decisive in order to affirm the practice of sportsmanship in chess and legitimate agents and social structures responsible for movement of the chess player inside the world of competitive sports. To this aim, we make use of a research of historical literature was conducted based on chess literature. With regard to treatment theoretical and construction of arguments, we take as a starting point some contributions woven into the sociology theory of Pierre Bourdieu.
"Sports history"; chess; sport; sociology