The UCF was formerly known as the Chess Association of Uganda, which was formed in 1972 by a group of Ugandan physicians in the wake of excitement over the defeat of Boris Spassky by Bobby Fischer at that year's World Chess Championship.
[2] Chess was not well known and rarely played in the country prior to the early 1970s.
After the organization's formation, the initial venue for matches was commonly Mulago Hospital or Makarere University, both located in Uganda's capital city of Kampala.
The name change to Uganda Chess Federation took place after FIDE's involvement in 1976.
In the late 1970s the UCF began publishing Checkmate, a pamphlet that helped foster wider interest in the sport.