Chess Player Trivia

Chess Player Trivia
by Bill Wall
Jacob Aagaard (1973- ) is a chess

writer, trainer (FIDE Senior
Trainer), and publisher. He was born
in Denmark and later moved to
Glasgow, Scotland. He learned how
to play chess in 1985. At age 16, he
was the champion of his local club
in Denmark. In March 1997, he was
awarded the International Master
title. He studied languages at the
University of Copenhagen and
Cognitive Semiotics at the Bill Wall
University of Aarhus in Denmark. In
2004, he co-founded Quality Chess
publishing. In 2005, he took 1st
place in the 112th Scottish Chess
Champion, but the title went to
Craig Pritchett since Aagaard was The only thing
not yet a British citizen. In 2005, he chess players
was awarded the GM title. In 2007, have in common is
he won the 94th British chess. —Lodewijk
Championship. In 2010, he reached Prins
his highest Elo rating: 2538. In 2012
he won the Scottish Chess
Championship. In the final round for
the Scottish title, he defeated GM
Mark Hebden with the Scotch
Opening. He is a chess author (29
chess books) and co-owner of
Quality Chess publishing house.
Aagaard is the only chess writer in
the world to win all four major Book
of the Year awards: English Chess
Federation (2010), ChessCafe.com
(2001), Association of Chess
Professionals (2013) and the
Boleslavsky Medal from FIDE's
trainer committee (2012).
Schmied — Aagaard, Copenhagen
1985 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6
4.Bg5 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.Qxc4 c5
7.Nc3 a6 8.a4 cxd4 9.Nxd4?
(9.Qxd4) 9...Ne5 0-1
Manuel Aaron (1935- ) is India's

first International Master (IM). He
was born in Toungoo, Burma (now
Myanmar) and became an
International Master in 1961. It took
17 years before India produced
another International Master (V.
Ravi). In 1960 he had a 2509
performance rating at the Leipzig
Chess Olympiad (he defeated Max
Euwe). In 1962 he took last place
out of 23 players in the Stockholm
Interzonal (but he did defeat Portisch
and Uhlmann). His highest FIDE
rating was 2420 in 1981. He became
an International Arbiter in 1986. He
has won the state of Tamil Nadu
(Madras — now Chennai) chess
championship 11 times and the India
National Championship 9 times
between 1959 and 1981. These
records still stand. In 1961, he won
the Arjuna Award for Indian
sportsmen, the first-ever chess player
to be so honored. In 1962, he played
in the Stockholm Interzonal, but
took last place out of 23 players. He
did beat Lajos Portisch and
Wolfgang Uhlmann. He played for
India in three Chess Olympiads
(1960, 1962, and 1964). He was
chairman of the All India Chess
Federation and a member of the
FIDE Central Committee. He is the
director of the Aaron Chess
Academy, India's first chess
academy and the founder (1982) and
editor of Chess Mate magazine. In
1995, he retired as Deputy Chief
Officer of Indian Bank. He is a
journalist for The Hindu newspaper.
Aaron and noted chess historian
Vijay D. Pandit have written a
comprehensive book on the history
of Indian chess starting from 570 CE
to the year 2010. The 600-page
book, published in 2014, is titled
Indian Chess History: 570 AD —
2010 AD.
Aaron - Suer, Varna Chess

Olympiad 1962 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6
3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 O-O 5.e4 d6 6.Be2
c5 7.d5 Na6 8.O-O Nc7 9.h3 a6
10.a4 Rb8 11.Bf4 Nd7 12.Re1 Ne5
13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.Bxe5 dxe5 15.Bg4
f5 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Bh5 Qd6 18.Qe2
e4 19.f3 b5 20.axb5 axb5 21.fxe4
fxe4 22.Qxe4 b4 23.Nd1 e6 24.dxe6
Bxe6 25.Ra7 Bf5 26.Qe7 Qd4+?
(26...Qxe7) 27.Kh1 Ne8??
(27...Rbc8) 28.Bf7+ (28...Kh8
29.Qxf8 mate; 28...Kg7 29.Bxe8+
Kg8 30.Re5 wins) 1-0
Sverre Johannes Aarseth (1934- ) is

a chess master from Norway, now
living in England. He participated in
the 6th World Correspondence
Chess Championship (1968-1971)
and finished 14th out of 15 players.
He lost one game in 14 moves. In
1981, he was awarded the
International Master for
Correspondence award. He is a
retired research scientist at the
Institute of Astronomy at the
University of Cambridge and avid
mountain climber. An asteroid is
named after him. His expertise is
numerical simulations of many-body
(N-body) gravitational interactions.
Aarseth - Rittner, 6th World
Correspondence Championship 1968
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5
5.Qg4 Ne7 6.dxc5 Nbc6 7.Nf3 d4
8.Bb5 Qa5 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.Qxg7
(10.Qxd4) 10...Rg8 11.Qxh7 Ba6
12.Ng5 Bxc3+ 13.Kd1 O-O-O
14.Nxf7 d3! (15.Nxd8 Qa4 16.b3
Qg4+ 17.f3 Qxg2 18.cxd3 Qxh1+
19.Kc2 Rg2+ 20.Kxc3 Nd5+ 21.Kd4
Qg1+ 22.Ke4 Re2+ 23.Be3 Qxe3
mate) 0-1
Nijat Azad oglu Abasov (1995- ) is

an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2011).
His peak rating was 2608 in January
2018.
Farid Abbasov (1979- ) is a chess

Grandmaster (2007) from
Azerbaijan. In 1997, he took 2nd
place in the European Youth Chess
Championship. In 2007, he won the
gold medal in the international
tournament held in Lahholm,
Sweden. However, thieves broke
into his hotel room and stole his
computer, flight ticket, and
documents. He's been coach and
trainer of Azerbaijan Youth team for
about 10 years. His highest Elo
rating was 2578 in 2008. He is a
chess coach at the Azerbaijan Youth
chess group. In 2017, he travelled to
war-torn Iraq to encourage refugees
in Internally Displaced People (IDP)
camps to play chess to help them
overcome trauma and grief. (source:
ChessBase News, June 20, 2017)
Abbasov — Bajarani, Baku, 2010 1.

d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qb3
dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bf5 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2
Nbd7 8. O-O Be7 9. e3 O-O 10. Qe2
Ne4 11. Ne1 Nd6 12. e4 Bg6 13.
Nc3 Qa5 14. Bd2 Rad8 15. Nd5 1-0
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2004) is an

Uzbekistani Grandmaster (2017). In
2012, he won the Under-8 World
Youth Chess Championship and was
awarded the FIDE Master title. In
2015, he set a new record for the
youngest player to enter the top 100
juniors, at eleven years old. On
October 29, 2017, he became the
second-youngest GM in history at
the age of 13 years, 1 month, and 11
days.
Lalith — Abdusattoriv, Moscow

2017 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4
4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7.
Bh4 O-O 8. e3 Be6 9. a3 Be7 10.
Bd3 c5 11. dxc5 d4 12. exd4 Nc6
13. Nge2 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Qxd4 15.
Ne4 Nxe4 16. Bxe7 Bb3 17. Qe2
Nxf2 18. Qxf2 Qxd3 19. Qh4 Bc4 0-
1
Thal Abergel (1982- ) is a French

Grandmaster.
Anupama Abhyankar-Gokhale
(1969- ) is a chess master from
India. She was awarded the
Women's International Master
(WIM) title in 1985 after taking 1st
place in the Asian Junior Girls'
championship. She won the Indian
Women's Championship five times.
She won the Asian Women's
Championship twice. She married
chess master Raghunandan Gokhale,
chairman of the Mumbai Chess
Association and Anupama's coach.
She works for a petroleum
company.
Neelotpal — Anupama, Calcutta

1994 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6
4.d3 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.Bb3 d6 7.c3
h6 8.Re1 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf8 10.Nc4
Be6 11.a4 Qd7 12.a5 a6 13.Bc2
Rad8 14.b4 Qc8 15.Qe2 Bg4 16.Ne3
d5 17.exd5 Nd4 18.cxd4 exd4
19.Ba4 Re7 20.Bb2 Nxd5 21.Bxd4
Nf4 22.Qb2 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Qh3
24.Bb3 Rd6 0-1
Arthur Abolianin (1966- ) is an

International Master (2002) from
Belgium. In 2002, he tied for 2nd in
the Belgium championship. He
played Board 2 for Belgium in the
2004 Chess Olympiad in Calvia. His
peak rating was 2385 in 2001.
Van Leeuwen — Abolianin, Gent

2003 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6
7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Ng8 9.Bd4 f6
10.f4 Nh6 11.exf6 exf6 12.Bc4 d5
13.Qe2+ Kf7 14.O-O-O Bg4 0-1
IstvAn Abonyi (1886-1942) was a

Hungarian master from Budapest. In
1916, he was one of the first persons
to play the Budapest Gambit. In
1922 he published analysis on the
Abonyi Gambit of the Budapest
Defense (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5
Ng4 4.e4 Nxd5 5.f4 Nec6) in
Deutsches Wochenschach. He was
one of the 15 founders of FIDE in
1924. In 1928, he played 300
opponents on 105 boards, scoring 79
wins, 6 losses, and 20 draws. From
1935 to 1939, he was the president
of the International Correspondence
Chess Federation (IFSB). For many
years, he was president of the
Hungarian Chess Federation and
edited Magyar Sakkvilag (Hungarian
Chessworld) chess magazine.
Abonyi — Hromadka, Prague 1908

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5
Nd4 5.Ba4 c6 6.O-O Bc5 7.Nxe5 d6
8.Nd3 Bg4 9.Qe1 Nf3+ 10.gxf3
Bxf3 11.e5 O-O 12.exd6 Ng4
13.Qe7 Bxd6 0-1
Gerald Abrahams (1907-1980) was a

British lawyer (barrister), chess
master and chess author. He
introduced the Abrahams variation
(also called the Noteboom variation)
of the Queen's Gambit Declined
(1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3
dxc4 5.a4 Bb4 6.e3 b5 7.Bd2 a5) in
1925 (Allcock-Abrahams, England
1925). In 1933, he finished in 3rd
place in the British Championship
(won by Mir Sultan Khan). In 1936,
Abrahams helped Alekhine's fourth
wife, Grace, in renewing her visa.
Grace was an American-born widow
of a British tea-planter in Ceylon. In
1946, Heinrich Fraenkel (Assiac)
organized a New Statesman
competition to find a suitable
translation of Zugswang. Abrahams
won the competition for the word
movebound. In 1946, he defeated
Viaschelav Ragozin (who later
became the second World
Correspondence Champion) in the
Anglo-Soviet radio match, winning
one game and drawing one game. In
1954, he wrote The Legal Mind. In
this book, Abrahams commented
about a case in which chess player
William Herbert Wallace may have
killed his wife Julia Wallace in
Liverpool in 1931. His alibi was that
he was at a chess club in Liverpool
when the crime was committed. He
also commented about Wallace as a
chess player, writing, "The murder
of his wife apart, I think Wallace
ought to be hanged for being such as
bad chessplayer." His eight chess
books include Teach Yourself Chess
(1948), The Chess Mind (1952),
Handbook of Chess (1960),
Technique in Chess (1961), Test
Your Chess (1963), Pan Book of
Chess (1966), Not Only Chess
(1974), and Brilliancies in Chess
(1977).
NN - Abrahams, England 1929 1.d4

d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 Bb4 5.Bd3
e5 6.dxe5 dxe4 7.Bxe4 Bxc3+
8.bxc3 Qxd1+ 9.Kxd1 Be6 10.Rb1
Na6 11.Rxb7? (11.Be3) 11...O-O-
O+! (12.Kc2 Kxb7 wins) 0-1.
Tatev Abrahamyan (1988- ) is a

Woman Grandmaster (2011) who
was born in Yerevan, Armenia. She
started playing chess at 8 after her
father took her to the Chess
Olympiad games in 1996 and met
Judit Polgar. She moved to the
United States in 2001. In 2004, she
tied for 1st in the U.S. Women's
Chess Championship, but lost the
play-off match to Rusudan
Goletiani. In 2006, she won the Pan
American Championship for Girls
Under 18 with a perfect score.
Abrahamyan has represented the
USA in the Women's Chess
Olympiads since 2008. She lives in
Glendale, California. Her coach is
IM Armen Ambartsoumian. She
graduated in 2011 from California
State University Long Beach, double
majoring in psychology and political
science. Her peak FIDE rating was
2396 in 2014.
Abrahamyan — Baginskaite, US
Women's Ch, St Louis 2013 1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6
5. d3 d6 6. c3 O-O7. Nbd2 a6 8. Bb3
h6 9. Re1 Re8 10. Nf1 Ba7 11. Ng3
d5 12. exd5 Na5 13. Nxe5 Nxb3 14.
Qxb3 Ng4 15. d4 Qh4 16. Bf4
Qxh2+ 17. Kf1 Bf5 18. c4 Bxd4 19.
Nf3 1-0
Aryam Abreu-Delgado (1978- ) is a

Cuban Grandmaster (2008). His
peak rating was 2502 in 2008
Leonardas Abramavicius (1900-

1960) was a Lithuanian chess
master. In 1930, he played on the 4th
board for Lithuania at the 3rd Chess
Olympiad in Hamburg. In 1931, he
played 4th board at the 4th Chess
Olympiad in Prague. In 1933, he
played the reserve board at the 5th
Chess Olympiad in Folkestone and
won the individual silver medal with
5 wins, 2 losses, and 2 draws. In
1936, he played 5th board at the
Chess Olympiad in Munich. In 1937,
he played the reserve board at the
7th Chess Olympiad in Stockholm.
He won the Lithuanian
championship 3 times (1942, 1943,
and 1950).
Abramavicius — Mezgailis, Munich

1936 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.g3 Bb7
4.Bg2 e6 5.O-O Be7 6.b3 O-O
7.Bb2 d6 8.Nbd2 Nbd7 9.c4 c5
10.d5 exd5 11.Nh4 Rb8 12.cxd5
Bxd5 13.Bxd5 Nxd5 14.Nc4 N7f6
15.e4 Nc7 16.Nf5 Nce8 17.e5 dxe5
18.Nxe5 Rc8 19.Qe2 Nd6 20.Nc6 1-
0
Lev Yakovlevich Abramov (1911-

2000), born in Warsaw, was a
Russian chess master. He was
awarded the International Arbiter
title in 1957. From 1961 to 1966, he
was vice chairman of the Soviet
Chess Federation. He was awarded
the title of International Master of
Correspondence Chess in 1979. In
1971, he wrote Chess, Move by
Move. He was the former head of
the Sports Committer Chess
Department. He was the captain of
the USSR team during the USSR vs.
Rest of the World match in Belgrade
in 1970.
Bosko Abramovic (1951- ) is a

Serbian Grandmaster (1984). He
won at Belgrade in 1984 and was
second at Montpellier in 1986. He
took 16th-20th in the 1993 Biel
FIDE Interzonal. He has been the
coach of the Serbian chess team
since 2012. His highest FIDE rating
has been 2633.
Abramovi? — Chiburdanidze,
Montpelier 1986 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3
Bb7 7.c3 g6 8.d4 exd4 9.e5 Ne4
10.Re1 Nc5 11.cxd4 Nxb3 12.Qxb3
Nb4 13.Nc3 Nd3 14.Ne4 Bxe4
15.Bg5 Be7 16.Bxe7 Qxe7 17.Rxe4
1-0
Jude Frazer Acers (1944- ) was born

in Long Beach. He is a U.S. senior
chess master now living in New
Orleans who has set several world
record simultaneous exhibition
records. He learned to play chess at
age 7 and was a master at age 17. In
1962, he won the Mississippi-
Louisiana Open. In 1963, he won the
Mississippi Open. In 1966 at the
Louisiana State Fair, he played 114
opponents simultaneously and won
all 114 games. In 1976 he played
179 opponents simultaneously in
Long Island. He has toured 48 states
and 5 countries to give over a
thousand chess exhibitions. When
not touring, and playing in other
chess tournaments, Jude can be
found at his World Chess table on
the Gazebo sidewalk terrace, 1018
Decatur Street (the French Quarter),
New Orleans, Louisiana. He is
known as the man with the red beret.
In 2005, he survived Hurricane
Katrina in New Orleans and was
evacuated to Tennessee. His peak
USCF rating is 2399.
Steers - Acers, Santa Monica 1968

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5 4.c4
Nb4 5.Qa4+ N8c6 6.a3 Na6! 7.d5
Nc5 8.Qb5 b6 9.dxc6 a5 10.b4 Ba6
11.bxc5 Bxb5 12.cxb5 Qd4 (13.Ra2
Qe4+ 14.Ne2 Qxb1) 0-1
Armando Acevedo-Millan (1937- )

is a FIDE master and former
champion of Mexico. In 2001, when
Nigel Short thought he was playing
Bobby Fischer on the Internet, he
asked his opponent when he played
Acevedo. The response was
immediate. "Siegen 1970." Fischer
had played Acevedo in the Siegen
Chess Olympiad in 1970. Acevedo
played in the 1966 and 1970 chess
Olympiads for Mexico. He was the
first Mexican FIDE master.
Acevedo — Fischer, Siegen 1970 1.

d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. c3 g6 4. g3 b6 5.
Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Bg7 7. Nbd2 O-O
8. Re1 d5 9. Ne5 Nc6 10. Ndf3 Rc8
11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bh3 Bd7 13. Bf1
Bc6 14. Ne5 Bb7 15. a4 Ne4 16. f3
Nd6 17. e3 Qc7 18. a5 f6 19. axb6
axb6 20. Nd3 e5 21. Nf2 e4 22. f4
Ra8 23. Bd2 Rxa1 24. Qxa1 Ra8 25.
Qb1 Qc6 26. b3 Ba6 27. Qb2 Bxf1
28. Rxf1 c4 29. b4 Qa4 30. Rb1 Bf8
31. Kf1 Nb5 32. Ke2 f5 33. Nd1 Kf7
34. Nf2 Qa2 35. Nd1 Ke6 36. Qxa2
Rxa2 37. Rb2 Ra1 38. Be1 Kd7 39.
Bd2 Kc6 40. Be1 Na3 41. Kd2 Kb5
42. Bf2 Ka4 43. Be1 Be7 44. Bf2
Nb5 45. Kc2 Ka3 46. Rb1 Ra2+ 47.
Rb2 Nxc3 48. Kxc3 Ra1 0-1
Peter Acs (1981- ) is a Hungarian

Grandmaster (1998) and the 2001
World Junior Chess Champion. He
has represented Hungary in three
Olympiads (2000, 2002, and 2004).
His highest rating has been 2623 in
2003.
Van Wely — Acs, Netherlands 2002

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-
O 5.Bd3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Ne2 Re8
8.O-O Bd6 9.a3 Ng4 10.h3 Nh2
11.Re1 Nf3+ 12.gxf3 Qg5+ 13.Kh1
Qh4 14.Nf4 Bxh3 15.Ncxd5 Re6
16.Nxe6? Bf5+ 17.Kg1 Qh2+
18.Kf1 Bg3 (19.gxf3 Bh2 mate) 0-1
Dr. Edmund Adam (1894-1958) was

the last German Open
correspondence champion in 1939.
He spent World War II in a
concentration camp. From 1946 to
1956, he was first president of the
German Correspondence
Association. He played in the 1950
world correspondence chess
championship. One of his opponents
was International Master Graham
Russell Mitchell (1905-1984), a
British MI5 intelligence officer. The
Adam variation in the Ruy Lopez is
named after him (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4
6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Qe2
Be7 10.c4). He was a medical
doctor.
Napolitano — E. Adam, Corr. 1950

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. b4 cxb4 4. d4
d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nb6 7. d5 e5
8. Nxe5 Bd6 9. Bb5+ N8d7 10. Nd3
O-O 11. O-O f5 12. Bf4 Qc7 13.
Bxd6 Qxd6 14. f3 a6 15. Bxd7 Bxd7
16. Nd2 Rac8 17. Re1 fxe4 18. fxe4
Na4 19. Nf1 Qb6+ 20. Kh1 Qd4 21.
d6 Nc3 22. Qb3+ Kh8 23. e5 Qxd3
24. e6 Rce8 25. Ng3 Qd2 0-1
Faneuil (Fan) Adams, Jr. (1923-

1999) was a former senior executive
with the Mobil Oil Corporation and
former president of the American
Chess Foundation (ACF) which later
became the Chess-in-the-Schools.
He was also the Treasurer and
Director of the Manhattan Chess
Club. He served as a delegate to
FIDE, representing the USA. He was
an unpaid, full-time volunteer for
chess. He set up chess programs for
160 schools, mostly in inner-city
areas, and helped send teams to
national scholastic competitions. He
was a direct descendent of Samuel
Adams. When he died of a brain
tumor, he bequeathed a donation of
80% to Chess-in-the-Schools, which
he founded, and 20% to the
Manhattan Chess Club. His will
stated that if the Manhattan Chess
Club were to go defunct, this 20%
would go back into the Chess-in-the-
School for their general use. A year
after Adams' death, Chess-in-the-
Schools evicted the Manhattan
Chess Club from its building. After
124 years, the Manhattan Chess
Club went defunct, and the Chess-in-
the-Schools got their additional
20%. Chess-in-the-Schools conducts
chess programs in about 200 inner
city elementary and middle schools
(13,000 students) and sends teams to
national and international scholastic
competitions.
John Quincy Adams (1769-1848)

was the 6th President of the United
States (1825-1829) and avid chess
player. His chess set is displayed in
the Smithsonian Museum of
American History. John Quincy
Adams may have lost the Presidency
because he played chess. Andrew
Jackson supporters charged that John
Quincy Adams wasted money and
used public funds to buy an
expensive ivory chess set (gambling)
for him. Adams had paid for the
chess set with his own money.
Andrew Jackson won big in 1828.
John Adams (1735-1826) taught his
son, John Quincy Adams, to play
chess.
Michael Adams (1971- ) learned

chess at age 6. At age 10, he won the
British National Primary School
Championship. He also won the
British Under-11 Championship. At
age 12, he drew a simul game
against Garry Kasparov. His first
FIDE rating was 2360 when he was
14. At age 14, he was British Under-
21 champion. In 1987, he took 2nd
place in the World Under-16
championship. At age 15, he was
title, the world youngest IM at the
time. He earned his first GM norm at
age 16. In 1989, he was awarded the
GM title at age 17. He was British
Chess Champion at age 17 in 1989.
He also won it in 1997, 2010, 2011,
and 2016. In 2002 he was rated 2757
and was the 4th strongest player in
the world (behind Kasparov,
Kramnik, and Anand). Three times
he has reached the semi-finals of the
FIDE World Chess Championship
(1997, 1999, 2000). He has been a
chess journalist for the Saturday
Daily Telegraph since 2006. His
peak Elo rating was 2761 in 2013.
Wickert - M. Adams, Islington 1992

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 c5 4.d5
Qb6 5.Nd2 Qxb2 6.Ngf3? (6.Nxe4
Qxb4+ 7.c3) 6...Nc3 7.Nc4? (7.Qc1
Qxc1+ 8.Rxc1 Bxa2) 7... Nxd1
(8.Nxb2 Nxb2) 0-1
Weaver Warren Adams (1901-1963)

was born on April 28, 1901 in
Dedham Massachusetts. He was an
American chess master. He
participated in the U.S.
Championship in 1936 (15th-16th
place), 1940, 1944, 1946 and 1948.
He won the Massachusetts State
Championship (and the Cabot
trophy) in 1937, 1938, 1941 and
1945. He won at Ventnor City in
1945. In 1948, he won the US Open
in Baltimore. He won the New
England Open championship five
times (1925-1929). In 1939, Weaver
Adams wrote a book called White to
Play and Win. After publication of
the book, he played in the US Open
chess tournament in Dallas in 1940.
He did not win a single game with
White (3 losses and 1 draw), and
won all four of his games as Black!
Adams then played a match with
I.A. Horowitz. Adams had White
every game and Horowitz had Black
every game. Adams lost the match.
Weaver Adams's mother's side was
been traced back to the founding
fathers of America. Arnold Denker
related of Weaver Adams that he
was "a master who inherited a
chicken farm and who was — so to
speak — a White man clear through.
He wrote a book, White to Play and
Win, lived in a White house on
White Street, chewed antacid pills
that left the inside of his mouth
perpetually White, and raised only
white chickens that laid white eggs."
Harry Golombek wrote in 1977 that
Adams, whom he described as
"author of White to Play and Win
and a sodium bicarbonate addict",
was on Golombek's "reserves" list
for "the ten most interesting
personages" from the past 100 years.
Adams won the 49th U.S. Open,
held in Baltimore, in 1948. He also
wrote Simple Chess, How to Play
Chess, and Absolute Chess. He died
on January 6, 1963.
W. Adams — Santasiere, Baltimore

(49th US Open) 1948 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3
Nf6 3.Bc4 c6 4.d4 Bb4 5.dxe5 Nxe4
6.Qd4 d5 7.exd6 O-O 8.Bf4 Re8
9.Ne2 Bc5 10.Bxf7+ Kf8 11.Qc4 b5
12.Qb3 Bxf2+ 13.Kf1 Nc5 14.Qa3
Nba6 15.b4 Kxf7 16.Kxf2 Ne4+
17.Nxe4 Rxe4 18.Qf3 Qe8 19.Be5
1-0
Jan Adamski (1943- ) is a Polish

International Master (1976) and
chess coach. He was Polish
Champion in 1982. He represented
Poland in the 1968, 1970, 1974,
1978, 1982, and 1984 Chess
Olympiads. In 1974 in a tournament
in Poland, Mikhail Tal (1936-1992)
was playing Jan Adamski with both
players in time trouble. Adamski's
flag fell but Tal lost a piece and
resigned. At that moment Tal's wife,
who had been counting the moves,
said "Black has not yet made 40
moves." The flag had fallen before
Tal resigned. The arbiter intervened
and awarded the win to Tal, who
went on to win the tournament. Tal's
wife scored this point! Later, it was
shown that Adamski quit writing his
moves down after move 25 because
of time trouble, and then he added
two fake moves while reconstructing
his scoresheet to make it seem he
made more than 40 moves. His best
Elo rating was 2470 in 1977.
Adamski — J. Christiansen,
Copenhagen 2000 1. Nf3 f5 2. g3
Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O
6. Nc3 d6 7. d4 Qe8 8.b3 Nc6 9. d5
exd5 10. cxd5 Ne5 11. Nd4 Qh5 12.
f4 Neg4 13. h3 Nh6 14. Qd3 Ne4 15.
g4 fxg4 16. Bxe4 gxh3 17. Bxh7+
Kh8 18. Kh1 Bh4 19. Qg6 1-0
Robby Adamson (1970- ) is a FIDE

master from Tucson, Arizona. In
1984, he won the National Junior
High K-8 championship. He is the
chess coach at the Catalina Foothills
High School (9 national champions)
in Tucson and at the Western
Invitation Chess Camp in Tucson,
which he founded in 2004. He is an
estate planning attorney.
Mirabile — Adamson, World Open,

Philadelphia 2006 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5
3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6.
c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 9.
exf6 Qxf6 10. Nf3 h6 11. O-O Bd6
12. a3 O-O 13. Bb1 Rd8 14. Qd3
Nf8 15. g3 e5 16. Qb3 exd4 17. Bf4
Bg4 18. h4 Ne6 19. Bxd6 Qxf3 0-1
William Grady Addison (1933-

2008) was born in Baton Rouge,
came to San Francisco in the 1950s,
and was the area's strongest player
for 20 years. He was a member of
the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club
in the early 1950s. Arthur Stamer
was its director. He was also a
member of the Golden Gate Chess
Club in San Francisco. Pictures of
Bill Addison appears in the August
1955 issue of the California Chess
Reporter, representing the
Mechanics' Institute Chess Club and
the Golden Gate Chess Club. By
1971, at the age of 37, he quit chess
and became a cab driver in Daly
City, California to make ends meet.
He felt he had gone as far as he
could or wanted to go in chess, and
then gave up the game to devote
himself completely to his marriage
to Joanne and family. Joanne had
two little daughters from a previous
marriage, which Bill adored. Later,
he happened on the job at Crocker
National Bank in San Francisco (not
Bank of America as some sources
indicate). They saw his promise and
provided him courses in banking.
Over the years, he worked for
several other banks in San Francisco,
the last being Bank Hapoalim, an
Israeli bank.
Addison - Kostro, Havana 1966 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O
5.Ne2 d5 6.a3 Be7 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.e4
Nxc3 9.Nxc3 c5 10.d5 exd5
11.Nxd5 Nc6 12.Bc4 Bd6 13.O-O
Qh4 14.f4 Bg4 15.Qd3 Nd4 16.Rf2
Rae8 17.Be3 Rxe4? (17...b5)
18.Qxe4 Bf5 19.g3 (19...Bxe4
20.gxh4) 1-0
Dr. Georgy Maximovich Adelson-

Velsky (1922-2014) was a Soviet
and Israeli mathematician and
computer scientist. Beginning in
1963, he headed the development of
a computer chess program at the
Institute for Theoretical and
Experimental Physics (ITEP) in
Moscow. His innovations included
the first use of bitboards in computer
chess. The program defeated Kotok-
McCarthy program in the first chess
match between computer programs
in 1966. It evolved into Kaissa, the
first world computer chess
champion.
Walter Ader-Hausman (1913-?) was

born in Czechoslovakia and became
a naturalized Chilean. In 1966, he
won the championship of Chile. He
was still a rated master (2270) by
FIDE while in his 90s. In played
Board 2 in the 1956 Chess Olympiad
in Moscow, representing Chile. In
1960, he played Board 3 in the
Chess Olympiad in Leipzig. In 1964,
he played Board 3 in the Chess
Olympiad in Tel Aviv.
Baskaran Adhiban (1992- ) is a

Grandmaster (2010) from India. In
2007, he won the Asian under-16
Championship. He was the 2008
World Under-16 Champion and the
2009 Indian champion. In 2016, he
won the Tata Steel Challengers
Tournament. His peak rating was
2689 in 2016.
Adhiban- Al Ansi, Iraq 2014 1. d4

d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5.
Be3 Nbd7 6. h3 Bh5 7. Be2 e5 8. a4
Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Nd2 Bxe2 11.
Qxe2 Re8 12. f4 exf4 13. Bxf4 Bf8
14. Rae1 Qc7 15. Qf3 a6 16. g4 g6
17. Bh2 Rac8 18. e5 dxe5 19. dxe5
1-0
Utut Adianto-Wahyuwidayat (1965-

) was the first Indonesian
Grandmaster (1986) and best chess
player in Indonesia. He learned the
game of chess at the age of six. He
won the Jakarta Junior
Championship at age 12. He won the
Indonesian national championship in
1982 at the age of 17. He tied for 1st
place at San Francisco in 1987. His
highest rating has been 2663.
Between 1990 and 1995, he was the
second strongest Asian chess player,
after Anand. In 1995, he was voted
Sportsman of the Year in Indonesia.
In 2000, he won the individual gold
medal on board 1 in the Istanbul
Chess Olympiad. He is the Chairman
of the Indonesian Chess Association
(Percasi). In 2009, he won a seat in
the Indonesian senate and has a
degree in Political Science. (source:
ChessBase News, May 7, 2009)
Adianto - Neamtu, Biel 1994 1.d4 d5

2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4
Nb6 6.Bb3 Bf5 7.Nc3 e6 8.Nge2
Nc6 9.a3 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.h3 h6
12.Ba2 Qd7 13.Be3 Rad8 14.Qc1
Na5 15.Bxh6 gxh6 16.Qxh6 Rfe8
(16...Nac4) 17.Ng3 Bf8 18.Qg5+
Bg6 19.Nce4 Bg7 20.Nf6+ Bxf6
21.exf6 Qxd4?? (21...Qd6) 22.Rad1
(22...Qa4 or 22...Qxd1, 23.Qh6 and
24.Qg7 mate) 1-0
Ahmed Adly (1987- ) is an Egyptian

Grandmaster (2005). He won the
African Chess Championship in
2005. In 2007, he won the World
Junior Championship. His peak
rating was 2640 in 2011.
Andras Adorjan (1950- ) is a

Hungarian chess grandmaster (1973)
who took 2nd place, behind Anatoly
Karpov, at the 1969 World Junior
Championship in Stockholm. At the
time, he played under the name
Andras Jocha. He later adopted his
mother's surname, Adorjan. In 1969-
1970, he was European Junior
Champion. He became an
International Master in 1970 and a
Grandmaster in 1973. He is the
author of five chess books,
championing the cause of the player
of the black pieces. In 1977, during a
game with Pachman in Munich, he
had a heart attack and fell from his
chair. He was rushed to the hospital
and survived. In 1979 he tied (with
Ribli) for 3rd-4th in the Riga
Interzonal (behind Tal and
Polugaevsky). In 1980, he lost his
Candidates match to Robert Huebner
with 1 won, 2 losses, and 7 draws.
He won the Hungarian
championship in 1984, 1992, and
1993. He won the New York Open
in 1987. His highest rating has been
2675.
Spassov — Adorjan, Sochi 1977

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nf3 g6
5.g3 Bg7 6.Bg2 b5 7.cxb5 a6 8.bxa6
Qa5+ 9.Nc3 Ne4 10.Qc2? Nxc3
11.Bd2 Qa4! (12.Qxa4 Nxa4) 0-1
Naira Agababean (1951- ) is a

Woman Grandmaster (1998) from
Moldova. She is a former Armenian
woman chess champion, winning it 8
times. She represented Moldavia in
the 1992 and 2003 Women's
European Chess Team
Championship. Her daughter is
Woman Grandmaster Almira
Skripchenko (1976- ).
Agababean — Shaughnessy, Turin

2006 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e3 e6 4.
a3 Nf6 5. c4 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Be2
b6 8. b4 Ne4 9. Nxe4 dxe4 10. Nd2
f5 11. Qc2 Qe8 12. Bb2 Bf6 13. f3
Bg5 14. f4 Bf6 15. O-O-O Bd7 16.
g4 g6 17. h4 Kf7 18. h5 h6 19.
hxg6+ Kg7 20. d5 Bxb2+ 21. Qxb2+
Kxg6 22. gxf5+ exf5 23. Bh5+ 1-0
Djakhangir Agaragimov (1986- ) is

an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2014).
He became a GM without ever being
an International Master. His peak
Simen Agdestein (1967- ) is

Norway's first Grandmaster (1985)
who shared first place (with Walter
Arencibea) in the World Junior
Champion in 1986. He became an
International Master in 1983 at the
age of 16. He became the youngest
grandmaster in the world in 1985 at
age 18 when he won the title. He has
won the Norwegian championship
seven times, the first time as a 15-
year-old in 1982. He represented
Norway in seven Chess Olympiads.
He has also represented Norway on
their professional soccer (football)
team, but had to give it up due to
injuries (torn ligament in his knee).
He was a teacher at the Norwegian
Sports Gymnasium, teaching soccer
and chess. He was also a ballroom
dancer. He is also a chess columnist
for a Norwegian newspaper. His
highest rating has been 2716, ranked
#12 in the world. He was an early
trainer to Magnus Carlsen.
Agdestein - Quinteros, Tessaloniki

Olympiad 1984 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 g6
3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O
Nc6 7.Nc3 Bg4 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 c5
10.h3 Bd7 11.Rb1 e5 12.a3 b6 13.e4
Ne8 14.b4 Nb7 15.Nb3 f5 16.exf5
gxf5 17.bxc5 Nxc5 18.Nxc5 dxc5
19.d6 e4 20.Nd5 Be6 21Bf4 Nxd6?
(21...Kh8) 22.Bxd6 (22...Qxd6
23.Nf6+ and 24.Qxd6) 1-0
Gamil Aghamaliyev (1974- ) is an

Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2002),
now resident of Turkey. His peak
Robert Aghasaryan (1994) is an

Armenian Grandmaster (2014). In
2011, he won the Armenian under-
18 Chess Championship.
Nelly Aginian (1981- ) was born on
August 4, 1981 in Armenia. In 2005,
she was awarded the Woman
Grandmaster title. Her highest FIDE
rating was 2380. She is the third
player from Armenia, after Elina
Danielian and Lilit Mkrtchian, to
gain the Woman Grandmaster title.
Her peak rating was 2380 in 2005.
Hyacinth Agnel (1799-1871) was a

professor (taught French) and
Colonel at the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point and a chess
problemist. In 1845, he formed the
first chess club at West Point.
Author of a chess book with perhaps
the longest title. The Book of Chess
containing the Rudiments of the
Game, and Elementary Analysis of
the Most Popular Openings,
Exemplified in Games Actually
Played by the Greatest Masters;
Including Staunton's Analysis of the
King's and Queen's Gambits,
Numerous Positions and Problems
on Diagrams, Both Original and
Selected; Also a Series of Chess
Tales, With Illustrations Engraved
From Original Designs, The Whole
Extracted and Translated From the
Best Sources. The book was written
in 1847 by Agnel and published in
1859 by D. Appleton and Company
of New York. The book is 509 pages
long. In 1848, he wrote Chess for
Winter Evenings. It was later called
Agnel's Book of Chess. Agnel was
on the Committee on the Chess Code
during the First American Chess
Congress. He was a frequent chess
opponent of General Winfield Scott.
He is buried at West Point.
Evgeny Agrest (1966- ) was born in
Belarus, but moved to Sweden in
1994. He won the Belarus Youth
championship 3 times. He was
awarded the GM title in 1997. He
was Nordic Chess Champion in
2001, 2003, and 2005. He was won
the Swedish championship 4 times
(1998, 2001, 2002, and 2004) and
played for Sweden in 6 Chess
Olympiads. In 2003, he won a game
from former world champion Ruslan
Ponomariov when Ponomariov's cell
phone rang during their match. A
cell phone ringing during a match is
an automatic disqualification.
Ironically, Agrest lost a game in
2004 when his cell phone rang. He
has a degree in Economics. His peak
Georgy Tadzhiyevich Agzamov

(1954-1986) was the first Uzbekistan
Grandmaster. He was born in
Almalyk in the province of
Tashkent, into a family of doctors. In
1966, at the age of 12, he was the
chess champion of his town. In
1982, he was awarded the IM title.
In 1984, he was awarded the GM
title. He was killed when he tried to
take a shortcut to go swimming in
Sevastopol in the Crimea. He fell off
a cliff and got stuck between two
rocks. Some people heard him yell
for help, but he was too deep down
in the rocks. He died before a rescue
team could get to him. His highest
rating was 2728, ranked #8 in the
world. He won Belgrade 1982, Sochi
1984 (defeating Tal), Tashkent 1984,
and Calcutta 1986 (the strongest
chess tournament ever held in India
up to that time — Anand took 3rd
place). He played in the USSR
championship at Frunze in 1981 and
tied for 6th-7th place. He played in
the USSR championship at Moscow
in 1983 (won by Karpov), and tied
for 10th-13th place. He played in the
USSR championship at Riga in 1985
and tied for 7th-8th place. At one
time, he was ranked number 8 in the
world, with a 2728 rating. He died a
week away from his 32nd birthday.
Agzamov - Gulko, Sochi 1985 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7
5.e3 c5 6.dxc5 Qa5 7.Rc1 Ne4
8.cxd5 Nxc3 9.Qd2 Qxa2 10.bxc3
Qa5 11.Bc4 Nd7 12.Nf3 Nxc5
13.Be5 O-O 14.O-O f6 15.Ra1 Qd8
16.Bc7 Qd7 17.d6+ e6 18.Nd4 Qf7
19.Ra5 b6 20.Rxc5 bxc5 21.Nb3
Qd7 22.Qd3 Rd8? (22...Qc6) 23.Qe4
(23...Bb7 24.Qxb7 Rab8 25.Bxe6+
Qxe6 26.Bxb8) 1-0
Carl Ahlhausen (1835-1892), was

the librarian of the Berlin Chess
Association. His historical chess
rating is 2471, ranked #44 in the
world in 1889. He was an early
player of 1.g4, sometimes known as
the Ahlhausen Opening (better
known as Grob's Attack).
Esam Aly Ahmed (1964-2003) was

Arab Champion in 1996. In 2003, he
won the Egyptian Championship. He
died of cerebral malaria after being
bitten by a mosquito in Nigeria at a
chess tournament.
Carl Ahues (1883-1968) was a West

German International Master (1950).
He was Berlin champion in 1910 and
1924, and German champion in
1929. He represented Germany in
the 1930 and 1931 Chess
Olympiads, as well as the unofficial
Chess Olympiad, held in Munich in
1936. He was winning blitz chess
tournaments in Germany in his 80s.
His Elo rating was around 2490. His
highest historical rating was 2651,
ranked #11 in the world in 1931. He
is the father of Herbert Ahues, a
famous chess composer. He died 5
days after his 85th birthday in 1968.
Carl Ahues — Gregory, Hamburg

1921 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6
4.Nc3 d6 5.d4 Bd7 6.O-O exd4
7.Nxd4 Be7 8.Nde2 O-O 9.Ng3 Kh8
10.b3 Qe8 11.Bb2 Bd8 12.f4 Ne7
13.e5 Ng4 14.Bxd7 Qxd7 15.Nce4
Ne3 16.Qh5 Qg4 17.Rf3 N7f5
18.Qxg4 1-0
Herbert Siegfried Oskar Ahues

(1922-2015) was the son of Carl
Ahues. He was a German chess
composer and chess author. At the
beginning of World War II, he
studied jurisprudence in
Koningsberg. He was then drafted
into the Wehrmacht at the age of 19.
After the war, he became a teacher
in Bremen. In 1962, he was
appointed International Judge of
Chess Composition. In 1989 he
became a Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions. He composed over
4,000 problems.
Dr. James Macrae Aitken (1908-

1983) was 10-time Scottish
champion (1935, 1952, 1953, 1955-
1958, 1960, 1961, and 1965). In
1938 he received a PhD from
Edinburgh University. His
dissertation was on the Lisbon
Inquisition and the treatment of
George Buchanan (1506-1582), a
Scottish historian and humanist
scholar. During World War II Aitken
worked at Bletchley Park on solving
the German Enigma machines. In
1950, he won the London
championship.
Aitken - Hunter, Scotland 1949 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Bb4
5.O-O Nge7 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 d5?
(7...O-O) 8.exd5 Qxd5 9.Nxc6 Qxd1
10.Nxb4+ Bd7 11.Rxd1 (11...Bxa4
12.Nc3) 1-0
Yuriy Ajrapetjan (1988- ) is a

Ukrainian-Armenian Grandmaster
(2007). His peak rating was 2537 in
2009.
Johann Axel Akerblom (1904-1980)

was a Swedish chess problemist.
From 1928 to 1945, he was the
editor of the problem column of the
Swedish magazine Schackvarlden.
In 1956, he was awarded the title of
International Judge of Chess
Composition. In 1967, he was
awarded the title of International
Master of Chess Composition. He
composed over 5,000 problems. He
was known as the "Swedish
Bohemian."
Ralf akesson (1961- ) is a Swedish

Grandmaster (1995). He was
European Junior Champion (under-
20) in 1980-81. He was Swedish
Champion in 1985 and 1999. In
2015, he won the Malmo Chess
Open with the score of 6.5 out of 7.
His peak rating was 2535 in 1999.
Elena Akhmilovskaya (1957-2012)
was born in Leningrad. In 1977, she
was awarded the Woman
Grandmaster title. In 1986, she was
the challenger in the Women's
World Championship, but lost. She
represented the USSR in three
Women Chess Olympiads. She lived
in Tbilisi, Georgia until 1988, when
she abruptly defected and eloped
with American International Master
John Donaldson to Seattle,
Washington. At the time, she was
representing the USSR in the
Women's Chess Olympiad. She
returned to the Soviet Union almost
a year later to get her 7-year-old
daughter. It took three weeks to
secure their exit visas. Her mother,
Lydia Akhmilovskaya, qualified
several times for the USSR Women's
Championship and was a top-ranked
correspondence player. She took 1st
place in three U.S. Women's Chess
Championships. She represented the
USA in four Women's Chess
Olympiads. She was once married to
IM John Donaldson, and later
married IM Georgi Orlov. On
November 18, 2012, WGM Elena
Akhmilovskaya Donaldson died of
brain cancer. She was only 55.
Akhmilovskaya - Dahl, Thessaloniki

Olympiad 1988 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6
3.Nf3 e6 4.e3 f5 5.g4 fxg4 6.Ne5
Nf6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.Nxg4 Nxg4
9.Qxg4 Nf6 10.Qg5 Bd7 11.Bd2
Qe7 12.O-O-O O-O-O 13.f3 c5
14.Be1 cxd4 15.exd4 h6 (15...Bc6)
16.Qe5 Qd6 17.Bg3 Bc6 18.Bh3
dxc4? (18...Kd7) 19.Qa5 (19...Qd7
20.Bxe6 Qxe6 21.Qc7 mate) 1-0
Anna Markovna Akhsharumova
(1957- ) is a Woman Grandmaster
(1978), married to GM Boris Gulko.
She was the USSR Women's
Champion in 1976 and 1984. By all
rights, she should have won the 1983
Soviet Women's title played in
Tallinn when she defeated her main
competitor, Nana Ioseliani after she
won by time forfeit. It would have
given her 12 points to Nana's 11
points. The next day, Ioseliani filed a
protest alleging a malfunction in the
clock. Anna refused to play. The
result of her game was arbitrarily
reversed by the All-Union Board of
Referees in Moscow, thereby
forfeiting her title and ending up in
3rd place. She and her husband
immigrated to the United States in
1986. She won the U.S. Women's
championship in 1987 with a perfect
9-0 score. In 1990, she tied for 5th-
6th place in the Genting Women's
Interzonal.
Rudolph - Akhsharumova, Malaysia,

1990 1.e4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 c5
4.Bg2 Nc6 5.d3 d6 6.Nge2 e6 7.O-O
Nge7 8.Be3 Nd4 9.Nf4 O-O 10.Qd2
Rb8 11.Nd1 b6 12.c3 Ba6 13.Nh5
gxh5 14.cxd4 cxd4 15.Bg5 f6
16.Bh4 Ng6 17.Qe2 Kh8 18.Qxh5
Bxd3 19.Re1 Nxh4 20.Qxh4 f5
21.Qh3 e5 22.f3 (22.exf5) 22...fxe4
23.fxe4 Qf6 24.Rc1 Rb7 25.Bf1 Bh6
(26.Rc6 Be3+ 27.Nxe3 Qf2+;
26.Bxd3 Bxc1 27.Rf1 Qg7; 26.Rc8
Bd2) 0-1
In 1959, Claude Akins (1926-1994),

played chess during the making of
Rio Bravo. He played chess
constantly with John Wayne, Dean
Martin, and Ricky Nelson. Akins
said that he taught Dean Martin how
to play chess. In 1973, Claude
starred in Battle for the Planet of the
Apes (he was Aldo). Between takes,
Claude was always playing chess in
a gorilla costume. Claude played in
one of Walter Browne's blitz
tournaments and was a spectator
(along with Morgan Fairchild and
Gene Scherer) with a front row seat
at the 1988 World Action Chess
Championship in MazatlAn,
Mexico. One of his regular chess
partners was actor William Windom
(1923-2012). There is a photo of
Claude Akins and William Windom
playing chess in the March 1988
issue of Chess Life.
Varuzhan Akobian (1983- ) is an

International Grandmaster (2003).
He was born in Yerevan, Armenia
on November 19, 1983. In 2002, he
tied for 1st place in the World Open.
In 2002, he won the Samford
Fellowship. In 2003, he won the
U.S. Junior Championship and the
American Open. In 2004, he won the
World Open, National Open, and
North American Open. He won the
World Open in 2007. In 2014, he
tied for 1st in the US Chess
Championship, but lost the tile to
Gata Kamsky. His peak rating was
2685 in 2016.
Vladimir Akopian (1971- ) is an

Armenian grandmaster (1991) who
won the World Under-16
Championship in 1986 at the age of
14, won the World Under-18
Championship at 16, and was World
Junior Champion in 1991. He tied
for 1st at the U.S. Open in 1991. He
won the Armenian championship in
1996 and 1997. In 1999 he played
without a single loss in the FIDE
knockout world championship at
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas until
Alexander Khalifman defeated him
in the final match. He was given the
title of Vice Champion of the World.
In 2005, he had to withdraw from
the Dubai Open when he was
arrested at Dubai airport having been
mistaken for someone wanted for
murder. His highest rating has been
2714, ranked #12 in the world in
2006.
Steinbacher — V. Akopian,
Groningen 1990 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6
3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Bg7
6.Bc4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Qf3 O-O
9.Ne2 Qc7 10.Bd5 Nd7 11.Bb3 Nf6
12.e4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Bg4 14.Qg3
Qa5+ 15.Bd2? (15.Qc3) 15...Qxd2+
(16.Kxd2 Nxe4+ and 17...Nxg3) 0-1
al-'Adli (800-870) was the first great

Arabic chess (shatranj) champion
and author. He lived during the reign
(847-861) of Caliph Mutawakkil. In
842, he was the author of one of the
first treatises describing Shatranj, in
his book Kitab ash-shatranj (The
book of chess). The book is lost, but
his problems have survived, thanks
to his successors. Al-'Adli was the
top shatranj player until defeated by
ar-Razi in a match played in the
presence of the caliph Matawakkil.
(source: Murray, A History of
Chess, p. 170)
al-Lajlaj (870-940) was the first

person to analyze and publish works
on the openings in 910. He was a
pupil of as-Suli, the strongest player
of the 10th century. His analysis was
carried down from Arabic to Persian
to Sanskrit to Turkish to 16th
century Italian.
Mohamad Al-Modiahki (1974- ) is

the first Grandmaster (1998) from
Qatar. He won the Arab Chess
Championship four times. In 1996,
at the Yerevan Chess Olympiad, he
won the gold medal for individual
performance on board one, scoring 8
out of 10. He is married to former
world women's champion Zhu Chen.
Al-Mutamid (1050-1100) was a

Moorish poet-king who reigned over
Seville in the late 11th century. He
was regarded as a chess patron and
kept several chess masters in his
kingdom. In 1078 Alfonso VI and
Ibn-Ammar, chess master in al-
Mutamid's court, played a game of
chess for the stake of Seville. Ibn-
Ammar won and the city was spared
from siege. Alfonso kept the chess
set and board.
Abdullah Al-Rakib (1980- ) is a

Bangladeshi Grandmaster (2007). In
2013, he won the Bangladesh Chess
Championship. He has played for
Bangladesh in 7 Chess Olympiads.
Mohammed Al-Sayed (1981- ) is a

Qatari Grandmaster (2009).
As Tabrizi Ala'Addin (Aladdin) was

the strongest chess player at the end
of the 14th century. He was also
known as Ali Shatrangi (Ali the
Chess player). He could successfully
give odds to all other leading
players. He was Chinese and a
lawyer from Samarkand (now in
modern day Uzbekistan). He was at
the court of Timur (Tamerlane), who
made Samarkand his capital.
Seymon Alapin (1856-1923) was a

Russian chess master and openings
analyst. He was born in Vilnius,
Lithuania in 1856. He later settled in
St. Petersburg, then Heidelberg,
Germany. While studying at St.
Petersburg Engineering Institute, he
became one of the strongest players
in the city. In 1879, he tied for first
in the Best Russian Players
tournament in St. Petersburg, but
lost the play-off to Chigorin. In 1880
and 1881, he lost a match against
Chigorin. In 1893, he tied for 1st
place in the championship of Berlin.
In 1899, he drew a match with
Schlechter in Vienna (+1-1=4). In
1902 he was ranked #8 in the world.
In 1911, he won the championship
of Munich. Alapin's Opening is 1.e4
e5 2.Ne2. The Sicilian, Alapin
variation is 1.e4 c5 2.c3. Alapin's
Gambit is 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Be3. He
livened his chess writings with
fictitious games between Attakinsky
and Defendarov. He was a linguist
and involved in grain commodities.
He spent his later years in
Heidelberg, Germany and died there
in 1923.
Alapin — F. Marshall, Ostend 1905

1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4 4.d3 Nf6
5.dxe4 Nxe4 6.Nf3 Bc5 7.Qe2 f5
8.Nc3 Bf2+ 9.Kd1 O-O 10.Bd2
Nxc3+ 11.Bxc3 Qxd5+ 12.Kc1 Rd8?
(12...Bc5) 13.b4 Bb6 14.Qe7
(threatening 15.Qxg7 mate) 14...Qd7
15.Bc4+ Kh8 16.Bxg7 mate 1-0
Vladimir Alatortsev (1909-1987)

was Russian International Master
(1950), International Judge (1953),
and honorary Grandmaster (1983).
He had been the city champion of
Leningrad (1933 and Moscow
(1936, 1937). He took 2nd place in
the USSR championship in 1933,
behind Botvinnik. In 1935, he drew
a match with Lilienthal. From 1931
to 1950, he played in 9 USSR
championships. In 1938 he won the
Soviet Trade Union championship.
He won the Latvian championship in
1945. From 1954 to 1961, he was
head of the Soviet Chess Federation.
His highest rating was 2626.
Alatortsev - Mazel, Moscow 1931

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2
Bd6 5.O-O O-O 6.c4 c6 7.Nbd2
Nbd7 8.Qc2 Re8 9.Rd1 e5 10.cxd5
cxd5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Rxe5
13.Nf3 Bf5 14.Qb3 Re7 15.Bg5 Be4
16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Nd4 Bc5 18.e3 Rc8
(18...Qb6) 19.Bxe4 dxe4 20.Nc6
bxc6 21.Rxd8+ Rxd8 22.Rc1
(22...Rd5 23.Qa4) 1-0
Adolf Albin (1848-1920) was a

Romanian chess master who learned
the game at age 23. He was born in
Bucharest to a wealthy family. In
1872 he authored the first chess
book written in Romanian, Amiculu
Jocului de Schach. He played in his
first international tournament at 43
(Vienna 1891). In 1894 he took 2nd
at New York, behind Steinitz, but
ahead of Showalter and Pillsbury.
By 1895, his rating was 2643,
ranked #15 in the world. The Albin
Counter-Gambit is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5.
Albin played this gambit against
Emanuel Lasker in New York in
1893, but lost in 31 moves. Lasker
won the tournament (13 wins in a
row) and Albin took 2nd place. He
was a professor of linguistics at the
University of Vienna. He ran the
Frothier Printing House in Bucharest
and was a translator. He did not play
in his first international tournament
until he was 43 years old (Vienna
1891). His son, Max Adolf Albin, Jr,
was a professor of linguistics at the
University of Vienna. He died of
tuberculosis.
Albin - Shipley, New York 1894

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O
Nf6 5.c3 O-O 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6
8.d5 Ne7 (8...Na5) 9.e5 Ne8 10.d6
cxd6 11.exd6 Ng6 12.Bg5 Nf6
13.Nc3 h6 14.Qd3 hxg5? (14...Kh8)
15.Qxg6! Nh7 16.Nd5 fxg6??
17.Ne7+ Kh8 18.Nxg6 mate 1-0
Maria Albulet-Pogorevici (1932-

2005) was a Romanian chess master.
She won the Romanian Women's
Chess Championship 3 times. In
1957, she was awarded the title of
Woman International Master. In
1985, she was awarded the title of
Woman Grandmaster (emeritus).
She was known as the grand lady of
Romanian chess. She was a medical
doctor. Her daughter, Marina
Makropulu, is a Greek grandmaster.
Lev Alburt (1945- ) was born in

Orenburg, Russia. He won the
Ukrainian Chess Championship in
1972, 1973, and 1974. He became a
Grandmaster in 1977. He taught in
Odessa until 1979, when he defected
to the United States. In 1979, while
playing for Russia in a tournament in
West Germany, Alburt drove to the
police station and announced he
wanted to defect to the United
States. In 1979, a Russian chess
book was published of a tournament
in Kiev in which Alburt was 5th of
16 players. Because of his defection,
the book was published will all of
Alburt's games omitted. There was
also no cross table or index. The
players who played Alburt were
given a bye in the book, either a win
or a loss or a draw according to what
their score was against Alburt. He
led the U.S. team at the 1980 Malta
Olympiad. Lev won the U.S.
Championship in 1984, 1985, and
1990. In 1985, he was the first
grandmaster ever elected to the
governing body of the United States
Chess Federation (USCF). His
highest rating was 2667, ranked #28
in the world. Carl Icahn, Stephen
Fridman, Doug Hirsch, Eliot Spitzer,
and Ted Field have all taken chess
lessons from Lev. (source:
bloomberg.com, Sep 21, 2017)
Norquist - Alburt, Chicago 1989

1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e5 Nfd7 4.Nxd5
Nxe5 5.Ne3 Nbc6 6.c3 Nd3+ 7.Bxd3
Qxd3 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Nxe2 e5 10.f4
Bc5 11.Nd5 Bd6 12.fxe5 Nxe5
13.d4 Nd3+ 14.Kf1 O-O 15.Nef4?
(15.Bf4) 15...Nxc1 (16.Rxc1 c6,
winning one of the knights) 0-1
Natalia Vladimirovna Alekhina
(1954- ) is a Russian chess player. In
1970, she won the USSR girls'
championship. She won the Russian
women's championship in 1977 and
1982. She was awarded the Woman
Grandmaster title in 1990. In 1997,
she won the Moscow championship.
She was the only female player in
the event. She is married to GM
Sergey Archipov.
Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946)

was the winner of the first Soviet
Chess Championship (1920) and the
only man to die while holding the
world chess championship. He
learned chess from his older brother
Alexei (1888-1939). He studied law
at the Sorbonne but failed to get his
doctorate as he claimed. He was
sometimes called "Ale-and-Wine"
because of his drinking habits. He
married four times to women 20 to
30 years older than he. One of his
wives was dubbed "Philidor's
Widow." He was a prisoner of war
like all the other chess contestants at
an international tournament in
Mannheim in 1914. In 1915 and
1916 he served in the Russian Red
Cross. In 1918 he was a criminal
investigator in Moscow. In 1919 he
was imprisoned in the death cell at
Odessa as a spy. In 1920 he was
back in Moscow intending to be a
movie actor. He also served as
interpreter to the Communist party
and was appointed secretary to the
Education Department. In 1921 he
married a foreign Communist
delegate and left Russia for good. At
the Sorbonne, his thesis dealt with
the Chinese prison system. In 1930,
Alexander Alekhine retired late to
his hotel after a simultaneous chess
exhibition in Esseg, Yugoslavia
(now Osijek, Croatia). He fell asleep
in his hotel room with a lighted
cigarette in his hand. It caught the
room on fire and Alekhine was
burned. He was brought back to
consciousness from the flames and
barely escaped a fatal death. He
suffered burns and was taken to a
local hospital for treatment. (source:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec 31,
1930) In 1930 he scored the first
100% score in the Chess Olympiad,
winning 9 games on board 1 for
France. During World War II, he
became a Nazi collaborator and
declared he was ready to sacrifice
his life for a Nazi Russia. He
competed in seven tournaments in
Germany during the war and wrote
several pro-Nazi articles. During that
time, Soviet players changed the
name of Alekhine's Defense to the
Moscow Defense. He died in
Portugal after choking on an
unchewed piece of meat. He was 53.
Alekhine was not buried for three
weeks because no one would claim
the body. The Portuguese Chess
Federation took charge of the
funeral. Only 10 people showed up
for his funeral. The funeral was
delayed for five days until the
Portuguese Chess Federation raised
enough money to pay for his burial.
In 1956 his remains were transferred
to a cemetery in Paris. FIDE
provided the tombstone in the shape
of a chessboard. His birth and death
date on the tombstone is wrong. The
tombstone reads "ALEXANDER
ALEKHINE 1ST NOVEMBER
1892 25TH MARCH, 1946 CHESS
WORLD CHAMPION 1927-35-37
TO THE END". He was born on
October 31, 1892 and died either on
the evening of March 23rd or the
morning of March 24th, 1946. He
was ranked #1 in the world from
1924 to 1946.
Alekhine - De Cassio, Blindfold

Simultaneous Exhibition, Portugal
1944 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Bc4 Ne7
4.d3 Nbc6 5.Qh5 O-O 6.Bg5 Qe8
7.Nf3 Ng6 8.Nd5 Bb6 9.Nf6+!
(9...gxf6 10.Bxf6, threatening
11.Qh6 and 12.Qg7 mate) 1-0
Grace Wishard Alekhine (1876-

1956) was Alexander Alekhine's
fourth wife. She was born Grace
Wishard on October 26, 1876 in
New Jersey. Her parents were Emile
Bernard Wishard (Jewish) and Marie
Ida Smith. She later married
Archibald Freeman, a British tea-
planter in Ceylon. He died in the
early 1930s. She took up chess and
played Alexander Alekhine in a
simultaneous exhibition in Tokyo in
1933. The two started a relationship
shortly thereafter. They were
married in March 1934 at
Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice,
France. The marriage certificate says
her maiden name was Wishaar. She
was 16 years older than Alekhine. It
was his 4th marriage and may have
been her 4th marriage as well. She
owned a chateau in Saint Aubin-le-
Cauf, a few miles southwest of
Dieppe in Normandy, France. In
1936/37, she participated in a minor
tournament at Hastings. Alexander
Alekhine won the premier section
and she took 3rd place in her section.
He won 15 pounds for 1st place and
she won 1 pound for 3rd place.
During World War II, the Nazis took
over their chateau and looted it. She
moved to Paris. Alekhine was free to
travel, but no exit visa was given to
Grace. After World War II, she sold
her chateau under American
Embassy protection. She was in
failing health and in her 70s. She
spent her final years in her studio in
Paris, but visited St. Ives, Cornwall,
where she was a member of the local
chess club. She later led the effort to
get Alekhine's body transferred to
the Cimetiere de Montparnasse in
Paris. The USSR and French Chess
Federation paid to transfer the
remains from Portugal to Paris. She
died in March 1956. Her grave spells
her maiden name as Wishar. After
she died, the notes in Alekhine's
handwriting were allegedly found in
her effects to prove he wrote the
Nazi articles.
Aleksej Aleksandrov (1973- ) is a

Belarus Grandmaster (1997). In
2007, he won the championship of
Belarus. His peak rating was 2679 in
2004.
Kirill Alekseenko (1997-) is a

Russian Grandmaster (2015). His
peak rating was 2594 in January
2018.
Evgeny Vladimirovich Alekseev

(1985- ) is a Russian Grandmaster
(2001). In 2006, he won the Russian
St. Petersburg Chess Championship.
Colonel Hugh O'Donell Alexander
(1909-1974) was an Irish-born
(Cork, Ireland) mathematician and
chess International Master (1950)
who won the British Championship
in 1938 and 1956. During World
War II he was promoted to colonel
in British Intelligence and was part
of the British Government Code and
Cipher Code at Bletchley Park,
England, along with other English
chess masters who helped break the
German Enigma Code. He was
prohibited from traveling to any
country under Soviet control or
influence during his lifetime because
of his association with cryptography.
He was awarded the Commander of
the Most Excellent Order of the
British Empire (CBE) for his
contributions as a top British
cryptanalyst. After the award,
Alexander was asked by an
interviewer, "Does that mean you are
a Knight?" Alexander replied, "Alas,
barely a tempo." In 1946, he won
one game and lost one game against
Botvinnik in the Anglo-Soviet radio
match. In 1953/54, he tied for first
(with Bronstein) at Hastings. He
played on 6 English Olympiad teams
between 1933 and 1958. In the early
1960s he gave up over-the-board
chess to concentrate on
correspondence chess. He was
ranked #24 in the world in 1932.
Alexander - E. Brown, Cambridge

1929 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-
O d6 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 Na5 10.Bg5
Ne7 11.Nd5 f6 12.Bxf6 gxf6
13.Nxf6+ Kf8 14.Ng5 Nxc4 15.Qh5
Ng6?? (15...Kg7) 16.Qh6+ (16...Ke7
17.Qg7 mate) 1-0
Former NFL running back Shaun

Alexander (1977- ) plays chess.
While playing for the Seattle
Seahawks, he gave $7,500 to
sponsor a chess-in-the-schools
program at Madrona Elementary
School in Seattle. He has given over
$25,000 for chess programs and
promoted chess through the America
Foundation for Chess (AF4C).
Aaron Alexandre (1766-1850) was

the author of Encyclopedie des
Echecs, the first book containing the
collection of all opening variations
then known. Published in 1837, he
introduced the algebraic notation and
the castling symbols O-O and O-O-
O. The rules of the game were
published in four languages in this
book. He also wrote Collection des
Plus Beux Problems d'Echecs (The
Beauties of Chess) in 1846, the first
large compilation of chess problems
and endgames, containing over
2,000 chess problems and solutions.
He was a Jewish rabbi from Bavaria
who moved to Paris in 1793. He was
one of the operators of the
automaton, the Turk. He was a
German teacher and a mechanical
inventor.
Nana Georgievna Alexandria (1949-

) is a Woman Grandmaster (1976)
from Soviet Georgia. She was the
USSR Women's Champion in 1966
(the youngest ever), 1968, and 1969.
She was Women's World
Championship Challenger in 1975
(against Gaprindashvili) and 1981
(against Chiburdanidze). She is now
an administrator to the World Chess
Federation (FIDE). She was
chairperson of the FIDE Women's
Committee from 1986 to 2001. Her
In 2000, Zhores Alferov (1930- )

shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for
developing semiconductor
heterostructures used in electronics.
He invented the heterotransister. He
contributed to the popularity of
chess at his Academic University in
St. Petersburg. He is a good friend of
Boris Spassky. In 2016, he was
awarded a golden badge of FIDE for
his personal contribution to the
development of chess.
Petrus Alfonsi (1062-1120) was

physician of Alfonso VI (1030-
1109) and author of the Disciplina
Clericalis (Clerks Instruction). He
included chess as one of the seven
knightly accomplishments to be
mastered. The other tasks included
riding, swimming, archery, boxing,
hawking, and verse writing. Alfonsi
was born Moses Sephardi in Spain,
but was baptized as Petrus Alfonsi at
the age of 44.
Alfonso XIII (1886-1941) was king

of Spain from 1886 to 1931. He
played in Spanish national chess
tournaments in the 1920s. Alfonso
suspended the exercise of royal
power and went into exile in Rome
in 1931. The Second Spanish
Republic deposed him. His
grandson, Juan Carlos, is now king.
Ahmed Ali (1964-2003) was born on

March 31, 1964 in Egypt. He won
the Arab Championships in 1996. In
2003, he won the Egyptian
championship. He was an Egyptian
International Master and Egypt's top
player, who died on October 27,
2003, of cerebral malaria after
returning from the All Africa Games
tournament in Abuja, Nigeria. The
60-year-old head of the Egyptian
chess delegation, Mohammed Labib,
died of the same disease the next
day. Both were incorrectly
diagnosed in Egypt after becoming
ill. Both were bitten by an infected
mosquito.
Denis Allan (1944- ) is a FIDE

master (1987) from Canada. In 1984,
he tied for 1st at the Canadian Open
Championship. He represented
Canada at the 1987 Interzonal and
played in the 1968, 1980, and 1986
Chess Olympiads.
George Allen (1808-1876) was the

grandnephew of Ethan Allen, who
wrote The Life of Philidor, Musician
and Chess-Player, in 1858 and had it
published in Philadelphia in 1863.
He was the first to reveal how The
Turk operated, in a book on the first
American Chess Congress. He was a
lawyer, rector of an Episcopal
Church, and professor of ancient
languages at Delaware College and
the University of Pennsylvania. In
1832, he was married by Reverend
Ralph Waldo Emerson to Mary
Hancock, niece of the famous John
Hancock He collected over 1,000
chess books, 250 autograph letters,
and 50 engravings and photographs
of chess celebrities. A catalogue of
his chess books was created in 1878
after his death. His chess collection
was acquired by the Ridgeway
Branch of the Library Company of
Philadelphia for $2,500.
Johann Allgaier (1763-1823) was the

author of the first chess book
published in German, Neue
theoretisch-praktische Anweisung
zum Schachspiel. It was published in
Vienna in 1795. He was the first
operator of the Turk automaton. He
was small in stature and operated the
chess automation The Turk, when it
beat Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805 in
Wagrum, Austria. He served as
quartermaster accountant in the
Austrian Imperial army. He acted as
chess tutor to the Emperor's sons. He
was considered the best chess player
in Vienna. He died of dropsy, the
accumulation of excessive watery
fluid outside the cells of the body.
The Allgaier Gambit is 1.e4 e5 2.f4
exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Ng5.
Allgaier published analysis on it in
1819.
Zoltan Almasi (1976- ) became a

Hungarian Grandmaster (1993) at
the age of 17. He has won the
Hungarian championship 8 times. In
2000 he was ranked #23 in the
world. In 1993, he won the World
Junior Championship. In 2005, he
became the first grandmaster to lose
to a computer program in Chess960
(random chess), when he lost an
exhibition match to Shredder in
Germany. In 2005, he challenged
Peter Svidler for the Chess 960
(Fischerandom) World
Championship, but lost the match. In
2010, he won the European Rapid
Capablanca Memorial in Cuba. His
Omar Almedia-Quitana (1981- ) is a

Cuban Grandmaster (2006).
Izak Aloni (1905-1985) was a chess

master born in Austria-Hungary and
settled in Palestine. He won the
Lvov championship twice. He
played in two Polish championships.
He was Israeli champion in 1945,
1961, and 1965. He played for Israel
in 6 Chess Olympiads. He was born
Itzchak Schaechter.
Salvador Alonso (1974- ) is an

Argentine Grandmaster (2009).
Alvar Alonso-Rosell (1992- ) is a

Spanish Grandmaster (2013). In
2011, he won the Spanish Chess
Catalonian Championship.
Boris Alterman (1970- ) is an Israeli

Grandmaster (1992).
Mesgen Amanov (1986- ) is a

Turkmenistani Grandmaster (2009).
He has played for Turkmenistan in 4
Chess Olympiads.
Bassem Amin (1988- ) is an

Egyptian Grandmaster (2006). In
2005, he was African under-20
champion. In 2006, he won the Arab
men's championship.
Farrakh Amonatov (1978- ) is a

Tajikistani Grandmaster (2002). In
1992, he was Asian inder-16
champion. In 2005, he won the
Moscow Open. His peak rating was
2650 in 2008.
Bruce Murray Amos (1946- ) is a

Canadian master from Toronto. In
International Master title. He played
on the Canadian chess team at the
1970, 1972, and 1976 Chess
Olympiads. He won a team bronze
medal at the World Students' Team
Championship in 1971 and a silver
medal for Board 2. He gave up
competitive chess for Go, and
became a top-ranking amateur Go
player. He completed his doctoral
studies in mathematics at Yale
University.
Claudia Noemi Amura (1970- ) is a

Argentina. She is the first Latin
American woman to earn the male
International Master title. She won 5
Women's Argentine Championships.
She is married to GM Gilberto
Hernandez of Mexico. Her peak
rating wa 2372.
Dimitris Anagnostopoulos (1970- )

is a Greek Grandmaster (1996).
Viswanathan Anand (1969- ) is an

Indian Grandmaster (1988) who won
the World Junior Championship in
1987. In 1995 he played Kasparov
for the world PCA championship in
New York and lost after 1 win, 13
draws and 4 losses. In 1998 he lost
to Karpov for the FIDE World Chess
Championship. In 2000 he won the
FIDE World Chess Championship
held in Tehran and became the 15th
official world chess champion and
the first Asian to win the title. He
defeated Shirov in the final match
with 3 wins and 1 draw. He held the
title for two years. In 2002,
Ponomariov won the world FIDE
championship in Moscow. He was
ranked #1 in the world in November
2004. His highest rating has been
2833. In 2007, he won the World
Championship, played in Mexico.
He defended his title in 2008 against
Vladimir Kramnik. World chess
champion Vishy Anand was in
Switzerland with his wife and she
told him "I put some of your stuff in
the hotel room safe — the code is
very easy to remember, it's 2706, so
you can take whatever you need."
Anand thought to himself and said,
"Well, 2706 is not really a good Elo
chess rating. Normally it's rounded
off to the nearest 5 or 10." So he told
his wife that he couldn't see how he
could remember that. She looked a
bit shocked and then she explained
to him that the 27th of June (27/06)
was their anniversary. In 2017, he
won the World Rapid
Championship, held in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia.
Micalizzi - Anand, Rome 1990 1.e4

c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 Bd7 7.Qd2 a6 8.f4
b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.f5 (10.Be2)
10...h5 11.Be2 h4 12.O-O Bh6
13.Qd3 Qb6 14.Rad1 Qxd4+
(15.Qxd4 Nxd4 16.Rxd4 Be3+
17.Kh1 Bxd4) 0-1
Ashot Anastasian (1964-2016) was

an Armenian Grandmaster (1993).
He won the Armenian
Championship 8 times.
Erik Andersen (1904-1938) won the
Danish Championship 12 times,
including 8 times in a row. He was
Nordic Champion in 1930. He
played for Denmark in 6 Chess
Olympiads. He died at the age of 33.
E. Andersen — Censer, London

1927 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5
4.e3 Qb6 5.Qc1 Nc6 6.c3 Be7
7.Nbd2 d5 8.Bd3 O-O 9.h3 Bd7
10.O-O Rac8 11.Re1 cxd4 12.exd4
a6 13.Re3 Rfd8 14.Bc2 Qa7 15.Qd1
b5 16.Ne5 Be8 17.Rg3 Bf8 18.Bg5
Qe7 19.Ng4 Kh8 20.Nxf6 gxf6
21.Qh5 1-0
Erik J. Anderson is a venture

capitalist (WestRiver Capital, LLC)
and chess patron. He is the chief
executive and founder of the
nonprofit group America's
Foundation for Chess (AF4C),
which sponsored the U.S. chess
championship from 2001 to 2006.
AF4C is based in Seattle. Erik also
began the First Move program,
which was designed to incorporate
chess into U.S. elementary schools.
Frank Ross Anderson (1928-1980)

was a three-time Canadian
Champion (1953, 1955, 1958) from
Toronto and International Master
(1954). In 1948 he won the U.S.
Junior Championship. In 1954 and I
1958 he won the gold medal on 2nd
board in the Chess Olympiad. He
came closer to the Grandmaster title
than any other player. In 1958 he
scores 84% in the Munich
Olympiad. He became ill (reaction to
an incorrect prescription) and was
unable to play his final round. He
missed the Grandmaster title because
of this. Even if he had played and
lost, he would have made the final
norm necessary for the Grandmaster
title. He had polio and was disabled
his whole life. He was a computer
expert.
F. Anderson - Weaver Adams, St.

Louis 1941 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3
b6 4.c3 Bb7 5.Bd3 e6 6.Bf4 Ne7
7.Nbd2 d5 8.Qe2 a6 9.h4 h5 10.Ne5
Nd7 11.O-O-O c5 12.exd5 exd5
13.Rde1 cxd4? (13...Nxe5) 14.Nxf7!
Kxf7 15.Qe6+ Kf8 16.Bd6 (or
16.Bxg6 Nxg6 17.Bd6+ Be7
18.Bxe7+ wins) 16...Ne5 17.Rxe5!
(17...Bxe5 18.Bxg6 threatening
19.Qf7 mate) 1-0
Gerald Frank Anderson (1893-

1984), born in South Africa, was a
British chess problemist,
International Judge of Composition
(1960), and International Master of
Composition (1975). He was the last
person to play Alexander Alekhine,
in Lisbon in 1946. He worked in the
British Foreign Office as an
ambassador, and served one of his
diplomatic posts in Washington, DC.
He was a fighter pilot and flying ace.
During World War I, he was
accredited with 8 aerial victories. He
was awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross. In 1959, he was
inducted into the Order of the British
Empire (OBE).
Magnus Victor Anderson (1884-

1966) of Australia started collecting
chess books in 1918. He was
Australia's irst chess philanthropis.
When he died, his chess library went
to the State Library of Victoria.
There are over 10,000 chess books in
this collection. Anderson was
Australia's first chess philanthropist.
Terry Anderson (1947- ) was a

former Associated Press
correspondent that was held hostage
for six years by Lebanese extremists.
He credits chess with helping him
survive the ordeal. He was held
hostage from March 16, 1985 to
December 4, 1991. He built chess
sets out of aluminum foil before they
allowed him to have a regular chess
set.
Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879)

studied mathematics and philosophy.
He graduated from Breslau
University in 1847 at the age of 29,
then took a position at the
Friedrichs-Gymansium (high school)
as an instructor in German and
mathematics in Breslau (now
Wroclaw, Poland). He later became
Professor of Mathematics. He was
given an honorary doctorate by the
town of Breslau for his
accomplishment in chess, not
mathematics. His hobby and passion
was playing chess. He is considered
to have been the world's leading
chess player in the 1850s and 1860s,
only eclipsed by Paul Morphy. He
was the winner of the first
international chess tournament
(London 1851). Between 1851 and
1878 he took part in 12 chess
tournaments. He was on the prize list
in every one of them. He took 1st
prize at London 1851, London 1862,
Hanburg 1869, Barmen 1869, Baden
1870, Crefeld 1871, and Leipzig
1876. Strongest player in the world
between 1859 (when Morphy
retired) and 1866 (when Steinitz
defeated him). In 1851 A. Anderssen
was recognized as the strongest
chess player in the world. That same
year A. Anderson (Andrew
Anderson) was recognized as the
strongest checker player in the world
(first world checker champion). In
1877 a group of German chess fans
organized a tournament to
commemorate the 50th anniversary
of Anderssen's learning the chess
moves. This is the only tournament
in chess history organized to
commemorate a competitor. He tied
for second, behind Paulsen. He died
in Breslau on March 13, 1879 of a
stroke. His obituary ran 19 pages in
the May, 1879 issue of Deutsche
Schachzeitung. He took part in 12
tournaments between 1851 and 1878
and won the first-place prize in 7 of
these events (London 1851, London
1862, Hamburg 1869, Barmen 1869,
Baden 1870, Crefeld 1871, Leipzig
1876). He appeared on the prize list
of all 12 tournaments he entered.
Mayet - Anderssen, Berlin 1851 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6
5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.O-O Bg4 7.h3 h5
8.hxg4 hxg4 9.Nxe5 g3 10.d4 Nxe4
11.Qg4? (11.fxg3) 11...Bxd4
12.Qxe4?? (12.Nd3) 12...Bxf2+
(13.Rxf2 Qd1+ 14.Rf1 Rh1+
15.Kxh1 Qxf1 mate) 0-1
Ulf Andersson (1951- ) of Sweden

became a grandmaster in 1972. He is
considered the all-time drawing
master. Against top-level opposition,
he has drawn 74% of his games,
winning 10%, and losing 16%. At
one time, he was ranked #4 in the
world. In 1996 he set a world record
of playing 310 chessboards
simultaneously, winning 268,
drawing 40, and losing 2 games in
15 hours and 23 minutes. It is
estimated he walked over 7 miles
during this exhibition. In 1996 he
became a Grandmaster is
correspondence chess and is
currently the highest rated
correspondence player in the world.
He was the first person to beat
Karpov after Karpov became world
champion in 1975. His peak rating
was 2655 in 1997.
Anderssen - Portisch, Skopje 1972

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nc6 4.O-O
Bd7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.c3 a6 7.Bf1 e5
8.h3 h6 9.d4 Qc7 10.a4 g6 11.Na3
Bg7 12.dxc5 dxc5 13.Nc4 Rb8 14.b4
cxb4 15.cxb4 Be6 16.Nd6+ Ke7
17.Ba3 Ne8 18.Nxb7 Qxb7
(18...Rxb7) 19.b5+ Kf6 20.bxc6 Qc7
21.Nxe5 (21...Qxe5 22.Qf3+ Bf5
23.exf5 and if 23...Qxf5 24.Be7
mate) 1-0
Eduard Andreev (1980- ) is a

Ukrainian Grandmaster (2005). His
Dmitry Andreikin (1990- ) is a

Russian Grandmaster (2007). In
1999, he won the World under-10
Chess Championship. In 2010, he
won the World Junior
65th Russian Championship. His
Nikolay Andrianov (1961- ) is an
International Master from Russia,
who now lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
He won the Ukrainian championship
at the age of 15. At age 18, he was
the Soviet Under-20 Champion. In
2002, he tied for 3rd place in the
U.S. Open.
Zaven Andriasian (1989- ) is an

2005, he won the European under-16
Youth Chess Championship. In
2006, he won the Worl Junior Chess
Armenian Championship. His peak
In 2003, Simon Andrews (1943- ) of

Falls Township, Pennsylvania,
stabbed to death Jerry Kowalski
during a chess game. Authorities
said that Andrews was disturbed by
Kowalski's constant talking during
their chess games. Andrews then
pulled a knife from under a sofa-bed
mattress and stabbed Kowalski in
the neck, who bled to death.
Andrews was sentenced from 15 to
30 years in state prison.
On August 22, 1995, Gilles Andruet

(1958-1995), the 1988 French chess
champion and International Master
(1982), was murdered. His body was
found on the shores of the Yvette
river in Saulx-les-Chartreux. He had
been beaten to death and put in a
plastic bag over some gambling
debts. His father was the famous
ralley-car driver, Jean-Claude
Andruet.
Kosta Angelov (1946- ) is a

Bulgarian International Master
(1988). In 1979, he was the
unofficial world champion of chess
solving. In 1982, he was awarded the
International Master in Chess
Problem Solving.
Edwyn Anthony (1843-1932) was

the founder (along with Lord
Randolph Churchill) and President
of the Oxford University Chess
Club. He helped establish the annual
Oxford-Cambridge chess match. In
1890, he wrote a book called Chess
Telegraphic Codes. He reported on
chess activities for his father's
newspaper, The Hereford Times.
Dejan Antic (1968- ) is a Serbian

Grandmaster (1999). In 2009, he
won the Bulgarian Open
Serbian Championship.
Mikhail Antipov (1997- ) is a

Russian Grandmaster (2013). He
became a GM at the age of 16. In
Chess Championship. His peak
David Anton-Guijarro (1995- ) is a

Spanish Grandmaster (2013). His
In 1905, famous Greek/French

astronomer Eugene Michel
Antoniadi (1870-1944) tied for 1st in
the Cafe de la Regeance
Championship. In 1907, he tied for
first place (6 wins, 1 loss) with
Frank Marshall, ahead of
Tartakower, in a Paris tournament.
He took 3rd place in a Paris
tournament in 1917. Antoniadi was
famous for his maps of Mars,
proving that the "canals" of Mars
were optical illusions.
Rafal Antoniewski (1980- ) is a

Polish Grandmaster. He won the
Polish Junior Championship 3 times.
In 1996, he won the World under-16
Rogelio Antonio (1962- ) is a

Filipino Grandmaster (1993). His
Vladimir Antoshin (1929-1994) was

a Russian Grandmaster (1964) and
technical designer. He played in 5
USSR chess championships, taking
6th place in 1967. In 1960, he was
USSR Correspondence Champion.
In 1966, he took 1st place at the
international tournament in
Zinnowitz.
Hamann — Antoshin, Venice 1966

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Nc6 5.Nb5 d6 6.Bf4 e5 7.Be3 a6
8.N5c3 Nf6 9.Be2 Be7 10.O-O O-O
11.Nd2 b5 12.a4 b4 13.Nd5 Nxd5
14.exd5 Na5 15.f4 exf4 16.Bxf4 Bf5
17.Kh1 Bg6 18.Nf3 Bf6 19.Ra2
Bxc2 20.Qxc2 b3 0-1
Goran Antunac (1945- ) is a

Croatian International Master
(1975). He was born in Bari, Italy
and learned chess at the age of 5. He
won the championship of Zagreb in
1958 and 1962. He was Croatian
champion in 1962 and 1963. He was
Yugoslav Junior champion in 1963.
Manuel Apicella (1970- ) is a Franch
won the Paris Championship. His
Fritzis Apscheneek (1894-1941) was

a Latvian master. In 1924, he took
2nd place in the World Amateur
Championship in Paris, behind
Hermannis Mattsion of Latvia. He
was the Latvian Champion in 1926-
27, and in 1934. He died of
pulmonary phthisis, at the age of 47.
Jose Joaquin Araiza-Munoz (1897-

1971) was Mexico's leading chess
player until the arrival of Carlos
Torre-Repetto. In 1920, he first won
the Mexico City championship. He
won the Mexican Chess
Championship 15 times in a row,
from 1924 to 1949. In 1932 in
Mexico City, Araiza organized and
played in the first international
tournament held in Mexico, taking
third place behind Alexander
Alekhine and Isaac Kashdan, who
both tied with an 8.5-0.5 score. He
was a Lt. Colonel in the Mexican
Army. (source: Chess Review, Mar
1945, p. 3 and Chess Review, Mar
1949, p. 69)
Soto Larrea - Araiza, Mexico 1932

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 e6 4.b3 Bd6
5.Bb2 Nf6 6.d3 Nbd7 7.Nbd2 e5
8.cxd5 cxd5 9.g3 O-O 10.Bg2 Nc5
11.Bf1 Bf5 12.e4 dxe4 13.dxe4
Nxe4 14.Nxe4 Bxe4 15.Be2 Qa5+
16.Kf1 Rad8 17.Kg2? (17.Qe1)
17...Bc7 18.Qc1 Nd3 19.Qc3 Nxb2
20.Qxb2 Rd2 21.b4 Rxb2 22.bxa5
Rxe2 0-1
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (1968- )
is a Georgian Grandmaster (2009)
who now plays for Scotland. She
was the Georgian Ladies Champion
in 1983, 1984 and 1990. In 1985, she
was the World Women's Under-16
Champion. She won the Women's
Soviet Chess Championship in 1990.
She won the 1995 Women's
Interzonal at Kishinev. In 2003, she
tied for 1st place (with Paul
Motwani) in the Scottish
championship, the first ever woman
to achieve the honor. Her husband,
Jonathan Grant, won it in 2006,
making them the first husband-wife
pair to win a full national
championship. In 2011, she won the
Scottish Championship outright. She
has won the British Ladies'
Championship 4 times. She is the #1
ranked woman in Scotland. Her peak
William J. Aramil (1985- ) is a chess

master from Chicago. In 2002, he
was the World Open Under-2300
Co-Champion. In 2003, he was the
American Open Under-2450 Co-
Champion. In 2003, he was the
Denker National High School
Champion (along with Ryan
Milisitis). In 2004, he was the
American Collegiate Co-Champion.
In 2008, he wrote The Complete
Idiot's Guide to Chess Openings.
Aravindh Chithambaram (1999- ) is

an Indian Grandmaster (2015). He
won the Indian under-19 Chess
Championship at the age of 12. His
2018.
Valentin Mikhailovich Arbakov
(1952-2003) was a Russian
Grandmaster. He was joint Moscow
Champion in 1981. His peak rating
was 2668 in 1992. He was one of the
strongest blitz players in the world.
Psakhis — Arbakov, Irkutsk 1983

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3 g6
5.cxb5 a6 6.Qc2 Bg7 7.e4 O-O
8.Nc3 Bb7 9.Bf4 d6 10.Bc4 axb5
11.Nxb5 Nbd7 12.O-O Nb6 13.Be2
Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Ra4 15.Nfd4 Bxd4
16.Nxd4 Rxd4 17.Qf3 Nxd5 18.Bh6
Qa8 19.Qg3 Re8 20.b3 Ba6 21.Rfe1
Bxe2 22.Rxe2 Qa6 23.Rae1 Qxe2 0-
1
Pedro de Arbues (1441-1484) was a

Dominican member of the Spanish
Inquisition, living in Aragon, who
ordered victims of persecutions to
stand in as figures in a game of
living chess played by two blind
monks. Each time they captured a
piece, they condemned someone to
death, usually by burning them alive.
Arbues was assassinated in the
Saragossa Cathedral in 1484. He was
made a saint in 1867.
Dr. Miles Ferdi Ardaman (1963- ) is

a FIDE master. He won the Florida
State Championship in 1986 and
1987. He was Texas champion in
1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1997.
In 1998, 1999, and 2001, he won the
South Carolina State Championship.
In 2005, he won the Georgia State
Championship. His highest FIDE
rating is 2342. He is a medical
doctor and psychiatrist.
Can Arduman (1959- ) is an

Turkey. His highest FIDE rating is
2397. He was born in Istanbul and
started to play chess at age 11. He
won the Turkish championship in
1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, and
2002.
Walter Arencibia-Rodriguez (1967- )

is a Cuban Grandmaster (1990) who
won the 1986 World Junior Chess
Championship. He became the 2nd
Cuban, after Capablanca, to hold a
world chess crown. He represented
Cuba in 9 Chess Olympiads. He was
Cuban champion in 1986 and 1990.
His peak rating ws 2573 in 2009.
Alexander Areschenko (1986- ) is a

Ukrainian Grandmaster (2002). In
2000, he won the World Under-14
74th Ukrainian Championship.
Keith Charles Arkell (1961- ) is an

English Grandmaster (1995). In
2008, he tied for 1st in the British
Championship. In 2014 he was
European Senior (50+) Champion,
and, later in the year, tied for first in
the World Senior (50+)
Championship. His peak rating was
2545 in 1996. He was married to
Woman Grandmaster Susan Lalic
(nee Walker), from 1986 to 1993.
Romanas Arlauskas (1917-2009)

was a Grandmaster of
Correspondence Chess (1965). He
finished 3rd in the 4th World
Correspondence Championship
(1962-1965). He tied for first place
in the 1943 Lithuanian chess
championship. He moved from
Lithuania to Australia in the late
1940s. He won the South Australian
championship in 1949.
Tautvaisas — Arlauskas, Augsburg

1946 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 g6
4.Qb3 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bg7 6.e4 O-O
7.Nf3 b6 8.Bf4 c5 9.dxc5 Ba6
10.Nb5 bxc5 11.Rd1 Qa5+ 12.b4
Qxb5 13.Qxb5 Bxb5 14.Bxb5 Nxe4
15.Rd3 cxb4 16.O-O Nc3 17.Bc4
Ne2+ 0-1
Jon Loftur Arnason (1960- ) is an

Icelandic grandmaster (1986). He
was winner of the first World
Championship for juniors under 17,
in 1977 (ahead of Jay Whitehead and
Kasparov). He won the
championship of Iceland in 1977, at
the age of 16, the youngest
champion of Iceland. He has won the
Icelandic championship three times.
He represented Iceland in 9 Chess
Olympiads from 1978 to 1994. He
obtained a degree in Finance and
Accounting and became a successful
businessman in a communications
company. His peak rating was 2555
in 1987.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong (1930-

2012) was a chess player. In the
book, One Giant Leap: Neil
Armstrong's Stellar American
Journey, by Leon Wagener, the
author pointed out that Neil
Armstrong played chess with his six-
year-old son Mark, who was fast
becoming a skilled player. The
occasion was just after Armstrong's
return from the moon and after his
quarantine period.
Eric Alfons Arnlind (1922-1998)
was born in Arnas, Sweden on
March 14, 1922. In 1959, he
received the title of International
Correspondence Master. In 1961, he
took 2nd in the Swedish
Championship. In 1968, he received
the title of International
Correspondence Grandmaster. From
1955 to 1985, he was considered
among the five strongest
correspondence players in the world.
In the 2nd World Corr.
Championship (1956-1959), he took
6th place. In the 8th World Corr.
Championship (1975-1980), he took
6th-10th place.
Marc Tyler Arnold (1992- ) is an

American Grandmaster (2012). He
won the US Junior Championship in
2007 and 2012. He is currently a
Trader at Vectra Capital in New
York City.
Levon Aronian (1982- ) is a

Grandmaster (2001) from Armenia.
His father was a Russian Jewish
physicist and his mother was a
mining engineer. In 1994, he won
the World Under-12 Chess
Championship. He won the 2002
World Junior Chess Championship,
held in Goa, India. He won the 2005
FIDE World Knockout Chess
Championship (FIDE World Cup),
held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
He defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in
the final knockout round. In 2006, he
took first place at Linares. In
August, 2006, he won the Chess960
World Championship. His highest
rating was 2830 in 2014 and ranked
#2 in the world and the fourth
highest rated player in history. In
2017, he won the FIDE World Cup,
and in doing so qualified for the
Candidates Tournament for the 2018
World Chess Championship. In
2017, he married Australian Woman
International Master Arianne Caoili.
Lev Aronin (1920-1982) was a

Soviet International Master (1950).
He played in eight Soviet
championships, taking 2nd in the
18th USSR Championship in 1950.
He won the Moscow Championship
in 1965. He was a meteorologist.
Aronin — Kantorovich, Moscow

1960 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 b6 4.d4
Bb7 5.Bc4 d5 6.exd5 Bxd5 7.Qa4+
Bc6 8.Ne5 1-0
Eva Aronson (1908-1999) was born

in Linkoping, Sweden. In 1967, she
took place in the World Women's
Championship Candidates
tournament in Subotica, but took last
place (1 win, 4 draws, 12 losses). In
1969, she won the women's
championship in the 70th US Open
in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1972, she
tied for 1st place with Marilyn
Koput in the US Women's
Championship. In 1972, she was
awarded the Woman International
Master title. She lived it St
Petersburg, Florida.
Levan Aroshidze (1985- ) is a

Georgian Grandmater (2006). In
2582 in 2012.
Goran Arsovic (1967- ) is an

Serbia. His highest FIDE rating is
2452. In 1989, he played a game
against Ivan Nikolic in Belgrade
which laster 269 moves and took
more than 20 hours to play. The
game ended in a draw due to the
fifty move rule.
Vladislav Artemiev (1998- ) is a

2013, he won the Russian Junior
Chess Championship. He won the
Russian Blitz Championship in 2016
and 2017. His peak rating was 2697
in January 2018.
Subramanian Arun-Prasad (1988- )

Is an Indian Grandmaster (2008). In
2004, he won the Asian Junior
Scottish Open. In 2011, he won the
Paris Championship.
Konstantine Aseev (1960-2004) was

a Russian Grandmaster. He was
Leningrad Champion in 1985. His
peak FIDE rating was 2591. He was
the chess trainer for Maya
Chiburdanidze, Nana Aleksandria,
Andrei Kharlov, and Evgeny
Alekseev. He played in four USSR
Championships.
Venka Asenova (1930-1986) was a

Woman International Master (1965)
from Bulgaria. In 1986 she was
awarded the Woman Grandmaster
title (emeritus). In 1967, she
participated in the World Chess
Championship for Women
Candidatest tournament in Subotica.
She won the Bulgarian Women's
championship 9 times.
Maurice Ashley (1966- ) was born in
Jamaica, but moved to the United
States when he was 12. He graduated
from the College of the City of New
York (CCNY) with a B.A. in
Creative Writing. He is the first
black chess Grandmaster (1999). In
the 1990s, Ashley was mugged twice
in New York. He coached the
Harlem Raging Rooks and the
Harlem Dark Knights, both of which
have won national championships
under his guidance. He won the
Marshall Chess Club Championship
in 1993. In 1997, he tied for 1st in
the Bermuda Open. In 2005, he
wrote Chess for Success. In 2016, he
was inducted into the US Chess Hall
of Fame.
Berkovich - Ashley, New York 1994

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2
O-O 5.Nf3 c5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Qxc3
cxd4 8.Qxd4 Nc6 9.Qh4 d5 10.b4
dxc4 11.Qxc4 e5 12.Bb2 Be6
13.Qh4 Qd5 14.Qg5 Qb3 15.Rb1
Rfd8 16.g3 (16.Qe3) 16...Nxb4
17.axb4 Ne4 18.Nd2 (18.Qxe5
Qxb4+) 18...Nxd2 19.Qxe5 f6
(20.Qc3 Nxb1) 0-1
B. Asperling (1650-1710) was a

Swiss author. In 1690 he wrote
Traite du leu Royal des Eschets. It is
the last book that allows the
medieval king's leap, and the first
book to classify openings in an
orderly way.
Karen Asrian (1980-2008) was

awarded the grandmaster title in
1997 and was one of Armenia's
leading GMs. He won the Armenian
2008. He died after losing
consciousness, possibly a heart
attack, while driving. He was able to
pull his car into a courtyard in
Yerevan, Armenia before he died.
Lajos Asztalos (1889-1956) was a

Hungarian player, International
Master (1950) and International
Judge (1951). He won the Hungarian
championship in 1913. After World
War I, he moved to Yugoslavia and
competed for that country in the
Chess Olympiads of 1927 and 1931.
He returned to Hungary in 1942. He
was a professor of philosophy (PhD)
and a journalist. From 1951 to 1956
he served as President of the
Hungarian Chess Federation.
Atahualpa (1497-1533) was the last

sovereign emperor of the Inca
Empire. In 1532, the Spaniards
sacked the Inca army camp and
imprisoned Atahualpa. While in
prison, he was taught chess by the
Spaniards and became very good at
it. Atahualpa advised Hernando de
Soto in one game of chess that
helped defeat one of the Spanish
friars named Riquelme. Popular
tradition in Peru says that Atahualpa
would not have been condemned to
death if he remained untutored in
chess. Atahualpa was sentenced to
death by 13 votes for and 11 against.
It was Riquelme's vote that broke the
tie that called for the death sentence.
The Peruvian people say that
Atahualpa paid with his life for the
checkmate that Riquelme suffered
because of his advice. This
information is preserved in a letter
from Don Gaspar de Espinosa
(1533) and the autobiography of
Don Alonso Enriquez de Guzman
(1518-1543).
Suat Atalik (1964- ) is the first

Turkish Grandmaster (1994) who
also plays for Bosnia nd
Herzegovina. He won the Turkish
championship 3 times. During the
2000 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, he
insisted on playing for Bosnia rather
than Turkey. As a result, the
organizers of the Olympiad banned
him from the competition. After the
selection of the new national chess
federation he returned to the Turkish
national team. In 2007, he won the
Mediterranean Championship. In
2008, he was banned for 3 months
from Turkish tournaments for
playing in the Gree Chess League
without asking permission. He
studied Psychology at Bogazici
University.
Ernest Henry Atkins (1872-1955)

was a British schoolmaster and
mathematics teacher who won the
British Championship 9 times out of
11 appearances, 7 times in a row
(1905-1911, 1924, and 1925). Only
Penrose has won it more often (10
times). At Amsterdam in 1889, he
won the Championship of the
Netherlands with a perfect 15 out of
15 score. He was the first foreign
champion of the Netherlands. He
won the British amateur
1900. In 1902 he played at Hanover
and took 3rd place. Twenty years
later, in 1922, he played at London
and took 10th out of 16. He
represented the British Chess
Federation in the 1927 and 1935
Chess Olympiads. In 1909, he was
appointed Principal of Huddersfield
New College. In 1950, he was
title at the age of 78. He played in
only two international tournaments.
Atkins - Gunsberg, Hanover 1902

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 c5 4.e3 Bg4
5.Bxc4 e6 6.Qa4+ Nd7 7.Ne5 Bf5??
(7...Nf6) 8.Nxd7 (8...Qxd7 9.Bb5) 1-
0
George Atwood (1745-1807) was

born in 1746. He was an English
mathematician and lecturer at
Cambridge. In 1776, he was elected
a fellow of the Royal Society of
London. William Pitt, British Prime
Minister, was one of Atwood's
former students. He gave Atwood a
position as a personal secretary and
an office in the Treasury. In the
1784, he created the Atwood
machine for verifying
experimentally the laws of
acceleration of motion. In 1787, he
joined the London Chess Club. From
1787 to 1800, he recorded his own
games and the games of others,
including Philidor, played at the
London Chess Club. On June 20,
1795, he took part in Philidor's last
blindfold performance. Philidor
played his last game of chess,
against Atwood, on June 29, 1795 at
the Parsloe's Club. In 1798, he
defeated Joseph Wilson in a match
(3-0). In 1799, he, again, defeated
Wilson in a match (3-0). When
George Atwood died on July 11,
1807, he left his chess notebook to
Joseph Wilson. When Wilson died in
1833, George Walker bought
Atwood's notebook. In 1835,
Walker, based on Atwood's chess
notebook, wrote Selection of Games
at Chess, actually played by Philidor
and his Contemporaries, published
in London. The book contained 47
of Philidor's games.
Leslie F. Ault (1940- ) is a chess

author who helped write Bobby
Fischer Teaches Cbess. He also
wrote The Genesis of Power Chess
and The Chess Tutor: Elements of
Combinations. He was the older
brother of Robin Ault.
Robin Ault (1941-1994) of New

Jersey was the first person to win the
U.S. Junior Championship three
times (1959, 1960, 1961). On the
basis of his performance in the
Junior Championship, he was invited
to play in the 1959-60 U.S. Chess
Championship. At the time, there
was a USCF rule that the American
Junior Champion was automatically
qualified for the adult title
competition. He played in the 1959-
60 U.S. Chess Championship and
lost all 11 games. After this, the
USCF no longer allowed the top
junior to be invited to the U.S.
Championship. The 1961 US Junior
Championship was held in Dayton,
Ohio. Robin Ault won on tiebreak
over Bernard Zuckerman. Soon
after, Robin Ault dropped out of
chess. He became a math professor,
computer software engineer, and
social justice activist. Robin's
brother, Leslie Ault, was the U.S.
Intercollegiate Champion. Both
attended Columbia University.
Yuri Averbakh (1922- ) is the oldest

living grandmaster. In 1949, he won
the Moscow Championship. In 1952,
he was awarded the GM title. He
played in the USSR Championship
15 times between 1949 and 1969. In
1954 he won the USSR
championship and in 1956 tied for
first place with Spassky and
Taimanov. He was the Soviet Chess
Federation president from 1973 to
1978. He was the editor of the
principal Soviet chess magazine,
Schachmatny v SSSR. He has been
chief arbiter at many chess
Olympiads. In 2008, he lectured
about the history of chess at the
famed Marshall Chess Club. In
2012, he published, A History of
Chess: From Chaturanga to the
Present Day. In his later years, he
has been focused on the history of
chess and other board games. His
daughter married Grandmaster Mark
Taimanov.
Orest Averkin (1944- ) is a Russian

International Master (1976). In 1969,
he represented the USSR in the 16th
World Student Team Championship.
His team took the gold and he won
the gold medal for best individual
with 7 wins out of 7 games (100%).
He took 12th place in the 37th USSR
Championship in 1969. He took
15th-16th place in the 41st USSR
Championship in Moscow in 1973.
His rating has been over 2550.
Valeriy Aveskulov (1986- ) is a

2007, he won the Ukrainian
2545 in 2007.
Herbert Avram (1913-2006) was an

American chess master and a
Lieutenenat Commander in the U.S.
Navy. He worked for the NSA and
the CIA. The sensitive nature of his
intelligence work meant that he
could never be alone with Soviet
chess players in chess tournaments
or at chess clubs. He died at the age
of 92, 9 days short of his 93rd
birthday. He was a USCF Life
Master. He won the Virginia State
Championship 3 years in a row
(1952-1954) and the Maryland State
Championship 2 times (1955 and
1979).
Boris Avrukh (1978- ) is an Israeli

Grandmaster. In 1990, he won the
World under-12 Championship. He
has played for Israel in 6 Chess
Olympiads. He won the Israeli
Championship in 2000 and 2008.
Helga Ursula Axt (1937- ) is a

Woman International Master (1961)
from Germany. She won the
Women's German championship in
1957, 1958, and 1961. His peak
Actor Lew Ayres (1908-1996)

played chess. He was on the
executive board of the Hollywood
Chess Club, along with Douglas
Fairbanks, Jr., in the 1930s. In the
1946 movie, The Dark Mirror,
psychiatrist Scott Eliot (Lew Ayres)
studies a chess position at home.
Sergei Azarov (1983- ) is a

Belarusian Grandmaster (2003). He
won the Belarusian championship in
2001 and 2002.
Zurab Azmaiparashvili (1960- ) is a

Grandmaster (1988) from Soviet
Georgia. In 1978 he became junior
champion of the USSR. He was
Garry Kasparov's trainer from 1987
to 1993. In 1990 he was elected
president of the Georgian Chess
Federation. In 2004,
Azmaiparashvili, FIDE vie-
president, was arrested by a group of
security agents during the final
ceremonies of the 36th Chess
Olympiad in Calvia, Spain. He was
approaching the stage to get the
attention of FIDE President
Ilyumzhinov about some awards that
had not been given out when the
security people stepped in front of
him. The Calvia police said that he
hit them, so they arrested him. His
Stangl - Azmaiparashvili, Tilburg

1994 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7
4.c3 c5 5.dxc5 Ne4 6.Be3 O-O
7.Bd4 d5 8.cxd6 Qxd6 9.Nbd2 Nf6
10.e4 Qc7 11.Be2 Nc6 12.O-O Rd8
13.Qb1 Bh6 14.Nc4 Nh5 15.Be3
Nf4 16.Bxf4 Bxf4 17.Ne3 Be6
18.Bc4 Bxc4 19.Nxc4 b5 20.Na3
Ne5 21.Nxb5? (21.Nxe5) 21...Nxf3+
22.gxf3 Qd7 (23.Nd4 Qh3 24.Rd1
Bxh2+ 25.Kh1 Bg3+ 26.Kg1 Qh2+
27.Kf1 Qxf2 mate) 1-0
Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was

an English mathematician who
originated the concept of a
programmable computer. In his
autobiography, he noted that he
played chess at Cambridge very
frequently with several other good
players. He published a paper
entitled "An Account of Euler's
Method of Solving a Problem
relating to the Knight's move at
Chess."
Levon Babujian (1986- ) is an

Armenian Grandamaster (2010). In
2011, he won the Yerevan Chess
2518 in 2011.
Vlastimil Babula (1973- ) is a Czech

won the Czech Championship. He
has played for the Czech Republic in
10 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating
was 2608 in 2008.
Alexander Baburin (1967- ) is a

Russian chessplayer who moved to
Ireland in 1993 and became a
Grandmaster in 1996. He won the
1999 Mind Sports Olympiad in
London and the 2000 National Open
in Las Vegas. In 2008, he won the
Irish Championship. He edits the
electronic newsletter, Coffee Break
Chess. His peak rating is 2600 in
1988.
Stefansson - Baburin, Budapest 1991

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 a6 4.a4 Nf6
5.e3 Bg4 6.Bxc4 e6 7.h3 Bh5 8.Nc3
Nc6 9.O-O Bb4 10.g4 Bg6 11.Nh4
Bxc3 12.bxc3 Ne4 13.Nxg6 hxg6
14.Kg2 Qh4 15.Qf3 O-O-O 16.Rh1
f5 17.Bxe6+ Kb8 18.gxf5 Rh5
19.Qf4 Rg5+ 20.Kf3?? (20.Kf1)
20...Qxf2+ 21.Kxe4 Qc2+ (22.Kf3
Qg2 mate) 0-1
Lauren Bacall (1924-2014), who was
born Betty Joan Perske, was an
amateur chess player. She was
married to Humphrey Bogart from
1945 to 1957 (his death). They often
played chess together. In 1945, she
appeared on the cover of the June-
July issue of Chess Review with her
husband, Humphrey Bogart. Bogart
was playing a game with Charles
Boyer as Lauren Bacall looked on.
Yusnel Bacallao-Alonso (1981) is a

Axel Bachmann (1989- ) is a

Paraguayan Grandmaster (2007). In
2015, he took 1st place at the World
Open. He has played for Paraguay in
was 2662 in 2017.
Ludwig Bachmann (1856-1937) was

a German author and chronicler of
chess. He worked for the Bavarian
railway. In his spare time, he
collected information on chess
events and put them in yearbooks
(Schach-Juhrbuch), from 1891 to
1930. His nickname was the 'Chess
Herodotus'. He was the first person
to issue a yearbook on chess.
Etienne Bacrot (born Jan 22, 1983)

started playing chess at the age of
four. At age 10, he won the Junior-
Under 18 championship of France.
Bacrot was also the youngest FIDE
master at age 10. He won the World
under 12 championship in Brazil in
1995. At 13, he beat former world
champion Vasily Smyslov. In March
1997, he became a GM at the age of
14 years, 2 months, the youngest to
that date. At 16, he was the youngest
French champion ever. He has won
the French Championship 7 times. In
2005, he was ranked #9 in the world.
Bacrot - Alexandria, Biel 1995 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.Nf3 Bb7 4.g3 g6
5.Bg2 Bg7 6.O-O O-O 7.d5 b5
8.Qb3 Qc8 9.Qxb5 c6 10.dxc6 Bxc6
11.Qa5 Qb7 12.Nc3 Na6 13.Rd1
Rfc8 14.Rb1 Nc5? (14...d6) 15.Qxc5
Ne4 16.Nxe4 Bxe4 17.Qxe7 Re8
18.Qd6 Bxb1 19.Nd2 Qb8 20.Nxb1
Rxe2 21.Qd5 (21...Re8 22.Qxa8
Qxa8 23.Rxa8 Rxd7) 1-0
Boris Baczynskyj (1945-2008), born

in Vienna and Ukrainian by
nationality, was a FIDE Master
(1982) and Life Master from
Philadelphia. He graduated from
Yale University with a B.A. in
Political Science. He entered the
Peace Corps and spent time in
Thailand and Cambodia. For awhile,
he worked for the Associated Press
in Cambodia during the Khmer
Rouge regime. Upon return to the
United States, he became a full-time
chess coach. In 1989, he was editor
of Chess Life. He was Philadelphia
76ers President Pat Croce's chess
instructor. He was the co-author,
with David Welsh, of Computer
Chess II.
Giorgi Bagaturov (1964- ) is a

Georgian-Armenian Grandmaster
(1999). He has won the Georgian
2016, he won the World over-50
Senior Championship. His peak
Charles Bagby (1903-1975) was a
chess master and San Francisco
lawyer who was elected to the Board
of Trustees of the Mechanics'
Institute (Chess Club) in 1940. He
served longer than any Trustee in the
history of the Institute. He won the
Northern California Championship
in 1950. He won the California
championship in 1958.
Amir Bagheri (1978- ) is an Iranian

Grandmaster (2003).
Vladimir Bagirov (1936-2000) was a

Russian Grandmaster (1978 at the
age of 42), born in Baku, who
competed in nine Soviet
championships between 1960 and
1978. His best result was 4th place
in 1960. He became a Grandmaster
in 1978 at the age of 42. In 1998 he
won the 8th World Senior Chess
Championship, held in Austria. He
helped train Mikhail Tal and Garry
Kasparov. In the 1970s, he moved to
Latvia. He died of a heart attack at
the age of 63 while playing in a
chess tournament in Finland in 2000.
He had just finished a move while in
time pressure and his flag fell. As
both players moved to a separate
board to reconstruct the game, he
collapsed and died.
Buhman - Bagirov, USSR 1970 1.d4

d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 exd4
5.Nxd4 Bc5 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Qa4+
Nbd7 8.Nc3 O-O 9.Qxc4 Ng4
10.Qe2 Nxe3 11.Qxe3 Nf6 12.Rd1
Ng4 13.Qd2 Qf6 14.f3 (14.Na4)
14...Rd8 15.Nd5 Rxd5! 16.exd5
Qe5+ 17.Be2 Ne3 18.Kf2 Nf5 (19.f4
Qxd5 and 20...Bxd4) 0-1
Clarence Bagley (1843-1932) was

the first chess champion of
Washington State (then, the
Washington territory). He was chess
champion of Washington territory
from 1862 to 1875. He lived in
Seattle. He was a printer, newspaper
and magazine publisher, writer,
historian, and founder of the
Washington State Historical
Society.
Mary Weiser Bain (1904-1972) was

born in the Magyar State of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire which we
now call Hungary. She and her
sisters had to flee to Buadpest to
avoid capture during World War I.
On the ship, coming to America, she
defeated the ship's captain. He
presented her with a loving cup. It
was her first chess prize. She was the
1937 and 1952 challenger to the
World's Women Championship. She
won titles in Cuba, Sweden, Finland,
and the United States. She was U.S.
women's champion from 1951 to
1953. She was a pupil of Frank
Marshall and Geza Maroczy. She
was a Bridge expert and operated a
duplicate-bridge club in New York.
She was the first American woman
to represent the United States in an
organized chess competition. In
1963, she played for the United
States in the Women's Olympiad. In
1952, she was awarded the Woman
International Master title. She
married Leslie Balogh Bain, a
newspaper columnist, war
correspondent and author, in 1925.
He would later become a cameraman
and motion picture director in Los
Angeles. Her hobby was duplicate
bridge, and she owned and operated
a duplicate-bridge club in New York
City. She died at her home in New
York City at age 68. (source: Chess
Life & Review, Jan 1973, p, 37)
David Graham Baird (1854-1913)

was charter member of the chess
club that eventually evolved in the
Manhattan Chess Club. In 1880, he
tied for 2nd place in the minor
section of the 5th American Chess
Congress in New York. In 1883, he
took 2nd place in the 5th Manhattan
Chess Club championship, behind
Gustave Simonson. He won the
Manhattan Chess Club
championship in 1888, 1890, 1891,
and 1895. In 1889, he was a
participant in the 6th American
Chess Congress in New York and
took 11th place. In 1895, he won the
New York state championship. He
was the younger brother of John
Washington Baird, another
American chess master.
Edith Helen Baird (1859-1924) of

England, born Winter Wood (known
as Mrs. W.J. Baird), is the most
famous female chess composer. She
published her problems using the
name "Mrs W. J. Baird." She
composed over 2,000 problems. In
1902 she wrote 700 Chess Problems,
which took her 14 years to complete.
In 1907, she wrote The Twentieth
Century Retractor (take a move back
to make a stronger move to mate or
win the game), which was full of
Shakespeare quotes. She listed her
hobbies, besides chess, as archery,
tennis, and cycling.
John Washington Baird (1852-1923)

was a charter member of the chess
club that eventually evolved in the
participated in the 6th American
Congress in New York and took
19th place out of 20. He was an
umpire for Steinitz and signed the
contract for the Steinitz-Lasker
world championship match. He was
the older brother of David Graham
Baird.
Ineke Bakker (1933-2003) was a

former FIDE General Secretary from
1972 to 1982. When Florencio
Campomanes was elected FIDE
President, she resigned. She was
appointed Honorary Member of
FIDE by its general assembly.
Vladimir Baklan (1978- ) is a

Ukrainian Grandmaster (1998). He
won the Ukrainian Championship in
1997 and 1998. His peak rating was
2655 in 2009.
Nikolay Bakulin (1926-1990) was

Moscow champion in 1961, 1964,
and 1966. He took last place in the
32nd USSR Championship in 1964-
65.
Ion Balanel (1926- ) is a Romanian

International Master (1954). He was
Romanian Champion in 1950, 1953,
1955, and 1958.
Yuri Balashov (1949- ) is a Russian

Grandmaster (1973) from Moscow.
He won the Moscow championship
in 1970. He played in 15 Russian
championships, taking 2nd place in
1976 (behind Karpov). In 1978, he
served as second for Karpov at the
world championship match with
Korchnoi in Baguio, Philippines. In
1985 he withdrew from the Taxco
Interzonal Tournament after 11
rounds. He had won one game, drew
7 games, and lost 3 games at the
time. He ended up in last place. In
1992, he served as second for Boris
Spassky during his match with
Bobby Fischer. His peak rating was
2600 in 1979.
Balashov - Beszterczey, Poland

1992 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6
4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 Nc6 6.Be3 e5 7.d5
Nce7 8.Ng5 Bd7 9.f4 exf4 10.Bxf4
h6 11.Nf3 g5 12.Be3 Ng6 13.Bd4
Nf6 14.e5 dxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5
16.Bxe5 O-O 17.O-O Ne4??
(17...Ne8) 18.Bxg7 (18...Kxg7
19.Nxe4; 18...Nxc3 19.Bxc3) 1-0
Wiktor Balcarek (1915-1998) was

the Polish Champion in 1950. He
played in 6 Polish Championships.
He represented Poland in the 1956
Chess Olympiad, but only score 1.5
out of 7.
Witold Balcerowski (1935-2001)

was Polish Junior Champion in
1952, and Polish Champion in 1962
and 1965. He played in 11 Polish
Championships and represented
Poland in 3 Chess Olympiads.
In 2013, actor Alec Baldwin (1958- )

donated $2,500 to help the chess
team at Central Falls High School in
Rhode Island defray the cost of
traveling to a national scholastic
chess event. The team took 8th place
out of 63 teams at the Supernationals
in Nashville, Tennessee.
Rosendo Carreon Balinas, Jr. (1941-

1998) was a Philippine lawyer and
Philippine's second Grandmaster
(1976) who was Asia's best player in
the 1960s. He was born on
September 10, 1941 in Manila,
Philippines. He learned how to play
chess at the age of 7, but did not take
up the game seriously until age 15.
Balinas was considered the strongest
Asian player during the 1960s and
1970s, before Eugenio Torre and
Vishy Anand. He represented the
Philippines in the Chess Olympiads
of 1964, 1966, 1968, 1974, and
1976. In 1966, he was awarded the
individual Silver medal on board 3 at
the 17th World Chess Olympiad in
Havana, Cuba. He scored 15.5 out of
20. The Gold medal was awarded to
Mikhail Tal. In 1967, he held Bobby
Fischer to a draw in Manila during a
Meralco "Beat Bobby Fischer"
match series. In 1975, he was
title. He won the Philippine chess
championship 7 times. In 1976 he
won an international tournament in
the USSR (Odessa, Ukraine), which
gave him the GM title (2nd Filipino
and Asian GM, after Torre, who
became a GM in 1974). He scored
10-4. Balinas had a performance
rating of over 2600 in this event. In
1983, he went to Dubai to become a
chess coach for Dubai. He stayed for
three years. He then settled in the
United States. His highest ELO
rating was 2517 in June 1977. Best
results: Philippine Open 1968 - 1st-
2nd; Melbourne 1975 - 3rd; Manila
1975 - 6th; Odessa 1976 - 1st;
Dortmund 1976 - 4th; Manchester
1979 - 3rd; Dubai 1984 - 4th.
Balinas died of liver cancer at
Antipolo City, Philippines on
September 24, 1998 at the age of
57.
Krause - Balinas, Dortmund 1976

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4
e4 5.Ng5 Bb4 6.d5 Na5 7.Qa4 Qe7
8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 b6 10.Nh3 Qc5
11.Qb4 Nxc4 12.e3 Ba6 13.a4
(13.Qxc5) 13...Nxd5 14.Qxc5 bxc5
15.Bd2 Rb8 16.Ng5 f5 17.f3 h6
18.fxe3 Ndxe3 (19.Bxe3 Nxe3
20.Bxa6 Nc2+) 0-1
Walter William Rouse Ball (1850-

1925) was a British mathematician
and a mathematics historian. He
graduated with a M.A, in
mathematics from Cambridge in
1874. He represented Cambridge in
early chess matches against Oxford.
Zoltan von Balla (1883-1945) was

the first official Hungarian chess
champion (Budapest, 1913). He was
Hungarian champion in 1906 and
1911. He died in Budapest at the end
of World War II.
Von Balla — Ritzen, 1914 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O Nge7
5.c3 f5 6.d4 Bb6 7.d5 fxe4 8.Ng5
Nb8 9.Ne6 1-0
Imre Balog (1991- ) is a Hungarian

Grandmaster (2011). His peak rating
was 2560 in 2014.
Csaba Balogh (1987- ) is a

Hungarian Grandmaster (2004). In
Janos Balogh (1892-1980) was

Romanian champion in 1930. He
won the first international
correspondence tournament, in 1932.
He was a Correspondence
International Master (1953).
Bana-Bhatta (595-655) was one of

the foremost poets of India. His two
most important works are
Harsacarita (Deeds of Harsa) and
Kadambari, which is a romantic love
story. Both were written in Sanskrit.
Both works mentioned Chaturanga,
an early form of chess.
Christoph Bandelow (1939-2011)

received a PhD in mathematics from
Ruhr University, Germany in 1968.
He was considered the world's
leading expert on mathematical
puzzles. He was a famous chess
problemist, including retrograde
chess problems.
Erik Bang (1944- ) is a Grandmaster

of Correspondence Chess (1979)
from Denmark. In 1963, he won the
Danish Junior Championship. In
1973, he took 6th in the Danish
Championship. He has won the
Danish club championship more
than 11 times. Prior to the
Norwegian Postal Chess Federation
50th Jubilee, which began in 1994,
Bang had not lost a correspondence
game in 20 years. He is an
electronics technician.
Hristodoulos Banikas (1978- ) is a
Greek Grandmaster (2001). He has
won 8 Greek championships. In
2002, he won the European Rapid
Newell Banks (1887-1977) was U.S.

checker champion who was also a
chess master. His father was a
checker champion and taught Newell
how to play checkers at age 5.
Newell had such a phenomenal
memory that he was able to play
blindfold games of checkers at the
age of 6. He defeated the U.S. chess
champion, Frank Marshall, and he
leading challenger, Isaac Kashdan, at
the Chicago Tournament in 1926. In
his lifetime he traveled over a
million miles playing chess and
checkers and played over 600,000
games of chess and checkers. He
was considered the world's best
checker player from 1917 to 1922
and 1933-1934. He died in Detroit
on February 17, 1977 at the age of
89.
Jordan — Banks, USA 1917 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Nxe5 Qg5
5.Nxf7?? Qxg2 6.Rf1 Qxe4 7.Be2
Nf3 mate 0-1
Fletcher Baragar (1955- ) is a

Canadian FIDE Master (1987) from
Manitoba. In 1987, representing
Canada, he took last place at the
Zagreb Interzonal. He won 1 game,
drew 1 game, and lost 14 games.
David Baramidze (1988- ) is a

German Grandmaster (2004). His
Gerardo Barbero (1961-2001) was
an Argentine Grandmaster (1988)
who died of eye cancer. He was
Argentine champion in 1984. He
won at Montpellier 1986 and at
Prokupje in 1987. He also won the
Kecskemet Open in 1987.
Barbero - Aalto, Argentina 1993

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3
g5 5.d4 g4 6.Bc4 gxf3 7.O-O d5
8.exd5 Bg4 9.Qd2 Na5 10.Bb5+ c6
11.Qxf4 Qd7 (11...Nf6) 12.Qe5+
Ne7 13.Ne4 O-O-O?? (13...fxg2)
14.Bf4 (threatening 15.Qb8 mate) 1-
0
Oliver Barbosa (1986- ) is a Filipino

was 2596 in 2012.
Dr. Gedeon Barcza (1911-1986) was

a Hungarian professor of
mathematics and Grandmaster
(1954). He won the Hungarian
championship eight times. He was
editor of the chess magazine Magyar
Sakkelet. He played on seven
Hungarian Olympiad teams. The
opening 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 is called the
Barcza System. He had a PhD in
mathematics and was a Hungarian
professor of mathematics.
Kiss - Barcza, Debrecen 1930 1.e4

Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3 Bg4
5.Nc3 Bxf3 6.Nxd5 Bxd1 7.Nxc7+
Kd7 8.Nxa8 Bxc2 9.Bf4 e5 10.dxe5
Bb4+ 11.Ke2 Nge7 12.e6+ fxe6
13.Nc7?? (13.Nb6+) 13...Nd4+
14.Ke3 Nef5 mate 0-1
Laszlo Barczay (1936-2016) was a

Hungarian Grandmaster (1967) and
Correspondence Grandmaster
(1979). At the 1966 Chess Olympiad
in Havana, he won the individual
gold medal for sixth board. He took
17th place in the 1967 Sousse
Interzonal. He took 1st place at the
1967 Asztalos Memorial, 1st at
Polanica Zdroj 1969, and 1st at
Astor 1982. His peak rating was
2485 in 1976.
Olaf Barda (1909-1971) was a

Norwegian International Master
(1952) and Correspondence
Norwegian championship six times
(1930, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1953,
1957). He took 4th in the first World
Correspondence chess championship
(1950-1953).
Curt von Bardeleben (1861-1924)

was a German chess master. He
originally studied law, but gave it up
to become a professional chess
player and a journalist. Against
Steinitz, he had a losing position, so
he just got up and left the playing
hall without resigning and did not
return. Steinitz had to sit and watch
the clock to end the game.
Bardeleben did leave a note on the
table that said, "Saw it, went home,"
referring to Steinitz's combination.
Bardeleben was in the habit of
leaving the tournament room,
allowing his clock to run out of time,
rather than resign. He later quit
competitive chess for four years to
complete his law degree. He
supplemented his chess income by
marrying wealthy women. He
suffered hardship during the difficult
years of Germany after World War.
On January 31, 1924, von
Bardeleben, destitute and
impoverished, may have committed
suicide by throwing himself out of
the second-floor window of his
residence in Berlin. He was 62. He
had been a member of the German
nobility. Other sources (Mieses and
Kagan) say that he was suffering
from severe arteriosclerosis and was
trying to get fresh air. He opened a
low silled window on the second
floor of his apartment and fell out.
His life and death were the basis for
that of the main character in the
1930 novel The Defense by
Vladimir Nabokov, which was made
into the movie The Luzhin Defence
(2000).
On March 131, 893, Major General

Hiram Barden (1824-1893) died
while playing chess at the
Metropolitan Club in Washington,
DC. He was the inventor of the
Berdan range finder, torpedo, and
rifle. Before the Civil War, he was
considered the best marksman in the
country. (source: New York Times,
April 1, 1893)
Leonard Barden (1929- ) was British

Champion (with Alan Phillips) in
1954. He learned to play chess at age
13 while in a school shelter during a
World War II German air raid.
Within a few years, he became one
of the country's leading juniors. He
played on four English Olympiad
teams. He has written a chess
column for the Guardian since 1956
and written a chess column in The
Financial Times since 1975. His
London Evening Standard column,
begun in summer 1956, is now the
world's longest running daily chess
column by the same author, breaking
the previous record set by George
Koltanowski in the San Francisco
Chronicle. Koltanowski's column He
has written several chess books. In
1960, he partnered with Bobby
Fischer against Jonathan Penrose
and Peter Clarke. This was the only
recorded consultation game (a draw)
of Fischer's career.
Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev (1966- ) is

a Russian-Canadian Grandmaster
(1989) who was World Under-16
Champion in 1982. In 1999 he was
ranked 3rd in the world, behind
Kasparov and Karpov. He has won
the Hastings International
tournament 3 times. He listed his
hobbies as poker and downhill
skiing. His peak rating was 2739 in
2003.
Bareev - Yakovich, Tallinn 1986

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3
a6 5.e4 b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.a4 Nxc3
8.bxc3 Qd5 9.g3 Be6 10.Bg2 Qb7
11.O-O Bd5 12.e6 Bxe6 13.Ng5 Bd5
14.Bxd5 Qxd5 15.axb5 e6 16.Re1
Nd7 (16...axb5) 17.Qh5 g6??
(17...e5) 18.Nxe6! (18...gxh5
19.Ng7+ Kd8 20.Re8 mate; 18...c6
19.Nc7+ Kd8 20.b6! Nxb6 21.Nxd5
gxh5 22.Bg5+ Kc8 23.Nxb6+) 1-0
Malcom N. Barker was British

Under-18 chess champion in 1949,
1950, and 1951. In the first World
Junior Chess Championship, he took
2nd place, behind Boris Ivkov, and
ahead of Bent Larsen and Friderick
Olafsson. After the tournament, he
gave up chess and took up bridge.
Dragan Barlov (1957- ) of Serbia

was awarded the Grandmaster title in
1986. He won the Yugoslav
championship in 1986. He took 15th
place at the 1987 Zagreb Interzonal.
Benjamin — Barlov, Hallsberg 1975

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6
5.exd6 exd6 6.h3 Be7 7.Nf3 O-O
8.Be3 Bf5 9.Nc3 Nc6 10.Be2 d5
11.b3 Bb4 12.Qc1 dxc4 13.Bxc4
Nxc4 14.bxc4 Bd3 15.a3 Ba5 16.c5
Re8 17.Kd1 b6 18.cxb6 cxb6 19.Ra2
Bc4 20.Rd2 Bb3+ 21.Ke2 Qc8
22.Kf1 Ne7 23.Rb2 Bxc3 24.Rxb3
Qc4+ 0-1
On August 20, 1874, Thomas

Wilson Barnes (1825-1874) died
after going on a diet and losing 130
pounds in 10 months (he originally
weighed 220 pounds). No one really
knows the cause of death and some
suspected stomach cancer. He was
one of the strongest English chess
players in the 1850s. He scored more
wins than anyone else against Paul
Morphy, defeating him 8 times.
Morphy considered him the
strongest player he had ever
encountered.
Barnes - Owen, London 1857 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4
5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.Qb3 Qf6 8.O-
O Nh6 9.e5 Qg6 10.Ba3 dxc3
11.Nxc3 Bxc3 12.Qxc3 b6?
(12...Nf5) 13.e6 fxe6 14.Bxe6 Bb7
15.Nh4 Qf6 16.Bxd7+ Kxd7
17.Qh3+ Kd8 18.Rfe1 Re8
19.Rad1+ Nd4 20.Rxd4+ Qxd4
21.Rxe8+ Kxe8 22.Qe6+ (22...Kd8
23.Ba7+ Ke8 24.Bd6+ Kd8 25.Qe7
mate) 1-0.
Major Sir Richard Whieldon Barnett

(1863-1930) was an Irish barrister
and member of parliament in the
United Kingdom House of
Commons. At age 15, he was the
Irish rifle champion. He participated
in the 1908 Summer Olympics,
placing 4th in the 1000 yard rifle
competition. He was Irish Chess
Champion from 1886 to 1889. At
Oxford, he was the president of the
Oxford University Chess Club. After
the First World War, he became a
Conservative Member of Parliament
(MP) and was president of the House
of Commons Chess Circle and
played against Capablanca in the
latter's famous simultaneous
exhibition in the Houses of
Parliament in 1919. (source: Belfast
Newsletter, Oct 18, 1930)
Denis Barry (1929-2003) was a

former President of the U.S. Chess
Federation (1993-1996). He
organized the U.S. Open in Atlantic
City in 1972 and in Somerset, New
Jersey in 1986. He established the
US Amateur Team East Chess
Championship, which is held
annually in Parsippany, New Jersey.
He was the captain and guide for the
US Blind Team in three Blind Chess
Olympiads. He organized the third
USCF Blind Championship in 1977,
and was the first to use Braille
wallcharts at that tournament.
Henry William Barry (1878-1933)

was a violin teacher and musician of
Irish descent. He was the problem
editor of the American Chess
Bulletin for 29 years. He died of a
sudden stroke in his home on April
23, 1933 at the age of 54 on the eve
of his 7th wedding anniversary
(source: Chess Review, May 1933,
p. 3)
John Finan Barry (1873-1940) was a

Boston lawyer and strong chess
amateur. He served as Clerk of the
Municipal Court in Boston for 28
years. He played in 12 of the 13
Anglo-American (1896-1911) cable
matches, missing the 1908 match
because of a misdelivered invitation.
In 1893, he played a match against
Harry Nelson Pillsbury and was 4
games up, but then lost 5 games and
drew one game to lose the match. In
1896, he played a match against
Jackson Whipps Showalter for the
U.S. chess championship, but lost
after winning 2, losing 7, and
drawing 4. He played at Cambridge
Springs, Pennsylvania in 1904. He
was New England champion from
1912 to 1935. He was president of
the Boston Chess Club. In 1915, he
began a chess column in the Boston
Transcrirpt that ran for 25 years. He
died in West Roxbury,
Massachusetts on April 9, 1940.
(source: Chess Review, Apr 1940, p.
50 and Chess Review, May 1940, p.
82)
Alexei Barsov (1966- ) is an

Uzbekistani Grandmaster (2000). He
was the champion of Uzbekistan in
2550 in 2002. He is a lawyer by
education.
Mateusz Bartel (1985- ) is a Polish

Grandmaster (2005). He has won the
Polish Championship 4 times. In
2677.
Dibyendu Barua (1966- ) is a

Grandmaster (1991) from India. He
was India's first chess prodigy. In
1978, Barua, as a 12-year-old,
became the youngest participant in
the Indian National Chess
Chess Championship of India. He
became India's 2nd grandmaster,
after Anand. His peak rating was
2561 in 2003. In 2017, he appeared
on an Indian postage stamp.
Cerdas Barus (1961- ) is an

Indonesian Grandmaster (2004). He
has won the Indonesian
Championship 3 times. He has
played for Indonesia in 6 Chess
Olympiads.
Michael John Basman (his original

family surname was Basmadjian)
was born on March 16, 1946 in
London, England. He is an
England, famous for his unusual
chess openings (1.g4, 1.h3, 1.e4 g5,
and 1.e4 a6 for example). He is also
a prolific chess writer and was a
pioneer in the production of audio
tapes for chess. In 1973, he tied for
1st place in the British Chess
Championship, but lost the play-off
match with William Hartston (1947-
). Basman is a big supporter of
junior chess and his junior
tournaments in schools draws over a
thousand players. He created the UK
Schools Chess Challenge, an annual
four-stage chess competition for
school-age children in the United
Kingdom. Over 1,200 schools and
70,000 kids participate.
Basman — NN, Paris 1982 1.e4 e5

2.f4 exf4 3.Qe2 Nc6 4.c3 d6 5.d4
Qh4+ 6.Kd1 g5 7.Nf3 Qh5 8.Qb5 g4
9.Qxh5 1-0
Tsegmed Batchuluun (1987- ) is a

Mongolian Grandmaster (2012). He
has won the Mongolian Chess
Harry Bateman (1882-1946)

received an M.A. in mathematics
from Trinity College, Cambridge, in
1906. He specialized in the integrals
of the Euler-Laplace type dates. His
college tutor was W.W. Rouse Ball.
He played on the Cambridge chess
team and represented Britain in a
match against the USA in an
intercollegiate team match.
Jack Straley Battell (1909-1985) was

a former USCF correspondence
chess director (1969-1978). In the
1937-38 Marshall Chess Club
Championship, he scored no wins
and 11 straight losses, for the worse
score in Marshall Chess Club
history. In 1946 he was the highest
rated postal player in the United
States and won the 1946
Correspondence Chess League of
America (CCLA) championship. He
was a photographer, English teacher,
riding master, and restaurant
manager. He died of complications
of Alzheimer's disease in 1985.
Viktor Baturinsky (1914-2002) was

a former vice president of the USSR
Chess Federation. Former director of
the Central Chess Club in Moscow.
Head of Anatoly Karpov's delegation
in the 1978 and 1981 world
championship matches against
Viktor Korchnoi. He was a colonel
in the KGB. He died on December
21, 2002.
Christian Bauer (1977- ) is a French

French Championship 3 times. His
Dr. Friedrich Baumbach (1935- ) is a

FIDE Master (1985) and German
correspondence player who won the
11th World Correspondence
Championship, which began in 1983
and ended in 1989. In 1970 he won
the East German championship. He
was awarded the Correspondence
Grandmaster title in 1973. He is a
chemist and a Ph.D.
John Beasley (1940- ) received an

undergraduate degree in
mathematics at Cambridge and a
PhD in Management Science at
Imperial College, London. He was a
Professor in the Department of
Mathematical Sciences at Brunel
University in London. He was the
author and columnist for Endgame
Studies in the British Chess
Magazine.
Eugene Beauharnois (1781-1824)

was the stepson of Napoleon and
Prince and Viceroy of Italy. He
purchased the Turk from Maelzel for
30,000 francs (equivalent to
$60,000) in 1811. The Prince stored
it at his residence in Milan. He sold
the Turk back to Maelzel in 1817 for
the same price.
In 2000, David Beaumont (1967- )

got in a fist fight with Alexander
Gaft at the annual Doeberl Cup in
Canberra, Australia. Beaumont, still
playing his chess game, became
upset by the noisy comments made
by Gaft, who had just finished his
game. Beaumont politely asked Gaft
to keep quiet, but Gaft replied with
abuse. A violent brawl ensued, with
Gaft being repeatedly punched and
Beaumont thrown onto a glass door.
Julio Jesus Becerra-Rivero (1973- )

is a Cuban-born Grandmaster
(1997). He won the Cuban
Championship in 1996 and 1998. He
has won the Florida State Chess
Championship 8 times. His peak
Boris Becker (1967- ) was one of the

greatest tennis players, winning at
Wimbledon at age 17 and winning 6
grand slams of tennis. He played an
exhibition match against Kasparov
"live" on CNN for one hour in 2000.
Kasparov was in New York and
Becker was in Munich. He once said
that his experiences with chess
influenced his playing style in
tennis. Becker served as tennis
trainer to Novak Djokovic and they
both play chess against each other on
rest days.
Georg Albert Becker (1896-1984)
was an International Master (1953).
He played for Austria (1931), then
Germany (1939), on their chess
Olympiad team. He was editor of
Wiener Schachzeitung from 1926 to
1935. He settled in Argentina after
the outbreak of World War II. In
1929 at Carlsbad , Becker said "I
propose to open the Vera Menchik
Club, whose members will be solely
masters defeated by the lady world
champion." Before the tournament at
Carlsbad in which Menchik was
playing, he said that he would go
onstage as a ballerina if Menchik
scored more than 3 points. At
Carlsbad (won by Nimzovich), she
finished last with 2 wins, 2 draws (3
points) and 17 losses. She beat
Becker (the first member of the Vera
Menchik Club) and Saemisch. He
was Austrian champion in 1925.
Georg Becker — Norman-Hansen,

Munich 1936 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3
dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3
Nxe4 7.Bxe4 Nf6 8.Bd3 Be7 9.Qe2
O-O 10.Bg5 g6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6
12.Qe4 1-0
In 1969, Samuel Beckett (1906-

1989) won the Nobel Prize in
Literature. He was an Irish writer,
dramatist and poet. He wrote
Waiting for Godot. He wrote a one-
act play called Endgame. He often
played chess with Marcel Duchamp.
During his student years, he played
on the chess team at Trinity College
in Dublin. In 1935, he wrote
Murphy, his first published novel. In
the novel, the protagonist Murphy
takes a job as a male nurse in a
mental hospital (the Magdalen
Mental Mercyseat) where he plays
chess with Mr. Endon, a
schizophrenic patient there. Chess is
Endons one frivolity. All the moves
are in the novel, which lasts 43
moves. Murphy was written at a
time when Beckett was undergoing
psychoanalysis in London and
playing a lot of chess. Beckett
himself was an avid chess player
who often played chess with Marcel
Duchamp.
In December 1882, Frideswide

Beechey-Rowland (1843-1919)
became the first woman to write a
chess column. In 1883, she wrote
Chess Blossoms: A Selection from
Compositions. In 1884, she wrote
Chess Fruits.
Menachem Begin (1913-1992),

President of Israel from 1977 to
1983, was a chess player. In
September 1978, he played a chess
game against National Security
Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski at
Camp David. Begin told Brezinski
that the last time he played chess
was in September 1940, when the
NKVD (secret police) broke into his
hiding place in Vilna to arrest him.
He was playing a game of chess with
his wife when Russian soldiers burst
into his home to arrest him. As they
dragged him away, he shouted to
Mrs. Begin, "I resign." Shortly
afterward at Camp David, Begin's
wife passed by and said. "Oh, the
two of you are playing chess. You
know, Mr. Brzezinski, Menachem
just loves to play. He plays all the
time."
Herman Behr (1847-1934) was a
chess patron and chess master. He
was president of the New York State
Chess Association and president of
the Brooklyn Chess Club. He was a
millionaire and owned a company
that manufactured sandpaper.
In 1901, Emil Von Behring (1854-

Physiology or Medicine for his
discovery of a diphtheria antitoxin.
He suffered from depression and
played chess to relieve his
depression, although he hated losing.
In September 1916, he had an
operation and he became bedridden
for the last 6 months of his life.
During that period, he played chess
with his doctor, Georg Magnus until
he died. (Source: Emil Von Behring
by Derek Linton, 2005, p. 386 and
Pioneers of Microbiology and the
Nobel Prize by Ulf Lagerkvist, 2003,
p. 107)
Valeri Beim (1950- ) is a

Grandmaster (1994) originally from
Russian and now living in Austria.
He is the author of Chess Recipies
from the Grandmaster's Kitchen and
five other chess books.
Beim — Wagman, Aosta 1990 1.d4

d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 c5 4.d5 e6 5.Nc3
Nf6 6.Bxc4 exd5 7.Nxd5 Nxd5
8.Bxd5 Be7 9.Nf3 O-O 10.O-O Nd7
11.Qe2 Qc7 12.e5 Nb6 13.Be4 Be6
14.Re1 Rae8 15.Ng5 Bxg5 16.Bxg5
Bd5 17.Bxh7+ Kxh7 18.Qh5+ Kg8
19.Bf6 1-0
Anjelina Belakovskaya (1969- ) is a

Woman Grandmaster (1993). She
was born in the Ukraine and won the
Women's Championship of the
Soviet Union and the Ukraine. She
graduated from Odessa University of
Agriculture with a Bachelor's in
economics and accounting. She has a
Master's Degree in Mathematics in
Finance. She came to the USA in
1991. Her first job in the United
States was slicing watermelons and
winning money from the chess
hustlers at Washington Square Park.
"Two, five and ten dollars per game"
were the first English words she
learned in the U.S. She won $35 the
first day, and soon the hustlers
would no longer play her because
they had lost too much money from
her. In 1993, she had a bit role in the
movie Searching for Bobby Fischer.
She played on the US women's team
in the Chess Olympiads in 1994,
1996, and 1998. She was U.S.
Women's Chess Champion in 1995
(with Sharon Burtman), 1996, and
1999. In 2013, she became an honors
professor at the Eller College of
Management at the University of
Arizona, adding the "Chess,
Leadership and Business Strategy"
course.
Heaton - Belakovskaia, Las Vegas

1995 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7
4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 c5 6.O-O cxd4
7.Nxd4 Nc6 8.Nc2 d6 9.Nc3 Be6
10.b3 Qd7 11.Re1 Bh3 12.Bh1 Ng4
13.Bb2 Qf5 14.f3 Qxc2 15.Qxc2
Bd4+ 16.e3 Nxe3 17.Qf2 (17.Qe4)
17...Nc2 18.Qxd4 N6xd4 19.Rxe7
Nxa1 20.Nd5? (20.Bxa1) 20...Nac2
21.g4 Rfe8 (22.Nf6+ Kf8 23.Rxe8+
Rxe8 24.Nxe8 Kxe8) 0-1
Ludmilla Belavenets (1940- ) is a
Russian Woman International
Master (1977), International Master
in Correspondence Chess (1979),
and now Grandmaster of
Correspondence Chess. In 1975, she
won the Women's Soviet Chess
Championship. She won the 4th
Women's World Correspondence
Chess Championship (1984-1992).
She is the daughter of Sergey
Belavenets (1910-1942).
Sergey Belavenets (1910-1942) was

chess champion of Moscow in 1932,
1937, and 1938. He won the Russian
championship in 1934 and took 3rd
in the USSR Championship in 1939.
He died in the siege of Leningrad.
His daughter, Ludmilla (born in
1940), won the 4th Women's World
Correspondence Chess
Championship in 1992.
Freymann — S. Belavenets, Kiev

1938 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c4 e5 4.Nc3
Nc6 5.h3 g6 6.d3 Bg7 7.Nd5 f6
8.Be3 Nh6 9.Qd2 Nf7 10.Be2 Be6
11.h4 h5 12.Bd1 a6 13.Ba4 Rb8
14.b4 b5 15.Bb3 Bxd5 16.exd5 Nd4
17.Bxd4 cxd4 18.a4 Bh6 19.Qe2 O-
O 20.O-O f5 21.axb5 axb5 22.c5
Re8 23.g3 Qf6 24.Rfd1 e4 25.dxe4
d3 26.Qa2 fxe4 0-1
Alexander Beliavsky (1953- ) is a

Soviet-Ukraine-Slovenia
World Junior Championship in
1973, held in Teesside, England. In
1973 he took last place in the USSR
championship. The next year, he
won it. He tied for first place (with
Tal) at the USSR Championship in
1974, and won the USSR
Championship in 1990. In 1983, he
lost against Kasparov in the
quarterfinals for the World
Championship. In 1997 he lost to
Nigel Short in the FIDE world
championship knockout matches.
Beliavsky - Stean, Lucerne 1982

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6
8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Nb3 Nbd7 10.Bd3 b5
11.O-O Nc5? (11...b4) 12.Nxc5
dxc5 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Rab1 Qa3
15.Nxb5! (15...axb5 16.Bxb5+ Ke7
17.Rfd1, threatening 18.Qd6 mate;
15...Qxa2 16.Nc7+ Ke7 17.Nxa8) 1-
0
Ridha Belkadi (1925- ) is an

Tunisia. He was the president of the
Tunisian Chess Federation. He
represented Tunisia, either as Board
1 or 2, in the chess Olympiads in
1960, 1962, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972,
1974, 1978, and 1980.
Slim Belkhodja (1962- ) is a

Tunidian Grandmaster (2002). In
1985, he won the 58th Paris
Arab Chess Championship. He
played for Tunisia in 6 Chess
Olympiads.
In January, 2014, an Italian man,

Saverio Bellante (1979- ), who had
been living in a rented home in
Dublin, killed his unlucky landlord
over a game of chess. He was
arrested for the killing after stabbing
his landlord, Tom O'Gorman,
multiple times. O'Gorman was a
minister. Bellante told police that
they were fighting over a chess
game. Bellante was then asked by
O'Gormon to leave the house
following an argument over a chess
move. Instead, Bellante found a
kitchen knife and stabbed
O'Gormon, then beat him over the
head with a dumbbell. Bellante was
also accused of eating the heart of
his victim.
Jana Malypetrova Hartston Miles

Bellin (1947- ) is a Woman GM
(1982). She is the granddaughter of
thrice Prime Minister of
Czechoslovakia, Jan Malypetr
(1873-1947). She won the Czech
Women's Championship in 1965 and
1967. She has won the British
Woman's Chess Championship 8
times. She has played in 15 Chess
Olympiads. She was formerly
married to Bill Hartston and Tony
Miles, top British chess players. She
is a medical doctor specializing in
anesthesiology. She works at the
Sandwell General Hospital in
England. She is Chairman of the
FIDE Medical Commission, which
supervises drug testing of chess
players.
Robert Bellin (1952- ) is a British

British Champion in 1979. He is
married to Dr. Jana Malypetrova
(Hartston Miles Bellin).
Juan Manuel Bellon-Lopez (1950- )

is a Spanish Grandmaster (1978). He
was Spanish Champion in 1969 (also
Spanish Youth Champion that year),
1971, 1974, 1977, and 1984. He is
married to Grandmaster Pia
Cramling from Sweden.
Bellon — Ljubojevic, Palma de

Mallorca 1972 1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6
3.e3 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Nxd4
Nf6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 O-O 9.Nd2
a5 10.a4 Re8 11.O-O Nd5 12.Bxg7
Kxg7 13.Bd3 Nc3 14.Qf3 Ba6
15.Bxa6 Rxa6 16.e4 Qf6 17.Qd3
Raa8 18.f4 1-0
Vladimir Belov (1984- ) is a Russian

won the Moscow championship. His
Valentina Belova-Borisenko (1920-

1993) was a Woman Grandmaster
(1978). In 1945, 1955, 1957, 1960,
and 1962, she won the USSR
women's championship. She was the
Women's World Championship
Challenger in 1949-50.
Clare Benedict (1870-1961) was an

American writer and probably the
first woman chess patron. She made
possible the Clare Benedict Cup, and
annual West European team
tournament, which was held from
1953 to 1979, when funds ran out.
There were 23 Clare Benedict Cup
tournaments. She also sponsored the
Zurich 1954 tournament. Her great-
grandmother was Fennimore
Cooper's sister.
In 1968, Dris Benabud travelled all

the way from Morocco to the 18th
Chess Olympiad in Lugano,
Germany, just to play one game of
chess. He only played one game as
second reserve and lost (to a
Swedish player). He is the only
chess player in Chess Olympiad
history to play less than 3 games in a
Chess Olympiad.
Joel Benjamin (1964- ) was the

winner of the National Elementary
(1976), Junior High School (1978),
and High School Championships
(1980-81), U.S. Junior
Championship (1980, 1982), U.S.
Open Championship (1985), and
U.S. Championship (1987, 1997).
He was the editor of Chess Chow, a
monthly chess magazine. He
defeated his first master at age 11
and was the first 11-year old U.S.
Expert. At 13 years and 3 months, he
broke Bobby Fischer's record (13
years, 5 months) for becoming the
youngest U.S. master up to that time.
He was the youngest Manhattan
Chess Club champion at 14, and
became a Grandmaster in 1986. He
assisted the IBM DEEP BLUE team
that helped defeat Garry Kasparov in
the DEEP BLUE computer vs.
Kasparov chess match in April,
1997. In 2008, he was inducted into
the World Chess Hall of Fame, the
youngest inductee. He graduated
from Yale University in 1985 where
he majored in history.
Benjamin - Gamboa, Philadelphia

1995 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 d5 4.e5
d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.Nf3
c5 8.Bd3 Bd7 9.Be4 Bc6 10.Qe2
Bxe4 11.Qxe4 Nc6 12.Rb1 O-O-O
13.d4 Rd7 14.Bf4 Qg6?? (14.Bd6)
15.Qxc6+! (15...bxc6 16.Rb8 mate)
1-0
Francisco Benko (1910-2010). He
was a German-Argentine chess
master and problemist. He was often
referred to as the world's oldest
active player before dying at age 99
in Buenos Aires.
Pal Benko (1928- ) is a French-born

Hungarian-American Grandmaster
(1958) who won the Hungarian
national championship in 1948 at the
age of 20. In March 1952, Pal Benko
(1928- ) was arrested and imprisoned
for 16 months in a Hungarian
concentration camp for trying to
escape from East Berlin and defect
to the West. He was accused of
being an American spy. When they
searched his apartment, they found
mail devoted to his postal chess
games. The police assumed that the
notation was secret code, and they
demanded to know how to break the
code. He was secretly involved in
the 1956 Hungarian revolt. He spent
a year and a half in a Hungarian
political prison. The Hungarian
Secret Police once suspected he was
a spy because of his coded letters.
The coded letters were
correspondence chess games and the
code was chess notation. He was
permitted to play first board on
Hungary's team in the 1957 Student
Olympiad in Iceland where he
defected to the U.S. In July 1957, he
walked into the American embassy
in Reykjavik and asked for asylum.
He came to New York on October
17, 1957. He worked on Wall Street
for several years, then sold mutual
funds and real estate as an
independent agent. He didn't return
to Hungary until 1964 on a visit He
became a Grandmaster in 1958. In
1965 he was the first American
Open Champion. In 1970 he yielded
his interzonal place at Palma de
Mallorca to Bobby Fischer, who
went on to become World
Champion. He has won or tied for
first place in eight US Open
tournaments. In 1993, he was
inducted into the US Chess Hall of
Fame. His book, Pal Benko My Life,
Games and Compositions won the
2004 British Chess Federation Book
of the Year. His peak rating was
2530 in 1973.
Benko - Sawyer, New York 1964

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 4.c3
a6 5.Bc4 h6 6.d4 d6 (6...b5) 7.Qb3
Na5?? (7...d5) 8.Bxf7+ Kd7
9.Nxe5+! (9...dxe5 10.Qe6 mate) 1-0
In 2001, Vaughn Bennett, executive

director of the Olympic Chess House
and a District of Columbia
firefighter, was arrested for unlawful
trespassing onto the grounds of the
U.S. Chess Center in Washington,
DC. In 2005, he sued the U.S. Chess
Federation and others for 150
million dollars. He stated in the legal
brief that the defendants committed
"retaliatory acts that defamed him
and violated the rights granted by the
common law of the District of
Columbia." He further stated that the
acts were "intentional, malicious,
and gross; taken in conscious
disregard of Plaintiff's constitutional
and civil rights." The case was later
dismissed.
David Berczes (1990- ) is a

Hungarian Grandmaster (2008). His
Maria Berea de Montero (1914-

1983) was a Woman International
Master (1952) from Brazil. In 1939,
she was the Women's World
Championship Challenger. In 1952,
she took 15th place in the World
Women's Chess Championship
Candidates Tournament in Moscow.
Emanuel Berg (1981- ) is a Swedish

Swedish Championship in 2009 and
2010. His peak rating was 2627 in
2010.
Professor Johann Berger (1845-

1933) was a chess master, author,
and educator from Graz, Austria. In
1870 he won the first major
tournament in the Austro-Hungarian
Empire at Graz. In 1873 he helped
create the Sonnenborn-Berger tie-
breaking system (first used in 1882).
In 1886 he won the world
championship chess problem-solving
contest. He played in a
correspondence chess tournament
sponsored by Monde Illustre from
1889 to 1992 and won it with 45
wins, 3 losses and no draws. From
1898 to 1911 he was editor of
Deutsche Schachzeitlung. In 1890 he
wrote Theorie und Praxis der
Endspiele and revised it in 1922. It
was the first modern comprehensive
book on practical endgames. He also
wrote Probleme, Studien und Partien
1862-1912. He was an Austrian high
school administrator and professor.
He died in Graz, Austria, at the age
of 88. (source: Chess Review, Nov-
Dec 1933, p. 6)
J. Berger — Froelich, Graz 1922

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bb5
Bg4 5.Nd5 Nge7 6.c3 a6 7.Ba4 b5
8.Bb3 Na5 9.Nxe5 Bxd1?? 10.Nf6+
gxf6 11.Bxf7 mate 1-0
Dr. Volf Bergraser (1904-1986) won

the French chess championship in
1957 and 1966. He played for France
in 5 Chess Olympiads. He became a
Correspondence Grandmaster at the
age of 77 in 1981. He was a medical
doctor.
Handel - Bergraser, Correspondence

1985 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5
4.c4 Nb6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nge2 Bg4
7.Be3 N8d7 8.b3 Ba3 9.Qd2 Qe7
10.h3 Bh5 11.Ng3 exd4 12.Qxd4 O-
O-O 13.Nxh5 Nf6 14.Qf4 Bb2
15.Rd1? (15.Nb5) 15...Bxc3+
16.Ke2 Nxh5 17.Qf5+ Kb8 18.Qxh5
Qe4 (19.Qxf7 Qc2+ 20.Kf3 Rxd1)
0-1
Ferenc Berkes (1985- ) is a

Hungarian Grandmaster (2002). He
has won the Hungarian
Championship 7 times. In 2002, he
won the World under-18 Chess
Championship.
Hans Berliner (1929-2017) was a

computer scientist specializing in
Artificial Intelligence and winner of
the 5th world correspondence
championship (1965-68). His 3-point
margin of victory (14-2) was the
greatest margin of victory ever
achieved in a World Championship
final round, and his winning
percentage was also the greatest of
any World Champion. His game
with Yakov Estrin was voted the
best game in the history of
correspondence chess. In 1979 he
developed a backgammon-playing
program that defeated the reigning
World Backgammon Champion.
This was the first time that a World
Champion had ever been beaten by a
computer. He was the first U.S.
correspondence Grandmaster. He
helped develop the chess
machine/program called Hitech, one
of the strongest chess machines in
the world. It was the first computer
program to become a US Chess
Federation Senior Master. Berliner
wrote a chess program as part of his
Ph.D. dissertation at Carnegie-
Mellon University. He won the
Golden Knights Postal Chess
Championship three times (1955,
1956, 1959). On April 1, 1965, Hans
Berliner started play in the finals of
Chess Championship. He was the
only American in the event. He
scored 14 out of 16 with 12 wins and
4 draws after 3 years of play to
become World Correspondence
Chess Champion. His lifetime score
in correspondence chess was 91
wins, 10 draws, and only 1 loss. In
1997, Berliner was awarded the
$100,000 Fredkin Prize to the
inventors of the Deep Blue chess
machine for being the first program
to beat a reigning world chess
champion. Berliner was the
administrator of the Fredkin
Foundation grant since 1980. In
1999, wrote The System: A World
Champion's Approach to Chess. He
argued that 1.d4 is the best move in
chess and that the Benko Gambit
was refuted.
Berliner - Rott, Montreal 1956 1.d4

d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.e4 Nb6
5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.d5 Ne5?
(7...Bxf3) 8.Nxe5! Bxd1 9.Bb5+ c6
10.dxc6 Qb8 11.c7+ Nd7 12.Bxd7
mate 1-0
Vladimir Ivanovich Berlinsky

(1950- ) is an Internatioanal Master
(1986) from Russia. In 1986, he was
the International Braille Chess
Association (IBCA) world
champion. In 2006, he won the 11th
World Chess Championship for the
Blind.
In 1886, the French actress Sarah

Bernhardt (1844-1923), the first
international stage star, played chess
against the chess automaton Ajeeb.
She loved chess and lived at the
Hotel Chelsea from 1886 to 1900.
Ajeeb was located at the Eden
Musee, a block away from her hotel.
She also played Ajeeb in 1900 and
perhaps many times between 1886
and 1900 (losing every time). When
asked how she spent her time on
long sea voyages, she said she
played chess. (source: "Sarah
Bernhardt" by Jules Huret, p. 132,
patrickgrenier.net/blog.html, Chess
Life, Jun 1992, p. 12, and British
Chess Magazine, 1979, p. 302)
Dr. Ossip S. Bernstein (1882-1962)

was born in a small town in the
Ukraine to a wealthy family of
Jewish heritage. In 1903, he took
2nd (behind Chigorin) in the third
Russian Championship. In 1907, he
earned a doctorate in law at
Heidelberg University and started
out as a financial lawyer in Moscow.
In 1918, Bernstein was arrested in
Odessa by the Cheka and ordered
shot by a firing squad just because
he was a legal advisor to bankers. As
the firing squad lined up, a superior
officer asked to see the list of
prisoners' names. Discovering the
name of Ossip Bernstein, he asked
whether he was the famous master.
Not satisfied with Bernstein's
affirmative reply, he made him play
a game with him. If Bernstein lost or
drew, he would be shot. Bernstein
won in short order and was released.
He escaped on a British ship and
settled in Paris. In the 1920s, he
became one of France's most
prosperous financial lawyers, only to
lose it all in the Wall Street stock
market crash. He was awarded the
Grandmaster title in 1950. At age 74,
he was still playing in international
tournaments. Bernstein's son was
President Eisenhower's official
interpreter because he spoke almost
every European language. (source:
Chess Review, Apr 1963, pp. 104-
105)
O. Bernstein - Unknown, Berlin

1903 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.c4 e6
4.Ne5 Bf5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Qb3 b6?
(6...Nc6) 7.e4 Bxe4 8.Bb5+ Ke7
9.Bc6 (and 10.Bxa8) 1-0
Sidney Norman Bernstein (1911-

2004) took 1st place in the Marshall
Club Championship in 1930, 1939,
1957, and 1958. In 1942, he tied
with Fred Reinfeld in the Manhattan
Chess Club Championship. He
played in the U.S. Championship
nine times, from 1936 to 1962. In
1951, his USCF rating was 2358.
Frank Kim Berry (1945-2016) was

an American chess patron and
International Arbiter. He sponsored
and directed the 2007 and 2008 U.S.
Championships in Oklahoma. In
2007, he put up $50,000 of his own
money to sponsor the U.S.
championship in Stillwater,
Oklahoma (his home town). He was
a former paratrooper with the 101st
Airborne and major stockholder in a
regional bank. He was the twin
brother of Jim Berry, former
President of the USCF. He died of a
heart attack.
Jim Berry (1945- ) is a chess expert

and former President of the United
States Chess Federation from 2009
to 2011. He is the twin brother of
Frank Berry (1945-2016).
Jonathan Berry (1943- ) is a

Canadian chess player, organizer,
and author. He is an International
FIDE Aribiter (1975 — at age 21),
FIDE Master (1984), and ICCF
Canadian Corresponcence Champion
in 1978 and 1980. He was North
American Correspondence
Champion in 1982. He is the only
Canadian to hold international titles
for over-the-board chess,
correspondence chess, and chess
arbiting. He represented Canada in
the 1982 Chess Olympiad. In 2001,
he was inducted into the Canadian
Chess Hall of Fame. In 2004, he
played 12 blindfold games
simultaneously, tying the world
record for players over the age of 50,
scoring +9=2-1. For 15 years, he was
Technical Editor for Inside Chess
magazine.
Joseph Bertin (1695-1736) was a

chess author. In 1735 he published
The Noble Game of Chess,
Containing Rules and Instructions
for the Use of those who have
already a little Knowledge of this
Game. It was the first worthwhile
chess book in English and, at the
time, only available at Slaughter's
Coffee House (founded by John
Slauter in 1692). Bertin had 19 rules
to follow during play. One of them
was: to free your game, take off
some of your adversary's men, if
possible for nothing.
Louis Betbeder-Matibet (1901-1986)

was a French chess master. He took
2nd place in the 1928 and 1946
French Chess Championships. He
represented France in 7 Chess
Olympiads. He was awarded the
International Arbiter title in 1967.
The moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 f5
is known as the Betbeder variation.
In 1967, Hans Bethe (1906-2005)

won the Nobel Prize in Physics for
his work on the theory of stellar
nucleosynthesis. He was a chess
player who could play chess by
memory and without a chess board.
(Source: Nuclear Forces: The
Making of the Physicist Hans Bethe,
by Silvan Schweber, 2012, p. 47)
Reuben Beukes (1985-2007) was a

Namibian chess master. In 2002, he
represented Namibia in the 35th
Chess Olympiad, held in Bled,
Slovenia, but lost all 6 games. In
National Chess Champion of
Namibia, the youngest ever for that
country. On April 17, 2007, he died
in a car crash.
Alexei Bezgodov (1969- ) is a

1993, he won the Russian Chess
Ukrainian Championship. His peak
Vinay Bhat (born June 4, 1984)

learned chess at the age of 6. He was
an active tournament player in
Silicon Valley at an early age. At
age 8, he tied for 1st with Jordy
Mont-Reynaud in the California
Primary (K-3) State Championship.
He became America's youngest
master in 1995 at the age of 10
years, 176 days. At age 11, he tied
for 2nd at the Under-12 World
Youth Championship, won by
Bacrot. At age 13, he tied for 1st at
the US Cadet (Under-16)
championship. At the age of 15
years and 10 months, he became an
International Master, at the time the
youngest IM in the US. He won the
California High School
Championship 4 times. He earned
his third GM norm at age 23. He
received a B.S. in Statistics and
Political Economy from the
University of California Berkeley in
2006. He currently works at Shipt,
where he is the Head of Data
Science. His peak FIDE rating was
2549. His peak USCF rating was
2606.
Carlos Bielicki (1940- ) is an

Argentine International Master
(1959) who was Junior World
Champion in 1959, held in
Munchestein, Switzerland.
In 1899, Ambrose Bierce (1842-

1913) wrote a short story called
Moxon's Master, which was first
published in the San Francisco
Examiner on April 16, 1899. It
describes a chess-playing robot (the
word robot was not used until 1921)
automaton that strangles and
murders its creator, Moxon, over a
game of chess. Moxon won a game
of chess from the robot, and it killed
Moxon in a fit of rage. The story is
one of the first descriptions of a
robot in English literature.
(http://doyleandmacdonald.com/l_m
oxon.htm)
Horace Ransom Bigelow (1898-

1980) was an American master. In
1923, he took last place in the 9th
American Chess Congress in Lake
Hopatcong, New York (won by
Marshall and Kupchik). In 1929, he
won the Marshall Chess Club
Championship. He was a journalist
for the American Chess Bulletin.
Istvan Bilek (1932-2010) was a

Hungarian Grandmaster and a three-
time Hungarian Champion. In 1979
at an international tournament in
Slupsk, Poland, he had a bye in the
first round, drew his next 10 games
in 13, 14, 12, 9, 12, 13, 17, and 9
moves, taking 5, 12, 15, 26, 7, 4, 5,
12, 18, and 5 minutes, respectively.
Thus, he made only 125 moves in
109 minutes in this 11 round master
event. When he won the Hungarian
championship in 1970, his wife (Edit
Lang) won the Hungarian women's
championship (she also won in
1964). He played in the 1962 and
1964 Interzonals. He was on nine
chess Olympiad teams from 1958 to
1974. In 1967, at the Sousse
Interzonal, GM Milan Matulovic
was playing Bilek and made a move
that would have lost a piece. He then
took back the move, and then made
another move. Bilek complained to
the tournament director, but no
action was taken to prove that Bilke
made the move, then took it back.
The game ended in a draw that Bilek
would have won if the move was not
taken back. In 1962, Bilek lost to
Fischer on time, after making only
27 moves in 2.5 hours. Fischer used
up exactly 2 minutes for the whole
game.
I. Bilek - Bachtiar, Beverwijk 1966

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 g6 7.Nxc6 bxc6
8.e5 Nh5 9.Qf3 e6 10.exd6 Qxd6
11.O-O Bb7 12.Rd1 Qc5 (12...Qb4)
13.Qd3 Qe7 14.Bg5 f6 15.Be3 Kf7
16.Qd7 (16...Bc8 17.Bxe6+ Kg7
18.Qxc6 Bb7 19.Qc4 Rd8 20.Rxd8
Qxd8 21.g4) 1-0
Paul Rudolf von Bilguer (1815-

1840) was the author of the
Handbuch des Schachspiels, the
most influential chess book for over
90 years. The first edition was
completed in 1843, after his death at
the age of 24, by Baron Tassilo
Heydebrand von der Lasa. Von der
Lasa also edited the next four
editions. Bilguer was an Army
Lieutenant and one of the seven
German Pleiades.
Reefat BinSattar (1974- ) is a

Bangladeshi Grandmaster (2007).
He has played for Bangladesh in 7
Chess Olympiads. His peak rating
was 2492 in 2005.
Falko Bindrich (1990- ) is a German

Grandmaster (2007). He became a
GM at age 16. His peak rating was
2610 in 2014.
In 1893, Alfred Binet (1857-1911)

was a French psychologist (he
actually had a Law degree and
taught himself psychology) who
invented the first practical
intelligence test, the Binet-Simon
scale (1905). Alfred Binet conducted
the first serious psychological study
of the game of chess in 1894. He
studied blindfold chess players as a
subset of his investigations into
memory. He wrote Psychologie des
grands calculateurs et joueurs
d'echecs. He also wrote the first
work on the psychology of chess,
though he was not a strong chess
player. He published roughly 200
books and articles on psychology.
He is considered the father of
intelligence and the founder of
French experimental psychology. He
investigated the link between
mathematics and chess. He found
that over 90% of leading chess
players were good at doing mental
calculations and also had good
memories. Binet gave birth to a
century of chess investigation that
would help understand the human
mind. In 1946, Dutch master and
psychologist Adriaan de Groot
(1914-2006) published his Thought
and Choice in Chess (his PhD
dissertation). In his work, following
up on Binet's work, investigated the
skills, speed, style, and articulation
of skill levels of the chess player. De
Groot observed that great chess
players did not actually calculate
significantly more or faster than
lesser players, nor have better
memories. Instead, they recognized
more chess patterns more quickly, so
as to make more relevant
calculations and, therefore, better
decisions.
Henry Edward Bird (1830-1908)

was a practicing statistics
accountant, specializing in the
railway business, and not a
professional chess player. One of the
reports he wrote was entitled
Railway Accounts: A
Comprehensive Analysis of the
Capital and Revenue of the Railways
of the United Kingdom. He also
wrote 6 chess books. Bird first
worked as a clerk to an accountant in
London. Later, he became partner in
the firm Coleman, Turquand,
Youngs and Co. He won the first
brilliancy prize (a sliver cup) for his
victory over James Mason, New
York 1876. he favored the opening
1.f4, now called Bird's Opening. He
played chess at the London coffee
house, Simpson's Divan, for over 50
years, from 1846 until it closed in
1903.
Bird - Emanuel Lasker, Newcastle

1892 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3
4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2 Qg5 6.Nf3 Qxg2
7.Rg1 Bb4+?? (7...Qh3) 8.Ke2 Qh3
9.Bxf7+ Kd8 10.Bxg7 Ne7 11.Ng5
Qh4 12.Ne6 mate 1-0
Klaus Bischoff (1961- ) is a German

German blitz championship 11
times. He won the German Chess
Arthur Bisguier (1929-2017) was an

was the winner of the U.S. Junior
Championship in 1946 and 1949,
U.S. Championship in 1954, winner
of three U.S. Opens (1950, 1956,
1959), and represented the U.S. in
five Olympiads. On October 8, 1958
at the 13th Chess Olympiad in
Munich, Germany, Spain vs. USA
were matched. On third board
Roman Toran (1931-2005) and
Arthur Bisguier (1929-2017) were
playing. When Bisguier resigned,
Toran said with a smile, "I am so
happy, it is the best present for my
birthday!" Bisguier replied, "It's all
right, today happens to be my
birthday too." Bisguier has likely
played more people than any other
U.S. grandmaster, giving exhibitions
at hospitals, colleges, prisons, and
other locations around the country.
Bisguier was such a generous man
that in some of the chess
tournaments he won, he returned his
cash prizes back to the tournament
directors when they lost money on
an event. He won the U.S. Senior
Open in 1989, 1997, and 1998. In
2005, he was named Dean of
American Chess.
Donovan - Bisguier, Detroit 1950

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3
Nc6 5.a3 d6 6.e3 Bf5 7.exd6 Bxd6
8.Be2 Qf6 9.Nd4?? (9.Nc3) 9...Nxf2
10.Kxf2 Bc2+ 11.Nf3 Bxd1 12.Rxd1
Ne5 13.Nbd2 Ng4+ 14.Kg1 Bxh2+
(15.Nxh2 Qf2+ 16.Kh1 Qxe2) 0-1
Alexander Bisno (1897-1987) was a

former president of the Manhattan
Chess Club in the early 1950s. In
1952, he was the team captain for
the USA team that participated in the
Helsinki Chess Olympiad. In 1954,
he captained the USA team in the
USA vs. USSR match, held in New
York City. He was the first president
of the American Chess Foundation
in 1955. He named his son Paul
Morphy Bisno (1948-2011).
Peter Biyiasas (1950- ) was born in

Athens, Greece, moved to Canada,
and then moved to the United States
in 1979. He was awarded the GM
title in 1978. He has won the
Canadian championship twice (1972,
1975). In 1978 he won the World
Open. He represented Canada in two
Interzonals. In 1981 Bobby Fischer
stayed at Biyiasas's home. They
played hundreds of blitz and bullet
chess games. Biyiasas got one draw
and lost all the rest. He is married to
International Master Ruth Haring.
Dimitrije Bjelica (1935- ) is a

Serbian chess journalist and FIDE
Master that may have played the
greatest number of games at one
time. In 1982 he played 301 games
at once, winning 258, drawing 36,
and losing 7 in nine hours. In 1997,
he played 312 games in a simul in
Subotica, winning 219, drawing 92,
and losing just one game. He is a
former champion of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. He has interviewed
and filmed every world champion
since Botvinnik. He has written over
80 chess books with 190 editions
and produced 55 chess videos and
CDs. He is the founder of the World
Children's Chess Olympiad.
In 1903, Bjornstjerne Bjornson

(1832-1910) won the Nobel Prize in
Literature. He was fond of social
games and was an avid chess player.
He mentioned chess in some of his
books such as Magnhild, The Fisher-
Maiden, In God's Way, and Paul
Lange and Tora Parsberg.
Max Black (1909-1988) received a

PhD in mathematics from the
University of London. His
dissertation was Theories of logical
positivism. He was a former chess
champion at Cambridge University.
He played chess his entire life.
Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-

1924) was an English player of
grandmaster strength. He learned the
game at age 19. He won the British
championship in 1868. His
nickname was the Black Death,
given to him by a comment in the
tournament book of Vienna 1873.
He was also known for his temper.
After losing to Steinitz in a match,
he threw him out of a window.
Luckily for Steinitz that they were
on the first floor. From 1870 to 1888
he was one of the top 5 chess players
in the world. He was once arrested
as a spy because he sent chess moves
in the mail and it was thought the
moves were coded secrets. He tied
for first in the British Championship
of 1914 at the age of 72. During a
simultaneous exhibition at
Cambridge University, the students
thought to gain the advantage by
placing a bottle of whisky and a
glass at each end of the playing oval.
In the end he emptied both bottles
and won all his games in record
time. During the temperance
movement in England, he declared
that whisky drinking improved one's
chess because alcohol cleared the
brain and he tried to prove that
theory as often as possible. It is
estimated he played 100,000 games
of chess in his career. He was one of
the strongest players of his time and
he was also a heavy drinker. In the
19th century, players often drank
even during a tournament or match
game. In one of Blackburne's many
simultaneous exhibitions, perhaps in
Manchester, he grabbed his
opponent's drink when he wasn't
looking, and quickly downed it.
After the game, which Blackburne
won, he commented "My opponent
left a glass of whisky en prise, and I
took it en passant."
Blackburne - Fleissig, Vienna 1873

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.Qe2 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bc2 d5
8.exd5 Qxd5? (8...Ne7) 9.d4 Bd6
10.Bb3 Qe4 11.Qxe4 Nxe4 12.Bd5
1-0
Armand Edward Blackmar (1826-

1888), of Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
fame, was a violinist, pianist, music
teacher and the founder of a music
publishing company in the South. He
was born in Vermont, but moved to
Louisiania. From 1852 to 1855, he
was professor of music at Centenary
College in Jackson, Louisiana. He
was the most successful publisher of
music of the Confederacy during the
Civil War. He was best known for
the patriotic songs he wrote for the
South. During the Civil War,
Armand worked out of New Orleans
until a Union raid, led by General
Benjamin Butler (1818-1893), on his
business forced him to cease
working and arrested Blackmar. He
was imprisoned by Union soldiers in
New Orleans for publishing
"seditious" (Confederate) music,
such as the Bonnie Blue Flag (Band
of Brothers) and the Dixie War
Song. After the Civil War, he
opened up a music store in New
Orleans. Armand was also a lawyer.
Blackmar created his Blackmar
Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.f3) in
1881 and had his opening analysis
published in 1882 in Brentano's
Chess Monthly.
Otto Titusz Blathy (1860-1939) held

a doctorate in mathematics from
Budapest and Vienna universities.
He became the co-inventor of the
modern electric transformer and the
single-phase alternating current (AC)
electric motor. He was a well known
author of chess problems. He once
composed a chess problem that was
a mate in 292 moves.
Pavel Blatny (1968- ) is a

Grandmaster (1993) from the Czech
Republic. He won the
Czechoslovakia Championsip in
1988 and 1990. He won the Czech
Republic Championship in 1997 and
2000. In 1998, he tied for 1st (with
Cyrus Lakdawala) at the American
Open. In 2002, he tied for 1st (with
Yuri Shulman) at the American
Open. In 2003, he tied for 1st (with
Atalik and Akobian) at the American
Open. He has played in 7 Chess
Olympiads. His peak rating was
2589 in 2000.
Max Blau (1918-1984) was a Swiss

Swiss Champion in 1953, 1955,
1956, and 1967. He played for
Switzerland in 7 Chess Olympiads.
Dr. Ludwig Bledow (1795-1846)

was a German professor of
mathematics (PhD). He founded the
first German chess association in
1827. He was the first person to
suggest an international chess
tournament (in a letter to von der
Lasa in 1843). In 1846, he founded
of the first German magazine,
Deutsche Schachzeitung. He was the
founder of the German Pleiades. He
was a chess book collector. When he
died, he had over 14,000 volumes of
chess books, the largest private chess
library in the world.
Horowitz — Bledow, Berlin 1837

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3
Bb6 5.d4 Qe7 6.d5 Qe7 7.Be2 d6
8.h3 f5 9.Bg5 Nf6 10.Nbd2 O-O
11.Nh4 fxe4 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Bxe7
Bxf2+ 14.Kf1 Ng3 mate 0-1
Pawel Blehm (1980- ) is a Polish

won the Bermuda Open. His peak
Calvin Barry Blocker (1955- ) was

born in Cleveland, Ohio on June 28,
1955. He learned chess at the age of
14. In his senior year at Cleveland
Heights High, his chess team won
the national high school
championship. He was a music
prodigy (performing at age 9 by
playing "Prelude in C# minor") and
spent three and a half years studying
piano at the Cleveland Institute of
Music before dropping out to devote
full time to chess. He is an
International Master (1982) and 12-
time Ohio Champion. His peak
FIDE rating was 2435 in 1979.
Claude Frizzel Bloodgood (born

Klaus Frizzel Bluttgutt III) was born
in La Paz, Mexico on July 14, 1937
(some sources say he was born in
1924). He was the author of The
Tactical Grob, Blackburne-Hartlaub
Gambit(1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 d6), and
Nimzovich Attack: The Norfolk
Gambits. In the late 1950's, he was
editor of the Viriginia Chess News
Roundup and the rating statistician
for the Virginia State Chess
Association. In 1958, he started the
All Service Postal Chess Club
(ASPCC). In 1970 he was sentenced
to death for killing his stepmother by
strangulation in 1969, apparently in
a fight about an inheritance and bad-
check charges. While on death row
(prisoner 99432), he played over
2,000 postal games simultaneously.
The postage was paid by the State of
Virginia. He was scheduled for
execution 6 times, but received a
reprieve on all occasions. His death
sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment in 1972 and the state
stopped paying postage. He was
allowed to play in chess tournaments
outside the prison, accompanied by a
guard. In 1974, Bloodgood escaped
after he and another chess player
(Lewis Capleaner — a murderer
inmate) overpowered a guard
(George Winslow) who was
escorting them to a chess
tournament. Bloodgood cuffed the
guard, stole his guns, and fled to
New York. When he was recaptured
after several weeks at large, his
correspondence privilege was taken
away from him at Virginia State
Penitentiary. His escape led to the
resignation of Virginia's director of
prisons, no more prisoners taken to
outside chess tournaments, and the
Virginia Penitentiary Chess program
dismantled. The guard was also
arrested for his involvement in the
escape. In 1996 he was the 2nd
highest USCF ranked player in the
country (2702), just behind Gata
Kamsky. His actual strength was
much less (perhaps weak expert). He
built up a high numerical rating by
organizing chess tournaments and
matches in prison, and consistently
beat the other weaker players. Each
time he won another tournament, he
accrued a few more rating points.
From 1993 to 1999, he played 3,174
rated chess games, winning over 91
percent of his games. His rating
pointed out a flaw in the USCF
rating system. He participated in the
15th U.S. Correspondence
Championship, which began in June,
2000, scoring 3 wins and 9 losses
(he died before finishing his last
game). He died of lung cancer in the
hospital of the Powhatan
Correctional Center near Richmond,
Virginia on August 4, 2001. (source:
Danville Register, Jan 6, 1974)
Al Blowers made millions with his

company, Tax System Services. In
1999, his organization, the HB
Foundation, was founded to promote
scholastic chess (the HB stands for
Hilda Blowers, his mother). In 2005,
his company sponsored the largest
open chess tournament in the USA,
the HB Global Chess Challenge. The
total prize fund was $500,000 and
held in Minneapolis.
Matthias Bluebaum (1997- ) is a

German Grandmaster (2015). He is
studying physics and mathematics at
Bielefeld University. His peak rating
was 2646 in 2017.
Astronaut Guion "Guy" Bluford

(1942- ), the first African-American
astronaut to fly in space, flew on
four Shuttle missions. He was a
chess player and captain of his high
school chess team.
Dr. Beniamin Blumenfeld (1884-

1947) was born in Volkovisk, Russia
who invented the Blumenfeld
Counter Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5
3.d5 e6 4.Nf3 b5). He became a
student of chess psychology and
received a doctorate for a thesis on
the nature of blunders in chess. He
died in Moscow in 1947.
Blumenfeld — NN, Russia 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5
5.Be3 Qf6 6.Nb5 Bxe3 7.fxe3 Qd8
8.Qg4 g6 9.Qf4 d6 10.Bc4 Ne5
11.O-O Be6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.N1c3
Kd7?! (13...Ne7) 14.Rad1 Kc8?
(14...Ke7) 15.Qxe5! (15...dxe5
16.Rxd8+ Kxd8 17.Rf8+ Kd7
18.Rxa8) 1-0
Boris Blumin (1907-1998) won the

Montreal City Championship in
1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, and 1939.
He was Canadian Chess Champion
in 1936 and 1937. He moved to New
York in 1939.
Mark Bluvshtein (1988- ) is a

Soviet-born Canadian Grandmaster
(2004). In 1998, he was Israeli
under-10 champion. In 1999, he was
Israeli under-12 champion. At age
11, he earned a Canadain National
Master rating, making him the
youngest Canadian to achieve this
level. At age 13, he became the
youngest Canadian International
Master. He became a GM at age 16.
He majored in Science and
Technology Studies and has an
MBA.
Milko Bobotsov (1931-2000) was

the first Bulgarian to be awarded the
title of International Grandmaster
(1961). He was Bulgarian champion
in 1958. He played in 8 Bulgarian
Chess Olympiads. He was married to
Woman Grandmaster Antonio
Ivanova. He was a gymnastics
instructor.
Saborido - Bobotsov, Bulgaria 1969

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-
O 5.Be3 d6 6.f3 Nc6 7.Nge2 a6
8.Qd2 Rb8 9.g4 Re8 10.O-O-O b5
11.Ng3 e5 12.Nce2 Nxd4 13.Nxd4
exd4 14.Bxd4 Be6 15.Nf5 Bxf5
16.gxf5 c5 17.Be3 bxc4 18.fxg6
hxg6 19.Bxc4 d5 20.exd5 Nd7 21.b3
Qf6 22.Bf4?? (22.Rde1) 22...Qa1+
(23.Kc2 Qxa2 24.Kc1 Qa1+ 25.Kc1
Qa3+ 26.Kb1 Rxb3+ 27.Bxb3 Qa1+
28.Kc2 Qb2+ 29.Kd3 Qxb3+ 30.Qc3
Qxc3 mate) 0-1
Piotr Bobras (1977- ) is a Polish

was 2581 in 2008. He has a degree
in computer science.
Dmitry Bocharov (1982- ) is a

2015, he won the Russian Blitz
Samuel Boden (1826-1882) started

out as a railroad clerk and
accountant at Nine Elms in
Vauxhall, England. He later became
art dealer and critic, and amateur
watercolor landscape painter. Boden
exhibited 7 watercolor paintings at
the Royal Society of British Artists
between 1865 and 1873. The British
Museum has 5 Boden paintings. He
later became an English professional
chess player. He was the chess editor
of the Field from 1858 to 1873. He
died of typhoid fever.
Schulder — Boden, London 1853

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 f5 4.Bc4 Nf6
5.d4 fxe4 6.dxe5 exf3 7.exf6 Qxf6
8.gxf3 Nc6 9.f4 Bd7 10.Be3 O-O-O
11.Nd2 Re8 12.Qf3 Bf5 13.O-O-O
d5 14.Bxd5 Qxc3+ 15.bxc3 Ba3
mate 0-1
Josef Martin Boey (1934-2016) was
a Belgian International Master
Belgian Chess Championship 4
times. He played for Belgium in 8
Chess Olympiads. He took 2nd place
in the 7th World Correspondence
Championship, 1972-1975. In the
Championship, 1975-1980, he
placed 11th-12th. He did not play in
Championship, but took 7th place in
Championship, 1978-1984. His peak
rating was 2435 in 1974. He was a
chemist.
Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) used

to hustle strangers at 5-minute chess
for 50 cents a game in chess parlors
in New York Times Square during
the 1920s and 1930s. During the
1930s depression, Bogart,
Reshevsky, and Denker were in
adjacent department store windows
playing passerbys for dimes. In
1942, Humphrey Bogart was active
in chess in Hollywood and he played
chess with patients in Veterans
hospitals. He was also playing
correspondence chess with several
GIs overseas until he was visited by
the FBI in 1943 and was told not to
play any more correspondence chess
with military members for the
duration of the war. The FBI was
reading his mail and thought that the
chess notation he was sending to
Europe were secret codes. In 1946
Humphrey Bogart lost a match and
$100 to the restaurateur, Mike
Romanoff (1890-1972). That
evening Bogart went home, and then
phoned Romanoff to play one more
game over the phone for another
$100. Romanoff agreed, and then
lost in 20 moves. Bogart just
happened to have former US chess
champion Herman Steiner over his
house, and Bogart's moves were
really Steiner's moves. In 1952
Bogart won the Best Actor Oscar for
his character in The African Queen.
He and Katherine Hepburn played
chess while making The African
Queen in Stanleyville. Bogart
claimed to be the strongest chess
player among the Hollywood stars.
He did lose to Art Buchwald,
columnist for the New York Herald,
when they played. He was a USCF
tournament director and active in the
California State Chess Association.
He once drew a game against
Reshevsky in a simultaneous
exhibition. He made 75 films and
chess appears in several of his
movies, including Casablanca
(1942). He and his wife, Lauren
Bacall, appeared on the cover of
Chess Review in 1945 playing chess
with Charles Boyer. Bogart rated his
friends according to their ability to
play chess.
Rajko Bogdanovic (1931- ) was an

Bosnia. He played in 10 Yugoslav
championships. His occupation is
journalist and radio reporter.
Sebastian Bogner (1991- ) is a

German-Swiss Grandmaster (2009).
Efim D. Bogoljubov (1889-1952)
was born in Kiev, Ukraine. He was
twice challenger for the World's
Chess Championship. His father was
an Orthodox priest and Efim was
trained for the priesthood. He won
the Kiev championship in 1911. In
1914, he played in a chess
tournament in Mannheim, Germany
when World War I broke out. He
was interned in Triberg, Germany.
During that time, he married a local
woman and spent several years in
Germany. In 1924, still a Russian
citizen, he returned to Russia, which
had since become the Soviet Union,
and won the USSR Championship in
1924 and in 1925. In 1925, he won
the German Championship, thus
becoming the only person to hold
two country championships at the
same time. In 1926, he immigrated
to Germany and was considered a
traitor in the USSR. He was
officially excommunicated from the
USSR. Because he "exhibited the
typically bourgeois vice of putting
his pocket book above has
principles," Bogoljubov, who was
chess champion of the Soviet Union,
was excommunicated by the chess
section of the All-Union Soviet of
Physical Culture. The chess section
declared he was no longer chess
champion. He was also no longer a
member of the Soviet chess
organization. He was expelled when
he expressed the desire to give up
his Soviet citizenship in order to be
able to attend a tournament in
Merano, Italy. He was unable to go
because the Italian authorities
refused to recognize his Soviet
passport. Bogoljubov wrote to the
Soviet chess organization declaring
that in view of the difficulties of
moving about Europe with a Soviet
passport, he was thinking of
assuming the citizenship of another
country. He became a German
citizen in 1929. In 1931, he
represented Germany at the 4th
Chess Olympiad at Prague. During
World War II, he lived in Berlin.
After World War II, he lived in West
Germany. He was awarded the
Grandmaster title in 1951. He won
the German Championship 4 times.
On June 18, 1952, GM (1951) Efim
Bogoljubov (1889-1952) died of a
heart attack after concluding a
simultaneous chess exhibition in
Triberg, Germany. He was 63.
(source: Chess Review, July 1952,
pp. 200-201)
Bogoljubow — Meister, France

1951 1.e4 d6 2.Nf3 Nd7 3.Bc4 g6
4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Kf6 6.Qf3+
1-0
Bogoljubow - Prokes, Baden 1922

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.e4 h5
5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nh3 d6 7.Bg5 Qd7
8.exd6 Bxd6 9.Be2 f6 10.Bf4 Nce5
11.f3 Nh6 12.Be3 Qf7 13.Nf4 Nxc4?
(13...O-O) 14.Qa4+ (and 15.Qxc4)
1-0
Fedor Bohatirchuk (1892-1984) was

born in Kiev, Russia. During World
War I, he was interned in Germany
after he participated in the
Mannheim chess tournament. He
played in 6 USSR Championships.
When Kiev fell in 1941, he joined a
German medical research institute
and was head of the Ukrainian Red
Cross. When the Soviet army pushed
the Germans from Kiev,
Bohatirchuk migrated to Cracow,
then Prague, in 1944. Because of his
Nazi ties, Bohatrichuk was the
number one "persona non grata" in
Soviet chess until the defection of
Viktor Korchnoi. In the USSR, all of
his chess games were removed from
their official records and his name
was removed from any chess cross
table. After World War II, he lived
in Munich, playing in German chess
events under the name of Bogenko.
He immigrated to Canada in 1948.
In 1954, he represented Canada in
the 11th Chess Olympiad at
Amsterdam. In 1954, he was
title. The Soviets blocked him from
getting the Grandmaster title for
political reasons. He played in three
Canadian Chess Championships. He
played in six Russian
championships. He was a medical
doctor and professor of radiological
anatomy.
Paolo Boi (1528-1598) was one of

the leading players of the 16th
century. He was also a poet, soldier
and sailor from Syracuse. In 1549 he
defeated Pope Paul III (1468-1549)
in a chess match. The Pope offered
to make him cardinal, which he
refused. Later, Pope Pius V offered
him a priesthood, but he declined. In
1574 he defeated Ruy Lopez at the
court of King Phillip II of Spain. The
King showered him with great
rewards including an official
appointment in Sicily that paid 500
crowns a year. His patons included
Pope Pius the Fifth; Philip the
Second, king of Spain; and
Sebastian, king of Portugal. He was
renowned for his ability to play three
chess games at once without sight of
board. In 1576 he was taken prisoner
and sold as a slave to a Turk. He
played chess for his master that
brought in a lot of money. He later
gained his freedom back by teaching
his master chess. In 1598 he played a
chess match with Salvio in Naples
and lost. Three days later he died in
his lodgings. Some sources (Murray)
say he was poisoned. Other sources
say he caught a cold when hunting
and died as a result of it. He was 70
years old.
Dejan Bojkov (1977- ) is a Bulgarian

won the 48th Canadian Open Chess
2556 in 2012.
Benjamin Bok (1995- ) is a Dutch

Grandmaster (2014).
Jacobo Bolbochan (1906-1984) was

a former Argentine chess champion
(1932 and 1933) who became an
International Master in 1965 at the
age of 59. He was the brother of
Julio Bolbochan.
Julio Bolbochan (1920-1996) was an

Argentine Grandmaster who
received the title in 1977 at the age
of 57. He was Argentina champion
in 1946 and 1948. He played on 7
Argentine Chess Olympiad teams.
He was the brother of Jacobo
Bolbochan.
Bond — Julio Bolbochan, Los

Angeles 1991 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4
cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6
7.Be3 Be7 8.Qd3 Nbd7 9.Nf3 b5
10.b4 Bb7 11.O-O-O (11.a4)
11...Rc8 12.h3 Qc7 13.Kb2 O-O
14.g4 Nb6 15.Bxb6 Qxb6 16.a3
Rxc3 17.Qxc3 Nxe4 18.Qb3 Bf6+
19.Kc1 Nc3 (20.Rd2 Qb6 21.Re1
Nxe2+ 22.R1xe2 Qxf3) 0-1
In 1940, Isaac Yefremovich

Boleslavsky (1919-1977) played in
the 12th USSR championship in
Moscow. He won 8 of his last 10
games and tied for 5th-6th. At the
end of 1940 he won the Ukraine
championship for the 3rd time in a
row and attended Sverdlovsk
University where he later earned a
degree in philology (study of
language). He was a Candidate in
1950 (tied for first) and 1953 (10th-
11th). He was Bronstein second in
1951. He was Smyslov's second in
1956. He was Petrosian's second in
1963, 1966, and 1969. He played in
11 USSR Championships. His
daughter married Grandmaster
David Bronstein. On Feb 15, 1977,
GM Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky
died in Minsk, USSR at the age of
57. He died after falling on an icy
sidewalk, fracturing his hip and
contracting a fatal infection while in
the hospital. He is buried in Minsk a
few yards away from his best friend
and son-in-law, David Bronstein.
Boleslavsky — Lilienthal, Moscow,

1941 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nxe5 Qe7
4.d4 f6 5.Nd3 dxe4 6.Nf4 Qf7 7.Nd2
Bf5 8.g4 Bg6 9.Bc4 Qd7 10.Qe2
Qxd4 11.Ne6 Qb6 12.Nxe4 Nd7
13.Bf4 Ne5 14.O-O-O Bf7 15.N4g5
fxg5 16.Bxe5 Bxe6 17.Bxc7 1-0
Dr. Viktor (Viorel) Bologan (1971- )

is a Grandmaster (1991) from
Moldavia and a chess author. He
won the New York Open in 1997. In
2003, he won the Aeroflot Open in
Moscow and the Dortmund
supertournament. In 2005, he won te
Canadian Open. He graduated from
Moscow Physical Culture and Sports
Institute with a PhD. His doctoral
thesis was entitled, "Structure of
Special Preparation of High-Level
Chess Players." His peak rating was
2734 in 2012.
James Bolton (1928-2006) was a

chess master from Connecticut. In
1951, he was arrested by the FBI for
evading the draft. (source: New
York Times, Marc 4, 1951, p. 60).
He won the Connecticut State
1966. He won the New England
Chess Championship twice.
Napoleon Bonaparte's (1769-1821)

favorite hobby was chess.
Madame Claire de Remusat—

Napoleon Bonaparte, Paris, 1804
(some sources say 1802)
1.e4 Nf6 2.d3 Nc6 3.f4 e5 4.fxe5

Nxe5 5.Nc3 Nfg4 6.d4 Qh4+ 7.g3
Qf6 8.Nh3 Nf3+ 9.Ke2 Nxd4+
10.Kd3 Ne5+ 11.Kxd4 Bc5+
12.Kxc5 Qb6+ 13.Kd5 Qd6# 0-1
Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923),

Prime Minister of the UK in 1922-
1923, was a chess player. He once
lost to Capablanca in a consultation
game with Richard Barnett and
William Rutherford.
M. Boncourt (1770-1845) was a

strong French master who drew a
match with Szen in 1835. For a time,
he was the hidden operator in
Maelzel's The Turk automaton. He
almost revealed how The Turk
worked when he sneezed during a
game. This prompted Maelzel to
install a noisy spring to cover up any
future coughs and sneezes.
Igor Bondarevsky (1913-1979) was

a Soviet Grandmaster (1950) and
(1961). He played in the USSR
championship 9 times, sharing 1st
with Lilienthal in the 1940
championship. He tied for 6th in the
1948 Saltsjobaden Interzonal,
becoming a Candidate. However, he
withdrew from the Candidate's
tournament before it started. He was
Spassky's trainer in 1961 and his
second in 1966 and 1969. He was an
economist.
Sliwa — Bondarevsky, Hastings

1960 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7
4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O
7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Qb3
Nxc3 10.Qxc3 b6 11.Rc1 Ba6 12.g3
Nd7 13.Bg2 Rac8 14.Nd2 c5 15.Qa3
cxd4 16.Rxc8 Rxc8 17.b4 Qxb4 0-1
Jay Richard Bonin (1955- ) is an

International Master (1985) who has
won the New York State
Championship, the Manhattan Chess
Club Championship, the Marshall
Chess Club Championship, the
Nassau Chess Club Championship,
and the Queens Chess Club
Championship all in the same year
(1997). He hastaken 1st place in the
New York State Championship 5
times. He has won the Marshall
Chess Club Championship 3 times.
He has won the Manhattan Chess
Club Championship 3 times. He has
played over 25,000 tournament
games. He has played in more chess
tournaments than anyone else. His
peak USCF rating is 2526.
Bono (1960- ), or Paul David

Hewson, of U2, is a chess player. He
said that chess was his greatest
childhood pleasure. When he grew
up, he wanted to be a professional
chess player and studied many of the
grandmaster games. He said that
chess was his greatest childhood
pleasure. He learned the game of
chess from his father around age 12,
during the Fischer-Spassky world
championship match. Bono was the
chess champion of his school. When
he became interested in music, chess
took a back seat.
Eero Book (1910-1990) was a

Finnish International Master (1950)
and engineer. He won the Finnish
national championship six times
(1931, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1945-46,
and 1963) and won the Nordic
Championship in 1947. He was
given the title Emeritus Grandmaster
in 1984.
Book — Heidenheimo, Helsinki

1925 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4
4.Qh5 Ng5 5.d4 Ne6 6.d5 g6 7.dxe6
gxh5 8.exf7+ Ke7 9.Bg5+ Kd6
10.O-O-O+ Kc5 11.Rd5+ Kxc4
12.b3+ Kb4 13.Rb5+ Ka3 14.Nb1+
Kxa2 15.Ra5+ Ba3+ 16.Rxa3 mate
1-0
Richard Borcherds (1959- ) is a

British mathematician specializing
in lattices, number theory, group
theory, and infinite-dimensional
algebras. He received his PhD in
mathematics from Cambridge in
1985. As a child, he was a strong
chess player on the verge of
becoming a chess master, but gave
up competitive chess for
mathematics. At age 14, he had been
Midlands under-21 chess champion.
Georgi Borisenko (1922-2012) was a

Ukranian Correspondence
Grandmaster (1965). He played in
eight Soviet championships. He took
2nd place (behind Zagorovsky) in
Championship, 1962-1965. In 1966
he was awarded the Correspondence
Grandmaster title.
Borisenko — Bertholdt, Leningrad

1960 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4
4.Nf3 O-O 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 c5 7.e3
cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Bd3 d5 10.cxd5
exd5 11.O-O Bxc3 12.bxc3 Ne5
13.Rb1 b6 14.Bb5 Bd7 15.f4 Neg4
16.Re1 Re8 17.Qf3 g5 18.fxg5 Ne4
19.g6 f6 20.h3 Nd2 21.Qxd5+ 1-0
Henry Borochow (1898-1993) was a

U.S. Master Emeritus. He won the
California State Championship in
1930 and 1931. In 1932, he took 6th
in the Pasadena International
Tournament (won by Alekhine). He
won the Western Championship. He
was a Vice President of the U.S.
Chess Federation.
Borochow — Fine, Pasadena 1932

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 Nc6 4.c4
Nb6 5.d5 Nxe5 6.c5 Nbc4 7.f4 e6
8.Qd4 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qh6 10.Nc3 exd5
11.fxe5 1-0
Olexandr Bortnyk (1996- ) is a

won the World under-18
Championship in 2014. His peak
Avital Boruchovsky (1997- ) is an

Israeli Grandmaster (2014). His peak
rating was 2542 in January 2018.
Marin Bosiocic (1988- ) is a

Croatian Grandmaster (2008).
Anna-Maria Botsari (1972- ) is a

Greece. She has won the Greek
Women's Championship 7 times.
She has played in 15 Chess
Olympiads. She once held the record
of most opponents in consecutive
chess games. In 2002, she played
1,102 consecutive games against
different opponents, with 1,094
wins, 7 draws, and no losses. The
event has at Kalavryta, Greece. In
2004, she tied for 1st in the Greek
Women's championship. She was
once married to Serbian GM Igor
Miladinovic. Her peak rating was
2394 in 2003.
George Steven Botterill (1949- ) is a

British International Master (1978).
He was Welsh Champion in 1973.
He was British champion in 1974
and 1977. He is currently Senior
Lecturer in Philosophy at the
University of Sheffield.
Former world champion Mikhail

Botvinnik (1911-1995) had a PhD in
Electrical Engineering and worked
as an electrical engineer and
developed computer chess programs.
In 1936, at a chess tournament in
England, Botvinnik was walking
with Max Euwe and remarked, "We
don't have such dogs in the Soviet
Union," upon seeing a rare breed.
Euwe responded, "No, I suppose
your people have eaten them all."
This caused a rift with Botvinnik
that lasted for years, but was
eventually healed. In the 1940s,
Mikhail Botvinnik tried to have Paul
Keres barred from playing chess.
Botvinnik wrote to the Soviet Chess
Federation, "The next World Chess
Champion should be a Soviet, like
me, and not an Estonia, like Paul
Keres." Botvinnik prevented Keres
from playing at Groningen 1946 and
prevented him from being a world
championship challenger. It wasn't
until 1955 that Keres was permitted
to play in a tournament outside of
Soviet control. Botvinnik played
seven world championship chess
matches. He finally lost the title at
the age of 52. Botvinnik was the
only man to win the world chess
championship title three times.
Botvinnik played every world chess
champion of the 20th century.
Botvinnik represented the USSR in 6
chess Olympiads, winning 6 gold
medals for team play. In 1954, he
won the gold medal for board 1 at
the Amsterdam Olympiad. In 1958,
he won the silver medal on board
one. In 1960, he won the gold medal
for board 2 (Tal played board 1). In
1964, he won the bronze medal on
board 2 (Petrosian played board 1).
His record from Olympiad play was
39 wins, 31 draws, and 3 losses for
almost 75%. Botvinnik trained
Anatoly Karpov, who became world
champion, Garry Kasparov, who
became world champion, Vladimir
Kramnik, who became world
champion, and Sergei Dolmatov,
who became World Junior Chess
Champion in 1978. His other
students included Alexei Shirov,
Vladimir Akopian, Jaan Ehlvest,
Yusupov, Psakhis, Akhmylovskaya,
Andrei Sokolov, Rozentalis, Nana
Ioseliani. Botvinnik's was known as
the "Patriarch of the Soviet Chess
School." Botvinnik wrote 21 books
on chess. Botvinnik played in 11
USSR Championships from 1927 to
1955. Botvinnik had a plus score
against Lasker (+1 =3 -0), Alekhine
(+1 =2 -0), Smyslov (+26 =48 -21),
Bronstein (+7 =16 -6), Spassky (+1
=6 -0), Keres (+8 =9 -3), Reshevsky
(+5 =7 -2), Flohr (+5 =22 -2), and
Boleslavsky (+6 =5 -0). Botvinnik
had an even score against
Capablanca (+1 =5 -1), Euwe (+2 =8
-2), Tal (+12 =20 -12), Korchnoi (+1
=2 -1), and Fischer (=1). Botvinnik
had a minus score against Petrosian
(+3 =18 -6), Geller (+1 =5 -4), and
Fine (+0 =2 -1).
Mazel - Botvinnik, Leningrad 1938

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 c5 4.f4 Nc6
5.Nf3 d5 6.e5 Ng4 7.cxd5 exd5
8.Qb3 Nb4 9.a3? (9.h3) 9...c4
10.Qa4+ Bd7 11.Qd1 Qb6
(threatening 12...Qf2 mate; if 12.Qe2
Nd3+ 13.Kd1 Qb3 mate) 0-1
Eli Bourdon (1907-1980) was born

in Claremont, New Hampshire in
1907. In 1951, he started the
Western Massachusetts
Championship. He won the Western
Massachusetts Championship in
1957 and 1958. He tied for 1st place
in 1953, 1963, 1965, and 1970. He
was a former president of the New
England Chess Association. He died
on January 6, 1980.
Louis-Charles Mahe de La
Bourdonnais (1795-1840) was a
French master and strongest chess
player of his time. He learned chess
in Paris in 1814 while attending
school. He was undisputed
champion of France in the 1820s. In
1834 he played a series of matches
with England's strongest player,
Alexander McDonnell, and won. In
1836 he became editor of the world's
first chess magazine, Le Palamede.
He died of a stroke in London. He
died penniless in London, having
been forced to sell all his
possessions to satisfy creditors. He
was buried in Kensal Green
cemetery and was buried near
McDonnell.
Jouy — Bourdonnais, Paris 1836

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4
5.Ne5 Qh4+ 6.Kf1 f3 7.Nxf7 Nc6
8.d4 Bg7 9.c3 Nf6 10.Nxh8 d5
11.exd5 Ne4 12.Qe1 g3 13.Bd3
fxg2+ 14.Kxg2 Bh3+ 15.Kg1 Nxd4
16.Qxe4+ Qxe4 17.Bxe4 Ne2 mate
0-1
Hans Bouwmeester (1929- ) is a

Dutch International Master (1954)
and mathematics teacher. He was
appointed the first official coach of
the Royal Dutch Chess Federation.
From 1956 to 1968, he was editor of
Losbladige Schaakberichten. He
came in 2nd place in the 1957 and
1967 Dutch Championships. He later
became a Grandmaster in
Correspondence Chess in 1969.
Donner — Bouwmeester,
Amsterdam 1948 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6
6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.f4 O-O 9.f5
Qb6 10.Bg5 Nxe4 0-1
Slim Bouaziz (1950- ) is the first

Grandmaster (1993) from Tunisia
and first Grandmaster from Africa.
In 1985, he took last place in the
Tunis Interzonal. He withdrew after
6 rounds. He drew one game and lost
the rest. In 1987, he took 17th out of
18 in the Szirak Interzonal. His peak
Dr. Frank Brady (1934- ) was the

first editor of Chess Life magazine
in 1960 (previously, it had been a
newspaper) and business manager of
the US Chess Federation. He is the
author of Profile of a Prodigy and
Endgame, biographies of Bobby
Fischer. He was the editor and
publisher of Chessworld magazine.
He was president of the Marshall
Chess Club from 2007 to 2012. He
has a PhD in Communications from
NYU.
In 1953, actor Marlon Brando (1924-

2004) played chess between scenes
while filming Julius Caesar. A
Hollywood reporter wanted to get an
interview with Brando. Brando
agreed if the reporter would play a
game of chess with him. The
reporter did play a game of chess
against Brando and won. Brando
later said about the interview, "That
was the worst interview I ever gave."
Brando played many chess games
with Humphrey Bogart. When
Brando died, his chess sets were
auctioned by Christie's in Los
Angeles in 2005 (purchased by
Neville Tuli, an art collector). In the
late 1950s, Marlon Brando (1924-
2004) hung out at the Club
Renaissance in Hollywood and
played chess with friends. (source:
Modern Screen, Feb 1959, p. 60)
Dale A. Brandreth (1931- ) is a chess

historian, collector, and chess book
publisher. He runs the Caissa
Editions bookstore out of Yorklyn,
Delaware. He has the finest chess
collection held by a dealer. He has
about 20,000 chess items in stock.
English business magnate and

investor Richard Branson (1950- ) is
a keen chess player. He has met
Garry Kasparov. Branson thinks
chess is the best game in the world
and says he has played thousands
games over his lifetime.
Curt Brasket (1932-2014) was a

FIDE Master from Minnesota. In
1952, he won the US Junior
Championship. He won the
Minnesota championship 16 times.
He graduated with degrees in French
and mathematics. He became a
computer programmer for Unisys.
He died in his sleep on January 24,
2014. He had been suffering from
Parkinson's disease. His peak rating
was 2375 in 1978.
Arik Braun (1988- ) is a German

German Championship. His peak
rating was 2576 in 2017. He is the
world's first chessboxer of
Grandmaster strength.
Gyula Breyer (1893-1921) was a

Hungarian of Grandmaster strength,
he set a new blindfold record of 25
opponents (won 15, drew 7, lost 3)
in 1921 in Berlin. He was one of the
pioneering leaders of hypermodern
chess. He was the Hungarian
champion in 1912. In 1913, at
Schevenigen, Gyula Breyer lost his
game to Frederick Yates after failing
to show up an hour after the game
had started. Someone telephoned the
hotel in time to reach Breyer, but the
message came back that Breyer had
left the hotel and was on his way. It
turned out afterwards that the hotel
person who received the message
mistook Alekhine for Breyer (they
looked alike), so nothing else could
be done but let the clock run out.
Breyer said afterwards that he would
never stay with Alekhine at the same
hotel. He died of a heart attack at the
age of 28.
Breyer - Ballai, Pistyan 1912 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 f5 4.d4 fxe4
5.Nxe5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.Nxd5 Nxd5
8.Qh5+ g6 9.Nxg6 hxg6? (9...Nf6)
10.Qxg6+ Kd7 11.Bxd5 Qe8 12.Bf7
Qe7 13.Bg5 Ne5 14.Qf5+ (14...Kc6
15.Qxe4+ and 16.Bxe7) 1-0
Fritz Brieger (1878-1948) was born

in Glatz, Silesia. He came to the
USA, settled in Manhattan, and
became a commercial printer and
built homes and apartments in
Woodside, Long Island. He founded
the Queens Chess Club in 1901 and
was its president. He sponsored the
USA team in international
tournaments and the chess
Olympiads. In 1933, he sponsored
the founding of Chess Review
magazine. He was one of the
tournament directors in the 1936
U.S. chess championship. (source:
Chess Review, July 1937, pp. 151-
153 and Chess Review, Nov 1948,
pp. 4-5).
Alfred Brinckmann (1891-1967) was

a German International Master
(1953). He authored several chess
tournament books. He played in 8
German Chess Championships.
Brinckmann — Preusse, Germany

1927 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4
4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng3 e5 6.Nf3 exd4
7.Nxd4 Bc5 8.Qe2+ Be7 9.Be3 O-O
10.O-O-O Qc7 11.Ndf5 Be6
12.Nxe7+ Qxe7 13.Bg5 h6 14.Nf5
Qb4 15.Rd4 Qc5 16.Nxh6+ gxh6
17.Bxf6 Qf5 18.Qf3 1-0
Ante Brkic (1988- ) is a Croatian

won the Croatian Championship. His
peak rating was 2607.
Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974) was a

Polish-Jewish British
mathematician. He received a PhD
in mathematics from Cambridge in
1935, writing a dissertation in
algebraic geometry. From 1934 to
1942 he taught mathematics at the
University College of Hull. During
World War II, he developed
mathematical approaches to
bombing strategy for the RAF
Bomber Command. He was a strong
chess player at Cambirdge. He
represented Cambridge University
on board three against Oxford
University in 1931. He won the Hull
Chess Club championship, the
county championship, and the
Yorkshire championship in his early
days.
David Bronstein (1924-2006) was a

Grandmaster (1950) and winner of
the first Interzonal in 1948 at
Saltsjobaden who survived an
assassination attack during the
tournament. On the last day
Bronstein was playing Tartakover.
Suddenly, a Lithuanian made a lunge
at Bronstein to kill him. Several
spectators grabbed him. He wanted
to murder all Russians because he
claimed the Russians were
responsible for sending his sister to
Siberia and murdering her. Bronstein
won the game and the Interzonal
with a 13.5-5.5 score. First place
prize for the first interzonal was
$550. He wrote a classic book
covering the 1953 Candidates
Tournament in Zurich. Many
consider this the greatest chess book
ever written. Bronstein married
Grandmaster Isaac Boleslavksy's
daughter. In 1950, the first list of
grandmasters was published. The
youngest GM in the world at that
time was David Bronstein, age 26. In
1951 he tied the world championship
match 12-12 with Botvinnik. A tie
match meant that the world
champion would retain his title.
Thus, Bronstein became the man
who came the closest to the world
championship without winning it.
He played in 20 USSR
championships.
Bronstein - Tomic, Vinkovci 1970

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.c3
Qb6 5.Ba4 Bg7 6.O-O e5 7.Na3
Nge7 8.b4 cxb4 9.Nc4 Qc5 10.d3
bxc3 11.Rb1 c2 (11...Nd4) 12.Qxc2
Nd4? (12...a6) 13.Nxd4 (13...Qxd4
14.Be3; 13...exd4 14.Ba3 Qh5
15.Nd6+) 1-0
Bronstein — I. Zaitsev, USSR 1969

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d5 4.exd5
Nf6 5.Bc4 Nxd5 6.O-O Be6 7.Bb3
Bd6 8.c4 Ne7 9.d4 Ng6 10.c5 Be7
11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Re1 O-O 13.Rxe6
Bxc5? 14.Qb3 Bxd4+ 15.Nxd4
Qxd4+ 16.Be3! 1-0
Lev Davidovich Bronstein (1879-

1940) was the original name of Leon
Trotsky, Russian revolutionary and
intellectual father of Communism.
He was the commissar for war who
created the Red Army and came to
power with Lenin. He spent much of
his time during World War I playing
chess in Vienna's Cafe Central. His
main opponent was Baron
Rothschild. Trotsky and Lenin
played chess together a great deal. In
1920, when Trotsky was head of the
Red Army, Moscow's chief rabbi,
Rabbi Jacob Mazeh, asked him to
use the army to protect the Jews
from pogromist attacks. Trotsky is
reported to have responded, "Why
do you come to me? I am not a Jew."
To which Rabbi Mazeh answered:
"Thatâ€™s the tragedy. It's the
Trotskys who make revolutions, and
it's the Bronsteins who pay the
price."
Walter Shawn Browne (1949-2015)

was six-time U.S. chess champion
(1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, and
1983). He became a Grandmaster in
1970 while representing Australia
(he was born in Australia and raised
in New York). He was the founder
of the World Blitz Chess
Association (WBCA). He was
inducted in the US Hall of Fame in
2003. In 1965, as a student of
Erasmus High (the same high school
that Bobby Fischer attended), he
won the Senior High School
Indicidualt Championship of the
New York Interscholastic League. In
1966 he won the US Junior
National Open 11 times and the
American Open 8 times (from 1971
to 1997). He won the first World
Open, held in New York, in 1973. In
1964 he won the New York State
Junior Championship with a perfect
5-0 score. In 1966 he won the first
U.S. Junior Championship. In 1969
he won the Australian
championship. In a Canadian
tournament in 1971, one of Browne's
opponents tried to fluster him in a
time-pressure scramble by banging
an extra Queen down on the side of
the board. The opponent's pawn was
about to make it to the 8th rank and
get promoted to a Queen. Browne
picked up the extra Queen and
hurled it across the tournament
room. Browne learned the game at
age 8. He made master at age 14. He
dropped out of high school (Erasmus
High) to play chess and poker. His
wife, Racquel, is a clinical
psychologist from Argentina. In
2005, he won the US Senior Open in
Las Vegas. On June 24, 2015,
Browne (1949-2015) died in his
sleep in Las Vegas at the age of 66.
He was staying at the home of Ron
Gross when he died. He had just
finished playing in the 50th National
Open where he tied for 9th-15th. He
then played a 25-board simultaneous
exhibition.
Browne - Polstein, Atlantic City

1972 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4
4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.N1e2 e5
7.dxe5 Qa5+ 8.Bd2 Qxe5 9.Bc3 Qc7
10.Qd2 f6 11.O-O-O Ne7 12.Nf4
Bf7 13.Qe3 Nd7 (13...Qb6) 14.Nf5
Ne5? 15.Bxe5 (15...fxe5 or
15...Qxd5 16.Nd6+; 15...Nxf5
16.Bxc7+ Nxe3 17.fxe3 Bxa2 18.b3)
1-0
V. Bhat — Browne, San Francisco

2000 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7
4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.O-O Ngf6 6.Qe2 e6
7.b3 Be7 8.Bb2 O-O 9.c4 a6 10.d4
cxd4 11.Nxd4 Re8 12.Nc3 Qa5
13.Rad1 Rac8 14.Kh1 Bf8 15.f4
Qh5 16.Qe3 Qxh2+ 0-1
Nigel Bruce (1895-1953), who was

best known for his portrayal of Dr.
Watson alongside Basil Rathbone as
Sherlock Holmes, played chess. He
was a member of the Hollywood
Chess Group and the Herman
Steiner Chess Club. He played in
several Hollywood chess
tournaments. In the 1940 movie,
Susan and God, Hutchie (Nigel
Bruce) plays chess with Amos (Sam
Harris). In the 1943 movie, Sherlock
Holmes Faces Death, Dr. Watson
(Nigel Bruce) helps Sherlock
Holmes (Basil Rathbone) solve a
mystery by playing a living chess
game from moves found in a family
ritual.
Rowena Bruce (1919-1999) is the

only player to have played two
world champions in a tournament on
the same day. In the Plymouth 1938
tournament she played world woman
champion Menchik in the morning
and world champion Alekhine in the
afternoon for rounds 2 and 3. She
has won the British Ladies'
Championship 11 times, from 1937
to 1969. She was the World Girls'
Champion in the 1920s (Rowena
Dew).
Hans Moritz von Bruehl (1736-

1809) was born on December 19,
1736 in Wiederau, Germany. He was
Minister of Saxony in Germany and
Ambassador to England, and lived in
London. He was one of the strongest
players of the London chess club. He
gave support to Philidor. He was a
count. In 1782, at the Parsloe's,
Philidor drew with Bruehl and
defeated Dr. Thomas Bowdler
blindfolded, simultaneously. Philidor
played several blindfold games
against Bruehl throughout the years.
In 1788, Bruehl defeated Cotter and
lost to General H. S. Conway in two
chess matches in London. In 1795,
Philidor published a third edition of
his chess book, L'analyse du jeu des
Eschecs, and dedicated it to his
friend and chess patron, Count
Bruehl. The count was also
interested in music (a patron of
musicians) and astronomy (he built
his own observatory). He was a
colonel in the French service. He
died in London on June 9, 1809.
Sabino Brunello (1989- ) is an

Italian Grandmaster (2010). In 2002,
he won the Italian under-18
Championship. His sister, Marina, is
a Woman Grandmaster.
Lucas Brunner (1967- ) was the first

Swiss-born Grandmaster (1994). He
won the Swiss Championship in
1994. He is a Senior Manager at
Credit Suisse. His peak rating was
2535 in 1995.
Trachsel - Brunner, Bern 1993 1.c4

e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4
5.Qc2 O-O 6.Nd5 Re8 7.Be2 e4
8.Ng1 Bd6 9.a3 Nxd5 10.cxd5 Qg5
11.g3 Qxd5 12.f3? (12.Bc4)
12...Nd4 13.exd4 exf3 (14.Nxf3
Qxf3) 0-1
Lazaro Bruzon-Batista (1982- ) is a

Cuban Grandmaster (1999). 1n
1999, he became a grandmaster 32
days after becoming an International
Master. In 2000, he was World
Junior Chess Champion. He was
eliminated in the first round in the
2004 Tripoli FIDE World
Cuban Championship 5 times. In
2013, he took 1st place at the World
Open.
Stellan Brynell (1962- ) is a Swedish

Swedish Championship in 1991 and
2003.
Zbigniew Brzezinski (1828-2017),

President Jimmy Carter's National
Security Advisor, was an avid chess
player. When Menachem Begin
(1913-1992) came to Camp David,
Brzezinski and Begin played a game
of chess. The winner was never
announced. In 1997, he wrote a book
called The Grand Chessboard.
Bu Xiangzhi (born Dec 10, 1985)

learned chess at age 6. At age 12, he
won the Under-14 World Youth
Championship. In 1999, he became a
GM at the age of 13 years, 10
months, and 13 days, at the time the
youngest in history (since beaten by
Sergey Karjakin at age 12). He won
the Chinese Championship in 2004.
His peak rating was 2730 in
October, 2017. He is married to
Woman Grandmaster Huang Qian.
Charles Francis Buck (1841-1918)

was born in Durrheim, Grand Duch
of Baden, Germany. He immigrated
to the United States in 1852 with his
parents, who settled in New Orleans.
He was the city attorney of New
Orleans from 1880 to 1884. He was
a member of Congress from 1895 to
1897. In 1885 he was president of
the New Orleans Chess Club and
was selected to be the referee in the
Zukertort-Steinitz match.
Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862)
was an English historian and very
strong amateur chess player. In
1848, he may have been the
strongest chess player in the world.
He was the author of the unfinished
672-page History of Civilization. He
was the winner of the first modern
chess tournament, the Ries Divan
knockout tourney of 1849. He
studied 19 languages (he could
speak seven languages and read
twelve languages). He had a library
of over 22,000 books. He died of
typhoid fever in Damascus at the age
of 40. His last words were, "My
book, my book. I shall never finish
my book."
Buckle - Unknown, London 1840

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4
Nc6 5.d3 Nge7 6.Bg5 Bg4 7.Nd5
Nd4 8.Nxe5 Bxd1?? (8...dxe5)
9.Nf6+ gxf6 10.Bxf7 mate 1-0
On Jan 12, 2016, GM (2011) Ivan

Bukavshin (1995-2016) died at a
chess training camp in Tolyatti,
Russia at the age of 20. He died of a
massive overdoes of No-Spa (an
antispasmodic drug). Bukavshin
became U-12 European chess
champion in 2006, U-14 European
Youth Champion in 2008 and U16
European champion in 2010. He
took 3rd place in the 2015 Aeroflot
Open in Moscow.
Krzysztof Bulski (1987- ) is a Polish

was 2554 in 2012.
Giacomo Buoncompagni (1548-

1612) was duke of Sora and Arce,
and leading patron of chess in the
17th century. He was the illegitimate
son of Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo
Buoncompagni of Bologna). It was
Pope Gregory who adopted the
Gregorian calendar in 1582. Most of
the great players of the period (such
as Ruy Lopez and Polerio) played in
his palace and were liberally
rewarded for doing so. The King of
Spain appointed Giacomo general in
his army. Giacomo was made a
cardinal and his father tried to make
him king of Ireland.
Karl Burger (1933-2000) was an

International Master (with two GM
norms) who took last place in the
1969 U.S. Chess Championship,
with 4 draws and 7 losses. He was a
medical doctor and a former chess
teacher to Bobby Fischer at the
Manhattan Chess Club. He played
chess in over 20 countries and 47 of
the 50 states. In 1993 he won the
Georgia State Championship.
Burger — Suttles, New York 1965

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.f4 Nf6
5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4 8.e6
fxe6 9.Ng5 Bxb5 10.Qxg4 Bd7
11.Nxh7 Kf7 12.Ng5+ Kg8 13.Nxe6
cxd4 14.Qxg6 Bxe6 15.Qxe6+ Kf8
16.Ne4 1-0
Graham K. Burgess (1968- ) is an

English FIDE Master and chess
author. In 1994, he set a world
record for playing marathon blitz
chess. He played 500 games in three
days, winning 431 games, drawing
25 games, and losing no games. He
graduated from the University of
Cambridge with a degree in
mathematics. He has written over 20
chess books.
Vladimir Burmakin is a Russian

was 2627 in 2009.
Amos Burn (1848-1925) was one of

the world's top ten chess players
between 1886 and 1912. Amos Burn
was never a professional chess
player. He started out as a clerk to a
corn merchant, then became a cotton
broker and sugar merchant in
Liverpool, England. Burn played in
his first international chess
tournament at the late age of 37. He
edited a chess column in The Field
from 1913 to 1925. He was a
member of the Liverpool Chess Club
from 1867 to 1925, serving as its
president for many years. His
nickname was Bulldog or "The
Highwayman." In 1871, he tied for
1st in the British Championship, but
lost the play-off to Wisker. In 1900,
Frank Marshall (1877-1944) sat
down to play a game against the
British player Amos Burn (1848-
1925) at the 1900 Paris International.
Burn was a smoker and loved to
smoke his pipe while he studied the
chess board. After two moves, Burn
began hunting through his pockets
for his pipe and tobacco. By move 4,
Burn had his pipe out and was
looking for a pipe cleaner. By move
8, he was filling up his pipe with
tobacco. Marshall made a few fast
moves, and by move 12, Burn was
looking for his matches. On move
14, he struck his first match, but was
concentrating on the position. The
match burned down and burned
Burn's fingers and went out. On
move 15, Burn found another match
and lit it. On move 16, he finally lit
his pipe, but it was too late. Burn
was checkmated on move 18 and his
pipe went out. He never did get to
smoke his pipe. He was analyzing a
chess game for his chess column
when he died of a stroke.
Burn — Owen, Liverpool 1874 1.e4

d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7
5.Be2 O-O 6.h4 Nc6 7.h5 e5 8.hxg6
fxg6 9.Nf3 Ng4 10.Bc4+ Kh8
11.Ng5 Bh6 12.Qxg4 Bxg4 13.Rxh6
Kg7 14.Rxh7+ 1-0
NN — Burn, England 1866 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 4.c3 d5
5.Nxe5 dxe4 6.Qa4 Qd5 7.f4 Bd7
8.Nxd7 Kxd7 9.O-O Nf5 10.b4 a5
11.Kh1 axb4 12.Bxc6+ bxc6
13.Qxa8 Bc5 14.Qxh8 Ng3+
15.hxg3 Qh5 mate 0-1
C. F. Burrille of Boston, on a wager,

solved 60 two-move problems in one
hour. At one time, he was the hidden
player in "Ajeeb," the chess
automaton. He played over 900
chess games, losing only 3. (source:
Chess Review, Feb 1933, p. 4) In
1896, he defeated Henry Bird in the
Anglo-American Cable match.
In 1921, Edgar Rice Burroughs

(1875-1950) wrote The Chessmen of
Mars. It was first published in
Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-
part serial in February-March, 1922.
It was later published as a complete
novel in November, 1922. On Mars,
they play a modified version of
Jetan, a popular Martian board game
resembling chess, except played on a
10x10 board instead of an 8x8
board. The living version uses
people as the game pieces on a life-
sized board, with each taking of a
piece being a duel to the death.
Burroughs was an amateur chess
player himself.
(https://www.gutenberg.org/files/115
3/1153-h/1153-h.htm)
Albrecht Buschke (1904-1986)

started collecting chess books and
autographs in 1920. Soon, he had
letters from Howard Staunton and
Capablanca, manuscripts from Greco
and Damiano and the first printing of
Benjamin Franklin's essay "Morals
of Chess." He was a lawyer and
assistant to the director and
specialist in foreign currency with
the Municipal Gas Company in
Berlin, Germany. He also held a
license with the Berlin Court of
Appeals. All this ended in 1933 with
the rise of Hitler and the removal of
Jews in business and government. In
May 1938, he immigrated to the
United States with over 3,000 chess
books and 1,500 pieces of
manuscript material. He established
himself on Staten Island, then moved
to Manhattan on Eleventh Street.
One of his most important customers
was the Cleveland Public Library,
which houses the world's largest
collection of chess books in the John
G. White Collection. Other libraries
that ordered chess books from him
were Harvard, Princeton, Columbia,
the Brooklyn Public Library, and the
New York Public Library.
Algimantas Butnorius (1946-2017)

was a Grandmaster (2007) from
Lithuania and Monaco. He won the
Lithuanian Championship 10 times.
n 2007, he won the 17th World
Senior Chess Championship, held in
Gmunden, Austria. His peak rating
was 2456 in 1999. He was a
journalist.
In 1821, the first Russian chess

book, Chess Play, was published by
Ivan Alexandrovich Butrimov
(1782-1851).
In September 1953, Elisabeth

Bykova (1913-1989) defeated
current women's world champion
Lyudmila Rudenko for the Women's
World Chess Championship, scoring
7 wins, 5 losses, and 2 draws. The
event was held in Moscow. Bykova
was awarded the title of International
Master (IM). She became the third
Women's World Champion. She was
Women's World Champion from
1953 to 1956, and from 1958 to
1962. From 1956 to 1958 she lost
her title to Olga Rubtsova. In 1962
she lost her title to Nona
Gaprindashvili. She was USSR
Women's champion in 1947, 1948,
and 1950. She earned the Women's
Grandmaster title in 1976.
Donald Byrne (1930-1976) was an

American International Master. In
1950, the first USCF rating list
appeared. Donald Byrne was rated
2392. Robert Byrne was rated 2352.
In 1953, Donald Byrne won the 54th
U.S. Open Chess Championship,
held in Milwaukee. He scored 10.5
out of 13. In 1956, Donald Byrne
lost to 13-year-old Bobby Fischer in
what was called the Game of the
Century. The game was played in the
Rosenwald tournament in New
York. He was on three US Olympiad
teams (1962, 1964, 1968). He was
an associate professor of English at
Penn State University. He was
inducted in the US Chess Hall of
Fame in 2003. He became an
International Master in 1962. He
died of lupus at the age of 45.
Robert Eugene Byrne (1928-2012)

was an American grandmaster. In
1936, at the age of 8, Robert Byrne
was inspired to learn chess after
seeing chess players in the local park
in New York. His first teacher was
Miss Kassin, a teacher at the
Brooklyn Children's Museum.
Donald Byrne also learned how to
play chess in 1936 at the age of 6. In
1947, Robert Byrne was at Yale and
won the US Intercollegiate
championship and the Intercollegiate
Speed championship. In 1953,
Robert Byrne became a professor of
philosophy at Indiana University. In
1955 through 1957, Robert Byrne
was the 3rd highest rated player in
the USA, behind Reshevsky and
Larry Evans. He won the 1972 U.S.
Championship and was third place
finisher at the 1973 Leningrad
Interzonal (behind Karpov and
Korchnoi). As a result, he became
only the third American (after
Fischer and Benko) to ever qualify
for the Candidates. He was 45 at the
time. He was a chess correspondent
for the New York Times.
R. Byrne - Hurst, New York 1947

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4
Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3 b6 7.Qe2
Be7 8.Bf4 Bb7 9.O-O-O Qc8
10.Ne5 h6 11.h4 a6 12.Rh3 Bd6
13.Rg3 Bf8 14.Re1 Qd8? (14...Nd5)
15.Nxf7! (15...Kxf7 16.Ng5+ Ke8
17.Bg6+ Ke7 18.Qxe6 mate) 1-0
Godfrey Lowell Cabot (1861-1962)

was an American millionaire
industrialist (carbon black) and chess
patron from Boston. He went to
M.I.T. and graduated from Harvard
with a degree in chemistry. He
became a leading industrialist and
philanthropist. For many years he
was President of the Boston Chess
Club and of the Massachusetts State
Federation. He played chess until he
was 85, when he gave it up because
he found it was too exciting. He
received an honorary Doctor of
Laws degree from Harvard at the age
of 90. He died on November 2,
1962. (source: Chess Review, July
1938, pp. 159-161)
Bernard Cafferty (1934- ) was

British Boys' Champion in 1952 and
British Junior Champion in 1954. He
was British Correspondence
Champion in 1960 and 5-time
British Lightning Champion from
1964 to 1969. He took part in every
British championship from 1957 to
1970. He is the former editor of the
British Chess Magazine. His peak
Cafferty — Corbin, Birmingham,

England 1963 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4
exd4 7.Qb3 Qe7 8.O-O Bb6 9.Ba3
d6 10.Bb5 Be6 11.Qa4 Bd7 12.cxd4
a6 13.Nc3 Qf6 14.e5 Qg6 15.exd6
cxd6 16.Rfe1+ Kd8 17.Nd5 Ba5
18.Bxc6 Bxe1 19Rxe1 1-0
John Cage (1912-1992) was an

American composer. He took
lessons and played chess with the
artist, Marcel Duchamp, and with
Duchamp's wife, Teeny. In 1944, he
recorded a piano sonata called Chess
Pieces. He always carried around a
magnetic chess set and could be
found playing chess with anyone
who would give him a game. In
1972, at the age of 60, he took chess
lessons from John Collins. He also
contributed money to various chess
organizations. He famously wrote a
piece of "music" for the piano
called 4'33" in which no notes are
played.
In 1906, Santiago Ramon y Cajal

(1852-1934) shared the Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine. He was a
chess player who played in several
tournaments, then lost interest in
chess. In his autobiography,
Recollections of My Life, we wrote,
"In my opinion, far from exercising
the intelligence, as many claim,
chess warps it and wears it out."
Ignazio (1797-1872) was an Italian

chess master and chess problem
composer who stayed in France for 4
years as a political refugee. He was a
leading player and teacher at the
Cafe de la Regance. In 1845 he drew
a match with Kieseritzky (7 wins, 7
losses, 1 draw) in one of the first
chess matches ever held. He
contributed a chess course to Le
Palamede magazine. He returned to
Italy in 1848 and joined the Army.
He retired in 1862 as a major.
Dr. Ricardo Calvo (1943-2002) was

a medical doctor, Spanish
International Master and a
multilingual chess historian. As a
chess historian, he set out to prove
that Spain was the incubator of the
major changes that occurred in chess
in the late 15th century. He wrote an
essay on the origins of chess and an
article on the oldest chess pieces in
Europe. In 1987, he was censured by
a vote of 72-1 by FIDE for election
fraud and racial slurs. In May 1998,
he wrote, "Valencia, Spain: The
Cradle of European Chess," which
was presented at the Chess
Collectors International in Vienna,
Austria. In 1999, he wrote, "El
Poema scachs d'amor." It was an
analysis of the first preserved text
about modern chess from the 15th
century. He played for Spain in 5
chess Olympiads. He died of cancer
of the esophagus.
Calvo - Korchnoi, Havana 1966 1.e4

c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6
5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Ba7 7.c4 Na6 8.O-
O Qh4 9.N1d2 Nge7 10.c5 Ne5
11.Be2 b6 12.f4 N5c6 13.Nc4 bxc5
14.g3 Qh6? (14...Qh3) 15.f5 Qf6
16.fxe6 Qxe6 17.Nd6+ Kf8 18.Bc4
1-0
Florencio Campomanes (1927-2010)

was the first non-European elected
FIDE President (1982-1995). He
undertook doctoral studies in
political science at Georgetown
University in the early 1950s, but
gave up his career to devote his life
to chess. He tied for 2nd in the New
York State Chess Championship in
1954. He won the Philippine
national championship in 1956 and
1960. He was the top board for the
Philippines in the 1960 Chess
Olympiad and represented the
Philippines in 5 Chess Olympiads. In
1990, FIDE president Campomanes
barely escaped death as he had a car
crash in Uganda. The president of
the Uganda Chess Federation sitting
next to him was killed. In February
2007, Florencio Campomanes was
involved in a car accident in Turkey
that left him in intensive care. He
was on his way to the airport for a
return flight to the Philippines after
the FIDE Presidential Board meeting
in Antalya, Turkey when the driver
lost control of the vehicle. The car
overturned and plunged over the side
of the road. Campomanes was sitting
in the back seat and not wearing a
safety belt. He was thrown from the
car, which was badly damaged.
Campomanes was operated on for 7
and a half hours to repair broken
bones in his legs, hands, neck and
face.
Daniel Campora (1957- ) is an

Argentine Grandmaster (1986). In
1975 he became Argentine junior
champion. He was Argentinian
champion in 1986 and 1989. He has
played for Argentina in 9 Chess
Olympiads.
Campora — Eslon, Argentina 1991

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5
d6 5.d4 Bd7 6.O-O Be7 7.Re1 exd4
8.Nxd4 O-O 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.Qf3
Re8 11.e5 Ng4 12.e6 1-0
Emre Can (1990- ) is a Turkish
Turkish Championship in 2011.
Esteban Canal (1896-1981), born in

Peru, was awarded the International
Grandmaster title in 1977 at the age
of 81. He won the champion of
Leipzig in 1916 and won the
Hungarian championship in 1933.
He played board 1 for Peru at the
1950 Chess Olympiad in Dubrovnik.
He spent most of his life after age 26
in Venice, Italy. The chess club in
Venice is named after Esteban
Canal.
Canal - Unknown, Leipzig 1916 1.e4

e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nc3 Nf6
5.Bg5 Bb4 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ne2 O-O
8.O-O Be7 9.Re1 Nb4 10.Ng3 Nxd3
11.Qxd3 c6 12.Nh5 Be6 13.Nf4 h6
(13...Ng4) 14.Bxh6 gxh6 15.Rxe6
fxe6? (15...Nd6) 16.Qg6+ Kh8
17.Nxe6 1-0
Canute (995-1035), king of England,

Denmark, Norway, and part of
Sweden, was said to have killed an
earl over chess. The story is found in
The Chronicles of the Kings of
Norway called the Saga of Olaf
Haraldson. In 1028, the king was
playing a game of chess with his
brother-in-law, Earl Godwin
Ulfnadson , the husband of the king's
sister, when the king made a bad
move, which led to a loss of one of
the king's pieces. The king took his
move back, replaced his knight, and
told the earl to play a different move.
The earl got angry over this,
overturned the chess board and
started walking away. The king said
"Runnest thou away, Ulf the
coward?" The earl responded, "Thou
wouldst have run farther at Helga
River if thou hadst come to battle
there. Thou didst not call me Ulf the
coward when I hastened to thy help
while the Swedes were beating thee
like a dog." The earl then left the
king's quarters. The next day, the
king ordered the earl to be killed.
The earl was stabbed to death at
Saint Lucius' church. In 1035,
Canute died at the Abbey in
Shaftesbury, Dorset. According to
Henry Bird in Chess History and
Reminiscences, the king was killed
while watching a chess game.
Armed soldiers rushed into the
building and slew Canute while his
friend, Valdemar, who was playing
chess, was severely wounded.
Valdemar escaped using the chess
board as a shield.
Jose Raoul Capablanca y Graupera

(1888-1942) was Cuban-born and
American-educated. He was sent to a
private school (Woodycliff School
of South Orange) in New Jersey
when he was 16 in 1904. He joined
the Manhattan Chess Club at that
time and impressed many of the
players. In 1906 he went to
Columbia University in New York
to study chemical engineering, he
spent most of his time at the
Manhattan Chess Club. Two years
later he dropped out of Columbia
University and dedicated most of his
time to chess. In 1908-09 he toured
the U.S. and lost only one game in
hundreds of games played during
simultaneous exhibitions, winning
all the others. He won the New York
state chess championship in 1910. In
1913 Capablanca obtained a post in
the Cuban Foreign Office with the
title of Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary General from the
Government of Cuba to the World at
Large. After his divorce from his
first wife, her family had him
demoted to the post of Commercial
Attache. He once had the mayor of
Havana clear a tournament room so
that no one would see him resign a
game (against Marshall in 1913). He
once refused to pose with a beautiful
film star, saying, "Why should I give
her publicity?" In the late 1920s,
Jose Capablanca (1888-1942), world
chess champion from 1921 to 1927,
spent his spare time hanging out in a
specific cafe in Paris. Friends,
acquaintances, and others would
often drop by, participating in games
and libations with the former world
champion. One day, while
Capablanca was having coffee and
reading a newspaper, a stranger
stopped at his table, motioned at the
chess set and indicated he would like
to play if Capablanca was interested.
Capablanca folded the newspaper
away, reached for the board and
proceeded to take his own queen off
the board and play a queen down.
The opponent (who apparently had
no idea who Capablanca was)
reacted with slight anger. "Hey! You
don't know me! I might beat you!"
he said. Capablanca, smiling gently,
said quietly, "Sir, if you could beat
me, I would know you." At 10:30
pm on Sunday evening, March 7,
1942, Jose Capablanca suffered a
stroke at the Manhattan Chess Club
(130 Central Park South) while
watching a skittles game. His last
words were, "Help me with my
coat," in Spanish. He fell to the floor
and lapsed into a coma before the
arrival of medical help. He died at 6
a.m. on March 8, 1942 at Mount
Sinai hospital, the same hospital that
Emanuel Lasker died a year earlier.
The cause of death was given as "a
cerebral hemorrhage provoked by
hypertension." He was the shortest
lived world champion, dying at age
53 years, 109 days. Capablanca lost
only 36 games out of 567 in his
whole life. He did not lose a single
game from 1916 to 1924.
Capablanca never had a chess set at
home. On March 7, 1942, he was
seated at a chess board at the
Manhattan Chess Club, watching a
skittles game, when he suddenly
toppled backwards from his char. He
had suffered a massive stroke
(cerebral hemorrhage) and died later
that night in a New York hospital. At
the time of his death, he was the
commercial attache of the Cuban
Embassy in New York. General
Batista, President of Cuba, took
personal charge of the funeral
arrangements. Capablanca may be
the youngest player of a published
game. In 1893, at the age of 4 years
and 10 months, Capablanca
(receiving queen odds) defeated a
chess player in Havana. This game
was recorded and published.
Reti - Capablanca, Berlin 1928 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.c3 a6
5.Ba4 f5 6.d4 fxe4 7.Ng5 exd4
8.Nxe4 Nf6 9.Bg5 Be7 10.Qxd4
(10.Bxc6+) 10...b5 11.Nxf6+ gxf6
12.Qd5 bxa4 13.Bh6 Qd7 14.O-O
Bb7 15.Bg7 O-O-O 16.Bxh8 Ne5
17.Qd1 Bf3! 18.gxf3 Qh3
(threatening 19...Rg8+) 0-1
Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576) was

an Italian Renaissance
mathematician and one of the
founders of probability theory. He
invented the Cardan transmission in
mechanics and was the first
mathematician to make systematic
use of numbers less than zero. He
was a friend of Leonardo da Vinci.
For two years, he abandoned his
studies and did nothing but gamble
and play chess all day. He invented
the method of shading the black
squares in chess diagrams. He
played chess for 40 years, writing, "I
would never be able to express in a
few words how much damage,
without any compensation, [chess]
caused in my domestic life."
Cardano has a cryptocurrency named
after him. (source:
https://everipedia.org/wiki/cardano-
cryptocurrency/)
Ruth Cardoso (1934-2000) was born

in Salvador, Brazil on February 9,
1934. She held the title of Woman
International Master (WIM) from
FIDE. She won the South American
Women's Championship in 1966,
1969, and 1972. She won the
Brazilian Women's Championship
eight times in a row. She played four
time in the Woman's Interzonal
Championship. She played in five
World Chess Olympiads, playing
first board for the Brazilian team
each time. She died on Feb 11, 2000.
Jane Lady Carew (1797-1901) died

at age 104 in Woodstown,
Waterford, England. She was a chess
player in England and lived in three
centuries. She played chess up to age
100.
Sven Magnus Carlsen was born in

Tonsberg, Norway on November 30,
1990. On August 20, 2003, he was
title at the age of 12 years, 7 months,
and 25 days. In April 2004, he
obtained his third and final GM
norm at the 6th Dubai Open. He thus
became the world's youngest GM at
age 13 years, 4 months, and 27 days.
In 2010, he reach #1 in the FIDE
rankings, becoming the youngest
person ever to achieve those feats.
Magnus Carlsen, as challenger,
defeated 5-time world champion
Viswanathan (Vishy) Anand in
November, 2012. The match was
held in Chennai, India. Carlsen won
the match 6.5 to 3.5, winning 3
games, drawing 7, and losing none,
to become Classical World
Champion. Carlsen is the second-
youngest world chess champion.
Kasparov was younger when he won
the title. Carlsen has been ranked
number 1 in the world since January
2010. In 2014, as wordl champion,
he also won both the World Rapid
Championship and the World Blitz
Grand Chess Tour championship. In
2017, he won the World Blitz
Championship in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia for the third time. His peak
rating was 2882 in 2014. Magnus
Carlsen was considered for a role in
a Star Trek movie (Star Trek 2), but
couldn't get a U.S. work permit in
time. JJ Abrams, the producer,
wanted Carlsen to play a role of a
chess player in the future. His
hobbies and other recreations are
soccer, tennis, volleyball and reading
comic books (his favorite is Donald
Duck comics).
Carlsen — Ibraev, Calvia 2004 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5
5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Nf3 Qb6 7.e3 Qc7
8.b3 b6 9.Bb2 Bb7 10.Nb5 Qd8
11.O-O-O O-O 12.Ng5 Re8 13.h4 e5
14.Nd6 Bxd6 15.Rxd6 h6 16.Qf5
Nc6 17.Rxf6 1-0
Pontus Carlsson (1982- ) is a

Swedish Grandmaster (2007). His
peak rating was 2515 in 2008. His
stepfather, Ingvar Carlsson, former
charman of the Sweidsh Chess
Federation, taught Pontus how to
play chess at the age of 4.
Horatio Caro (1862-1920) was born

in Newcastle, England. H later
moved to Berlin, Germany. He was
the editor of the German chess
magazine Bruderschraft. In 1886 he
published analysis of the Caro-Kann
(1.e4 c6) that he had analyzed with
Marcus Kann (1820-1886). He lost
matches to Simon Winawer and
Jacques Mieses, drew two matches
with Curt von Bardeleben, and
defeated M. Lewitt.
Caro — Emanuel Lasker, Berlin

1890 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Bf5 3.c4 c6
4.Qb3 Qc8 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Nc3 e6
7.Bf4 a6 8.Na4 Ra7 9.Nb6 Qd8
10.Bxb8 Qxb8 11.Qa4+ Ke7 12.Rc1
g5 13.Ne5 Nh6 14.Nc8+ 1-0
Neil Carr (1968-2015) was the
youngest player to beat a
grandmaster in a clock simultaneous
exhibition. In 1978 at the age of 10
he beat a grandmaster. He won the
World under-14 championship. He
was a FIDE Master. He died of a
heart attack at the age of 47.
Charles Carroll (1738-1832) was the

last survivor of the 56 signers of the
Declaration of Independence (he
represented Maryland), and the only
Roman Catholic signer. At age 89 he
played the Turk automaton at
Baltimore in 1827 and won. An
"adjustment" to the machine and the
Turk's queen, which otherwise could
have checkmated the next move,
helped Carroll to win. Carrol died at
the age of 95.
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-
1898). There were several entries to
Carroll's diaries about chess. On
August 10, 1866, he wrote that he
spent a good deal of the day
watching a chess tournament. On
September 3, 1866, he wrote that he
received 250 chess score sheets so
that he could write chess games
down. He said that he liked
consultation-games better than the
ordinary single game. On December
24, 1866, he wrote that he played
chess with one of his traveling
companions while waiting for the
train for an hour. In July 1867, he
wrote that he played chess with a
fellow traveler while on his way to
St. Petersburg. In August 1867, he
wrote that he played chess with R.M.
Hunt of New York while traveling
from St. Petersburg to Warsaw.
Fabiano Caruana (1992- ) was born

in Miami, Florida of an Italian-
American father and an Italian
mother. At age 4, they moved to
Brooklyn. He learned chess at the
age of 5. In 2004, at the age of 12,
his family moved to Madrid. In
2005, he transferred his chess
affiliation from the USA to Italy. In
2006, he tied for 1st in the Italian
Championship. In 2007, he moved to
Budapest. In 2007, he became a
Grandmaster at the age of 14 years,
11 months, 20 days. He won the
Italian Championship in 2007 and
2008. In 2008, he represented Italy
in the Chess Olympiad. In 2014 and
In 2015, he switched federations,
from Italy to the USA. In 2016, he
won the US Chess Championship. In
2017, he won the London Chess
Classic. His peak rating was 2844 in
2014, the third highest rated player
in history.
Hartwig Cassel (1859-1929) was the

chess editor of the Bradford
Observer Budget in England from
1882 to 1889. He was a veteran
chess journalist for 40 years. It was
he who suggested the first
transatlantic cable match between
the Manhattan Chess Club and the
British Chess Club of London in
1895. He directed Cambridge
Springs 1904. He originated the
college cable matches with Oxford
and Cambridge. He was a journalist
for the New York Staats Zeitung,
New York Tribune, Sun, The Times,
The World, and the Associated
Press. He was the editor, along with
Hermann Helms, of the American
Chess Bulletin, which was first
published in 1904. (source:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jul 18, 1929)
Dr. Vincenzio Castaldi (1916-1970)

was an International Master from
Italy and 3-time Italian champion.
He was a dentist.
William Caxton (1438-1491) was

the first English printer. He is the
publisher of the second book to be
printed in English, The Game and
Playe of the Chesse, in 1475. The
book consisted of 72 pages, with no
illustrations and printed in Bruges,
Belgium. It also became the first
printed book in English to make
extensive use of woodcuts. The book
was dedicated to George, Duke of
Clarence, oldest brother of King
Edward. It is a translation of a book
by Jacobus de Cessolis. An original
book is worth over $100,000. The
first printed book in English is The
Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,
published by Caxton in 1474.
M. Caze (1650-1710) was the author

of the first manuscript on the King's
Gambit, in 1706. It was his opinion
that accepting the King's Gambit
would lead to a forced draw. He was
the first to propose a type of random
chess, by moving the king and queen
around in the back rank. He also
wanted to take away the advantage
of the first move by playing the
pawn only one square up. He was
the first to record chess games
played by other players, then reprint
them. He recorded the games of the
best chess players in Paris in the
1680s.
Miso Cebalo (1945- ) is a Croatian

won the 19th World Senior Chess
2570 in 1995.
Jacobus de Cessolis (1250-1322), a

Dominican monk in Lombardy, was
an Italian author of the most famous
morality book on chess in the
Middle Ages, written in Latin. It was
called De Moribus Hominum ed de
Officiis Nobilium Super Ludo
Scaccorum (On the Customs of Men
and Their Noble Actions with
Reference to the Game of Chess). He
used chess as the basis for a series of
sermons on morality. His book
became one of the first books printed
in English, The Game and Playe of
the Chesse, printed by William
Caxton in 1474. Cessolis later
moved from Lombardy to Genoa
and became the Inquisition's vicar at
the San Domenico convent.
Cessolis's manuscript on chess was
believed to be the most copied
manuscript of any other medieval
work and found in nearly every
Italian library.
Henry Chadwick (1824-1908) is

considered the "father of baseball."
He was a sportswriter, baseball
statistician, and historian. He
compiled the first baseball rulebook,
created the box score, and kept
statistics on batting average and
earned run average for each baseball
player. In 1860 he edited The Beadle
Baseball Player, the first baseball
guide on public sale. In 1880, he
wrote De Witt's American Chess
Manual. In 1905, he was the co-
author of How to Learn to Play the
Game of Chess. He played chess at
the Brooklyn Chess Club and the
Queens County Chess Club. He
wrote a chess column in his own
newspaper, the American Chronicle.
He wrote Chess for Novices.
In 1935, James Chadwick (1891-

Physics for his discovery of the
neutron. He played chess in college
at the University of Manchester.
(Source: interview by Charles
Weiner in 1969
https://www.aip.org/history-
programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-
histories/3974-1)
Oscar Chajes (1873-1928) won the

10 Western Chess Association
championship (U.S. Open) in
Excelsior, Minnesota, scoring 12.5
points. On September 24, 1911,
Chajes tied for 23-26th (last) in
Carlsbad, Bohemia (Richard
Teichmann won), but won brilliancy
prizes for his victories over Savielly
Tartakower and Julius Perlis. Chajes,
as Black, had an interesting game
against Amos Burn in the final
round. The Burn-Chajes game saw 5
queens on the board during play.
Chajes lost after 115 moves. Burn, at
one time, offered a draw, knowing
that he was winning, but Chajes
refused. There were 4 queens on the
board at the same time from move
77 to 92 in the queen-pawn ending.
It was the last round of the
tournament and both players booked
space on ships which left in the
evening of the following day. They
would have had to take an early
morning train to get to the port of
embarkation in time. The outcome of
the game was of no real importance.
Chajes played on in hope of getting
a better score than last place. The
game lasted 15 hours and it was now
dawn. When the game was over, the
remaining spectators and other
players still there gave them an
standing ovation. The tournament
organizers voted to create a special
prize and award it to both players for
their fighting spirit. After Chajes
was checkmated, both players rushed
to their rooms to pack and make it to
the railway station. Both players
missed their train. Chajes had to wait
a week before he could get another
ship bound for New York. (source:
Edward Lasker, Chess: The
Complete Self-Tutor)
In 1925, Austen Chamberlain (1863-

1937) shared the Nobel Peace Prize.
He was the half-brother of Neville
Chamberlain. In 1889, he was
President of the West Birmingham
Chess and Draughts Club. He played
at near master level.
In June 2008, mission specialist

astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff
(1962- ) brought a Velcro
chessboard ( a magnetic chess set
would have interfered with some
electronics on board) with him on
the space shuttle. In August 2008, he
played a chess match against
Houston Mission Control and won
two games against ground control
while playing chess on the
International Space Station (ISS). At
one point, a rook did not stick to the
Velcro board and floated away. It
was later found in one of the airflow
return filters in the US Laboratory
on the ISS. From September 29,
2008, to October 9, 2008, NASA
and the U.S. Chess Federation
(USCF) hosted the first Earth vs.
space match, played by the public
and Chamitoff during the STS-124
space shuttle mission. Earth won the
match thanks to the chess players at
Stevenson Elementary School in
Bellevue, Washington, who
suggested several moves and the
public voted on the moves. From
May 16 to June 1, 2011, an Earth vs.
Space Match was held between earth
members and two crew members
(Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff
and Pilot Greg Johnson) of STS 134
(last U.S. space launch) on the
Endeavour Space Shuttle to the
International Space Station. It was
sponsored by NASA and the USCF
(match director was Hal Bogner).
The mission, and the game, lasted 16
days. The public voted on the moves
made via Facebook and Twitter. A
chess board flown on the Endeavour
Space Shuttle is on display at the
U.S. and World Chess Hall of Fame
in Saint Louis. It was signed by the
2010 U.S. Men's and Women's
Chess Championship.
David G. Champernowne (1912-

2000) was an English
mathematician. He was Professor of
Statistical Economics at Oxford
(1948-1959) and professor of
Economics and Statistics at
Cambridge (1970-2000). In 1948, he
helped develop one of the first
chess-playing computer programs,
called TURBOCHAMP (which beat
Champernowne's wife in its only
victory).
Murray Chandler (1960- ), born in

New Zealand, is an English
1975-76 New Zealand
championship, then settled in
England. In 1981, he edited
Tournament Chess. In 1984 he was
joint Commonwealth Champion. In
1986, he was joint British
Champion. From 1991 to 1999 he
was editor of the British Chess
Magazine. In 1975, at the age of 15,
he wrote A White Pawn in Europe,
about his games at the World Junior
Championship in Yugoslavia and
English tournaments. In 2006, he
returned to New Zealand and won
the 2006 New Zealand Chess
2605 in 1988.
Fedorowicz — Chandler, Brighton

1979 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6
4.Bc4 Bg7 5.Qe2 Nc6 6.e5 Nd7 7.e6
fxe6 8.Nf3 d5 9.Bb5 Nxd4 10.Nxd4
Bxd4 11.h4 c6 12.Bd3 e5 13.h5 e4
14.hxg6 hxg6 15.Rxh8+ Bxh8 0-1
Akshat Chandra (1999- ) is an

American Grandmaster (2017). In
2015, he won the US Junior
Championship and the National K-
12 Championship. His peak rating
was 1515 in 2016.
In 1986, Alex Chang of West

Virginia took 1st place in the
National Elementary Championship.
His older sister, Angela, took 2nd
place. It was the first time that a
brother-sister took 1st-2nd place.
(source: Chess Life, August 1986, p.
24)
Pascal Charbonneau (1983- ) is a

Grandmaster (2006) from Canada.
He is a two-time Canadian champion
(2002 and 2004). He was Quebec
champion at the age of 16 and
Canadian Champion at the age of 18.
He played for Canada in 5 Chess
Olympiads. In 2005, he was mugged
at gunpoint at the World Open in
Philadelphia. His peak rating was
2517 in 2011. He is now a financial
analyst on Wall Street.
NBA basketball player Wilt

Chamberlain (1936-1999) played
chess. He started playing chess when
he attended the University of
Kansas. Chamberlain invited Bobby
Fischer to dinner at his house once,
but Fischer didn't want to meet any
other people, so declined.
Ray Charles (1930-2004) was a

blind musician (born Ray Charles
Robinson) who learned chess in
1965 after being busted twice and
hospitalized for heroin addiction. He
learned chess in the hospital where
he went cold turkey after 17 years of
drug use. He used a peg set made for
the blind. He appeared on the cover
of Chess Life in September 2002 and
was interviewed by Larry Evans.
Ray Charles stated that chess was his
favorite game. One of his chess
opponents was Willie Nelson, who
mentioned Ray Charles' chess skills
at his funeral. He also played chess
with Dizzy Gillespie. In the film,
Ray, there is a scene of Ray Charles
playing chess in the hospital with the
doctor while recovering from his
addiction. He died of liver disease.
Charles used a special chess board
with raised squares and holes for
pieces. His chess set is displayed in
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Ray Charles — Larry Evans, Reno

2002 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nf6
4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bc5 6.Nxc6 bxc6
7.Qe2 O-O 8.Be3 Bxe3 9.Qxe3 Re8
10.f3 d5 11.Qd3 a5 12.O-O-O Ba6
13.Qd2 Bxf1 14.Rhxf1 dxe4
15.Qxd8 Raxd8 16.Rxd8 Rxd8
17.Rd1 Rxd1+ 18.Kxd1 exf3
19.gxf3 Kf8 20.Kc1 Be7 21.Kd2
Ke6 22.Ke3 Nd5+ 23.Kd4 Nxc3
24.Kxc3 Kd5 0-1
Henry Charlick (1845-1916) was

born in London on July 8, 1845. In
1887, he won the first championship
of Australia, held in Adelaide. From
1887 to 1893, he was champion of
South Australia. In the early 1890s,
he introduced the moves 1.d4 e5,
known as the Charlick Gambit or
Englund Gambit. He died on July
26, 1916.
Rudolf Charousek (1873-1900) was

a chess master born in Prague and
raised in Hungary. He learned to
play chess in his early teenage years.
He tied for 1st (with Chigorin) at
Budapest in 1896 and won at Berlin
in 1897. He died of tuberculosis at
the age of 26.
Charousek — Makovets, Budapest

1893 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.b4
Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.Bc4 Bb6 7.d4 Bg4
8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Bxf7+ Kf8 10.Ba3+
Ne7 11.O-O exd4 12.Qb3 g6
13.Bxg6 1-0
Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400) was

the author of the romantic poem,
Book of the Duchesse, written in
1369, has many references to chess.
Chaucer was the first person to use
the word checkmate, derived from
Arabic. He introduced the word
"fers" as the name for the queen
chess piece.
Chantal Chaude de Silans (1919-

2004) was a French chess player and
countess. In 1934, at the age of 15,
she won the ladies championship of
France. In 1949-50, she was a
Challenger. In 1950, she was
awarded the Women's International
Master title. She was the first female
to play in a men's Olympiad. She
played on the men's French team in
1950 at Dubrovnik. She won 1
game, drew 1 game, and lost 4
games. She managed the Caissa
chess club in Paris for many years.
Louis Russell Chauvenet (1920-

2003) was U.S. Amateur Champion
in 1959. In 1991, he won the fourth
National Deaf Championship. He
won the National Tournament of the
Deaf in 1980, 1983, and 1987. In
Grandmaster title in Silent Chess.
Valery A. Chekhov (1955- ) is a

1975 he won the World Junior
Championship. He teaches chess at a
children's center in Moscow.
Chekhov — Razuvaev, Moscow

1982 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.e4
Nc6 5.dxc5 Qa5+ 6.Bd2 Qxc5 7.Nc3
Nf6 8.Be2 d6 9.O-O O-O 10.h3 Be6
11.Na4 1-0
Vitaly Chekover (1908-1965) was a

Russian International Master (1950)
and composer of around 150 studies.
He was a specialist on knight
endings. Together with GM Yuri
Averbakh, he published a four-
volume encyclopedia on endgames
in 1956. He was also a music
composer, musician, and a
professional pianist from Leningrad.
He played in the USSR
championship five times. He won
the Leningrad championship in 1937
and 1949.
Ivan Cheparinov (1986- ) is a

Grandmaster (2004) from Bulgaria.
He won the Bulgarian championship
in 2004, 2005, and 2012. In 2005, he
played games of 155 and 150 moves
in consecutive rounds in the Corus
(B) Tournament of 2005. His peak
rating was 2713 in 2008. During the
2008 Corus chess tournament,
Cheparinov's game against GM
Nigel Short was declared a forfeit
after the first move because he had
twice refused to shake Short's hand
at the start. Cheparinov refused to
shake hands because Short insulted
him a few years ago. The forfeit was
overturned, the game was played
after a handshake, and Short won.
Irving Chernev (1900-1981) was

born on January 29, 1900 in Priluku,
Ukraine. From 1957 to 1968,
Chernev worked for Marquardt &
Company in New York City. He
then moved and retired in San
Francisco. He authored 20 chess
books and one checkers book. He
played in two U.S. chess
championships (1942 and 1944). He
claimed he read more about chess
and played over more chess games
than anyone in history.
On Feb 6, 2015, GM (2000) Oleg

Leonidovich Chernikov (1936-2015)
died in Russia at the age of 78. In
1990, he won the Russian
World Senior Chess Championship
and became a grandmaster at the age
of 63. His peak rating was 2472 in
2001.
Alexander Mikhailovich Chernin

(1960- ) is a Soviet-born Hungarian
Grandmaster (1985) . He was
European Junior Champion in 1979-
1980. He tied for 1st place in the
1985 USSR Championship, but lost
the play-off. In 1985, he tied for 4th-
5th at the Tunis Interzonal.
Konstantin Chernyshov (1967- ) is a

Andre Cheron (1895-1980) was the

chess champion of France in 1926,
1927, and 1929. He wrote the four-
volume Lehr- und Handbuch der
Schachendspiele from 1952 to 1971.
He is one of the most famous
endgame composers. In 1959, FIDE
awarded him the title of International
Master of Chess Composition. He
composed over 300 studies during
his lifetime. He created the longest
problem solution to have all checks
in it, taking 69 moves. He was an
International Master in Chess
Composition (1959).
Cheron - Polikier, Chamonix 1927

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3
Nd7 5.Bc4 Nf6? (5...Nb6) 6.e5 dxe5
7.dxe5 Nh5 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Ng5+
Kg8 10.Qd5+ (10...e6 11.Qxe6+ Kf8
12.Qf7 mate) 1-0
Maya Chiburdanidze (1961- ) was

six-time World's women champion
for 13 years, from 1978 until her
defeat by Xie Jun of China in 1991.
Her coach had been Eduard Gufeld.
She was USSR women's champion
at 15, won the women's Interzonal at
16, defeated three of the best women
in the world (Alexandria,
Akhmilovskaya, and Kusnir) in
matches at 17, and world champion
(defeating Gaprindashvili) at age 17,
the youngest of any world champion
in chess. She was awarded the title
of International Woman Master in
1974 at the age of 13, making her the
youngest title holder in the history of
chess up to that time. She didn't even
have a FIDE rating. In 1978, Maya
Chiburdanidze defeated Nona
Gaprindashvili in the Women's
World Championship Match, scoring
8.5-6.5 (4 wins, 9 draws, and 2
losses). The event was held in
Tbilisi, Georgia. She became the 7th
women's world champion, and, at
age 17, the youngest world chess
champion up to that time. Her peak
Muara - Chiburdanidze, Argentina
1978 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.f3 O-O
7.Be3 e5 8.Nb3 d5 9.Bc5? (9.Bd2)
9...Bxc5 10.Nxc5 d4 11.Ne2 Qa5+
(and 12...Qxc5) 0-1
Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908) was

founder of the Russian school of
chess. He was the first public chess
worker, organizer, and journalist in
Russia. He learned to play in at the
age of 16. His schoolteacher taught
him to play, but he did not take
chess seriously until he was 27 and
working as a government officer.
For seven years, he did not play
chess at all. In 1873 he started
playing chess seriously and hustling
chess at the Cafe Dominic in St.
Petersburg. He was 23. By the age of
28, he would be the strongest chess
player in Russia. In 1875, he gave up
his government post job to be a full
time chessplayer after being
encouraged by Winawer. Chigorin
was the first Russian to devote all
his life to chess. His first chess
magazine, Chess Sheet, only had
250 subscribers in all of Russia.
From 1878 to 1907 he was
considered the best Russian chess
player. In 1889 he unsuccessfully
challenged Steinitz for the world
championship in Havana, which
ended after 17 games and only one
draw (the last game). Steinitz had
won 10 and lost 6. A month later
Chigorin won America's first
international tournament, New York
1889. He took second place in the
Hastings 1895 tournament (behind
Pillsbury) and won the first three
All-Russia tournaments (1899, 1900-
01, 1903). At Hastings 1895 he won
a ring and a copy of Salvoli's The
Theory and Practice of Chess for
winning the most Evans Gambits. In
1958 the USSR issued a chess stamp
with a portrait of Chigorin. He
learned chess at age 16 (some
sources say he learned chess in his
early 20s). At 9:50 pm on January
25, 1908 (Jan 12, Old Style) Mikhail
Chigorin died of diabetes in Lublin,
Poland at the age of 57. Several
years later, his body was moved to
the Novodevichy Cemetery in St.
Petersburg.
Schlezer - Chigorin, St Petersburg

1878 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.exf5 Nc6
4.Bb5 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nxe5
Bxf5 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 hxg6
9.Qxh8 Qe7+ 10.Kd1 Bxf2
11.Qxg8+ Kd7 12.Qc4 Re8
(threatening 13...Qe1+ 14.Rxe1
Rxe1 mate) 0-1
Chigorin — Walbrodt, Budapest

1896 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4
4.Nxe5 Bd6 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.Qxe4 f6
7.d4 fxe5 8.fxe5 c6 9.Bc4 Bc7 10.O-
O Be6 11.Bg5 Qxg5 12.Bxe6 Nh6
13.Bc8 1-0
Alexander Chikvaidze (1932-2012)

replaced former cosmonaut Vitaly
Sevastianov in 1986 as President of
the Soviet Chess Federation. He was
a Georgian career diplomat who
served as former Ambassador to
Kenya and the Netherlands. He was
assigned to the Soviet consulate in
San Francisco and embassies in
London and New Delhi.
Aryan Chopra (2001- ) is an Indian

GM at the age of 14 years, 9 months,
and 3 days. His peak rating was
2529 in 2017.
In October 2008, David Christian

(1979- ) of Iowa City got in a fight
with Michael Steward while playing
a game of chess at the rooming
house where they both lived. He was
sentenced to up to 10 years in prison
for involuntary manslaughter.
Christian choked Steward to death.
Larry Mark Christiansen (1956- )

was born in Riverside, California on
June 27, 1956. He became an
International Grandmaster without
ever being an International Master
first. In 1977 he was awarded the
title after winning an international
tournament in Torremolinos, Spain
(he took 2nd place in the same
tournament a year before). He is also
the first junior high school player to
win the National High School
Championship in 1971. He won it
again in 1973. He won the U.S.
Junior Championship in 1973, 1974,
and 1975. He won the US Chess
2002 (defeating Nick deFirmian in
the playoff). He took 2nd place in
1975 (won by Valery Chekhov). He
has been runner-up to the US
championship four times. In the
1980s he was sponsored by Church's
Fried Chicken to play simultaneous
and blindfold exhibitions throughout
the United States. He played for the
USA in 9 Chess Olympiads. He now
resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts
with his wife, Natasha.
Christiansen - Karpov, Wijk aan Zee
1993 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3
Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4
8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nxc6 Bxc6 10.Bf4
Nh5 11.Be3 Bd6? (11...Bc5) 12.Qd1
(threatening 13.Qxd6 and 13.Qxh5)
1-0
Vladimir Chuchelov (1969- ), born

in Moscow, is a Belgiun
won the Belgian Chess
2608 in 2003.
George William "Bill" Church, Jr.

(1932-2014) of Church's Fried
Chicken was a chess patron. He
created the American grand prix
circuit and sponsored several GMs
to give simultaneous exhibitions
throughout the United States. He
sponsored the 1972 San Antonio
International tournament.
Lord Randolph Churchill (1849-

1895), Winston Churchill's father,
was elected vice president of the
British Chess Federation in 1885.
Lord Tennyson was the President of
the British Chess Federation. He
took chess lessons from Zukertort
and William (Wilhelm) Steinitz. He
was the co-founder of the Oxford
University Chess Club. He was one
of the financial backers of the great
1883 London tournament, won by
Zukertort. In 1891 he was the first
president of the Johannesburg Chess
Club in South Africa. He was a
member of Parliament and served as
the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
In 1953, Winston Churchill (1874-
Literature. He served as Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom
from 1940 to 1945, and from 1951 to
1955.He was taught chess by his
father, Lord Randolph Churchill
(1849-1895), who was vice-
president of the British Chess
Association. As a young war
correspondent, he spent his
afternoons playing chess. (Source:
Winston Churchill Reporting:
Adventures of a Young War
Correspondent, by Simon Read,
2015, p. 45)
Slavko Cicak (1969- ) is a Swedish

was 2567 in 2009.
Roberto Cifuentes-Parada (1957- ) is

a Grandmaster (1991), now playing
for Spain. He was born in Chile,
then moved to the Netherlands, then
moved to Spain. He won the Chilean
Chess Championship five times. He
played for Chile in 7 Chess
Olympiads. He played for Spain in
one Chess Olympiad. His peak
Victor Ciocaltea (1932-1983) was a

Romanian chess player who became
an International Master in 1957 and
a Grandmaster in 1978. He won the
Romanian championship 8 times
during 1952-1979. On Sep 10, 1983,
GM Victor Ciocaltea died of
cerebral apoplexy while playing his
4th round game at a chess
tournament in Manresa, Spain at the
age of 51. Ciocaltea became an
International Master in 1957. He
took him 22 years to become an
International Grandmaster.
Hutemann - Ciocaltea, Dortmund

1974 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 g6 4.h3
Bg7 5.Nf3 Nh6 6.Bd3 O-O 7.O-O f6
8.Bf4 Nf7 9.e5 fxe5 10.Bxe5 Nxe5
11.dxe5 Nd7 12.Re1 Nc5 13.b4 Ne6
14.Ne2 Rxf3 15.gxf3 Ng5 16.f4
Nxh3+ 17.Kg2 Qf8 18.Kg3?
(18.Qd2) 18...Bxe5 (19.fxe5 Qxf2
mate) 0-1
Dragoljub Ciric (1935-2014) was a

Serbian Grandmaster (1965). His
Author Tom Clancy (1947-2013)

played chess. While attending
Loyola College in Baltimore,
Maryland, he was president of the
chess club. In Clancy's Rainbow Six:
Vegas 2 video game, there are
several references to chess. He also
had several chess references in his
Jack Ryan books.
Peter Hugh Clarke (1933-2014) was

an English FIDE Master who placed
2nd in five British Championships.
He played on 8 English Chess
Olympiad teams. He was British
Correspondence Champion in 1977.
He became a Grandmaster in
Correspondence Chess in 1980.
Clarke — Toran, Hastings 1956 1.e4

c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e5 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.Bc4
Be7 9.a4 O-O 10.Qe2 b6 11.O-O
Bb7 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.Bg5 Nh5
14.Rad1 Bc5+ 15.Kh1 Qc7 16.Rxd7
Qxd7 17.Nxe5 Qc7 18.Nxf7 g6
19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.Bxd5 Ra7 21.Nd6
Kg7 22.Rxf8 1-0
In 1893, President Grover Cleveland

(1937-1908) became a patron of the
New York Chess Congress and
offered a $500 gold medal to the
winner. This is the first time in the
history of American chess that the
game had been honored by the gift
of a prize for a tourney from the
head of the republic. However, the
"Panic of 1893" overtook events and
the tournament was cancelled.
(source: British Chess Magazine,
Volume 13, 1893 and Brooklyn
Daily Eagle, Feb 9, 1893).
Viktorija Cmilyte (1983- ) is a

member of the Lithuanian
parliament. She was twice
Lithuanian champion and is a
Grandmaster (2010). In 2011, shw
was European Women's Champion,
She is perhaps the strongest chess-
playing politician ever. She was
married to GM Alexei Shoriv from
2001 to 2007. In 2013, she married
GM Peter Heine Nielsen.
Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) was an

avid chess player. He once carved
his own chess set. He once
mentioned that he hadn't been
writing too much music because he
was playing so much chess.
John Cochrane (1798-1878) was a

Scottish master and lawyer who
spent half his life in India. He played
chess in London while on vacation.
In 1815 he was a second lieutenant
on the HMS Bellerophon, which
transported Napoleon to his last
exile on the island of Helena. In
February, 1822, at the age of 24,
Cochrane published A Treatise of
the Game of Chess. He dedicated his
book to William Lewis. The London
Times called this book one of the
most important and scientific works
ever published on the game of chess.
In 1824, just before he went to India,
he suggested that the London team
play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 (Scotch
Opening) in their correspondence
match with Edinburgh. In 1829 he
wrote a book on the Muzio Gambit,
published in India. Cochrane is
credited with the Cochrane Gambit
(1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6
4.Nxf7). In January 1851, the
Calcutta Chess Club and Cochrane
personally both made significant
financial contributions to the first
(Cochrane contributing 20 British
pounds and the Calcutta CC
contributing 100 pounds), which
Howard Staunton organized.
Cochrane continued to play chess
and to send games to the UK for
publication, mostly in Staunton's
columns. His two main opponents
were Indians, and against one of
them he made the first recorded use
of the Cochrane Gambit against
Petrov's Defense.
Cochrane — Staunton, London 1842

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 Nxd4
4.Nxe5 Ne6 5.Bc4 c6 6.O-O Nf6
7.Nc3 Bb4 8.f4 Qa5 9.Nxf7 Kxf7
10.f5 Qc5+ 11.Kh1 Qxc4 12.fxe6+
Qxe6 13.Qh5+ g6 14.Qh4 Bxc3
15.bxc3 Rf8 16.Bh6 1-0
Jacques Coe (1893-1997) was

president of a Wall Street brokerage
house and a chess patron. He was
Vice-President of the American
Chess Foundation and President of
the Manhattan Chess Club. In 1955,
he was one of the original founders
of the American Chess Foundation,
which turned into the Chess-in-the
Schools program. In the early 1970s,
he helped raise $20,000 for the
renovation of the Manhattan Chess
Club.
Lewis Cohen (1960- ) never lost a

game in the National Elementary
Championships, scoring 40-0. He
was the 1974 and 1975 Junior High
School champion.
Billy Colias (1966-1993) was a

FIDE Master from Indiana. He died
at the age of 27 after an accidental
mix of Tylenol and alcohol. His liver
and kidneys shut down, already
weakend from his earlier
chemotherapies from cancer.
On April 20, 1932, Edgar Colle

(1897-1932) died in Gand, Belgium,
after an operation for a gastric ulcer.
He survived three operations for a
gastric ulcer, but died after a 4th
operation. He was six time Belgium
champion between 1922 and 1929.
The Colle System is 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3
Nf6 3.e3.
Ludvig Collijn (1878-1939) was a

wholesale merchant and Swedish
chess patron. He ran tournaments
over a period of 40 years and
organized the Stockholm Chess
Olympiad in 1937. He was president
of the Swedish Chess Association
from 1917 to 1939. He, and his
brother Gustaf (1880-1968), wrote
Larobok i Schack, a book on
openings and endings.
John (Jack) Collins (1912-2001) was

a chess teacher to Bobby Fischer,
Robert Byrne, William Lombardy,
Donald Byrne, Sal Matera, Ray
Weinstein, Lisa Lane, and Rachel
Crotto. He has won the U.S.
Championship (1943), the Marshall
Chess Club Championship (1953),
and the New York Championship
(1952). He was the first postal chess
editor of Chess Review. He reached
the finals of the first ICCF World
Chess Championship in 1953. His
first house was on Hawthorne Street
in Brooklyn, so he named his chess
club that met at his house, the
Hawthorne Chess Club. He kept that
name when he moved to 91 Lenox
Road.
Kim Steven Commons (1951-2015)

was an International Master (1976)
who had won the California
championship once and the
American Open twice. He was a
member of the victorious USA team
at the Haifa Chess Olympiad in
1976, having the best score of the
event. He had a Bachelor's degree in
physics from UCLA. He gave up
chess to become a real estate agent.
He died of a stroke.
Stuart Conquest (1967- ) is a

Grandmaster (1991) from England.
In 1981, he won the World Under 16
Championship. He won the 76th
Hastings International Chess
Congress in 2000/2001. In 2008, he
won the British Chess
2601 in 2001.
Eugene Beauharnais Cook (1813-

1915) of Hoboken, New Jersey was
the first American chess composer of
note. In 1868 he wrote American
Chess Nuts, a collection of over
2,400 positions. He was President of
the New Jersey Chess Association
and was the Problem Editor of the
Chess Monthly. He personally
composed over 800 chess problems.
When he died, he had the third
largest chess book collection in the
world. His chess library of over
2,500 volumes was presented to the
Princeton University Library. The
Princeton University Library is the
second largest in the U.S. for chess
book collection. The White
Collection at the Cleveland Public
Library is the largest.
Nathaniel Cooke (1810-1879) was

the designer (along with John
Jacques) of the Staunton chessmen
in 1835. He registered his design in
1849. Cooke's name was misspelled
as "Cook" on the 1849 patent, and
the misspelling has propagated in
chess literature since then. Howard
Staunton recommended the use of
these chessmen six months later and
it was offered to the public by the
company of John Jaques of London.
Cooke did not renew his registration,
valid for only three years. In 1852
Staunton made a deal with Cooke to
authorize Staunton's signature as a
trademark to attach to the boxes in
which his sets were sold. Cooke was
Staunton's editor at the Illustrated
London Times. Cooke's firm was
absorbed by John Jaques and Son,
Ltd in 1900.
In 1860, H. I. Cooke wrote a book

called The ABC of Chess by "A
Lady." It was the first chess book
written by a woman and went into
10 editions.
Edgar George R Cordingley (1905-

1962) of England had a collection of
over 2,000 chess books. He began
dealing in chess books in 1934. He
moved to the premises of John
Lewis, on Oxford Street, where the
National Chess Centre was also
located. But on September 18, 1940
German bombs hit the site and
completely destroyed all of
Cordingley's chess books. After
Cordingley died, Ken Whyld
acquired his chess library.
Jorge Moises Cori-Tello (1995- ) is a

Peruvian Grandmaster (2010). He
became a GM at the age of 14 years,
5 months, and 15 days. In 2009, he
was World under-14 champion. In
2009, he was World under-16
champion. His sister is Woman
Grandmaster Deysi Cori. His peak
Matthiew Cornette (1985- ) is a

French Grandmaster (2008). In
2016, he won the French Chess
Championship. He is married to
Lituanian WGM Deimante Cornette.
2018.
In 1975, John Cornforth (1917-

2013) shared the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry for his work on the
stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed
reactions. He played chess all his
life. He was a strong county and
correspondence chess player. He
competed in the New South Wales
Chess Championship in 1937 at the
age of 20. He was perhaps the
strongest chess player of all Nobel
Prize winners.
Nicolaas Cortlever (1915-1995) was

a Dutch chess master who owned a
gemstone and marble business in
Amsterdam.
Juan Corzo (1873-1941) was born in

Madrid and was Cuban chess
champion in 1902. In 1901, Jose
Capablanca, age 12, beat Juan
Corzo, age 28, in an informal match
in Havana.
Captain Hiram Cox (1760-1799) was

a British diplomat and a member of
the Asiatic Society. He came up with
the theory that the origin of chess
was a four-player game that
originated in India in approximately
3000 BCE. This theory has since
been debunked. The theory arose
from an article by Cox published
posthumously in Asiatic Researches,
Volume 7, Calcutta, 1801, pp. 486-
511. The article, "On the Burmha
(Burma) Game of Chess Compared
to the Indian, Chinese, & Persian
Games of the same Denomination"
proposed that the four handed
version of the game played with dice
was the earliest form of chess. Cox
obtained his knowledge of Burmese
chess during his residence at the
court of Amarapura.
James R. Cox was the winner of the

first New York State Championship
in February, 1878. He was also the
first president of the New York State
Chess Association. He was a judge.
Carlo Francesco Cozio (1715-1780)

was an Italian Count of Montiglio
and Count of Salabue. He was the
author of a two volume chess book,
Il giuoco degli scacchi o sia Nuova
idea di attacchi, difese e partiti del
Giuoco degli Scacchi, published in
1740. The Ruy Lopez variation 1.e4
e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 is called
Cozio's Defense.
Fred Cramer (1912-1989) was the

former USCF Membership chairman
and USCF President (1961-1964). In
the 1970s, he was the FIDE vice-
president. He was Bobby Fischer's
manager during the 1972 World
Championship Match. He was a
lighting contractor. He got involved
in chess when he provided better
lighting to the 1953 US Open in
Milwaukee. When Cramer died in
1989, he bequeathed $250,000 to the
American Chess Foundation.
Pia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling

(1963- ) is a Grandmaster (1992)
from Sweden. From 1983 to 1985
she was the world number one
female chess player. Her brother,
Dan, is a former Swedish national
champion. She won the Women's
Chess Oscar in 1983. She was
awarded the WGM title in 1982, the
IM title in 1983, and the GM title in
1992. Her peak rating was 2550 in
2008. She is married to Spanish GM
Juan Bellon.
Skripchenko - P. Cramling, Belgrade

1996 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Qb6 6.e5 Bc5
7.Be3 Nd5 8.Nxd5 exd5 9.Nf5 Qxb2
10.Bxc5 Qc3+ 11.Ke2 Qxc5
12.Nd6+ Kf8 13.f4 Nc6 14.Kf3
(14.Qd3) 14...f6 15.Nxc8 (15.c4)
15...fxe5 16.fxe5 Nxe5+ 17.Kf4??
(17.Ke2) 17...Rxc8 18.Kxe5 Re8+
19.Qf3 Qe7 (threatening 29...g6
mate) 0-1
Alexandru Crisan (1962- ) was a

Grandmaster (1997) from Romania.
He is President of the Romanian
Chess Federation. In 2001, he was
accused of faking his Elo rating of
2635 (number 33 in the world). He
was accused of bribing other players
for Elo points. He was accused of
fixing matches for his own benefit
and falsifying chess tournament
results. He played in one
tournament, the Vidmar Memorial in
Slovakia, and score only 1/2 points
out of 9. In 2011, he was arrested
and imprisoned on fraud charges
relating to his management of the
company Urex Rovinari. In 2015, he
was stripped of his titles and his
rating was adjusted to 2132.
In 1948, Charles C. "Kit" Crittenden

(1934- ), a junior high school student
from Raleigh, won the North
Carolina State Chess Championship
at the age of 14, becoming the
nation's youngest state champion.
The year before, he finished in last
place in the NC championship, class
B event. He won the North Carolina
Closed Championship 5 times and
the Open championship twice. In
1948, he also won the Tennessee
Open at age 14. (source: Chess
Review, Sep 1948, p. 5 and Chess
Review, Jan 1949, p. 2)
In the 1950s, Jim Cross (1930- ) was

a rising chess master. At 18 he won
the California State Championship
and tied in the U.S. Junior
Championship. But when his chess
mentor, International Master
Herman Steiner died of a heart
attack at the age of 50 while playing
chess, Jim decided to give up chess.
Rachel Crotto (1958- ) is a Woman

International Master (1978). She
played in the U.S. Women's chess
championship at the age of 13. She
was U.S. Women's Chess Champion
from 1977 (age 17) to 1979. She
took 12th-13th place at the 1979 Rio
de Janeiro Women's Interzonal. She
took last place in the 1982 Bad
Kissingen Interzonal for the
Women's World Chess
Championship. She gave up the
game in 1986.
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was

an occultist who made black magic
recordings and appeared on the
cover of the Beatles album, Sergeant
Pepper. He was a member of the
Cambridge University chess club
and tried to become a chess master.
However, he became preoccupied
with occultism, and game up on the
idea of becoming a chess champion.
In 1897, his visit to an international
chess tournament in Berlin
convinced him not to play serious
chess after seeing the shabby and
poor chess masters.
Gordon Thomas Crown (1929-

1947). Died at age 18. In 1946, he
took 2nd place in the British Boys
Championship. In 1946/47, he took
1st place in the Hastings Congress
Premier Reserve section. He was a
diabetic and had to be rushed to the
hospital suffering from periontitis
after being diagnosed by a doctor
earlier as an upset stomach.
Complications set in and he died on
November 17, 1947, during an
operation to save is life.
Actor Tom Cruise (1962- ) plays

chess. He played chess with Stanley
Kubrick on the set of Eyes Wide
Shut.
John Crum (1842-1922) was the first

Scottish chess champion. He won
the event, held in Glasgow, in 1884.
He edited a chess column in The
Glasgow Weekly Herald.
Istvan Csom (1940- ) was born in

Hungary and became a Grandmaster
in 1973. He won the Hungarian
championship in 1972 and, jointly,
in 1973. In 1976, he took 9th-11th at
the Biel Interzonal Tournament (won
by Larsen). He played for Hugary in
7 Chess Olympiads.
George Cunningham (1909-1993)

was born in Maine on March 25,
1909. He was a college professor in
Maine. In 1978, he was Executive
Director for the United States Chess
Federation (USCF). In 1980, he was
the ratings statistician for the USCF
and introduced the bonus points,
feedback points, and fiddle points.
He died in Maine on December 19,
1993.
John Anthony Curdo (1931- ) was

born on November 14, 1931 in
Lynn, Massachusetts and now lives
in Auburn, Massachusetts. He has
won the Massachusetts state
championship 18 times [1948 (age
16), 1949 (tied with Gerhard Katz),
1955, 1957, 1958 (tied with Siff and
Popovich), 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963,
1966, 1969 (tied with Ed Formanek),
1970, 1975 (tied with John Peters),
1976, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1985]. He
won the New England Open
1966, 1973, and 1976 (losing on tie-
break in 1963 and 1974). He was
won the U.S. Senior Open twice
(1982 (tied with Larry Evans) and
1986). He has been one of the top
players in the New England area for
over 50 years, winning over 865
tournaments. His peak FIDE rating
was 2305.
In 1903, Pierre Curie (1859-1906)

his work in radiation. Growing up,
one of his favorite amusements was
chess. (Source: Pierre Curie, by
Marie Curie, p. 13, 1923)
Ognjen Cvitan (1961- ) is a Croation

(formerly Yugoslav) Grandmaster
(1987). In 1981 he won the World
Junior (Under 20) Championship,
ahead of Nigel Short and Salov. His
Cvitan — Short, Mexico City 1981

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 c5
5.d5 Ba6 6.Qc2 exd5 7.cxd5 Bb7
8.e4 Qe7 9.Bd3 Nxd5 10.O-O Nc7
11.Nc3 Qd8 12.Nd5 Ne6 13.Ne5
Nc6 14.f4 Nxe5 15.fxe5 Be7 16.Qe2
h6 17.Qh5 Rf8 18.Bxh6 gxh6
19.Rxf7 Rxf7 20.Rf1 Ng5 21.Bc4
Kf8 22.Rxf7+ Nxf7 23.Nf6 1-0
Lukasz Cyborowski (1980- ) is a

Polish Grandmaster (2003). In 1997,
he won the Polish under-18
Chapionship. His peak rating was
2580 in 2007.
Edmund Czapski (1917-1971) won

the Detroit Championship in 1937,
1938, and 1939. He won the 1949
and 1950 New Mexico State
Championship. He was a B-47
navigator in the Strategic Air
Command. He flew the last mission
of World War II, acting as navigator
on the plane which escorted the
Japanese generals on the way to sign
the surrender. He played in the first
Armed Forces Championship in
1960, taking 3rd place. He retired as
a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air
Force. (source: Chess Review, Aug
1949, pp. 229-230)
Pawel Czarnota (1988- ) is a Polish

won the European under-18
2575 in 2007. He has a Master of
Laws degree.
Moshe Czerniak (1910-1084) was an

Israel's first professional chess
player. He was born in Poland,
immigrated to Palestine, lived in
Argentina after World War II broke
out, and finally settled in Israel in
1950. He won the championship of
Palestine in 1936 and the
championship of Israel in 1955. He
won the championship of Israel in
1974 at the age of 64.
Czerniak - Constantinou, Lugano

1968 1.e4 c5 2.b3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5
4.Bb2 d6 5.exd6 exd6 6.Na3 Nc6
7.Nc4 Nf6 8.Nf3 Be7 9.d4 O-O
10.d5 Nb4 11.Ne3 Re8 12.Be2 Bd7
13.O-O Bf8 14.Re1 Ne4 15.a3 Na6
16.Bxa6 bxa6 17.Qd3 Rb8 18.Nf1
Bf5 19.Qxa6 c4 (19...Re7) 20.Qxc4
Rc8 21.Qd4 Rxc2? (21...Qd7)
22.Ne3 (23...Rxb2 24.Nxf5,
threatening 25.Qxb2 and 25.Rxe4)
1-0
Salome Dadian de Mingrelie (1848-

1913) was prince of Mingrelia and
sponsor of the 1903 Monte Carlo
tournament. He invited Tchigorin to
play but later paid him 1,500 francs
(greater than 3rd prize money) not to
play because Tchigorin had
published analysis of one of the
Prince's games, pointing out he had
made gross errors. A valuable art
object was to go to the winner of a
short match between the 1st and 2nd
place finishers (Tarrasch and
Maroczy). The players wanted a play
for money also. This annoyed the
Prince who gave the art object to the
3rd place finisher (Pillsbury).
Arthur Dake (1910-2000) became a

bridge toll collector, then a highway
auto controller, and finally an
automobile inspector for the state of
Oregon after serving in the merchant
marines when he was 16. He and
Humphrey Bogart used to make a
living hustling chess at Coney
Island. In three chess Olympiads, he
won 27 games and only lost four
games, winning a gold medal and
the best result of any individual
player at Warsaw 1935. He was
given the International Master title in
1954. He received the honorary
Grandmaster title in 1986 in
recognition of his results in the
1930s. He was the oldest
competitive chess grandmaster in
history. He learned chess at 17. At
20 he won the Marshall Chess Club
Championship. On May 2, 2000,
Honorary Emeritus GM (1986)
Arthur Dake died in his sleep in
Reno, Nevada after a successful
night of blackjack. He died 20 days
after his 90th birthday.
Dake - Schmitt, Seattle 1949 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5
5.e4 Nb6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Nc3 O-O 8.f4
Nc6 9.d5 Nb8 10.Nf3 e6 11.Bc5 Re8
12.d6 N6d7 13.Ba3 cxd6 14.Bxd6
Qb6 15.Qd2 e5 16.Bc4 exf4?
(16...Bh6) 17.Bxf7 Kxf7 18.Ng5+
(18...Kg8 19.Qd5+ Kh8 20.Nf7+
Kg8 21.Nh6+ Kh8 22.Qg8+ Rxg8
23.Nf7 mate) 1-0
Count Giancarlo dal Verme (1908-

1985) was born in Italy on May 8,
1908. He was president of the Italian
Chess Federation from 1958 to 1980.
He was treasurer and auditor of
FIDE from 1947 to 1966. In 1951,
Dal Verme and FIDE Vice President
Marcel Berman composed the music
of the FIDE anthem. He died on
November 13, 1985.
Artist Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
played chess. He met Anatoly
Karpov in New York in 1979 and
they had lunch. Dali was
accompanied by two gorgeous
female fans, while Karpov was
followed by a KGB guy. Dali was
famous for his finger chess set that
he designed.
Harlow B. Daly (1883-1979) was

born in Dorchester, Massachusetts
on December 2, 1883, He is perhaps
the oldest person to win a state chess
championship. In 1959 and 1960, he
won the Maine championship. In
1968 he won the Championship of
Maine at age 85. He tied for 1st in
1970 and was 2nd in 1971 and 1972.
He had previously won in 1961 at
the age of 77 and in 1965 at the age
of 81. He played in the New England
Open every year from 1908 (when
he won it) to 1971. He won the
Massachusetts State Championship
in 1940 and 1942. He was still
playing chess in his late 80s and
early 90s. At 90, in 1973, he won a
New Hampshire Open tournament
with a perfect 5-0 score. In 1975, he
was designated Master Emeritus by
the USCF. He died on July 8, 1979
in Framington, Massachusetts at the
age of 95. He played chess for 75
years (1900 to 1974). He won the
championships of Massachusetts,
New Hampshire (1962), Vermont,
and Maine (9 times). He competed in
280 tournaments and matches, not
counting correspondence events.
In 1061, the Italian cardinal bishop

of Ostia, Petrus (Peter, Pedro)
Damiani (1007-1072), wrote a letter
to the pope-elect Alexander II (pope
from 1961 to 1073), and to
Archdeacon Hildebrand (who was
Pope Gregory VII from 1073 to
1085), complaining that priests were
playing chess (scacorum). He was
particularly outraged that his
traveling companion, the Bishop of
Florence, was seen playing chess in
public (a hotel). Damaini labeled
chess as a game of chance, like dice,
which was banned. Damaini was
ignorant of chess and prejudiced
against it. He said that playing chess
made" a buffoon of a priest."
Damiani's denunciation of chess led
to a number of ecclesiastical decrees
which put chess among the games
forbidden to the clergy and monastic
orders. Damiani became a saint and
was made a Doctor of the Roman
Catholic Church by Pope Leo XII in
1828.
Pedro Damiano (1480-1544) was a

Portuguese apothecary (pharmacist)
from Odemira who came from a
Jewish background. He may have
left Portugel for Italy in 1497 when
King Manuel the First persecuted the
Jewish community in Portugal. He
was the author of Questo Libro e da
imparare giocave a scachi et de li
partiti, the first chess (modern chess)
book in Italy. It was published in
Rome and written in Italian and
Spanish in 1512. It was the first
bestseller of the modern game of
chess. It went through eight editions
in 50 years, first being published in
Rome. The book has ten chapters
and 124 pages, 89 of which deal
with 72 problems and studies. The
book contained chess advice and
introduced the smothered mate. In
the book, Damiano suggested that
chess was invented by Xerxes, and
called the game of chess Axedrez,
which is the Spanish word for chess
today. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 is called
Damiano's Defense. There were no
new chess works from Damiano's
book until Ruy Lopez wrote his
book in 1561, almost 50 years later.
The discovery of Damiano's chess
book and its mistakes encouraged
Ruy Lopez to write his own chess
book. Pedro Damiano may have
been a pseudonym to hide his real
name. In 1560, Gruget translated
Damian's book into French. In 1562,
J. Rowbowen translated Damiano's
book into English.
Mato Damjanovic (1927-2011) was

a Croatian Grandmaster (1964). In
1960, he represented Yugoslavia at
first reserve board (+6 -2 =2) at the
14th Chess Olympiad at Leipzig.
There, he won the individual silver
medal for first reserve board and the
team bronze medal. In 1961, he won
the Yugoslav championship. In
International Master title, and the
he became the second Croatian
grandmaster, after Mijo Udovcic. He
was 1st at Zagreb 1969, Bad
Pyrmont 1970, Firenze 1972,
Catanzaro 1972, and Vironvitica
1976. In 2005, FIDE banned him
from tournament play for one year
because of a fake Kali Cup chess
tournament held in Mindzentkalla,
Hungary in 2004. He may have been
paid to take part in this scheme. His
highest ELO rating was 2475 in
1978.
Damjanovic — Tudev, Sochi 1964

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
d6 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4
c5 8.Ne2 Bb7 9.Nbc3 f5 10.exf5
Bxg2 11.Rg1 Bb7 12.Nf4 Qf6
13.Ne6 Rc8 14.Qe2 Kd7 15.Be3
Qxf5 16.Nxc5+ dxc5 17.O-O-O+
Bd6 18.Rxg7+ Kc6 19.Qc4 Qf6
20.Rf7 Qg6 21.Ne4 Rb8 22.Bxc5 1-
0
Branko Damljanovic (1961- ) is a

Serbian Grandmaster (1989). In
1979, he won the Yugoslav junior
championship. In 1989, he was
awarded the Grandmaster title. He
was the Yugoslav champion in 1991
and 2001 and joint champion in
1989 and 1990. His FIDE rating is
2612. In 1996, he was awarded the
bronze medal for best individual
performance at board 2 in the 1996
Chess Olympiad. His highest Elo
Elina Danielian (1978- ) is an

Armenian Grandmaster (2010). She
has won the Armenian women's
championship 6 times. She has
played for Armenia in 12 Chess
Olympiads. In 1992, she won the
World under-14 Girls
Championship. In 1993, she won the
World uner-16 Girls Championship.
Oganes Danielian (1974-2016) was

an Armenian Grandmaster (1999). In
1992, he was 2nd in the World
under-18 Championship. His peak
Henrik Danielsen (1966- ) is a
Danish-Icelandic Grandmaster
(1996). In 2009, he won the
Icelandic Chess Championship. His
Stephen Dann is a former

Massachusetts Chess Association
(MACA) President (1971-72, 1974-
75, 1977-78, 1982-83), former editor
of Chess Horizons, and columnist
for the Worcester Telegram &
Gazette.
Dao Thien Hai (1978- ) is the first

Grandmaster (1996) from Vietnam.
He won the Vietnamese
championship in 2002. He won the
World Under-16 championship in
1993. He won the World Under-18
championship in 1994. He has
played for Vietnam in 11 Chess
Olympiads. His highest Elo rating
was 2609 in 2005.
Klaus Viktor Darga (1934- ) is a

German Grandmaster (1964). In
1951, he became German Junior
Chess Champion. In 1953 he tied
with Oscar Panno of Argentina in
the 2nd World Junior Championship,
held in Copenhagen. West German
champion in 1955 and 1961. He
became an International Master in
1957 and a Grandmaster in 1964. In
the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, he
took 11th place, beating Spassky. In
1964, Darga resigned his game to
Levente Lengyal at the Amsterdam
Interzonal, overlooking he had a
won game. He overlooked an escape
move for his king in which he would
have been an exchange up. Instead,
he thought he was losing a rook, so
he extended his hand in resignation.
A moment later, he struck his
forehead and exclaimed, "My God, I
have a winning position!" In 1967,
he tied for 1st with Bent Larsen at
Winnipeg. From 1989 to 1997, he
was the chief coach of the German
Chess Union (German national chess
team). He participated in ten Chess
Olympiads for West Germany from
1954 to 1978. He works as a
computer programmer for IBM.
Bobby Darin (1936-1973) was born

Walden Waldo Cassotto. He was one
of the most popular rock and roll
American teen idols of the late
1950s. In late 1972, he planned the
Bobby Darin International Chess
Classic. It would have been the
richest chess tournament ever, and
he was putting up $25,000 of his
own money, but he died before it
could take place. Darin was a chess
enthusiast. The Bobby Darin Show
featured a weekly chess problem. He
played chess his whole life,
including the day before he died on
the operating table during surgery to
replace a heart valve. He taught his
wife, Sandra Dee, to play chess.
While he worked, she played chess
with the cast or crew, and was very
good, defeating most of her
opponents.
Pouri Darini (1991- ) is an Iranian

was 2548.
Actor Henry Darrow (1933- ) plays

chess. He once held former world
chess champion Boris Spassky to a
draw and says he played Bobby
Fischer. In an interview, he said he
won many chess championships
when he was young.
Dato Tan Chin Nam (1926- ) is a

chess philanthropist. He is a former
Malaysian Chess Association
President and first chess sponsor in
China. He was the first FIDE Deputy
President from Asia from 1982 to
1986. Since 2004, he has been
financing a chess festival organized
every year in Kuala Lumpur.
Rustem Hazitovic Dautov (1965- ) is

a Grandmaster (1990) from
Germany, born in Ufa, Russia on
November 28, 1965. In 1983, he was
the USSR Under-18 champion. In
1986, he won the Belarusian Chess
Championship. In 1989, he was
title. In 1991, he was awarded the
Grandmaster title. He moved to
Germany in 1992. In 1996, he tied
for 1st with Artur Yusupov in the
German Chess Championship. In
1999, he took 2nd in the German
championship. In 2000, he and his
German team won the silver medal
at the 34th Chess Olympiad in
Istanbul. He also won the bronze
medal for his rating performance and
a bronze medal for individual score
on third board. He married Petra
Stadler, who once may have been
involved with a relationship with
Bobby Fischer. He now works as an
instructor in an online poker
company. His best Elo rating was
2636 in 2002.
Alberto David (1970- ) is the first

Luxembourg Grandmaster (1998)
who now plays for Italy. In 2003, he
was awarded a gold medal for the
best individual performance at board
1 of the European Team
Championship. He has played board
1 for Luxembourg in six Chess
Olympiads from 1994 to 2006. In
2002, he won the individual silver
medal for board one, with 10 wins, 2
draws, and 1 loss. He won the Italian
Chess Championship in 2012 and
2016. His best Elo rating was 2631
in 2010.
Jacques Davidson (1890-1969) was

a Dutch chess player, considered the
first Dutch chess professional. For
awhile, he was a traveling salesman
for a publisher of encyclopedias. In
1921 and 1924, he took 2nd place in
the Dutch championship, behind
Max Euwe. In 1921, he finished 1st
at Amsterdam.
Nigel Rodney Davies (1960- ) is an

English Grandmaster (1993) who
now plays for Wales. In 1979, he
was British Under-21 champion. In
International Master title. In 1987,
he won the British Rapidplay Chess
has written at least 10 chess books.
He listed his other hobbies as tai chi,
qigong, and financial markets. His
highest Elo rating was 2530 in 1995.
In 2014, actress Viola Davis (1965- )

donated $30,000 to the chess club at
Central Falls High School in Rhode
Island. Davis' sister is teacher at that
school and Viola attend that school
in the 1980s.
Thomas Rayner Dawson (1889-

1951) was an analytical chemist and
head of the Intelligence Division of
the British Rubber Research
Association. He was the Problem
Editor for the British Chess
Magazine and the Fairy Chess
Review. He was considered the
father of Fairy Chess and invented
many fairy pieces and new chess
conditions for chess problems and
compositions. He composed 5,320
fairy chess problems, 885
directmates, 97 selfmates, and 138
endings. He was awarded prizes for
120 of his problems. He invented the
Nightrider and the Grasshopper. The
Nightrider moves like a knight, but
then can continue to moves as a
knight as long as the spaces visited
by all but the last jump remain
empty. The Nightrider is denoted as
an inverted knight. The Grasshopper
is denoted as an inverted queen. It
moves as a chess queen, but must
jump exactly one piece when it
moves, and it stops, directly at the
square after the piece it jumped.
Pieces jumped by a grasshopper are
not captured. (source: Chess Review,
Aug 1935, p. 191)
Lawrence Day (1949- ) is a

Canadian International Master
(1972), author, and journalist. In
2004 he won the first Canadian
Senior (over 50 years old) Chess
Championship with a perfect 5-0. He
has played for Canada in 13 Chess
Olympiads. He has a degree in
English Literature.
Day — Grimshaw, Ontario 1965
1.Nf3 d5 2.e4 c6 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Ng5
Nf6 5.Bc4 e6 6.O-O Qd4 7.Qe2
Nbd7 8.d3 exd3 9.Bxd3 Ne5 10.Rd1
Nxd3 11.Be3 Nf4 12.Qf3 Nh3+
13.gxh3 Qe5 14.Rd8+ Ke7 15.Rad1
1-0
Chakkravarthy Deepan (1987- ) is an

Indian Grandmaster (2006). His peak
In 1969, Max Delbruck (1906-1981)

shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine for his work in the
genetic structure of viruses. He was
a chess player. He invited many
people to his home and play chess at
no more than one minute per move.
(Source: Max Delbruck by Edward
Lewis, Oral History,
http://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/int
erview/cshl/memories/edward-lewis-
max-delbruck/ and Max Delbruck
and the New Perception of Biology,
1906-1981, by Walter Shropshire,
2006, p. 144)
Nicholas Ernest "Nick" de Firmian

(1957- ) is an American
won the Canadian Open
World Open and $21,000, at that
time a record for a Swiss system
tournament. He was U.S. chess
champion in 1987 (tied with Joel
Benjamin), 1995, and 1998. In 2002,
he tied for 1st in the U.S.
championship, but lost the playoff to
Larry Christiansen. He has a degree
in physics from the University of
California, Berkeley, and worked
with the IBM Deep Blue team in
1997, preparing the computer's
openings for its winning efforts over
world champion Garry Kasparov.
The U.S. Chess Federation awarded
him with "the 1999 Grandmaster of
the Year" title. He played on the
U.S. Olympiad team in 1980, 1984,
1986, 1988, 1990, 1996, 1998, and
in 1999. He currently resides in
Denmark.
De Firmian - Meyer, New York

1991 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4
Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4
8.e6 fxe6 9.Ng5 Bxb5 10.Nxe6
Bxd4 11.Nxb5 Qa5+ 12.Qd2 Bf2+
13.Kd1 Qa4 (13...Ne3+) 14.Qe2 Kf7
15.b3 Qa6 16.Ng5+ Kg7 17.Qxe7+
Kh6 18.Nf7+ (18...Kg7 19.Nxd6+
Kh6 20.Nf5+ gxf5 21.Qg5 mate) 1-0
Adrian de Groot (1914-2006) was a

Dutch psychologist and chess master
who did the first psychological
enquiry into the minds of chess
players. His 1965 book, Thought and
Choice in Chess, showed the
different abilities of masters and
amateurs. He found that masters can
recall 93% of all the pieces on a
board of a chess position from a
game (not random) after looking at it
for 4 seconds. Experts remembered
72% and weaker chess players were
able to recall only 51% of the pieces.
When random positions were shown,
all levels of players recalled the
same percentage of pieces. This
suggested that masters were able to
use some form of chunking, or
pattern-matching, that allowed them
to recall the positions. He played on
the Dutch Olympiad team in 1936,
1937, and 1939.
Olivia de Havilland (1935-2009)

played chess. She played chess with
Errol Flynn on the set of 'They Died
with Their Boots On.' Her father,
Walter Augustus de Havilland,
played chess and was a member of
the local chess club.
Oscar de la Riva Aguado (1972- )

was born in Bracelona, Spain on
July 15, 1972. He won the Spanish
Under-16 championship in 1986,
1987, and 1988. He won the
Andorran championship in 2000,
2001, and 2007. He won the Spanish
championship in 2003. He was
awarded the Grandmaster title in
in 2004.
Jesus de la Villa (1958- ) is a

Spanish Grandmaster (1999). He
won the Spanish Championship in
2494 in 2009.
Film director Cecil B. de Mille

(1881-1959) played chess. He was a
member of the Hollywood Chess
Club and the Beverly Hills Chess
Club. He played a game of chess
against Jose Capablana in 1933.
Jules de Riviere (1830-1905) was a

leading French master of his day. He
was a frequent opponent of Morphy
and they were good friends. Morphy
pawned his watch that was given to
him by the Brooklyn Chess Club to
de Riviere, who loaned Morphy a
large sum of money. Morphy never
paid de Riviere back. Morphy and de
Riviere set out to write a book on
chess openings, but they never
completed or published the book.
Cecil de Vere (1845-1875) was born

in February 14 (Valentine's Day),
1845. His original name was Cecil
Valentine Brown. In 1857, at the age
of 12, he was taught who to play
chess by a strong London player,
Francis Burden (1830-1882). In
1859, he joined the City of London
Chess Club. In 1860, at the age of
15, he was a regular at Simpson's
Divan. In 1864, he played a number
of games against Reverend George
A. MacDonnell, winning the
majority of them. In 1865, he won a
match against Steinitz (+7-3=2),
with Steinitz playing odds of a pawn
and a move. In November, 1866, at
the age of 21, he won the 1st British
Chess Association Challenge Cup,
held in London, becoming the first
official British Chess Champion. He
remained the youngest titleholder for
over a century (until Nigel Short). In
June 1867, he took 5th at Paris
France, won by Kolisch. In
September 1867, he took 3rd-4th at
the 3rd Congress of the British
Chess Association at Dundee,
Scotland, won by Gustav Neumann.
While he was in Dundee, he learned
that he had tuberculosis
(consumption). He worked at Lloyds
Bank, but gave up his employment
when he discovered he had
tuberculosis. In 1868-69, he tied for
1st place at the 2nd British Chess
Association Challenge Cup, held in
London. He lost the play-off to
Joseph Blackburne. In 1870, he took
6th-7th at Baden-Baden, Germany.
In 1872, he took 3rd-5th at the 2nd
British Chess Federation Congress in
London. In 1872, he was the chess
editor of the Field, but lost it after 18
months through inattention to work
(he had become an alcoholic). In
1874, he lost a match against
Zukertort in London. He died of
tuberculosis and a penniless
alcoholic at the age of 29 on
February 9, 1875 at Torquay.
Burn - de Vere, London 1868 1.e4

e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Bd6
5.Nf3 Nc6 6.O-O Nf6 7.Re1+ Be6
8.Bf5 O-O 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Rxe6
Ne4 11.c4 Rxf3 12.gxf3 Qh4
13.Rxd6? (13.fxe4) 13...Qxf2+
14.Kh1 Nxd6 15.cxd5 Re8 16.Bd2
Re2 0-1
Dr. George Dean is founder and

President Emeritus of Chess
Collectors International. He is the
owner of the largest collection of
chess sets in the world. He owns the
only Faberge chess set in existence,
perhaps the most valuable chess set
in the world. His chess sets were
exhibited at the Karpov-Kasparov
World Championship match at the
Macklowe Hotel in New York. He is
a medical doctor from Detroit.
Jean-Marc Degreave (1971- ) is a

1987, he won the French Junior
Championship and was the European
Under-16 champion. He represented
France in the 2000, 2002, and 2004
Men's Chess Olympiads. His best
Aleksander Delchev (1971- ) is a

Bulgarian Grandmaster (1997). He
was the Bulgarian Under-20
champion in 1990 and 1991. He won
the Bulgarian championship in 1994,
1996, and 2001. He has played for
Bulgaria in 7 Chess Olympiads. His
Neuris Delgado-Ramirez is a
Paraguayan Grandmaster (2002). His
Eugene Delmar (1841-1909) was

born in New York City on
September 12. 1841. In 1874, he
won the Brookyn Chess Club
championship. In 1876, he tied for
2nd place in the New York Clipper
tournament, behind James Mason. In
1879, he defeated Sam Loyd in a
match in New York (+5-1=2). In
1885, he won the 7th and 8th
championship. In 1888, he defeated
Samuel Lipschuetz in a match in
New York (+5-3=0). In 1890, 1891,
1895, and 1897, he won the New
York State Chess Association
championship. In 1904, he took last
place at Cambridge Springs (+3-
9=3). For over 50 years, he was a
leading chess player in America. He
died on February 22, 1909 in New
York City.
Yelena Dembo (1983- ), Russian-

born, is a Greek Woman
Grandmaster and an International
Master (2003). She became a
Woman GM when she was 17. She
likes to jog, play table tennis, make
candles, and listen to music. Her
Anton Demchenko (1987- ) is a
Russian Grandmaster (2013).
Arnold Denker (1914-2005) was a

onetime boxer and boxing manager.
Denker was a Golden Gloves boxing
quarterfinalist in New York and won
three Golden Gloves bouts by
knockouts in the welterweight
division. He later became a boxing
manager. He was also a promising
young baseball player who later got
a job at a meat-packing company
(1937). Denker began playing chess
as a high school freshman at
Theodore Roosevelt High School in
New York. He learned chess by
watching his older brothers play. He
began playing against a neighbor,
then against his neighbor's nephew,
Irving Chernev. He graduated from
New York University. He won the
New York State chess championship
in 1938 and 1939. He won the
Championship in 1939/40 and in
1943/44. He won the 1944 U.S.
Chess Championship with 14 wins, a
record. He also won it in 1946 when
he defeated Herman Steiner in a
match. In 1942 he beat Reshevsky
on time in the U.S. Championship.
While spectators watched, the
tournament director (Walter
Stephens) mistakenly declared that
Denker's time had expired. He was
looking at the clock backwards and
refused to change is decision, which
ultimately gave Reshevsky the title.
Denker once appeared in an
advertisement for Camel cigarettes.
He set a world record of playing 100
opponents in 7.33 hours. He won the
Championship six times. During
World War II, he gave simultaneous
chess exhibitions at military bases
and on board aircraft carriers. Like
Reuben Fine, he was invited by the
US government to help crack enemy
codes. He later became the owner
and was doing $38 million a year in
sales when he retired in 1974. He
retired as a millionaire and moved to
Florida. He received an Honorary
Grandmaster title in 1981 (he was
title in 1950). He authored The
Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other
Stories. He died of brain cancer at
the age of 90. He was inducted in the
US Chess Hall of Fame in 1992. In
2004 he was proclaimed Dean of
American Chess, a title given earlier
to Hermann Helms and George
Koltanowski. In 1984 he sponsored
the national championship of high
school state chess champions,
known as the Denker Championship.
Denker - MacMurray, New York

1932 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6
4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 d5 6.Qa4 Qd7
7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nxd5 Qxd5 9.Nb5
Qd7 10.Bd2 e5 (10...a6) 11.O-O-O
Bc5? (11...a6) 12.Bg5 Qf5 13.Nc7+
Kf8 14.Rd8+ Nxd8 15.Qe8 mate 1-0
In February 2017, an 18-year-old

Iranian Woman Grandmaster (2016)
and International Master (2016),
Dorsa Derakhshani (1998- ), was
kicked off the Iranian national chess
team after competing in an
(Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival)
without a hijab (headscarf). She has
been prohibited from competing in
national tournaments, and from
joining the Iranian national chess
team. Following the ban,
Derakhshani accepted a place at
Saint Louis University to study
biology, winning a scholarship to
play in the St Louis University
Chess Team
15-year-old FIDE Master Bona

Derakhshani was banned from any
Iranian chess tournaments because
he competed against an Israeli chess
player at the Tradewise Gibraltar
Chess Festival. Iran does not
recognize the state of Israel, and
forbids its competitors from facing
off against Israeli rivals at sporting
events, including chess.
Job Nightingale Derbyshire (1866-

1954) was a Nottingham
manufacturer and chess patron who
underwrote the Nottingham 1936
tournament. He was a past president
of the British Chess Federation.
Alexandre Deschapelles (1780-

1847) was probably the strongest
player in the world from 1800 to
1824. He claimed to have mastered
chess in four days of study. He lost
his right arm fighting the Prussians
in Napoleon's army. He gave up
chess and took up whist when he
could no longer beat his opponents
at odds. George Perigal, after
interviewing him, wrote: "M.
Deschapelles is the greatest chess
player in France; M. Deschapelles is
the greatest whist player in France;
M. Deschapelles is the greatest
billiards player in France; M.
Deschapelles is the greatest
pumpkin-grower in France; M.
Deschapelles is the greatest liar in
France." He gave up chess when he
was defeated by La Bourdonnais,
then became an expert at whist. He
was arrested for being involved in
the French insurrection of June
1832. He was released a month later
after writing to the king that he was
too old, too infirmed, and innocent.
Earlier, when he was a soldier, he
was very seriously wounded on the
battlefield against the Austrians and
was left for dead. He was covered
with so many wounds, he was not
recognizable.
Momcilo Despotovic is a Serbian

at the World Student Team
Championship in Dresden, the
Yugoslavian player Momcilo
Despotovic was playing the
American player Gregory DeFotis,
who had white. DeFotis got in time
trouble and was depending on
Despotivic's score sheet to determine
when 40 moves were made before
time control at 5 hours. Despotovic
relaxed, made his next move, wrote
it as move 41, and walked away
from the board. DeFotis had 25
seconds left and thought he made
time control since his opponent had
turned over the score sheet after
recording what was seemingly his
41st move. When DeFotis saw his
flag fall, he thought he had made
time control. But Despotovic
swooped back to the board and
immediately claimed a win on time,
stating that his own score
"accidently" contained a duplication
of one move and hence only 40
white moves had been played.
Despotovic was awarded the point. It
was alleged that Despotovic
pretended to make 41 moves in order
to mislead his opponent. Despotovic
pulled the same trick on another
opponent during the tournament.
Andrei Deviatkin (1980- ) is a

Russian Gandmaster (2008). In
2011, he won the Doeberi Cup in
Canberra, Australia. His peak rating
was 2608 in 2010.
Attilio Di Camillo (1917-1962) won

the Pennsylvani Championship 3
times. He was the coach/trainer of
Chalres Kalme, Lisa Lane,Sol
Wachs, and John Hudson. (source:
Chess Review, Apr 1962, p. 102)
Andre Diamant (1990- ) is a

Brazilian Grandmaster (2009). He
won the Brazilian Championship in
2008 and 2009. His peak rating is
2533 in January 2018.
Actor Dustin Diamond (1977- ) is a

chess player. In 2001, he made a
video called Dustin Diamond
Teaches Chess. His father taught
him how to play chess. He said he
was master strength, but his highest
USCF rating was 1369 in 1999.
Emil Josef Diemer (1908-1990) was

a German master who contributed to
the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, 1.d4
d5 2. e4 dxe4 3.f3 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3
d5 3.e4. In 1935/36 and 1936/37 he
took first place in the Premier
Reserves Major Tournament at
Hastings. In 1965 he was committed
to a psychiatric clinic and was told
not to play chess. He returned to
chess in the 1970s. He had been a
member of the Nazi party and was a
chess reporter in the 1930s and
1940s. He became preoccupied with
Nostradamus, with interpreting the
past and foretelling the future.
Diemer — NN, Germany 1948 1.d4

d5 2.a3 a6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e3 c5 5.dxc5
Bxc5 6.b4 Be7 7.Bb2 Bf6 8.Nf3 b5
9.e4 Qc7 10.e5 Bxe5 11.Nxb5 1-0
Mark Diesen (1957- ) is an

International Master (1976), U.S.
Co-Junior Champion (with Michael
Rohde) and World Junior Champion
in 1976 (played in Groningen,
Holland). He became the first U.S.
player to win the World Junior
Championship since Bill Lombardy
did it in 1957. At 19, he was the
youngest U.S. International Master
since Fischer. In 1980 he played in
the U.S. Championship, but fell and
got hurt after 3 rounds, then
withdrew. In 2003 he won the Texas
State Championship. He has a
degree in Chemical Engineering.
Jesus Diez del Corral (1933-2010)

was a Spanish Grandmaster (1974).
He won the Spanish Chess
was an accountant by profession. His
Ding Liren (1992) is a Chinese

Chinese Championship in 2009,
2011, and 2012. In July 2016, he
was the highest rated Blitz player in
the world. His peak rating was 2783
in June, 2017. In September 2017,
he became the first Chinese player to
qualify for a Candidates
Tournament. He attends Law School
at Peking University.
In 1933, Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

his work in quantum mechanics. He
was a chess player, probably taught
by his father, who gave him a chess
set for Christmas. In his biography,
The Strangest Man — The Hidden
Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius,
by Graham Farmelo, it stated that
Dirac worked all day long and took
time off only for his Sunday walk
and to play chess. He beat most
students in the college chess club,
sometimes several at the same time.
He served for many years as
president of the chess club of St.
John's College, Cambridge. With his
stepson, he would go over chess
problems that they found in
newspapers. He played chess with
friends such as Peter Kapitza (1894-
1984), a Russian physicist, who
taught Dirac how to play tennis.
When he lectured, he sometime
linked subatomic particles to chess.
In 1929, Dirac discussed chess
problems with Heisenberg on their
tour to Japan. After his return to
Leipzig, Heisenberg wrote to Dirac:
"You are wrong...in the question of
mating a King and a Knight with a
King and Rook; this is not possible
according to the edition of 1926 of
Dufresne's handbook of chess (the
best book about theory of chess)."
(source: Dirac: A Scientific
Biography, by Helge Kragh, 1990, p.
259)
Nathan Divinksy (1925-2012) was a
Canadian chess master and played in
several Canadian chess Olympiads.
He served as assistant dean of
science at the University of British
Columbia. His former wife (1972-
1983), Kim Campbell, was the 19th
Prime Minister of Canada. Divinsky
received a B.S. from the University
of Manitoba. Divinksy received an
M.S. and a Ph.D. in Mathematics
from the University of Chicago and
became a mathematics teacher at the
University of Manitoba. He then
moved to Vancouver, BC where he
served as mathematics professor and
assistant dean of science at the
University of British Columbia. He
was an alderman on the Vancouver,
BC city council and was Chair of the
Vancouver School Board. He served
as president of the Canadian Chess
Federation.
Rune Djurhuus (1970- ) is a

Norwegian Grandmaster (1996). In
1985, he won the Norwegian Junior
won the European Junior
Championship.
Maxim Dlugy (1966- ) was born in

Moscow on January 29, 1966. His
father was a textile engineer and his
mother was a medical doctor. At the
age of 6, he learned chess from his
grandfather, who was an
International Master strength player.
In March 1977, he and his family
immigrated to New York. He
became a master in 1980, and
International Master in 1982, and a
Grandmaster in 1986. In 1984, he
tied for 3rd at the U.S. chess
championship. In April 1985, at the
age of 19, he advanced to the
interzonals (he played in the Tunis
Interzonal), the youngest U.S. player
since Fischer. He tied for 6th-8th
place (won by Yusupov). In 1985, he
won the World Junior Chess
Championship. In 1985, he took 2nd
in the New York Open. In 1986 he
played first board on the U.S.
Olympiad chess team in Dubai. In
Grandmaster title. In 1987, he won
the National Open in Las Vegas. In
1987 he tied for 3rd in the U.S.
$32,000 Samford Chess Fellowship.
In 1988, he won the World Open in
Philadelphia. In 1988 and 1990, he
won the US Open blitz
championship. From 1988 to 1993,
Dlugy was ranked number 1 in the
world in the World Blitz Chess
Association. In 1989, he tied for 1st
at the American Open. He was
elected President of the USCF (the
first Grandmaster to be elected
President) in 1990 and was USCF
president from 1990 to 1993. In
1991, he won the 2nd Harvard Cup
man-machine tournament. In 1992,
he was the 3rd highest rated player
in the USA, behind Kamsky and
Kaidanov. In the 1990s he worked
for Bankers Trust on Wall Street as a
securities trader. He had answered
an ad by Bankers Trust and was
hired and became involved in hedge
funds. Eventually, he became a
principal of the Russian Growth
Fund. In 2002, he was the
investment manager to Russian
Growth Fund (based in the Virgin
Islands), which invested in a
magnesium plant in Solikamsk
(Russia's second biggest magnesium
plant; the USA buys 60% of its
production). Garry Kasparov once
served as a senior advisor at the
Russian Growth Fund. From June
2003 to August 2003 he was the
plant's chairman of the board. In
April 2005, he was arrested in
Moscow on fraud charges. He had
been wanted since November, 2004.
He was charged with attempting to
defraud the company of $9 million
worth of bonds. He was transferred
to a prison in Perm, central Russia.
He faced up to 10 years in a Russian
prison. All the charges against him
were later dropped. He played in the
2006 US Chess Championship and
had a plus score.
Shamkovich - Dlugy, New York

1983 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6
4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.O-O a6 7.Qe2
cxd4 8.exd4 Be7 9.Nc3 b5 10.Bb3
Bb7 11.Bg5 O-O 12.Rfe1 Nc6
13.Rad1 Nd5 14.Nxd5 Bxg5
15.Nb6? (15.Nc3) 15...Nxd4
16.Nxd4 Qxb6 17.Qg4 Bf6 18.Nxe6
Bc8 0-1
Anatoly Dobrynin (1919-2010) was

Soviet Ambassador to the United
States from 1962 to 1986. He was a
chess player. He occasionally played
chess with Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Yury Dokhoian (1964- ) is a Russian

was 2580 in 1994.
Sergey Viktorovich Dolmatov

(1982). In 1978 he won the World
Junior Championship. He was a
former student of Botvinnik. In
1989, he tied for 2nd place in the
USSR Championship. He took 1st
place at Hastings in 1989/1990. He
has been Kasparov's second. His
Kasparov — Dolmatov, Moscow

1977 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3
Be7 5.Bd3 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Bxc4
c5 8.Qe2 cxd4 9.exd4 Nc6 10.Rd1
b6 11.Nc3 Nb4 12.Bg5 Bb7 13.Ne5
Nfd5 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.a3 Nf4
16.Qg4 Nbd5 17.Nxd5 Nxd5 18.Re1
Rad8 19.Bd3 f5 20.Qg3 Nf6
21.Rac1 Rxd4 22.Nc6 Bxc6 23.Rxc6
Qd7 24.Bb5 Ne4 25.Qb3 a6 0-1
Leinier Dominguez-Perez (1983- ) is

a Duban Grandmaster (2001). In
2008, he won the World Blitz
Cuban Championsip 5 times. He has
won the Capablanca Memorial 3
times. His peak rating was 2768 in
2014 when he was ranked #10 in the
world.
William John Donaldson (1958- ) is

an International Master (1983). In
1988 he was the captain of the US
team at the Saloniki, Greece
Olympiad when he eloped with one
of the top Russian lady players,
Elena Akhmilovskaya. They
divorced two years later. He is
director of the San Francisco
Mechanics Institute Chess Club. He
has a BA in history from the
University of Washington. He has
been captain of the U.S. Chess
Olympic team six times. He edited
Northwest Chess from 1983 to 1984,
The Players Chess News from 1984
to 1985. He was a staff member for
Inside Chess for 11 years. He has
written over 20 chess books. His
Fricano — Donaldson, Milwaukee

2001 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6
7.Nc3 O-O 8.Be2 b6 9.O-O Bb7
10.f3 Nh5 11.f4 Nxf4 12.Rxf4 Nxd4
13.Bxd4 e5 14.Rf3 exd4 15.Nd5 Re8
16.Qf1 Bxd5 17.exd5 Qe7 18.Re1
Bh6 19.d6 Qxd6 20.c5 Qxc5 21.Bc4
d3+ 0-1
Alexander Donchenko (1998- ), born

in Moscow, is a German
Grandmaster (2015). His father,
Anatoly, is an International Master.
Alexander's peka rating was 2588 in
2015.
Harold Dondis (1922-2015) was

born on October 1, 1922 in
Rockland, Maine. He has been a
writer for the Boston Globe's chess
column for over 40 years, first
appearing in 1964. On March 2,
1964, he defeated Bobby Fischer is a
simultaneous exhibition. He is
considered the Dean of New
England Chess Journalists. He is a
former president of the
Massachusetts State Chess
Association (MSCA). In 1967, he
co-founded the U.S. chess Trust with
Ed Edmondson. He is a lawyer,
graduating from Harvard Law
School in 1945.
Johannes Hein Donner (1927-1988)

was a Dutch grandmaster (1959)
who won the Dutch championship in
1954, 1957, and 1958. In 1973,
during the Anglo-Dutch match,
chain smoker Jan Donner (1927-
1988) was filling up a large Bakelite
ashtray with all of his discarded
cigarettes. Cigarette after cigarette
and all the ashes were making a big
pile in the ashtray, much of which
was still emitting smoke. Eventually,
after several hours of play and
several packs of cigarettes, the
mountain of ash and discarded
cigarettes burst into flames, causing
the Bakelite ashtray to crack
completely in half. The players were
still transfixed on the position of
their game as the chess table started
to burn, with neither player
seemingly about to take any action
to control the fire. At this point, Ray
Keene picked up Donner's coffee
cup and threw the contents over the
fire. With the chess table now
covered in a mess, the players
looked at one another and offered a
draw, shook hands, and left the
table. Donner was the first
grandmaster that a Chinese player
defeated. At the Chess Olympiad in
Buenos Aries in 1978, Liu Wen Che
defeated Donner in 20 moves,
putting China on the chess map. In
1988, Grandmaster Jan Donner
(1927-1988) was asked how he
would prepare for a chess match
against a computer. Donner replied:
"I would bring a hammer." He
suffered a stroke in 1984 and was
confined to a nursing home in
Amsterdam until he died.
Enklaar - Donner, Netherlands 1976

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7
5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be3 Nbd7 7.e5 Ng4
8.Bd2 c5 9.exd6 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nf2
11.Qe2 e5 12.Qxf2 exd4 13.Nd5
Nc5 14.Ne7+ Kh8 15.Nxc8 Rxc8
16.O-O-O Qb6 17.Re1? (17.Qf3)
17...d3 (18.Kd1 dxc2+ 19.Ke2
Qxd6) 0-1
Josif Davidovich Dorfman (1952- )

is a Ukrainian trainer and
Grandmaster (1978) who was
Kasparov's second for four World
Championships. He tied for 1st place
(with Gulko) in the USSR
championship in 1977. He later
moved to Cannes, France. In 1988,
he won the French Championship.
Dorfman - Santos, St. Barbara 1992

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 4.Qc2 Nf6
5.g3 Nbd7 6.Bg2 Bd6 7.O-O O-O
8.Nbd2 b5 9.c5 Bc7 10.e4 e5
11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Bxe5 13.Nf3
Qe7 (13...Re8) 14.exd5 Nxd5
15.Re1 f6 16.Bf4 Qc7 17.Bxe5 fxe5
18.Nxe5 Bf5 19.Qb3 Rad8 20.Rad1
Rfe8 21.Bxd5+ Rxd5 22.Rxd5 Be6
23.Nxc6 (23...Qxc6 24.Rxe6 Qxe6
25.Re5 Qxb3 26.Rxe8 Kf7 27.axb3
Kxe8 28.b4) 1-0
Kamil Dragun (1995- ) is a Polish

won the European under-14 Chess
World under-16 Championship. His
In September 1999, Laurence

Douglas, 32, stabbed Craig
Williams, 25, to death over a chess
game in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Williams beat Douglas in a chess
game that had a $5 wager. Williams
took a $5 bill from Douglas after the
game and Douglas then stabbed
Williams 16 times. Douglas was
sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In 1985, Nicholas Down, a former

British Junior Correspondence chess
champion and Cambridge graduate,
entered the British Ladies
Championship as Miss Leigh
Strange. He (she) won the event (he
won all the games but one) and 15
British pounds. He was later caught
(a friend turned him in) and admitted
his deception was a prank that got
out of hand. He also signed up for
the Ladies Postal Olympiad and
started to play before being caught.
He was later banned from the British
Correspondence Chess Association
for two years. The title went to the
runner-up, Doreen Helbig.
Edward Steven Doyle (1959- ) was

President of the United States Chess
Federation from 1984 to 1987, the
youngest person ever to be elected to
that position. In 1986, from the
efforts of Steve Doyle, the U.S.
Chess Hall of Fame was created at
USCF headquarters in New
Windsor, New York. He is a Past
President of the New Jersey State
Chess Federation. From 1996 to
2006 he was Vice President of
FIDE. He is the only living
American to be an Honorary
Member of FIDE. He holds an MBA
and worked at Prudential and Aetna.
Alexei Dreev (1969- ) was a Russian

Grandmaster (1990) who was World
Under-16 champion (1983-84). He
began to play and study chess at age
6. He was European Junior
Champion in 1988. In 2004, he
finished 3rd in the Russian
championship. His peak Elo reating
was 2711 in 2011.
Dreev - Agnos, Arnhem 1989 1.e4

d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Nbd7
5.f4 h6 6.Bh4 Nh5 7.f5 Bg7 8.Bc4
Nhf6 9.fxg6 fxg6 10.Nf3 g5 11.Bg3
Nh5? (11...Nb6) 12.Ne5 Nxg3
13.Nf7 Nxh1 14.Nxd6+ Kf8 15.Qh5
(threatening 16.Qf7 mate) 1-0
Petar Drenchev (1977- ) is a

Bulgarian Grandmaster (2011). His
Yuri Drozdovskij (1984- ) is a

2006, he won the Europan Rapid
2627 in 2011.
Dr. Leroy Dubeck (1939- ) was

United States Chess Federation
Secretary from 1966 to 1969, and
President from 1969 to 1972. He has
a Ph.D. in Physics from Rutgers
University. He was President, Vice-
President or Secretary of the New
Jersey State Chess Federation for
over 20 years. He is a retired
Professor of Physics from Temple
University. He is a science fiction
writer.
Serafino Dubois (1817-1899) was

Italy's leading chess player in the
mid 19th century. In 1847, he edited
the first chess column (L'Album) in
Italy.
Danil Dubov (1996- ) is a Russian

months, and 14 days. His peak rating
was 2694 in January 2018.
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was

born in Blainville-Crevon, France. In
June 1915, he immigrated to the
United States and worked as a
librarian. In 1918, he went to Buenos
Aires, Argentina, where he remained
for 9 months playing chess. In 1919,
he moved back to Paris, and then
back to the United States in 1920. In
1920, he joined the Marshall Chess
Club in New York and played chess
there every evening. In 1923, he
moved to Brussels and played in the
1923 Belgium Chess Championship
and took 3rd place. He then moved
back to Paris. His main interest was
now chess. In 1924, he played in the
world amateur championship. He
played in four French
Championships from 1924 to 1928
and earned the title of chess master.
He represented France in four Chess
won the Paris championship in 1932.
In 1933, he won the European
correspondence chess championship.
In June 1942, he moved in
Greenwich Village in New York and
formed the Greenwich Village Chess
Club. He played in the New York
State Championship from 1948 to
1957. In 1955, he became a
naturalized U.S. citizen. In 1927, he
married his first wife, the young
heiress Lydie Sarazin-Lavassor, and
went on their honeymoon. The
honeymoon did not go well. One
night when he was asleep, she glued
all of his chess pieces to the chess
board because he spent his
honeymoon week studying chess.
They were divorced 3 months later.
Duchamp later married Alexina
"Teeny" Sattler in 1954. They were
both avid chess players. In 1961,
Marcel Duchamp persuaded several
eminent painters and artists to
donate their work to help raise
money for the American Chess
Foundation (ACF). He held an
auction at the Parke-Bernet Galleries
and raised $81,930 for the ACF.
Included in the list of distinguished
patrons of the action was Eleanor
Roosevelt. (source: Chess Review,
June 1961, p. 164) He visited the set
of "Paris Blues" to teach Duke
Ellington to play chess. Ellington
watched Duchamp demonstrate the
fundamental moves, then made his
sole comment, "Crazy, man, crazy."
Duchamp - E. Smith, Hyeres 1928

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Bc3 b6
5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bd2 Ba6 7.Ne5 Nxc3
8.Bxc3 f6 9.e3 fxe5 10.Bxa6 Nxa6
11.Qa4+ Qd7 12.Qxa6 Be7 13.dxe5
O-O 14.O-O c5 15.Rad1 Qc7
16.Qc4 Qc6 17.a4 Rad8 18.f4 Rxd1
g6 (19...a5) 20.Rd6! Bxd6 21.Qxe6+
Rf7 22.exd6 Qd7 23.Qe5 (23...Rf8
24.Qh8+ Kf7 25.Qxh7+ Ke8
26.Qxg6+) 1-0
Jan-Krzysztof Duda (1998- ) is a

Polish Grandmaster (2013). He
became a GM at the age of 15 years
and 21 days. In 2008, he won the
World under-10 Chess
European Rapid Chess
1st in the World Junior
Bobby George Dudley (1928-2017)

was the owner and editor of Chess
Enterprises, and published over 100
chess books. In 1959, Captain
Dudley won the Chateaurox Air
Base Championship in France. In the
1960s, he was president of the Texas
Chess Association. He was a retired
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel.
Jean Dufresne (1829-1893) was a

German chess player and newspaper
editor in Berlin. He wrote novels
under the pseudonym E.S. Freund,
an anagram of his real name. He was
a pupil of Adolf Anderssen.
Dufresne — Von Der Lasa, Berlin

1850 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6
4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6
7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Ba4 h6 9.Nf3 e4
10.Qe2 Be6 11.Ne5 Qd4 12.Bxc6+
Nxc6 13.Qb5 Bc5 14.Qxc6+ Ke7
15.Qb7+ Kd6 16.f4 Qf2+ 17.Kd1
Qxf4 18.Qc6+ Kxe5 19.d4 Bxd4
20.Qc7+ 1-0
John Foster Dulles (1888-1959) was

an American diplomat and served as
United States Secretary of State
under President Dwight D.
Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959.
During his college days, any social
contacts he had made generally came
through his interest in chess. He was
an expert chess player and strong
enough to play blindfold. He later
curtailed his chess activities when he
found the game getting too powerful
a hold over him. (source: Chess
Review, Sep 1955, p. 259)
Joaquim Manuel Durao (1930-2015)
was a Portuguese International
Master (1975). He has won the
Portuguese championship 13 times.
He played for Portugal in 10 Chess
Olympiads. He served as Vice
President of FIDE and president of
the Portuguese Chess Federation.
Durao - Horta, Lisbon 1954 1.e4 e6

2.d4 Nf6 3.Bg5 Be7 4.Bd3 O-O
5.Nc3 Nxe4? (5...Nc6) 6.Bxe7 Nxc3
7.Bxh7+ Kh8 8.Qh5 (8...Kg8
9.Bxd8) 1-0
Vasif Durarbayli (1992) is an

Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2010). In
won the European under 18
Championship. He currently studies
Economics at Webster University in
St. Louis, Missouri, and serves as
the President of the Student
Government Association.
Oldrich Duras (1882-1957) was one

of the top players in the world from
1906 to 1914. He then met and
married a wealthy woman and
withdrew from chess, becoming a
civil servant and, occasionally, a
chess journalist. Duras requested Å“
year off to prepare and play in chess
tournaments, but his employer
refused his request. During his
retirement, he became involved in
chess problem composition and was
ranked one of the finest problemists
of his day.
Duras - Jes, Pisek 1912 1.e4 e5 2.f4

exf4 3.Nf3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nc3
Qh5 6.d4 Bg4 7.Bxf4 Bxf3 8.Qxf3
Qxf3 9.gxf3 Nc6 10.Bxc7 Nxd4
11.O-O-O Ne6?? (11...Bc5) 12.Bb5+
Ke7 13.Nd5 mate 1-0
Fedor Dus-Chotimirsky (1879-1965)

was a Russian International Master
(1950). In 1909 he defeated the
eventual winners Lasker and
Rubinstein at St. Petersburg, but
took 13th place. He claimed he was
Alekhine's first chess teacher, in
1900. He played in five Soviet Chess
Championships. In 1954, he took a
move back against David Bronstein
in a tournament as spectators
watched his game. In response to the
crowd and the tournament director
who tried to intervene, he shouted,
"Hey, I just made a bad move and
now I an changing it to a good one.
To hell with the rules, this is chess."
The game continued as nothing
happened. Dus-Chotimirisky may
have been the person who coined the
name "Dragon Variation" of the
Sicilian Defense.
Dus-Chotimirsky — Sharov,
Moscow 1901 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O d6 5.d4 Nd7 6.Nc3
Be7 7.Be3 O-O 8.Qd2 Bf6 9.Ne2
Qe7 10.Ng3 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4
12.Bxd4 Ne5 13.f4 Ng4 14.Be2
Bxd4+ 15.Qxd4 Nxh2 16.Nh5 f5
17.Kxh2 g6 18.Bc4+ 1-0
Semyon Isaakovich Dvoirys (1958- )

was a Russian Grandmaster (1990).
In the 1990s, he once threw his shoe
across a tournament hall in the
Netherlands after he lost a game. He
was known to beat his head on the
floor with great force when he lost.
Eduard Dyckhoff (1880-1949) was a

German chess club activist and one
of the most enthusiastic propagators
of correspondence chess. In 1930, he
won the Internationaler
Fernschachbund (IFSB) world
correspondence championship. He
took second place in 1929, 1931 and
1936. In 1954, a giant Dychkhoff
Memorial Correspondence
Tournament was organized with
1,860 chess players from 33
countries. As many as 8,856 games
were played in this event. The event
was won by Lothar Schmid, who
later became a grandmaster in
correspondence and over-the-board
play.
In 2016, Bob Dylan (1941- ) won the

Nobel Prize in Literature for having
created new poetic expressions
within the great American song
tradition. He is the first songwriter to
win a Nobel Prize. He has been a
chess player all his life. In the Bob
Spitz biography on Dylan, there are
several paragraphs describing how
Dylan used to psyche out his
opponent out by talking during a
game of chess. There is also a report
that Dylan's manager paid Bobby
Fischer so Dylan could play a game
of chess with him.
Nana Dzagnidze (1987- ) is a

Georgian Grandmaster (2008). In
2017, she won the European
Women's Championship and the
Women's World Blitz Championship
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Her peak
rating was 2573 in 2015 when she
was ranked #3 woman in the world.
Marat Dzhumaev (1976- ) is an

won the championship of Uzbekistan
in 2012 and 2015. His peak rating
was 2569 in 2005.
Roman Dzindzichashvili (1944- )

was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR.
In 1962, he won the USSR Junior
Championship. In 1970, he earned
the title of International Master. He
played in the USSR championships
in 1971 and 1972. In 1976, he
immigrated to Israel. In 1977, he
won the championship of Israel and
earned the title of Grandmaster. In
1979, he settled in the United States.
He won the U.S. championship in
1983 and in 1989. In 1984, he
represented the USA in the Chess
Olympiad. He is the author of
several instructional chess videos.
Grigorian - Dzindzichashvili, USSR

1969 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5
4.c3 f5 5.d4 fxe4 6.Ng5 Bb6 7.d5 e3
8.dxc6 bxc6 9.h4 exf2+ 10.Kf1 cxb5
11.Qd5 Nh6 12.Qxa8 c6 13.Ne4 O-
O 14.Bg5? (14.b4) 14...b4
(threatening 15...Ba6 and mate) 0-1
Marcin Dziuba (1983- ) is a Polish

Grandmaster (2007).
Jim Eade (1957- ) is a chess writer,

editor, publisher, and organizer. He
is the author of Chess for Dummies
in 1996. He is a FIDE master (1993).
He has served as American Zone
President of FIDE from 2000 to
2002.
George Eastman (1903-1975) was
born in Stockholm. In 1923, he
moved to Toronto, Canada and won
the Toronto Championship 8 times.
He won the Canadian Championship
6 times. In 1932, he won the Ohio
State Championship. He won the
Michigan Championship 8 times
between 1933 and 1952. (source:
Chess Review, Aug 1949, p. 229)
Vincent Lanius Eaton (1915-1962),

born in Venezuela, was one of
America's greatest chess composers.
He graduated, cum laude, from
Harvard at the age of 18. He worked
as a scholar in the manuscript
division at the Library of Congress.
From 1939 to 1941 he was the
Problem Editor of Chess Review. He
published over a thousand chess
problems. He was an International
Judge for Chess Composition. He
died at the age of 46. (source: Chess
Review, June 1962, p. 190)
Archil Silovanovich Ebralidze

(1909-1960) was an International
Master from Soviet Georgia. He was
Tigran Petrosian's first trainer. He
was a former champion of Georgia.
In 1937, he took last place in the
10th USSR Championship (won by
Levenfish) without winning a single
game
In the early 1900s, future

astrophysicist Arthur Eddington
(1882-1944) was a member of the
Cambridge University Chess Club.
He is famous for his work regarding
the theory of relativity and the
natural limit to the luminosity of
stars.
Edmund Broadley Edmondson, Jr.
(1920-1982) was a former president
(1963-1966) and executive director
(1966-1977) of the U.S. Chess
Federation. From 1970 to 1977, he
was a member of the FIDE Bureau.
In 1969, he arranged the merger of
Chess Life and Chess Review
magazines to form Chess Life &
Review. He suffered a heart attack
while playing chess on the beach at
Waikiki, Hawaii. The Edmondson
trophy goes to the winner of the
National Open. He retired from the
U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant
Colonel, serving as an aircraft
navigator on tanker and bombers.
Romain Edouard (1990- ) is a

tied for 1st in the French
Dubai Open. In 2015, he tied for 1st
in the World Open. His peak rating
was 2702 in 2014.
Edward I (1239-1307) was King of

England in the 13th century. In 1270
he was playing chess against a
soldier in a room with a tiled roof.
He had just left his chair when
suddenly an immense rock fell on
the very spot where he had been
sitting. His brother-in-law, Alphonso
of Castile, commissioned one of the
most important manuscripts on
chess.
Zahar Efimenko (1985- ) is a

won the Ukrainian Championship.
Igor Efimov (1960- ) is a

Grandmaster (1992), born in Soviet
Georgia and later moved to Italy,
and then to Monaco. He won the
championship of Italy in 1998 and
Monaco in 2008 and 2015. His best
Jaan Ehlvest (1962- ) is an Estonian-

1980, he won the USSR Junior
on the World Junior championship.
From 1981-87 he studied and
graduated from Tartu State
University with a degree in
Psychology. In 1983, he won the
European Junior Championship. In
the 1980s, he was once banned from
playing chess by the Estonian Sports
Committee after a drinking incident
in Tallinn. In 1986, he won the
Estonian Championship. In 1987, he
took 3rd in the USSR Championship
and was awarded the Grandmaster
title. In 1988, he represented the
USSR in the Chess Olympiad. In
1991, is was ranked #5 in the world.
He played for Estonia in the Chess
Olympiads of 1992-2004. In 2003,
he won the World Open. In 2006, he
moved to the United States. He is the
author of Dutch Defense (1990) and
The Story of a Chess Player (2004).
Landenbergue - Ehlvest, New York

1993 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.f4 Be7
7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.e5 dxe5 9.fxe5 Nd5
10.Nxd5 exd5 11.e6 fxe6 12.Nxe6
Bb4+ 13.Bd2 (13.c3) 13...Qh4+
14.g3 Qe4+ 15.Kf2 Rf8+ (16.Bf4
Qxe6) 0-1
Louis Eichborn (1812-1882) was

born in 1812. He was a fellow
professor and collegue of Adof
Anderssen. In 1851, Eichborn won 2
games against Anderssen. In 1852,
he won 8 games and drew one game
in a match against Adolf Anderssen
in Breslau. In 1853, Eichborn won 9
games and lost one game against
Anderssen. In 1854, Eichborn won 4
games against Anderssen. In 1855,
Eichborn won 2 games and lost one
game against Anderssen. In 1857, he
won 4 games against Anderssen. In
1858, he won one game against
Anderssen. In 1859, he won one
game against Anderssen. From 1851
to 1859, Eichborn won 31 games,
lost 2 games and drew one game
against Anderssen. Eichborn died on
May 9, 1882 in Breslau. His games
were found among his papers after
he died. He had kept his wins and
some draws. He played 34 games
that we know of against Adolf
Anderssen. The games were
published in Adolf Anderssen, der
Altmeister Schachspielkunst, by
Gottschall in 1912. About 15 other
Eichborn's games with other
opponents were published by
Deutsche Schachzeitung during his
lifetime.
Vereslav Eingorn (1956- ) is a

Grandmaster (1986) from the
Ukraine. He won the Odessa
championship in 1977 and 1979. In
1984, he took 3rd place in the USSR
Chess Championship, held in Lvov.
He played for Ukraine in the 1992,
2000, and 2002 Chess Olympiads. In
2007, he was awarded the title of
FIDE Senior Trainer. His best Elo
In 1921, Albert Einstein (1879-

Physics for his discovery of the law
of the photoelectric effect. In 1927,
Einstein met Dr. Emanuel Lasker in
Berlin, and they became good
friends, even sharing an apartment.
Einstein wrote a preface to Hannak's
Emanuel Lasker, the Life of a Chess
Master. Einstein was an amateur
chess player who played with
neighbors and friends when he lived
in Princeton, New Jersey. He always
had a chessboard set up at his home.
He was probably most active in
chess in the late 1920s and early
1930s. Some sources say that
Einstein was so against conflict of
any kind that he didn't even like to
play chess, bridge, or the new game
of Monopoly. In an interview with
the New York Times in 1936 Albert
said, "I do not play any games.
There is no time for it. When I get
through work I don't want anything
which requires the working of the
mind." He did play chess with
friends, however. Einstein's son was
also a chess player.
Folke Ekstrom (1906-2000) was an

International Correspondence Master
(1971) and International Master
(1950) from Swden. In 1945-46, he
took 2nd place at Hastings, behind
Tartakower. He was Swedish
European correspondence champion
in 1967-1972.
Filipe de Cresce El Debs (1985- ) is

a Brazilian Grandmaster (2010). In
2004, he won the Brazilian under-20
championship.
Essam El-Gindy (1966- ) is an

Egyptian Grandmaster (2008). In
2002, he won the Egyptian
championship. In 2003, he won the
African Championship. In 2009, he
won the Arab Chess Championship.
On Nov 26, 2016, GM (2013) Yuri

Eliseev (1996-2016) died in Moscow
at the age of 20. He died after falling
from a balcony on the 12th floor of
his Moscow apartment, apparently
while undertaking the extreme sport
of parkour. He was trying to reach
the balcony of a neighboring
apartment. In 2012, he was the world
under-16 chess champion.
Erich Eliskases (1913-1997) was

born in Austria. He was Austrian
champion in 1929 at the age of 16.
He was an International Master
(1950) and Grandmaster (1952). He
won the Hungarian Championship in
1934. In 1937, he was Alekhine's
second during the Alekhine-Euwe
world championship match. He won
the German championship in 1938
and 1939. For a time, he was
considered a likely contender for the
world title. He remained in
Argentina during a chess Olympiad
after World War II broke out. During
his career, he beat three world
champions: Capablanca, Euwe, and
Fischer. He played chess for three
different countries in Olympiads:
Austria (1930, 1933, 1935, 1936),
Germany (1939), and Argentina
(1952, 1958, 1960, 1964). He lived
in Brazil for awhile and could have
played for Brazil, but turned it
down.
Kozelen - Eliskases, Correspondence

1932 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 e4
4.Qe2 Nf6 5.Qb5+ c6 6.dxc6 bxc6
7.Qe5+ Be7 8.Ng5 Nbd7 9.Qf4 O-O
10.Nxe4 Nd5 11.Qf3 Re8 12.d3 Ne5
13.Qg3? (13.Qd1) 13...Bh4 14.Bg5
Bxg5 15.Qxg5 Qxg5 16.Nxg5 Nf3+
17.Kd1 Re1 mate 0-1
Urii Eliseev (1996-2016) was a

Moscow Championship. In 2016, he
won the Moscow Open. He died in
November 2016 at the age of 20
after falling from a balcony on the
12th floor of a Moscow apartment
building. Eliseev had been trying to
climb from a window to the balcony
but slipped. He was a parkour
enthusiast and had climbed between
the window and the balcony before.
Pavel Eljanov (1983- ) is a

In 2016, he won the Isle of Man
International tournament on tiebreak
over Fabiano Caruana. His peak
rating was 2765 in 2016. His father,
Vlaidmir, was an International
Master. Pavel is married to Woman
International Master Olena
Dvoretska.
In December 1927, Dr. Joseph Eljas,

President of the Reval, Estonia
Chess Club, was invited to a chess
tournament in Leningrad. As soon as
he entered Russia, he was arrested
by the Cheka. The Cheka, claiming
his notebooks, filled with chess
problems, were a secret cipher. He
was charged for spying for a foreign
power.
Noam Elkies (1966- ) is a chess

master and mathematician. He was
the youngest professor ever tenured
at Harvard (age 26). In 1981 and
1982 he placed first in the USA
Math Olympiad. He had a perfect
score in 1981. At age 18, he
graduated from Columbia University
as class valedictorian, majoring in
mathematics and music. He earned
his PhD from Harvard in
mathematics at age 20. He won the
world chess solving championship in
1996 and 2001. In 2001, he was
awarded the title of Grandmaster for
Chess Solving.
Larry Ellison (1944- ), founder and

former CEO of Oracle, used to play
tournament chess and said he put a
lot of work into that.
Russian-born Jewish violinist

Mischa Elman (1891-1967) was an
avid chess player. He often played
chess with Sergei Prokofiev and
other notables. He was elected an
honorary member of the Brooklyn
Chess Club in the early 20th
century.
Prfessor Arpad Emrick Elo (1902-
1992) was born in Egyhazaskeszo,
Hungary. He moved to the United
States with his parents in 1913. He
played in 37 consecutive state
championships in Wisconsin, from
1933 to 1970, winning the title 8
times. He was president (1935-1937)
of the American Chess Federation
(ACF) before it merged and came
part of the U.S. Chess Federation
(USCF) in 1939. He was Chaiman of
the USCF Rating Committee from
1969 to the late 1970s. He
introduced his rating systems in the
United States in 1950. He is
considered the father of scientific
chess ratings and his Elo rating
system was adopted by the USCF in
1960 and by FIDE in 1970. He was a
professor of physics and astronomy
at Marquette University in
Milwaukee for 30 years (1934 to
1969). He was a lecturer in Physics
and Astronomy at the University of
Wisconsin from 1969 to the late
1970s. He died of a heart attack in
1992 in Milwaukee at the age of 89.
(source: Chess Life, Jun 1972, p.
353 and New York Times, Nov 14,
1992)
Thomas Emery (1896-1975), a

former marine, was the principal
benefactor of the American Chess
Foundation. He sponsored the
Armed Forces Championship (the
Thomas Emery Trophy) beginning
in 1960. He donated over one
million dollars to chess during his
lifetime.
John Emms (1967- ) is a

Grandmaster (1995) from England.
In 1997, he tied for 1st in the British
Championship. He has written at
least 30 chess books. His best Elo
Lucius Endzelins (1909-1981) was a

(1959). He tied for 2nd place (with
Lothar Schmid) in the 2nd World
Correspondence Championship, held
from 1956 to 1959. He won the
Australian championship in 1961.
He was born in Estonia.
Jen Enevoldsen (1907-1980) was an

International Arbiter (1960) from
Denmark. He won the championship
of Denmark 5 times (1940, 1943,
1947, 1948, 1960). He played for
Denmark in 10 Chess Olypiads. He
was the author of several books on
bridge and chess. His historical Elo
rating was 2430.
Berthold Englisch (1851-1897) was

an Austrian chess master of
grandmaster strength. He won the
German championship at Leipzig in
1879. He was one of the early
pioneers of the Orangutan Opening,
1.b4. He took ill from a brain
infection while playing in a chess
tournament in Berlin in September
1897 and withdrew after 12 rounds.
He then returned to Vienna and died
on October 19, 1897, two weeks
after the tournament ended. He was
46.
Englisch — Gifford, Paris 1878 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6
5.d3 d6 6.Nc3 Bd7 7.O-O Ne7
8.Bb3 Ng6 9.Ng5 d5 10.Nxd5 Be6
11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6
13.Qg4 Kd7 14.Bg5 Qf7 15.d4 exd4
16.f4 Ne7 17.f5 1-0
On October 10, 1858, the German

writer, diplomat, and soldier,
Vanhargen von Ense (born in 1785),
died while playing a game of chess
with his niece. (source: New York
Times, Nov 3, 1858)
Albert William Ensor (1843-1883)

won the first complete Canadian
Chess Championship in 1873. He
had the ill fortune of being arrested
and imprisoned in various countries.
In Germany, he was arrested for
gambling. In France, he was arrested
for forgery. In the United States, he
was arrested for counterfeiting in
1875. He later began a chess column
in the Buffalo Morning Express and
a correspondent to the chess column
of the New York Clipper.
Charles D'Eon de Beaumont (1728-

1810) was a French chess player and
male transvestite who was a
diplomat for Louis XV. He once
beat Philidor in one of Philidor's
blindfold exhibitions.
Vladimir Epishin (1965- ) is a

Grandmaster (1990) from Russia. He
won the St. Petersberg championship
twice. He was Karpov's second from
1987 to 1996. In 1989, he won the
U.S. Open. His best Elo rating was
2675 in 1994.
Esther Epstein (1954- ) is a systems

manager for the Bio-Molecular
Engineering Research Center
(BMERC) at Boston University. She
is a Woman International Master
(1972) and won the U.S. Women's
chess championship in 1991 and
1997. She is married to GM Alex
Ivanov.
Domenico Ercole del Rio (1718-

1802) was an Italian lawyer who, in
1750, wrote an 110-page chess book
called Sopra il giuoco degli scacchi
osservazioni pratiche d'anonimo
autore Modenese (Practical
observations on the game of ches by
an anonymous author of Modena).
He was a leading member of the
Modena School of chess theorists in
Italy and a chess problem composer.
Viktor Erdos (1987- ) is a Hungarian

won the Hungarian Chess
2658 in 2013.
Evgenij Petkov Ermankov (1949- )

is a Grandmaster (1977) born in
Bulgaria. He became an
International master in 1974 and a
Grandmaster in 1977. He won the
Bulgarian Chess Championship in
1973, 1975, 1976, 1979, and 1984.
He played for Palestine from 2003 to
2010. He represented Bulgaria in the
Chess Olympiads from 1978 to
1992, taking the individual bronze in
1990. He represented Palestine in the
Chess Olympiads from 2004-2008.
In 2004, he was awarded the gold
medal for best individual
performance (10.5 out of 12) on
board one in the Chess Olympiad in
Calvia. . In 2006, he was awarded
the silver medal for individual
performance on board one in the
Chess Olympiad in Turin. His best
Elo rating was 2520 in 1978
Ermenkov — Miagmarsuren, Valetta

1980 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 a6 4.d4
cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.f4 Qc7 7.Be2 Nc6
8.Be3 Nf6 9.O-O Bd7 10.Qe1 Nxd4
11.Bxd4 Bc6 12.Bf3 Be7 13.Qg3 O-
O 14.Rae1 Ne8 15.Kh1 Rc8 16.Qh3
b5 17.a3 a5 18.e5 b4 19.axb4 axb4
20.Ne4 d5 21.Nf6+ gxf6 22.Qh6
Bb5 23.exf6 Bc5 24.Be4 1-0
Thomas Filip Rolf Ernst (1960- )

earned a PhD in mathematics with a
dissertation on q-calculus. He is a
professor of mathematics at Uppsala
University. He is a Grandmaster
from Sweden (1991). His peak rating
was 2570 in 1992.
Baris Esen (1986- ) is a Turkish

Grandmaster (2010).
Ermes Espinosa-Veloz is a Cuban

Grandmaster (2017).
Actor Erik Estrada (1949- ) plays

chess. He used to play chess against
William Windom and has played in
a celebrity chess tournament. An
online article says that Estrada
played in several USCF-rated
tournaments, maintaining a rating of
1400, but the present USCF rating
lookup shows no Erik Estrada.
Yakov Estrin (1923-1987) was a

Soviet GM. In 1962, Estrin tied for
1st place in the USSR
Correspondence Championship.
Estrin took 3rd in the 6th World
(1968-1971) and was the 7th
Correspondence Chess World
Champion (1972-1975). He was
awarded the Correspondence
Grandmaster title in 1966 and the
Grandmaster title in 1984. He was a
paratrooper, lawyer, and chess
professional. He played in the World
finals five times.
Estrin - Okley, Correspondence

1966 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6
4.d4 d6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6 7.Be3
Bf5 8.Nc3 e6 9.Nf3 Qd7 10.Be2
Rd8 11.O-O bg4 12.Ng5 Nxc4
13.Bf2 Bxe2 14.Qxe2 Be7 15.Qh5
g6 16.Qh6 Nxd4 17.Qg7 Rf8
18.Nxh7 Qc6? (18...Nxb2) 19.Bxd4
Rxd4 20.Nxf8 (20...Nxe5 21.Nxg6
fxg6 22.Qxe5) 1-0
Leonard Euler (1707-1783) was a

Swiss mathematician who made
discoveries in calculus and graph
theory. He is considered to be the
preeminent mathematician of the
18th century. Euler published the
first solutions to the Knight's Tour.
He made the first serious
mathematical analysis of the
Knight's Tour in 1758. The knight's
tour is moving the knight through all
the squares of a chess board, without
ever moving two times to the same
square, and beginning with a given
square. Euler took up the game of
chess but was disappointed with how
well he played. He is said to have
take up chess lessons, perhaps with
Philidor.
Machgielis (Max) Euwe (1901-

1981) was a former FIDE President
(1970-1978) who was twice world
champion - 1935-37 (5th official
world champion) and for one day in
1947. In July 1947, the FIDE
Congress, held in The Hague, voted
for Euwe to be world champion
since Alekhine died. However, the
Soviet delegation, which joined
FIDE in 1947, was late for this vote.
They later showed up and had the
title rescinded in favor of a match-
tournament. Euwe was world
champion again for two hours in
1947. He was once the former
amateur heavyweight boxing
champion of Europe. In the world
championship match-tournament in
1948, Euwe wore gloves while
playing his games. When he was
asked why, he said the feeling of
gloves on his hands psychologically
induced in him a fighting spirit. He
was a professor of mathematics
(Ph.D. in mathematics in 1926) and
mechanics. From 1930 to 1940 he
was a schoolmaster at a girls' school
in Amsterdam. Euwe learned chess
from his mother, who once played in
the Dutch Women's Championship.
In 1921 he won the Dutch
championship for the first time.
Euwe won the Dutch championship
13 times (1921, 1924, 1926, 1929,
1933, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1947, 1948,
1950, 1952, 1955). In 1928 he won
the Amateur World Championship.
He played in seven Chess
Olympiads from 1927 to 1962 as
board one for the Netherlands. He
could speak 5 languages. In the
1930s, former world champion Dr.
Max Euwe (1901-1981) was in the
train analyzing chess on his pocket
set. A stranger approached him and
asked if they could play a couple of
games. Euwe agreed and they played
a couple of games which he of
course all won. His opponent was
quite baffled by this and exclaimed:
"I have never lost so many games in
a row before. At the club they even
call me 'Little Euwe'." Max was
involved in computer research in the
late 1970s and was convinced that
grandmasters would not have to
worry about computers beating them
for another 100 years. Euwe won
102 first place prizes during his
career. He wrote over 70 chess
books.
Larry Melvyn Evans (1932-2010)

Manhattan, New York City. He
learned chess at a the age of 12 and
joined the Marshall Chess Club at
age 13. At age 14, he tied for 4th-5th
in the Marshall Chess Club
championship. In 1948, at age 15, he
was the champion of the Marshall
Chess Club, becoming the youngest
Marshall champion at that time. He
also finished equal 2nd in the U.S.
Junior Championship In 1948, at the
age of 16, he won the New York
State Championship. In 1949, he tied
with Arthu Bisguier for 1st place in
the U.S. Junior Championship. In
1950, he won a gold medal in the
Dubrovnik Chess Olympiad for best
individual performance on board 5.
In 1951, at age 19, he was the U.S.
Open Champion, the U.S. Closed
Champion, and the U.S. Speed
Champion. In 1952 he played and
won the last match for the U.S.
Championship. He defeated Herman
Steiner, 10-4. He won the Canadian
Open in 1956 and 1966. In 1956 the
U.S. State Department appointed
him as a "chess ambassador." In
1961, US chess champion Larry
Evans was giving a simultaneous
exhibition in a mental institution in
New York. He made pretty good
result but one opponent was playing
absolutely brilliant and defeated GM
Evans. Evans won 39 games and lost
one game. As he was leaving the
facility, Larry congratulated the
winner once again and the patient
said: "Mister Evans. For one it's not
indispensable to be crazy so he could
play good, but it really helps a lot."
He wrote or co-wrote more than 20
books on chess. This included:
David Bronstein's Best Games of
Chess, 1944-1949 (1950), Vienna
International Tournament 1922
(1950), Championship Chess and
Checkers for All (1953), Trophy
Chess (1956), New Ideas in Chess
(1958), Modern Chess Openings,
11th edition (1965, with Walter
Korn), Chess Catechism (1970),
Modern Chess Brilliancies (1970),
What's the Best Move (1973), Evans
on Chess (1974), The Chess
Opening for You (1975), An
Unbeatable White Repertoire after
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 (1976), How to Open
a Chess Game (1988), Lessons with
the Masters (1989), How to Get
Better at Chess (1991), Ten Most
Common Chess Mistakes — and
How to Avoid Them (1998), Test
Your Chess I.Q. (2001), Chess
Endgame Quiz (2002), How Good is
Your Chess (2004), This Crazy
World of Chess (2007). He has won
the U.S. championship five times
(1951, 1962, 1968, 1979, and 1980)
and the U.S. Open four times (1951,
1952, 1954, and 1955). He played on
8 US Olympiad teams between 1950
and 1976. He won the first Lone
Pine tournament in 1971. In 1994, he
of Fame. In 2000, he won the USCF
Chess Journalist of the Year award.
His best Elo rating was 2555 in
1977. His best USCF rating was
2631 in 1968.
Larry Evans - Bisquier, New York

1963 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5
4.Bg5 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Be7
7.e4 Nc6 8.Qe3 exd5 9.Bxf6 Bxf6
10.exd5+ Ne7 11.d6 Qxd6 12.Bb5+
Bd7 13.Rd1 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Qxd1+
15.Kxd1 Bxb5 16.Nf3 O-O-O+
(16...Bc4) 17.Kc1 Nc6 18.Qc5 Bd3
19.Ne5 Rhe8 20.Nxf7 (20...Rd7
21.Nd6+, winning the exchange) 1-0
William Davies Evans (1790-1872),

of Evans Gambit fame, started out as
a sailor for the British Royal Navy at
the age of 14. He then became a ship
captain in Wales on postal packet
ships, taking mail across the Irish
Sea. He was a sailor for nearly 40
years. He invented the tri-colored
lighting now used on all naval
vessels designed to prevent
collisions at night. Around 1825,
during shore leave in London, he
introduced the Evans Gambit. The
inscription on his gravestone in
Ostende, Belgium is wrong. It stated
that Evans was 80 when he died in
1872. He was 82.
Alexander Evdokimov (1985- ) is a

Alexander Evenson (1892-1919)
was a Russian master from Kiev. He
was a lawyer and served on a
military tribunal. After the Russian
revolution, he was arrested and shot
in Kiev after the return of the anti-
Bolshevik forces. He died at the age
of 27.
Georgy Evseev (1962- ) is a Russian

Grandmaster in Chess Solving
(1991). He won the world
championship in chess solving in
1989, 1990, 1991, and 1999. In
2014, he won the Russia Chess
Solving Championship. In 2015, he
won the European Chess Solving
Championship.
Abraham ibn Ezra (1092-1167) was

a Spanish rabbi of Toledo who wrote
the earliest Hebrew poem on chess.
The Latin title of the poem is
Carmina Rhythmica de Ludo
Schahmat and is 76 lines long. It is
the oldest source of chess rules.
Samuel Factor (1892-1949) was

born September 22, 1892 in Lodz,
Poland. He was one of the strongest
chess players in Lodz. He was a
former Chicago (1922, 1937) and
Illinois (1936, 1938) chess
champion. He won the 23rd Western
Chess Association (U.S. Open) in
1922, held in Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1928, he represented the USA at
third board in the 2nd Chess
Olympiad, held in The Hague. The
USA team won the silver medal. He
tied for 1st with Norman Whitaker in
the U.S. Open in 1930, held in
Chicago. He died in Chicago on
January 11, 1949.
Louisa Matilda Fagan (1850-1931)
was the winner of a chess
tournament in Bombay, India in
which 12 men took part. She won all
her games. She was disqualified
because she was a woman playing in
a club whose membership was
confined to men. She appealed this
decision in court and won. In 1897,
she took 2nd place (behind Mary
Rudge) in the Ladies' International
tournament in London. She became
an emancipation activist.
Hans Fahrni (1874-1939) was born

in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1874.
In 1892 he was joint Swiss chess
champion (with Corrodi). He was
the first master to play 100
opponents simultaneously. It took
place in 1911 at Munich. His score
was 55 wins, 39 draws, and 6 losses
in seven and a half hours. He took
1st place at San Remo in 1911. In
1916, suffering from psychosis, he
was hospitalized. He was released,
but following a relapse, he was
hospitalized again. In 1921 he was
diagnosed with catatonic
schizophrenia. He spent the rest of
his life traveling between hospitals
and chess tournaments. In 1922, he
was the first to write a chess
monograph on the opening 1.e4 Nf6,
calling it Alekhine's Defense. He
died in 1939 in Ostermundingen,
Switzerland.
Fahrni — Post, Barmen 1905 1.d4

d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Bf4 c5 5.Nc3
a6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 Nc6 8.Bd3 Bg4
9.Be5 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Nd7 11.Be2
Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Nxe5 13.Bxd5 Qd7
14.O-O Be7 15.f4 Nc6 16.Bxf7+
Kd8 17.Qb3 Kc7 18.Nd5+ Kb8
19.Nb6 Qf5 20.Be6 1-0
Actress Morgan Fairchild (1950- )

plays chess. In 1989, she hosted a
charity chess event in Mexico.
William Fairhurst (1903-1982) was a

recognized authority in the field of
civil and structural engineering and
the bridge designer. He started
designing bridges at the age of 20. In
1945, he wrote Arch Design
Simplified, a textbook on arch
bridges. He was the senior partner in
his own engineering consultancy. In
1959, he designed the Tay Road
Bridge, connecting Fife with
Dundee, which was built in 1966. At
the time, it was the longest river
crossing in Europe, measuring 1.4
miles. He incorporated several chess
motifs in the bridge design (the
walkway is a chess board pattern,
with a knight's move repeated in five
different colors of stone). He was
President of the Scottish Branch of
the Institution of Structural
Engineers. He also built
prefabricated houses. In 1961, he
was awarded the Order of Chivalry
by the British Empire for his
services to engineering. He still had
time to win the Glasgow
championship 18 times, the West
Scotland championship 16 times, the
Scottish championship a record 11
times, and the British championship
in 1937. He was awarded the
International Master title in 1951. He
was also the president of the Scottish
Chess Association for 13 years. He
moved to New Zealand in 1970.
Ernst Falkbeer (1819-1885) was an
Austrian player who contributed to
the King's Gambit. In 1855 he gave
the game between Anderssen and
Kieseritzky played in 1851 its name
of the Immortal Game. In 1856 he
was one of the top five players in the
world. From 1857 to 1859, he wrote
a chess column for the London
Sunday Times. From 1863 to 1867
he edited The Chess Player's
Magazine with Lowenthal. From
1877 to 1885, he wrote a chess
column for the Neue Illustrierte
Zeitung.
Falkbeer — Zytogorski, London

1856 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Qh4
4.Qe2 Bb4+ 5.c3 dxc3 6.bxc3 Bc5
7.Nf3 Qh5 8.g4 Qxg4? 9.Bxf7+ Kf8
10.Rg1 Qh3 11.Rg3 1-0
IvAn Farago (1946- ) is a Hungarian

Grandmaster (1976). In 1981 he tied
for 1st (with Portisch) in the
Hungarian championship. In 1986 he
won the Hungarian championship.
He has a degree in economics. His
Farouk of Egypt (1920-1965) was

king of Egypt. He was a chess
player. His chess set is on display in
the Royal Jewelry Museum in
Alexandria.
In 1933 Miss Fatima (1914- ?) won

the British women's chess
championship in 1933. She was a
servant to maharaja Sir Umar Hayat
Khan. Also in 1933, the British
men's champion was Mir Sultan
Khan, also a servant of Sir Umar
Khan.
Sergey Fedorchuk (1981- ) is a

Paris Championship. His peak rating
was 2674 in 2010.
Alexei Fedorov (1972- ) is a

Belarsian Grandmaster (1996). He
won the Belarusian Championship 4
2000.
John Fedorowicz (1958- ) is an

American Grandmaster (1986) who
was U.S. Junior co-champion in
1977 and champion in 1978. He won
the U.S. Open in 1981 and the New
York Open in 1989. He took 3rd in
the 1984 and the 1987 US
Championship. He is a four-time
World Open champion. He is known
as "the Fed." He lists his hobbies as
reading, cooking, playing and
watching sports.
Fedorowicz - Gomez, Candas 1992

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2
c5 5.Bxb4 cxb4 6.g3 O-O 7.Bg2 d6
8.O-O Qe7 9.a3 bxa3 10.Rxa3 Nc6
11.Nc3 Nb4 12.Qd2 b6 13.Na4 Na6
14.Rfa1 Ne4 (14...d5) 15.Qe3 f5
16.Nc3 Nxc3 17.Qxc3 Nb8
(17...Nc7) 18.Ne1 (18...d5 19.cxd5
Bb7 20.Rxa7) 1-0
Vladimir Fedoseev (1995- ) is a

2011, he won the Russian under-18
Aeroflot Open. In 2017, he tied for
1st in the European Championship.
In 2017, he took 2nd in the World
Rapid Chess championship. His
In the 1940s, character actor Fritz

Feld (1900-1993) played a lot of
chess. He had a collection of over
300 photos of himself playing chess
with other actors and actresses. His
collection was exhibited at the
Library of the Performing Arts at the
Lincoln Center in New York. In the
1940s, U.S. chess champion Herman
Steiner and International Master
(later honorary grandmaster) George
Koltanowski would visit his home in
the evenings and they would play
chess until 6 am the following
morning. He played chess with Janet
Leigh. He considered John
Barrymore as the strongest chess
player in Hollywood, followed by
Humphrey Bogart, Charles Boyer,
Charles Coburn, and Douglas
Fairbanks, Jr.
Ruben Felgaer (1981- ) is an

Argentine Grandmaster (2002). He
has won the Argentine
Sebastien Feller (1991- ) is a French

won the French Junior
French Blitz Championship and the
Paris Championship. His peak ating
was 2668 in 2011.
Robert "Bob" Ferguson (1965- ), the

Attorney General of Washington
State, won the Washington State
1987. His FIDE rating is 2232.
Antonio Fernandes (1962- ) is a

Portuguese Grandmaster (2003). His
Jose Ferrer (1912-1992) was an avid

chess player. He played a game with
Sammy Reshevsky and met Bobby
Fischer. He acted as master of
ceremonies during the 1961 Fischer-
Reshevsky match potion that was
held in Los Angeles. He took chess
lessons from Herman Steiner and
master Bob Jacobs.
In 1965, Richard Feynman (1918-

1988) shared the 1965 Nobel Prize
in Physics for his work on quantum
electrodynamics. He also discovered
superfluidity and developed the first
quark theory. He used rules of chess
to illustrate the laws of physics. He
was a member of his high school
chess club.
Film producer and entrepreneur

Frederic W. (Ted) Field (1953- )
plays chess. He sponsored the 1990
world chess championship match
between Karpov and Kasparov when
part of the match was held in New
York. He relaxes by playing blitz
chess on the Internet. In 1991 he
won the Koltanowski medal.
Alexandr Fier (1988- ) is a Brazilian

won the Brazilian Championship.
He is married to WGM Nino
Maizuradze.
Mirosav Filip (1928-2009) was a
Czech grandmaster (1955). He won
the championship of Czechoslovakia
in 1950, 1952, and 1954. He was a
Candidate in 1956 and 1962, the first
Czech to make it to the Candidates.
He played on 12 Czech Chess
Olympiad teams and defeated three
world champions (Euwe, Smyslov,
and Tal). He was a lawyer with a
doctor in jurisprudence. He was
perhaps the tallest of all
grandmasters at 6 feet 9 inches.
Anton Filippov (1986- ) is an

Uzbekistani Grandmaster (2008). In
2001, he won the Asian under-16
2652 in 2012.
Reuben Fine (1914-1993) was one

of the top chess players in the USA
and the world. He learned how to
play chess from his uncle at the age
of 8. He later became member of the
Marshall Chess Club and developed
into a strong blitz chess player. He
was also a leading psychologist.
During World War II he was
employed by the Navy to calculate
where enemy submarines might
surface based on positional
probability. He was also a translator
who could speak French, Spanish,
Italian, Dutch, Yiddish, and German.
He later did research on Japanese
Kamikaze attacks. He gave up chess
to become a psychoanalyst (PhD in
psychology). In 1956 the National
Psychological Association for
Psychoanalysis published his work,
The Psychology of the Chess Player.
The book is a Freudian account of
the game of chess. In 1949, in a
match between Reuben Fine and
Miguel Najdorf, one of the games
was adjourned after 45 moves. At
the adjournment, there was an
ending with a knight and three
pawns for Najdorf and a knight and
two pawns for Fine, all pieces in the
same side, but with Najdorf's pawns
connected, and Fine's pawns
isolated. Fine, who had just written
his famous Basic Chess Endings,
said to Najdorf, "We are wasting our
time. Look at my book, and you'll
see this is a theoretical draw."
Najdorf replied, "I think I'm a little
better, and would like to play on a
bit more." Fine then said, "I bet you
a thousand dollars that this is a
draw." Najdorf replied, "That is too
much money for me! I'll bet you two
hundred." Fine responded, "Look, I
don't want to steal your money. Let's
follow without bets if that makes
you happy." It turned out that
Najdorf was right and he won the
game. Fine had to change the
conclusion from his own endgame
book. Fine said it only took 3
months to write Basic Chess
Endings.
Buerger - Fine, Margate 1937 1.d4

Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.Bg5 Bb4+
5.Nc3 dxc4 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.e4 Bd7
8.Qc2 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 g4 11.O-
O-O? (11.Nd2) 11...gxf3 12.d5 exd5
13.exd5 Ne7 14.Bxc4 Bd6 15.Rhe1
fxg2 16.Rd3 Kf8 17.Rf3 Ng6
18.Rfe3 Kg7 19.f4 Bxf4 20.Qf2 Ng4
(and 21...Nxe3) 0-1
Benjamin Finegold (1969- ) is an

American Grandmster (2009). In
2005, he tied for 1st at the National
Open. He is a former U.S. Junior
Champion. He is the highest rated
IM in the United States and now has
three GM norms. His USCF rating is
2649. Ben's father played Bobby
Fischer in 1963. His brother, Mark,
is a USCF master. His then-wife,
Kelly, qualified for the 2006 US
Championship. Ben became a master
at the age of 14,a Life Master at the
age of 15, a Senior Master at 16, an
International Master at 20, and a
Grandmaster at 40. His peak rating
was 2563 in 2006.
Finegold — Gelfand, Amsterdam

1989 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4
4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Qc7 6.Nf3 Bxc5
7.Bg5 a6 8.e3 Be7 9.Be2 b6 10.O-O
Bb7 11.Rfd1 d6 12.Rd2 Nbd7
13.Rad1 O-O-O 14.b4 h6 15.Bf4 e5
16.Bg3 g5 17.a4 Rdg8 18.a5 bxa5
19.c5 g4 20.cxd6 Bxd6 21.Rxd6
gxf3 22.Bxa6 Bxa6 23.Rxa6 axb4
24.Ra8+ Nb8 25.Qf5+ 1-0
Adolph Jay Fink (1890-1956) was

California State Champion in 1922,
1928, 1929, and 1945. He became
interested in chess after the 1906 San
Francisco earthquake. He played
chess while camping on the hills and
seeking refuge from the earthquake
and fires. In 1922, he won the
Chicago Masters' Tournament. He
composed over 1,000 chess
problems, with over 100 prizes to his
credit. (source: Chess Review, Feb
1957, p. 38 and Chess Life, Jan 5,
1957)
Julius Finn (1871-1931) was New

York State chess champion in 1901
(first prize was $40), 1907, and 1908
(winning the Rice Trophy for
winning the State Chess
Championship three time). At one
time, he was director of the
was the referee for the Lasker-
Capablanca World Chess
Championship in Havana. In 1924,
he was one of the organizers of the
New York International of 1924. In
1927 he was President of the 1927
New York International. He
performed many blindfold
exhibitions (as many as 12 boards)
and demonstrations in the early 20th
century.
Firdausi (934-1020) was one of

Persia's greatest poets. In 1011 he
finished the great epic poem Shah -
nameh (Book of Kings) which
recounted the history of chess. In
this poem, he tells of the arrival of
envoys of an Indian rajah at the court
of the Persian Shah Chosroes I
bringing gifts which included a
game depicting a battle of two
armies. This massive poem took 35
years to write and has 60,000 verse-
lines. It is the only pre-Islamic
source which gives such details as
the names of the chess pieces. The
poem was presented to the Sultan of
Iran, who rewarded Firdausi with a
pitiful amount of money. Firdausi
tossed the money to a bath attendant
and left for Afghanistan.
Robert James Fischer (1943-2008)

was the 11th official world chess
champion (1972-1975). The
youngest national junior champion
(13), the youngest American chess
champion ever (14), the youngest
grandmaster up to that time (15
years, 6 months, 1 day), and the
youngest Candidate for the World
Championship ever (15). Fischer
once withdrew from a chess
tournament because a woman was
playing in the event (she was Lisa
Lane and U.S. woman champion).
His I.Q. has been recorded to be over
180. He received $3.65 million for
defeating Spassky in the Fischer-
Spassky II match in Yugoslavia in
1992. In the late 1950s, Bobby
Fischer was playing blitz in a
Moscow chess club during his visit,
and absolutely beating everyone in
sight until Petrosian, who was then
in his prime, came along and gave
Bobby his first losses. At the time
young Bobby had the habit of
adjusting his opponent's pieces
during the game if they weren't in
the middle of the square. Also, while
his opponent was pondering a move,
he would now and then brush
imaginary specks of dust off the
board. Nobody had said anything,
but when Fischer touched one of
Petrosian's pieces to adjust it, he got
a lesson he never forgot. The
Armenian champion was a strong
man despite his short stature.
Petrosian quickly stretched out his
big hand and gave young Bobby an
incredibly hard rap on the knuckles.
This no-nonsense punishment
worked absolute wonders! Fischer
never ever again touched an
opponent's pieces after that rather
painful experience. In 1962 he
boasted, "Women are weakies. I can
give Knight odds to any woman in
the world!" His performance rating
against Larsen in 1971 was 3060
after a 6-0 victory. In 1964, Fischer
was the youngest male listed in the
annual Who's Who. (source: Chess
Review, Apr 1964, p. 102) In 1970
he won the Blitz Tournament of the
Century in Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia
by a score of 19 out of 22. After the
tournament he called off from
memory the moves of all his 22
games, involving more that 1,000
moves. In 1981 he was arrested in
Pasadena under suspicion of a bank
robber. He later wrote of this
incident in a book entitled, I Was
Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse.
In 1956 13 year old Bobby Fischer
beat Donald Byrne after a brilliant
queen sacrifice. This game has been
dubbed the "Game of the Century."
In 1996 Fischer launched a new
game called "Fischerrandom Chess"
in which the major pieces on the
back rank are randomly shuffled
behind their pawns. This would be a
better test of a player's skill rather
than relying on opening theory and
memorizing opening lines. In 1970-
71 he won 20 straight games. At
Palma de Mallorca in 1970 he won
his last 7 games. He then defeated
Taimanov 6-0 (performance rating
of 3040). He then defeated Larsen 6-
0 (performance rating of 3080). He
then won his first game against
Petrosian in the Candidates final. He
lost his 2nd game match against
Petrosian. He won the US chess
championship eight times. When
Fischer won his 8th title in 1966, his
first place prize was $2,500. Iceland
granted him residency after eight
months in a Japanese jail. On Jan 17,
2008, GM Robert Fischer died from
degenerative renal failure at the
Landspitali Hospital in Reykjavik,
Iceland at the age of 64. He had a
blocked urinary tract and refused
surgery or medications that would
have prevented an early death. He is
buried at a small Christian cemetery
of Laugardaelir church, outside the
town of Selfoss, Iceland, 30 miles
from Reykjavik.
Donald Byrne - Bobby Fischer, New

York (Rosenwald), Rd 8, Oct 17,
1956 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7
4.d4 O-O 5.Bf4 d5 6.Qb3 dxc4
7.Qxc4 c6 8.e4 Nbd7 9.Rd1 Nb6
10.Qc5 Bg4 11.Bg5 Na4 12.Qa3
[12.Nxa4 Nxe4] 12...Nxc3 13.bxc3
Nxe4! 14.Bxe7 Qb6 15.Bc4 Nxc3
16.Bc5 Rfe8+ 17.Kf1 Be6! 18.Bxb6
Bxc4+ 19.Kg1 Ne2+ 20.Kf1 Nxd4+
21.Kg1 Ne2+ 22.Kf1 Nc3+ 23.Kg1
axb6 24.Qb4 Ra4 25.Qxb6 Nxd1
26.h3 Rxa2 27.Kh2 Nxf2 28.Re1
Rxe1 29.Qd8+ Bf8 30.Nxe1 Bd5
31.Nf3 Ne4 32.Qb8 b5 33.h4 h5
34.Ne5 Kg7 35.Kg1 Bc5+ 36.Kf1
[36.Kh1 Ra1+ 37.Kh2 Bg1+ 38.Kh3
Na7] 36...Ng3+ 37.Ke1 Bb4+ [or
37...Re2+ 38.Kd1 Bb3+ 39.Kc1
Ba3+ 40.Kb1 Re1 mate] 38.Kd1
Bb3+ 39.Kc1 Ne2+ 40.Kb1 Nc3+
41.Kc1 Rc2 mate 0-1
Ghitescu-Fischer, Leipzig 1960 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O
5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.O-O dxc4
8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Bb5 e5 10.Bxc6 exd4
11.exd4 bxc6 12.Bg5 Re8 13.Qd3 c5
14.dxc5? (14.Rfe1) 14...Bxh2+ (and
15...Qxd3) 0-1
Alexander Fishbein (1968- ) is an

1985, he won the first Arnold
Denker Tournament of High School
champions. He works in the
financial sector investing in
mortgage-backed securities.
Daniel Willard Fiske (1831-1904)

was born in New York in 1831.
librarian to the Astor Library in
Manhattan. In 1857, he was the
champion of the New York Chess
Club. He organized the First
American Congress in 1857 and
published the first American chess
magazine Chess Monthly (co-edited
by Paul Morphy). The magazine
began in January, 1857, and ended in
May, 1861. In 1861 he was
appointed as an Attache to the
American Embassy in Vienna. In
1859, he was elected General
Secretary of the American
Geographical Society. He had a
fascination with Iceland and donated
his 1,200 chess books to the
National Library of Reykjavik. He
wrote The Book of the First
American Chess Congress (1859)
and Chess in Iceland (1905). In
1868, he became the first librarian of
Cornell University and was also
professor of North European
Languages (he taught Old Icelandic,
German, Swedish, and Danish). In
1880, he married Jennie McGraw,
daughter of multi-millionaire John
McGraw, lumber merchant. She died
a year later from tuberculosis. In her
will, she gave Daniel Fiske
$300,000, her brother $550,000, and
much of the rest of the money
(several million dollars) to Cornell
University. Due to University by-
laws, Cornell could not accept the
full amount of McGraw's gift. When
Fiske realized that the University
had failed to inform him of this
restriction, he launched a legal
assault to reacquire the money,
known as The Great Will Case. In
1883, he severed all connections
with Cornell University and moved
to Florence, Italy. He became a book
collector and dealer. He first visited
Iceland in 1885. In 1900, he founded
the Reykjavik Chess Club. He was
the editor of the first Icelandic chess
magazine in 1901. It was published
in Venice, Italy. On September 17,
1904, he died at Frankfort-on-
theMain, Germany. He willed his
chess library of about 1,200 items to
the National Library of Iceland. In
1912, his Chess Tales & Chess
Miscellanies, was published
posthumously.
Alexander Flamberg (1880-1926)

was a Polish master. In 1910 he won
the Warsaw championship ahead of
Rubinstein. He also defeated
Bogoljubov in a match with 4 wins
and 1 draw. In 1914 he was interned
during the Mannheim tournament by
Germany after the declaration of war
against Russia. Flamberg was not
Russian and was probably released
in 1916.
Flamberg — Bogoljubov, Triberg

1915 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5
4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Nf3 Bb4 6.Be2 c6
7.O-O Qb6+ 8.d4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bxc3
10.Ba3 Bxa1 11.Qxa1 h6 12.Bd6
Na6 13.Nh4 Nc7 14.a4 Ne6 15.Nf5
Rg8 16.a5 Qd8 17.Qa3 Ng5 18.Bxe7
Qc7 19.Nd6+ Kxe7 20.Nb5+ 1-0
Glenn Flear (1959- ) is an English
Grandmaster (1987) now living in
France. He is married to five-time
French Ladies' Champion Christine
Leroy.
Leo Fleischmann (1881-1930) was a

Hungarian chess master. When
playing chess, he used his Hungarian
surname Forgacs. He won the 1907
Hungarian Championship.
Forgacs — Leussen, Barmen 1905

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 c6
5.c3 Be7 6.Qb3 Ngf6 7.Bxf7+ Kf8
8.Ng5 Nb6 9.dxe5 Nfd5 10.Ne6+
Bxe6 11.Bxe6 Bg5 12.f4 Bxf4 13.O-
O dxe5 14.g3 Qf6 15.gxf4 exf4
16.Na3 h5 17.Be3 f3 18.Bc5+ Ke8
19.Bf5 1-0
Janos Flesch (1933-1983) was a

1960 he played 52 games
simultaneously blindfolded in
Budapest — a world record. He won
31 games, lost 18 games, and drew 3
games in 12 hours of play. (source:
Chess Review, Feb 1961, p. 36) He
became an International Master in
1963 and an Honorary Grandmaster
in 1980. While returning from the
Kasparov-Korchnoi match in
London to a chess tournament in
Rams gate, he became involved in a
car accident. He and his wife died in
the crash.
Flesch — Humor, Budapest 1960

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.d4 g4
5.Bxf4 gxf3 6.Qxf3 Qf6 7.Nc3 Ne7
8.Nb5 Na6 9.Bxc7 Bg7 10.Nd6+
Kf8 11.Qxf6 Bxf6 12.Bxa6 bxa6
13.Rf1 Ng8 14.e5 1-0
Salo Flohr (1908-1983) was a
Czech/Soviet Grandmaster (1950).
He was born in Galicia, Austria-
Hungary (now in Ukraine). His
parents were killed in a massacre
during World War I, and he fled to
Czechoslovakia. In 1937 Salo Flohr
was nominated by FIDE to be the
official candidate to play Alekhine
for the World Championship.
Arrangements were started for a
match with Alekhine, but the plans
were dropped when Flour's adopted
homeland of Czechoslovakia was
annexed by Germany in 1938. Flohr
became a refugee for a second time
and went to Russia. He was
orphaned in World War I and was
taken as a child refugee to Bohemia.
He won the Hungarian
championship 9 times and played in
11 Olympiads for Hungary. He
married a ballerina.
Flohr - Gig, Liberia 1934 1.d4 Nf6

2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5
Qxd5 6.e3 O-O 7.Nge2 c5 8.Bd2
Qd8 9.a3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Ba5 11.Be2
Bb6 12.Nf3 Nc6 13.O-O Qe7
14.Rfe1 e5 15.Ng5 h6?? (15...Qd8)
16.Nd5! (16...Q any 17.Nxf6+ and
18.Qh7 mate) 1-0
In 1988, Arkady Flom, a 67-year-old

grandfather was arrested in
Manhattan after a young man sat
down to play chess with him in the
park. The young man played so
poorly that Flom would give him
pointers in exchange for $2. The
young man agreed. They played for
20 more minutes and the young
fellow paid his money. As soon as
Flom put the money in his pocket,
four NYPD officers approached him,
slapped him in handcuffs and read
him his rights. He was arrested for
promoting gambling in the second
degree and for possession of a
gambling device, his chess set. He
was jailed for 3 days, his medication
was confiscated, and he had a heart
attack. Five years later, he received a
$1 million settlement in a false arrest
suit against New York City as the
judge ruled that a chess game was
not "gambling" since it was a game
of skill rather than chance and the
chess board was not "gambling
equipment." Flom never collected on
his lawsuit though because he died
before the case was settled out of
court. Five years after filing the
lawsuit, in 1993, it was settled for
$100,000. His relatives share, after
legal fees, came to $66,000.
In the 1960s, Carl Flood, brother of

baseball player Curt Flood (1938-
1997), was the prison chess
champion at Leavenworth and
McNeil Island, Washington. Carl
was in prison for bank robbery.
Diego Flores (1982- ) is an

won the Argentine Championship 4
2011.
Mauricio Flores Rios (1990- ) is a

Chilean Grandmaster (2009). His
Actor Errol Flynn (1909-1959)

played chess. He played chess with
Olivia de Havilland on the set of the
film 'They Died with Their Boots
On.' Errol also played
correspondence chess.
Jan Foleys (1908-1952) was a Czech

International Master (1950). He won
the Czechoslovakian championship
in 1940 and 1943. In 1951 he
qualified for the interzonal
tournament to be held at
Saltsjobaden in 1952, but died of
leukemia before it took place.
In 1966, Henry Fonda (1905-1982)

attended the second Piatigorsky Cup
chess tournament in Santa Monica.
In the 1976 movie, Futureworld,
Chuck Brown (Peter Fonda) played
chess with Traly Ballard (Blythe
Danner). In the 1978 file, The
Greatest Battle, General Foster
(Henry Fonda (1905-1982)) had a
chessboard and chess position in
front of him in one of the scenes.
When she was 21, Jane Fonda
(1937- ) played chess with Susan
Strasberg on the beach in Malibu. It
was during these chess games that
Jane was encouraged to take acting
lessons and become an actress. Jane
Fonda encourages chess playing
among children and teenagers at
risk. Jane played chess with her ex-
husband, Roger Vadim (1928-2000)
in the 1960s.
Eliza Campbell Foot (1851-1914)

was the first president of the
Women's Chess Club of New York,
the only women's chess club in
America in the 19th century. It was
organized in January, 1894 with 30
members (including Mrs. Showalter
and Harriet Worrall). In 1909 she
advertised her availability to give
chess lessons and issued chess
puzzles (making her the first
American woman chess author). She
was a cousin to William Steinitz.
She was one of the first to promote
chess for women. She was killed by
a hit and run driver in New York
City on December 6, 1914.
Duncan Forbes (1798-1868) was a

Scottish professor of Oriental
languages and the author of various
articles and books on chess history.
He taught in Calcutta for several
years before returning to England in
1826. From 1837 to 1861, he was
Professor of Oriental Languages at
King's College in London. During
this time, he also worked at the
British Museum cataloging their
collection of Persian manuscripts. In
1860 he wrote A History of Chess
(he dedicated his 400-page book to
Howard Staunton). He advanced the
theory that a four-handed dice-chess
game was played in India as far back
as 3000 BC. Today's chess historians
says that chess originated in India
around 500AD, and that the four-
handed dice-chess games was just an
unsuccessful variant.
In 1921, the press had reported that

Hungarian chess master Leo Forgacs
(1881-1930) had died during a
revolutionary riot in Hungary. He
didn't die until August 17, 1930. His
death was reported in the Deutsches
Woshenschach and the American
Chess Bulletin.
Gyczc Forintos (1935- ) is a

Hungarian Grandmaster (1974).
Forintos (pronounced Four'-in-tot)
won the Hungarian championship in
1968-69. He played for Hungary in 6
Chess Olympiads. He is an
economist. His daughter,
Gyongyver, married English GM
Tony Kosten. His peak rating was
2495 in 1972.
Forintos — Adorjan, Budapest 1968

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3
Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 O-O 7.e4
Na6 8.Qa4 c5 9.d5 Qb6 10.Bxa6
bxa6 11.O-O e6 12.Bg5 Bd7 13.Qc2
Rab8 14.Rab1 exd5 15.Bxf6 Qxf6
16.Nxd5 Qd6 17.Rfd1 Rfe8 18.b3 a5
19.a4 Qc6 20.Qc4 Bc8 21.Nd4 1-0
Prior to 1984, Czechoslovakian film

director and chess enthusiast Milos
Forman (1932- ) was trying to make
a movie about American chess
player Paul Morphy. He then
changed his mind and was
attempting to make a movie about
the Fischer-Spassky world
championship match. He even got
Boris Spassky to agree to play
himself and was trying to convince
Bobby Fischer to play himself. He
was going nowhere with Fischer
("his personality wasn't compatible
with the rigors of moviemaking")
and decided to make a movie about
Mozart instead. And glad he did.
Amadeus was nominated for 53
awards and received 40 awards,
including 8 Academy Awards
(including Best Picture).
Dr. Edward William Formanek

(1942- ) received a PhD in
mathematics from Rice University in
1970. His dissertation was on Matrix
Techniques in Polycyclic Groups.
He is a professor emeritus of
mathematics at Pennsylvania State
University. He is an International
Master (1977). He was the first
International Master to lose to a
computer when he lost to Hitech in
the 1988 Pennsylvania Chess
Pennsylvania State Championship 5
times.
Lanneau L. Foster (1908-1967) won

the South Carolina Championship 3
times (1956, 1960, and 1962). He
died of a heart ailment. He founded
the Foster School of Dance and the
Carolina Ballet Company.
Ursula Lowenbach Foster (1927-

2004) was a very active chess player
in California and had been ranked
among the top female players in the
country. She was a Jewish survivor
of the Holocaust. She was a
classmate and friend of Anne Frank.
Her older brother died in the gas
chambers at Auschwitz.
Igor Foygel (1947- ) was born in

Kiev in 1947. He represented the
republic of Ukraine in national youth
chess competitions. He became a
master in 1974 and later became an
International Master of
Correspondence Chess. He
Massachusetts in 1992, 1997, 2000,
and 2001. He is an International
Master with a maximum 2483 Elo
rating.
Heinrich Fraenkel (1897-1986) was

a chess author who wrote under the
pen name of Assaic (Caissa spelled
backwards). He wrote a weekly
chess column for the New
Statesman. In 1935 at Margate, a
small boy handed up his autograph
to Sir George Thomas (1881-1972),
who promptly signed it. Then the
boy handed the book to Heinrich
Fraenkel (1897-1996), who was
reporting on the tournament, and
when he told the boy that surely
there could be no point in getting his
autograph, the boy disagreed. "Oh
yes, sir," the boy said, "I must have
your autograph too." Fraenkel
responded, "But why on earth? It's
no good in your collection." "Oh
yes, sir", said the boy, his face
beaming, "I saw you talk to
Capablanca!"' (source: Chernev, The
Bright Side of Chess, p. 17 and
Fraenkel's Foreword to Capablanca's
Last Chess Lectures, 1967)
Zenon Franco-Ocampos (1956- ) is a

Paraguayan Grandmaster (1991). In
1982, he won the gold medal on
board 1 at the Lucerne Chess
Olumpiad, scoring 11 out of 13.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was

born on Jan 17, 1706 or Jan 6, 1706
old style. In June 1732, Franklin
listed a set of queries and outline to
be asked at the Junto club, including
a discussion on chess. He wrote the
first chess article published in
America, The Morals of Chess.
Franklin wrote it in London in 1779
and reproduced in a refined version
in the Columbian Magazine in
Philadelphia in December 1786. In
1791 a translation from the French
reprint was published in St.
Petersburg. This was the first book
on chess published in Russia. On
one of his visits to France, he was
playing a chess game with the
Duchess of Bourbon. She made a
king move next to Franklin's king
and Franklin mentioned that was an
illegal move, She responded, "We do
not take kings so." Franklin
responded, "We do in America."
Franklin played Thomas Jefferson a
lot of chess with an even score. In
Franklin's autobiography, he
described using chess as a way to
learn foreign languages. Franklin's
chess table was last seen in the Loan
Exhibit of the Philadelphia Antiques
Show in 1963, loaned by its last
known owner, Mrs. Benjamin R.
Hoffman (Margaret Clawson). It
may have been sold at Freeman's
auction in Philadelphia in 1973,
following the death of Mrs.
Hoffman.
Francisco Franco (1892-1975),

Spanish dictator, was a chess player.
He often arranged chess pieces on
maps and boards to follow the
progress of the war.
Frederick the Great (1712-1786) was

king of Prussia and an enthusiastic
chess player who played a
correspondence game with his early
tutor, Voltaire, by royal courtier
between Berlin and Paris. He may
have also played The Turk chess
automaton in 1785. Philidor gave
chess exhibitions for Frederick the
Great in 1750.
Jennie Frenklakh, born in 1980 near

Chernobyl, was a USCF master at
16. In 1991 she won the California
Elementary Scholastic
Championship. She won the US
Junior Championship for players
under 13 in 1993. She represented
the United States in four World
under-12, under-14, and under-20
championships. She has represented
the U.S. six time at the World Junior
Chess Championships, finishing 2nd
in 1997. She is a Woman FIDE
Master.
Laurent Fressinet (1981- ) is a

French Grandmaster (2000). He won
the French Championship in 2010
in 2015. He is married to IM Almira
Skripchenko.
Kenneth Frey-Beckman (1950- ) was

born in Paris. He was a Finnish
citizen. He has lived in Mexico since
1959. He is an International Master
(1975) and Mexico's top chess
player for the past 10 years. He
represented Mexico six times in the
Chess Olympiad.
Hernandez — Frey, Bled 2002 1.c4

e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.d4 Nf6
5.Nc3 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Bd3 Bxd3
8.Qxd3 Bd6 9.O-O O-O 10.Bd2
Nbd7 11.h3 Qe7 12.Rfe1 Ne4
13.Rac1 f5 14.Na4 g5 15.Re2 g4
16.hxg4 fxg4 17.Ne5 Bxe5 18.dxe5
Nxe5 19.Qc2 Nf3+ 0-1
Daniel Fridman (1976- ) is a

Latvian-born German Grandmaster
(2001). In 1996, he won the Latvian
Championship. He won the German
2009. He is married to International
Master and WGM Anna Zatonskih.
Frederic Friedel (1945- ) founded the

software company ChessBase in
1987. He studied Philosophy and
Linguistics at the University of
Hamburg and Oxford, graduating
with a thesis on speech act theory
and moral language.
Joshua E. Friedel (1986- ) is an

won the New Hampshire State
Championship 3 times and the
California State Championship
twice. He has played in 6 US Closed
Championships. In 2009, he won the
Toronto Open with a perfect 5-0
score. In 2013, he won the 114th US
Open. His peak raintg was 2555.
Larry Friedman (1930- ) was the

winner of the first Junior Chess
Championship in the U.S. (Chicago,
1946). Hans Berliner and Philip
Lucerne tied for 2nd place. He won
it again in 1947. In 1945, he won the
junior championship of Cleveland,
Ohio. In 1958, he won the New
Jersey Open. He then disappeared
from chess.
In 1976, Milton Friedman (1912-

Economics. He was a chess player.
He played on his high school chess
team in Rathway, New Jersey.
(Source: Milton Friedman: A
Biography, by Lanny Ebenstein,
2007, p. 10)
Perhaps the oldest person to finally

make master (rated over 2200) was
Bernard Friend (1920- ) of New
Jersey. In 1991, at the age of 71, he
became a master for the first time.
He started playing chess in 1939 at
the age of 19. (source: Chess Life,
September 1991, p. 37)
Victor Fries (1956-2005) was an

American International Master
(1982) from New York, born in
Chile. He was the chess coach of
Patrick Wolff and Ilea Ureic, both
becoming Grandmasters. He was
unable to make a living as a chess
player and supported himself by
driving a taxi in New York and Los
Angeles. He was a chess teacher in
many Westchester schools.
Martin From (1828-1895) of From's

Gambit fame, tried to pursue a career
as a poet, with the help of Hans
Christian Andersen. He failed at that
and volunteered as a soldier in the
Danish army during the Prussian-
Danish war. He was later employed
by the Danish Statistical Bureau in
Copenhagen. He later worked in the
central office for prison
management, and then became an
inspector in a prison for women. He
achieved chess fame by analyzing
the gambit 1.f4 e5 in the early
1860s.
Mollastrom — From, Copenhagen

1862 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6
4.Nf3 Nh6 5.e4 Ng4 6.g3 Nxh2
7.Rxh2 Bxg3+ 8.Ke2 Bxh2 9.Nxh2
f5 10.Bg2 fxe4 11.Bxe4 Qh4 12.Qh1
O-O 13.Bd5+ Kh8 14.Qg1 Qh5+
15.Bf3 Rxf3 16.Nxf3 Bg4 17.d3 Nc6
18.Bf4 Rf8 19.Bg3 Rxf3 20.Ke1
Qh6 21.Nc3 Nb4 0-1
English journalist David Frost

(1939-2013) played chess. Former
world chess champion Garry
Kasparov was the last person
interviewed by David Frost, a week
before he passed away. In 1972,
David Frost arranged to have Bobby
Fischer fly to Bermuda for a
celebrity lunch, at which Fischer
chatted with economist John
Kenneth Galbraith.
In 1937, Polish chess master

Achilles Frydman (1905-1940s) had
just left a mental asylum and was
warned not to play chess. However,
he played in the 1937 Polish chess
championship and suffered a
nervous breakdown. He could not
finish the tournament after 15 rounds
of a 21 round event. Reuben Fine, in
his book, The Psychology of the
Chess Player, stated that Frydman
had run through the hotel without
any clothes, shouting "Fire!" George
Koltanowski, in one of his columns,
wrote that Frydman insisted in
walking around in the lobby naked.
A Polish newspaper column reported
that A. Frydman had caused many
difficulties for the tournament
management and for the players.
Gideon Stahlberg had the room next
to Frydman and could not sleep
because Frydman would yell
"check" and "checkmate" all night
long. Najdorf blamed two losses on
Frydman's interruptions (Frydman
would run to the phone after every
move and make a long distance
phone call). In 1938, during a
tournament in Lodz, Achilles
Frydman showed up naked to play
Tartakower. Frydman was later put
in a mental asylum in Kocborowo.
In 1940, he was arrested by the
Nazis in Warsaw and later died in a
concentration camp.
Achilles Frydman — Schaechter,

Jurata, Poland 1937 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 g6 5.d4 exd4
6.Bg5 f6 7.Bf4 Bb4+ 8.c3 dxc3
9.Nxc3 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 d6 11.Rb1
Qe7 12.Qd5 Qd7 13.Bb3 Ne5
14.Bg3 Nh6 15.Rd1 Qe7 16.O-O
Nhf7 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.f4 Nc6 19.e5
dxe5 20.fxe5 f5 21.Bh4 1-0
Paulino Frydman (1905-1982) was a

Polish International Master (1955)
from Warsaw who played in seven
Chess Olympiads for Poland (1928,
1930, 1931, 1935, 1937, 1939).
After participating in the chess
Olympics in Buenos Aires, he stayed
in Argentina after the outbreak of
World War II. In 1936, he took equal
6th at Bad Podebrady,
Czechoslovakia, behind Flohr,
Alekhine, Foltys, Pirc, and
Stahlberg. He won the Warsaw
and 1936. He took 2nd place in the
1926 Polish championship (behind
Przepiorka) and 2nd-4th (with
Najdorf and H. Friedmann) in the
1935 Polish championship (won by
Tartakower). Achilles Frydman took
5th place.
P. Frydman — Guimard, Buenos

Aires 1941 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3
Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nbd7
6.Nxf6+ gxf6 7.Bh4 c6 8.Qh5 Bb4+
9.c3 Be7 10.Nf3 Nf8 11.Bc4 Ng6
12.Bg3 O-O 13.h4 Kh8 14.Ng5 1-0
P. Frydman — Vidmar, Ujpest 1934

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5
cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 e6 7.e3 Be7
8.Bd3 O-O 9.O-O a6 10.Rc1 Bd7
11.Ne5 Rc8 12.a3 Na5 13.Qf3 b5
14.Qh3 Nc4 15.Nxd5 g6 16.Nxe7+
Qxe7 17.Bxc4 Rxc4 18.Rxc4 bxc4
19.Bg5 1-0
Lubomir Ftacnik (1957- ) is a

Czech-Slovak Grandmaster (1980).
In 1976 he took 2nd place in the
World Junior Championship. He
won the European Junior
Championship in 1976/77. He was
Czech champion in 1981, 1982,
1983, and 1985. In 2006, he tied for
1st in the National Open.
Hertweck - Ftacnik, Baden-Baden

1987 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7
4.Nbd2 d5 5.e3 O-O 6.Be2 c5 7.c3
Qb6 8.Qb3 Nc6 9.Bxf6 Bxf6
10.Qxd5 Qxb2 11.O-O cxd4 12.cxd4
Be6 13.Qc5 Rac8 14.Qc1? (14.Qb5)
14...Nxd4 (15.Qd1 Qxa1 16.Qxa1
Nxe2+ 17.Kh1 Bxa1) 0-1
Andrija Fuderer (1931-2011) was a

Yugoslav International Master
(1952) and an Honorary
Grandmaster (1990). In 1954-55, he
took 3rd in the Hasting Chess
Congress, behind Keres and
Smyslov. He then turned to chemical
research, earned a PhD in chemistry
from the University of Zagreb, and
retired from serious chess play. He
became a famous inventor and
patented a compression process for
refrigeration. He died in Palamos,
Spain.
Astronaut Christer Fuglesang (1957-
), a Swedish physicist, flew on two
Shuttle missions. He is a chess
player. While in space, he played a
game of chess against the Swedish
public in 2009. He is a member of
the Swedish Chess Academy. In
August- September 2009 Fuglesang
played chess while in space against
readers of a Swedish newspaper. He
lost the game, but when he returned
to Earth, he received a Rybka
program signed by five world chess
champions (Kasparov, Karpov,
Kramnik, Spassky, and Anand).
Semyon Furman (1920-1978) was a

Soviet Grandmaster (1966) and
coach who was Karpov's chief
trainer since 1969. He played in 13
USSR Championships. He was 3rd
in 1948. He died three months
before Karpov's world championship
match with Korchnoi in 1978. He
was 57. He learned chess when he
was 15.
Khalilbeili - Furman, Tbilisi 1956

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5
exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 c4 7.e4 dxe4
8.Ng5 Qxd4 9.Bf4 Bb4 10.Ngxe4??
(10.Qxd4) 10...Qxe4+ 0-1
Geza Fuster (1910-1990) was a

Hungarian chess champion in 1941
and International Master in 1969. He
later moved to Canada and
represented Canada in the interzonal
at Portoroz in 1958. He took last
place win 1 win, 2 draws, and 17
losses. He almost beat Fischer at
Portoroz, but lost during time
pressure. He played for Canada in
two Chess Olympiads in 1958 and
1970. His highest rating was 2530,
ranked #62 in the world in 1943.
Fuster — Negyesy, Budapest 1947

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5
cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 e6 7.e3 Be7
8.Bd3 O-O 9.O-O Nh5 10.Be5 f6
11.Ng5 fxe5 12.Bxh7+ Kh8 13.Nf7+
1-0
In 1949, Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917-2016)

played chess with her new husband,
George Sanders (1906-1972).
George wrote in his autobiography
that he and Zsa Zsa played chess
nearly every night on their
honeymoon. The two divorced in
1954.
Hovhannes Gabuzyan (1995- ) is an

2017, he won the 77th Armenian
Championship.
Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011) was

the former Prime Minister of Libya.
He was a chess player. In 2011, he
played a chess game with FIDE
president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in
Tripoli.
Merab Gagunashvili (1985- ) is a

Georgian Grandmaster (2002). He
won the Georgian Chess
Championship in 2004 and 2010. In
2001, he took 2nd place in the World
Jeremy Gaige (1927-2011) was a

newspaperman from Philadelphia,
chess archivist and author of Chess
Tournament Crosstables (four
volumes), Chess Tournaments- A
Checklist (two volumes), Chess
Personalia A Biobibliography, and
other books. In 1987, he wrote Chess
Personalia A Biobibliography. It
contained about 14,000 names of
chess players with dates and places
of birth and death.
Grzegorz Gajewski (1985- ) is a

he won the Polish Championship.
Sergey Galdunts (1965- ) is an

1991, he won the Armenian Chess
Championship.
Luis Galego (1966- ) is a Portuguese

Grandmaster (2002). He played for
Portugal in 10 Chess Olympiads. He
has won the Portuguese
championship 5 times.
Alexander Galkin (1979- ) is a

Russian Grandmaster (1997) and the
1999 World Junior Chess Champion.
He won the 37th World Junior
Championship in Yerevan, Armenia.
Joseph Gallagher (1964- ) is a

British-born Grandmaster (1991)
from Switzerland. He won the
British championship in 2001. He
won the Swiss championship 6
2000.
Surya Shekhar Ganguly (1983- ) is

an Indian Grandmaster (2003). He
has won the championship of India 6
times. He won the Asian
championship in 2009. His peak
rating was 2676 in 2016. He works
as a manager at the Indian Oil
Corporation. His peak rating was
2676 in 2016.
Gao Rui (1992- ) is a Chinese

was 2555 in 2016.
Nona Gaprindashvili (1941- ) is a

Russian GM (1978). In September-
October 1962, Nona Gaprindashvili
(1941- ) defeated Elisabeth Bykova
in the Women's World Chess
Championship, scoring 9-2 (7 wins,
4 draws, and no losses). She thus
became the fifth women's world
chess champion, and, at age 21, the
youngest up to that time. The event
was held in Moscow. In 1975, she
had a perfume named after her. In
1978, Nona became the first woman
to be awarded the Grandmaster title.
She was the first woman to achieve
the men's International Grandmaster
title, in 1978. She became the first
woman to win a "men's" chess
tournament when she tied for first
place at Lone Pine in 1977. She has
had a perfume named after her in
Russia. A Tbilisi perfume factory
sold the perfume in a bottle shaped
like a chess Queen. She maintained
her maiden name after marrying her
husband Chichikadze. She was the
Women's World Chess Champion
for 16 years, from 1962 to 1978. In
1962 she won the title by defeating
Elizaveta Bykova with a score of 9-
2. In 1978 she lost to Maya
Chiburdanidze, who as 17. She has
won the Women's Senior
Championship 5 times. Her peak
Mardle - Gaprindashvili, Hastings
1964 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 e6 5.Be3 Nf6 6.Nd2 e5
7.Nxc6 dxc6 8.f3 Be7 9.Bc4 O-O
10.O-O Nh5 11.Nb3 Bg5 12.Bc5
Qf6 13.Bxf8 Be3+ 14.Kh1??
(14.Rf2) 14...Ng3+ (15.hxg3 Qh6
mate) 0-1
Valeriane Gaprindashvili (1982- ) is

a Georgian Grandmaster (2002). In
2005, he won the Georgian
In 1988, Guillermo Garcia-Gonzales

(1954-1990), three-time chess
champion of Cuba, took 2nd place in
the New York Open. His $10,000
prize was confiscated by the
Department of Treasury, invoking
the Trading with the Enemy Act of
1917, because he was Cuban. The
money is still in escrow. On Oct 26,
1990, GM Guillermo Garcia
Gonzales died in a car wreck on his
way to the airport to catch a plane to
play in the Chess Olympiad in Novi
Sad. He was only 36.
Silvino Garcia-Marinez (1944- ) was

Cuba's first FIDE grandmaster
(1975). He was Cuban champion in
1968, 1970, 1973, and 1979-80.
Carlos Garcia-Palermo (1953- ) is an

Argentine-Italian Grandmaster
(1985). In 1982, he defeated world
champion Anatoly Karpov. He is the
only Argentin player to have beat a
reigning world champion under
classic time controls.
Actress Ava Gardner (1922-1990)
played chess. She was married to
Artie Shaw, who played chess. Shaw
hired a Russian chess master to tutor
her and, after a few months of
lessons, she started beating Shaw.
Mathematician and popular science

writer Martin Gardner (1914-2010)
was a lifelong chess fan. He played
chess in high school and at the
University of Chicago where he met
and was friends with Sammy
Reshevsky.
Timur Gareyev (1988- ), born in

Uzbekistan, is an American
Grandmaster (2004). In 2007, he tied
for 1st in the Uzbekistani Chess
Championship. Gareyev's
simultaneous blindfold chess record
includes a 19-game blindfold simul
in Cypress, Texas September 2012, a
27-game (set in stages) simul in
Hawaii Dec 2012, a 33-game (set in
stages) match in St Louis, May 2013
and a world record 48 board simul in
Las Vegas, on December 4, 2016.
He has a B.A. degree in Business
marketing from the University of
Texas at Brownsbille.
Eldar Gasanov (1982- ) is a

2000, he won the Ukrainain under-
20 Championship. In 2008, he won
the Czech Open. His peak rating was
2553 in 2009.
Vugar Gashimov (1986-2014) of

Azerbaijan was awarded the
grandmaster title at the age of 15
years, 11 months. He was in ill
health including epilepsy, brain
tumors, and high blood pressure. He
was being treated in a clinic in
Heidelberg, Germany when he died
on January 10, 2014.
Einar Johan Gausel (1963- ) is a

Norwegian Grandmaster (1995). He
has won the Norwegian Chess
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)

was a child prodigy and German
mathematician, sometimes called the
greatest mathematician since
antiquity. He spent his spare time
playing chess. In 1850, he published
a solution to how many queens can
be placed on a chess board to guard
all the squares except the occupied
ones. The problem was first
proposed in 1848 by Max Bezzel.
The maximum number is 8 queens.
There are 92 solutions to the
problem.
Viktor Gavrikov (1957-2016) was a

Lithuanian-Swiss Grandmaster
(1984). In 1978, he tied for 1st in the
Lithuanian championship. In 1983,
he won the Soviet under-26
championship. In 1985, he tied fors
1st in th 52nd Soviet Championship.
In 1996, he won the Swiss
championship. His peak rating was
2605 in 1995.
Jacek Gdanski (1970- ) is a Polish

won the Polish Junior
in the World Junior Championship.
In 1992 he won the Polish
Championship. He works for the
Polish Ministry of Finance.
Tamaz Gelashvili (1978- ) is a

Geogian Grandmaster (1999). His
Boris Gelfand (1968- ) was born in

Minsk, Byelorussia. He learned
chess at the age of 4. In 1979, at the
age of 11, he was a candidate master.
In 1985, he won the USSR Junior
1988, he tied for 1st in the World
was awarded the Grandmaster title.
In 1990, he was ranked #3 in the
world. In 1995 he lost to Karpov in
the Candidates final match. In 1998,
he immigrated to Israel and became
Israel's top ranking chess player. He
has won two Interzonals (1990 at
Manila and 1993 at Biel). He was a
World Championship Candidate six
times (1991, 1994-95, 2002, 2007,
2011, 2013). In 2012, he played
Anand for the world
chesschampionshp, but lst in the
rapid tie-break. His peak rating was
2777 in 2013.
Alexander Gelfond (1906-1968)

received a PhD in mathematics from
Moscow State University in 1935.
He taught mathematics there for
many years. During World War II,
he was the Chief Cryptographer of
the Soviet Navy. He was an expert in
chess. He is known for saying
"Chess is the Drosophila of artificial
intelligence."
Efim Petrovich Geller (1925-1998)

Odessa. He came from a Jewish
family. In 1948 he graduated from
Odessa University with a degree in
political economy, but made chess
his career. He later earned a
doctorate in physical education. He
tied for first in 1955 USSR
Championship with Smyslov, and
then defeated Smyslov in the play-
off. He would win the Soviet
championship again 24 years later in
1979 (47th USSR Championship) at
the age of54. During his career, he
defeated eight world chess
champions - Botvinnik, Smyslov,
Tal, Petrosian, Fischer, Euwe,
Spassky, and Karpov. He was a six
time Candidate between 1953 and
1971. He became a Grandmaster in
1952. He played in the USSR
championship 23 times, from 1949
to 1985.
Geller - Hansen, 1978 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3

Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 e6 5.d5 exd5
6.cxd5 Na5 7.e4 b6 8.e5 Ng8 9.d6 f6
(9...Bb7) 10.Nd5 Rb8?? (10...Bb7)
11.Nc7+ Kf7 12.Qd5+ Kg6 13.Nh4+
Kh5 14.Qf3+ (14...Kxh4 15.Qh3
mate) 1-0
Petar Genov (1970- ) is a Bulgarian

Bulgarian championship in 1993 and
2002. He is married to WIM Lyubka
Genova.
On June 1, 1960, a visiting

American sailor, Michael L. George,
came into Chumley's Greenwich
Village restaurant at 86 Bedford
Street, and said "I can whip any man
in the house." He then offered to
play chess for up to $200 a game. He
lost, at no stakes, to freelance writer
Loren Disney. Michael George then
got into a fight at the restaurant
when a spectator criticized George's
chess game after he lost. George
struck the spectator (Clinton Curtis,
a freelance editor from Miami) with
a broken beer bottle, which cut his
jugular vein, and he died. George
was eventually acquitted of murder
and charged with accidental death
instead. (source Anderson Herald,
June 2, 1960 and Chess Review, July
1960, p. 197)
Kiril Georgiev (1965- ) is a

Bulgarian Grandmaster (1985). In
1983 he was the World Junior
Champion. He has won the
Bulgarian championship 6 times. In
2009, he broke the world record for
the most simultaneous chess games
played: 360 games in just over 14
hours. He won 280, drew 74 and lost
6 for a total score of 88%. His peak
Ki. Georgiev — Velimirovic, Athens

2001 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bd7 6.Bc4 e6
7.Bb3 Nc6 8.Ndb5 Qb8 9.Bf4 Ne5
10.Bg5 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 Bxb5 12.f4
Ng6 13.f5 d5 14.fxg6 hxg6 15.c4
dxe4 16.cxb5 Rxh2 17.Rxh2 Qxh2
18.Be3 Qxg2 19.Rc1 Bb4+ 0-1
Krum Georgiev (1958- ) is a

Bulgarian Grandmaster (1988).
Vladimir Georgiev (1975- ) is a

Bulgarian-Macedonian Grandmaster
(2000). In 1995, he won the
Bulgarian Championship. In 2007,
he won the Macedonian
Championship.
Alik Gershon (1980- ), born in the

Ukraine, is an Israeli Grandmaster
(2000). In 1994, he was World
under-14 champion. In 1996, he was
World under-16 champion. In 2000,
he won the Israelin championship.
On October 21, 2010, he set the
Guinness World Record for
simultaneous games after playing
523 opponents in Tel Aviv. After 18
hours and 30 minutes, he won 454
games (86%), lost 11 and drew 58.
The record was brone in 2011 by
Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami. His peak
Stephan Gerzadowicz (1945- ) was a

correspondence chess master. He
played in five USCF Absolute
Championships and one U.S.
Championship. He has been
president of both the Massachusetts
Chess Association (1972-1974) and
the New England Chess Association.
He is the author of five chess books.
Georgi Geshev (1903-1937) was the

first Bulgarian chess champion
(1933). He also won in 1934, 1935,
and 1936.
Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami (1982- ) is

an Iranian Grandmaster (2000). He
was the first Iranian GM. In 1996, he
won the championship of Iran at age
14. He was won the Iranian
championship 10 times. In 2011, he
set a new Guinness record for
simultaneous games when he played
604 opponents in Tehran, winning
97.35% (580 wins, 8 losses, 16
draws) of his games. In 2011, he
refused to play his 4th round chess
game against Israel's Ehud Sachar at
the Corisca Masters tournament.
Because of his refusal, Maghami
was barred from the rest of the
tournament. His peak rating was
2633 in 2005.
Tigran Gharamian (1984- ) is an

Armenian-French Grandmaster
2012.
Florin Gheorghiu (1944- ) was the

first Romanian Grandmaster (1965).
He was world junior champion in
1963. He was won the Romanian
championship 9 times (the first at
age 16). He won the US Open three
times in a row (1979 to 1981). He is
a lecturer in languages at Bucharest
University and speaks 10 languages.
Theodor Ghi?escu (1934-2008) was

a Romanian International Master
(1961) and honorary Grandmaster
(1986). He was Romanian champion
in 1963. He played for Romania in
12 Chess Olympiads. In the 1960
Chess Olympiad in Leipzig, he lost
to Bobby Fischer in 14 moves. His
peak FIDE rating was 2460 in 1971.
Ghitescu — Fischer, Leipzig 1960

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-
O 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.O-O dxc4
8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Bb5 e5 10.Bxc6 exd4
11.exd4 bxc6 12.Bg5 Re8 13.Qd3 c5
14.dxc5 Bxh2+ 0-1
Diptayan Ghosh (1998- ) is an

Indian Grandmaster (2016).
In 1973, Ivar Giaever (1929- )

his work on the tunneling
phenomena in solids. He learned
chess from his father and used chess
to illustrate the science of Nature. He
played a lot of chess as a university
student and wanted to be a chess
champion. (Source:
Superconductivity: Discoveries and
Discoverers, by Kristian Fossheim,
2013, p. 56)
Horatio Gianutio (1566-1610) was

the author of the first chess pamphlet
(57 pages) by a player from the
Italian school. He had it published in
Turin in 1597.
Amedee Gibaud (1885-1957) was

French champion in 1928 (6th
French Championship, held in
Marseilles), 1930, 1935, and 1940.
He tied for 1st place in the 1937
French Championship (16th French
Championship) with Gromer. He
supposedly lost a game in 4 moves.
Gibaud — Lazard, Paris 1924 1.d4

Nf6 2.Nd2 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.h3 Ne3
0-1
William Gibson (1873-1932) was

nine times Scottish chess champion.
He was a lawyer by profession. He
first won the Scottish championship
in 1907. He won the West of
Scotland Championship 14 times.
He won the Glasgow championship
15 times.
Charles A. Gilberg (1835 -1898) was

an amateur chess player and
managing partner of an importing
firm (West India House). He was
president of the Brooklyn Chess
Club, the Manhattan Chess Club,
and the New York Chess
Association. He helped organize the
5th American Chess Congress in
New York in 1880. He owned a
chess library of over 2,000 volumes,
the second largest in the country
after that of John G. White of
Cleveland, Ohio. In 1868 he wrote
American Chess Nuts. In 1881, he
wrote The Book of the Fifth
American Chess Congress. When he
died, his chess library was sold for
$1,100 to a New York book dealer.
In 1930, his collection of chess
books came into possession of Silas
W. Howland of New York.
Howland's enlarged collection was
later presented to the Harvard
University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
In 1879, Ellen E. Strong Gilbert

(1837-1900) of the USA won an
international correspondence chess
match. She played first board for the
USA in an 1879 correspondence
chess match against England,
winning all 4 games against
England's top board, George Gossip.
She was known as "The Queen of
Chess."
Jessie Gilbert (1987-2006) was a

British Woman FIDE Master. In
1999, at the age of 12, she won the
Women's World Amateur Chess
Championship. On July 26, 2006,
Jessie Gilbert fell from the 8th floor
of her hotel while playing in the
Czech Open in the Czech Republic.
It was a possible suicide. A few days
later, it was revealed that her father,
Ian Gilbert, a director at the Royal
Bank of Scotland, had been
previously charged with rape, with
Jessica Gilbert as one of the victims,
but he was found not guilty. Hours
after the acquittal, Angela Gilbert,
the mother of Jessie, was arrested on
suspicion of threatening to kill her
ex-husband over claims she hired a
hitman to murder her ex-husband.
She was later released and lawyers
decided not to proceed with the case.
Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) was a

chess player who also played
correspondence chess. He played
chess with Ray Charles and had a
winning record with Charlie Parker.
He defeated U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Earl Warren in 1954 during
an airplane ride together.
Aivars Gipslis (1937-2000) was a

Latvian grandmaster (1967). He won
the Latvian championship 8 times
(1955, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1961,
1964, 1966). He took 3rd place in
the USSR chess championship in
1966/67. At the Sousse Interzonal in
1967, Bobby Fischer asked for a free
day to ease his tough chess schedule
due to postponements. After his
demand was not met, Fischer did not
show up for his game against
Gipslis, and was forfeited. Gipslis
did not want to win on forfeit and
wanted to play Fischer at Fischer's
convenience. But Soviet officials
told Gipslis he was not to play
Fischer and to take the win on
forfeit. This caused Fischer to
withdraw from the tournament. He
was playing for a local Berlin chess
club when he collapsed from a
stroke during the chess game. He
died in a German hospital after being
in a coma for several weeks. He was
63. He held the grandmaster title in
FIDE (over the board) and ICCF
(correspondence). He had been
editor of the chess magazine
Sahs/Shakmaty. He was an
economist.
Klasup — Gipslis, Riga 1953 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5
5.dxc5 O-O 6.Nf3 Na6 7.a3 Bxc3+
8.Qxc3 Nxc5 9.e3 a5 10.Be2 a4
11.Nd2 b6 12.O-O Ba6 13.Rd1 Rc8
14.Qb4 Nd5 0-1
Anish Giri (born June 28, 1994) won

the Under-12 Russian championship.
He is the youngest player ever to
play in the German Bundesliga
premier chess league. He became a
grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 7
months and 2 days. He is the
youngest GM ever from the
USSR/Russia and the Netherlands.
At 15, he won the Dutch
championship, the youngest player
to ever win. He has won the Dutch
won the Reykjavik Open. His peak
rating was 2798 in 2016. He speaks
Russia, English, Dutch, Japanese,
Nepalese, and German. He lives in
The Hague.
James W.L. Glaisher (1848-1928)

was a prolific English
mathematician. He taught at
Cambridge and specialized in
number theory. He published a proof
on the 8 queens problem in 1874 as
to the total number of possible
different solutions (12 patterns, 92
solutions).
Benjamin Gledura (1999- ) is a

Alick F. Glennie (1925-2003 ) was

the first person to beat a computer
program at chess. He defeated Alan
Turing's chess program,
TurboChamp, in 1952 in
Manchester, England. Glennie wrote
the first real compiler (autocode) for
a computer in 1952. It translated
symbolic statements into machine
language for the Manchester Mark I
computer. Autocoding later came to
be a generic term for assembly
programming. Glennie did
computational work for the British
atomic bomb.
Evgeny Gleizerov (1963- ) is a

Igor Glek (1961- ), born in Moscow,

is a German Grandmaster (1990). In
1990, he won the World Open. His
peak rating was 2670 in 1996. He
has an engineering/economics
degree from the University of
Moscow and worked as an
economist.
In 1934, Svetozar Gligoric (1923-

2012) learned chess in Belgrade,
taught be a boarder taken in by his
mother (Gligoric's father died when
Svetozar was 9). He had first seen
chess being played in a
neighborhood bar. Gligoric did not
have a chess set at home, so he made
himself a chess set by carving chess
pieces from corks from wine bottles.
Gligoric became a chess master at
the age of 16. In 1945, he won the
championship of Bulgaria. He was a
regular participant in the World
Championship cycle between 1948
and 1973 and was a candidate for the
World Championship three times
(1953, 1959, and 1968). He played
in 7 Interzonal tournaments. During
his lifetime, he defeated Max Euwe
twice, Botvinnik twice, Smyslov 6
times, Tal twice, Petrosian 8 times,
and Fischer 4 times. Gligoric played
in over 70 international chess
tournaments and won or shared 20
first-place prizes. Gligoric wrote
over 20 chess books during his
lifetime. He holds the record for
most medals in the Chess Olympiads
— 12. He also won the
championship of Yugoslavia a
record 12 times. In January 2003,
Gligoric, age 79, was attacked in his
sleep and beaten up by masked
burglars in his Belgrade home. The
armed robbers broke into his home
at 3 am, beat and tied him up, the
stole his money and jewelry of his
late wife. They also took his chess
trophies. Gligoric suffered a black
eye.
Gligoric - Toran, Havana 1952 1.e4

c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7
5.d4 Ndf6 6.Nc5 g6 7.Bc4 Nh6
8.Ne5 e6 9.Qf3 Nf5 10.c3 Bg7
(10...Bxc5) 11.Bg5 O-O 12.Ne4 h5
13.g4 c5 (13...hxg4 14.Nxg4)
14.gxf5 1-0
Michele Godena (1967- ) is an
Italian Grandmaster (1996). He has
won the Italian championship 5
times. In 2007, he was the European
Union champion. His peak rating
was 2561 in 2010.
In 1933 Joseph Goebbels (1897-

1945), Minister of Propaganda and
Enlightenment, wanted an "All-
German Chess League." He barred
all Jewish chess players from official
tournaments of the German Chess
League, as well as ordinary chess
clubs and cafe playing rooms.
Goebbels sought out players who
were of strong National Socialist
persuasion. Goebbels was also the
President of the Grossdeutsch
Schachbund, a new German chess
federation that got funding and
encouragement from the Nazi
government. (source: Chess Review,
Sep 1933, p. 5) Otto Zander,
President of the new league, said all
Jews would be excluded unless they
proved themselves at the front line
of a war. In 1939 Goebbels barred
the German women's champion,
Sonja Graf, from playing chess for
Germany. During World War II, Dr.
Goebbels included chess in its
program called Truppenbetreuung
(Pastimes for soldiers). German
chess masters were to visit hospitals
and barracks to play exhibition
tournaments and give simultaneous
displays.
Carl Goering (1841-1879) was born

in Bruheim, Germany on April 28,
1841. In 1870, he took 3rd in the
first Austrian Chess Federation
Congress, held in Graz. In 1871, he
won at Wiesbaden, Germany (+4-
0=0). In 1872, he took 3rd in the 3rd
North German Chess Congress in
Altona, Germany. In 1876, he tied
for 1st in the 2nd Middle German
Chess Congress in Leipzig,
Germany. The opening gambit 1.e4
e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 is
known as the Goering (Goring)
Gambit. Goering played it against
Louis Paulsen in 1877 at Leipzig and
was the first to introduce it into
master play. Goering was a professor
and a rich landowner. He became a
German professor and philosopher in
Leipzig, where he taught Empiricism
and Posivitism. He committed
suicide in Eisenach, Germany in
1879 by jumping out a 5th story
window. He was 38.
Leonid Gofshtein (1953-2015), born

in the Ukraine, was an Israeli
was 2585 in 2000.
Aleksey Goganov (1991) is a

won the championshipaint
Petersburg in 2008 and 2016. His
William "Bill" Goichberg (1942- ) is

a chess organizer and Fide Master
(1983). From 1964 to 1967, he was
the USCF Rating Statistician. From
1966 to 1967, he was co-editor of
Chess Life magazine. He founded
the New York City Chess
Association in 1964, which became
the Continental Chess Association
(CCA) in 1968. In 1966, he directed
the first USCF rated scholastic
tournament. In 1969, hed was the
first to have rated chess quads. In
1969, he created the National High
School Championship. In 1973, he
organized the first World Open in
New York. He was the first to ban
smoking from chess tournaments
(1973). He was appointed USCF
Executive Director in 2004. He was
elected President of the United
States Chess Federation on August
14, 2005.
Grigory Goldberg (1908-1976) was

a Soviet chess master who was
Botvinnik's second from 1950 to
1953. He founded the chess facility
at the Moscow Sports Academy. He
took last place in two USSR chess
championships (1945 and 1949).
Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-

1961) was a Russian pianist and
composer. He once defeated Mikail
Chigorin in a game, played in
Moscow in 1900. He also played
chess with Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910).
Alexander Goldin (1964- ) is a USA

Grandmaster (1989) who was born
in Russia. In 1981, he won the
USSR Under-18 Championship. He
won the World Open in 1998 and
2001. He lists his hobbies as yoga
and meditation. His peak FIDE
rating is 2630 in 2002.
In 1983, William Golding (1911-

Literature. In 1954, he wrote Lord of
the Flies. One of the quotes from
that novel is "The only trouble was
that he would never be a very good
chess player." Golding listed chess
as one of his hobbies and he used to
play correspondence chess. He
included a chess theme in his 1979
book Darkness Visible. He was
playing a game of chess when he
heard that he had won the Nobel
Prize.
Walter Delmar Goldwater (1907-

1985) was a former President of the
Marshall Chess Club. He was a
veteran antiquarian book dealer who
owned and operated the University
Place Bookshop in New York.
Rusudan Goletiani (1980- ) is an

International Master (2009) and a
was the winner of the World Chess
Championship for Girls Under 14
(1994), Under 16 (1995), and Under
18 (1997). She was born in Soviet
Georgia and won the Soviet Junior
Championship for Girls Under 12 in
1990 at the age of 9. She was
awarded the International Woman's
Grandmaster (WGM) title when she
was 17. She immigrated to the
United States in 2000. She won the
US Women's Championship in 2004
and $12,500 when she beat WFM
Tatev Abrahamyan in their playoff.
She was the winner of the 18th
annual Frank P. Samford chess
fellowship in 2004. Her peak rating
was 2403 in 2006.
Manuel Golmayo De La Torriente

(1883-1973) was the first Spanish
chess champion. He was Spanish
champion from 1902 to 1928. He
was born in Havana.
Becker — Golmayo, The Hague

1928 1,d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7
4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nb6
7.Ne2 e5 8.d5 O-O 9.Nbc3 f5
10.Qb3 Kh8 11.h4 h6 12.f4 c6
13.fxe5 fxe4 14.Nf4 Qe8 15.h5 gxh5
16.Nxh5 e3 17.Nxg7 Qxe5 18.Ne2
Kxg7 19.Bxe3 Re8 20.Kd2 Qxe3+
21.Qxe3 Nc4+ 0-1
Vitali Golod (1971- ) is a Ukrainian-

Israeli Grandmaster (1996). In 1991,
he won the Ukrainian
Israeli Championship. His peak
Harry Golombek (1911-1995) was

three times British Champion (1947,
1949, and 1955). He studied
philology at King's College in
London. During World War II, he
worked at Bletchley Park, the British
wartime codebreaking center. He
helped decipher German enigma
codes. He later became a chess
journalist, writing for the London
Times for 44 years. He wrote 38
books on chess. He represented
England in 9 Olympiads. He
officiated 6 World Championship
matches. He was awarded the
International Master title in 1951
and International Judge in 1954. He
was awarded the Order of the British
Empire (O.B.E.) in 1966 for his
services to the game of chess, the
first one so honored. He was made
an honorary Grandmaster in 1985.
He was the first British player to
qualify for an Interzonal. He had a
chess library of over 5,000 volumes,
one of the best in Britain. He
donated his collection to the British
Chess Federation.
Golombek — Hallmark, England
1959 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e3 e5
4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nxc3 6.bxc3
Bd6 7.d4 Nd7 8.e4 Qe7 9.Bd3 exd4
10.cxd4 c5 11.e5 cxd4 12.O-O Bb4
13.Bg5 Qc5 14.Rc1 Bc3 15.Bd2 h6
16.Nxd4 Qxd4 17.Bxc3 Qb6 18.e6
Nf6 19.Rb1 Qc7 20.Bb5+ Kf8 21.e7
1-0
Alexander Goloshchapov (1978- ) is

a Ukrainian Grandmaster (1999). In
2002, he won the Dubai Open. His
Mikhail Golubev (1970- ) is a

Ukrainian Grandmaster. In 1996, he
won the Ukrainian Championship.
Jayson Gonzales (1969- ) is a

Filipino Grandmaster (2008). In
1998, he won the Southern
California Open. His peak rating was
2524 in 2008.
Jose GonzAlez-Garcia (1973) is a

Mexican Grandmaster (2006).
Dr. Juan Carlos Gonzalez de la Vega

(1917-1990) was chess champion of
Cuba in 1942, 1943, 1951, 1952, and
1955. In 1946, he won the U.S.
Speed Championship. He was a
medical officer in the Cuban Navy.
(source: Chess Review, Nov 1955, p.
326)
Juan Carlos GonzAles Zamora

(1968- ) is a Cuban-born Mexican
Mexican Championship 8 times.
Yuri GonzAlez-Videl (1981- ) is a

David Simon Charles Goodman

(1958- ) won the World Under-18
Championship in 1975. He was
title in 1983. He was an AP reporter
and editor before becoming a full-
time chess teacher. He is the author
of several chess books. He was a
chess teacher of Don Imus and his
son. He has a BA and honorary MA
from Oxford in Philosophy, Politics,
and Economics.
Geetha Narayanan Gopal (1989- ) is

an Indian Grandmaster (2007). In
2004, he won the Junior
Championship of India at age 15.
In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev (1931- )

won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was
the last General Secretary of the
Communist Party of the Soviet
Union, serving from 1985 to 1991.
He has been involved with the Chess
for Peace initiative with former
world chess champion Anatoly
Karpov.
Stephen J. Gordon (1986- ) is an
English Grandmaster (2009). He was
British Junior Champion between
2005 and 2008. In 2007, he took 2nd
in the British Championship. His
Daniel Gormally (1976- ) is an

English Grandmaster (2005). His
Gilbert F. Gosselin (1926-2007) was

born on November 25, 1926 in New
Bedford, Massachusetts. He was one
of the greatest contributors to the
promotion of chess in Massachusetts
and the New England area. He was
the scholastic coordinator for the
(MACA). In 1984, he was the
recipient of the Governor's Points of
Light Award for his volunteer chess
activities, presented to him by
governor Mitt Romney. This is the
highest honor given to a volunteer in
Massachusetts. He was president of
the New England Chess Association
for a number of years. He organized,
directed, promoted, and sponsored
more chess events than any
individual in New England. In 2006,
he received the Outstanding Career
Achievement Award from the
USCF. He died on May 21, 2007, at
the age of 80.
George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip

(1841-1907) was born in New York
on Decmber 6, 1841. He was winner
of the Correspondence Tournament
of the Chess Players Chronicle in
1873-1874. In 1874, he published
The Chess-Players' Manual, a 900
page opening book. In 1885, he took
2nd place in the 1st Australian
championship. In 1887, he took 3rd
place in the 2nd Australian
championship. In 1889, he took last
place in the 5th British Chess
Federation championship. In 1889,
he took last place in the 6th German
Chess Federation championship. In
1890, he took last place in the 6th
British Chess Federation Congress.
In 1892, he took last place in the 7th
British Chess Federation Congress.
In October 1893, he took last place
in New York. He died on May 11,
1907 in Liphook, England.
Miroslaw Grabarczyk (1971- ) is a

finished 2nd in the Polish
1994, he won the Polish Blitz
Championship.
Boris Grachev (1986- ) is a Russian

Russian Junior Championship. In
2016, he won the Moscow Blitz
Championship and the Moscow
Rapid Championship. He peak rating
was 2705 in 2012.
Alexander Graf (1962- ), born

Alexander Nenashev, is an
Uzbekistani-German Grandmaster
(1992). In 1989, he won the
Uzbekistani Championship. In 2004,
he won the German Championship.
Sonja Graf-Stevenson (1914-1965)

was learned the game of chess at age
four and was a pupil of Dr. Siegbert
Tarrasch. She was the winner of four
U.S. Women's Opens and two
Closed Championships (1957 — tied
with Gresser, 1964). She was
woman champion of her native
Germany until the outbreak of World
War II. She traveled to Buenos Aires
to play on the German team in the
8th Chess Olympiad. She was
prevented from playing on the
German team by a Nazi edict for her
outspoken defiance of Hitler's
government, and was taken off the
list of Olympiad participants. She
then decided to play in the Women's
World Chess Championship, held at
the same time in Buenos Aires. She
went on to play at large under the
banner of "Liberty." The Argentines
made her a flag with the word
"Libra" written on it. She played the
entire tournament, winning 16
games and losing 3, taking 2nd
place, behind world champion Vera
Menchik. After the Olympiad, she
refused to return to Germany and
stayed in Argentina. She married a
merchant mariner, Vernon
Stevenson, and moved to Hollywood
in 1947. In the 1930s she was
considered the second best woman
chess player in the world, after Vera
Menchik. Both Vera Menchik and
Sonja Graf married a chess player
named Stevenson. In 1957, she won
the California Women's Chess
Championship.
Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga (1967-

) is a Grandmaster (1986) from Peru.
He learned chess at the age of 5 from
his father, a schoolteacher. In 1981,
at the age of 13, he won the world
Junior Chess Championship. In
1988, he was Latin America's top
chess player. In 1992 he won the
New York Open. He retired from
chess in 1998 to become a farmer.
He announced he was retiring
because "chess is an effrontery to the
eyes of God. ...One should live in
accordance with divine law, which
orders us to till the earth." He
returned to chess in 2002. He has
won the championship of Peru
several times. He played for Peru in
11 Chess Olympiads. In 2017, he
won the World Senior Chess
2699 in 2016.
Nils Grandelius (1993- ) is a

Swedish Grandmaster (2010). In
Swedish Championship. His peak
Roberto Gabriel Grau (1900-1944)

won the Argentina chess
championship 6 times. He played for
Argentina in 6 chess Olympiads,
mainly of first board. He won the
South American championship in
1921 and 1928.
Gioacchino Greco (1600-1634) was

an Italian chess player and the best
known of the wandering chessmen
in the early 17th century. He was
born about 1600 at Celico, near
Cosenza in Calabria, the "toe" of the
Italian Peninsula. His parents were
poor villagers, but Greco, with no
education, left home at an early age
and earned his living by playing
chess. Greco was called Il Calabrese
(the Calabrois) from the province of
his birth. His surname was
Cusentino (Gioacchino Greco
Cusentino). Practically nothing is
known of his early life until we learn
of his being at Rome under the
patronage of a number of wealthy
individuals. Greco learned chess
from earlier books and kept a
notebook of tactics, and short and
clever games. He made a living
selling chess manuscripts of
openings and traps to wealthy
patrons (also Cardinals and
Archbishops), first in Italy (around
1619), then to France, then to
England, then back to France. In
1622, Greco was robbed of all his
money (5,000 crowns) that he won
in Paris from playing chess while on
his way to London. In 1624 he lived
in Paris and rearranged his chess
manuscripts, eliminating the longer
and less attractive games and adding
new brilliancies. From 1624 to 1626
he sold his manuscripts to French
patrons. In late 1624, he went to
Madrid, Spain and defeated all other
chess players at the court of King
Philip IV. He was taken to the West
Indies by a Spanish nobleman where
he died, leaving his fortune to the
Jesuits. He was born in Celico,
Calabria and became known as the
Calabrese (Il Calabrese) in later life.
After his death, a game collection
was published in 1656 by Henry
Herrington containing over 150
games with his own annotations.
This book, The Royall Game of
Chess-Play, Sometimes The
Recreation of the late King, with
many of the Nobility. Illustrated
with almost an hundred Gambetts.
Being the study of Biochimo the
famous Italian. This was the most
important English-language chess
book up to its day There are at least
41 editions of Greco's work written
in French, English, German, Dutch,
Danish, and Italian.
Alon Greenfeld (1964- ) is an Israeli

won the Israeli Championship. His
John Grefe (1947-2013) was an

Berkeley who tied for first (with
Kavalek) in the 1973 U.S. Chess
Championship in El Paso, Texas. He
attributed his success by his
complete devotion to the Guru
Maharaj-Ji, a 15 year-old prophet
from India. In 1974 he came equal
second at Lone Pine. He tied for first
at the 1980 American Open. He won
the California State Championship in
1980, 1981, 1982, and 1995. He died
of liver cancer.
Grefe - Burger, San Francisco 1969

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 e4 4.Qe2
Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Nxe4 O-O 7.Nxf6+
Bxf6 8.Qd1 Re8+ 9.Be2 Qe7 10.d4
Bf5 11.a3 Be4 12.O-O Bxd5 13.Be3
Nc6 14.c3 h6 15.h3 Na5 16.Nd2
Bg5 17.Bxg5 Qxe2 18.Be3 Rxe3!
(19.fxe3 Qxg2 mate) 0-1
Richard D. Greenblatt (1945- ) is a

computer programmer. In late 1966,
as an MIT undergraduate, he began
to develop a computer chess
program of his own. He had been
challenged by Hubert Dreyfus, who
criticized the usefulness of Artificial
Intelligence and was an anti-
computer opponent, that computers
would not be able to play chess or be
good enough to beat a ten-year-old.
An early version was up and running
by the end of 1966. MIT was using a
computer time-sharing grand called
Project MAC (Multiple Access
Computing). Greenblatt's program
ran on a PDP 6. He called his
creation MAC HACK 6 and
programmed it in assembly
language. His program was able to
beat Greenblatt's critic, Hubert
Dreyfus, which checkmated him in
the middle of the board. In 1967, It
was the first computer chess
program to play in chess
tournaments with human players.
Greenblatt was offered an MIT
degree if he would write a thesis
about his chess program, but he
never got around to writing a thesis.
Greenblatt was the main designer of
the MIT Lisp machine. In 1980,
Greenblatt founded LMI (Lisp
Machines, Inc) to market Lisp
machines.
Gisela Gresser (1906-2000) was the

winner of the U.S. Women's
Championship 9 times (1944, 1948,
1955, 1957, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967,
and 1969). She won the 1969 U.S.
Women's Championship at the age
of 63. Second place went to 55 year-
old Mona Karff (6 times former
Champion). She was the first woman
in the U.S. to achieve a master's
rating. She learned how to play
chess after she borrowed a chess
book while on a cruise from France
to New York in 1937. She became
interested in chess tournaments as a
spectator at the 1938 U.S. Women's
Championship at the Rockefeller
Center in New York. She played in
her first U.S. Women's
Championship in 1940. She was
born Gisela Kahn. She was awarded
the International Woman Master title
in 1950. She was an expert in
hieroglyphics. In 1937, she won a
fellowship at Harvard for Greek
archeological research. (source:
Chess Review, Dec 1951, p. 356)
Rather - Gresser, New York 1946

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3
d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxd5 Qxd5 7.d4
Be7 8.Bxf4 Qe4+ 9.Be2 Qxf4 10.O-
O O-O 0-1
Helgi Ass Gretarsson (1977- ) is an

Icelandic grandmaster (1994) who
won the 1994 World Under-20
Junior Chess Championship, held in
Brazil. He won the Icelandic
championship in 1999. His peak
Jules Grevy (1807-1891) was the

President of the French Republic
(1879-1887) and a chess patron in
France.
Richard Clewin Griffith (1872-1955)

was British chess champion in 1912.
Also in 1912, he and John Herbert
White wrote the first edition of the
world-famous Modern Chess
Openings (MCO). From 1920 to
1937, he was editor of the British
Chess Magazine. He was a
metallurgist for an assaying
company. (source: Chess Review,
Feb 1956, p. 38)
Nikolai Grigoriev (1895-1938) was a

Soviet endgame analyst. In 1936 the
French magazine, La Strategie,
promoted an end-game competition.
Of the 12 awards he shared 1st and
2nd prizes, won 3rd, 4th and 5th
prizes; shared 1st and 2nd honorable
mentions, and was awarded 3rd, 4th,
5th and 6th honorable mentions. He
died after an operation to remove his
appendix.
Avetik Grigoryan (1989- ) is an

2010, he won the Armenian
2622 in 2011.
Karen H. Grigoryan (1995- ) is an

2008, he won the Armenian under-
the European under-16
2610 in 2015.
Walter Grimshaw (1832-1890) was a

19th century British chess problem
composer. In 1854, he won the first
chess problem competition, held in
London. He is perhaps best known
for giving his name to the
Grimshaw, a popular problem
theme. A Grimshaw is when two
black pieces arriving on a particular
square mutually interfere with each
other.
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk

(2000) from Moscow. He reached
the semifinals of the 2000 FIDE
world championship at the age of 16.
In 2002, he took 2nd at the Corus
Chess Tournament. In 2004, he was
2nd in the 2004 Russian
Championships, behind Kasparov. In
World Blitz Championship 3 times.
world. He is married to Ukrainian
grandmaster Natalia Zhukova. His
Arizmendi — Grischuk, Reykjavik

2000 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4
g4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.exd5 Bd6
8.d4 Nh5 9.Nc3 O-O 10.Nxg4 Ng3
11.Rh2 Qe7+ 12.Kd2 Re8 0-1
Efstratios Grivas (1966- ) is a Greek

Grandmaster (1993). He has played
for Greece in 8 Chess Olympiads.
Henri Grob (1904-1974) was a

Swiss International Master (1950).
He was Swiss champion in 1939 and
1951. He pioneered eccentric chess
openings, such as 1.g4, sometimes
knows as Grob's Attack. He was an
artist and painter. Between 1946 and
1972, Grob played 3,614
correspondence chess games. He
won 2,703, lost 430, and dres 481
games. All of the games were played
against readers of Neuern Zurcher
Zeitung, a Zurich newspaper.
Grob — W. Fischer, Postal 1966

1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 e5 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5
cxd5 5.Qb3 Ne7 6.Nc3 e4 7.d3 exd3
8.Bf4 a6 9.Rd1 dxe2 10.Ngxe2 Nbc6
11.Bxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Na5
13.Qe3+ Be6 14.Nc7+ Qxc7
15.Bxc7 1-0
Sahaj Grover (1995- ) is a

Grandmaster (2012) form India. He
learned chess from his father at age
3. At age 5, he played in the British
Under-8 championship, the youngest
participant. He won the World
Under-10 championship in 2005. In
2017, he won the South African
Open.
Lina Grumette (1908-1988) was a

popular chess organizer in California
who ran The Chess Set in her
Hollywood home. She competed in
the US Women's championship in
the 1940s.
Ernest Gruenfeld (1893-1962) was

an Austrian chess player and
Grandmaster (1950). He was one of
the top 10 players in the world in the
1920s. He lost a leg in early
childhood. He was supposed to have
one of the best memories for chess
openings than any other player. He
introduced the Gruenfeld Defense in
1922. He was German champion in
1923. In 1961, Ernst Gruenfeld, age
67, was playing in a chess
tournament at Beverwijk in the
Netherlands. Gruenfeld had lost a
leg when in his early childhood and
had an artificial leg. Despite his age,
and this handicap, he spurned the
organizers' offer of a car, and
insisted on walking the mile or so
from where he was staying to the
chess tournament hall each
afternoon. On one day, he set off,
but fell down in the road, and his
wooden leg came off and fell into a
ditch! A distressed Gruenfeld
managed to get to a phone booth and
ring the organizers. The organizers
contacted Max Euwe, who came on
the line. Hearing of Gruenfeld's
plight, he jumped into a car, and a
few minutes later, he managed to
rescue Gruenfeld and his wooden leg
and take him back to the house he
was staying at. After a refreshing
cup of coffee and a few minutes'
rest, Gruenfeld was re-united with
his artificial leg and driven to the
tournament hall. Unfortunately, he
faced the East German GM
Wolfgang Uhlmann that day, and
despite having White, the trauma
took its toll on him. He lost in just
21 moves! On April 3, 1962, Ernst
Gruenfeld died in Ottakring, Vienna
at the age of 68. He is buried at the
Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery)
in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the
largest cemeteries in the world and
the largest by number of interned in
Europe (over 3.3 million bodies).
(source: Chess Review, July 1962, p.
206)
E. Gruenfeld - Nagy, Debreczen

1924 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 d5
4.cxd5 Qxd5 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Bg2 O-O
7.Nc3 Qh5 8.h3 Nc6 9.Ng5 Rd8
10.Bf3 Rxd4 11.Qb3 1-0
Yehuda Gruenfeld (1956- ) is an

Israeli grandmaster (1980), born in
Poland. In 1982 and 1990, he was
the champion of Israel. He is a deaf
mute.
Lina Grumette (1908-1988) was a

popular West Coast chess organizer
who ran The Chess Set chess club in
her Hollywood home. She competed
in the US Women's championship of
the 1940s and was one of the
strongest females in the United
States. It may have been her
influence that Bobby Fischer
continued his world championship
match in Iceland in 1972.
James Glover Grundy (1855-1919)

was an English-American chess
master. In 1880, going into the last
round of the 5th American Chess
Congress in New York, the leading
scores were: James Grundy 12.5,
Preston Ware 12.5, Charles Moehle
12.5 and George Henry Mackenzie
12.5. So, the distribution of $1,000
prize money and a gold medal
depended on the final games.
Mackenzie won his game and scored
13.5. Then Moehle drew and scored
13 points. But Grundy's game with
Ware lingered on. At one time it
appeared that Ware had a certain win
and the game was adjourned.
Unaccountably to the onlookers,
when the players resumed in the
evening, Ware played what are
described as 'some apparently
purposeless moves', and Grundy
scored a lucky point after 64 moves
to tie Captain Mackenzie for first
and second prizes. A two-game play
off was arranged between
Mackenzie and Grundy. But before
it began, Ware made a written
complaint to the congress
committee. Ware wrote, "As I was
walking down the Bowery with Mr
Grundy, on Sunday 25 January, he
remarked that he was poor and really
needed the second prize." Ware
alleged that Grundy had offered him
$20 to play for a draw. He admitted
that he had fallen in with the plan
and that, even with a won game, he
merely — in his own words —
"moved back and forward as agreed.
Grundy was making desperate
efforts to win, and finally did so,
perpetrating an infamous fraud on
me." The committee couldn't do
anything about the unsupported
allegations, and conceded to Grundy
the benefit of a technical doubt.
Grundy lost the play-off 2-0 and
took the $300 second prize.
Eduard Gufeld (1936-2002) was a

Ukrainian Grandmaster (1967),
chess coach and trainer, who played
in 8 USSR championships from
1959 to 1972. He moved to
Hollywood in 1995 and opened up a
chess club in 1998. He won the
American Open in 1999. He guided
Maya Chiburdanidze to the women's
world championship. He authored
over 80 books on chess. In 1960 he
won the championship of the USSR
Armed Forces. He was a poor loser
in chess. When he lost, he refused to
shake hands and occasionally
insulted his opponents with remarks
like, "He plays like a first category
player," or "I will not shake the hand
of a friend of a traitor to the
Motherland." Gufeld once played
Tony Miles and lost after Miles
opened the game with 1.e4 c6 2.d4
Na6. The next day, Gufeld saw
Miles at breakfast. Gufeld said: "I
hate you, my friend. You are
destroying chess with your stupid
ideas." Gufeld kept shouting for two
hours and later he never said a polite
word to Miles. When they met at the
board again, there was no
handshake.
Gufeld - Klovans, Moscow 1956

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.O-O d6 6.c3 Bd7 7.Re1 Be7
8.a3 O-O 9.h3 Qc8 10.d4 exd4
11.cxd4 d5 12.Nc3 dxe4 13.d5 Rd8
14.dxc6 Bxh3 15.cxb7 Qg4 16.Nh4
Qxh4 17.bxa8=Q Rxa8 18.g3 1-0
Baseball pitcher Ron Guidry (1950-

) plays chess. He appeared on the
September 1983 cover of Chess Life
magazine, making a pitch for chess.
Guidry and Bruce Pandolfini were
playing a chess game at Yankee
stadium one day when manager
Billy Martine came by, telling the
players that the Yankee locker room
was "no place to play."
Carlos Guimard (1913-1998) was an

won the Argentina Championship 3
times.
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (1994- ) is an

Indian Grandmaster (2013). In 2008,
he won the World under-14
2721 in 2017.
Namig Guliyev (1974- ) is an

Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2005). His
Boris Franzevich Gulko (1947- )

was born in Erfurt, East Germany.
His father was a soldier in the Red
Army stationed in East Germany.
His family returned to the USSR
after a few years. In 1975, he was
title. In 1976, he was awarded the
Grandmaster title. In 1977, he won
the USSR Chess Championship. He
played in 8 Soviet championships. In
September 1982, Boris Gulko and
his wife were arrested for protesting
at the Moscow Interzonal in
Moscow. They were trying to
immigrate to Israel. Gulko was
beaten by KGB agents and was
forbidden to play in top-level
competitions. In the 1980s, USSR
grandmaster Boris Gulko and his
wife were barred from top level
chess competitions because of their
anti-communist views. The Gulko
family was finally allowed to
immigrate to the United States in
1986. In 1986, he immigrated to the
United States. He won the U.S.
1999. He is the only player to have
won the chess championship of both
the USSR and the USA. His peak
Colin - Gulko, St. Martin 1992 1.c4

e5 2.e4 Bc5 3.Nc3 d6 4.g3 Nc6
5.Bg2 f5 6.d3 Nf6 7.Nh3 O-O 8.O-O
h6 9.Qd2 (9.Na4) 9...fxe4 10.Nxe4
Nxe4 11.dxe4 Be6 12.Kh1 Qd7
13.Ng1 Bxc4 (and 14...Rxf2) 0-1
Friedmann — Gulko, Philadelphia

1993 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4
4.e5 c5 5.Bd2 Ne7 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3
b6 8.b4 Qc7 9.Nf3 cxb4 10.Bxb4 a5
11.Bd2 O-O 12.Bd3 Ba6 13.Bxh7+
Kxh7 14.Ng5+ Kg8 15.Qh5 Qxc2
16.g4 Qd3 0-1
Charles Godfrey Gumpel (1835-

1921) was the inventor of the chess
automation Mephisto, in 1876, but
first displayed in 1878. Gumpel was
a manufacturer of artificial limbs.
Ruben Gunawan (1968-2005) was

an Indonesian Grandmaster (1999).
In 1982, he won the Indonesian
under-16 Championship. In 1983, he
won the Asian Junior Championship.
In 1984, he won the Indonesian
under-19 Championship. His peak
rating was 2507 in 1999. He died of
heart failure and pneumonia.
Valentina Gunina (1989- ) is a

Russian Grandmaster (2013) and
won the Russian Women's
Championship 3 times. In 2012, she
won the Women's World Blitz
Russian Women's Rapid
Moscow Women's Blitz
Championship. Her peak rating was
2548 in 2015.
Isidor Gunsberg (1854-1930)

narrowly lost the 1891 world chess
championship to William Steinitz.
He was an early operator of
Mephisto and was paid well. Later,
he listed his occupation as
tobacconist and professional chess
player. He had a dealership
arrangement with cigar makers and
supplied cigars to chess clubs and
chess rooms. Gunsberg himself did
not smoke. In 1891, he listed his
occupation as chessplayer and
journalist. In 1901, he listed his
occupation as author and journalist.
In 1916, Gunsberg sued the Evening
News London newspaper for libel
when a newspaper columnist, Alfred
William Foster, wrote that
Gunsberg's chess column contained
blunders. He won the suit after the
British High Court accepted a
submission that in chess matters,
eight oversights did not make a
blunder. Gunsberg won 250 British
pounds for damages done to his
reputation.
Bird — Gunsberg, Hastings 1897

1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3
g5 5.c3 g4 6.Nd4 Nc6 7.Qa4 Qh4+
8.Kd1 g3 9.b3 Qxh2 0-1
Gunsberg - Unknown, England 1900

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4
5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.d4 d5
8.Bxf4 Nf6 9.Nc3 Bb4 10.Be5 Nxe4
11.Bd3 Nxc3 12.O-O+ Kg8 13.Qe1
Ne4 14.Qxe4 dxe4 15.Bc4+ Kh7
16.Rf7+ Kg6 17.Rg7+ Kh5 18.Bf7+
Kxh4 19.Kh2 (threatening 20.g3 or
20.Bg3 and mate) 1-0
Abhijeet Gupta (1989- ) is an Indian

Commonwealth Chess
Reykjavik Open. His peak rating
was 2667 in 2012.
Dmitry Gurevich (1956- ) is a

in Moscow and immigrated to the
United States in 1980. He has won
the US Open 4 times. He has won
the National Open 6 times. His peak
Dmitry Gurevich (1956- ), born in

Moscow, is an American
US Open 4 times. He has won the
National Open 6 times. His peak
Ilya Mark Gurevich (1972- ) was

born in Kiev on February 6, 1972.
He later moved to Worcester,
Massachusetts. He is an American
Grandmaster (1986). He was U.S.
National Elementary Champion
(1983), World Under-14 Champion
(1985), U.S. Junior Champion
(1990), and World Junior Champion
(1990). He became a chess master at
age 12 years, 3 months in 1984. He
quit competitive chess in 1994 and is
a stock exchange options trader.
Mikhail Gurevich (1959- ) is a
Soviet grandmaster (1986). In 1985
he won the Soviet championship. In
1991 he immigrated to Belgium.
M. Gurevich — Geller, Moscow

1987 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7
4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.Qc2 g6 7.e3
Bf5 8.Qd2 Nf6 9.f3 h5 10.Bd3 Bxd3
11.Qxd3 Nbd7 12.Nge2 O-O 13.e4
dxe4 14.fxe4 Nc5 15.Qf3 Ne6 16.O-
O-O Nxf4 17.Nxf4 Nh7 18.Kb1 Bb4
19.Nce2 Qe7 20.h4 Rae8 21.e5 Qd7
22.Ka1 Ba5 23.Qb3 Bb6 24.Nxg6 1-
0
Bukhuti Gurgenidze (1933-2008)

was a Soviet Grandmaster (1970)
from Soviet Georgia. He was a
trainer to several women
grandmasters in the Soviet Union.
He won the Soviet Georgia
Championship 12 times. He played
in eight USSR chess championships.
He may have been the lowest rated
Grandmaster, with a FIDE rating of
2225. He was a geologist by
profession.
Gurgenidze — Dzindzichashvili,
Tbilisi 1966 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4
cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6
7.Be2 Be7 8.Nb3 a6 9.Qd2 b5 10.a3
Bb7 11.Rd1 Na5 12.Nxa5 Qxa5
13.e5 b4 14.axb4 Qxe5 15.f4 Qf5
16.g4 Ne4 17.gxf5 Nxd2 18.Kxd2
Bxg5 19.fxg5 Bxh1 20.Rxh1 h6
21.g6 1-0
Aidyn Guseinov (1957-2003) was an

Azerbaijani Grandmaster (1998). He
took 2nd place in three USSR chess
championships.
Jan Gustafsson (1979- ) is a German
won the German under-15
German under-17 Championship. In
2001, he won te German Blitz
Thailand Open. His peak rating was
2652 in 2010.
In 1922, Antanas Gustaitis (1898-

1941) won the second unofficial
Lithuanian Chess Championship. He
later became a Brigadier General in
the Lithuanian Armed Forces and
modernized the Lithuanian Air
Force. In March 1941, he was caught
attempting to flee to Germany
during the Soviet Occupation. He
was taken to Moscow where he was
shot on October 16, 1941.
Lev Gutman (1945- ) is a Latvian-

born Grandmaster (1986). He was
Latvian champion in 1972. He
moved to Israel, and then to
Germany.
Igor Ivanov — Gutman, Riga 1975

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4
Bg7 5.e3 O-O 6.Be5 c6 7.Nf3 Bg4
8.Qb3 Nbd7 9.Bg3 dxc4 10.Qxb7
Bxf3 11.gxf3 c5 12.d5 Ne8 13.Bxc4
Nd6 14.Qa6 Rb8 15.Bb3 Rb4 16.O-
O c4 17.Bxd6 exd6 18.Qxd6 Rb6 0-
1
Franz Gutmayer (1857-1937) was a

German chess player who wrote a
chess book (Turnierpraxis, published
in Leipzig) and a series of articles in
1921 on how to become a chess
master, but he never became one
himself. In 1898, he wrote Der Weg
zur Meisterschaft (The Way to Chess
Mastership) and explained how to
become a chess master. He never
won a Hauptturnier first prize (but
did take 2nd place Å“ point behind
the winner), which was required in
Germany for the title of chess
master. Richard Reti read the
articles, became a master, and wrote
Modern Ideas in Chess in 1922,
showing the proper way to play
chess and become a master.
However, Gutmayer's historical
chess rating was over 2400 in 1885,
ranking him in the top 25 players in
the world. Gutmayer wrote over 20
popular chess books between 1898
and 1928.
Richard Kenneth Guy (1916- ) is a

British mathematician and is
Professor Emeritus in the
Department of mathematics at the
University of Calgary. He received
an M.A. in mathematics from
Cambridge in 1941. He is also a
notable figure in the field of chess
endgame studies. He has composed
around 200 studies and was the co-
founder of the Guy-Blandford-
Roycroft (GBR) code for classifying
chess studies. He served as the
endgame study editor for the British
Chess Magazine from 1947 to 1951.
Zoltan Gyimesi (1977- ) is a

2005, he won the Hungarian
Championship. Hi speak rating was
2674 in 2012. He is married to IM
Nora Medvegy.
Mohamed Haddouche (1984- ) is an

Algerian Grandmaster (2014). He
has played for Algeria in 4 Chess
2529.
Anna Hahn (1976- ), born in Latvia,

is a Women's International Master
(1995). She won the Latvian's
Women's Championship in 1992.
She tied for 2nd place in the World
Girls' Championship in 1993. She
was Women's US Champion for
2003. She won a playoff match
between Irina Krush and Jennifer
Shahade. She includes kick boxing
as one of her hobbies. She works as
a trader for D. E. Shaw & Co. in
New York City.
Stelios Halkias (1980- ) is a Greek

was 2602.
Tunc Hamarat (1946- ) is a Turkish

chess player now living in Austria.
In 1997, he was awarded the title of
Grandmaster of Correspondence
Chess. He was winner of the 16th
International Correspondence Chess
Federation (ICCF) World
Championship, played fro 1999 to
2004. He has a Master's degree in
Physics Engineering. He works for a
telecommunication company in
Vienna.
Hichem Hamdouchi (1972- ) is a

Moroccan-French Grandmaster
(1994) from Morocco. He has won
the Moroccan Chess Championship
11 times, first in 1988 at the age of
15. In 2001, he won the African
won the French Chess
Championship. He is married to
Woman Grandmaster Adina-Maria
Hamdouchi.
Frederick Gustavus Hamilton-

Russell (1867-1941) was a chess
patron who donated a solid gold cup
to FIDE to be the trophy for its
international team tournaments (the
chess Olympiads). In his last years,
he was president of the British Chess
Federation.
Jon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer (1990-

) is a Norwegian Grandmaster
(2009). He won the Norwegian
Milton Loeb Hanauer (1909-1988)

was Vice President of the Marshall
Chess Club where he had been a
member for over 60 years. He was
one of the top 25 chess players in
America in the early 1950s. He
authored Chess Made Easy. He
graduated from college at 17 and
was the youngest person to win the
New York State Chess
Championship (1926). He was the
Marshall Chess Club Champion in
1950-51.
Edhi Handoko (1960-2009) was an

won the Indonesian Chess
Championship 4 times. He died of a
heart attack at the age of 48.
James Moore Hanham (1840-1923)

was born in Woodville, Mississippi
on January 4, 1840. He fought on the
side of the North during the Civil
War and was promoted to major in
the U.S. Army. He saw action at Fort
Pickens and Baton Rouge. After the
Civil War, he moved to Manhattan.
In 1885, he took 2nd place at the 7th
championship. In 1885, he took 2nd
in the 8th Manhattan Chess Club
championship. In 1888, he tied for
2nd-3rd in the 1st United States
Chess Association tournament in
Cincinnati, won by Showalter. In
1891, he won the New York State
Chess Association championship. He
died on December 30, 1923 in
Manhattan. At his death at age 83, he
was the oldest chessplayer of master
rank in the United States.
Hermann von Hanneken (1810-

1886) was a German chess master.
He was also a Prussian general who
served in the Franco-Prussian war in
1970-1871. He wrote severak chess
articles for Deutsche Schachzeitung
magazine, analyzing the King's
Gambit. His last years were spent at
Wiesbaden playing chess at the
Cursaal Gambling House.
Max Lange — Hanneken,

Duesseldorf 1862 1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3
Bc4 Nf6 4 Qe2 Bc5 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 c3
O-O 7 d4 d5 8 exd5 Nxd5 9 Bxd5
Re8 10 Ne5 Qxd5 11 Bxf4 f6 12
Nd2 Bf5 13 O-O-O Qxa2 14 Ne4
fxe5 15 Bxe5 Nxe5 16 dxe5 Qa1+
17 Kc2 Qa4+ and White resigns 0-1
Curt Hansen (1964- ) is a

Grandmaster (1985) and the
strongest Danish player in the 1990s.
He won the European Junior
Championship in 1982 and the
Junior World Championship in
1984. He won the Nordic
championship in 1983. He won the
Danish championship 6 times. His
Curt Hansen — Wicker, Esbjerg

1981 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5
4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.c4 Nf6
7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Be2 Nc6 9.O-O Qc7
10.a3 a5 11.b3 O-O 12.Bb2 e5
13.Qc2 Re8 14.Ne4 Nxe4 15.Qxe4
Bd4 16.Nxd4 1-0
Eric Hansen (1992- ) is a Canadian

Alberta Championship 4 times. In
2011, he tied for 1st in the Canadian
Canadian Open. His peak rating was
2629 in 2017.
Sune Berg Hansen (1971- ) is a

Danish Grandmaster (1998). He has
won the Danish Championship 7
times. He played for Denmark in 8
was 2603 in 2010.
Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen (1979- ) is

a Norwegian Granmaster (2015). He
was Magnus Carlsen's first coach.
Wilhelm Hanstein (1811-1850) was

a German chess player who was one
of the Berlin Pleiades. He helped
found Berliner Schachzeitung, later
to become Deutsche Schachzeitung.
He was a civil servant.
Hanstein — Jaenisch, Berlin 1842

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4
5.O-O gxf3 6.Qxf3 Bh6 7.d4 d5
8.exd5 Qf6 9.c3 Ne7 10.Nd2 Bf5
11.d6 Nec6 12.dxc7 Nd7 13.Re1+
Kf8 14.b3 Rc8 15.Ne4 Bxe4
16.Rxe4 Re8 17.Rxe8+ Kxe8
18.c8=Q+ 1-0
Dr. Timothy David (Tim) Harding

(1948- ) is an Irish Senior
International Master of
Correspondence Chess (2002) and
author with particular expertise in
correspondence chess and its history.
His 2009 PhD thesis was on the
history of correspondence chess in
Britain and Ireland from 1824 to
1914. In 2012, he wrote Eminent
Victorian Chess Players: Ten
Biographies. In 2015, he wrote
Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess
Biography.
Godfrey H. Hardy (1877-1947) was

a prominent English theoretical
mathematician. In 1903, he earned
his M.A. in mathematics, which was
the highest academic degree at
English universities at that time. He
called chess "trivial mathematics."
Hardy enjoyed comparing
mathematics to chess puzzles. He
called chess problems the hymn-
tunes of mathematics.
Harika Dronavalli (1991- ) is an

Indian Grandmaster (2011) and a
Woman Grandmaster (2004). Her
Pentala Harikrishna (1986- ) is a GM

(2001) from India. In 1996, he was
the World Under-10 chess
champion. In 2001, he won the
Commwealth Championship. He
became a Grandmaster in 2001, at
the age of 15. He became India's
youngest Grandmaster (Anand was
18 when he became a GM). In 2004,
he was the World Junior Chess
Champion. In 2011, he won the
Asian Championship. His peak
rating was 2770 in 2016 and he was
ranked #10 in the world.
Kenneth Harkness (1896-1972),

bron in Scotland, was the first
business manager of the US Chess
Federation. He helped standardize
chess rules, the Swiss system, and
the rating system. The Harkness
Rating System was usd by the USCF
from 1950 to 1959. From 1952 to
1960, he was the business manager
of the US Chess Federation. In 1972,
he became an International Arbiter.
He was inducted in the US Chess
Hall of Fame in 1997. He was 75.
He was a radio engineer. He died of
a heart attack on a train in
Yugoslavia, on his way to a FIDE
meeting in Skopje, Yugoslavia.
(source: Chess Life, Dec 1972, p.
741)
Max Harmonist (1864-1907) was a

leading German chess master. He
was also a professional ballet dancer,
and often performed in the royal
ballet. He later suffered from
Cerebral Palsy.
Harmonist — NN, Berlin 1897 1.e4

e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4
5.Nf3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Be7 7.d4 Be6
8.Bd3 O-O 9.h4 f6 10.Ng5 fxg5
11.Bxh7+ Kxh7 12.hxg5+ Kg8
13.Qh5 Rf5 14.g4 Rxg5 15.Bxg5
Bxg4 16.Qxg4 Qd7 17.e6 Qd6
18.Qh3 1-0
Actor Woody Harrelson (1961- )

plays chess. He played Garry
Kasparov to a draw in 1999.
Dan Harringron (1945- ) is a lawyer

and a former champion
backgammon player (World Cup of
Backgammon Champion in 1980),
U.S. chess master, and professional
poker player. In 1971 he won the
Massachusetts State Chess
Championship. He is a former club
champion of the Bolyston Chess
Club.
In 1959, Walter Harris (1942- ) of

Harlem became the first African-
American chess master, at the age of
18. He won the Junior
Championship of the Marshall Chess
Club. On May 11, 1958, he drew a
game against Bobby Fischer in a live
TV simul in New York. In 1959, he
played in the U.S. Open in Omaha,
Nebraska and defeated several other
masters (he took 27th out of 135
players). He won the top 'Class A'
prize. He was unable to get a hotel
room where the tournament was held
because he was Black. In 1959, he
played in the U.S. Junior
championship, taking 5th place out
of 40 players. In 1961, he won the
New York City Amateur
Sacramento City Championship in
1964 and 1967. He later gave up
chess and became a physicist. He
was a physicist at the U.S. Naval
Observatory for several years. Later,
he moved to Northern California.
Daniel Harrwitz (1823-1894) was a

German master (born in Breslau,
Silesia) and world's best active
player in the mid 1850s. He played
matches against Staunton,
Anderssen, Lowenthal, and lost to
Morphy. He became a professional
chess player at the Cafe de la
Regence in Paris. In 1852, his match
with Lowenthal was the first chess
match that introduced a time limit.
The time limit was 20 minutes per
move. In 1853-1854 he founded and
edited the British Chess Review. In
1862 he wrote Lehbuch des
Schachspiels. He retired in the
Austrian Alps (Tyrol), living off his
inheritance He played chess at the
Cafe de la Regeance, morning, noon,
and night, seven days a week. He
had chess figures embroidered on his
shirts and wore stick-pins shaped
like chess pieces. (source: Chess
Review, Oct 1933, p. 19)
Gocher - Harrwitz, France 1868 1.e4

e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5
Nf6 6.Nxg4 Nxe4 7.d3 Ng3 8.Bxf4
Qe7+ 9.Kf2 Nxh1+ 10.Kg1 Bg7
11.Nc3 h5 12.Nd5 hxg4 13.Nxe7
Bd4+ 14.Kxh1 Rxh4+ 15.Bh2 g3
(and 16...Rxh2 mate) 0-1
William Hartston (1947- ) is a

British International Master (1973)
who won the British men's chess
championship while his wife, Jana
Malypetrova, won the British
women's championship in 1974. He
won or tied in the British
and 1980. At Hastings 1972-3, he
turned down a draw offer against
Uhlmann and lost the game. If he
had accepted the draw, he would
have become England's first
grandmaster. He has written many
chess books. In 1985, he wrote The
Kings of Chess: A history of chess
traced through the lives of its
greatest players. His highest Elo
rating was 2515. He is a
mathematician and industrial
psychologist.
Hartston - Basman, England 1968

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 c6
5.O-O h6 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7
8.Nxe5+ Kf6 9.Qd4 Ke6 10.Ng6
Rh7 11.Qc4+ Kf6 12.Nf4 g5?
(12...Qe8) 13.Qxg8 gxf4 14.Qxh7
Bg7 15.Bxf4 Nf8 16.Be5+ Kxe5
17.Qxg7+ Qf6 18.f4+ Ke6 19.f5+
(19...Ke5 20.Qg3+ Kxe4 21.Nc3+
Kd4 22.Qf4+ Kc5 23.Ne4+ and
24.Nxf6) 1-0
Gevorg Harutjunyan (1981- ) is an

Armenian Grandmaster (2009). His
Ronen Har-Zvi (1976- ) is an Israeli

won the Wrold uner-16 Chess
2515. He works as a stock trader.
Dr. Stewart Haslinger (1981- ) is an

1993, he won the British under-12
rating was 2559 in 2010. He has a
PhD degree in mathematics from
Liverpool University.
Arnaud Hauchard (1971- ) is a

March 2011, he was suspended for
cheating. This suspension was later
revoked by a French civil court due
to technicalities.
Miroslav Havel (1881-1958) was a
leading Czech chess composer and
was an administrator in the Czech
railroad system. He was the chess
editor in several Czechoslovakian
newspapers and magazines. In 1956,
he was awarded the International
Judge for Chess Composition. He
published over 1,400 chess
compositions. (source: Chess
Review, Mar 1934)
Stephen Hawking (1942- ) is a

physicist who also specializes in
applied mathematics. He was the
Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
at Cambridge for 30 years. He is
now Director of Research at the
Centre for Theoretical Cosmology in
the Department of Applied
mathematics and Theoretical Physics
at Cambridge. Stephen plays chess
with his sons. He was once featured
on Star Trek: The Next Generation
playing chess with Mr. Data and
Albert Einstein.
Jonathan Hawkins (1983- ) is an

2014 and 2015, he won the British
2585 in 2016.
Rea Bruce Hayes (1915-2001) was

winner of the first U.S. Senior Open
(open to players age 50 and older),
held in 1981 in Sun City, Arizona. In
oldest player to play in the event. He
was born in Canada, then later
moved to South Carolina. He won
the South Carolina championship in
1953 and 1954. He later moved to
Cincinnati, Ohio. He won the Ohio
championship in 1963 and the
Tennessee championship in 1992, at
the age of 76.
Hovik Hayrapetyan (1990- ) is an

Armendian Grandmaster (2013). In
Solving Championship.
Miron James Hazeltine (1824-1907)

was a newspaper chess columnist
(New York Clipper) for more than
50 years (from 1856 to 1907)
without missing a single issue until
shortly before his death. He began
his first chess column in the New
York Saturday Courier on February
3, 1855. This was probably the first
chess column in the United States.
He was the first person to omit the
"to" from recorded moves - making
"P to K4" into "P-K4." He was a
principal of a classical private school
and a justice of the peace and notary
public for the state of New
Hampshire. At the time of his death,
he had one of the largest collection
of chess books in the country (over
600 volumes).
Kivanc Haznedaroglu1981- ) is a
Turkish Grandmaster (2009). In
2003, he won the Turkish
Championship.
Mark Hebden (1958- ) is an English

British Rapidplay Championship 7
2001.
Bartlomiej Heberla (1985- ) is a

he won the Polish under-16 Chess
2578 in 2014. On August 8, 2008, he
was on his way to a chess
tournament by train when the train
derailed. 8 people were kille and 64
were wounded. Heberla was
hospitalized, but he did not have any
serious injuries.
Hans-Joachim Hecht (1939- ) is a

German grandmaster (1973). He was
West German chess champion in
1970 and 1973. In 1980, he was
awarded the Correspondence
International Master title. He was on
the German team that won the gold
medal in the 1st World Senior Team
Chess Championship in 2004.
Uhlmann played board 1 and Hecht
played board 2.
Hecht — Velimirovic, Budapest

1973 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 b6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Bb7 5.Nc3 e6 6.Ndb5 d6
7.Bf4 e5 8.Nd5 Na6 9.Be3 Be7
10.Bc4 Nf6 11.Nxf6+ gxf6 12.Qh5
O-O 13.Nc3 Nc5 14.Bh6 Ne6 15.O-
O-O Qc8 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.Rd3 1-0
Jonny Hector (1964- ) is a Swedish

Grandmaster (1991) and a
(1999). In 2002, he won the Swedish
2590 in 2002.
Hermann Heemsoth (1909-2006)

was a German correspondence
became a grandmaster of
Correspondence Chess in 1987 at the
age of 77.
Wolfgang Heidenfeld (1911-1981)
was a German-born (Berlin) Jewish
chess author who was forced to
emigrate to South Africa in the
1930s and then settled in Ireland in
1957. He was South African
Champion in 1939, 1945-46, 1947,
1949, 1951, 1955, 1957, and 1959.
He was Irish Champion in 1958,
1963, 1964, 1967, 1968, and 1972.
During World War II, he helped
decode German messages for the
Allies. He died in Germany. In 1959,
he was champion of Ireland and
South Africa while living in
Germany. FIDE awarded him the
title of International Master, but he
declined to accept the award from
FIDE. His son, Mark (born in 1968),
became and International Master.
Heidenfeld — Driman,
Johannesburg 1942 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3
Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Nf3 Bg4
6.Qe2 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 c6
9.d4 Nd7 10.Bd3 Be7 11.O-O O-O
12.Qh3 g6 13.Bh6 Re8 14.Rxf7
Nxe5 15.Rg7+ Kh8 16.dxe5 1-0
Andreas Heimann (1992- ) is a

In 1896-1898, Arved Heinrichsen

(1879-1900), a Lithuanian chess
master, went to Berlin to study
medicine and was active in several
Berlin chess tournaments. His name
is attached to the Heinrichsen
Opening, 1.Nc3, also known as the
Baltic Opening, Kotrc Opening,
Dunst, Sleipner, and Queen's Knight
Opening. He died in Vilnius at the
age of 23 from tuberculosis.
In 1932, Werner Heisenberg (1901-
Physics for his work in quantum
mechanics. He was a strong chess
player and was probably taught
chess by his father. He spent his free
time in the evenings playing chess,
which he always won. He often held
chess matches under his desk at
school and could give Queen odds
and still win. He would often play
blindfold chess with his father while
hiking. He was able to reconstruct
entire games from memory. After he
entered the university in Munich, his
obsession with chess became so
obvious that Professor Arnold
Sommerfeld (1868-1951) finally had
to forbid him to play, claiming it was
a waste of his time and talents.
Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) also
told Heisenberg to give up chess and
save whatever intellectual effort he
could muster for physics.
Heisenberg continued to play chess,
however. During World War II,
Heisenberg was convinced Germany
would lose the war. He once said,
"Hitler has a chess endgame with
one rook less than the others, so he
will lose — it will take a year."
According to his wife, Heisenberg
saw politics as a "game of chess, in
which the feelings and passions of
people are subordinated to the
charted course of political events,
just as the chess figures to the rules
of the game."
Johan Hellsten (1975- ) is a Swedish

won the Swedish Chess
2592 in 2006.
Hermann Helms (1870-1963) was an

American chess writer and promoter.
He won the New York State Chess
Championship twice (1906 and
1925). He was a chess reporter for
The New York Times for over 50
years. He published and edited the
American Chess Bulletin from 1904
to 1963. In 1904, at the Cambridge
Springs International, he was the
first person to issue daily chess
bulletins. He wrote chess columns
for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from
1893 to 1955. He was one of the
greatest journalists in the history of
American chess. In 1931, Helms and
Joseph Cook, president of the Rhode
Island Chess Association, were the
first two people to climb up the 102
stories of the Empire State Building
to play a chess game. (source:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 3, 1931)
He wrote weekly chess columns in
the New York World Telegram, the
New York Evening Sun, and the
New York Times. In 1936, at age 66,
he took 2nd place in the New York
State championship, behind Isaac
Kashdan. He was the first to
broadcast chess games over the radio
(WNYC). In 1943, he was voted as
Dean of American Chess. In 1954,
Arbiter title at the age of 84. He
edited the book of the 1924 New
York International. He died in
Brooklyn, one day after he reached
his 93rd birthday. (source: Chess
Review, Feb 1963, pp. 33-34)
Helms - Tenner, New York 1942

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
Bb6 5.a4 a6 6.a5 Ba7 7.b5 axb5
8.Bxb5 Nf6 9.Ba3 Nxe4 10.Qe2
Nxf2 11.Nxe5 Nd4 12.Nxd7+ Nxe2
13.Nf6 mate 1-0
Jutta Hempel (born Sep 27, 1960)

was a German chess prodigy. At age
3, she could watch a game of chess
and replay it from memory. At the
age of 4, she was playing
competitively in Germany. On her
6th birthday, she played 12 people at
once in a simultaneous exhibition,
winning 9, drawing 1, and losing 2
games. At age 7, she could play 6
games simultaneously blindfolded
and was a strong blitz player. She
played her last competitive
tournament at age 18, when she won
the Flensburg Lightning Tournament
without loss of a game.
World-renowned Norwegian figure

skater and actress Sonja Henie
(1912-1969) was perhaps the
strongest female chess player in
Hollywood.
Ronald Watson Henley (1956- ) is

an American Grandmaster (1982)
from Houston, Texas. He is the only
American selected as a second to a
Soviet player. He served as second
to Anatoly Karpov in the 1990
World Championship match. He was
Karpov's chief trainer for 6 years. He
won the Texas state championship in
1975 and 1976. He has been a
member of the American Stock
Exchange since 1985.
Henley - Gruenfeld, Lone Pine 1981

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5
5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.e4 Bg7 8.Be2
O-O 9.O-O Re8 10.Nd2 Nbd7 11.a4
Ne5 12.h3 g5 13.Nf3 Nxf3+ 14.Bxf3
Nd7 15.Bg4 Ne5 16.Bxc8 Rxc8
17.Qh5 Nd3 18.Bxg5 Qd7 19.Qf3
(threatening 20.Qxf6 and 20.Qxd3)
1-0
Cristobal Henriquez-Villagra (1996-

) is a Chilean Grandmaster (2017).
In 2013, he won the Pan-American
Youth chess championship in Brazil.
In 2015, he won the Brazilian Chess
Championship.
Henry I (1968-1135) was King of

England who, in 1106, imprisoned
his brother Richard, Duke of
Normandy, in Cardiff Castle for 28
years. Richard's only activity was
playing chess.
Actress Katharine Hepburn (1907-

2003) played chess. She carried a
small leather chess set and played
frequently on boats and trains. She
took chess lessons from Herman
Steiner.
Gilberto HernAndez-Guerrero
(1970- ) is a Grandmaster (1995)
from Mexico. He has won the
Mexican Championship three times.
He is married to WGM Claudia
Amura of Argentina. His peak rating
was 2572 in 2000.
Irisberto Herra (1968- ) is a Spanish-

Cuban Grandmaster (2001). In 1986,
he won the Cuban Junior Chess
Championship. In 1996, he tied fors
1st in the Cuban Championship.
Robert Hess (1991- ) won the 2006

U.S. Junior Championship at the age
of 14. At age 15, he was an
International Master. He achieved
his first GM norm at age 16. He
became a GM at the age of 17 in
2009. In 2009, at the age of 17, he
tied for 2nd place in the US Chess
Championship, losing only to
eventual winner Hikaru Nakamura.
In 2010, he was awarded the
Samford Fellowship. His peak rating
was 2635 in 2012.
Actor Charlton Heston (1923-2008)

played chess. He was on his high
school chess team.
David Hilbert (1862-1943) was a

German mathematician. He obtained
his PhD in mathematics from the
University of Konigsberg in 1885.
His dissertation was on the invariant
properties of special binary forms, in
particular the spherical harmonic
functions. He obtained the position
of Chairman of Mathematics at the
University of Gottingen. Hilbert
encouraged Emanuel Lasker, one of
his students, to obtain his PhD in
mathematics. Lasker did his doctoral
studies at Erlangen Univeristy from
1900 to 1902 under David Hilbert.
Tiger Christopher Hillarp-Persson

(1970- ) is a Swedish Grandmaster
(1999). He won the Swedish Chess
Moses Hirschel (1754-1823) was a

chess author from Breslau who
wrote the first work in German on
the chess writings of Greco and
Stamma. His book was entitled Das
Schach des Herrn Gioachino Greco
Calabrois und.die Schachspiel-
Geheimnisse des Arabers Philipp
Stamma. In his 1784 edition, he
introduced the modern form of
algebraic notation, using the initial
of the piece to designate it and small
letters for the files. In his notation,
the square of departure was given, as
well as the square of arrival (1.Nf3
would be 1.Ng1-f3). He also
introduced the symbols for castling,
O-O and O-O-O. Prior to this, the
notation for castling kingside was K.
G. 1 and for castling queenside was
K. C. 1. If no notation was used for
castling, it was just spelled out,
Castle.
Johann Hjartarson (1963- ) is an

Icelandic grandmaster (1985). He
has won the Icelandic Championship
6 times. In 1989 he lost to Anatoly
Karpov (3 draws, 2 losses, no wins)
in the World Quarterfinals Chess
Championship match, held in
Seattle. In 1991, he tied for 1st in the
World Open. His peak rating was
2640 in 2003.
Frois — Hjartarson, Groningen 1981

1.d4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.c4 cxd4
5.Nxd4 d5 6.Bg2 e5 7.Nf3 d4 8.O-O
Nc6 9.e3 Bc5 10.exd4 exd4 11.Re1+
Be6 12.Ng5 O-O 13.Nxe6 fxe6
14.Rxe6 d3 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Be3
Bd4 17.Nc3 Qd7 18.Qxd3 Qxe6
19.Qxd4 Ng4 20.Re1 Ne5 0-1
Hoang Thanh Trang (1980- ) is a

Vietnamese-born Hungarian
Grandmaster (2007). In 1998, she
won the World Girls under-20
Asian women's championship. In
2013, she won the European
women's championship. Her peak
rating was 2511 in 2013. She has a
degree in Economics.
Burt Hochberg (1933-2006) was a

former Chess Life editor, from 1966
to 1979. He died on May 13, 2006 in
New York. He was the longest-
serving Chess Life editor in USCF
history.
Albert Beauregard Hodges (1861-

1944) was a former U.S. chess
champion. He learned chess at age
19. His first job was a hidden
operator of Ajeeb, the chess
automaton, at the Eden Musee in
New York. He then won the
championship of the Manhattan
Chess Club and also became New
York State Champion. He took part
in all 13 Anglo-American cable
matches without losing a single
game. He founded the Staten Island
Chess Club and served as its
President for 12 years. He won the
U.S. chess championship in 1894 by
defeating Jackson Whipps Showalter
in a championship match by the
score of 5-3 with one draw. After
accomplishing his life's goal of
becoming the U.S. chess champion,
he announced he was retiring from
chess and never defended his title.
He then became an accountant and
businessman and gave up chess. He
played 5 world champions over a
period of 60 years. He died of a heart
attack at his Staten Island home.
(source: Chess Review, Feb 1944, p.
8)
Michelsen — Hodges, New York

1915 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6
4.d3 Be7 5.O-O d6 6.c3 O-O 7.Bb3
Qe8 8.h3 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Qb3
Nd8 11.Ng5 d5 12.f4 exf4 13.Bxf4
Nh5 14.Be3 Rxf1+ 15.Kxf1 Bxg5
16.Bxg5 Qg6 17.Be3 Qg3 18.Qa4
Nc6 19.Bc5 Nf4 20.Qd1 Qxg2+
21.Ke1 Ne5 0-1
Julian Hodgson (1963- ) is a British

London under-18 champion at 12
years of age and won the British
Boys under-21 title aged just 14. He
was the winner of the 1992 British
Championship with an all-time
record of 10 out of 11 points. He has
won the British Championship 4
times. In 1995 and 1998 he won the
National Open in Las Vegas. In
1997, he won the Canadian Open.
Hugne - Hodgson, London 1987

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4
e5 5.Nb5 d5 6.cxd5 Bc5 7.d6 Ne4
8.Nc7+? (8.Be3) 8...Qxc7 9.Qa4+
Qc6 0-1
Anton Hoesslinger (1875-1959) was

born in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, he
introduced the first modern grading
system. In 1948, he published his
grading list (the Ingo system) based
on collected tournament results in
the periodical Bayerische Schacht.
He worked as a postal supervisor.
Leopold Hoffer (1842-1913) was a

Hungarian-born English chess
journalist. He founded (along with
Johann Zukertort) and edited the
Chess Monthly from September
1879 to 1896. He wrote for the
Standard and the Westminster
Gazette. In 1882, he took over
Steinitz's chess column in The Field
when Steinitz moved to America. He
founded the British Chess Club in
1895.
Edgar Holladay (1925-2003 ) was

one of America's leading chess
problemists. He conducted the
problem department in the American
Chess Bulletin. He composed chess
problems for over 70 years,
composing over 2,000 problems.
Former NFL running back Priest

Holmes (1973- ) is an avid chess
player who has founded and
sponsored chess clubs. He sponsors
chess tournaments through his Priest
Holmes Foundation, encouraging
education and enhancing the lives of
children. When he retired from
football, he said he enjoyed three
things — playing chess, bass fishing,
and riding motorcycles.
Conrad Holt (1993- ) is an American

won the US Cadet Championship. In
2014, he won the US Open. His peak
Karoly Honfi (1930-1996) was a

1948, he took 2nd in the Hungarian
Chess Championship.
David Vincent Hooper (1915-1998)

was a British chess player and
writer. He was British
correspondence chess champion in
1944 and London champion in 1948.
He was the author of 10 chess books.
He played in the British
Championship 5 times, taking 3rd
place in 1954. He was an expert on
chess history of the 19th century. In
1984, Hooper and Kenneth Whyld
wrote The Oxford Companion to
Chess. A second edition came out in
1996. In 1998, Hooper was killed in
a car crash in Somerset, England. He
was 82. He was an architect by
profession.
Bob Hope (1903-2003) was able to

get World Chess Champion Bobby
Fischer to appear on one of his
television specials in 1972. Bob
Hope stated that Fischer was the
worst guest he ever had to deal with
when he (Fischer) appeared on his
special. Hope did a skit where he
was an annoying kibitzer while
Fischer was playing chess.
In 1933, the first issue of Chess

Review magazine was printed,
edited by I.A. "Al" Horowitz (1907-
1973). He was the editor of Chess
Review from 1933 until its merger
with Chess Life in November, 1969.
In played for the USA in 4 Chess
Olympiads, winning 29, drawing 19,
and only losing 3. He won the US
Open in 1936, 1938, and 1943. In
1940, Al Horowitz survived a car
crash that killed his chess partner,
Harold Morton (1906-1940). The
two had been giving simultaneous
chess exhibitions throughout the
country. On February 17, 1940, a
truck collided with the car in which
Morton was driving near Carroll,
Iowa. Morton, New England chess
champion since 1929, was killed
instantly and Horowitz had a brain
concussion and other injuries.
Morton was also Horowitz's partner
in publishing Chess Review
magazine. (source: Chess Review,
Mar 1940, p. 25) In 1944, Horowitz
made a spectacular move in a
tournament in Kansas City. His
opponent literally dropped dead of a
heart attack. In 1947, Horowitz
survived another crash. This time, it
was while he was riding on a train
through Fresno. The train ran off the
track. Many passengers were killed
and over 100 passengers were
injured, but Horowitz and his wife,
riding in the 13th car, escaped
unscathed. (source: Chess Review,
Mar 1947, p. 6) Horowitz was
inducted in the US Chess Hall of
Fame in 1989. (source: Chess Life &
Review, Mar 1973, pp. 125-129)
Horowitz - Unknown, Los Angeles

1940 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
4.Qg4 Qf6 5.Nd5 Qxf2+ 6.Kd1 Kf8
7.Nh3 Qd4 8.d3 Bb6 9.Rf1 Nf6
10.Rxf6 d6 11.Qxg7+ Kxg7
12.Bh6+ Kg8 13.Rg6+ hxg6 14.Nf6
mate 1-0
Vlastimil Hort (1944- ) is a Czech-

born German grandmaster (1965)
and former world championship
candidate who immigrated to
Germany in 1985. In the mid-1970s
he was ranked no.4 in the world. In
April 1977 he played 550 opponents,
201 simultaneously, and lost only 10
games after 30 hours of play in
Iceland. In 1984 he played 663
games in a simultaneous exhibition
in 32 and a half hours at Porz, West
Germany. His peak rating was 2620
in 1977. He worked for a general-
interest magazine as a translator.
Damjanovic — Hort, Sarajevo 1964

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6
5.Be2 O-O 6.Nf3 e5 7.d5 Nbd7
8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh5
11.h4 Nxg3 0-1
Hort - Shelandinov, Havana 1967

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6
dxc6 5.O-O f6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 c5
8.Nb3 Qxd1 9.Rxd1 Bd6 10.Na5
Bg4 11.f3 O-O-O? 12.e5 1-0
Enamul Hossain (1981- ) is a

He won the Bangladshi Chess
Bernhard Horwitz (1807-1885) was

a German born painter and chess
study composer. He won the first
study-composing chess tournament,
held in 1862. Along with Josef
Kling, he wrote Chess Studies and
End-Games in 1851, reprinted in
1884 with 208 endgame studies. He
was one of the Berlin Pleiades. He
lent his name to the Horwitz
Bishops, which are two bishops
working in tandem on adjacent
diagonals.
Schulten - Horwitz, London 1846

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nc3 b5 4.Bxb5
Bc5 5.d3 c6 6.Bc4 Qb6 7.Qe2 d5
8.exd5 O-O 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.dxe4
Bxf2+ 11.Qxf2 Qb4+ 12.Bd2 Qxc4
13.Qf3 f5 14.exf5 Bxf5 15.Qb3
Qf1+ 16.Kxf1 Bd3+ 17.Ke1 Rf1
mate 0-1
Hou Yifan (1994- ) learned chess at

the age of three. She started taking
chess lessons at the age of five. At
age 9, she became a Woman FIDE
master. At age 11, she qualified for
the World Women's Chess
Championship. At age 13, she
became China's youngest ever
women's national champion. She
6 months, the youngest ever. She
became the women's world
champion at 16. In October 2005, at
the age of 11, Hou Yifan qualified
for the World Women's Chess
Championship after winning the
Chinese Women's Zonal tournament.
Her performance rating in that event
was 2526. In May 2016, Hou
dropped out of the current Women's
World Championship cycle. She
objected to the format of a knockout
tournament and then a match. She
compared the 64-player knockout
system to a lottery. She was
Women's World Champion in 2010-
2012, 2013-2015, and 2016-2017. In
the final round of the Tradewise
Gibralter Chess Festival, she
appeared to throw her game against
Indian Grandmaster Lalith Babu,
playing a ridiculous opening and
resigning after 5 moves. She later
explained that she was upset about
being paired against other female
players in 7 of her 9 previous games
of a Swiss system tournament,
however tournament organizer Brian
Callaghan said the pairings were
simply the result of a computer
program. She declined to defend her
title at the Women's World Chess
Championship 2017, and as a result
forfeited her title. Her peak rating
was 2686 in 2015.
Robert Hovhannisyan (1991- ) is an
2636 in 2016.
David Howell (1990- ) started

playing chess at age 5. He was
British Under-8, Under-9, and
Under-10 Champion. At age 8, he
defeated Grandmaster John Nunn in
a blitz game at the Mind Sports
Chess Olympiad in London,
becoming the youngest person to
beat a Grandmaster at chess. He took
part in the British championship at
the age of 9, the youngest player in
the world to compete in a national
championship. At age 11, he tied for
1st in the European Under-12
championship. He tied for 2nd in the
World Under-12 championship. At
age 12, he became the youngest
British player to defeat a
grandmaster in classical chess. In
2007, at the age of 16, he became the
youngest ever British GM. In 2005,
junior champion David Howell
punched the organizer of the
European Union Chess
Championship when it turned out
that Howell would not win a prize. It
turned out that titled players were
not eligible for junior prizes. He was
British Champion in 2009, 2013, and
2015.
James Howell (1967- ) is an English

was 2525 in 1995.
Silas W. Howland (1879-1938) was
a lawyer and the Chairman of the
Committee which was in charge of
the American Championship
tournaments in the 1930s. He was
one of the most enthusiastic chess
amateurs in the country. He had one
of the finest chess libraries in the
world. He died of a heart attack at
the age of 59. (source: Chess
Review, Sep 1938, p. 206)
Zbynek Hracek (1970- ) is a Czech

won the Czech Chess
2625 in 2008.
Rock Hudson (1925-1985) played

chess. He played chess with Sandra
Dee between takes of the movie
Come September. He played chess at
his New Port Beach home and his
Hollywood Hills home during the
1950s. He was a chronic browser for
antiques and purchased several chess
sets.
Robert Huebner (1948- ) is a

German Grandmaster (1971). He
earned a PhD in classical philology
in 1973. He is an expert on the
deciphering of ancient papyri. He is
fluent in over a dozen languages. In
1972, during the World Youth Team
championship in Graz, Switzerland,
Robert Huebner of Germany was
scheduled to play Ken Rogoff of the
USA. Both were tired from previous
long games and Huebner offered a
draw to Rogoff without making any
moves. However, the arbiters did not
like this and refused the game. So
the two players put together a
scoresheet of a game that looked like
this: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Ng1 Ng8 3.Nf3
Nf6 4.Ng1 Ng8 and so on ... Draw.
The arbiters were not amused. They
insisted that the two play some real
moves. So the next game went 1.c4
Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nf1 Bg7 4.Qa4 O-O
5.Qxd7 Qxd7 6.g4 Qxd2+ 7.Kxd2
Nxg4 8.b4 a5 9.a4 Bxa1 10.Bb2 Nc6
11.Bh8 Bg7 12.h4 axb4 draw. The
arbiters were not amused. They
insisted that the two play a valid
game. Rogoff agreed but Huebner
did not, so Rogoff was given a win
and Huebner was given a loss. The
Russian team pressed for a double
forfeit, but Huebner insisted that he
alone bore responsibility. Years
later, the main arbiter, Sajtar,
admitted he was wrong in ordering a
rematch of the games. In 1980, he
was #3 in the world. His peak rating
was 2640 in 1981.
Huebner - Siaperas, Athens 1969

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6
bxc6 5.O-O d6 6.c3 e5 7.cxd4 Qc7
8.Na3 Ne7 9.Nc4 Ng6 10.Nc4 Ng6
11.Bd2 a5 12.Qa4 Ba6 (12...Bg4)
13.Rfc1 Bb5 14.Qc2 Be7 15.Nxa5
Rxa5 16.Bxa5 Qxa5 17.a4 Ba6
18.Qxc6+ (18...Kd8 19.b4 Qxb4
20.Rab1) 1-0
Werner Hug (1952- ) is a Swiss

he was Swiss Junior Champion. He
won the 11th World Junior
Champion in 1971 (played in
Athens) and was Swiss champion in
1975. In 1979 he set a world record,
playing 560 simultaneous games,
winning 365, drawing 126, and
losing 49. He was the first Swiss
player to hold a world title.
In 1802, "Chess Made Easy" became

the first chess book published in
America, published by James
Humphreys in Philadelphia.
Krunoslav Hulak (1951-2015) was a

Croatian Grandmaster (1976). He
won the Yugoslav Championship in
1976. He won the Croatian
Championship in 2005. His peak
Barbara Hund (1959- ) is West

Germany's first woman Grandmaster
(1982). She was born 13 days after
her mother, Juliane, played in the
German Women's Chess
Championship. She won the German
She won the Women's Swiss Chess
Championship in 1993. She now
lives in Switzerland.
Hund — Vuji, Leon 2001 1.e4 c5

2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 Qc7 7.Bd3 g6 8.Nf3
Nc6 9.O-O Bg7 10.Qe1 b5 11.Qh4
b4 12.Nd1 Qb6+ 13.Be3 Qc7
14.Kh1 Ng4 15.f5 gxf5 16.exf5 h5
17.Bg5 Bf6 18.Bxf6 Nxf6 19.a3 Rb8
20.Ne3 Rg8 21.Rae1 Kd8 22.Bc4
Rg7 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.Bxd5 Bb7
25.f6 1-0
Niclas Huschenbeth (1992- ) is a

2010, he won the German Chess
2601 in 2017.
Alexander Huzman (1962- ) is a

Ukrainian-Israeli Grandmaster
(1991). He played for Israel in 5
was 2607 in 2011.
Thomas Hyde (1634-1703) was the

author of De Ludis Orientalibus (the
Book of Oriental Games) in 1694.
This book documented
correspondence games between
Venetian and Croation merchants as
early as 1650. He also wrote
Mandragoria,s seu, Historia
Shahiludi: vis ejusdem origo,
antiquitas, ususque per totum
Orientem cereberrimusi (The
Mandragoriad or History of the
Chess game: that is to say its origin,
age and use, most famous
throughout the whole orient) in
1694, the first scientific contribution
to the history of chess. He was the
first person to establish beyond
doubt that chess originated in India.
He was one of the first Oriental
scholars of his age. He was a
professor of Hebrew and Arabic at
Oxford University and librarian-in-
chief of the Bodleian Library. He
was Eastern interpreter under
Charles II, James II, and William III.
He mastered the Turkish, Arabic,
Syriac, Persian, Hebrew, Malay, and
Chinese languages.
Ildar Ibragimov (1967- ) is Russian

for 1st in the USSR under-26 Chess
1st in the US Open. In 2006, he tied
for 1st in the World Open. His peak
Pouya Idani (1995- ) is an Iranian

Championship.
Miguel Illescas-Cordoba (1965- ) is

a Spanish Grandmaster (1988). He
won the Spanish Chess
Max Illingworth (1992- ) is an

Australian Grandmaster (2016). In
2014, he won the Australian
Australina Open. His peak rating
was 2517 in 2015.
After World War I, Alexander

Fyodorovich Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-
1941) had to learn chess all over
again. He had been an upcoming
Russian chess master, but the result
of World War I shellshock that
wiped out much of his memory and
required him to learn all over again
how the chess pieces moved (Irving
Chernev said that his memory loss
was due to a bullet that penetrated a
portion of his brain controlling the
memory — Chernev, Chess Review,
April 1933, p. 9). (source: Soltis,
Soviet Chess 1917-1991, p. 3) In
1920, Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky
initiated the politicized Soviet
School Chess which would become
the strongest force in chess during
almost the entire 20th century. On
September 3, 1941, Ilyin-Genevsky
died during the siege of Leningrad
by the Germans. He was on a barge
on Lake Ladoga, east of Leningrad,
trying to escape the city, when a
German aircraft bombed the barge.
He was the only one killed on the
barge, which was displaying Red
Cross flags. He was only 46. During
World War I, he suffered from shell-
shock and had to learn how to play
chess for the second time. During
the Russian Civil War in 1918, his
wife shot herself. His second wife,
uninjured on the barge, was so
overcome with despair that she
killed herself a few days after
Alexander died.
Rauzer - Ilyin-Genevsky , Tbilisi

1937 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3 d5 6.e5 Nfd7 7.f3
Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Bd3 Qh4+ 10.g3
Qh3 11.Qf3 Bc5 12.Be3 O-O
13.Nd2 f6 14.exf6 Re8 15.Nf1 Nxf6
16.Kd2 Bg4 17.Qf2 d4 18.Bxd4
Re2+ 19.Bxe2 Ne4+ 0-1
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (1962- ),

president of the World Chess
Federation (FIDE) since 1995, was
the first official Russian billionaire
in hard U.S. dollars. His parents
were suspected Nazi collaborators.
of Kalmyka at the age of 14. He was
the President of the Autonomous
Republic of Kalmykia from 1993 to
2010. He was once arrested and sent
to prison by the Russian authorities,
accused of being a spy for the
Afghan rebels. It was later proven
that he merely played chess with the
son of the former President of
Afghanistan. His major in college
was Japanese and he became a sales
manager of a Soviet-Japanese
automobile company. In 1990, he
was the youngest elected member of
the Russian Parliament. He speaks 7
languages. He claims he has had
personal contact with aliens and rode
in their spaceship. In 2008, FIDE
president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was in
a car accident on the way to the
airport to go to the 38th Chess
Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. He
was unable to attend the opening
ceremony. On August 25, 2016,
Ilyumzhino was barred from
boarding a plane from Moscow to
New York. He was on a sanctions
lists by the U.S. Treasury
Department's Office of Foreign
Assets Control for allegedly
"materially assisting and acting for
or on behalf of the Government of
Syria."
Ernest Inarkiev (1985- ) is a

Kyrgzstani Grandmaster (2002). In
championship. In 2016, he was
European Chess Champion. His
peak rating was 2732 in 2016. In the
2017 World Blitz Championship in
Riyadh, Inarkiev made an illegal
move by checking Magnes Carlsen,
instead of moving out of check.
Instead of claiming the game on the
basis of the illegal move, Carlsen
quickly moved his king out of check.
Inarkiev claimed a win, arguing that
Carlsen had acted illegally by not
capturing his king. Initially the
arbiter awarded the game to
Inarkiev, but was overruled by the
chief arbiter, who ordered that the
game should resume from the point
before the initial illegal move.
Inarkiev refused, so the game was
declared a win for Carlsen. After the
next round, Inarkiev filed an appeal
but it was rejected.
In 1962, Milton Ioannidis of Cyprus
(Board 3) played all 20 games in the
15th Chess Olympiad, held in Varna.
He lost all 20 games, the worst
performance of any chess player at
any Chess Olympiad. He played in
the 16th Chess Olympiad in Tel
Aviv and lost all four games that he
played on Board 4. He lost all 24
games he played in Chess Olympiad
competition.
Viorel Iordachescu (1977- ) is a

Moldovan Grandmaster (1999). He
won the Moldovan Championship in
2016. He has played for Moldiva in
10 Chess Ollympiads. His peak
Nana Mikhailovna Ioseliani (1961- )

is a former World Women's
Championship challenger. She is a
Woman Grandmaster (1980) and
International Master (1993) from the
Republic of Georgia and was once
ranked no. 2 in the world for women
chess players. She has won the
Women's Soviet Chess
Championship 4 times. She is now
an entrepreneur in Prague. Her peak
Nemet - Ioseliani, Biel 1989 1.d4 d5

2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.cxd5
exd5 6.Bg5 c6 7.e3 Bf5 8.Bd3 Bxd3
9.Qxd3 Nbd7 10.O-O O-O 11.Rab1
Ne4 12.Bf4 g5 13.Bg3 f5 14.Ne5 f4
15.exf4 gxf4 16.Bxf4 Rxf4 17.Nxe4
Nxe5 (18.dxe5 dxe4) 0-1
Alexander Ipatov (1993- ) is a

Ukrainain-born Turkish
Grandmaster (2011). In 201, he won
the World Junior Championship. He
won the Turkish championship in
2662 in 2017. He is fluent in 5
languages.
Dean Ippolito (1979- ) is an

he was the U.S. Junior Open Under-
13 Champion (the youngest ever). In
1992, he was the U.S. Amateur
Champion. In 1994, he was the U.S.
Cadet Champion. In 1996, he was
the National High School Champion.
In 1997, he was the Marshall Chess
Club Champion. He was the New
Jersey Open Champion in 2001 and
2002.
Andrei Istratescu (1975- ) is a

Romanian-Frech Grandmaster
(1994). In 2009-2010, he tied for 1st
in the Hastings International Chess
Congress. His peak rating was 2677
in 2014.
Eduardo Patrico Iturrizaga-Bonelli

(1989- ) is a Venezuelan
Grandmaster (2008). He is the first
and only GM from Venezuela. In
2006, he won the Pan American
under-20 championship. He won the
Venezuelan 4 times. His peak rating
was 2671 in 2017.
Saidali Iuldachev (1968- ) is an

won the Uzbekistani championship
was 2559 in 2004.
Ivan IV (1530-1584) was Tsar of

Russia (Ivan the Terrible) and keen
chess player. In 1547 he was the first
formally proclaimed tsar (from the
Roman imperial title Caesar) of
Russia. In 1551, Ivan IV banned
chess and labeled it a pastime of
Hellenic deviltry, even though he
played chess himself. During this
period, leading clerics of Russia
compiled the Stoglav Collection,
which banned chess. Stoglov, or
Book of One Hundred Chapters, is a
collection of decisions of the
Russian church council of 1551. On
March 18, 1584, he died, probably
of a heart attack, while preparing for
a game of chess against his advisor,
Boris Godunov (1551-1605). A
Soviet forensic examination of his
remains revealed that he had taken
mercury as medicine, but no signs
that he had been poisoned.
Vasily Ivanchuk (1969- ) is a

Ukraine. Winner of the 1988 New
York Open. He has been one of the
top players in the world. He played
in the finals of the men's FIDE world
chess championship in 2002, but lost
to Ruslan Ponomariov in the
championship match. In late 2008, at
the Chess Olympiad, Ivanchuk
refused to take a drug test after
losing a game and then reportedly
stormed out of the room in the
conference center, kicked a concrete
pillar in the lobby, pounded a
countertop in the cafeteria with his
fists and then vanished into the
coatroom. He almost became the
first grandmaster to be banned for
two years from World Chess
Federation (FIDE) tournaments
when he refused to take a drug test
after the last round at the Chess
Olympiad in Dresden. He declined
to provide a urine sample after
losing the last round to GM Gata
Kamsky, saying it was an insult to
his intelligence and honor. On
October 4, 2011, Ivanchuk and his
wife were robbed at gunpoint in Sao
Paulo, Brazil as they were sitting in
the taxi form their hotel to the
airport. Two men with guns took
two suitcases and a handbag and ran.
They missed his laptop computer by
his feet and his passport in the inside
pocket of his jacket, but got his
wife's passport which was in the
handbag. Ivanchuk said that the most
valuable item stolen was his chess
set, which he had for many years.
Ivanchuk - S. Polgar, Roquebrune

1992 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.c4 dxc4
4.d5 e6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.e4 exd5 7.e5
Nfd7 8.Bg5 f6 9.exf6 gxf6 10.Qe2+
Kf7 11.Nxd5 Bg7 12.Be3 b5 13.O-
O-O Qa5 (13...Bb7) 14.Bd2 Qd8
15.Ng5+ fxg5 16.Qh5+ Ke6
17.Bxg5 Qa5 18.Nf4+ (18...Kf5
19.g4+ Ke4 20.Bg2+ Ke5 21.Rd5
mate) 1-0
Ivan Ivanisevic (1977- ) is a Serbian

Serbian Championship 4 times. His
Alexander Ivanov (1956- ) is a

Grandmaster (1991) born in Omsk in
the former USSR. He arrived in the
United States in 1988. He is married
to Esther Epstein, a top woman
chess player. He shared the US
championship in 1995 with Patrick
Wolff and Nick deFirmian. In 1995,
Alexander Ivanov was playing in the
U.S. chess championship in
Modesto, California when he lost his
first round on time. After the first
round, he wife, Woman International
Master (WIM) Esther Epstein (1954-
), arrived to play in the Women's
championship. She told her husband,
"I don't care how you lose, just don't
lose on time!" It worked. He won 6
games, lost one (not on time) and
tied for 1st place in the U.S. chess
championship. Esther finished 3rd
place in the women's championship
(she won it in 1991 and 1997). She
also refrained from telling her
husband that a fire had damaged
their apartment in Massachusetts
until after the tournament was over.
He has competed in 4 FIDE World
Championships and 4 FIDE World
Cups.
Seltzer — A. Ivanov, Philadelphia

1993 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.c4
Bg4 5.Be2 Nc6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nxe5
dxe5 8.Bxg4 exd4 9.Bf4 h5 10.Be2
d3 0-1
Igor Ivanov (1947-2005) was born in

Leningrad. He learned chess at age
5. In 1980, he was sent as a member
of the Soviet delegation to play in a
tournament in Havana. On the return
flight home, the aircraft stopped in
Gander, Newfoundland to refuel.
Ivanov left the plane (ran from the
KGB) and defected. He was granted
political asylum in Canada. He won
the Canadian Championship in 1981
and 1985. He was awarded the
represented Canada in the 1982 and
1988 Chess Olympiads. He was
2005. This had been delayed because
the Soviet chess federation refused
to recognize his earlier achievements
after he defected. While remaining a
Canadian citizen, he moved most of
the year to the United States. Nov
17, 2005, GM Igor Ivanov died of
cancer in St. George, Utah at the age
of 58. Three weeks before his death,
he took 1st place in the Utah Open.
He was an accomplished musician
on the piano and cello.
Vorotnikov - I. Ivanov, Vilnius 1977

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Bb4 4.Bg2
O-O 5.Nge2 c6 6.O-O d5 7.d4 exd4
8.Qxd4 c5 9.Qd1 dxe4 10.Nxe4
Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Qe7 12.Qd3 Re8
13.Bxh7+ Kh8 14.c3 c4 15.Qc2
Qxe2 16.cxb4 Qxf1+ (17.Kxf1 Bh3+
18.Kg1 Re1 mate) 0-1
BoÂžidar Ivanovi? (1946- ) is a

Montenegro Grandmaster (1977). He
won the Yugoslav Championship 4
times. In 1983, he tied for 1st in the
Canadian Open. He is past chairman
of the Montenegro Chess
Association. H served as state
Ministir of Sport and Tourism for
Montenegro.
Walter S. Ivins (1870-1968), born

and raised in Philadelphia, was a
chess master Emeritus from Tucson,
Arizona. He started playing chess at
10. In 1895 he won the
championship of the Philadelphia
Mercantile Chess Club. He won the
championship of Tucson several
times and was known as Arizona's
Dean of Chess. He died at the age of
98. He played chess for 85 years,
perhaps a record. (source: Chess
Review, Sep 1962, p. 270 and Chess
Review, Mar 1969, p. 69)
Borislav Ivkov (1933- ) is a Serbian

Grandmaster (1955). He was the
winner of the first World Junior
Championship, held in England, in
1951. He has won the Yugoslavia
played for Yougoslavia in 12 Chess
Olympiads. In 1965 he lost to Bent
Larsen in the Candidates match
quarterfinals. His peak rating was
2540 in 1971. He was married to
Olga Maria Kesic (1936-1975), a
former "Miss Argentina," who was
crowned in 1954/55.
Raditsch - Ivkov, Yugoslavia 1948

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 dxc4 4.a4 c5
5.Nc3 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Bd7 7.Qxc4 Nc6
8.Bf4 Rc8 9.Rd1 e5 10.Bg3 Nb4
11.Qb3 Qb6 12.Kd2 Be6 13.Qa3
Rxc3 (14.bxc3 Ne4+ 15.Kc1 Na2+;
14.Qxc3 Ne4+; 14.Kxc3 Ne4 mate)
0-1
Pyotr Izmailov (1906-1937) was a

Russian master. In 1928, he was the
first champion of the Russian
Republic. In 1929, he tied for 1st
place (defeating Botvinnik) in the
1st semi-final of the 6th USSR
championship in Odessa, but could
not play in the finals (won by
Verlinksy) because he was taking
final exams at school. He became a
geophysicist and led major
geological expeditions. In 1936, he
was arrested and sentenced to death,
accused of plotting to kill Stalin. In
was executed in April, 1937. He
wife was sentenced to eight years at
Lolyma (the Arctic Death Camp)
simply because she was a member of
the family of a traitor.
Zviad Izoria (1984- ), born in Soviet

Georgia, is an American
was World under-16 Chess
Champions. In 2002, he won the
European under-20 Championship.
In 2005, he won the HB Global
Chess Challenge, winning the
$50,000 first place prize. His peak
E. Schuyler Jackson (1897-1987)

played chess for over 70 years. He
played in his first chess tournament
in 1913. He won the U.S. Amateur
championship in 1942 and 1944. He
was a Wall Street broker.
Carl Friedrich Andreyevich Jaenisch

(1813-1872) was first educated in
Moscow, and then attended the
Institute of the Corps of Railroad
Engineers in St Petersburg, Russia.
He then taught classical mechanics
and mathematics, and was associate
professor of mechanics. He later
joined the army, becoming a Major
of the Army Corps of Engineers. He
left the army in 1840 and tried to
support himself fully through chess,
but that failed. He then took
employment in the Ministry of
Finance. He wrote several chess
books and edited the first chess
column in Russia in the St.
Petersburg Gazette. He never
became a chess professional or chess
master.
Charles Jaffe (1879-1941) was born

in Dubrouna, Russia and moved to
the USA in 1898. He was a silk-mill
merchant. In 1913, at a chess
tournament in Havana, Jaffe drew
his game with Frank Marshall
(1877-1944) in the first round, and
later, lost his next game to Marshall,
blundering away his queen for a
rook and then promptly resigned.
Jose Capablanca (1888-1942), who
lost to Marshall and Jaffe, charged
that Jaffe intentionally lost his game
to Marshall so that Marshall would
win the tournament ahead of
Capablanca. It was alleged that
Capablanca influenced tournament
organizers in the USA and Cuba so
that Jaffe would be unable to be
invited or play in major tournaments
after this, especially tournaments in
which Capablanca was playing. Jaffe
never played again in a tournament
where Capablanca also participated.
of New York State. In 1916, Jaffe
was involved in a court battle
involving non-inclusion for
publication of some of his chess
analysis. Jaffe brought suit to
recover $750 for work alleged to
have been done in analyzing the
Rice Gambit that was never
published for a book called Twenty
Years of the Rice Gambit. Jaffe lost
the case, since the publisher never
asked Jaffe to do any analytical work
for him. (source: Chess Review, Jun-
Jul 1941, p. 121)
Dmitry Jakovenko (1983- ) is a

won the European Championship.
His peak rating was 2670 in 2009
when he was ranked #5 in the world.
Artur Jakubiec (1973- ) is a Polish

Polish Junior Chess Championship
twice. His peak rating was 2565 in
2004. He is married to WIM Edyta
Jakubiec.
Krzysztof Jakubowski (1983- ) is a

Polish Grandmaster (2009). His peak
Alojzije Jankovic (1983- ) is a

Croatian Grandmaster (2006).
Dragoljub Janosevic (1923-1993)

was a Yugoslav Grandmaster
(1965). He is only one of three
players (the other two are Tal and
Geller) who had a plus record
against Fischer. He has one win, two
draws, and no losses against Fischer.
Janosevic also defeated Botvinnik,
Tal, and Petrosian. His peak rating
was 2518 in 1954.
Tagirov — Janosevic, Belgrade

1953 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5
4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Nxe4 dxe4 6.d4 exd3
7.Bxd3 Nc6 8.Nf3 Bc5 9.Bf4 Bg4
10.Qe2 Nd4 11.Qf1 Qd5 12.Nd2 O-
O-O 13.Be4 Qxe4+ 14.Nxe4 Nxc2
mate 0-1
David Markyelovich Janowski

(1868-1927) was a Polish chess
player of Grandmaster strength and
addicted gambler. In 1901 he won an
international tournament at Monte
Carlo and lost all his first place
money in the casino the same
evening the tournament ended. The
casino management had to buy his
ticket home. In another event he
handed his money to a friend and
made him promise not to return it
until after the chess tournament.
However, the lure of gambling
proved too strong and he begged for
the return of his money. His friend
refused. Janowski was so infuriated
that he sued his friend. Janowski had
a chess patron, the Dutch painter Leo
Nardus who, for many years,
supported him in chess. He lost his
support when Janowski called
Nardus a chess idiot when Nardus
suggested an alternate move during
an analysis of one of Janowski's
games. Janowski was famous for his
complaints which served as alibis
when he lost. At one tournament
every one of his requests was
granted and for the first he had
nothing to complain about. When he
lost the tournament he said, "You
have deprived me of any alibi. How
did you expect me to play good
chess?" He died of tuberculosis, the
night before he was to start play in a
small chess tournament in Hyeres,
France. A subscription was raised to
prevent his being buried in a
pauper's grave.
Ettlinger - Janowski, New York

1898 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d5
4.Nxe5 dxe4 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Qe2 Nc6
7.Nxf7 Qe7 8.Nxh8 Nd4 9.Qd1
Nf3+ 10.Ke2 Bg4 11.h3 Nd4+
12.Ke1 Bxd1 0-1
Vlastimil Jansa (1942- ) was a Czech

Grandmaster (1974) and Czech
champion in 1964, 1974, and 1984.
In 2006, he took 2nd place, behind
Korchnoi, in the World Senior
Championship. He has also played in
the Czech national junior soccer
team. His peak rating was 2540 in
1975. He was a Captain in the
Czechoslovakian army.
Jansa - Ziegler, Gausdal 1990 1.e4

c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.d4 cxd4
5.Nxd4 d6 6.Be2 Nf6 7.O-O Be7
8.a4 O-O 9.Be3 b6 10.Bf3 Bb7
11.e5 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 dxe5 13.Nxe6
(13...fxe6 14.Qxa8) 1-0
Pawel Jaracz (1975- ) is a Polish

Granmaster (2000). His peak rating
was 2575 in 2011.
In 1989 Carol Jarecki (1935- )

became the first woman to serve as
chief arbiter for any world chess
championship cycle match (1989
Karpov-Hjartarson world
championship quarterfinals). She is
an international Arbiter and has
directed dozens of large chess
tournaments. She is a former
anesthesiologist and avid aircraft
pilot. She remains an active pilot,
having flown her Cessna 210
throughout the United States, to
Alaska and to many destinations in
the Caribbean as far as St. Lucia,
West Indies.
John Jarecki (1969- ) was the first

person to win the National
Elementary and National Junior
High Chess Championship in the
same year (1980). He won the
National Elementary championship
in Minneapolis with a perfect 8-0
score. A week later, he won the
National Junior High Championship
in Philadelphia with a perfect 8-0. In
1980, at the age of 11, he played on
Board 2 for the British Virgin
Islands, perhaps the youngest player
to play in a chess olympiad. In 1981
he repeated as the National Junior
High champion. In 1981, he became
a chess master at age 12 years, 6
months. At the time, he became the
youngest master ever in the United
States.
Nicolai Jasnogrodsky (1859-1914)

was a Russian-born American chess
master. In 1896, he won the New
York State Championship. In
December 1906, he was arrested for
swindling 10 citizens of Bay City,
Michigan out of $10,000 to marry a
rich rabbi's daughter.
Radoslaw Jedynak is a Polish

was 2559 in 2006. He graduated
from the Faculty of Journalism and
Political Science at the University of
Warsaw.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was

an avid chess player and collector.
He collected dozens of chess sets
when he visited Europe or had them
sent to his home in Monticello. He
also gave away chess sets as
presents. His favorite book was
Philidor's treatise on chess. He
played any visitor who knew how to
play chess at his home in
Monticello. Jefferson played
Franklin a lot and said he was equal
to him at the game in his memoirs.
Another one of his opponents was
James Madison. Jefferson once
visited a Paris chess club and lost all
his games very quickly. He said
there was no use playing chess with
players who spend several hours
every evening in a chess club
playing chess. Jefferson taught and
played chess with his grandchildren
in the West Lawn of Monticello. His
nickname was "The King Chess
Player."
Florian Jenni (1980- ) is a Swiss

Swiss Championship in 2003 and
2005.
Sriram Jha (1976- ) is an Indian

was 2511 in 2010. He is married to
Indian IM Subbaraman
Vijayalakshmi.
Baadur Jobava (1983- ) is a

Geogrian Grandmaster (2001). He
has won the Georgian championship
3 times. In 2017, he tied for 1st in
the European Chess Championship.
Leif Erlend Johannessen (1980- ) is

a Norwegian Grandmaster (2002).
He is an attorney and is editor of the
Norwegian Chess Magazine.
Darryl Johansen (1959- ) is an

Australian Grandmaster (1995). He
has won the Australian
1990, 2000, 2002, and 2012). He has
played for Australia in 14 Chess
2531 in 2002.
Farrand — Johansen, Hastings 1980

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3
g5 5.Bc4 g4 6.O-O gxf3 7.Qxf3 Qg5
8.Nd5 Nd4 9.Qd1 Nf6 10.Nxc7+
Kd8 11.d3 Rg8 12.g3 Nh5 13.Bxf7
Nxg3 14.Bxg8 Nxf1+ 15.Kxf1 d5
16.Kf2 Bc5 17.c3 Bg4 18.cxd4
Qh4+ 0-1
Hans Johner (1889-1975) was Swiss

champion 12 times. He was an
accomplished musician, playing the
viola and violin. He was a violin
teacher and was director of the
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. He
played with the orchestra for 45
years. He wrote a chess column in a
Zurich newspaper for 57 years.
Paul F. Johner (1887-1938) was a

Swiss chess master and older brother
of Hans Johner. In 1916, he won the
Nordic Chess Championship. Paul
Johner won the Swiss championship
6 times. He was a concert cellist.
Paul's cello concerts enabled him to
go abroad and participate in
international tournaments. (source:
Chess Review, Feb 1939, p. 29)
Al Jolson (1886-1950) formed a

chess club called the Knight Riders
of the Air, consisting of radio stars.
Al Jolson was the first movie actor
to star in the first, full-length, talking
picture, The Jazz Singer, in 1927.
Ernest Jones (1879-1958) was a

psychoanalyst who wrote, The
Problem of Paul Morphy, the most
famous example of a single case
study in the psychoanalytic
discipline. It was delivered to the
British Psychoanalytical Society in
1930 and published in 1931. Jones
was a protege of Sigmund Freud and
his biographer, and made chess into
an Oedipus complex to protect the
Queen (mother) and checkmate the
King (father).
Stephen L. Jones (1942- ) was born

in Austin, Texas on September 26,
1942. He is a Los Angeles attorney
and FIDE master and a
correspondence Senior International
Master. He had been a professor of
mathematics at the University of
Massachusetts in Amherst. He has a
Ph.D. in mathematics and a law
degree. In 1958, he won the
Southwest Open at the age of 15. In
1968, he tied for 1st in the U.S.
Amateur Championship with
Michael Shahade. In 1973, he won
the Massachusetts Championship. In
2002, he tied for 1st in the U.S.
Senior Open with Anthony Saidy.
He won the 9th (1991-1993) and the
11th (1995-1997) U.S.
Championship.
William Jones (1746-1794) was a

judge and linguist who composed
the poem Caissa in 1763 and
published in 1772. Jones based his
poem on Hieronymus Vida's
Scacchia ludus, published in 1527.
In the poem Caissa, Mars becomes
infatuated with a nymph called
Caissa. He gives her a board and
chess set, and they play chess
together. Jones translated the first
Sanskrit reference to chess. In 1790
he wrote On the Indian Game of
Chess.
Ju Wenjun (1991- ) is a Chinese

Grandmaster (2014). She won the
Women's Chinese Championship in
2010 and 2014. In 2017, she won the
Women's World Rapid Chess
Championship in Riyadh. She is the
challenger in the 2018 Women's
World Chess Championship. Her
Maximilian Judkiewich Judd (1851-

1906) was born in Cracow on
December 27, 1851 and emigrated to
America in 1862. He was an
American cloak manufacturer,
consul-general in Vienna, and chess
master. In 1881, he lost a chess
match with George Mackenzie for
the US chess championship (+5-
7=3), held in St. Louis. In 1887 Judd
defeated Albert Hodges (+5-2=2) in
a non-title match, held in St, Louis.
In 1888, Judd took last place in the
1st Unites States Chess Association
tournament, held in Cincinnati (won
by Jackson Showalter). In 1890,
Judd defeated US chess champion
Showalter in a match in St. Louis
(+7-3=0), but did not claim the title.
In 1892, Judd lost to Showalter in a
match in St, Louis (+4-7=3). In
1899, he lost a match against Harry
Pillsbury in St. Louis (+1-4=0). In
1903 he won the Western Chess
Congress (US Open) in Chicago. At
one time he was offered to play in
Ajeeb, the Automaton in New York,
but he did not want to leave St.
Louis. The job was then offered to
Albert Hodges. He had the habit of
sucking on a lemon when it was his
opponent's move. He was founder
and president of the St. Louis Chess
Club. He was appointed by President
Cleveland as the U.S. Consul
General to Austria. He played in six
American Chess Congress
tournaments. He took 4th place in
the 2nd American Chess Congress in
Cleveland in 1871. He took 3rd
place in the 3rd American Chess
Congress in Chicago in 1874. He
took 2nd place in the 4th American
Chess Congress in Philadelphia in
1876. He took 5th place in the 5th
American Chess Congress in New
York in 1880. He took 8th place in
the 6th American Chess Congress in
New York in 1889. He took 2nd
place in the 7th American Chess
Congress in St, Louis in 1904. In
1904, Judd tried to arrange the
Seventh American Chess Congress
in St. Louis, with the stipulation that
the US title be awarded to the
winner. Pillsbury objected to Judd's
plans, so the stipulation was not
accepted. Frank Marsahll won the
7th American Congress in St. Louis
in 1904. Max Judd died on May 7,
1906 of heart disease in St Louis,
super induced by excitement over
the chess tournament progressing
here. He had been warned by
physicians not to participate. He died
in his room at the Monticello hotel
of angina pectoris. He was a
prominent wholesale cloak dealer.
He served as minister to Austria
under President Cleveland. He left a
widow but no children. (sources:
Daily Capital Journal (Salem,
Oregon), May 7, 1906 and Fort
Wayne Journal, May 8, 1906)
Rinat Jumabayev (1989- ) is a

Kazakhstani Grandmaster (2009). In
2014, he won the Kazakhstani Chess
Championship.
Klaus Junge (1824-1945) was a
German player who was born in
Chile and moved to Germany in the
1930s. In 1941, at the age of 17, he
tied for first place in the German
championship. In Prague 1942, he
tied for first with Alekhine. In
Salzburg 1942 he tied for 3rd place,
behind Alekhine and Keres. He was
drafted into the German army in
1943. He was Lieutenant in the
German army (12th SS-battalion)
and was shot and killed on April 17,
1945 (one day before World II ended
in Europe) trying to defend
Hamburg, Germany. He was given a
chance to surrender, but came
charging out shouting, "Sieg Heil!"
and was shot. He was 21. George
Koltanowski claimed that Junge was
stabbed to death in a chess club
fight, which is wrong. Some sources
say he was killed by a shell.
Hansjuerg Kaenel (1952- ) is a Swiss

International Master who set the
world blitz (5-minute game)
continuous play record in 1981 after
playing 60 hours and 39 minutes. He
played 420 games and made 17,286
moves. We won 320 games, lost 79,
and drew 31. The average rating of
his opponents was 2222. He had
played an average of 7.1 games per
hour. A few months later, the record
was beaten by English IM Andrew
Martin, who played 430 blitz games
in 60 hours and winning over 70%
of his games. The most prominent
opponent was Victor Kortchnoi
whom he won 1, drew 1, and lost 4
games.
Gregory Kaidanov (1959- ) is a

Soviet-born American Grandmaster
(1988) who was Russian Boys
under-14 champion in 1972. He won
the New York Open in 1990. In
1992 he won the World Open, the
US Open, the National Open, and
the Novag Grand Prix. He now lives
in Kentucky. His first experiences in
the United States were not good. In
the first week, as a tourist in New
York city, all his and his wife's
luggage were stolen from the trunk
of a car while he was having dinner
at a restaurant. The next day, he was
attacked by a gang, and robbed of all
his money, airline tickets and 10
years of chess analysis. To make
money from his losses, he began to
give simuls and play in chess
tournaments. He was invited to
Louisville, Kentucky to teach chess
and made the decision to emigrate
and live there. In 2013, he was
Fame. His peak rating was 2646 in
2002.
Klotz - Kaidanov, 1992 1.d4 d5 2.c4

e6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c5 5.Nf3 a6 6.a4
Nc6 7.Rb1 Be7 8.Na2 cxd4 9.Nxd4
O-O 10.Nc3 e5 11.Nf3 d4 12.exd4
exd4 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.cxd5 Bb4+
15.Bd2 Re8+ 16.Be2 d3 17.dxc6
Bxd2+ 18.Nxd2 Rxe2+ 19.Kf1 Qd4
(threatening 20...Qxf2 mate) 0-1
Theoretical physicist Dr. Michio

Kaku (1947- ) played first board on
his high school chess team at
Cubberley High School in Palo
Alto.
John Peter Kalish (1937-2001) was

an International Master in
correspondence chess. He has won
the championship of Okinawa 25
consecutive times, from 1959 to
1984. In 1976 he tied for first with
Victor Palciauskas in the 2nd North
American Invitational
Championship. He took last place in
the 10th World Chess
(1978-1984). The event was won by
Palciuskas. He learned chess at the
age of 16. He was an insurance
salesman in Okinawa. He is a former
winner of the North American
Championship.
Kalish — Dunphy, Okinawa 1966

1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6
5.Bc4 Nc6 6.d3 O-O 7.f5 Na5 8.Bg5
Nxc4 9.dxc4 c6 10.Qd3 Qc7
11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.O-O-O Rb8 13.h4
b5 14.cxb5 cxb5 15.Nd5 Qd8
16.Qd2 Bb7 17.Qh6 Bxd5 18.Ng5
Be3+ 19.Kb1 1-0
Gabor Kallai (1959- ) is a Hungarian

was 2555 in 2001.
Dr. Charles Kalme (1939-2002) was

U.S. Junior Champion in 1954 and
1955. In 1957 he was the U.S.
Intercollegiate Chess Champion. In
1960 he was on the winning U.S.
Student Olympiad team (Lombardy,
Kalme, R Weinstein, Mednis, Saidy,
and Hearst). He won a gold medal as
a team member and a gold medal for
his individual result on board two.
He was a chess master at age 15. He
later gave up chess and got a Ph.D.
in Mathematics from New York
University in 1967. He was associate
editor of Mathematical Reviews. He
was a professor of mathematics at
the University of California at
Berkeley.
In the 1960s, General Nikolai

Kamanin (1908-1982) was Chief of
Cosmonaut Training and an avid
chess player. He described playing
chess with cosmonauts in his diary.
Marcin Kaminski (1977- ) is a Polish

peak rating was 2540. He has a
Bachelor's degree in Computer
Science.
Gata Kamsky (1974- ) is a

in Siberia, Gata Kamsky won the
USSR Junior Championship (under
18) at the age of 12. In 1986, at the
age of 12, he defeated Grandmaster
Mark Taimanov. Gata and father
Rustam defected from the Soviet
Union after playing in the 1989 New
York International. He became a
grandmaster at 16. He won the U.S.
Championship in 1991 at age 17. He
was one of the top 6 players in the
world in the 1990s. In 1996 he was a
finalist in the FIDE world chess
championship after defeating Anand,
Salov, Short, and Kramnik. In 1995,
he was ranked #4 in the world. In
1997 he lost to Karpov for the FIDE
world chess championship. He
graduated from Brooklyn College in
1999 with a premed degree in
chemistry. He attended medical
school for a year. He then attended
and graduated from law school at
Touro Law Center in New York. He
resumed playing chess after a layoff
of 8 years when he was one of the
top 10 in the world (2717 FIDE
rating). In the 2005 US Chess
Championship in San Diego,
Kamsky was rated the highest at
2777, but ended in 9th-17th place.
He won 2 games , lost none, and
drew 7 games. His highest USCF
rating was 2762. In 2005, he won the
127th New York State Chess
World Open on tie-breaks. In 2007,
he won the World Chess Cup,
defeating Alexei Shirov. He has won
the US Chess Championship five
times.
D. Gurevich — Kamsky, Chicago

1989 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5
4.d4 e6 5.Qb3 Nbd7 6.g3 Qb6 7.Bg2
Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Re1 Ne4 10.Nxe4
dxe4 11.Ng5? Qa5 0-1
Kamsky - Zarnicki, Buenos Aires

1993 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.e4 c5 4.f4
d6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bd3 O-O 7.O-O Nc6
8.b3 Bxc3 9.dxc3 Ne8 10.f5 exf5
11.exf5 Ne5 12.Bc2 f6 13.Be4 Nc7
14.Nxe5 fxe5 15.Qh5 Qe8 16.Qh4
Qf7 17.Bg5 d5 18.cxd5 Nxd5 19.f6
g6 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.f7+ Rxf7
22.Rfd1 Qc6 23.Rd8+ Rf8 24.Bh6
(24...Rxd8 25.Qxd8+ Kf7 26.Rf1
Ke6?? 27.Rf6 mate) 1-0
Meelis Kanep (1983- ) is an

Estonian Grandmaster (2006). He
has won the Estonian Championship
3 times.
In 1978, Pyotr Kapitsa (1894-1984)
his work in low-temperature physics.
He was a first category chess player
in the USSR, rated about 2000. He
played chess with Paul Dirac at
Cambridge in 1928. When he was
living in Paris at one time, he used to
make a living by playing chess in the
small cafes for some stake. He
pretended he was just a beginner
and, in the end, he would usually
win. He was frequently Stalin's chess
partner.
Nikola Karaklajic (1926-2008) was a

Serbian International Master (1955),
chess trainer and journalist. He was
Yugoslav champion in 1955. He was
a disc jockey for Radio Belgrade
from 1957 to 1982.
Karaklajic — Fuderer, Belgrade

1955 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7
4.Bc4 Be7 5.dxe5 Nxe5 6.Nxe5
dxe5 7.Qh5 1-0
Kangugi wa "K. K." Karanja (1973-

) is considered the first African-
American chess prodigy. He became
a USCF expert at the age of 10, the
youngest African-American to do so.
At age 11, he won the National
Elementary Championship with a
perect 7-0 score. He was the first
African-American to win a national
scholastic title. In 1988, he drew a
simul game against world champion
Garry Kasparov. In 1989, he became
a chess master at the age of 15 years
and 7 months. He now lives in
Kenya and is active in promoting
chess.
Mona May Karff (1914-1998)
played in 18 U.S. Women's
championships, winning 7 times,
from 1938 to 1974. She spoke 8
languages fluently and became a
millionaire playing the stock market.
She married her cousin, but later
divorced and was romantically
linked with Dr. Edward Lasker. In
1937 she played in the women's
world chess championship in
Stockholm representing Palestine.
She took 6th place. In the 1939
women's world championship in
Buenos Aires, she represented the
United States and took 5th place.
She played in 3 women's world
championships.
Karff - Lugatsch, Berlin 1937 1.e4

e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Qg4 cxd4 5.Nf3
f5 6.Qg3 Nc6 7.Be2 Bd7 8.Nxd4
Nxd4 9.Bh5+ Ke7 10.Qa3 mate 1-0
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin

(1990- ) is a Ukraine-Russian
Grandmaster (2003). He learned to
play chess at age 5. At age 11, he
won the World Under-12
championship. He holds the record
for both the youngest International
Master (11 years and 11 months),
and youngest GM (12 years and 7
months) in history. In 2002 he
served as one of Ruslan
Ponomariov's seconds during his
world championship match with
Ivanchuk. In 2005, he won the
Geller Memorial in Odessa. He was
born in Ukraine and took out
Russian citizenship in 2009. In 2012,
he won the World Rapid Chess
World Blitz Championship. In
March 2016, he won the Candidates
Tournament to become the World
Chess Championship Challenger. He
lost the championship match to
world champion Magnus Carlsen in
November 2016 in rapid-play
tiebreak. His peak rating was 2788
in 2011 when he was ranked #4 in
the world. He has a degree in social
pedagogy from the Russian State
Social University.
Sinzhuk — Karjakin, Alushta 2000

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5
Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3
c5 8.Rb1 O-O 9.Be2 Qa5 10.Bd2
Qxa2 11.O-O Qe6 12.Qc2 b6 13.d5
Qd6 14.c4 e5 15.dxe6 Bxe6 16.e5
Qc7 17.Bf4 Nc6 18.Rbd1 Rad8
19.Rd6 Nxe5 20.Nxe5 Rxd6 21.Bd3
Rd4 0-1
Former world champion Anatoly

Karpov (born May 23, 1951) was
taught the moves of chess when he
was four years old. By age 15 he
was a master and later won the
World Junior Championship. At age
18, Karpov only weighed 110
pounds at 5 foot, 7 inches. He
became the world's youngest
grandmaster in 1970 at the age of 19.
He won a gold medal for academic
excellence in high school. In 1968 he
entered the Mechanics and
Mathematics Faculty of the Moscow
State University to study
mathematics. In 1969, Karpov
transferred to the Economics Faculty
of the Leningrad State University,
eventually graduating from there in
economics. His thesis was on leisure
in a socialist society. He also
graduated as a reserve officer trained
as an artillery officer and studied
English and Spanish. In 1978 he
worked as a junior researcher in the
social studies institution of the
Leningrad State University. In 1999-
2003 he was chairman of the board
at the Federal Industrial Bank. In
2004, he became a member of the
Presidential Council on Culture and
in 2006 Anatoly Karpov was
appointed Acting Chairman of the
Ecologic Safety and Environmental
Protection Commission. He has a
PhD in Economics. In 2006, Anatoly
Karpov was working on a
manuscript for a new chess book
when it was stolen in Brussels. One
thief distracted him while the other
attacked from behind and stole his
briefcase with the 300 page
manuscript. He holds the world
record in most books autographed at
a book launch. He autographed
1,951 books (Karpov, el camino de
una volantad by David Llada) in one
sitting in Mexico City 2006. In 2010,
he ran for presidency of FIDE, but
FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
was reelected. He has an extensive
stamp collections. His private chess
library consists of over 9,000 books.
Hostalet - Karpov, Groningen 1968

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-
O 5.Qc2 c5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Qxc3 Nc6
8.Bd3 cxd4 9.exd4 d5 10.Ne2 dxc4
11.Bxc4 e5 12.Be3 Ne4 13.Qb3
Qa5+ 14.Kf1 Nxd4 15.Nxd4 exd4
16.f3 dxe3 17.fxe4 Qd2 (threatening
18...Qf2 mate) 0-1
Karthikeyan Murali (1999- ) is an

he won the World under-12 Chess
won the Indian championship in
Isaac Kashdan (1905-1985) was a

Grandmaster (1954) who founded
Chess Review in 1933. In 1956,
Isaac Kashdan (1905-1985) appeared
on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your
Life. The episode aired February 9,
1956. Groucho called him "Mr. Ash
Kan" throughout the show.
Kashdan's partner was Helen
Schwartz, the mother of Tony
Curtis. Kashdan told Groucho that it
was pretty hard to cheat in chess.
Groucho responded, "If I can't cheat,
forget it. The only fun I have in any
game is cheating." They failed to
win any money and did not say the
secret word. The wife of
grandmaster Isaac Kashdan was
asked to join a harem for 150
English pounds by Umar Khan
during one of the chess Olympiads
(Chess Life, May 1985, p. 12).
Kashdan edited a chess column in
the Los Angeles Times from 1955 to
1982. At the 1928 Hague Olympiad,
he took the gold medal for the best
score on board 1. He won the New
York State championship in 1936.
He won the US Open in 1947. His
nickname in the 1930s was "the little
Capablanca." He worked as an
insurance agent for Prudential. In the
1960s, he was the President of the
California State Chess Federation.
He played on five US Olympiad
teams between 1928 and 1937. In
1942, he tied for 1st in the US
Championship, but lost the playoff
to Reshevsky. He directed the two
Piatigorsky tournaments (1963 and
1968).
Kashdan - Polland, New York, 1938

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.e4 e5
5.Nf3 exd4 6.Bxc4 Bc5 7.Ne5 Qf6
8.Nxf7 dxc3 9.O-O Be6 10.Bg5
Qxg5 11.Nxg5 Bxc4 12.Qh5+ g6
13.Qh3 cxb2 14.Rad1 Nf6 15.Qc3 1-
0
Rustam Kasimdzhanov (1979- ) is a

Uzbekistan. In 1998, he was Asian
Champion. He took 2nd place in the
1999. He was World FIDE
champion who won the FIDE
knockout in Tripoli in 2004 after a
tie-break match with Michael
Adams. He currently resides in
Germany. His peak rating was 2715
in 2015.
Belkin — Kasimdzhanov,
Uzbekistan 1993 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5
3.d4 c6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6
Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Qc2 Qd8 9.cxd5
cxd5 10.Bd3 Be7 11.O-O O-O
12.Rac1 a6 13.Rfd1 b5 14.e4 Bb7
15.exd5 b4 16.dxe6 bxc3 17.exd7
cxb2 18.Qxb2 Bxf3 19.gxf3 Bd6
20.Qb7 Qh4 21.Qxa8 Qxh2+ 22.Kf1
Qh3+ 23.Ke2 Rxa8 0-1
Genrikh Kasparian (1910-1995) was

an International Grandmaster for
Chess Compositions (1972). He was
considered the world's leading expert
at endgame studies. He won the first
Armenian championship in 1934. He
won the Armenian chess
1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953,
1954, 1955, 1956) and participated
in a few USSR chess championships.
He took last place (18 players) in the
7th USSR Championship in 1931. In
1974 he wrote Domination in 2545
Endgame Studies. He composed
about 600 studies and won 57 first
places.
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (1963- )

learned chess at age 6. At age 12, he
won the USSR Under-18
championship, the youngest ever. He
repeated the feat at age 13, winning
8.5 out of 9. At age 14, he became a
master. At age 15, his first FIDE
rating was 2500. In 1978, at the age
of 15, he qualified for the Soviet
Chess Championship, the youngest
ever player to do so. He became a
GM at the age of 17. At age 17, he
Championship. At 18, and again at
19, he won the USSR championship.
He entered the Azerbaijan Teaching
Institute of Foreign Languages in
1982. He graduated from there in
1986. Kasparov is fluent in Russian
and English. He became the
youngest world chess champion at
the time at the age of 22 years and
210 days on November 9, 1985. In
1990, he and his family fled from
Baku to Moscow when pogams
against Armenians in Baku took
place. In February 2014, he applied
for citizenship by naturalization in
Croatia. In 1994, Garry Kasparov
made a move and changed his move
against Judit Polgar after
momentarily letting go of a piece.
Kasparov went on to win the game.
The tournament officials had
videotape proving that his hand left
the piece, but refused to release the
video evidence. A factor counting
against Polgar was that she waited a
whole day before complaining, and
such claims must be made during the
game. The videotape revealed that
Kasparov did let go of the piece for
one quarter second. He continued to
hold the "Classical" World Chess
Championship until his defeat by
Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. In spite
of losing the title, he continued
winning tournaments and was the
world's highest-rated player when he
retired from professional chess in
2005. From 1986 until his retirement
in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world
No. 1 for 225 out of 228 months. On
10 April 2005, Kasparov was in
Moscow at a promotional event
when he was struck over the head
with a chessboard he had just signed.
The assailant was reported to have
said "I admired you as a chess
player, but you gave that up for
politics" immediately before the
attack. In 2017, Kasparov came out
of retirement to participate in the
inaugural St. Louis Rapid and Blitz
tournament from August 14—19,
scoring 3.5/9 in the rapid and 9/18 in
the blitz, finishing 8th out of 10
participants, which included
Nakamura, Caruana, former world
champion Anand, and the eventual
winner, Aronian His peak rating was
2851 in 2000.
Kasparov - West, Telex 1977 1.e4 c5

2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.d4 cxd4
5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.e5 Nd5 7.Bd2 Nxc3
8.bxc3 Bf8 9.Bd3 d6 10.Qe2 Nd7
11.Nxe6 Qb6 12.Nc7+ 1-0
Magerramov — Kasparov, Baku

1979 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.g3
cxd4 5.Nxd4 d5 6.Bg2 e5 7.Nf3 e4
8.Nd4 dxc4 9.Nc3 Bc5 10.Qa4+ Bd7
11.Qxc4 Qb6 12.Be3 Nc6 13.Nc2
Bxe3 14.Nxe3 Na5 0-1
Morris J. Kasper (1900-1972), born

in Poland, was a sponsor and patron
of chess in the United States. He was
founder of the American Chess
Foundation. He was a former
President, Treasurer, and Director of
the Manhattan Chess Club. In chess
circles, he was knowsn as the
"friendly ghost." He was a former
president of the Central Knitware
Company. He died in New York
City at the age of 72. (source: Chess
Life & Review, Feb 1973, p. 61 and
New York Times, Nov 3, 1972)
Carmen Kass (1978- ) is an Estonian

super model, former political
candidate, and chess player. In 2002,
she was the second-highest-paid
model in the world. She was
President of the Estonian Chess
Federation from 2004 to 2011. From
2004 until 2014, she was in a
relationship with GM Eric Lobron of
Germany. Her father is chess
teacher.
In 1970, Bernard Katz (1911-2003)

shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine for his work on
neurophysiology of the synapse. He
was born in Leipzig. He chose to
learn Latin and Greek rather than
mathematics because, he said, it
game him more time to play chess in
the cafes of Leipzig. He developed a
lifelong passion for chess.
Larry Kaufman (1947- ) is a

winner of the American Open in
1966. He has won state
championships in Virginia, Florida,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Southern California.
He is the strongest Shogi player in
the United States. He graduated from
M.I.T. with a degree in Economics
and became a successful stock
broker and trader. He is the author of
Chess Advantage in Black and
White. In 2008, he won the World
Senior Championship. He helped
develop the strong chess program
Komodo. His son, Raymond, is an
International Master.
McCormick-Kaufman, Nebraska
1975 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e3 Nd5 4.d4
cxd4 5.Qxd4 e6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Qe4 d6
8.Nbd2 Bd7 9.Bd3 dxe5 10.Bb1 f5
11.Qe2 e4 12.Nd4 Nxd4 13.cxd4
Nf4 14.Qf1 Rc8 15.Nb3 Rxc1+
16.Nxc1 Bb4+ 17.Kd1 Ba4+ 18.b3
Qxd4+ 0-1
Dr. Arthur Kaufmann (1872-1938),

born in Romania, was a Viennese
chess master. In 1914, he took 2nd
place at the Trebitsch Memorial in
Vienna, behind Schlechter. He was
an attorney and philosopher. He
earned a PhD in 1896 in Philosophy.
He possibly commited suicide. He
was buried in the Viennese Central
Cemetery, where bombing in World
War II devastated his grave.
Lubomir Kavalek (1943- ) was born

in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He won
the championship of Czechoslovakia
in 1962 and 1968. He represented
Czechoslovakia in the 1964 and
1966 Chess Olympiads. He was
1965. When Soviet tanks rolled into
Prague in August 1968, Kavalek was
playing in the Akiba Rubinstein
Memorial in Poland, in which he
finished second. Kavalek, then
decided to defect to the West rather
than return to Soviet-dominated
Czechoslovakia. He bought several
crates of vodka with his winnings,
used them to bribe the border
guards, and drove to West Germany.
He first immigrated to West
Germany, then moved to
Washington, D.C. in 1970. In 1970,
on the way to the United States,
Kavalek won a strong tournament in
Caracas. He played the first half
under the Czechoslovakian flag, the
second half under the American flag.
He represented the United States
before officially setting foot in the
USA. From 1971 to 1972, he worked
at Vocie of America. In the 1970s,
Kavalek forfeited the last round of a
tournament by not showing up. He
had a chance to win the event. His
excuse was that his hotel failed to
give him a wake-up call. He wanted
the forfeit annulled because it was
the hotel's fault, not his. He
Olympiads from 1972 through 1986.
He took 1st place in the U.S.
Championship in 1972, 1973 and
1978. In 1981, he won the West
German Championship. In 1979, he
dislocated his knee while playing
tennis and had to withdraw from the
Interzonal. He speaks 7 languages.
He wrote a chess column for the
Washington Post from 1986 to 2010,
and now writes for the HuffPost.
Kavalek left Czechoslovakia after
the Soviet invasion ion 1968. He
settled in the United States in 1970.
He was inducted in the US Chess
Hall of Fame in 2001. His peak
student of journalism,
communications, and Russian
literature.
Kavalek - Bilek, Europe 1966 1.e4

d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Be3 Nd7
5.Nf3 c6 6.a4 Ngf6 7.b3 e5 8.dxe5
dxe5 9.Nd2 O-O 10.Nc4 Ne8?
11.Bc5 1-0
Alexander Kazantsev (1906-2002)

was an International Master, Soviet
endgame composer, Army colonel,
mechanical engineer, and chemical
engineer. He was also a popular
science fiction writer. He was
President of the Composition
Committee of the USSR Chess
Federation. He published his first
chess composition in 1926, at the
age of 20. He published his last
composition in 1996, at the age of
90. In 1946, he proposed a
hypothesis that the Tunguska event
in Siberia was not caused by a
meteorite fall, but in fact been the
catastrophe of a nuclear-powered
alien spaceship. He was a former
director of the Rocket Nozzle
Studies Institute. He died at the age
of 96.
Murtas Kazhgaleyev (1973- ) is a

Kazakhstani Grandmaster (1998).
He won the Paris Championship in
2006 and 2009. In 2015, he won the
Kazakhstani Chess Championship.
John Frederick Keeble (1855-1939)

was a chess player from Norwich,
England. He was a member of the
Norfolk and Norwich Chess Club for
61 consecutive years. He was the
chess champion of Norfolk and
Norwich Chess Club in 1884, at the
age of 29, and 1933, at the age of 78
(49 years apart). He edited the chess
column of the Norwich Mercury
from 1902 to 1912. He worked for
the Norwich railway company for 53
years.
Raymond Denis Keene (1948- ) is an

English Grandmaster (1976), author
of over 100 chess books, and
organizer of many international
chess matches. He received the
Order of the British Empire (OBE)
for his chess services in 1985. He
was British Champion in 1971. He
was the first British player to
achieve a FIDE Grandmaster norm
(but the second to become a British
Gradmaster, after Tony Miles). He
has organized three World Chess
Championships. He has written over
140 books on chess. Keene once
wrote, "Eating is my main hobby; I
like everything." He has been a
chess correspondent of The Times
since 1985, and a chess columnist
for The Spectator since 1977. His
Keene - Fries Nelson, Berlin 1980

1.d4 g6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3
Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nb6 7.h3 O-
O 8.Be3 Nc6 9.Bb5 Na5 10.Qe2 a6
11.Bd3 Nc6 12.d5 Nb4 13.Bb1 f5
14.Bxb6 cxb6 15.a3 fxe4 16.Bxe4
Bxc3+ 17.bxc3 Nxd5 18.Rd1 e6
19.c4 (19...Nf4 20.Rxd8 Nxe2
21.Rxf8+ Kxf8 22.Kxe2) 1-0
Emil Kemeny (1860-1925) won the

championships of New York,
Philadelphia, and Chicago. He was
the author of The American Chess
Weekly chess magazine.
Farkas Kempelen (1734-1804) was

the inventor of the first automation,
The Chess Playing Turk, in 1769. He
built it for the sole purpose of
entertaining and mystifying the
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. It
was not a true machine but was the
first "cabinet illusion." For years he
labored to improve the science of
hydraulics, designing fire engines
and hydraulic pumps. But nobody
was interested in those. They were
all interested in the Turk. Eventually,
he became so annoyed by the
continuous stream of visitors that he
dismantled the Turk, announcing
that it had been damaged and could
no longer be exhibited. In 1783
Emperor Joseph II commanded him
to display the Turk once again. In
1790 he built the world's first
"talking machine" (he called it a
voice imitator).
Robert Kempinski (1977- ) is a

he won the World Youth Chess
Championship in Brazil. He won the
Polish Championship in 1997 and
2005.
Edvins Kengis (1959- ) is a Latvian
Latvian Championship 8 times. In
1985, he won the Baltic
Championship.
Hugh Alexander Kennedy (1809-

1878) was a former British army
captain and leading London chess
player. In 1843 he founded the
Brighton Chess Club, which
attracted Howard Staunton and
Henry Buckle. In April 1845, he
teamed up with Howard Staunton
and played two telegraph games
against Walker, Evans, Perigal, and
Tuckett in London while they were
in Portsmouth. In 1846, he lost a
match to Elijah Williams (+2-4). In
1849, he lost a match to Eduard
Loewe (+6-7=1). He played in the
great International Tournament in
London in 1851. He knocked out
Carl Mayet in round 1 with two
wins. In round two, he lost to
Marmaduke Wyvill (+3-4=1). In
round 3, he defeated James
Mucklow with 4 wins. He then lost
to Jozsef Szen with 1 draw and 4
losses. He finished in 6th place at the
1851 London tournament. In 1862,
he lost perhaps the first international
telegraphic game, against Serafino
Dubois.
Loewe — Hugh Kennedy, London

1849 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e6 3.Nc3 Nc6
4.f4 a6 5.a4 Nge7 6.Nf3 d5 7.Ba2 b5
8.axb5 axb5 9.Nxb5 Nb4 10.Na3
dxe4 11.Ng5 Nf5 12.Qe2 Rxa3
13.bxa3 Nxc2+ 14.Kd1 Nfe3+
15.Qxe3 Nxe3+ 16.Ke2 Qd3+
17.Kf2 Ng4+ 18.Kg1 Ba6 0-1
John F. Kennedy Jr (1960-1999)
played chess. In 1975, he and his
cousin, Mark Shriver, visited
Moscow and played chess at the
Moscow University Chess Club.
Paul Petrovich Keres (1916-1975)

was born in Narva, Estonia, where
he would reside his entire life. He
was awarded the GM title in 1950
and an International Judge of Chess
Compositions in 1957. In 1934, he
won the championship of Estonia.
He won the Soviet chess
championship 3 times. In 1945, it
was reported that he had one of his
legs amputated as a result of the
bombing of Reval (Tallinn) by the
Germans prior to their occupation of
the capital of Estonia (source: Chess
Review, Feb 1945, p. 9). On June 5,
1975, Keres died of a heart attack in
Helsinki, Finland, while returning
home to Estonia from the World
Class Championship in Vancouver,
B.C. He had just won the event
despite a doctor's orders not to play
in the event due to the stress and his
high blood pressure (he did not play
in any tournament in 1974 due to
health problems). His airplane had
taken off from Helsinki to Tallinn
when Keres had his heart attack. The
aircraft turned around and landed
back at Helsinki and Keres was
rushed to the hospital and died.
Keres was buried at Metsakalmistu
cemetery in Tallinn.
Keres - Arlamowski, Szawno Zdroj

1950 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4
4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Qe2 Nbd7?? 6.Nd6
mate 1-0
Dvorzynski - Keres, Moscow 1956
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
d6 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4
8.Qxd4 c5 9.Qd5 Be6 10.Qc6+ Bd7
11.Qd5 c4 0-1
Alexander Kevitz (1902-1981) won

the Manhattan Chess Club
Championship 7 times. He won the
Brooklyn Chess Club Championship
4 times. In 1950, he was the third
highest rated chess player in the
USA, behind Fine and Reshevsky.
He was a pharmacist by profession.
(source: Chess Review, Apr 1946, p.
25)
Charles Keyser (1910-1970) was a

former Treasurer and President of
the New Jersey Chess Association
who suffered a heart attack and died
while playing chess at the Montclair
Chess Club in New Jersey.
Melikset Khachiyan (1970- ) is an

Southern California Champion who
made his third and final GM norm in
Los Angeles in 2005. He is a former
member of the Armenian national
chess team (1996, 1997). He came to
the United States in 2001. He won
the American Open in 2001. He
started playing chess at the age of
eight. At the age of 10 he was the
Baku Junior Champion. He was a
master at the age of 12. He was
coached by former world champion
Tigran Petrosian. He has coached
three Junior World Champions:
Almira Skripchenko (1992), Elina
Danielian (1992 and 1993), and
Levon Aronian (1994-1996).
Ildar Khairullin (1990- ) is a Russian
St. Petersburg Championship. His
Alexander Khalifman (1966- ) is a

Russian Grandmaster (1990) who
became the 1999 FIDE World
Champion. In 1999 he defeated
Vladimir Akopian at Caesar's Palace
in Las Vegas for the title. Both
players reached the finals after all
other of the 100 players were
eliminated in the knockout event. At
the time, he was ranked 45th in the
world with a FIDE rating of 2628
and seeded 36th out of 100 in the
event. Khalifman became the 14th
world chess champion and held it for
one year. His check for the world
championship bounced when he
tried to cash it. In 2000, Anand won
the FIDE world championship. In
1982 he was the USSR youth
champion. In 1984 he won the
USSR championship. In 1990 he
won the New York Open. In 1996,
he won the Russian championship.
He runs the St. Petersburg Chess
School. His peak rating was 2702 in
2001.
Khalifman - Wahls, Groningen 1990

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4
Nf6 5.e5 d5 6.Bb5 Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bc5
8.O-O O-O 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.Nxc6
Qh4 11.Be3 Bxe3 12.fxe3 Qg5
13.Rf4 Bb7 14.Qxd5 Rad8 15.Qxe4
Rd1+ 16.Kf2 Bxc6 17.Qxc6 Qxe5
18.Qc3 Qb5 19.Na3 1-0
Andrei Kharlov (1968- 2014) was a
1990, he won the Russian National
1st in the European Chess
2656 in 2001.
Abram Iosifovich Khasin (1923- ) is

a Russian Correspondence GM and
International Master. During World
War II, Khasin lost both legs
fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad.
He played in five USSR
Championships from 1956 to 1965.
He became an IM in 1964 and
Grandmaster of Correspondence
Chess in 1973. His peak FIDE rating
was 2480 in 1971. Before the
introduction of the Elo (FIDE)
ratings, his peak historical rating was
2625 in 1969.
Igor Khenkin is a Russian-born,

Denis Khismatullin (1984- ) is a

Russian Grandmaster (2004). He is
the first GM from Bashkortostan
(Bashkiria). In 2000, he took 2nd in
the World under-16 Championship.
Ratmir Kholmov (1925-2006) was a

Lithuanian champion 10 times, from
1949 to 1961. He played in 16 USSR
chess championships. He was once
suspended for a year from
tournament play because of conduct
unbecoming a chess master (drunk
in public). His nickname by Soviet
players was Central Defender. He
tied for 1st place (with Spassky and
Stein) in the 1963 USSR Chess
Championship. He was never
allowed to play in Western Europe,
the USA, or Canada for political
reasons. He was a sailor in the
Soviet merchant marine during
World War II.
Pedersen - Kholmov, Katowice 1993

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4
Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 b6
8.O-O Bb7 9.b4 Nxd4 10.cxd4 Bxb4
11.Qb3 Ba5 12.f3 O-O 13.a4 d5
14.Bd3 c5 15.e5 Qe6 16.dxc5 Qxe5
17.Bc1 bxc5 18.Qxb7 Qd4+ (19.Kh1
Qxd3 20.Rg1 Ng6 or 20...Rfe8) 0-1
In 1988, Ayatolla Ruhollah

Khomeini (1902-1989) allowed
chess to be played in Iran after
banning it for nine years. It was
banned because it was thought that
chess encouraged gambling, that it
hurts memory and may be the cause
of brain damage.
Bela Khotenashvili (1988- ) is a

Georgian Grandmaster (2013) and a
Woman Grandmaster (2007). In
2004, she won the World Girls
under-16 Championship.She has
won the Georgian Women's
Championship twice. Her peak
rating was 2531 in June 2013.
Lionel Adelberto Bagration Felix

Kieseritzky (1806-1853) was a
former mathematics teacher in
Estonia who became a chess regular
at the Cafe de la Regence in Paris
and was of International Master
strength. He gave chess lessons at
the cafe for 5 francs an hour or play
a game for the same fee. He was
editor of the chess magazine La
Regence from 1849 to 1851, but the
use of an obscure chess notation of
his own devising limited its success.
He was not well liked. He died
penniless at a charity hospital (La
Charite) for the insane in Paris. A
hat was passed around to collect
money for his funeral but nothing
was raised. As a result, he was
buried in a pauper's grave. Only one
person came to his funeral, a waiter
at the Cafe de la Regence. The
location of his exact plot has not
been found.
Schulten - Kieseritzky, Paris 1847

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1
b5 5.Bxb5 Nf6 6.Nc3 Ng4 7.Nh3
Nc6 8.Nd5 Nd4 9.Nxc7+ Kd8
10.Nxa8 f3 11.d3 f6 12.Bc4 d5
13.Bxd5 Bd6 14.Qe1 fxg2+ 15.Kxg2
Qxh3+ 16.Kxh3 Ne3+ 17.Kh4 Nf3+
18.Kh5 Bg4 mate 0-1
Stefan Emanuel Sylvester

Kindermann (1959- ) is a German-
Austrian Grandmaster (1988). He
represented Germany in 6 Chess
Olympiads. He represented Austria
in 2 Chess Olympiads. His peak
Master's degree in Neuro-linguistic
programming.
Daniel John King (1963- ) is an

In 1907, Rudyard Kipling (1865-

Literature. He was a chess player.
He had a few chess references in
some of his works. In 1908, he wrote
The Light That Failed, where he
wrote"...Nilghia, who had come for
chess and remained to talk tactics..."
In 1917, he wrote A Diversity of
Creatures, in which he wrote: "I
wish I'd brought chess, but I can't
play chess. What can we do?" He
mentioned chess in some of his
works, such as Captain Courageous,
Actions and Reactions, A Diversity
of Creatures, and The Light That
Failed. Chess is also mentioned in
his short story, The Embroideress of
Treviso.
Cyril S. Kipping (1891-1964) of

England was one of the most prolific
composer of chess problems in the
world. He composed over 7,000
chess problems in his lifetime. He
was the Problem Editor of The
Chess Amateur and the General
Editor of The Problemist magazine.
Problem Editor of Chess magazine.
Nino Kirov-Ivanov (1945) is a

won the Bulgarian championship in
1973 and 1979. He played for
Bulgaria in 2 Chess Olympiads, in
1974 and 1984.
In 1973, Henry Kissinger (1923- )

shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He
served as National Security Advisor
and Secretary of State in the Richard
Nixon administration. Kissinger
called Bobby Fischer several times
during the 1972 World Chess
Championship match to encourage
Fischer to play on and defeat
Spassky. On July 3, 1972 British
journalist David Frost called
Kissinger and asked him to persuade
Fischer to attend the world
championship match. Kissinger
called Fischer while entertaining
Soviet leader Anatoly Dobrynin and
his wife in California—telling
Fischer that "America wants you to
go over there and beat the Russians."
The phone call dramatically altered
Fischer's attitude and convinced him
to play, and eventually win, the
championship.
Janis Klavins (1933-2008) was the

Latvian chess champion in 1952. He
earned a physics and mathematics
degree from the University of
Latvia. He earned a PhD in physics
from the Latvian Academy of
Sciences. He ended his chess career
and performed research on
magnetohydrodynamics.
Maximilian Philipp Friedrich von

Klett (1833-1910) was a German
chess composer specializing in
orthodox three- and more-movers.
He was renowned for composing
extremely hard-to-solve chess
problems. He was an army officer.
Josef Kling (1811-1876) was a

German chess master and chess
composer. He wrote several studies
of the game. In 1851, with co-author
Horwitz, he wrote Chess Studies,
which launched the art of study
composition. From 1851 to 1853, he
and Horwitz edited The Chess
Player. In 1852, he opened up a
coffee house with chess rommes in
London. He was a teacher of
instrumental music and a Professor
of Music.
Josef Klinger (1967- ) is an Austrian

won the Austrian championship. In
1985, he took 3rd in the World
Junior Championship. He became a
professional poker player in 2002,
winning over a million dollars.
Dr. Vitali Klitschko (1971- ) is a

Ukrainian politician and mayor of
Kiev. He is a former WBC and
WBO boxing heavyweight
champion. He is a strong chess
player and is a friend of former
world chess champion Vladimir
Kramnik. The two have played chess
together. He is the first professional
boxing world champion to hold a
PhD degree.
Dr. Vladimir Vladimirowitsch

Klitschko (1976- ), is a former
boxing heavyweight world
champion and strong chess player.
Both brothers are also friends of
Garry Kasparov. He has a PhD in
sport science.
Jans Klovans (1935-2010) was a

Latvian Grandmaster (2001). He
won the Latvian Championship 9
times. His wife, Astra Klovene, won
the Latvian Ladies championship 6
times.
Reuben Klugman (1928-2011) was

the winner of the 8th annual Golden
Knights Postal Chess Championship,
sponsored by Chess Review
magazine. The event began in 1954
with 931 starting entrants. Klugman
finally won it in 1960 and won the
$250 prize (equivalent to over
$2,000 in today's currency). In 1944,
he won the College of the City of
New York (CCNY) chess
championship. (source: Chess
Review, Aug 1960, p. 227)
Dr. Johann "Hans" Joseph Kmoch

(1894-1973), born in Vienna, was a
chess author and International
Master (1950) and International
Judge (1951). He represented
Austria in three Chess Olympiads
(London 1927, Hamburg 1930, and
Prague 1931). He served as
Alekhine's second in the 1929 and
1934 world chess championship. He
was the referee in the Alekhine-
Euwe World Championship match in
1935. Euwe chose him as his second
in the 1937 rematch. After World
War II, he moved to the United
States and was secretary and
manager of the Manhattan Chess
Club. He authored Pawn Power in
Chess in 1959 and about a dozen
other chess books. He was the one
that coined the D. Byrne-Fischer
game in 1956 "the game of the
century." He was a Latin scholar and
editor of a literary magazine. He
died at the age of 78. (source: Chess
Life & Review, Apr 1973, p. 211)
Kmoch — NN, Vienna 1934 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 4.O-O g6
5.d4 Bg7 6.dxe5 Nxe5 7.Nxe5 Bxe5
8.Bh6 Bxb2 9.Nd2 c6 10.Rb1 Bd4
11.Nc4 Bc5 12.Qd4 1-0
Rainer Fritz Albert Knaak (1953- ) is

a German Grandmaster (1975) who
was East German champion in 1973,
1974, 1978, 1982, 1983, and 1984.
He has a degree in Mathematics and
has a teaching diploma. His peak
Knaak - Shiroki, Czechoslovakia

1972 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5
4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.cxd5 Nxg5
7.Nxg5 e6 8.Qa4+ Bd7 9.Qb3 Qxg5
10.Qxb7 O-O 11.Qxa8 Nc6 12.h4
Qg4 13.Qb7 Rb8 14.dxc6 (14...Rxv7
15.cxb7 and 16.b8=Q) 1-0
Erik Knoppert (1959- ) is a FIDE

Master (1985) from the Netherlands.
On September 13-16, 1985, he
played 500 games of 10-minute
chess in 68 hours. He scored 82.6%
against an average 2000 rating of his
opponents.
Mikhail Kobalia (1978- ) is a

1994, he won the European inde-16
2679 in 2011.
Alexander Kochyev (1956- ) is a

1972, he won the USSR Junior
European Junior Championship.
Carl Kockelkorn (1843-1914) was a

German chess player and composer
from Cologne. In 1876, he won the
West German Chess Association
tournament. He was a composing
partner of Johannes Kohtz. He was a
private tutor by profession.
Artu Kogan (1974- ) is a Ukrainian-

born Israeli Grandmaster (1998).
Boris Kogan (1940-1993) was an

International Master (1981). Soviet
Junior Champion in 1956 and 1957.
He was a full-time chess teacher in
the Soviet Union before emigrating
and coming to the United States in
1981. He played in the U.S.
Championship three times. He was
Georgia, USA champion seven years
in a row (1980-1986) and won it 8
times.
Johannes Kohtz (1843-1918), was a

German chess composer. He was
chief engineer and director of a
railway company in Elbing and
Konigsberg.
Dmitry Kokarev (1982- ) is a

2651 in 2017.
Atanas Kolev (1967- ) is a Bulgarian

was 2602 in 2012.
Ignatz Kolisch (1837-1889), born in

Bratislava, was one of the top
players in the world before he quit
chess and went into banking. In his
early years, he was the private
secretary of the Russian Prince
Urusov. At age 19, he was
considered the best chess player in
Vienna. He later became a
wandering chess professional and
was one of the top 4 chess players in
the world in the 1860s. In 1867, he
won at Paris, ahead of Steinitz. He
moved to Vienna and met Albert
Rothschild in 1868. He became
involved in banking and became a
millionaire and chess patron,
organizing and sponsoring many
chess tournaments in the 1870s and
1880s. He sponsored the Baden
Tournament in 1870 and the two
Vienna Tournaments of 1873 and
1882. In 1881, he was made a baron
of the Austrian Empire.
Geake - Kolisch, Cambridge 1860

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3
Bc5 5.O-O d6 6.d3 Bg4 7.Bxf7+?
(7.Na4) 7...Kxf7 8.Ng5+ Ke8 10.Nf3
Nd4 11.Bg5 Qd7 12.Nd5 Nxd5
13.exd5 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Qh3
(threatening 15...Nxf3+) 0-1
Dmitrij Kollars (1999- ) is a German

was 2514 in 2017.
George Koltanowski (1903-2000)

was an International Master (1950)
and Honorary Grandmaster (1988).
He was a chess promoter and writer
and chess historian. He was born in
Antwerp, Belgium of Polish-Jewish
parents. He learned chess at age 14
by watching his father play his older
brother. He won the championship
of Belgium in 1923, 1927, 1930,
1932 (co-winner), and 1936. He
represented Belgium in two Chess
Olympiads (1927, 1928). When
World War II broke out, George
Koltanowski of Belgium was in
Guatemala, Central America. He
then came to the US and became a
US citizen. Many of his family
members, including his mother and
brother, died in concentration camps.
Koltanowski survived the Holocaust
because he happened to be on a
chess tour of Central and South
America. In 1940, the United States
Consul in Cuba saw Koltanowski
playing a chess exhibition in Havana
and decided to grant him a U.S. visa.
He moved to Milwaukee, then New
York (he was employed as a
diamond cutter), and finally settled
in San Francisco in 1947. He
represented the USA in the 1952
Chess Olympiad. In February, 1979,
Kolty set a world record for playing
and beating four opponents
simultaneously blindfold at the age
of 75. During his lifetime, he was
given the title of "Dean of American
Chess." He wrote chess history
articles for many California chess
magazines. He wrote more than
19,000 chess columns for The San
Francisco Chronicle over a period of
52 years.
Koltanowski —Vogel, San Mateo

1968 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4
4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6
7.Qb3 b6 8.Bxf7+ Kd7 9.Qe6 mate
1-0
Koltanowski - Dunkelblum,Antwerp
1923 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4
4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Bd3 Qxd4 6.Nf3 Qd8
7.Qe2 Nf6 8.Nxf6+ gxf6 9.Bxf5
Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Qxf5 11.O-O-O Qe6
12.Qd3 Qxa2 13.Qd8+ Kxd8
14.Ba5+ Kc8 15.Rd8 mate 1-0
Humpy Koneru (1987- ) started

playing chess at the age of five. She
has won four World Championships,
including the World Girls Under-10,
Under-12, Under-14, and the World
Girls Junior championships. At the
age of 14, she won the British
Ladies' championship. At 14, she
won the World Junior Girls Chess
Championship. She became a GM at
the age of 15 years, 1 month and 27
days, the youngest female to become
a GM up to that time. From 2002
through 2008, she was the youngest
women ever to become a
grandmaster. At 22, she was the 2nd
highest rated woman in the world,
behind Judit Polgar. She won the
British Women's Championship in
2000 and 2002. In 2003, she won the
Indian Women's Championship. Her
Imre Konig (1901-1992) was an

born in Hungary and represented
Yugoslavia in the Chess Olympiads
in 1931, 1935, and 1936. He later
lived in France, England, and the
United States. He wrote Chess from
Morphy to Botvinnik in 1950.
Alexander Konstantinopolsky (1910-

1990) was a Soviet International
Master (1950) and Honorary
Kiev Championship 5 times. He
played in 6 USSR chess
championships. In 1951, won the
first Soviet Corrrespondence Chess
Championship. He died in Moscow
at the age of 80.
Danny Kopec (1954-2017) was an

American International Master. He is
one of the world's foremost
authorities on artificial intelligence
and its application to chess. He held
a Ph.D. in Machine Intelligence and
was an Associate Professor in the
Department of Computer and
Information Systems at Brooklyn
College. He once lost a game to a
person he beat in his first
tournament. In a temper tantrum, he
threw all his chess sets and
magazines down an incinerator.
Kopec - Winston, Columbus 1972

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3
Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 fxe4 7.O-O
Bb4 8.Nd5 O-O 9.Bg5 Be7 10.Nf5
Kh8 11.Bxc6 Nxd5 12.Nxe7 Nxe7
13.Bxe4 Qe8 14.Re1 c6? (14...h6)
15.Bd3 Rf7 16.Qh5 (16...g6
17.Bxg6; 16...h6 17.Bg6; 16...Qg8
17.Bxe7) 1-0
Nikolai Georgiyevich Kopilov

International Master in
correspondence chess (1969). In
1954, he won the Leningrad
Championship. On May 7, 1995,
Kopilov died while giving a
simultaneous chess exhibition in
Voronezh.
Viktor Korchnoi (1931-2016) was a

Russian-Swiss Grandmaster (1956).
He grew up in Leningrad and
suffered hardship during the siege of
Leningrad. He graduated from
Leningrad University with a degree
in history. He won the Leningrad
1970, at the Chess Olympiad in
Skopje, Yugoslavia, Korchnoi
overslept and missed his round
against Spain, losing be default. The
round started at 3 pm and Korchnoi
showed up after 4 pm. In 1977,
during the Candidates' semifinal
match between Viktor Korchnoi and
Lev Polugaevsky (1934-1995) in
France, Korchnoi asked to play
under the Dutch flag. He had
defected earlier from the Soviet
Union and was now living in the
Netherlands. Victor Baturinsky
(1914-2002), the head of
Polugaevsky's delegation, objected
on the grounds that Korchnoi had
not been living in the Netherlands
for a full year and could not play
under the Dutch flag. Korchnoi's
delegation of Raymond Keene and
Michael Stean suggested that
Korchnoi play under the Jolly Roger
pirate flag. In 1985, Viktor Korchnoi
claimed that he started a chess game
with the ghost of Geza Maroczy
(1870-1951). The game lasted until
1993, when Korchnoi won after 47
moves. The game was played
through a "medium" named Robert
Rollans (1914-1993). Rollans
recorded Maroczy's moves by
automatic writing. He did not know
how to play chess at the beginning
of the match, but was taught the
game during the match. In 1987,
Viktor Korchnoi was playing
Anatoly Karpov in a tournament in
Brussels. In a drawn position,
Korchnoi accidently touched his
king on his 48th move, which would
have led to a loss of his knight and
loss of the endgame. Instead of
resigning normally, he took his hand
and swept all the chess pieces off the
chessboard and onto the floor before
storming out. Korchnoi was USSR
champion four times (1960, 1962-
63, 1964-65 and 1970). He won five
European Championship titles, two
interzonal tournaments for world
championship, and two Candidates
Tournaments (1977 and 1980). The
latter led to world championship
challenges. Korchnoi played three
matches for the title, all against
Anatoly Karpov (1974, 1978, and
1981). He was the strongest chess
player never to have won the world
championship title. He was also
World Senior Champion. Korchnoi
played in ten Candidate tournaments
(1962, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977,
1980, 1983, 1985, 1988 and 1991).
He won 6 team Chess Olympiad
medals (USSR) and 7 individual
medals (4 gold and 3 bronze). He
played in 17 Chess Olympiads
(1960, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972,
1974, 1978, 1982, 1988, 1990, 1992,
1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, and
2008). He defeated three world
champions in match play: Mikhail
Tal in 1968, Tigran Petrosian in
1974, 1977, and 1980, and Boris
Spassky in 1977.
Korchnoi - Mestrovic, Sarajevo

1969 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5
4.Nf3 exd4 5.Bxc4 Bb4+ 6.Nbd2
Nc6 7.O-O Nh6 8.Nb3 Bg4 9.Bd5
Ne5 10.Qxd4 Nxf3+ 11.gxf3 Bxf3
12.Bxh6 Qd7 13.Qe5+ (13...Qe7
14.Bxf7+ Kxf7 15.Qxg7+ Ke6
16.Nd4+ Kd7 17.Qxe7+ and
18.Nxf3) 1-0
Akshayraj Kore (1988- ) is an Indian

won the Commonwealth under-16
Chesss Championship. His peak
Master's degree in Computer
Science.
Walter Korn (1908-1997) was editor

of Modern Chess Openings and
chess contributor to chess
publications for 50 years. He was the
first FIDE International Judge for
Chess Endgame Compositions in
North America. He fled
Czechoslovakia during World War
II. After the war he directed the U.N.
Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration, helping to relocate
concentration camp survivors. He
later immigrated to the United States
in 1950.
Oleg Korneev (1969- ) is a Russian-

born Spanish Grandmaster (1995).
Anton Korobov (1985- ) is a

has won the Ukrainian
Championship twice, in 2000 and
2012. In 2013, he won the European
Blitz Chess Championship. His peak
Vladimir Korolkov (1907-1987) was

an International Grandmaster for
Chess Compositions (1975). He won
the 7th USSR study composing
championship (1962-1964). He was
an electrical engineer working in the
Kirov plant.
Alexey Korotylev (1977- ) is a

2003, he tied for 2nd in the Russian
Yona Kosashvili (1970- ) is a

Grandmaster (1994) from Israel and
an orthopedic surgeon. In 1997, he
won the 12th AEGON human vs.
computer tournament in the
Netherlands. In 1999, he married to
International Master Sofia Polgar.
Vsevolod Kosenkov (1930-1995)

was a Correspondenc Chess
Grandmaster (1979). He took 3rd
place in 8th World Correspondece
Grigory Koshnitsky (1907-1999)

was born in Russia and moved to
Australia in 1926. He was Australian
champion from 1932 to 1934 and
from 1939 to 1945. During World
War II, he was an anti-tank gunner.
He died at the age of 91. In 1966 he
won the championship of South
Australia. His wife Evelyn took the
women's title.
Nadezhda Kosintseva (1985- ) is a

1998, she won the World Girls
under-14 Championship. In 2005,
she tied fors 1st in the European
Women's Championship. In 2008,
she won the Russian Women's
2576 in 2010.
Tatiana Kosintseva (1986- ) is a

Russian Grandmaster (2009). She
has won the European women's
championship twice and the Russian
women's championship 3 times. Her
Anthony Kosten (1958- ) is and

English-French Grandmaster (1990).
In 1982, he took 3rd in the British
Championship. His peak rating wa
2551 in 2002. He was married to the
daughter of Hungarian Grandmaster
G. Forintos.
Alexandra Kosteniuk (1984- )
learned to play chess at five after
being taught be her father. She
became a women's grandmaster
(WGM) at age 14. She was an
International Master at 16. She was
the Challenger in the World
Women's Championship when she
was 17. At 20, she was awarded the
GM title. At 21, she was the Russian
Women's Champion. At 22, she was
the Chess960 Women's World
Champion. At 24, she was women's
world champion. She won the
Women's Russian Chess
2004, she won the Women's
European Championship and was
world champion from 2008 to 2010.
In 2006, she became the first
Chess960 women's world champion.
She won it again 2008. In 2013, she
became the first woman to win the
men's Swiss Chess Championship.
She also won the women's Swiss
champion title. Her peak rating was
2557 in 2016. In 2015, she married
Russian GM Pavel Tregubov.
Borislav Kostic (1887-1963) was a

Yugoslav Grandmaster (1950). He
began tournament play at age 18. He
won the Baltic Championship in
1913. He won the US (Western)
Championship in 1918, held in
Chicago. He won the Romanian
Championship in 1934. He won the
Yugoslav championship in 1935
(with Pirc), 1938, and 1953. In 1916,
he played 30 games blindfolded
simultaneously. During his lifetime,
he may have been the most traveled
of all chess masters, making several
world chess tours (source: Chess
Review, Jan 1964, p. 19). He visited
almost every state in the United
States, earning a living by playing
matches against local champions and
giving displays. For a time, he
worked in a bank in Gary, Indiana.
Tigran Kotanjian (1981- ) is an

2014, he won the 74th Armenian
Chess Championship.
Alexander Kotov (1913-1981) was a

Soviet Grandmaster (1950). In 1939,
he took 2nd in the USSR Chess
Championship, losing to Botvinnik
in the final round. He was Moscow
champion in 1941. He was joint
USSR champion (with Bronstein) in
1948. He was a Candidate in 1950
and 1953. He played in 9 USSR
Championships. He wrote Think
Like a Grandmaster in 1971. He was
awarded the Order of Lenin for an
important invention relating to
mortar during World War II. He was
a military engineer and designed the
120-PM-43 mortar in 1943. It was
used in the Soviet army up until the
late 1980s.
Kotov — Kalmanok, Moscow 1936

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5
dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.Nf3
Nd7 8.Bc4 c6 9.Qd2 b6 10.Qh6 Bf8
11.Qf4 Bb7 12.O-O-O h5 13.Kb1
Be7 14.Qg3 Nf8 15.Rhe1 f5 16.d5
cxd5 17.Bb5+ Nd7 18.Ne5 Qc7
19.Bxd7+ Kd8 20.Qg7 Rf8 21.Ng5
Qb8 22.Bxe6 1-0
B. Gurgenidze - Kotov, USSR 1954

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nfe2 Nf6 4.g3
d5 5.exd5 Nd4 6.Bg2 Bg4 7.d3
Nxd5 8.Bxd5? (8.Qd2) 8...Qxd5 9.f3
Qxf3 10.Rf1 Qg2 11.Bd2 Nf3+
12.Rxf3 Qxf3 13.Ne4 Qh1+ (14.Kf2
Qxh2+ 15.Ke1 f5 wins) 0-1
Vasilios Kotronias (1964- ) is a

Greek Grandmaster (1990). He has
won the Greek championship 10
2008.
Pavel Kotsur (1974- ) is a

Kazakhstani Grandmaster (1996).
Cenek Kottnauer (1910-1996) was

born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He
was awarded the International
Master title in 1951. He played in
the Helsinki Olympiad 1952 on
board 4 for Czechoslovakia, scoring
+10 =5 -0. In 1953, after winning a
small international tournament in
Lucerne, Switzerland, he announced
his intention of seeking political
asylum in the West (source: Chess
Review, Mar 1953, p. 67). He then
immigrated to England, and became
a naturalized citizen in England in
1960. He played for England in the
Olympiads of 1964 and 1968. In the
1970s, he became one of England's
top coaches of young players.
Bachar Kouatly (1958- ) is a

Lebanese-French Grandmaster
(1989). In 1979, he won the French
rating was 2520 in 1993. He is editor
of Europe echecs chess magazine. In
2016, he was elected President of the
French Chess Federation.
Vlatimir Kovacevic (1942- ) is a

Croatian Grandmaster (1976). He
won tournaments at Maribor 1980,
Tuzla 1981, and Vinkovci 1982.
Igor Kovalenko (1988- ) is a

Ukrainian Grandmaster (2011) now
playing for Latvia. He won the
Latvian Championship in 2013 and
2014. In 2016, he took 2nd in the
European Chess Championship. His
Vladislav Kovalev (1994- ) is a

won the Belarus Junior
Anton Kovalyov (1992- ) is a

Ukrainian-born Canadian
Quebec Junior championship 3
times. In the Chess World Cup 2017,
he defeated Varuzhan Akobian in the
first round and former World
Champion Viswanathan Anand in
the second, and was due to face
Maxim Rodshtein in the third.
Shortly before the game with
Rodshtein was due to start,
Kovalyov was instructed by the
event organisers to change his
shorts, the same pair he had worn in
the first two rounds, as they violated
the dress code. In response,
Kovalyov left the venue and did not
return, thus forfeiting the game.
Kovalyov later accused organiser
Zurab Azmaiparashvili of yelling
and racially abusing him during the
incident, resulting in his withdrawal.
He is pursuing a master's degree in
Computer Science at the University
of Texas at Dallas.
Alexander Kovchan (1983- ) is a
Ukrainian Grandmaster (2002). His
Zdenko Kozul (1966- ) is a Croatian

won the European Chess
Yugoslavia Championship in 1989
in 2004.
Dr. Jesse Kraai (1972- ) is an

was the first American-born player
to achieve the GM title since Tal
Shaked in 1997. In 1997, he won the
National Junior High School
Championship. He won the Denker
Tournament of High School
Champions in 1989 and 1990. He
has won the New Mexico State
published Lisa: A Chess Novel. He
has a PhD in philosophy from the
University of Heidleberg.
Yair Kraidman (1932- ) is an Israeli

Grandmaster (1976). He played for
Israel in 10 Chess Olympiads. He is
the first Jew born on Israeli territory
to become a GM.
Maris Krakops (1978- ) is a Latvian

was 2nd in the World under-16
Chess Championship.
Vladimir Kramnik (1975- ) is a

former world champion (2000-2007)
who defeated Garry Kasparov in
2000 in the Brain Games World
Championship in London. This was
the 14th World Chess
Championship. This was the first
occasion in world championship
history that the defending champion
was not able to win a single game.
Kramnik won 2 games and drew 10.
He was world youth champion under
18 in 1991. He was the winner of the
first "Intel Speed Chess Grand Prix"
in 1994. He was ranked #1 in the
world in 1996. He won the Chess
Oscar in 2000. He drew a chess
match in 2002 with the Deep Fritz
chess program in Bahrain and
collected $800,000 for his efforts.
He said that he tried to receive
higher education, but it was too
difficult for him to combine chess
with serious studies. He dropped out
of college after becoming world
chess champion. In 1996 he entered
the University of Novgorod to study
foreign languages. He later
transferred to the department of
philosophy, but never got a diploma.
Timman - Kramnik, Hoogovens

1999 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.Bg2 Nd7
4.c4 e6 5.b3 Ngf6 6.Bb2 c6 7.O-O
Bd6 8.d4 O-O 9.Nbd2 a5 10.Ne5
Bh5 11.Re1 a4 12.bxa4 Qa5 13.Qb3
Qxd2 14.Bc3 Qh6 15.Qxb7 Rab8
16.Qxc6 Rb6 17.cxd5 exd5
(18.Qxd7 Nxd7 19.Nxd7 Rc6
20.Nxf8 Rxc3) 0-1
Michal Krasenkow (1963- ), born in

Moscow, is a Polish Grandmaster
2000. He has a master's degree in
applied mathematics. In 1987, he
won the championship of Soviet
Georgia. He won the Polish
championship in 2000 and 2002. His
Syndicated columnist and physician

(psychiatrist) Dr. Charles
Krauthammer (1950- ) plays chess.
His USCF rating is 1630, but
inactive for many years. He has
chess boards in his office and a chess
room at home. He says he only
entered and played in one chess
tournament, in 2002, and won $150.
Martyn Kravtsiv (1990- ) is a

2015, he tied for 1st in the Ukraine
Chess Championship.
Boris Kreiman (1976- ) is a Russian-

born American Grandmaster (2004).
He was a refugee from Russia who
gained a green card based on his
chess accomplishments by the U.S.
government in 1991. He was US
Junior champion (1993) and former
recipient of the Samford
Scholarship, awarded to the best
young player in the United States.
He tied for 3rd place in the 2002 US
Championship and gaining his last
norm for Grandmaster.
Dr. Josef Emil Krejcik (1885-1957)

was a Viennese chess author, player,
and journalist. He edited a chess
column in the Neues Wiener
Tagblatt. In 1910, he played a 25-
game simultaneous display at Linz
and lost every game. He was a
journalist by profession. He died 18
days before his 72nd birthday.
Alfred Kreymberg (1883-1966) was

an American poet, poetic dramatist,
and anthologist who wrote over 40
books. In his earlier years. He
supported himself as a chess
professional for eight years. He later
founded a puppet theater.
Iosif Krikheli (1931-1988) was a

Georgian Grandmaster of Chess
Compositions (1984). He specialized
in helpmates and many-mover
problems. In 1984, he won the 15th
USSR composition championship.
He published over 900
compositions.He was a
mathematician and a physician by
profession.
Jens Kristiansen (1952- ) is a Danish

Danish Championship 3 times. In
2012, he won the World Seniors
Chess Championship.
Stefan Kristjansson (1982- ) is an

Icelandic Grandmaster (2011). His
Nikolai Vladimirovich Krogius

(1964) and a sports psychologist (he
has a doctorate in psychology). In
1952, he took 1st in the Russian
Federation (RSFSR) Chess
Championship. He played in 7
USSR championships. He served as
a second to Boris Spassky. He was
president of the USSR Chess
Federation. He captained the Soviet
tem in the 1970 USSR vs Rest of the
World match. In 1976, he wrote
Psychology in Chess. His peak
Irina Krush (1983- ) is a Ukrainian-
born American Grandmaster (2013).
She learned chess at age 5. At the
age of 9, she beat her first chess
master. She played in the US
Women's championship at the age of
11. At age 12, she became a master.
At age 13, she tied for 1st in the
World Junior championship for girls.
At age 14, she won the US Women's
championship, the youngest ever. At
16, she was awarded the
International Master title. She has
won the US women's championship
7 times. Her peak rating was 2502 in
2013. She was formerly married to
Canadian GM Pascal Charbonneau.
In 2006, she graduated from New
York University with a degree in
International Relations.
Nikolai Krylenko (1885-1938) was

the People's Commissar for Justice
of the USSR. He was an avid chess
player and promoter of the game. He
may have done more than anyone
else to popularize chess. His chess
title was Chairman of the Chess
Section of the Supreme Council for
Physical Culture of the Russian
Federal Republic, and later,
Secretary of the Soviet Chess
Federation. He was responsible for
persuading the Soviet government to
sponsor the game and to organize the
Moscow international tournaments
of 1925, 1935, and 1936. In 1937,
Krylenko was arrested in Russia and
later executed on orders from Stalin.
One of the charges against him was
that he had retarded the development
of chess in the Soviet Union. On
July 29, 1938, Krylenko was
executed in Stalin's purges. His trial
lasted 20 minutes, he was then found
guilty and immediately shot.
Leandro Krysa (1992- ) is an

Yuriy Kryvoruchko (1986- ) is a

2013, he won the Ukrainian Chess
2717 in 2015.
On November 21, 1937, Arvid

Kubbel (1889-1938) was arrested for
sending his chess compositions to
the German chess magazine, Die
Schwalbe. He bypassed the USSR
Chess Section's Central Composition
Committee, which had to approve all
compositions for publication. He
was charged under Article 58 1a
(treason). Arvid was sentenced to 10
year of hard labor without right to
any correspondence. He was
executed on January 11, 1938, en
route to a Siberian prison camp.
Karl Artur Leonid Kubbel (1891-

1942) was one of the greatest
Russian chess composers. He
composed over 300 endgame studies
and 2,784 chess studies and
problems overall. He was a chemical
engineer by profession. He died
during the siege of Leningrad on
April 18, 1942.
Yevgeny Kubbel (1893-1942) was a

chess composer and youngest
brother of Avrid and Karl Kubbel.
He died during the siege of
Leningrad.
Film director Stanley Kubrick

(1928-1999) was an addicted chess
player. His father, Jack, taught
Stanley how to play chess in 1941,
when Stanley was 12. Stanley
quickly became a skilled chess
player and chess hustler in Central
Park. He said that chess helped him
develop patience and discipline. As a
young man, he played chess for
money (usually a nickel a game) in
Washington Square Park in New
York. The Los Angeles County
Museum of Art has one of Kubrick's
chess sets on display.
Robert Kuczynski (1966- ) is a

he won the Polish Chess
Championship. He won the Polish
Junior championship twice.
Sergey Kudrin (1959- ) is an

American Grandmaster (1984) who
has won the National Open 7 times,
the New York Open twice, the US
Open twice, and the North American
Open twice. He has a B.A. in
computer science and an M.B.A. in
finance. Kudrin grew up in Siberia.
Kudrin - Jukic, Graz 1987 1.e4 c5

2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3
Nf6 6.O-O Qc7 7.Qe2 d6 8.Nc3 Be7
9.Kh1 O-O 10.f4 b5 11.e5 Ne8
12.Bd2 Nd7 13.Qe4 g6 14.Qxa8 Bb7
15.Ncxb5 axb5 16.Qa5 1-0
Maurice Kuhns (1859-1949) was

organizer and president of the
National Chess Federation (NCF)
from 1926 to 1939. In 1939, the
NCF merged with the American
Chess Federation (ACF) to form the
US Chess Federation (USCF).
Kuhns was made president emeritus
of the USCF. He was also a vice-
president of FIDE. In the 1920s, he
devised a special telegraph cable
code for the transmission of chess
moves. It was called the Kuhns
Cable Chess Code and was used in
the 1926 London-Chicago Inter-city
cable match. He was one of the first
Certified Public Accountants in the
U.S. In 1933, he directed an outdoor
chess match on a giant chessboard at
the New York World's Fair. 32 men
and women in medieval costume
served as pieces.
Kaido Kulaots is an Estonian

Estonian Chess Championship 8
2011.
Adam Kuligowski (1955- ) is a

he won the Polish Junior Chess
Polish Championship. His peak
Dharshan Kumaran (1975- ) is an

is a Neuroscientist.
Vitaly Kunin (1983- ) is a German

was 2595 in 2016.
Abhijit Kunte (1977- ) is an Indian

Indian Chess Championship in 1997
and 2000. In 2003, he won the
British Championship.
Abraham Kupchik (1892-1970),

born in Brest-Litovsk, came to the
USA in 1903. He was a former U.S.
Open champion (1925), New York
State champion twice (1915, 1919),
and winner of the Manhattan Chess
Club at 15 times. In 1923, he tied
with Frank Marshall in the 9th
American Chess Congress, held in
Lake Hopatcong, New York. He
played in the U.S. chess
1940.
J. Corzo — Kupchik, Havana 1913

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5 4.Qa4
Qd6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.O-O
O-O-O 8.Bc4 Qd6 9.Ng5 Nh6 10.d3
Qg6 11.Be3 Be7 12.Ne4 f5 13.Nc5
f4 14.Nxd7 Rxd7 15.Bd2 f3 16.g3
Qg4 17.Qd1 Rf8 18.Be6 Qxe6 0-1
Viktor Davidovich Kupreichik

(1949-2017) was a Belorussian
Grandmaster (1980) from Minsk. He
took last place in the 1969, 1974,
and 1976 USSR championships. He
won the Belarusian Chess
Razuvev - Kupreichik, Erevan 1970

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 f5 4.d4 e4
5.Bg5 Nf6 6.d5 exf3 7.dxc6 fxg2
8.cxd7+ Nxd7 9.Bxd8 gxh1=Q 0-1
Bojan Kurajica (1947- ) is a Bosnian

winner of the 1965 World Junior
Championship. The title is an
automatic award to the International
Master title, yet he was not even a
master. He thus became an
International Master without ever
being a master. In 1977, he took 4th
at Wijk aan Zee. His peak rating was
2595.
Kurajica - Nikolic, Yugoslavia 1984

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 e5 4.Bxc4
exd4 5.exd4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Nf3
O-O 8.O-O Nc6 9.h3 Na5 10.Bd3
Be6 11.Re1 Bc4 12.Bxc4 Nxc4
13.Qe2 1-0
On Aug 8, 2013, GM (2003) Igor

Kurnosov (1985-2013) died in
Chelyabinsk, Russia at the age of 28.
He was hit by a car as he was
crossing the street in Chelyabinsk
and died at the scene of the accident.
He was killed on the spot at 2:45 am.
He was one of the top 20 GMs in
Russia, rated 2680 at his peak.
Alla Kushnir (1941-2013) was one

of the top women's chess players in
the 1960s and 1970s. At one time
she was the second-best woman in
the world (behind Gprindashvili).
She left the Soviet Union and settled
in Israel in 1974. She was awarded
the Women's Grandmaster title in
1976. She was Women's World
Championship Challenger in 1965,
1969, and 1972. She was USSR
Women's Champion in 1970.
Gennady Kuzmin (1946- ) is a

competed in the Soviet
Championships 11 times. He tied for
1st at Hastings in 1974. He won the
Moscow Blitz Championship in
1990. He won the Ukrainian
1974.
Yuriy Kuzubov (1990- ) is a

completed his final GM norm at the
age of 14 years, 7 months, and 12
days. In 2001, he was the Ukrainian
under-12 Chess Champion. In 2004,
he was the Ukrainian under-14
Ukrainian Championship. His peak
rating was 2691 in January 2018.
Aloyzas Kveinys (1962- ) is a

Lithuanian Grandmaster (1992). He
has won the Lithuanian
championship 5 times. He has
played for Lithuania in 8 Chess
Olympiads.
Kola Kwariani (1903-1980) was a

250-pound professional wrestler
(Nick the Wrestler) and a chess
player. In the 1950s, he was the only
chess playing professional wrestler,
and appeared in Stanley Kubrick's
1956 film The Killing (originally
called Bed of Fear), in the roll of a
chess-playing wrestler named
Maurice Oboulkhoff. A picture of
Kwariani, Kubrick, and Sterling
Hayden appeared on the cover of
Chess Review in March 1956. They
were playing chess at the Chess and
Checker Club in Manhattan, also
known as the "Flea House."
Kwariani was fluent in 8 languages.
(source: Chess Review, Mar 1956, p.
69) In February 1980, after entering
the stairway to the Chess and
Checker Club, he was assaulted by a
group of 5 teenagers and beaten to
death.
Erwin l'Ami (1985- ) is a Dutch
won the Reykjavik Open. His peak
Ottomar Ladva (1997- ) is an

Estonian Grandmaster (2016). He
has won the Estonian Chess
Championship 3 times. He became
the youngest Estonion champion at
age 15. His peak rating was 2522 in
January 2018.
Kateryna Oleksandrivna Lahno

(Lagno) (1989- ) is a Ukrainian-born
1998, she was the world girls' under-
10 champion. In 2002, at the age of
12 years, 4 months and 2 days, she
became both the European Girls'
under-14 Champion and the world's
youngest Woman Grandmaster in
history. In 2005, she won the
European Individual Women's Chess
Championship. In 2010, she was the
women's world blitz chess
champion. In 2014, she was the
women's world rapid chess
champion. Her peak rating was 2557
in 2012. She is married to French
GM Robert Fontaine.
Bogdan Lalic (1964- ) is a Croation

was 2600 (1997). He was once
married to IM Susan Lalic,
England's first woman to hold the
IM title, but they are now divorced.
Babu Musunuri R. Lalith (1993- ) is

2012, he won the Commenwealth
won the Indian championship.
In 1955, Willis Eugene Lamb (1913-

Physics for his discoveries
concerning the fine structure of the
hydrogen spectrum. He played in a
few chess tournaments in California.
In high school, he was one of about
30 students who played
simultaneously against world
champion Alexander Alekhine.
Lamb won his game against
Alekhine. In 1933, Lamb took 2nd
place at an intercollegiate chess
tournament held at the World's Fair
in Chicago. He then won the rapid-
transit tournament. (Source: Willis
E. Lamb, Jr. 1913-2008, a
Biographical Memoir by Leon
Cohen, M. Scully, and R. Scully,
2009, p. 4)
Konstantin Landa (1972- ) is a

Benjamin M. Landey (1912-1981)

was a former president of the
and the New England Chess
Association. He was president of the
Boylston Chess Club. He was a
pioneer in the promotion of chess in
New England. In the 1960s, he was
the first person to lose a USCF-rated
game to a computer. He lost to the
MIT MacHack computer.
Salo (Salomon) Landau (1903-1944)

was a Polish Jew who settled in the
Netherlands. In 1936, he won the
Dutch Chess Championship. In
September 1942, Landau tried to
escape the Nazis by fleeing to
Switzerland with his family, but they
were caught on September 28 in
Breda, near the border with Belgium
and sent to Westerbork transit camp.
He was sent to a concentration camp
in GrÃ¤ditz, Silesia in November
1943, where he died in March 1944.
His wife and young daughter, whose
hiding place was betrayed, were sent
to Auschwitz in September 1944,
where they were gassed on October
12, 1944.
Vytautas Landsbergis (1932- ) was a

former President of Lithuania (1990-
1992). He is a chess player. In 1952,
he took 3rd place in the Lithuanian
chess championship.
Lisa Lane Hickey (1938- ) was born

in Philadelphia. She is a former U.S.
women's champion (1959-62, 1966).
In 1960 she appeared on "What's My
Line" and was featured in Look
magazine. In 1961, she was on the
cover of Sports Illustrated. She and
Bobby Fischer are the only chess
players to have been on the cover of
Sports Illustrated. In 1961, she took
12th-14th place at the
Women'sCandidates Tournament in
Vrnjacka Banja. She played four
games in the Hastings Reserve
tournament in 1961-62, and then
withdrew after one draw, two losses,
and an adjourned game. She said she
could not concentrate because she
was "homesick and in love." In 1963
she opened up her own chess club,
Queen's Pawn Chess Emporium, in
New York. In 1964, she took 12th
place at the Women's Candidates
Tournament in Sukhumi. In 1966,
she tied for 1st place with Gisela
Gresser in the U.S. Women's Chess
Championship. She married Neil
Hickey, editor-at-large of the
Columbia Journalism Review, who
was a friend of Bobby Fischer and
assisted Bobby Fischer in some
chess articles. Lisa owns a natural
food business, Amber Waves of
Grain, in New York.
Max Lange (1832-1899) invented

the helpmate in 1854. A helpmate is
a type of chess problem in which
both sides cooperate in order to
achieve the goal of checkmating
Black. Max Lange published the first
helpmate in Deutsche Schachzeitung
in December, 1854. The problem
had White to move first. In
November 1860, Sam Loyd (1841-
1911) published the first helpmate
with Black to move first, which Is
now the standard.
Lange - Mayet, Berlin 1853 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.b4
Nxb4 6.c3 Nc6 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4
Bb6 9.h3 Na5 10.Bd3 d5 11.exd5
Qxd5 12.Nc3 Qh5 13.Re1+ Kd8
14.Ng5! Qxd1 15.Nxf7+ Kd7
16.Bf5+ Kc6 17.Nd8+ Kd6 18.Bf4
mate 1-0
Zigurds Lanka (1960- ) is a Latvian

won the Latvian Chess
Championship. He is a journalist by
profession.
Diana Lanni (1955- ) qualified for

the U.S. Women's Championship
and used chess to beat a drug
addiction problem and suicidal
tendencies. In 1982, she represented
the USA in the Women's Olympiad
in Lucerne. She now teaches chess to
kids.
Bent JOrgen Larsen (1935-2010)

was a Danish Grandmaster (1956)
who lived in Buenos Aires with his
Argentinean wife. He learned the
chess moves at age 6. In 1954 at the
age of 19, he won the Danish
championship and became an
International Master. Larsen won the
Danish championship every time he
entered for the next 10 years. In
1956, he played first board of the
Danish team at the chess Olympiad
in Moscow and got the Gold medal
for his +11 =6 —1 on board one. In
1966 when Larsen beat Geller in a
match, it was the first time in a
match that a Soviet Grandmaster had
ever lost to a foreigner. Bent Larsen
was the first GM to lose to a
computer in a tournament
competition, 1988. To supplement
his income, he translates detective
stories into Danish. In 1953 Larsen
labored all night on an adjourned
game to find a winning line. Then he
tried to get a few hours sleep. He
lost the game because he had
overslept and failed to appear on
time. He has won the Interzonal 3
times (1964 in Amsterdam, 1967 in
Sousse, and 1976 in Biel) and is the
only player to do this. In 1967, he
was awarded the Chess Oscar as
player of the year. In 1988 Larsen
lost a game to Deep Thought,
becoming the first Grandmaster to be
defeated by a computer in
tournament play. The opening 1.b3
is sometimes called Larsen's
Opening. His nickname is "The
Great Dane." He won the Canadian
Open and the U.S. Open in 1968 and
1970. He won the second Annual
World Open in 1974. Larsen had a
small hobby publishing firm.
Sursock - Larsen, Siegen 1970 1.d4

e6 2.e4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6
5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Bg5 Qb6
8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Ndb5 Ne5 10.Bb3
Rg8 11.O-O a6 12.Nd4? Qxd4!
(13.Qxd4 Nf3+ and 14...Nxd4) 0-1
Ingrid Larsen (1909-1990) was

Challenger in 1937, 1939, and 1949-
50. She was awarded the Women's
International Master title in 1950.
She won the Danish Women's
National Championship 17 times
(1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1943,
1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1953,
1956, 1957, 1960, 1965, 1969, and
1983).
Baron Tassilo von Heydebrand und

(von) der Lasa (1818-1899) was a
German chess master, diplomat,
author, and chess historian. His
name is usually abbrevieated as
Baron von der Lasa. The Prussian
King William I once greeted him by
saying, "Good morning dear
Heydebrand. How is von der Lasa
doing?" He wrote on the history of
the game. In 1837, he was one of the
seven co-founders of the Berlin
Chess School (the Berlin Pleiades),
which was the first "research group"
in the history of chess. He promoted
the first German chess magazine,
Schachzeitung (later Deutsche
Schachzeitung). In 1897, he wrote
Zur Geschichte und Literatur des
Schachspiels, Forschungen
(Researches in the History and
Literature of Chess). He never
competed in chess tournaments or
formal matches. When und der Lasa
died, he had the largest and most
valuable collection of chess
literature in the world, with over
3,000 chess books (source: Brooklyn
Daily Eagle, Aug 7, 1899). In 1935,
the collection was put up for sale by
Munich antiquarian book dealers van
Karl und Faber. His library is still
intact at Kornik Castle near Poznan,
Poland.
Von der Lasa — Bledow, 1839 1.e4

e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 Bg7
5.d4 Qe7 6.O-O h6 7.Nc3 c6 8.e5
Qb4 9.Ne4 Bf8 10.Qe2 g4 11.Nd6+
Bxd6 12.exd6 Kd8 13.Ne5 Rh7
14.c3 f3 15.Qe4 Nf6 16.Qxh7 Nxh7
17.Nxf7+ 1-0
Berthold Lasker (1860-1928) was

the older brother of Emanuel Lasker
who taught Emanuel how to play
when Emanuel was 11 years old. He
was known as a chess hustler in
Berlin in the early 1880s. As a
medical doctor who lived in Berlin,
he saved Emanuel Lasker's life in
1894 when Emanuel Lasker had
gastric fever and a broken blood
vessel while living in England.
Berthold married Else Schuler
(1869-1945), a famous poet, writer,
and artist, in 1894. She later
divorced him in 1903. In 1902 he
won the New York State chess
championship.
Edward Lasker (1885-1981) was
born in Kempen, Germany (now
Poland) in 1885. He became an
International Master at the age of 75.
FIDE awarded him the official IM
title in 1961. He was an International
Master in 1913, a title given to him
by the German Chess Federation.
Edward Lasker won the
championship of Paris in 1912
(defeating Frederic Lazard in a 4-
game match), the London
championship in 1914, the New
York City championship in 1915,
and the championship of Chicago in
1916. He has been the champion of
Berlin, Vienna, London, New York,
Chicago, and Paris. He won the U.S.
Open five times (1916, 1917, 1919,
1920, 1921). In 1923 he played a
match (and lost by one point) with
Frank Marshall for the U.S.
Championship. During that match,
one of the spectators had a heart
attack and died. In the 1940s he
founded and became president of the
Association of American Chess
Masters (AACM). His mother and
brother died in Nazi Germany.
Edward Lasker had degrees (but no
Ph.D.) in mechanical and electrical
engineering. He invented and
patented an electric breast pump to
secure mother's milk and developed
a short-wave therapeutic apparatus.
(source: Chess Review, Mar 1959, p.
70) He was a safety engineer for
Sears & Roebuck. He was a fellow
in the New York Academy of
Science. On September 11, 1976, at
the age of 90, he played in a telex
match between New York and
London. He was a seventh cousin to
Emanuel Lasker (some sources say
they were not related). He learned
chess at the age of six from his
father. He was a Go player and
founded the American Go
Association in 1915. He died at the
age of 95.
Ed Lasker - George Thomas,

London 1912 1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4
3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 e6 5.Nxe4 Be7
6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 b6 8.Ne5 O-O
9.Bd3 Bb7 10.Qh5 Qe7 11.Qxh7+
Kxh7 12.Nxf6+ Kh6 13.Neg4+ Kg5
14.h4+ Kf4 15.g3+ Kf3 16.Be2+
Kg2 17.Rh2+ Kg1 18.Kd2 mate 1-0
Dr. Emanuel Lasker (1867-1941)

was a German player of Jewish birth.
He was World Chess Champion
from 1894 to 1921. In 1879, at the
age of 11, he was sent to Berlin to
attend school. There, he was taught
how to play chess by his older
brother, Berthold, who was a
medical student and later became a
medical doctor. Emanuel displayed
unusual mathematical abilities and
wanted to be a mathematician. His
father wanted him to be a cantor.
Emanuel studied the Talmud with
his father and his grandfather, a
rabbi. He was a friend of Albert
Einstein. In 1894, world champion
Lasker had gastric fever and a
broken blood vessel while in
England and almost died. His
medical doctor brother, Dr. Berthold
Lasker (1860-1928), traveled from
Berlin to England and saved his life.
Lasker left Nazi Germany in 1933
and moved to Moscow. He set up an
academy in Moscow to earn a living
by teaching Communists how to
play chess. He had previously
decided that chess was a "dead"
game with "no connection with
anything human." He said that chess
was inferior to bridge. (source: LIFE
magazine, Feb 22, 1937, p. 48) He
had a PhD in mathematics. His
Ph.D. dissertation of 1902 on ideal
numbers became a cornerstone of
20th century algebra. On Jan 11,
1941, Emanuel Lasker died of a
kidney infection. He was 72. He had
been a charity patient at Mount Sinai
hospital. About the same time, his
sister died in a Nazi gas chamber. A
condolence letter was sent to Martha
Lasker by Albert Einstein, when
Emanuel Lasker died. He is buried at
Beth Olom Cemetery in Queens,
New York.
Burn - Emanuel Lasker, Hastings

1895 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6
4.Nc3 c5 5.e3 Nc6 6.cxd5 exd5
7.Bd3 a6 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.O-O O-O
10.Bd2 Re8 11.Rc1 Ba7 12.Ne2 Bg4
13.Bc3 Ne4 14.Ng3 Nxf2 15.Rxf2
Rxe3 16.Nf5 Rxf3 17.gxf3 Bxf5
18.Bxf5 Qg5+ 19.Bg4 h5 20.Qd2
Be3 0-1
Alexander Lastin (1976-2015) was a

2001, he tied for 1st in the Russian
won the Russian Championship. His
E. Forry Laucks (1897-1965) was a

wealthy patron of chess. He founded
the Log Cabin Chess Club at his
home in West Orange, New Jersey.
He formed chess teams that traveled
around the USA and other countries
to play chess. He financed many of
Bobby Fischer's trips around the
world to play in chess tournaments.
On July 31, 1965, Laucks collapsed
of a heart attack and died after the
6th round of the U.S. Open in San
Juan, Puerto Rico.
Joel Lautier (1973- ) is a Canadian-

born French Grandmaster (1990)
who was the youngest ever World
Junior Champion in 1988. His father
is French and his mother is Japanese.
He won the French Championship in
2004 and 2005. He was the president
of the Association of Chess
Professionals in 2004 and 2005. His
was previously married to Woman
GM Almira Skripchenko.
Lautier - Sokolov, Correze 1992

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4
exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6
7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 cxd5 9.O-O O-O
10.Bg5 c6 11.Na4 h6 12.Bh4 Be7
13.Re1 Be6 14.c3 Re8 15.Bc2 Rb8
16.Qd4 a5 17.Re3 Qc7 18.Rae1 c5
19.Qd3 g5 20.Rxe6! (20...fxe6
21.Qg6+; 20...gxh4 21.Rxf6 Bxf6
22.Qh7+) 1-0
Kerry Hamilton Lawless (1949- ) is

a National Master and chess
organizer. He is also historian and
archivist for chess in California. He
is the creator of chess chess website
ChrssDryad. He was co-editor of the
California Chess Reporter.
David Lawson (1886-1980) was the

author of Paul Morphy The Pride
and Sorrow of Chess, published in
1976 when Lawson was 89 years
old. His real name was Charles
Whipple.
On August 20, 1935, Agnes Bradley

Lawson-Stevenson (1873-1935) was
killed by a propeller of an airplane.
She was four-time British Ladies'
Champion (1920, 1925, 1926, and
1930) and was married to Rufus
Stevenson, the editor of the British
Chess Magazine. She was on her
way to the Women's World
Championship from Berlin to
Warsaw by plane. The aircraft
stopped in Poznan, Poland and she
left the aircraft to have her passport
checked. She returned to the aircraft
from the front of the plane and ran
into the moving propeller. Two years
later, Rufus Stevenson married the
world woman champion, Vera
Menchik, who later died from a V-1
rocket attack on her home.
Darwin Laylo (1980- ) is a Filipino

Philippines Chess Championship in
2556 in 2010.
Vladimir Lazarev (1964- ) is a

Russian-French Grandmaster (2000).
2018. He is married to WGM Anda
Safranska.
Viktor Laznicka (1988- ) is a Czech

for 1st in the Czech Open. In 2010,
he won the World Open. His peak
Le Quang Liem (1991- ) is a

Vietnamese Grandmaster (2006). In
won the World Blitz Chess
in the World pen. He has a B.S. in
Finance and a B.A. in Management
from Webster University. His peak
Dr. Timothy Leary (1920-1996)

used chess sets as visual props for
preparing classes at Harvard in his
lectures on LSD. He said, "Life is a
chess game of experiences we play."
He also said, "There are three side
effects of acid: enhanced long-term
memory decreased short-term
memory, and I forgot the third." He
once wrote, "Foreign policy is the
game of mad monsters playing chess
blindfolded with mammalian-gene-
pools as pawns."
In 1989, Heath Ledger (1979-2008)

won the Western Australia Junior
Chess Championship. He was an
avid chess player. He learned chess
at an early age and said he played at
least one game of chess a day. He
used to play almost every day at the
Washington Square Park in New
York.
Essex player Edward Lee (1968- ),

by age 14, defeated 7 grandmasters
in simultaneous exhibitions: Karpov,
Korchnoi, Nunn, Speelman, Ftacnik,
Kochiev, and Kupreichik. He also
drew against Korchnoi and Hort in
two other exhibitions. In 2010, he
defeated GM Nigel Short in a blitz
game.
In May 1860, Mrs. Lafayette Lee

and Mr. U. G. Flowers sat down to
play a game of chess in Vicksburg,
Mississippi. During the game, Mr.
Lee, who was standing behind Mr.
Flowers looking on, pulled out a
pistol and shot his wife after a
quarrel about Mrs. Lee wishing to
visit her mother. He then aimed his
pistol at Mr. Flowers, but Mr.
Flowers pulled out his own pistol
and shot Mr. Lee 5 times, killing
him. Mrs. Lee was in critical
condition, but survived. (source:
Nashville Union, June 2, 1860)
David M. Lees (1943-1996) was

born on February 12, 1943 in
Springfield, Massachusetts. He was
a National Master. He won or tied in
the Western Massachusetts
Championship five times (1961,
1962, 1963, 1965, 1967). He won
the Central New England
Championship twice. In 1964, he
won the Texas Junior
Texas State Championship. In 1965,
he won the U.S. Armed Forces
Championship (he was an Air Force
enlisted person). He won the
Connecticut Valley Championship in
1962, 1963, 1967, 1977, 1987, 1988,
and 1989. In 1993, he published The
Chess Games of David Lees. He
died on October 19, 1996 at the age
of 53.
Francois Antoine de Legall de

Kermeur (1702-1792) was French
champion in the 18th century. He
was the teacher of Francosi-Andre
Philidor. He was chapion player at
the Cafe de la Regence.
In 2003, Anthony James Leggett

(1938- ) won the Nobel Prize in
Physics for his work on superfuidity.
He was an avid chess player, making
the England under-16 team. (Source:
Nobel Faces, by Peter Badge, 2008,
p. 372 and nobelprize.org)
Lei Tingjie (1997- ) is a Chinese

Grandmaster (2017) and Woman
won the Women's Chinese Chess
Championship.
Anatoly Lein (1931- ) was born in

Leningrad. He played in 7 USSR
championships. In 1968, he was
awarded the Grandmaster title. In
1971, he won the Moscow
Championship. In 1976, he
immigrated to the USA where he
won the U.S. Open and the World
Open that year. He was New Jersey
champion from 1992 through 1994.
In 2005, he was inducted into the
World Chess Hall of Fame. He was a
mathematician by profession.
Rafael Leitao (1979- ) is a Brazilian

Grandmaster (1997) and a
Correspondene Chess Grandmaster
(2012). In 1991, he won the World
under-12 Chess Championship. In
Brazilian Championship 7 times.
Peter Leko (1979- ) is a Hungarian

player who became the youngest
International Master in the world at
age 12. In 1994, at the age of 14
years, 4 months, and 22 days, he
became the youngest grandmaster in
history. In 1994 he became the
World Junior Champion. In 2001, he
was ranked as the 5th strongest chess
player in the world. He also became
the first Random Chess World
Champion when he defeated
Michael Adams in a match. In 2003,
he was #4 in the world. In 2004 he
drew with Kramnik in the Classical
World Chess Championship in
Brissago, Switzerland. In 2005 he
won the 67th Corus Chess
Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. It was
a Category 19 event with average
rating of 2721. His peak rating was
2763 in 2005.
Leko — Dovramadjiev, 1991 1.e4

c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 g6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5 Ng8
8.Bc4 d5 9.exd6 exd6 10.O-O d5
11.Nxd5 cxd5 12.Bxd5 Rb8
13.Bxf7+ Kxf7 14.Qc7 Ra8 15.Re1
1-0
Tatiana Lemachko (1948- ) is a

Russian-born Bulgarian-Swiss
won the Bulgarian Women's
Championship in 1972 and the Swiss
She played for Bulgaria in four
Chess Olympiads. She tied for first
place (with Akhmilovskaya) at the
1979 Alicante Women's Interzonal
Tournament. She defected from the
Bulgarian Women's team on the eve
of the last round of the Lucerne
Chess Olympiad in 1982 and
remained in Switzerland. She played
for Switzerland in ten Chess
Olympiads. Her peak rating was
2370 in 1988.
Aleksandr Lenderman (1989- ) is a

Russian-born American
winner of the 2005 Boys Under-16
title at the World Youth Chess
Championship in Belfort, France.
Lenderman was the first American to
win a gold medal at the World
Youth Chess Championship since
Tal Shaked became World Junior
Champion in 1997. He was awarded
the title of International Master in
2005. In 2007, he won the USCF
National High School (K-12)
Championship, held in Kansas City,
Missouri, on tie-break against
Alexander Barnett and Michael
Zhong. He is rated over 2430. In
2015, he won the World Open. His
Tennis great Ivan Lendl (1960- )

plays chess. His father, Jiri Lendl,
was a chess master, Czech junior
champion and played in the
Czechoslovakian chess
championship. In 2001, Jiri Lendl
played Kasparov in a charity
simultaneous exhibition in the Czech
Republic.
Levente Lengyel (1933-2014) was a

Hungarian Grandmaster (1964). He
played for Hungary in 6 Chess
2485 in 1971.
Luka Lenic (1988- ) is a Slovenian

Slovenian Championship 4 times.
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) was an

avid chess player who used
"Karpov" as one of his pseudonyms
during his exile. He had a chess table
made that had a secret compartment
for the preservation of illegal Party
documents and letters. Maxim
Gorky wrote that Lenin "grew angry
when he lost, even sulking rather
childishly."
Manuel Leon Hoyos (1989- ) is a

Mexican Grandmaster (2008). In
2010, he won the US Open.
James Leonard (1841-1862) was a

main contributor to the New York
Clipper chess column. He was
considered to be one of America's
great chess talents before the Civil
War broke out. He enlisted on the
side of the Union in February 1862.
He was later captured by the
Confederate Army and died of
dysentery on September 26, 1862,
while being held as a prisoner of war
in Annapolis, Maryland.
Giovanni Leonardo di Bona da Cutri

(1542-1587) was one of the leading
16th century Italian players. He
moved to Rome to study law, but
discovered chess, and was able to
beat all the best players in Rome. In
1560, he was defeated by the visiting
Spanish cleric, Ruy Lopez. In 1574,
he defeated Ruy Lopez in a match
played in the presence of King Philip
II of Spain. He may have been
poisoned in 1587.
Paul Saladin Leonhardt (1877-1934)

was a Polish-born German player of
Grandmaster strength. He was
Nordic Champion in 1907 at
Copenhagen. On December 14,
1934, Leonhardt died of a heart
attack at the age of 57 while playing
chess at the Konigsberg chess club.
He was a journalist by profession.
Prince Leopold (1853-1884), 8th

child of Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert, Duke of Albany, was a chess
patron. The London 1883
tournament was held under his
patronage. He was president of the
Oxford University Chess Club.
Hans Lepuschutz (1910-1984) was

an Austrian International Master for
a leading specialist in more-movers.
Konstantin Lerner (1950-2011) was

a Ukrainian-Israeli Grandmaster
(1986). He was Ukrainian Champion
in 1978 and 1982. He died at the age
of 61 in Israel.
Alexandre Lesiege (1975- ) is a

Canadian Grandmaster (1998). He
has won the Canadian Chess
won the Canadian Junior
Championship.
Grigory Levenfish (1889-1961) was

a Russian Grandmaster (1950). He
won the Leningrad Chess
Championship 4 times. He was
USSR champion in 1934 (with
Rabinovich) and 1937. In 1946, he
was captain of the Soviet team in the
first match played by the United
States against the Soviets in
Moscow. He worked with Smyslov
to write Rook Endings. He played in
12 USSR Championships. He had a
degree in chemical engineering from
St. Petersburg University. He was an
engineer in the glass industry. He
helped design and construct glass
factories.
Rabinovich - Levenfish, Moscow

1927 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Nf3 d6
4.Be2 Nf4 5.Bf1 dxe5 6.Nxe5 Qd5
7.Nf3 Qe4+ 8.Be2 Nxg2+ 9.Kf1 Bh3
10.d3 Nh4+ 11.Ke1 Nxf3 mate 0-1
Irina Levitina (1954- ) is a 4-time

USSR Women's Champion who was
not allowed to play in the 1979
Women's Interzonal in Buenos Aires
and for the World Women's
Championship because her brother
immigrated (legally) to Israel. She is
also a world class bridge player and
now a professional bridge player.
She has played on 3 chess
Olympiads and 1 bridge Olympiad.
She became a Woman Grandmaster
in 1976. In 1984, she was the
challenger and lost to Chiburdanidze
with 2 wins, 7 draws, and 5 losses in
the Women's World Championship.
She gave up serious chess and
became a professional bridge player.
In contract bridge, she has been
World champion six times. Levitina
is the only person in the world to
win world championships in both
chess and bridge. She is currently
the top US player in the World
Bridge Federation (WBF)
Masterpoint rankings.
Levitina - Jovanovic, Menorca 1973

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 h6
8.Bh4 Be7 9.Qf3 Nbd7 10.O-O-O
Qc7 11.g4 Rb8 12.Bg3 g5 13.e5
Ng8 14.exd6 Bxd6 15.fxg5 hxg5
16.Nxe6 (16...fxe6 17.Bxd6) 1-0
Dr. David Levy (1945- ) is a Scottish

International Master (1969) who, in
1968, made a $3,000 wager that no
chess computer could beat him in ten
years. He won his bet from Don
Michie, John McCarthy, Seymour
Pappert, and Ed Kozdrowicki. He
has authored more than 40 books on
chess and computers. He is president
of the International Computer
Games Association (ICGA). In 1978
he won his wager by defeating Chess
4.7 with 3 wins and 1 draw. He was
the first International Master to give
up a draw to a computer program.
He could have made the bet that no
chess computer could beat him in 20
years. It was in 1989 that he finally
lost to a computer when Deep
Thought defeated Levy by the score
of 4 wins and no losses or draws. In
1973, Levy said, "I am tempted to
speculate that a computer program
will not gain the International
Master title before the turn of the
century and that the idea of an
electronic World Champion belongs
only in the pages of a science fiction
book." Computers were IM strength
in 1985 (rated over 2400) and world
championship strength in 1997,
when DEEP BLUE defeated
Kasparov in a match. He earned a
PhD in artificial intelligence from
Maastrich University in 2007. His
dissertation was entitled, "Intimate
Relationships with Artificial
Partners" (sex with robots).
Maeder - Levy, Haifa 1970 1.e4 c5

5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2
O-O 9.O-O-O d5 10.exd5 Nb4
11.Bc4 Nxd5 12.Nb3 Nxc3 13.bxc3
Nxa2+ 14.Kb2 Nxc3 15.Qxd8
Nxd1+ 0-1
Boxer Lennox Lewis (1965- ) plays

chess. He funded an after-school
chess program for disadvantaged
youths, and one of them earned a
university chess scholarship at
Tennessee Tech.
In 1930, Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951)

won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He wrote Main Street, Babbitt,
Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Cass
Timberlane. During the last period
of his life, he would hire secretaries
to play chess with him and keep him
company. He would pay them a
month to learn the game, then paid
them as his secretary to play chess.
He secretaries included San
Francisco writer Barnaby Conrad
and John Hershey. Other friends that
visited Sinclair Lewis to play chess
included Bennett Cerf, Carl Van
Doren, and John Gunther. He took
chess lessons from Al Horowitz.
William Lewis (1787-1870) was

born in Birmingham, England on
October 9, 1787. He was a chess
player, author and organizer. He
became a student of schoolmaster
Jacob Sarratt (1772-1819) at the
Salopian Coffee House. Sarratt was
the house professional. Lewis called
Sarratt the finest and most finished
player he had ever seen. In 1817, he
wrote Oriental Chess. He took a job
as the operator of the Turk chess
automaton in 1818 to 1819. In
April,1821, Lewis went to Paris to
play a match against Alexandre
Deschapelles. Three games were
played, in which Deschapelles gave
Lewis the odds of a pawn and move.
Lewis won one game and drew two
games. In 1822, he wrote Elements.
In 1823, he lost a match against La
Bourdonnais, with one win and four
losses. He headed the London Chess
Club team in their correspondence
match with Edinburgh in 1824. In
1827, his chess room folded when
Lewis went bankrupt after investing
in the piano business. He authored
several chess books. In 1827, he
wrote Chess Problems. Prior to this,
chess problems were called chess
positions or chess situations. He
called himself the 'Teacher of Chess.'
Alexander McDonnell became a
pupil of Lewis in 1825. In 1828,
Lewis was declared bankrupt twice
in one year due to bad investments
on a patent for the construction of
pianofortes that nobody would buy,
and his chess club was forced to
close. Most of his students and
others returned to the London Chess
Club (formed in 1807). Lewis did
not allow any eating or drinking at
his club or at his house, so many
players went on to other chess clubs.
In 1831 and 1832, he wrote
Progessive Lessons. In 1832, he
wrote Fifty Games. In 1835, he
wrote A Selection of Games and
Chess for Beginners. In 1838, he
wrote Chess Board Companion. It
ran for nine editions. In February
1838, an article in the London
newspaper Bell's Life by George
Walker referred to William Lewis as
'our past grandmaster.' It was the
first time the term grandmaster was
used to indicate a top chess player.
In 1844, he wrote Treatise. He
worked for a time as a merchant in
London. He died on October 22,
1870 in England.
Li Chao (1989- ) is a Chinese

Grandmaster (2007). In the Chess
World Cup 2009, held in Khanty-
Mansiysk, Russia, he reached the
third round losing to Vugar
Gashimov, after he didn't show up in
time at the second game of the rapid
tiebreaks. He went outside for a
smoke break and returned too late,
and was forfeited. In 2013, he won
the Asian Chess Championship. In
2014, he won the Reykjavik Open.
In 2016, he won the Graz Open,
scoring 8 out of 9. His peak rating
was 2757 in 2016.
Ruifeng Li (2001- ) is an American

Grandmaster (2017).
Li Shilong (1977- ) is a Chinese

was 2559 in 2009.
Awonder Liang (2003- ) is an

won the world Under-8
championship. He became a USCF
expert (2000-2200) at the age of 8
years and 7 days. In 2011, at the age
of 8 years and 118 days, he also
became the youngest to defeat an
International Master (IM Daniel
Fernandez, rated 2448) in a standard
tournament game. In 2012, at age 9,
he became the youngest player ever
to defeat a grandmaster (GM Larry
Kaufman) in a standard time limit
tournament game. In 2013, he
became the youngest USCF master
at the age of 9 years and 348 days. In
2013, he won the under-10 World
Championship. In 2014, at the age of
11 years and 92 days, he became the
youngest American to acieve an
International Master (IM) norm. In
2015, he became an IM at the age of
12 years, 7 months, and 6 days, thus
becoming the youngest American
ever to qualify for the title of
International Master. In July 2017,
he won the US Junior Closed
Championship.
Liang Chong (1980- ) is a Chinese

was 2588 in 2000.
Liang Jinrong (1960- ) is a Chinese

Chinese Championship in 1995 and
2000.
Vladimir Liberzon (1937-1996) was

a Russian-born Israeli Grandmaster
(1965). He was the champion of
Moscow in 1963 and 1964. He
championships. He was the first
grandmaster from the USSR who
was allowed to emigrate from the
Soviet Union to Israel in 1973. He
won the Israeli Chess Championship
in 1974. He was not a full-time
professional chess player and was
trained as an electrical engineer who
worked for the National Electrical
Company. He played for Israel in
four Chess Olympiads.
Liberzon - A. Geller, Leningrad

1960 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5
4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nxe5 dxe4
7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bxc6+ Bd7 9.Qh5+
Ke7 10.Qe5+ Be6 11.f4 Nh6 12.f5
Nxf5 13.Rf1 Nd4 14.Qc5+ Qd6
15.Qg5 mate 1-0
Mark Liburkin (1910-1953) was a

Soviet study composer. After World
War II, he became editor of the
study section of Sakhmaty v SSSR.
He tied for 1st in the second USSR
Study Composing Championship
(1947-8) and won the third USSR
Study Composing Championship
(1949-52). He was chief accountant
of an important Moscow company
by profession.
Kjetil Aleksander Lie (1980- ) is a

Norwegian Grandmaster (2005). In
2000, he won the Norwegian Open.
He won the Norwegian Chess
Aleksander (Alexander) Liepnieks

(1908-1973), born in Latvia, was an
American chess master and
organizer. At the end of World War
II, he escaped from Russian-
occupied areas of Germany and
made his way through several
displaced persons camps. He finally
settled in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1950.
In 1955, he directed the US Junior
Championship. Bobby Fischer, who
stayed at the Liepnieks's house, won
the event. Liepnieks organized the
1969 US Open, held in Lincoln,
Nebraska. He won the Nebraska
State Championship 3 times, in
1955, 1957, and 1961. He won the
championship of Lincoln, Nebraska
15 times. He edited the Latvian
chess magazine, Sacha Pasiale
(Chess World), and Latvian Gambit
magazine. (source: Chess Life &
Review, Jul 1973, p.383)
Andor Lilienthal (1911-2010) was a

Russian-Hungarian Grandmaster
(1950). He was born in Moscow, but
he moved to Hungary at the age of
two. He played for Hungary in three
Chess Olympiads. He returned to the
Soviet Union in 1935 and became a
Soviet citizen in 1939. He played in
eight USSR Chess Championships.
He took 8th-10th in the 1950
Budapest Candidates Tournament.
trainer to Tigran Petrosian. He
served as Smyslov's second during
his world championship matches. In
1976, he returned to Hungary. He
has played against 10 world
champions (beating Lasker,
Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik,
and Smyslov). He has also beaten
Tartakower, Najdorf, Bronstein, and
Taimanov. On May 8, 2010, GM
Andor Lilienthal died at his home in
Budapest 3 days after he turned 99.
He was the last surviving member of
the 27 original grandmasters.
Boros — Lilienthal, Budapest 1933

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5
Nxe4 5.Qf3 Nc6 6.Nxe4 Nd4 7.Qf4
dxe4 8.Bc4 Bf5 9.c3 g5 10.Bxf7+
Kxf7 11.Qf2 e3 12.Qf1 exd2+
13.Kd1 dxc1=Q+ 14.Kxc1 g4 15.b4
Qg5+ 16.Kd1 Rd8 0-1
Lim Kok Ann (1920-2003) was the

chess patriarch of Singapore. He was
a professor of Bacteriology. He
formed the Singapore Chess
Federation in 1961 and served as its
President for 18 years.
Darcy Gustavo Machado Vieira

Lima (1962- ) is a Brazilian
Brazilian Chess Championship 3
times. He has played for Brazil in 11
was 2550 in 2001.
Dr. Antonius van der Linde (1833-

1897) was one of the greatest chess
historians of all time. In 1871, he
moved from the Netherlands to
Berlin. He was the first chess
historian to clear the myths about the
origin of chess. In 1874, he wrote
Geschichte und Litteratur Des
Schachspiels (History and Literature
of Chess). In 1876, he sold his
library of 800 volumes to the Royal
Hague Library for 3,000 Dutch
guilders ($2,000) or $40,000 in
today's currency). He sold his library
because he was leaving the
Netherlands to become appointed
librarian of the Koenigliche
Landesbibliotheek in Wiesbaden by
the German emperor. He was a
theologian and philosopher. His PhD
dissertation was on Spinoza.
Isaak M. Linder (1920-2015) was a

renowned Russian chess historian
and author. In 1992, he wrote "Chess
in Old Russia." In 2001, he co-wrote
with his son a 972-page book called,
"Kings of the Chess World." Linder
wrote over 400 publications on
native and foreign chess culture.
Bo Waldemar Lindgren (1927-2001)

was a Swedish Grandmaster for
one of the most versatile chess
problem composers with awards in
many genres. He composed about
500 problems and published an
anthology in 1978. His father,
Frithiof, was also an accomplished
problem and study composer.
(source: ChessBase News, April 16,
2013)
Daniil Lintchevski (2009- ) is a

Paul Lipke (1870-1955) was a

German chess master. In 1892, he
took 2nd at Dresden, behind
Tarrasch. In 1894, he took 2nd at the
Leipzig Chess Congress. He was a
lawyer in Halle, Saxony, by
profession.
Issak Lipnitsky (1923-1959) was a

Ukrainian chess master. He won the
Ukrainian Chess Championship
twice, in 1949 and 1956. He played
in 3 USSR chess championships. He
served in the Soviet Red Army,
fought in the Battle of Stalingrad,
and was decorated four times. He
died in Kiev of polycythemia, a
blood disease.
Samuel Lipschutz (1863-1905)

immigrated to New York from
Hungary in September 1880, at the
age of 17 and played chess in the
New York cafes. He later joined the
Manhattan Chess Club and the New
York Chess Club. He lost a match
against George Mackenzie in late
1886 for the U.S. Championship. In
1888, he added a 122-page
addendum to Gossip's Chessplayer's
Manual. In 1889, he was the top
American finisher at the 6th
American Chess Congress in New
York and considered the U.S. chess
champion. The organizers of this
event had announced that the top
American in this tournament could
bear the title. He was U.S. chess
champion from 1889 to 1890 and
from 1891 to 1894. He was the first
officially recognized American chess
champion. He was New York state
chess champion in 1889 and 1889.
His occupation was a printer. He
later worked in the insurance
business. He traveled to Hamburg
for treatment on his lungs, where he
died after an operation.
Delmar — Lipschutz, New York

1888 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 d5
7.e5 Ng4 8.O-O Bc5 9.h3 Nxe5
10.Re1 Qf6 11.Qe2 O-O 12.Qxe5
Qxf2+ 13.Kh1 Bxh3 14.gxh3 Qf3+
15.Kh2 Bd6 16.Qxd6 Qf2+ 0-1
Georgy Lisitsin (1909-1972) was a

He took 1st in 3 Leningrad chess
championships. He played in 10
USSR chess championships. He was
a mechanical engineer by
profession.
Liu Qingnan is a Chinese

was 2525.
In 1965, Liu Wenzhe (1940-2011)

was the first Chinese player to defeat
a grandmaster when he defeated GM
Nikolai Krogius. He was also the
first Chinese player to be awarded
the International Master (IM) title.
He was the founding father of the
Chinese School of Chess.
Ljubomir Ljubojevi? (1950- ) is a

Serbian Grandmaster (1971). In May
1974, he was severly injured in a car
accident. He won the Yugoslav
1983, he was ranked 3rd in the
world. He played for Yugoslavia in
was 2645 in 1983.
Julio Lobo (1898-1983) was a

powerful Cuban sugar trader (the
most powerful sugar broker in the
world) and financier, as well as
chess patron. He put up $25,000 for
the 1921 world chess championship
between Jose Capablanca and
Emanuel Lasker.
Eric Lobron (1960- ), born on

Philadelphia, is a German
won the German Junior Chess
Championship. In 1980 and 1984, he
won the West German
2625 in 1992. He has a law degree
and was a successful trader on the
stock market. In 2004, he was
romantically involved with Estonian
supermodel Carmen Kass, herself a
keen chess player and past president
of the Estonian Chess Federation.
Josef Lokvenc (1899-1974) was an

Austrian International Master
(1951). He took 1st in two Austrian
chess championships. In 1943, he
won the German Chess
Championship. He played for
Austria in 10 Chess Olympiads. He
was a local government official. He
died less than a month before his
75th birthday.
Giambattista Lolli (1698-1759) was

an Italian chess player. He was one
of the most important chess
theoreticians of his time. He is most
famous for his book Osservazioni
teorico-pratiche sopra il giuoco degli
scacchi (Theoretical-practical views
on the game of chess), published
1763 in Bologna, Italy.
William James Lombardy (1937-

2017) was an American
Grandmaster (1960) and the first
American to win an official world
chess championship when he won
1957 with a perfect 11-0 score at
Toronto. He was ordained a priest in
1967 by Cardinal Spellman.
Lombardy was Fischer's second in
Reykjavik when Fischer played
Spassky for the world championship
title. He had played in 7 chess
Olympiads for the United States. He
won the US Open in 1963 and 1965.
He learned the game at age 9 from a
neighbor. In 1954, he won the New
York State Championship. He won
the Canadian Open in 1956 (with
Larry Evans). In 1978, grandmaster
Lombardy was attacked in New
York City by a mugger who had a
knife. Tendons in two fingers were
severed and he underwent a long
operation to repair the severed
tendons. In 2015, William Lombardy
was evicted from his 6th floor New
York apartment in Stuyvesant Town
after falling on financial hard times.
He had lived there since 1977. Court
records showed he owed $49,000 in
rent. For a brief time, he was
homeless (living in a subway
station), during which time he was
assaulted and hospitalized. In 2016,
Stephen Plotnick of Chicago offered
to take Lombardy into his home in
exchange for tutoring his son, Jacob,
in chess.
Gerusel - Lombardy, Toronto 1957

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2
Nc6 5.Nf3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Qxc3 Ne4
8.Qc2 e5 9.dxe5 Bf5 10.Qa4 O-O
11.Be3 d4 12.Rd1 dxe3 13.Rxd8
exf2+ 14.Kd1 Rfxd8+ 15.Kc1 a6
16.Qb3 Nc5 17.Qc3 Na5 18.e4
Nab3+ (19.Kb1 Rd1+ 20.Ka2 Ra1
mate) 0-1
Harold Maurice Lommer (1904-

1980) was an International Master
for Chess Compositions (1974). He
was considered the greated British
study composer. He composed over
100 studies. He died in Spain less
than a month after his 76th birthday.
Rodrigo (Ruy) Lopez (pronounced

Rue-y Lopeth) de Segura (1530-
1580) was a Spanish priest and later
bishop in Segura, and one of the
leading players of his day. In 1559-
60 he went to Rome to attend an
ecclesiastical conference. It was
there that he defeated all the best
players in Rome, including
Leonardo. In 1561 he proposed the
50-move rule to claim a draw and
introduced the word gambit
(specifically, the Damiano Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Nxe5). In 1561.
he wrote Libro de la Invencion
Liberal y Arte del Juego del
Axedrez, muy vtil y prouechosa. It
was the first major chess book since
1512 (almost 50 years), when
Damiano wrote his chess book. In
1572. he returned to Rome and
again, defeated the top Italian
players. In 1574-75 he was in the
court of King Philip II of Spain and
lost a match with Leonardo. Ruy
Lopez did play a blindfold
simultaneous exhibition, which
impressed the king. Ruy Lopez
received a solid gold rook and chain
from King Philip, along with
ownership to one of the richest
parishes in the land. In his writings,
Ruy Lopez claimed that 1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 d6 (Philidor's Defense), was
better than 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6. He is
considered by many to be the first
unofficial world chess champion. He
attended the pontification of Pope
Gregory XIII in 1572.
Alice Loranth (1930-1998) was the

long-time head of the Fine Arts and
Special Collections Department of
the Cleveland Public Library. She
presided over one of the largest
chess collections in the world, the
John G. White Collection, for 30
years.
Lev I. Loshinsky (1913-1976) is

considered the greatest of all
problem composers, and perhaps the
greatest chess composer of three-
movers. He won over 70 first place
prizes in problem composing
contests. In 1972, he was awarded
the Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions title. He was a high
school teacher and a professor of
mathematics at the Moscow Institute
of Communications.
In December 1254, King Louis IX

(1214-1270) of France banned chess
under pain of a fine after returning
from a Crusade. He called chess a
useless and boring game (source:
Murray, A History of Chess). He had
an aversion to all games. Despite
hating chess, it is said that he
received a fine chess set as a gift
from Aladdin. King Louis IX was
the only French king to be made a
saint (Saint Louis).
Walter Lovegrove (1869-1956) was

Master emeritus of the US Chess
Federation and one of San
Francisco's leading chess players. He
was a national correspondence
champion and claimed the
Championship of the Pacific Coast,
California Championship, and the
Mechanics Institute Championship.
Johann Lowenthal (1810-1876) was

a Hungarian player and one of the
top 10 players of the 1850s. He first
became widely known as a member
of the Budapest team that defeated
Paris at correspondence chess. In
1848, he came to the United States
to escape the Hungarian Revolution
of 1848. When the regime was
overthrown in 1849, he fled to New
York. In 1850, he moved to
Cincinnati where he established a
cigar divan and gave chess lessons.
His customers paid his fare to the
London International Tournament in
1851, but he got knocked out in the
first round. Because of his early loss,
he felt too embarrassed to return to
the United States. Staunton found
him a job as secretary to the St.
George's Chess Club in London. He
invented the demonstration chess
board in 1857. He organized the
second international tournament ever
held, London 1862. He was
considered the best opening theorist
of his day.
Anderssen - Lowenthal, London

1851 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4
4.Bc4 Bc5 5.O-O d6 6.c3 d3 7.b4
Bb6 8.a4 a5 9.b5 Ne5 10.Nxe5 dxe5
11.Qh5 Qf6 12.Ba3 Ne7 13.Nd2 Be6
14.Bxd3 O-O-O 15.Qe2 Ng6 16.g3
Bh3 17.c4 Nf4 0-1
Actress Myrna Loy (1905-1993)

played chess. She became interested
in chess after watching Reginald
Owen and Frank Morgan play. She
took lessons from Herman Steiner
and was a member of the Herman
Steiner Chess Club. (source: Chess
Review, Oct 1937, p. 223)
Samuel (Sam) Loyd (1841-1911)

was born on January 31, 1841 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and
raised in New York. He was the
youngest of eight siblings and came
from a wealthy family. In 1855, he
first chess problem composition was
published by the New York Saturday
Courier. In 1857, he became
problem editor of the Chess
Monthly. In 1878, he published
Chess Stragey, a book containing
about 500 of his problems. He
modified an Eastern board game and
popularized it as Parcheesi. Sam
Loyd was known as the Puzzle King.
He produced over 10,000 puzzles in
his lifetime. He was the most famous
American chess composer. He
composed nearly 750 chess
problems. He was the chess problem
editor of Chess Monthly Magazine.
He served as president of the New
York Chess Club and organized the
first international tournament on
American soil. He owned a chain of
music stores and was also a
magician and ventriloquist. (source:
Chess Review, Jan 1941, p. 18)
Smbat Lputian (1958- ) is an

Armenian Grandmaster (1984). He
has won the Armenian Chess
Luis Ramirez Lucena (1475-1530)

was the author of the oldest existing
printed book (incunabulim) on chess
(modern chess), Repeticion: de
Amores; E Arte. De Axedres con cl.
Juegos de partido. The book was
published in Salamanca in 1497
where Lucena was a university
student. Only 20 copies are known
to exist. Lucena may have written
the Gottingen manuscript in 1500
since his book and the Gottingen
manuscript are similar. The book
was dedicated to Prince Don Johan
the Third (1478-1497), the only male
child of King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella of Spain. The book may
have been a plagiarized book written
by Francesch Vicent in 1495. No
known copies of Vicent's book,
entitled Libre dels Jochs Partits dels
Schacs en Nombre de 100, are in
existence. Vicent's book contained
100 chess problems. Lucena's book
contains 150 chess problems (75
problems with the new rules of chess
and 75 problems from the Arabic
medieval chess).
Lu Shanglei (1995- ) is a Chinese

won the World Junior Chess
Asian Blitz Championship. His peak
Erik Lundin (1904-1988) was a

Swedish International Master (1950)
and an Honorary Grandmaster
(1983). He won the Swedish Chess
Sweden in 9 Chess Olympiads.
ake Lundqvist (1913-2000) was a

Swedish Grandmaster of
Correspondence Chess (1962). In
1945, he was the Swedish
Correspondence Chess Champion.
He took 3rd in the 3rd World
Championship (1959-1962). He
helped break the German crypto
code during World War II. He was a
botanist by profession.
Constantin Lupulescu (1984- ) is a

Romanian Grandmaster (1006). He
has won the Romanian Chess
Thomas Luther (1969- ) is a German

German Chess Championship 3
times. In 2011, he won the first
World Chess Games for Disabled,
scoring a perfect 7-0 score. He
suffers from dysmelia (congential
disorder of a limb) on his arms. He
is the head of the FIDE Commission
on Disabled (DSB). He has an MBA
from the University of Hagen.
Anatoly Lutikov (1933-1989) was a

won the Moldovan Chess
Championship 6 times. He took 3rd
place in the 1968/69 USSR
2545.
Christopher Lutz (1971- ) is a

won the German Chess
Harry Lyman (1915-1999) was born

on June 15, 1915 in Boston,
Massachusetts. He was an
accountant for General Dynamics.
He was U.S. Amateur champion in
1957 (winning it 6-0) and a former
New England champion (1965,
1968, 1970). He was considered the
dean of Boston chess and active in
the Boylston Chess Club. In 1988,
he received the Meritorious Services
Award from the U.S. Chess
Federation. He was the uncle of
Shelby Lyman. He died of cancer at
the age of 84 on September 5, 1999.
Shelby Lyman (1936- ) was born on

October 22, 1936 in New York. He
graduated from Harvard and was a
sociology teacher. Is is a USCF
chess master. In 1964, he won the
Marshall Chess Club Championship.
In 1972, he was a chess
commentator on WNET/PBS during
the Fischer-Spassky world
championship match.
Igor Lysyj (1987- ) is a Russian

won the Russian Junior Rapid Chess
Moscow Open. In 2014, he won the
Russian Chess Championship. His
Ma Qun (1991- ) is a Chinese

for 1st in the 89th Hastings
International Chess Congress. His
2018.
Daniel A. MacAdam (1885-1985)

was a chess player who lived to age
100. He was the founder of Canadian
Chess Chat in 1947. It was originally
called Maritime Chess News
Bulletin. He was the editor from
1947 to 1956. From 1967 to 1975,
he was the Chairman of the Chess
Foundation of Canada.
George Alcock MacDonnell (1830-

1899) was an Irish-born English
chess master. He wrote several chess
books and was a chess columnist in
the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic
News for many years. He was
president of the Victoria Chess Club
in Dublin. He was ordained in the
Anglican church in Dublin. After
performing a marriage ceremony for
a divorced church-goer, he was
dismissed from the church for 4
years.
In 1923, Aleksandras Machtas
(1892-1973) won the third unofficial
Lithuanian Chess Championship. He
won the Lithuanian Championship 7
times (1923, 1924, 1926, 1927,
1928, 1931, and 1932). In 1930,
Machtas played 1st board in the 3rd
Chess Olympiad in Hamburg. He
was the first Lithuanian chess player
to play a formal game against a
reigning world chess champion.
Lithuania took 14th place out of 18
countries.
Bartlomiej Macieja (1977- ) is a

he won the Polish under-18 Chess
European Chess Championship. He
won the Polish Championship in
2004 and 2009. His peak ratng was
2653 in 2004.
Arthur Ford Mackenzie (1861-1905)

was a chessplayer who composed
chess problems when he was blind.
He was responsible for the
popularity of the two-mover in the
early 20th century and won over 100
prizes. By coincidence, a problem he
submitted to a composing
tournament was almost identical to
another problem submitted by H.
Lane. They both featured the same
key move. By a greater coincidence,
H. Lane was also blind! In 1887, he
wrote Chess: Its Poetry and Prose.
Mackenzie was a school teacher in
Jamaica.
George Henry Mackenzie (1837-

1891) was a Scottish-American
chess master. In 1857, he joined the
King's Royal Rifle Corps in Britain
and served in many of the British
Empire's outposts, including Ireland
and India. In 1863, he decided to
join the Union forces in the
American Civil War. In 1864,
Mackenzie, a former Captain in the
Union army, was arrested and
imprisoned for desertion from the
Union army. He was released in May
1865, and moved to New York and
started playing chess. By 1867, he
was U.S. chess champion. In January
1880, George Mackenzie won the
5th American Chess Congress, held
at the Union Square Billiard Room
(where the first professional billiards
tournament was held in 1860) in
New York City. On April 14, 1891,
George Mackenzie was found dead
at a hotel in New York. A hotel
worker called at his room and found
him dead in bed. He had terminal
tuberculosis before his death. The
day before, he visited the Manhattan
Chess Club and was arranging to
challenge the winner of the
forthcoming match between
Blackburne and Gunsberg. William
Steinitz reported that his death was
from an intentional overdose of
morphine. This rumor was started by
a doctor who refused to sign a
certificate for an insurance policy
because the doctor had not been paid
a fee.
D. Thompson - Mackenzie, London

1868 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.d4
g4 5.Ne5 Qh4+ 6.Kd2 Qf2+ 7.Kc3
Nc6 8.a3 d6 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Bd3
Rb8 11.Rf1 Qxd4+ 12.Kxd4 Bg7+
13.e5 Bxe5+ 14.Ke4 Nf6 mate 0-1
Nicholas MacLeod (1870-1965) was

Canadian Champion in 1886 and
1888. In 1889 he played in the 6th
American Chess Congress and took
last place. He won 6 games, drew 1
game, and lost 31 games to score 6.5
out of 38. He holds the record for the
most games lost in a single
tournament.
Madonna (1958- ) plays chess. She

can be seen playing chess in some of
her music videos. She was tutored in
chess by Alan Norris, a Scottish
chess champion. In the video of her
song "The Power of Good-Bye," she
plays chess with Croatian actyor
Goran Visnjic.
Johann Maelzel (1772-1838) was a

mechanical engineer who bought the
Turk from Wolfgang von
Kempelen's son. Inventor of the
metronome in 1816 and was a good
friend of Beethoven. Prince Eugene
de Beauharnais bought the Turk
from Maelzel in 1811 for 30,000
francs and Maelzel gave part of the
money to Beethoven. In 1817 he
bought the Turk back from the
Prince for the same sum. No cash
was handed over to the Prince, but
Maelzel was to pay from any profit
he might make. The Prince died but
his heirs sued Maelzel for the
balance. Maelzel fled to America
with the Turk to escape the debts and
lawsuits. Maelzel was buried at sea
in 1838 after dying on a ship bound
from Cuba to America.
Jordi Magem Badals (1967- ) is a

1983, he won the Catalan and
Spanish youth chess championships.
In 1990, he won the Spanish Chess
Championship. He played for Spain
Elmar Magerramov (1958- ) was the

first Azerbaijani Grandmaster
last USSR Chess championship. His
peak rating was 2568. He currently
lives in the UAE.
Magesh Chandran Panchanathan

(1983- ) is an Indian Grandmaster
(2006). In 2003, he won the Asian
Junior Chess championship. In 2005,
he tied for 1st in the World Open.
Parham Maghsoodloo (2000) is an

Iranian Grandmaster (2016). He won
the Iranian Chess Championship in
2017.
Morteza Mahjoub (1980- ) is an

Iranian Grandmaster (2006). In
2005, he won the Iranian Chess
Championship. He previously held
the world record for simultaneous
exhibition, which he set on August
13, 2009. He walked 18 hours and
won 397, drew 90, and lost 13.
Sergei Makarichev (1953- ) is a

1976, he won the Moscow Chess
Championship. In 1985, he served as
Karpov's second. In 1993, he served
as Kasparov's second. His peak
Vladimir Makogonov (1904-1992)

was a Soviet International Master
Azerbaijan Chess Championship 5
times. He played in 8 USSR
Championships from 1927 to 1947.
He was one of Kasparov's first
teachers. He was a mathematics
teacher.
Gyula Makovetz (1860-1903) was

editor of Hungary's first chess
magazine, Budapesti Sakkszemle,
from 1889 to 1894. He was a
Hungarian journalist and strong
chess master. In 1890, he took 1st
place at Graz, defeating Emanuel
Lasker in that event. In 1892, he
took 2nd place (with Porges) at
Dresden, behind Tarrasch. In 1893,
he defeated Charousek in a match (2
wins, 3 draws, 1 loss). He was a
journalist by profession and wrote
books on political economy.
Vladimir Malakhov (1980- ) is a

1993, he won the World Boys
Under-14 World Championship. He
started his career as a nuclear
physicist. His father is a physics
researcher at CERN in Geneva and
his mother lectures on physics at the
university of Dubna. Vladimir
worked at the Institute of Physics in
Dubna after he graduated from
college.
Malakhov — Areschenko, Moscow

2005 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7
4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.O-O Nf6 6.Qe2
Nc6 7.Rd1 Qg4 8.d3 Ne5 9.Nbd2 e6
10.h3 Qh5 11.d4 Nxf3+ 12.Nxf3
cxd4 13.e5 dxe5 14.Qb5+ Nd7
15.Rxd4 Rd8 16.Rxd7 Rxd7 17.g4
1-0
Vladimir Malaniuk (1957-2017),

was a Ukrainian Grandmaster
(1987). He won the Ukrainian Chess
Burkhard Malich (1936- ) is a

1951, he won the East German
Junior Chess championship. He won
the East German Championship in
1957 and 1973. He played for East
Germany in 8 Chess Olympiads. His
has a PhD in History and is a retired
university lecturer.
Vidmantas Malisaukas (1963- ) is a

won the Lithuanian Chess
champiobship 6 times. His peak
Harald Valdemar Malgrem (1904-

1957) was a Swedish
Correspondence Chess Grandmaster
(1953). In 1942, he won the Swedish
Championship. He tied for 2nd in
the first World Correspondence
Nijat Mammadov (1985- ) is an

1999, he won the European under14
chess championship. He won the
Azerbaijan Chess Championship in
2014.
Rauf Mamedov (1988- ) is an

Azerbaijani championship 3 times.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (1985- ) is

an Azerbaijan grandmaster (2002).
In 2002, he won the European under-
18 Championship with a score of 10
out of 11. In 2003 and 2005 he was
the World Junior Chess Champion,
becoming the only two-time
champion. In the 2003 World Under-
18 championship, he won with a
score of 10 out of 11. In 2006, he
tied for 1st in the Aeroflot Open in
Moscow and he won at the Essent
tournament. In 2013, he won the
World Rapid Championship. In
2017, he won the FIDE Grand Prix.
2018. And ranked #3 in the world.
His father was a champion weight
lifter and boxer. Both is sisters are
Woman Grandmasters.
Mamedyarov — Guliev, Turkey

2002 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.b3
g6 5.Bb2 Bg7 6.d4 O-O 7.Nbd2 Ne4
8.Bd3 Bf5 9.Bxe4 dxe4 10.Nh4 c5
11.Nxf5 gxf5 12.Qh5 cxd4 13.O-O-
O e6 14.g4 f4 15.Nxe4 Nc6 16.exd4
Qa5 17.d5 1-0
Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) was

President of South Africa from 1994
to 1999. He was a chess player. He
learned how to play chess in prison.
In 1993, Nelson Mandella shared the
Nobel Peace Prize after 27 years in
prison. (Source: Nelson Mandela —
a man for the ages, at Chessbase -
https://en.chessbase.com/post/nelson
-mandela-a-man-for-the-ages)
Arthur Mandler (1891-1971) was a
Czech International Master for
Chess Compositions (1966). He
published over 600 compositions
since 1908. He was a lawyer and a
journalist.
Comins Mansfield (1896-1984) was

one of the most famous of all
problem composers. In 1963, he was
President of the FIDE's Commission
for Chess Composition. He was
perhaps the best two-move problem
composer who ever lived. He began
composing chess problems in 1913.
In 1942, he wrote Adventures in
Composition. He composed chess
problems for 72 years. In 1972, he
was one of the first four to be
awarded the title of Grandmaster for
Chess Compositions. The other three
were Genrich Kasparyan, Lew
Loschinsky, and Eeltje Visserman.
He was the first British chess player
to become a chess Grandmaster (but
for Composition, not over-the-board
play). He was President of the
British Chess Problem Society. He
died at the age of 87.
Napoleon Marache (1815-1875) was

born in France on June 15, 1815 and
came to the USA when he was 13. In
1845, he began composing chess
problems. In October 1845, he
published The Chess Palladium and
Mathematical Sphynx; devoted to
the Curiosities of Chess and the
Ingenuities of Arithetic. This was the
first American chess periodical (it
lasted for only three issues). In 1856,
he won the championship cup of the
New York Chess Club. In 1857 he
participated in the First American
Chess Congress. In the first round,
he defeated Daniel Fiske (+3-2). In
round 2, he lost to Dr. Benjamin
Raphael (+2-3=2). In 1865, he wrote
the chess section for a new edition of
Hoyle. In 1866 he wrote Marache's
Manual of Chess. He was the chess
editor of the Wilkes' Spirit of the
Times. His pseudonym was N.O.K.
He died on May 11, 1875.
Marcel Marceau (1923-2007), the

world-renowned mime, listed chess
as his hobby.
Dr. Erich Watkinson Marchand

(1914-1999) was a USCF Life
Master. He played on Phillips Exeter
and Harvard chess teams. He won
the Missouri Championship a
number of times. He was a former
president of the Correspondence
Chess League of America. At one
time he was the most active chess
player in the USA. He won the New
York State Championship 4 times
(1960, 1967,1969, and 1970). He
was the first inducted in the New
York State Chess Hall of Fame. He
was a professor of mathematics at
the University of Rochester and
worked in optics for Eastman-Kodak
Research Laboratories.
Georg Marco (1863-1923) was a

Romanian-born Austrian of
Grandmaster strength. He was a very
large and powerful man. He was
referred to as the "strongest" chess
player in the world because of his
physical strength. He was primarily
known as a chess analyst for Wiener
Schachzeitung in Vienna from 1898
to 1916. He began as a medical
student but gave it up for chess. He
was secretary of the Viennese Chess
Association. He was a journalist by
profession.
Marco - Maroczy, Ostende 1905

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
a6 5.Be3 Nf6 6.Nd2 d5 7.e5 Nfd7
8.f4 Nc6 9.c3 g5 10.Nxe6 fxe6
11.Qh5+ Ke7 12.f5 Nf6 13.Bc5+
(13...Kd7 14.Qf7+) 1-0
Nelson Mariano II (1974- ) is a

Filipino Grandmaster (2004). In
1994, he won the Asian Junior Chess
2510 in 1995.
Alisa Maric (1970- ) is the twin

sister of Mirjana Maric. She is a
Serbian women's grandmaster
(1988) and an International Master
(1993). Alisa and Mirjana are the
only twin grandmasters in history.
At age 12, she was Belgrade
women's champion. In 1985, she
was the World's under-16 Women's
Champion. In 1986, she was
Yugoslavia Women's Champion. In
1991, she was the world women's
championship challenger, but lost to
Xie Jun. She is the mother of tiwns.
She as a Ph.D in Economics.
Mirjana Maric (1970- ) is the twin

sister of Alisa Maric. She is a
Serbiana women's grandmaster
(1991) and former Cadet World
Champion (1985). Mirjana and Alisa
are the only twin grandmasters in
history. She has a degree in
mathematics from Belgrade
University. She is married to IM
Zoran Stamenkovic.
Marie de France (1130-1190) is the

earliest known French female writer
and the first woman writer to allude
to chess. In her romance work
Eliduc, she wrote: "The King, rising
from high table, went to his
daughter's chambers to play at his
beloved chess with an invited
foreign guest. His daughter, sitting
next to him, was eager to learn
chess. When Eliduc came in, the
King stopped play."
Mihail Marin (1965- ) is a Romanian

Romanian Chess championship 3
times. He has played for Romania in
was 2616 in 2009.
Beatriz MacArthur Marinello (1964-

) became a National Women's
Champion of Chile when she was 16
years old. In 1985, she was awarded
the Women's International Master
title. She was President of the US
Sergio Mariotti (1946- ) was the first

he won the Italian Junior
Championship. He was Italian
President of the Italian Chess
Federation from 1994 to 1996.
Menal — Mariotti, Correspondence

1984 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6
4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5
7.Bb3 O-O 8.a4 Bb7 9.c3 Na5
10.Bc2 d5 11.exd5 e4 12.Nd4 Qxd5
13.f3 Bc5 14.fxe4 Bxd4+ 15.Kh1
Qg5 16.cxd4 Ng4 17.Kg1 Qf4
18.Qf3 Qxh2+ 19.Kf1 Qh4 0-1
Slavoljub Marjanovic (1955- ) is a

1979, he won at Belgrade with 8
wins and 5 draws.
Jan Markos (1985- ) is a Slovakian

championship of Slovakia 3 times.
He graduated in Philosophy and
Evangelical theology.
Miroslav Markovic (1973- ) is a

Serbian Grandmaster (1999).
Tomasz Markowski (1975- ) is a

Polish Grandmaster (1998). He has
won the Polish Championship 5
2009.
Johnny Marks (1909-1985) was an

American songwriter (Rudolph, the
Red-Nosed Reindeer). He was a
member of the Marshall Chess Club
in New York for many years.
Robert Markus (1983) is a Serbian

Grandmaster (2004).
Geza Maroczy (1870-1951) was

born in Szeged and was a
mathematics teacher. He was one of
the best players in the world in his
time. He learned chess as a youth
wile studying at Zurich. In 1906, he
agreed to terms for a World
Championship match with Dr.
Lasker, but there were political
problems in Cuba, where the match
was to be played. Furthermore,
Maroczy failed to make the $500
deposit by the deadline and the
negotiations ended. He was awarded
the Grandmaster title in 1950. He
worked in Hungary as a clerk at the
Center of Trade Unions and Social
Insurance. When the Communists
came briefly to power, he was a
chief auditor at the Educational
Ministry. After the Communist
government was overthrown, he
could not find a job. He retired from
international chess in 1908 and was
a practicing engineer and
mathematics teacher. For a while, he
worked in waterworks construction.
In 1931, Geza Maroczy challenged
Aron Nimzowitch (1886-1935) to a
pistol duel at dawn during a chess
tournament in Bled. Earlier, the two
got in an argument and when
Maroczy challenged Nimzowitch to
a duel, Nimzowitsch rightly refused.
Alekhine won the event.
Nimzowitsch took 3rd place.
Maroczy took 11th place. He was the
teacher of two world champions —
Vera Menchik and Max Euwe. His
name was pronounced Gay-zaw
Marrow-tsy. (source: Chess Review,
July 1951, pp. 200-202 and Chess
Life, March 1988, p. 11)
Maroczy - Moreau, Monte Carlo

1903 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6
4.Qe3 Be7 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bd2 Be6 7.O-
O-O Bf6 8.f4 Qc8 9.Nf3 Nh6 10.h3
Bxc3 11.Bxc3 O-O 12.f5 Bd7 13.f6
Ne5 14.Nxe5 gxf6 15.Qg3+ Kh8
16.Nxd7 (16...Qxd7 17.Bxf6 mate)
1-0
Drazen Marovi? (1938- ) is a

Croation Grandmaster (1975). He
has a degree in Literature and
teaches Italian, Spanish, and
English.
Frank James Marshall (1877-1944)

was born of British-Scottish
parentage on the west side of
Manhattan (8th Avenue and 50th
Street) in New York City on August
10, 1877 (a dozen other sources say
he was born on August 21, 1877).
His father, Alfred, was engaged in
the flour business. Frank had three
younger brothers. In 1912, Frank
Marshall defeated Stefan Levitsky in
a brilliant game by making an
unexpected queen moves on a square
where it could be captured by three
of Levitsky's pieces. Frank Marshall
wrote that right after the game, "the
spectators...threw gold pieces on
[his] board at the conclusion of [his]
brilliant win over Levitsky." Years
later, Marshall's wife, Carrie, denied
this ever happened. She said there
wasn't even a shower of pennies.
Another explanation was that the
players and the spectators were just
paying off their bets on the game. In
1915, he opened up 'Marshall's
Chess Divan,' which later became
Marshall's Chess Club. In the early
1930s, an amateur approached Frank
Marshall, who was the US champ at
the time, and asked for help in a
postal chess game. Marshall obliged
and played a few opening moves. A
few days later, another amateur
dropped in at the Marshall Chess
Club to also seek help in a postal
game from Marshall. Marshall
realized the game of the second
player was with the opponent who
had come in a few days earlier.
Marshall helped the second player
and then ended up playing himself
for several months as the two
amateurs marveled at how their
opponent was able to play on for so
long against the great Frank
Marshall! On November 9, 1944, he
was walking to some friend's house
around 7:30 pm when he collapsed
and died in the street of a heart
attack. He was 67. For 57 years he
played chess almost every day. He
took a pocket chess set to bed with
him at night so that he might record
a game or position from his dreams.
Marshall — Dus Chotimirsky,

Carlsbad 1911 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3
dxc4 4.e3 a6 5.Ne5 Nd7 6.Nxd7
Bxd7 7.Bxc4 Bc6 8.O-O Bd6 9.Nc3
Qh4 10.f4 Nf6 11.Bd2 Ng4 12.h3
Qg3?? 13.Qxg4 1-0
Stepan Levitsky - Frank Marshall,

Breslau 1912 1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3
c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Be2
Nf6 7.O-O Be7 8.Bg5 O-O 9.dxc5
Be6 10.Nd4 Bxc5 11.Nxe6 fxe6
12.Bg4 Qd6 13.Bh3 Rae8 14.Qd2
Bb4 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.Rad1 Qc5
17.Qe2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Qxc3 19.Rxd5
Nd4 20.Qh5 Ref8 21.Re5 Rh6
22.Qg5 Rxh3 23.Rc5 Qg3!!
[24.hxg3 Ne2 mate; 24.fxg3 Ne2+
25.Kh1 Rxf1 mate; 24. Qxg3 Ne2+
25.Kh1 Nxg3+ 26.Kg1 (26.fxg3
Rxf1 mate) 26...Nxf1 27.gxh3 Nd2
wins] 0-1
Andrew Martin (1957- ) is an

English International Master (1984)
who claimed a new world record of
playing 321 chess players all at the
same time, on February 21, 2004 at
Wellington College in Crowthorne,
England. He won 294 games, drew
26, and only lost one game.
Raymond J. Martin (1924-2001) was

a California chess master. In 1948,
he won the Santa Monica Open and
the Los Angeles Chess Club
Los Angeles Open and the Los
Angeles County Championship. In
1950, he won the Hollywood
Invitational and the 17th California
State Championship in San
Francisco. In 1952, he won the
California Rapid Transit
Championship and tied for 1st in the
Southern California Championship.
In 1961, he won the Southern
California championship. In 1969,
he won the 5th American Open in
Santa Monica.
Actor and comedian Steve Martin

(1945- ) plays chess. He played
chess with director Stanley Kubrick
when he visited his house in
England. Steve was in the audience
during the 1990 Kasparov-Karpov
world championship match in New
York.
Sasa Martinovic (1991- ) is a

Croation Grandmaster (2011).
Slobodan Martinovic (1945-2015)

was a Serbian Grandmaster (1979).
William Martz (1945-1983) was

U.S. Junior champion in 1975 and
US Open co-champion in 1982. He
was later awarded the International
Master title. He graduated from high
school at age 16. He received his
bachelor's and his master's degree in
mathematics from the University of
Wisconsin. He graduated from
Marquette Law School in 1970, but
never practiced, turning down a
clerkship with a judge. He became a
used car dealer of a Chevrolet
dealership in Milwaukee. He is said
to hold the USCF record for the
most consecutive rated chess games
without a loss — 107. He died of
cancer at the age of 37.
Martz - P. Webster, Wisconsin 1974

1c4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 Nc6 4.Nf3
Bg4 5.d5 Nce7 6.e4 g6 7.Be2 Bg7
8.Be3 c5 9.Nxe5 Bxe2 10.Qa4+ Kf8
11.Nd7+ Ke8 12.Nxc5+ Nc6
13.Nxb7 Qc7 14.Nb5 1-0
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a chess

player, but a sore loser. His wife,
Jenny, had to make him stop playing
chess to cool his temper. When he
lost, he got angry and flew in a rage.
He loved to play chess all night long
and his usual chess partner was
Wilhelm Liebknecht.
James Mason (1849-1905) was born

in Kilkenny, Ireland on November
19, 1849. The family moved to New
Orleans in 1861, then to New York.
At the age of 11, his name was
changed to avoid prevalent anti-Irish
prejudice in America. In New York,
he became a newsboy and started
frequenting the chess cafes in the
area. In 1870, he became champion
of the New York Chess Club, and
represented New York in matches
against Philadelphia. In 1874, he
defeated Eugene Delmar in a match
in New York, and Aristides Martinez
in Philadelphia. In August 1876, he
won the 4th American Chess
Congress (the Grand International
Centennial Chess Congress) in
Philadelphia (+8-1=5), winning
$300. He then took 4th in the Cafe
International Tournament in New
York, won by George Mackenzie. In
October 1876, he won the New York
Clipper Centennial Tournament. In
1876, he defeated Henry Bird in
New York (+11-4=4). In 1877, he
edited the American Chess Journal.
In 1878, a subscription was raised by
American chess players to send
Mason to compete in the Paris 1878
tournament. He failed to reach the
prize list and was embarrassed to
return to the United States. He then
settled in London. In 1879, he
defeated William Potter and Joseph
Blackburne in matches in London. In
the 1880s, he was one of the top 10
players in the world. In 1882, he
took 3rd, behind Steinitz and
Winawer, in Vienna. He was the first
person to lose a game of chess on
time (Vienna, 1882). In 1883, he
took 3rd, behind Winawer and
Blackburne, in the 3rd German
Chess Federation tournament in
Nurenberg. In 1885, he tied for 2nd-
6th at the 4th German Chess
Federation tournament. That event
was won by Isidor Gunsberg. In
1888, he tied for 3rd-4th in the 4th
British Chess Federation
championship in Bradford, England,
behind Gunsberg and Mackenzie. In
1889, James Mason lost to David
Baird at a chess tournament in New
York after 8 moves. Mason had
visited a barroom just before the
game and was unable to play any
further because he was too drunk. In
1889, he tied for 3rd-5th in the 5th
British Chess Federation
championship, held in London. In
1889, he took 3rd in the 3rd Irish
Chess Association tournament in
Dublin. In 1892, he tied for 1st with
Blackburne in the North of Ireland
Congress in Belfast. In 1892, he took
2nd, behind Emanuel Lasker, in the
7th British Chess Federation
Congress. In 1895, he took 12th-
14th at Hastings. In 1900, he took
2nd-3rd in the London City Club
Invitation tourney, behind
Teichmann. He was the author of
The Principles of Chess (1894), The
Art of Chess (1895), Chess
Openings (1897), and Social Chess
(1900). He was also the chief
annotator of the British Chess
Magazine. He died in Essex on
January 15, 1905 at the age of 55.
Athanasios Mastrovasilis (1979) is a

Greek Grandmaster (2005).
Dimitrios Mastrovasilis (1983- ) is a

Greek Grandmaster (2003). In 2003,
he won the Mediterranean Junior
2631 in 2012.
Aleksandar Matanovi? (1930- ) is a

Serbian Grandmaster (1955) and
chief editor of Chess Informant since
1966. In 1948, he was the Junior
Chess Champion of Yugoslavia. He
has won the Yugoslav championship
3 times (1962, 1969, 1978). He
played in 16 Yugoslav
championships. He played for
Yugoslavia in 11 Chess Olympiads.
From 1990 to 1994 he was FIDE
Executive Deputy President. His
has also been a radio announcer and
producer.
Vaitonis - Matanovic, Munich 1958

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6
5.f3 O-O 6.Be3 e5 7.Nge2 c6 8.Qb3
Nbd7 9.O-O-O Qa5 10.g4 Rb8 11.h3
b5 12.cxb5 cxb5 13.Kb1 b4 14.Na4
exd4 15.Nxd4 Ne5 16.f4 Bd7
17.fxe5 Nxe4 18.Nb5 Rxb5 19.Bxb5
Bxb5 0-1
Maxim Sergeevich Matlakov (1991-

) is a Russian Grandmaster (2010).
In 2011, he won the Russian under-
20 Championship. In June 2017, he
won the European Championship.
Robin Charles Oliver Matthews

Master for Chess Compositions
(1965). He specialized in orthodox
(directmate) three-movers. He was
an economist by profession. He
taught Political Economy at Oxford
and Cambridge.
Hermanis Karlovich Mattison (1894-

1932) was a Latvian player of
International Master strength. In
1924, he won the first Latvian
Championship and the World
Amateur Championship, held in
Paris. He led the Latvian team at the
1931 Olympiad, where he beat
Alekhine.
Milan Matulovic (1935-2013) was a

In 1967, a famous incident occurred
in a game between Milan Matulovic
and Istvan Bilek at the Sousse
Interzonal in Tunisia. Matulovic
played a losing move but then took it
back after saying "J'adoube" ("I
adjust" — which should be
announced before adjusting pieces
on their square). His opponent
complained to the arbiter but the
modified move was allowed to
stand. This incident earned
Matulovic the nickname
"J'adoubovic." He was convicted of
vehicular manslaughter and served 9
months in prison for a car accident in
which a woman was killed. His peak
Matulovic - Vincent, Yugoslavia

1954 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3
4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 Nf6
7.e5 dxe5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Ng5 Kc7
10.Nxf7 Rg8 11.Nb5+ Kb8 12.Nxe5
Nxe5 12.Bf4 1-0
Charles Amedee Maurian (1838-

1912) was born on May 21, 1838.
He was the closest and life-long
friend of Paul Morphy. They
attended Spring Hill College in
Mobile, Alabama together where
Morphy taught Maurian how to play
chess in 1853-54. In 1854, he
defeated Paul Morphy in a match in
New Orleans (+6-5=1), but at
various piece odds. In 1858, he lost a
match to Paul Morphy (+1-2=0).
From 1858 to 1860, Maurian edited
the chess column in the New Orleans
Delta. In October, 1862, Maurian
and Morphy sailed to Cuba on a
Spanish steamboat, with the ultimate
destination of Paris in 1863. In 1869,
he lost a match to Paul Morphy (+2-
6=0) at knight odds. All together,
there are 75 known games between
Maurian and Paul Morphy. From
1883 to 1890, he co-edited the chess
column in the Times-Democrat. He
moved to Paris in 1890. He died on
Decmber 2, 1912.
Karl Mayet (1810-1868) was born

on August 11, 1810, lived in Berlin,
and was the most original of the
Berlin Pleiades. He was a barrister
and a judge. In 1839, he defeated
Jozsef Szen in a match with (+3-
2=1). In 1845, he drew a match with
Augustus Mongredien with (+3-3).
In 1847, he defeated A. von der
Goltz in a match (+14-9=1), but then
lost a match with Wilhelm Hanstein
(+5-12=1). In 1848, he lost a match
to Daniel Harrwitz (+2-5=2). In the
1851 London International, he was
knocked out in round 1 when he lost
to Hugh Kennedy with two losses. In
1851, he lost a match to Adolf
Anderssen in Berlin with 4 losses. In
1852, he lost a match to F. Deacon
(2-5). In 1853, he took 3rd place in
the first Berlin championship,
behind Jean Dufresne and Max
Lange. In 1853, he lost a match to
Jean Dufresne (+5-7). In 1855, he
lost to Anderssen (+6-14=1). In
1856, he lost to T. Wiegelmann (2-4)
in the 1856 Berlin Knockout
Tournament. In 1859, he lost a
match to Anderssen (+1-7). In 1865,
he lost a match to Anderssen (+2-
5=1). In 1866, he lost a match to
Gustav Neumann (-6=1). He died on
May 18, 1868.
Sebastien Maze (1984- ) is a French
was 2628 in 2016.
Edgar T. McCormick (1914-1991)

played in more U.S. Open chess
tournaments than any other person
(37 times). In World War II he was a
cryptographer. He won the U.S.
Amateur Championship in 1961, and
again in 1990, at the age of 75. He
won the Virginia state championship
in 1941. He won the New Jersey
championship twice.
McCormick - Moose, Chicago 1973

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.f4
d5 5.exd5 e4 6.d4 Bb6 7.Nge2 c6
8.dxc6 Nxc6 9.Be3 Ng4 10.Qd2
Nxe3 11.Qxe3 Nxd4 12.Qxe4+ Qe7
13.Qxe7+ Kxe7 14.Nd5+ Kd8
15.Nxb6 Nxc2+ 16.Kd2 Nxa1
17.Nxa8 Bf5 18.Rxa1 1-0
Neil McDonald (1967- ) is an

Alexander McDonnell (1798-1835)

was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1798,
the son of a famous surgeon (also
named Alexander). In 1820 in settled
in London and became secretary of
the Committee of West Indian
Merchants, where his duties were to
watch the progress through
Parliament of bills connected with
the West Indies. The post made him
a wealthy man and he spent his spare
time playing chess. In the 1820s, he
was taught chess by William Lewis.
Between June and October 1934,
McDonnell and La Bourdonnais
played a series of six matches, a total
of 85 games. All the games were
played at the Westminster Chess
Club in London. La Bourdonnais
won the first match, McDonnell won
the second match, La Bourdonnais
won the third, fourth, and fifth
match. The sixth match was
unfinished. McDonnell won 27
games, drew 13 games, and lost 45
games. McDonnell developed a
kidney ailment and died of Bright's
disease on Sep 15, 1835 at the age of
37.
A. McDonnell — NN, England 1835

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3
d6 5.d4 g5 6.h4 gxh4 7.Bxf4 Bg4
8.Nf3 Be7 9.Qd2 h3 10.Ng5 d5
11.Nxd5 Bh5 12.Nxc7+ Kf8
13.Nxf7 Bxf7 14.Bh6+ Kg8 15.Qg5
mate 1-0
Tennis great (4 US Open wins and 3

Wimbledon wins) John McEnroe
(1959- ) plays chess. When he wasn't
playing tennis, he played chess with
other tennis players. He described
himself as a good, but no great,
chess player among the other tennis
players. He would play two-hour
chess matches between tennis. He
and tennis player Peter Fleming
played a lot of chess together.
Mikhail Mchedlishvili (1979- ) is a

Georgian Grandmaster (2002). His
In 1979, Patrick McKenna, a

prisoner in Nevada, strangled his Las
Vegas cellmate, Jack J. Nobles, after
an argument over a chess game in
which he lost. He has been on death
row for over 39 years. He has tried
to escape several times. His lawyer
was his brother, Ken McKenna.
Dr. Luke Anderson McNab (1961- )

is a Scottish Grandmaster (1992). He
played for Scotland in 17 Chess
Olympiads. In 1992, he won the
Commonwealth Championship. In
2013, he won the British Problem
Solving Championship. His peak
PhD in Mathematics from Oxford.
Luke McShane (1984- ) won the

World Under-10 championship at
the age of 8. He played in the British
Championship at the age of 11. At
16, he became the youngest ever
British GM at the time. He attended
Oxford University and studied
mathematics and philosophy. He
interned at Goldman Sachs. After
graduating, he worked there as a
trader in London's financial sector.
He has been refered to as the world's
strongest amateur. His peak rating
was 2713 in 2012.
McShane — Peter Nielsen, Hastings

2002 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6
4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7
7.Bd3 O-O 8.Nc3 Nxe5 9.Rxe5 Bf6
10.Re3 Re8 11.Nd5 Bg5 12.f4 Bh6
13.Rh3 c6 14.Ne3 Ne4 15.Bxe4
Rxe4 16.Nf5 Qb6+ 17.d4 Bxf4
18.Qh5 h6 19.Bxf4 Rxf4 20.Re1 1-0
Henrique Mecking (1952- ) learned

chess at the age of 6. He won his
state championship at the age of 11.
He won his first Brazilian
championship at the age of 13. He
won it again at the age of 15. At age
14, he tied for 1st in the South
American championship. At 15, he
played in the Sousse Interzonal and
won the Sousse speed championship.
At 19, he was a Grandmaster, the
first Brazilian GM. In 1973,
Henrique Mecking lost his match
with Petrosian and made a formal
protest. He accused Petrosian of
kicking the table, shaking the
chessboard, stirring the coffee too
loudly, and rolling a coin on the
table. He went to the referee twice to
complain that Petrosian was
breathing too loudly. Mecking
kicked back at the table and started
making noises of his own. Petrosian
responded by turning his hearing aid
off. He won the 1973 Interzonal and
the 1976 Interzonal. In 1978, he was
ranked #3 in the world. He
developed myasthenia gravis, a long-
term neuromuscular disease, that
seriously impaired his health and he
retired for chess for many years. His
K. Smith - Mecking, San Antonio

1972 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3
4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 a6 7.O-
O Nf6 8.a3 e6 9.Qe2 h6 10.Rd1 e5
11.Nd5 Be7 12.Be3 Nxd5 13.exd5
Nb8 14.Bd5 O-O 15.Bxc6 Bg5 0-1
Antonio Angel Medina-Garcia

(1919-2003) was a Spanish
Spanish Champion in 1944, 1945,
1947, 1949, 1952, 1963, and 1964.
He tied for last place at the 1955
Goteborg Interzonal.
Medina — Saemisch, Madrid 1943

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6
5.Nbd2 Be6 6.g3 Qd7 7.Bg2 Nge7
8.O-O Ng6 9.a3 Be7 10.b4 O-O-O
11.Bb2 Bh3 12.b5 Ncxe5 13.Qa4
Bxg2 14.Kxg2 Nxf3 15.exf3 Bc5
16.Rad1 Qf5 17.Nb3 Rd6 18.Nd2
Nf4+ 19.gxf4 Rh6 0-1
George Webb Medley (1826-1898)

was an English player from London.
In 1847, he lost a match with Daniel
Harrwitz (+7-11=0). In 1848, he lost
a match with Howard Staunton (+1-
6=3). In 1849, he defeated Henry
Bird in a match (+4-2=0). In 1849,
he took 2nd place at the Ries' Divan
knockout tournament in London. He
had to beat his brother, John R,
Medley, in the play-off for 2nd
place. The winner was Henry
Buckle. In 1850, he defeated
Augustus Mongredien in a match
(+3-2=0). In 1858, he lost a match to
Paul Morphy in London (+2-3=0). In
1860, he lost a match to Ignatz
Kolisch (+0-2-2). Against Medley,
Kolisch sometimes took two hours
for three moves. After this match,
there was a push to have a time limit
in chess, which led to the
introduction of sand glasses and
clocks in chess.
Edmar John Mednis (1937-2002),

born in Riga, was an American
grandmaster (1980). He was trained
as a chemical engineer, and then
became a stock broker. He wrote 26
chess books and hundreds of chess
articles. He wrote How to Beat
Bobby Fischer (1975), How Karpov
Wins (1975), How to Beat the
Russians (1978), The Modern
Defense (1978), Practical Endgame
Lessons (1978), Open Games
(1980), Practical Rook Endings
(1980), How to Play Good Opening
Moves (1982), King Power in Chess
(1982), From the Opening into the
Endgame (1983), From the
Middlegame into the Endgame
(1987), Questions and Answers in
Practical Opening Play (1987),
Strategic Themes in the Endgame
(1987), How to Defeat a Superior
Opponent (1989), Practical Bishop
Endings (1990), How to be a
Complete Tournament Player
(1991), Rate Your Endgame (1992),
Strategic Chess (1993), Practical
Knight Endings (1993), Advanced
Endgame Strategies (1996), Practical
Opening Tips (1997), The King in
the Endgame (1997), The King in
the Opening (1998), Practical
Endgame Tips (1998), The King in
the Middlegame (1999), Better
Endgame Play (2000).
Mednis - Hanauer, New York 1974

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2
Bg7 5.Nf3 Nge7 6.O-O d5 7.cxd5
Nxd5 8.Nxe5 Nxc3 9.Nxc6 Nxd1
10.Nxd8 Nxb2 11.Nxb7 Rb8
12.Bxb2 Bxb2 13.Rab1 Bf6
14.Nd6+ (14...cxd6 15.Rxb8) 1-0
Susanto Megaranto (1987- ) is an

became a GM at age 17. He has won
the Indonesian Championship 4
2007.
Georg Meier (1987- ) is a German

was 2671 in 2012.
In August 2014, Candidate Master

Kurt Meier, 67, a Swiss-born
member of the Seychelles chess
team, died on the last day of the 41st
Chess Olympiad, held in Tromso,
Norway. His son was playing on the
board next to him and tried to revive
him. Hours later, Alisher Anarkulov
from Uzbekistan was found dead in
his hotel room in central Tromso.
Viesturs Meijers (1967- ) is a

Latvian Grandmaster (2004). In
2000, he won the Latvian
2529 in 2006.
Krikor Mekhitarian (1986- ) is a

Brazilian Grandmaster (2010). His
Hrant Melkumyan (1989- ) is an

2011, he won the European Blitz
2678 in 2014.
Vera Francevna Menchik Stevenson

(1906-1944) was born to English
and Czech parents, in Moscow. Her
family settled in England in 1921.
She took chess lessons from
Maroczy in her teenage years. In
1937, she married R.H.S. Stevenson,
secretary of the British Chess
Federation. In June 1944, Vera
Menchik Stevenson, women's world
chess champion since 1927, was
killed when a V-1 rocket bombing
raid hit her home (47 Gauden Road,
Clapham) in South London. Her
younger sister, Olga Menchik
Rubery, and mother also died in the
air raid. Their bomb shelter, a few
yards away, was undamaged. Today,
the address is an apartment complex.
She was World's Women Champion
from 1927 until her death on June
26, 1944. She has been the longest
reigning Women's World Chess
Champion (17 years). She would
have extended it longer if she had
not been killed. At the time of her
death, she was serving on the
editorial staff of Chess as games
editor. (source: Chess Review, June-
July 1944, p. 8)
Janecek - Menchik, Buenos Aires

1939 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6
4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2
Bb4 8.Qc1 Ne4 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.a3
Bxd2+ 11.Qxd2 Qxg5 0-1
Ariel Mengarini (1919-1998) was an

American chess master, author, and
medical doctor (psychiatrist for the
Veterans Administration). In 1940
he won the championship of
Washington D.C. In 1943 he won
the U.S. Amateur chess
championship with a perfect 11-0
score. He played in several US chess
championships. He took last place in
the 1954 US Championship (2 wins,
1 draw, 10 losses). He popularized
the opening 1.e4 e5 2.a3, sometimes
known as Mengarini's opening.
Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) was

an American violinist and conductor.
Louis Persinger gave Menuhin violin
and chess lessons at an early age.
After a recital at the Paris Opera, 12-
year-old Menuhin gave interviews
while playing chess.
William Meredith (1835-1903) was

a problem composer. He composed
about 200 chess problems in his
career. A problem in which there are
from 8 to 12 men on the board is
called a Meredith (a problem of less
than 8 men is called a miniature).
His father was once the U.S.
Secretary of the Treasury (1849-
1850).
Angela Merkel (1954- ) is the

current Chancellor of Germany. She
is a chess player and collects large
wooden chess pieces.
Dr. Andrew Jonathan Mestel (1957-

) is an English Grandmaster (1982).
In 1974, he won the World Cadet
(under 18) Championship. He won
the British Championship in 1976,
1983, and 1988. He is also a
Grandmaster in Problem-Solving.
He was the first person to be
awarded the GM title in both over-
the-board pland and chess problem
solving. His peak rating was 2540 in
1984. He is a Professor of Applied
Mathematics at Imperial College
London. He obtained his Ph.D. with
the thesis "Magnetic Levitation of
Liquid Metals" at University of
Cambridge.
In 1907, Albert Michelson (1852-

Physics for his work on the
measurement of the speed of light.
He listed chess, bridge, billiards, and
tennis as his interests outside of
physics. He participated in several
chess tournaments in California and
played a chess game against
American champion, Frank
Marshall.
On August 30, 1624, playwright
Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) was
arrested in London after producing a
play, A Game at Chess, that satirized
the proposed marriage of Prince
Charles with a Spanish princess. The
play was performed by the King's
Men at the Globe Theater in London.
Its nine performances, from August
5-14, 1624, was the greatest box-
office hit and the most talked about
dramatic work of early modern
London. The play was soon banned
as it made fun of the Spanish
Ambassador (caricaturized as the
black knight), the nobility, and
Catholics. After Middleton's arrest,
the play was censored and was not
allowed to be shown again. Further
performance of the play was
forbidden and Middleton and the
actors were reprimanded and fined.
Middleton never wrote another play.
Jacques Mieses (1865-1954) was

born to a Jewish family in Leipzig,
Germany. In 1882, at the age of 17,
he won the championship of Berlin.
In Vienna 1903, Mieses had been
going strong in The Vienna Gambit
tournament. In the 13th round he
was to play Isidor Gunsberg (1854-
1930). Not that Gunsberg wasn't a
fine player, but the wide-open games
resulting from gambits were not his
forte, and in addition he seemed to
be completely out of form. Out of
the previous twelve games,
Gunsberg had lost 10 and drew 2,
and was in last place. Mieses had
already chalked up the point
mentally. But, as so often happens,
the tail-ender of the tournament had
one good game in him. He let loose
with everything he had, and Mieses
had to resign after 50 moves. Mieses
commented bitterly, "It is bad
enough to get run over, but to get
run over by a corpse is horrible!"
This was Gunsberg's only win. He
lost 15, drew 2, and won 1 in the
tournament (source: Chernev, The
Bright Side of Chess, pp. 13-14).
After living in Germany for 73
years, Mieses moved to England
in1938 to escape Nazi persecution.
He became a naturalized British
citizen after World War II. In March
1949, Mieses, age 84, defeated Dirk
van Foreest (1862-1956), age 86
during an exhibition game at The
Hague. After the game, Mieses was
quoted as saying, "Youth has
triumphed." He was awarded the
Grandmaster title in 1950, at the age
of 85, for his past efforts, becoming
the first British grandmaster.
Mieses - Oehquist, Nuremberg 1895

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8
4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.d5 Ne5?
(6...Nb8) 7.Nxe5 Bxd1 8.Bb5+ c6
9.dxc6 (threatening 9...c7 Qd7
10.Bxd7 mate) 1-0
Normunds Miezis (1971- ) is a

Latvian Grandmaster (1997). He
won the Latvian Championship in
2601 in 2001.
Vladas Mikenas (1910-1992) was an

Estonian-born. Lithuanian
International Master (1950). In June
1931, Mikenas moved from Estonia
(where he won the 1930 Estonia
chess championship) to Lithuania.
He played for Lithuania at first
board in 6 Chess Olympiads. He was
the first Lithuanian chess
professional. He won the Lithuanian
Chess Championship 5 times. He
payed in 9 USSR chess
championships. He was awarded the
Honorary Grandmaster title in 1987.
He was a journalist by profession.
Adrian Mikhalchishin (1954- ) is a

Ukrainian-Slovenian Grandmaster
(1978). In 2002, he won the Slovenia
Championship.
Victor Mikhalevski (1972- ) is a

Belarus-born Israeli Grandmaster
Canadian Open. He tied for 1st in
two Israeli Championships, in 1996
and in 2008. His peak rating was
2632 in 2008.
Igor Miladinovi? (1974- ) is a

1993, he won the World Junior
Championship. He was once married
to WGM Anna-Maria Botsari. His
Anthony "Tony" John Miles (1955-

2001) was born in Birmingham,
England. He learned chess at the age
of 5. In 1968, he was British under-
14 Champion. In 1971, he was
British under-21 Champion. In 1973,
he took 2nd in the World Junior
Championship, held in Manila. In
Championship. In 1976, he became
the first UK born, over-the-board
chess Grandmaster. In 1982, he won
the British Championship. He
represented England in the 1984 and
1986 Chess Olympiads. In 1987,
Miles was arrested at 10 Downing
Street in London after trying to get
in after midnight to talk to British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
about payments owed to him by the
British Chess Federation. He was
eventually hospitalized for two
months from a mental breakdown. In
1987, he moved to the USA. He
finished last in the 1988 US
Championship. In 1989, he moved to
Germany. In 1991, he played in the
Australian Championship. In 1992,
he moved back to England. In 1997,
Miles was playing the Croatian
grandmaster Davorin Komljenovic
in a Benasque tournament. Miles as
usual, put his wrist watch aside on
the chess table. Komljenovic then
brought his big alarm clock and put
it also beside his board. Miles
protested, but Komljenovic said that
if Miles has the right to put the
watch, he can put his big alarm
clock. Everyone was laughing, the
game went on, and later in a drawn
rook and pawn endgame Miles lost
the game. He died of heart failure.
He suffered from diabetes which
contributed to his death.
Gallagher - Miles, USA 1990 1.e4

Nc6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Na5
5.f4 Nxc4 6.dxc4 Bb4 7.Nf3 Nxe4
8.fxe5 Nxc3 9.Qd2 Nxa2 10.c3
Nxc1 11.cxb4 Nb3 0-1
Borislav Mili? (1925-1986) was a

was co-founder of Chess Informant
publications, serving as senior editor
and writer. He played in 14
Yugoslav Championships.
Actor Ray Milland (1907-1986)
played chess. He played chess
during breaks on the film Hostile
Witness. He usually had two chess
sets in his dressing room at the
studios. He used one to play on, and
another for a correspondence game
he was involved with.
Dr. Peter Millican is a

correspondence Grandmaster, a
Professor of Philosophy at Oxford,
and an expert in computer
linguistics. In 1990, he won the
British Correspondence
championship. He also develops
software to analyze and compare
texts. He used one of his computer
programs to identify J.K. Rowling as
the real writer of a detective novel
called The Cuckoo Calling. She
wrote the novel under the
pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Berry

(1906-1995) was a strong
international chess player and was
hired to be a code breaker when
World War II broke out. Milner-
Berry was the first to be recruited by
Bletchley Park. He then recruited
Hugh Alexander and Harry
Golombek. Milner-Berry was head
of "Hut 6," a section responsible for
deciphering messages which had
been encrypted using the German
enigma machine. Milner-Berry
expressed the intensity of code-
breaking in terms of chess. "It was
rather like playing a tournament
game (sometimes several games)
every day for five and a half years."
A variation of the Nimzo-Indian
Defense is named after him.
Milner-Barry - Wade, England 1946
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4
Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3 b6 7.Nxf6+
Nxf6 8.Qe2 Bb7 9.Bg5 Be7 10.O-O-
O O-O 11.h4 c5 12.Kb1 Qc7 13.Rh3
Rfd8 14.dxc5 Qxc5 15.Re1 Rac8
16.Ne5 h6 17.g4 Nd5 18.Nxf7 Kxf7
19.Qxe6+ Kf8 20.Bh7 (threatening
21.Qg8 mate) 1-0
Leonid Milov (1972- ) is a German

Grandmaster (2012).
Vadim Milov (1972- ), born in

Russia, is a Swiss Grandmaster
(1994). In 1999, he won the
Australian Open Chess
Championship. In 2005, he took 1st
place in the US Open. In 2015, he
won the Swiss Championship. His
Artashes Minasian (1967- ) is an

Armenian grandmaster (1992) and
winner of the 58th and last USSR
Championship, held in Moscow in
1991. His prize was a gold medal
and a new car fresh from the "Lada"
factory. The USSR championship
was an 11-round Swiss. Twenty-
seven Grandmasters and 29
International Masters participated,
won by an untitled player. He won
the 1998 New York Open. He
played for Armenia in 8 Chess
Olympiads. He has won the
Armendian Chess Championship 6
1998.
Johannes Minckwitz (1843-1901)

was a German chess master who
wrote several chess columns,
magazines, and books. From 1865 to
1876 and from 1879 to 1886, he
edited Deutsch Schachzeitung. In
May 1901, he threw himself under
an electric train in Berlin which cut
off both his arms. He died five days
later (source: Chicago Daily
Tribune, May 19, 1901). He was a
merchant by profession.
Steinitz - Minckwitz, Baden-Baden

1870 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4
4.d4 Qh4+ 5.Ke2 b6 6.Nb5 Ba6 7.a4
Qh5+ 8.Nf3 Bxb5+ 9.axb5 Qxb5+
10.Kf2 Qh5 11.Bxf4 Nf6 12.e5 Nd5
13.Bg3 Qh6 14.Qe2 Be7 15.Qe4
Qe6 16.Bc4 Nf6 17.Qe2 Ng4+
18.Kf1 Qxc4 (19.Qxc4 Ne3+ and
20...Nxc4) 0-1
Dragoljub Minic (1936-2005) was a

(1964) and Honoray Grandmaster
(1991). In 1962, he won the
championship of Yugoslavia. He
played for Yugoslavia in 2 Chess
Olympiads. He died of a heart attack
on his 69th birthday.
Evgenij Miroshnichenko (1978- ) is

a Ukrainain Grandmaster (2002). He
won the Ukrainian championship in
2696 in 2009.
Azer Mirzoev (1978- ) is an

Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2001). His
Aleksander Mista (1983- ) is a

Kamil Miton (1984- ) is a Polish

1st in the 33rd World Open. His
Abram Model (1895-1976), born in

Latvia, was a Soviet chess master
and instructor. He played in 2 USSR
championships. In 1928, he tied for
1st in the Belarus Chess
awarded the Soviet Master title, but
in 1936 he became one of the few
Soviet masters to have the title taken
away due to indifferent results. In
1944, he won the Leningrad Chess
Championship. For a time, he was
Mikhail Botvinnik's chess trainer.
Georg Mohr (1965- ) is a Slovenian

was 2523 in 2002. He played for
Slovenia in 6 Chess Olympiads.
Stefan Mohr (1967- ) is a German

Grandmaster (1989).
Alexander Moiseenko (1980- ) is a

1996, he was World under-16
Champion. In 1999, he tied for 1st in
the Ukrainian Championship. In
2003 and 2008, he won the Canadian
Open. In 2013, he won the European
2726 in 2011.
Jordy Mont-Reynaud (born August

16, 1983) started playing chess at
age 6. He was first coached by Bill
Wall at the Palo Alto Chess Club.
He was the national Primary K-3
Champion and the national Primary
K-8 champion. At age 9, he took the
bronze in the World Under-10
championship, held at Bratislava. He
was a master in 1994 at the age of 10
years, 209 days, the youngest in the
USA at the time (surpassed by Vinay
Bhat and Samuel Sevian). At age 15,
he was the US Cadet (Under-16)
champion. He graduated
fromStanford and is currently the
CEO of Dojo.com, a sosical-
persuasive technology web service.
Vinay Bhat — Jordy Mont-Reynaud,

Cupertino 1991 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4
3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6
6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 a6 8.a4 Be7 9.O-O
Nf6 10.Re1 Ng4 11.Qc2 Nge5
12.Bd3 Nb4 13.Qe2 Nbxd3 0-1
Mario Monticelli (1902-1995) was

an Italian International Master
(1950) and Honorary Grandmaster
(1985) at the age of 83. He won the
Italian Championship in 1929, 1934,
and 1939. He played for Italy in 5
Chess Olympiads. He took first
place at Budapest in 1926. He was a
journalist by profession and
correspondent of the International
News Service.
In 2011, the president of the English

Chess Federation, CJ de Mooi
(1969- ), was barred from presenting
prizes at the British chess
championships in Sheffield because
he was wearing a gay rights T-shirt.
The shirt bore the slogan, "Some
people are gay, get over it."
Jared Moore (1893-1995) was the

oldest chess player to play postal
chess. He was active in postal chess
until he was 100 years old. He died
at the age of 101. He was also an
active certified braillist until the last
year of his life. He produced more
than 15,000 pages of Braille for
libraries, including the Library of
Congress. He started playing postal
chess in 1960, at the age of 67, and
continued until 1994, at the age of
100.
Elshan Moradi-Abadi (1985) is an

Iranian-American Grandmaster
(2005). In 2001, he won the Iranian
Chess Championship at age 16. His
has a Bachelor of Science in
Chemical Engineering, and an
MBA.
Wojciech Moranda (1988- ) is a

Charles Paul Narcisse Moreau

(1837-1916) was an Army colonel
and mathematician. He was on the
organizing committee for the 1902
Monte Carlo tournament. He
organized the 1903 Monte Carlo
international chess tournament and
also participated in it. He lost all 26
games, winning none and drawing
none. He lost two games each to
Tarrasch, Maroczy, Pillsbury,
Schlechter, Teichmann, Marco,
Wolf, Mieses, Marshall,
Taubenhaus, Mason, Albin, and
Reggio.
Frank Morgan (1890-1949), the

character actor, was a chess player.
He learned chess in order to play it
on trains while traveling with a
dramatic company. His stage
manager was also a chess addict. He
daid that chess "brushed the
cobwebs" from the brain, as the
player forgets everything else for the
time being, while playing. (source:
Chess Review, Jan 1938, p. 2) He
was best known as "Oz" in The
Wizard of Oz, filmed n 1939.
Ivan Eduardo Morovic-Fernandez

(1963- ) is a Chilean Grandmaster
(1986). He is the first GM from
Chile. In 1979, he won the Pan
American Junior Chess
Chilean Championship. He has
played for Chile in 13 Chess
Olympiads.
Alexander Moroz (1961-2009) was a

was vice-president of the Ukrainian
Chess Federation.
Alexander Morozevich (1977- ) is a

Grandmaster (1994) from Russia. In
1994, at the age of 17, he won the
strong Lloyds Bank tournament in
London with a 9.5 out of 10 score. In
2000, he won the Bronze Medal for
board 2 in the Chess Olympiad. In
2003, he tied for 1st with Peter
Svidler in the 56th Russian
Championships. In 2005, he took 4th
place in the World Chess
Championship title. In 2007, he tied
for 2nd place in the Linares
tournament. In 2007, he won the
60th Russian Championship. He is a
two-time World Championship
Candidate (2005 and 2007) and a
two-time Russian Champion (1998
and 2007). He has played for Russia
rating was 2788 in 2008 when he
was ranked #2 in the world.
Harry R. Morris (1905-1966) was a

chess master from Philadelphia. He
won the Pennsylvania Championship
4 times. He was a past president of
the Mercantile Library Chess Club
in Philadelphia. He was a
procurement officer in the US Air
Force. He died at the age of 60.
Martin Morrison (1947- ) was the

first president of the U.S. Chess
Journalists (AUSCJ), in 1972. He
was the founder and editor of Chess
Voice, a Northern California chess
magazine. He was the first technical
director of the U.S. Chess Federation
(1973). He was named Executive
Director in 1977 when Ed
Edmondson retired. He has never
played a rated game of chess. He
was the author of The Official Rules
of Chess and chairman of the FIDE
rules commission.
Paul Morphy (1837-1884) was born

on June 22, 1837 in New Orleans,
Louisiana of Creole descent. He had
two sisters, Mahrina and Helena, and
a brother Edward. His father's
nationality was Spanish, but he was
of Irish origin and was born in
Charleston, SC. His mother was
French Creole. Paul Morphy's father
was a Judge of the Supreme Court of
Louisiana. Paul Morphy's uncle,
Ernest Morphy, was known as a
strong chess player. Paul Morphy
seemed to have learned chess around
age seven while watching others
play. He was able to read and write
at the age of four. By age 8 or 9, he
was one of the best chess players in
New Orleans and had already played
hundreds of chess games. He was
playing blindfold chess at the age of
12. When he was 12, he was able to
beat Hungarian master Johann Jacob
Lowenthal in a match. By the time
he was 13, he was the best player in
New Orleans and one of the best
players in America. He entered
college at 13 and graduated with a
Bachelor Arts degree at the age of
17. He then entered law school at the
University of Louisiana and earned
his law degree at age 20. At age 20,
he won the first American Chess
Congress and was considered the
strongest chess player in America.
By age 21, he was considered the
best chess player in the world. On
July 10, 1884 Paul Morphy died of a
stroke while taking a cold bath. He
was just 47 years old. He is buried at
the Saint Louis Cemetery #1 in New
Orleans. The tomb contains eight
Morphy family members.
Morphy - Duke of Brunswick and

Count Isouard, Paris, 1858 Philidor's
Defense 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4
4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6
7.Qb3 Qe7 8.Nc3 [8.Bxf7+ Qxf7
9.Qxb7 is simpler] 8...c6 9.Bg5 b5
10.Nxb5 cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7
12.O-O-O Rd8 13.Rxd7! Rxd7
14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+ Nxd7
16.Qb8+!! Nxb8 17.Rd8 mate 1-0
Morphy - Bottin, Paris 1858 1.e5 e5

2.c3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 Bc5
5.Qg4 Nxf2 6.Qxg7 Rf8 7.Bg5 f6
8.exf6 Rxf6 9.Bxf6 Be7 10.Qg8+ 1-
0
Pierre Morra (1900-1969) was a
French chess player. His name is
associated the the gambit 1.e4 c5
2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 (also called Smith-
Morra Gambit). He wrote several
articles and a booklet about this
opening.
James Mortimer (1833-1911) was an

American player, journalist, and
playwright, with more than 30
London productions to his name.
From 1855 to 1860, he worked in the
US Diplomatic Service, based in
Paris. He started playing in chess
tournaments at the age of 50. In
1883, he took last place out of 14
players at London with 3 points. In
players in London with 0 points. In
players at Monte Carlo, with 1 point.
In 1904, he took last out of 17
players at London, with 4 points. At
the London 1904 Rice Gambit
tournament, he took last place out of
9 players with 2.5 points. In 1907, he
took last place out of 29 players at
Ostend with 5 points. In 1879, he
was arrested for refusing to reveal
the author of an allegedly libelous
article. Once inside prison, he taught
his fellow inmates how to play
chess. He became a proprietor of the
London newspaper, Figaro. Its chess
clumn was written by Steiniz. While
reporting on the Sebastian Chess
Tournament in Spain in 1911, he
caught pneumoni and died.
Harold Morton (1906-1940) was

born in Providence, Rhode Island on
January 10, 1906. He is a former
champion of New England, who
lived in Rhode Island. He won the
Massachusetts Chess Championship
in 1933, 1934, and 1935. He played
in the 1936 US Chess
Championship, but did poorly (15th-
16th place). On February 17, 1940,
he died in a car crash in Iowa when
he hit a truck. His passenger, by
chess master I.A. Horowitz,
survived. The two were giving
simultaneous chess exhibitions
throughout the country.
Geoffrey Mott-Smith (1902-1960)

was a former problem editor of The
Chess Correspondent. During World
War II, he was chief instructor in
cryptography and cryptanalysis in
the Office of Stategic Services. At
the time, he was considered the
foremost authority on games and
puzzles. He was the executive editor
of the New Webster dictionaries and
the Wonder Book Cyclopedia. He
wrote or cowrote over 30 books on
games, including chess. (source:
Chess Review, Oct 1960, pp. 302-
303)
Paul Motwani (1962- ) is a Scottish

Grandmaster (1992). He was the first
Scottish player to become a GM. In
Scottish Championship 7 times. His
studied mathematics and physcis and
was a high school mathematics
teacher. He now lives in Belgium
and teaches third grade at an
elementary school.
Alexander Motylev (1979- ) is a

European Championship. In 2017,
he won the Russian Rapid
2710 in 2009. His father, Anatoly, is
a FIDE Master.
Jacques-Francois Mouret (1787-

1837) was the operator of The Turk
from 1819 to 1824. He was one of
15 chess players who occupied the
cramped innards of the machine over
85 years. He sold the secret of how
the Turk operated to the Magazin
Pittoresque in 1834. He was an
alcoholic chess master who sold it to
the Parisian tabloid for the price of a
drink. This was the first authentic
revelation of the Automaton's secret.
In 1836, the magazine Palamede re-
published Mouret's disclosures. He
was a great-nephew of Philidor. He
was a chess tutor of the future king,
King Louis-Philippe, who was king
of France from 1830 to 1848.
Jules Moussard (1995- ) is a French

won the Paris Championship.
Sergei Movsesian (1978- ), born in

Tbilisi, Georgia, is an Armenian-
Czech-Slovakian Grandmaster
(1997). In 1998, he won the Czech
Championship. In 2002 and 2007, he
won the Slovak Championship. His
peak rating was 2751 in 2009, when
he was ranked #10 in the world. In
2003, he married WGM Petra
Krupkova. He is now married to
WGM Julia Kocetkova. He is fluent
in eight languages.
Karen Movsziszian (1963- ) is an
1981, he won the Armenian
European Senior Chess
Championship (50+).
Martin Mrva (1971- ) is a Slovakian

won the Slovakia Championship. He
In 1927 at Kecskemet, Hans Mueller

(1896-1971) waited until it was time
to seal a move. Instead of sealing a
move, he wrote, 'aufgegeben' (I
resign) and never showed up for the
adjournment.
Dr. Karsten Mueller (1970- ) is a

peak rating was 2536 in 2013. He is
the author of several endgame
books. He has a PhD in mathematics
from the University of Hamburg.
Donald Henry Mugridge (1905-

1964) won the chess championship
of Harvard and the chess
championship of the District of
Columbia (twice). In 1932, he won
the Massachusetts championship. He
was a chess columnist for the
Washington Star. He was the main
book reviewer for Chess Review in
the 1940s. In 1933, he joined the
staff of the Library of Congress,
with a specialty in American history.
(source: Chess Review, Jan 1965, p.
13)
Walter Muir (1905-1999) was a

chess master and correspondence
chess champion. In 1997 he wrote
his autobiography, My 75 Year
Chess Career. He died at the age of
95. He was considered the Dean of
American Correspondence Chess. In
1925 he began to play
correspondence chess and was an
active player all his life. In 1971 he
Correspondence Chess Master
(ICCM) title. He was the first
American correspondence player to
defeat a Soviet correspondence
player in international competition.
In 1999, Robert Mundell (1932- )

won the Nobel Prize in Economics.
He laid the groundwork for the
introduction of the euro. He
sponsored a major chess tournament
in China (Pearl Spring in Nanjing),
saying that the best way for Chinese
cities to show openness to the
outside world is to host world-class
chess tournaments. For relaxation,
he plays chess and played chess in
high school.
Jacob Murey (1941- ) is a Russian-

born Israeli Grandmaster (1987). His
later settled in France. In 2001, he
won the first European Senior
Championship.
Harold James Ruthven Murray

(1868-1955) was an English
educationist and prominent chess
historian. He was the first to publish
the theory that chess originated in
India. In 1913, he published his most
significant work, A History of
Chess. His 900-page book was based
on 14 years of research using
original material from the best chess
libraries, translated by specialists. In
1917, he wrote A Short History of
Chess, which wasn't published until
1963. His father, Sir James A. H.
Murray, was the first editor of the
Oxford English Dictionary. Harold
was a school inspector by
profession.
Niaz Murshed (1966- ) tied for 1st in

the championship of Bangladesh at
the age of 12. He won the next four
national championships at 13, 14,
15, and 16 years of age. At 15, he
tied for 1st in the Asian Junior
championship. He became a
Grandmaster at age 20 in 1987. He
was the first South Asian to earn the
GM title. He has won the
Bangladesh Championship 5 times.
He has a bachelor's degree in
economics.
Anna Muzychuk (1990- ) is a

Ukrainian-Slovene Grandmaster
(2012). In 2003, she won the
Ukrainian Women's Championship.
In 2014 and 2016, she won the
Women's World Blitz Chess
Women's Rapid Chess
Championship. In 2017, she finished
2nd in the Women's World
Championship. In November 2017,
she announced she would boycott
the 2017 Women's World Speed
Chess Championship, to be held in
Saudi Arabia, due to Saudi Arabia's
rules regarding women. Her peak
rating was 2606 in 2012, when she
was ranked the #2 woman in the
world.
Marilyn Olegivna Muzychuk (1992-
) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2015).
She was Women's World Champion
from 2015 to 2016. In 2012 and
2013, she was women's champion of
Ukraine. Her peak rating was 2563
in 2016.
Tamir Nabaty (1991- ) is an Israeli

Grandmaster (2011). In 2013 and
2016, he won the Israeli
Championship.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) was

a Russian-born American novelist.
In 1930, he wrote Zashchita Luzhina
(Luzhin's Defense), under the
pseudonym V. Sirin. It was about a
ches master, Aleksandr Luzhin, who
became obsessed with the game and
loses his mind. The book appeared
in English in 1964. Nabokov used
chess as a theme in many of his
novels. Nabokov had a great interest
in chess and composed several chess
problems. In 1955, he wrote Lolita,
his most famous novel.
Gia Nadareishvili (1921-1991) was a

Georgian Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions (1980). In 1974, he
won the 12th USSR study-
composing championship. He was a
co-founder of FIDE's Permanent
Commission for Chess Composition
(PCCC). He composed about 500
chess studies. He was head of the
neurology department at a hospital
in Tbilisi.
Arkadi Naiditsch (1985- ) is a

Latvian-born Azerbaijani
Grandmaster that previously
represented Germany. In 1995, he
Championship. In 2004 he was
accused of using a computer in an
Internet tournament and was
disqualified. He won the 2005
Super-GM tournament at Dortmund.
He was the bottom seed and finished
ahead of Topalov, Bacrot, Svidler,
Van Wely, Kramnik, Adams, Leko,
Sutovsky, and Nielsen. In 2007, he
won the German national
championship. His peak rating was
2737 in 2013. He is married to
Ukrainian-Israeli International Mastr
Yuliya Shvayger.
Naiditsch — Djukic, Spain 2001

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Qc7 5.Nb5 Qb8 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.f4 e5
8.O-O a6 9.N5c3 exf4 10.Nd5 Nxd5
11.exd5 Bc5+ 12.Kh1 Ne7 13.Bxf4
d6 14.Qe2 b5 15.Nd2 Qb7 16.Ne4
Qxd5 17.Rad1 Qe6 18.Bxd6 Bb6
19.Bxe7 Kxe7 20.Rxf7+ 1-0
Miguel Najdorf (1910-1997), was

born in Warsaw, Poland. He won the
Warsaw championship in 1934. In
1935, at the Warsaw Chess
Olympiad, Isaias Pleci (1900-1980)
of Argentina claimed his game on
time forfeit against Najdorf. Najdorf
made his move just before time
control, but before he could press the
button on the chess clock, Pleci
picked up the chess clock and ran
away with it. Pleci said he could not
forcible stop Najdorf from making
his move and writing it down on his
scoresheet. The arbiters were unable
to determine who was telling the
trutch, so they let the chess clock
decide the issue. Najdorf lost the
game on time. In 1936, he tied for
1st in the Hungarian Championship.
He represented Poland in 4 Chess
Olympiads. In 1939, at the outbreak
of World War II, he was playing for
Poland in the Chess Olympiad in
Buenos Aires. He decided to stay in
Argentina and changed his forename
from Miezyslaw to Miguel.
Najdorf's entire Polish family died in
German concentration camps during
World War II. The family lived in
Warsaw and Najdorf was born in
Warsaw. Najdorf lost his wife, child,
father, mother, and four brothers in
concentration camps. If he had not
gone to Buenos Aires to participate
in the Chess Olympiad, he would
have perished also. He became a
naturalized citizen of Argentina in
1944 and represented Argentina in
11 Chess Olympiads as Miguel
Najdorf. He was awarded the
Grandmaster title in 1950. He won
the championship of Argentina
seven times. Najdorf was a porcelain
importer and worked in the
insurance business in Buenos Aires.
He had his own insurance and
finance firm with over 100
employees, which made him a
millionaire and one of the world's
richest chess players. He was the
primary agent for the Prudential
Insurance Company of America in
Argentina. He was also a longtime
chess writer.
Najdorf - Piazzi, Argentina 1951

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5 3.cxd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3
cxd4 5.Nc3 Qd8 6.Qxd4 Qxd4
7.Nxd4 e5 8.Ndb5 Kd8 9.Be3 Nc6
10.O-O-O+ Bd7 11.g3 Nf6 12.Bh3
Be7 13.Rxd7+ Nxd7 14.Rd1 Ncb8
15.Nd5 g6 16.Nbc7 Bd6 17.Nxa8 b6
18.Bg5+ 1-0
Evgeniy Yuryevich Najer (1977- ) is

won the Moscow Championship in
1998 and 2003. In 2002, he tied for
1st in the US Open. He won the
World Open in 2008 and 2009. In
2015, he won the European
2707 in 2017.
Hikaru Nakamura (1987- ) was born

in Hirakata, Japan to a Japanese
father and an American mother. At
the age of 2, he moved to the USA
with his mother. He began to play
chess at the age of 4 and was
coached by his stepfather, FIDE
Master Sunil Weeramanty. He
became a master at the age of 10
years and 79 days. At the age of 15
years and 79 days, he was awarded
the Grandmaster title. In 2004, he
won the US Championship, the
youngest since Fischer. In 2005, he
was selected as the 19th Frank P.
Samford Chess Fellow. He has won
the US Chess Championship 4 times.
world in rapid and blitz chess. His
peak FIDE rating was 2816 in 2015,
ranked #2 in the world, behind world
champion Magnus Carlsen. His peak
USCF ratig was 2900 in 2015.
Richardson — Nakamura, Bermuda

2002 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6
4.Qd1 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7
7.Bc4 O-O 8.h4 h5 9.Qd2 Ne5
10.Bb3 d6 11.Nf3 Neg4 12.Bg5 b5
13.Nh2 b4 14.Nd5 Nxh2 15.Rxh2
Nxd5 16.Qxd5 Bxb2 17.Rd1 Bc3+
18.Kf1 Qc7 19.Qd3 a5 20.f4 Ba6 0-
1
Dato Tan Chin Nam (1926- ) is an

entrepreneur and developer in
Malaysia. Since the 1970s, he has
donated large sum of money in
Malaysia and China (the Big Dragon
Project) to promote chess. He was
the first chess sponsor in China. He
sponsors the Malaysian Chess
Festival every year in Kuala Lupur.
He was president of the Malaysian
Chess Association. He served as
FIDE Deputy President (1982-1986).
William Ewart Napier (1881-1952)

was an English-born player. He
family moved to Brooklyn, New
York when he was 5. He started out
studying music (he was a pianist and
vocalist) in England, but mostly
studied chess instead. In 1896, at the
age of 15, he won the Brooklyn
Chess Club Championship. In 1901,
he took 2nd in the New York State
first British Chess Federation chess
championship in 1904. He became a
U.S. citizen in 1908. He married
Harry Pillsbury's niece. He turned to
journalism and wrote for newspapers
in seven different countries. He later
became secretary of the Banker's
Life Insurance Company. He then
became secretary, then vice-
president of the Scranton Life
Insurance company.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

played the Turk Automaton in 1809
at the Schoenbrunn Castle in
Austria. He may have played the
Turk (Allgaier) at least three times,
losing every time. When he lost, he
knocked all the pieces from the
board and yelled, "Bagatelle," then
stormed out of the room. When
Napoleon died, he willed that his
heart be cut out and be placed inside
a chess table.
Madame Claire de Remusat—

Napoleon Bonaparte, Paris, 1802
(some sources say 1804)
1.e4 Nf6 2.d3 Nc6 3.f4 e5 4.fxe5
Nxe5 5.Nc3 Nfg4 6.d4 Qh4+ 7.g3
Qf6 8.Nh3 Nf3+ 9.Ke2 Nxd4+
10.Kd3 Ne5+ 11.Kxd4 Bc5+
12.Kxc5 Qb6+ 13.Kd5 Qd6# 0-1
Mario Napolitano (1910-1995) was

an Italian Correspondence Chess
Italian Correspondence Chess
tied for 2nd in the first World
(1950-1953), behind Cecil Purdy. He
took 2nd in the 2nd World
(1956-1959). He took 5th in the 3rd
World Correspondence
Championship (1959-1962). He was
a local government officer by
profession.
Leo Nardus (1868-1955) was a

wealthy Dutch artist and chess
patron who sponsored many
European chess tournaments and
matches. He sponsored the Lasker-
Janowski matches.
Daniel Naroditsky (1995- ) is an

has been ranked #1 in the USA in his
age category for the past 8 years. In
2007, he won the Under-12 World
Youth Chess Championship. He is
the youngest chess author in history
when his book, Mastering Positional
Chess, was published when Daniel
was 14. In 2014, he was awarded the
Samford Chess Fellowship and is
now attending Stanford.
James Narraway (1857-1947) was a

Canadian master. He won the
Canadian championship in 1893,
1897, and 1898. In 1903, he took
first place in the Pillsbury National
Correspondence Chess Association
Masters' Tournament. In 1918, h
won the 5th North American
Correspondnece Chess
Championship. He was a past
president of the Canadian Chess
Association. He was an accountatin
for the Canadian Depeartment of
Justice and an amateur
paleontologist.
Graham Nash (1942- ) of Crosby,

Stills, and Nash plays chess. He
participated in a celebrity chess
tournament in Mazatlan, Mexico in
1988 and played Helen Reddy.
In 1994, John Forbes Nash (1928-

Economics for his work in game
theory, where he called chess a
"zero-sum" game. He played chess
in his younger years. Just before his
death, Nash traveled to Europe and
met Magnus Carlsen in Norway.
Igor-Alexandre Natif (1978- ) is a

French Grandmaster (1998). His
David Navara (1985- ) is a Czech
Czech Championship 7 times. His
In 1994, Joseph Neale (1950- ) was a

postal worker who was dismissed
from a part-time city job coach
coaching chess at a community
center in Riverside, California. He
took his grudge to City Hall where
he shot the mayor, three members of
the Council, and two policemen in
1998. 11 other people sustained
minor injuries from flying glass.
None of the shots were fatal. He was
found guilty of 12 counts of
premeditated attempted murder.
Alexander Neckham (1157-1217)

was the uthor of the earliest British
reference to chess. He wrote a
description of the game in a chapter
of his book De Naturis Rerum (On
the Nature of Things) in 1180. He
may have been introduced to chess
while visiting Arab centers of culture
in Spain and Mesopotamia.
Neckham was a foster-brother of
King Richard I and a church abbot.
He condemned the game as a waste
of time.
Srecko (1923-2011) and Vera

Nedeljkovic (1924- ) were one of the
strongest husband and wife chess
playing partners. He was an
international master and she was one
of the strongest women players in
the world. In the 1950s, he gave up
chess to become a medical doctor
(working with Dr. Michael
DeBakey, a world-renowned cardiac
surgeon), and she gave up chess to
be a physicist. Their son became
President of the Faculty of
Mechanical Engineering at Belgrade
University.
Dr. Joseph Needham (1900-1995)

was a recognized authority on
ancient Chinese civilizations and had
written several articles on the history
of chess. He postulated that chess
originated in China. In 1962, he
wrote Thoughts on the Origin of
Chess.
Panimarjan Negi (1993- ) became

the third youngest Grandmaster
(2006) ever when, he became a GM
at the age of 13 years, 4 months, and
22 days. He is India's youngest GM.
At age 19, he won the Asian
continental chess championship.
Gyorgy Negyesy (1893-1992) was a

Hungarian master who died just
short of his 99th birthday. He was
the longest-lived master chess
player.
Iivo Nei (1931- ) is an Estonian

International Master (1964). He has
won the Estonian championship 8
times (1951, 1952, 1956, 1960,
1961, 1971, 1974). He won the
championship of the Baltic
Republics in 1961, 1963, and 1964.
He played in 3 USSR
championships. In 1972, he was one
of Boris Spassky's seconds in the
World Chess Championship match
with Bobby Fischer.
Nei — Ippolito, France 1994 1.d4

Nf6 2.Bg5 g6 3.Nd2 Bg7 4.e3 d6
5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 O-O 7.h3 Nc6 8.Ne2
e5 9.dxc5 dxc5 10.Ne4 Qe7 11.N2g3
b6 12.Qf3 1-0
Artus Neiksans (1983- ) is a Latvian

Latvian Championsip 3 times. His
In the late 1990s, Ray Charles

(1930-2004) and Willie Nelson
(1933- ) were both avid chess
players and they would play chess
between shows. Ray seemed to
always win and then, one night,
Willie figured it out how to beat
Ray. When asked, "What did you tell
him Willie?" Willie responded, "I
said, 'The next time we play, can we
turn the lights on?'"
Ivan Nemet (1943-2007) was a

Swiss Grandmaster (1978), who was
born in Sombor Yugoslavia on April
14, 1943. He was Yugoslav
champion in 1979. He was Swiss
champion in 1990. He died of a heart
attack in 2007 at the age of 64.
Vladimir Nenarokov (1880-1953)

was a Russian International Master
(1950). He won the Moscow City
Chess Championship 4 times. He
played in 5 USSR championships.
He died 3 weeks before his 73rd
birthday.
Ian Alecandrovich Nepomniachtchi

(1990- ) is a Russian grandmaster
(2007). He won the European Youth
2002, he won the under-12 World
Youth Chess Championship, edging
out Magnus Carlsen in tiebreak
points. In 2010, he won the Russian
Superfinal and European Individual
titles. He was once expelled from a
chess school for throwing a shoe at
his trainer. His peak rating was 2767
in 2016.
Gustav Richard Ludwig Neumann

(1838-1881) was a German chess
master. He was born in Gielwitz in
the Prussian Province of Silesia
(now Poland). From 1864 to 1867,
he was co-editor, along with Adolf
Anderssen, of the Neue Berliner
Schachzeitung. In 1865, he won at
Berlin, with a perfect score of 34
wins, no loses, and no draws. In
1867, he took 1st at the Dundee,
Scotlan International Tournament,
ahead of Steinitz. He studied
medicine in Berlin. He studied
physics and chemistry in Paris. He
suffered severe mental illness which
was attributed to a head injury
sustained in his youth. He spent his
last years in a sanitorium in Eastern
Prussia.
Vladislav Nevednichy (1969- ) is a

Romanian Grandmaster (1993). He
won the Romanian Championship in
2008.
Valeriy Neverov (1964- ) is a

has won the Ukrainian championship
4 times. In 1991, he won the
Capablanca Memorial in Cuba. He
has tied for 1st in 3 Hastings
International Chess Congresses. His
Sir George Newnes (1851-1910)was

a newspaper and magazine publisher
(Tit-Bits, Review of Reviews, and
Country Life). In 1892 he published
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle. He helped
finance the early days of motion
pictures. He was a member of the
British Parliament. He sponsored a
series (13) of Anglo_American cable
chess matches from 1895 to 1911.
The winner won the Newnes Trophy
cup. Great Britain won the trophy
permanently in 1911 when it won
the match for the 3rd time in a row.
He was President of the British
Chess Club
In 2001, Christopher J. Newton

(1969-2007), imprisoned for
burglary, murdered his cellmate,
Jason Brewer, 27, over a game of
chess in a Ohio prison. Brewer
would resign his chess game against
Newton every time a pawn was lost
or the position looked bad. Newton
tried to tell him not to give up and
play the game out, but Brewer
refused. After a month of playing
chess and Brewer always resigning
early without playing out the game,
Newton finally had enough and
strangled Brewer. Newton was
executed on May 24, 2007 by lethal
injection on Ohio. He was the first
murderer executed for killing
someone over a chess game.
Rashid Nezhmetdinov (1912-1974),

a native of Kazan, was a Soviet
the first USSR master in chess and
checkers. In 1949, he won the
Russian chess championship and
immediately after, took 2nd in the
Russian checkers championship. He
wrote the first chess book in the
Tatar language in 1953. He won the
Russian Federation (RSFSR) chess
championship 5 times. He played in
4 USSR chess championships. He
was Tal's trainer during Tal's world
championship matches.
Nguyen Anh Dung (1976) is a

Vietnamese Grandmaster (2000).
Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (1990- )

is a Vietnamese Grandmaster (2004).
In 2000, he won the World Under-10
was awarded the IM title. In 2004,
he became a GM at the age of 14
years, 10 months. In 2004, he was
voted as the athlete of the year in
Vietnam. In 2014, he won the gold
medal on board two at the Chess
Olympiad in Norway.
Ni Hua (1983- ) is a Chinese

Chinese Championship 3 times. In
2010, he won the Asian Chess
Australian Open. His peak rating
was 2724 in 2009.
Bryon Nickoloff (1956-2004) was a

Canadian International Master
(1978). In 1999 he was told that he
had terminal cancer (Hodgkin's
Disease) and less than six months to
live. He survived five years, playing
chess to the very end. He won the
Canadian Open in 1992 and 1995
and the Canadian Championship in
1995. He played six times on the
Canadian Olympiad chess teams
(1978, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994,
1998). He was Pan-Am Open
Champion in 1999.
Nickoloff — Morin, Vancouver BC
1974 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6
4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 c5 6.Bxc4 Be7 7.O-O
O-O 8.Qe2 a6 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.e4 h6
11.e5 Ne8 12.Bd3 f5 13.exf6 Nxf6
14.Ne4 Bb6 15.Ne5 Nbd7 16.Ng6
Nxe4 17.Nxf8 Qxf8 18.Bxe4 Qe7
19.Bf4 e5 20.Rae1 1-0
Peter Heine Nielsen (1974- ) is a

Danish Grandmaster (1994). He won
the Danish Championship in 5 times.
In 2002/2003 he won the traditional
Hastings tournament. He won the
2nd European Internet
Championship in 2004. He played
for Denmark in 7 Chess Olypiads.
He is married to GM Viktorija
Cmilyte.
Nielsen — Karjakin, Hastings 2002

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 c5 4.d5 Nf6
5.Nc3 b5 6.Bf4 Ba6 7.Nf3 b4
8.Bxb8 bxc3 9.Qa4+ Qd7 10.Qxa6
cxb2 11.Rb1 Rxb8 12.Bxc4 Rb6
13.Qa3 Nxe4 14.Rxb2 Qb7 15.Rxb6
Qxb6 16.O-O f6 17.Qa4+ Kd8 18.d6
e5 19.Be6 Qb7 20.Qa5+ 1-0
Dr. Meindert Niemeijer (1902-1987)

was a Dutch International Master for
Chess Compositions (1958) and
chess historian. He served as dealer
for the Royal Dutch Hague Library
(Koninklijke Bibliotheek), buying
and selling chess books over a
period of 40 years. He gave his own
chess collection of over 7,000
volumes to the Royal Dutch Library
in 1948. The Hague Library calls
their chess library the Der
Linde/Niemeijer collection and has
around 30,000 items. He published
30 books on chess problems and
authored over 600 chess problems.
He started the Netherlands Problems
Archives in 1925, which has over
50,000 problems today. He was a
lawyer and banker by profession.
Gaioz Nigalidze (1989- ) was a

Georgian Grandmaster (2014),
which was revoked in 2015. He was
Georgian Champion in 2013 and
2014. In April 2015, Nigalidze was
banned from the Dubai Open for
using an electronic device. The
device was hidden in one of the
bathroom cubicles of the Dubai
Chess and Culture Club during his
sixth-round game with Armenia's
Tigran Petrosian. He was
subsequently banned for 3 years
(until September 2018) and his
grandmaster title was revoked.
Friso Nijboer (1965- ) is a Dutch

Grandmaster (1996). He has played
for the Netherlands in 6 Chess
2641 in 2006.
Juraj Nikolac (1932- ) is a Croation

was 2500 in 1988. He is a retired
physics teacher.
Ionnis Nikolaidis (1971- ) is a Greek

won the Greek Championship. He
played for Greece in 7 Chess
Olympiads.
Predrag Nikolic (1960- ) is a

Bosnian Grandmaster (1983). In
1980 and 1984, he won the
Yugoslav Championship. In 1982,
he took 2md, after Tal, at Sarajevo.
He won the event the next year. In
2004, he tied for 1st in the European
over-50 World Senior
2676 in 2004.
Aaron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935)

was born in Riga, Livonia (part of
the Russian empire at the time) of
Jewish German-speaking parents. He
began playing chess in 1894, at the
age of 8, taught be his father. In
1904, he went to Berlin to study
philosophy, but began a career as a
professional chess player. During the
1917 Russian Revolution,
Nimzowitsch was in the Baltic war
zone (Latvia) and escaped being
drafted into the military service in
Russia by complaining that a fly was
on his head. He then made his way
to Berlin and changed his name to
Arnold as a precaution against anti-
Semitism. Nimzowitsch abhorred
tobacco smoke. In the late 1920s,
Nimzowitsch visited Israel and went
to a local chess club anonymously.
He naturally crushed everyone else,
and eventually one of the old
kibitzers there told him: "You're a
pretty good player, your style
reminds me of Nimzowitsch..." In
1920, he left Latvia for Sweden. His
name, originally spelled
Niemzowitsch, was spelt without an
e on his passport. Overjoyed at
having a passport at all, he accepted
the new name and spelling. In 1922,
he moved to Copenhagen and
became a Danish citizen. At New
York in 1927, his opponent, Dr.
Milan Vidmar (1885-1962) took out
his pipe and began to fiddle with it.
Nimzowitsch asked Vidmar not to
smoke. Vidmar agreed, but later
during the game, he absent-mindedly
took his cigar case out of his pocket
and laid it on the chess table.
Nimzowitch at once left the table
and ran to Geza Maroczy (1860-
1951), the tournament director,
complaining that Vidmar had his
cigar case out. Maroczy said to
Nimzowitsch, "But Vidmar is not
smoking; his cigar case in
unopened." Nimzowitsch responded,
"I know, but as an old chess player
you must know that the threat is
stronger than the execution."
(source: Chess Review, Sep 1936, p.
202)
Nimzowitsch - Alapin, St Louis

1913 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6
4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 c5 6.Nxd5 Qxd5
7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 a6 9.Be2 Qxg2
10.Bf3 Qg6 11.Qd2 e5 12.O-O-O
exd4 13.Bxd4 Nc6 14.Bf6 Qxf6
15.Rhe1+ Be7 16.Bxc6+ Kf8
17.Qd8+ Bxd8 18.Re8 mate 1-0
Nicholas Nip (1998- ) became a

USCF master at the age of 9 years,
11 months and 26 days in 1998, the
first 9-year-old master. At age 10, he
played 10 simultaneous games on
Live with Regis and Kelly, winning
9 and drawing 1.
Frank Niro (1948- ) was born in

Milford, Massachusetts on
September 28, 1948. In 1973, he
won the American Postal Chess
Tournament (APCT) League
championship and became a
correspondence master in that
organization in 1975. From 1984 to
1986, he was editor of Chess
Horizons. He was Executive
Director (ED) of the US Chess
Federation (USCF) in 2002 and
2003. He is board member and CEO
of the US Chess Trust. He is an
ICCF Master who has represented
the United States in international
correspondence chess competition.
He is a former hospital
administrator, management
consultant and auditor for a national
public accounting firm.
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (1976- ) is a

Romanian-German Grandmaster
(1997). In 2005, he won the
European Individual Championship.
In 2017, he won the German
2706 in 2005.
Jesus Nogueiras (1959- ) is a Cuban

Cuban championship 5 times. His
David Norwood is an English-born

Andorran Grandmaster (1989). He is
a CEO of an investment company.
Daniel Noteboom (1910-1932) was a

Dutch player who scored well in the
1930 Hamburg Olympiad (11.5 out
of 15) and the 1931-32 Hastings
tournament (3rd place). His name is
associated with the variation: 1.d4
d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4
Bb4 6.e3 b5 7.Bd2 a5 (Voisin-
Noteboom, Hamburg 1930). He was
the first to introduce it into master
play. This is also known as the
Abrahams variation. In 1931-1932,
Noteboom attended the Hastings
Chess Congress, held in December-
January. The weather was so cold
that he caught pneumonia at
Hastings and then died on January
12, 1932. He was only 21.
Noteboom — Van Doesburgh,

Netherlands 1931 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6
3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 c6 6.a3
Be7 7.Qc2 O-O 8.Nf3 a6 9.Rd1 Re8
10.Bd3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 b5 12.Bd3 h6
13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.O-O Bb7 15.Ne4
Nxe4 16.Bxe4 f5 17.Bd3 Qb6
18.Rc1 Rac8 19.b4 Qd8 20.Ne5 a5
21.Qb3 Bd6 22.Bxf5 Qf6 23.Bb1
Bxe5 24.dxe5 Qxe5 25.Rc5 a4
26.Qa2 Qd6 27.Qc2 Rcd8 28.Qh7+
Kf8 29.Bg6 1-0
Igor Novikov (1962- ) is a

Ukrainian-born American
for 1st place in the World Open. In
2002, he won the Marshall Chess
Club Championship.
Nikolay Novotelnov (1911-2006)

was a Soviet International Master. In
1942, he won the Leningrad Chess
Russian Federation (RSFSR) Chess
Championship. He died 3 weeks
after his 95th birthday. He was an
economist by profession.
John Denis Martin Nunn (1955- ) is

an English Grandmaster (1978) who
went to Oxford at age 15, graduated
at 18, and got his doctorate in
mathematics at 23 (dissertation on
H-space and Algebraic Topology).
In 1967, at the age of 12, he won the
British under-14 Chess
1980, he won the British
Championship. In the 1984
Thessaloniki Olympiad, he received
3 gold medals: best score on board 2,
best performance rating in the
Olympiad, and winner of the
problem-solving contest. In 1985, he
was ranked #9 in the world. He has
won the World Chess Problem
Solving Championship 3 times. His
Nunn - Geogiev, Linares 1988 1.e4

c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7
5.Ng5 h6 6.Ne6 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 Qb6
8.Bd3 fxe6 9.Qh5+ Kd8 10.Ba5 1-0
Tomi Nyback (1985- ) is a Finnish

for 1st in the European under-18
championship of Finland, scoring a
perfect 9-0. His peak rating was
2656 in 2011.
Illya Nyzhnyk (1996- ) is a

1st in the World under-12
European under-16 Championship at
age 12. In December 2010, he
secured his final GM norm at the age
of 14 years and 3 months, making
him the youngest GM in the world.
Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (1911-

1980) was a Belgian Grandmaster
(1956). In 1962, he became the first
grandmaster of over-the-board
andcorrespondence chess. He was
winner of the 3rd World
(1962-1965). He won the Belgium
championship 12 times. He played
for Belgium in 8 Chess Olympiads.
He was chief arbiter in four world
championship matches. In Belgium,
he was honored with the Golden
Palm of the Order of the Crown. He
could speak seven different
languages. He was not a Count like
some sources say. He died at the age
of 70.
O'Kelly de Galway - Ramirez,

Malaga 1963 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6
3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 O-O 6.Be3
Nc6 7.Qd2 a6 8.O-O-O Bd7 9.Bh6
Qb8 10.h4 b5 11.h5 Rd8 12.hxg6
fxg6 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Qh6+ Kf7
15.e5 dxe5 16.Ne4 Nxd4 17.Ng5+
Ke8 18.Qxg6+ (18...hxg6 19.Rh8+)
1-0
Alexander Obukhov (1969- ) is a

Handszar Odeev (1972- ) is a

Turmen Grandmaster (2005). He
played for Turkmenistan in 7 Chess
Oympiads. His peak rating was 2502
in 2006.
Leif Ogaard (1952- ) is a Norwegian

Norwegian championship 5 times.
Howard Elmer Ohman (1899-1968)

was a chess master, ardent promoter
and organizer of chess events. He
was winner of the Nebraska State
Championship 25 times, from 1917
to 1946. He was once ranked at the
7th highest rated player in the U.S.
He was a chess columnist, prominent
organizer, and school teacher. He
was a reverend and lived in Omaha,
Nebraska.
Vladimir Okhotnik (1950- ) is a

Ukrainian-born French grandmaster
(2011). In 1979, he won the 44th
Ukrainian Championship. In 2011,
he won the World Senior
65+ World Senior Championship.
Fridrik olafsson (1935- ) was

Iceland's first Grandmaster (1958)
and former FIDE president (1978-
82). He has won the Icelandic Chess
Championship 6 times. He has won
the Nordic Championship twice. In
1955, Olafsson arrived late to
participate in the annual Christmas
Hastings tournament in England. No
rooms could be found for him, so he
spent his first night in a jail cell at
the Hastings police station as a guest
to the local police. Olafsson went on
to tie for 1st place with Vicktor
Korchnoi in this event. His peak
rating was 2600 in 1969. He was the
Secretary General of the Icelandic
Parliament and a lawyer at the
Icelandic Ministty of Justice.
Bordversson — F. Olafsson, Iceland

1947 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6
4.Nf3 Nc6 5.h3?? Bg3 mate 0-1
Former U.S. President Barack

Obama (1961- ) plays chess. So does
his wife, Michelle. A New York
Times article stated that "Mrs.
Obama and her brother were
expected to fill their time with
books, chess, and sports." Obama
mentioned chess in his book Dreams
from My Father and talked about
learning chess from his grandfather
and Indonesian stepfather. He
learned chess around age 9 and
played chess with his stepfather,
Lolo Soetoro (1935-1987). In 2009,
President Obama spoke at the New
Economic School, a graduate
economic school in Moscow and
used chess as a metaphor. In his
speech, he said, "The days when
empires could treat sovereign states
as pieces on a chess-bard are over."
(source: Senauth, The Making of a
President, p. 235). While in
Moscow, Obama met with former
world chess champion Garry
Kasparov. In 2009, Henry Kissinger
(a chess player) was interviewed by
Spiegel Online. He said this of
Obama. "Obama is like a chess
player who is playing simultaneous
chess and has opened his game with
an unusual opening. Now he's got to
play his hand as he plays his various
counterparts. We haven't gotten
beyond the opening game move yet.
I have no quarrel with the opening
move." In Afghanistan, Allied troops
have been playing Osama vs. Obama
"terror chess." The traditional pieces
have been replaced with late terrorist
Osama Bin Laden and U.S.
President Obama as respective
kings. The rooks have been replaced
by the World Trade Center towers.
The Statue of Liberty is the queen. A
map of Afghanistan is superimposed
over the classic checkerboard
pattern. The chess board game was
produced by an ex-Canadian Special
Forces soldier.
Mikhailo Oleksienko (1986- ) is a

2016, he won the Ukrainain
Championship.
On May 17, 1999, Estonian GM

(1990) Lembit Oll (1966-1999)
committed suicide by jumping out of
a 5th floor window of his apartment
in Tallinn at the age of 33. He
suffered from severe depression after
his wife divorced him. He is buried
at Metsakalmistu Cemetery in
Tallinn. He was Estonian champion
in 1982.
Adolf George Olland (1867-1933)

was the first official Dutch chess
champion. He won the event in
1909. He founded the chess club in
Utrecht, Netherlands in 1886. He
became a medical doctor. In 1895,
he won the 23rd Netherlands
Championship. On July 23, 1933,
Olland died of a heart attack while
playing in the 1933 Dutch chess
championship at The Hague. He was
66. His last game was White against
Hamming. Olland made his 25th
move, then he collapsed, his head
fell on the chessboard and the pieces
rolled off the table. The arbiter
declared the game as won by him.
Michal Olszewski (1989- ) is a

he took 3rd in the World Junior
Alexander Onischuk (1975- ) is a

Ukrainian-American Grandmaster
(1994). In 1991, he took 2nd in the
world under-16 Championship. In
2001, he immigrated to the USA and
moved to Virginia. In 2006, he won
the U.S. Championship. In 2010, he
Olympiad. His peak rating was 2701
in 2010.
A. Onischuk — Kovacevic,
Leningrad 1991 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6
3.Nf3 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5 h6
6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Nb5 Kf8 8.Nbxc7
Rb8 9.Nb5 a6 10.Nbc3 Nf6 11.Bf4
Ra8 12.Bc7 1-0
Vladimir Onischuk (1991- ) is a

Ukrainain Grandmaster (2012).
In 1996, Yoko Ono (1933- ) donated

$2,500 to enable the Edward R.
Murrow High School chess team in
Brooklyn, New York, to attend the
state and national championships.
The school had been national
champions in 1992, 1993, and 1994,
but had no funds in 1995 and 1996.
The school won the national
championship in 2013, their 8th time
winning it (1992, 1993, 1994, 2004,
2005, 2006, 2007, 2013). They have
also won 15 state titles and 16 city
championships. Yoko says she plays
chess almost every day.
Grigoriy Oparin (1997- ) is a

2014, he won the Russian Junior
2626 in 2016.
Karel Opocensky (1892-1975) was a

Czech International Master (1950)
and five-time Czech champion
(1927, 1929, 1938, 1943, 1944). He
played for Czechoslovakia in 4
Chess Olympiads. He was the chief
arbiter of the 1951 and 1954 world
championship matches in Moscow.
He could speak 10 different
languages. He was a civil servant by
profession.
Charles D'Orleans (1394-1465) was

a French prince and a chess player.
He was father of Louis XII of France
(1462-1515), who was King of
France from 1498 to 1515. In 1415,
Charles was taken prisoner at the
battle in Azincourt by the English
and was ransomed 25 years later for
220,000 gold crowns. While captive,
he played chess and wrote poems
about chess.
Georgi Orlov (1865- ) is an

International Master who emigrated
from Moldavia to the United States
in 1991. He won the championship
of Moldavia three times. In 1994, he
won the 95th U.S. Open, held near
Chicago, Illinois, on tiebreak over
Dmitry Gurevich, Ben Finegold,
Smbat Lputian, Leo Kaushansky,
and Albert Chow. In 1999 he tied for
1st place in the Canadian Open. He
played in two U.S. Championships.
He has won the Washington State
Championship 5 times. He was
married to Elena Akhmilovskaya
Donaldson
Haubrich — Orlov, Chicago 1991

1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.g3 dxe4
5.dxe4 Bc5 6.Ngf3 Ng4 0-1
Lexy Ortega, born in Cuba, is an

he won the Cuban under-18
Italian Championship.
Isan Reynaldos Ortiz-SuArez (1985-

) is a Cuban Grandmaster (2011). He
has won the Cuban Championship 3
2015.
Berge Ostenstad (1964- ) is a

has won the Norwegian
Predrag Ostojic (1938-1996) was a

1968 and 1971. He was a journalist
by profession.
Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963),

Kennedy's alleged assassin, was a
chess player. While in the Marines,
he would play over 4 hours a day
and taught dozens of other Marines
how to play chess. The Warren
Commission stated that he was not a
good chess player. His chess set,
given to him by his mother, was up
for auction in 2013.
John Owen (1827-1901) was born in

Staffordshire on July 1, 1827. In
1851, he was ordained and became a
vicar of Hooten, Chesire from 1862
to 1900. He was a member of
George's Chess Club and was
recognized as one of London's
strongest amateurs. He played chess
and wrote under the pseudonym
'Alter'. He popularized the move
1.e4 b6, Owen's Defense. In 1857,
he won the minor section of the first
British Chess Association Congress
in Manchester. The major section
was won by Janos Loewenthal. In
1858, he tied for 3rd-4th in the 2nd
British Chess Association Congress
in Birmingham. In 1858, he lost a
match to Samuel Boden in London
(+2-7=2). In 1860, he tied a match
with Ignatz Kolisch in Manchester
(+4-4=0). In 1862, He took 3rd place
in the 1st British Chess Federation
Congress in London (the first round-
robin event), behind Anderssen and
Paulsen. In 1868-1869, he took 3rd-
4th in the 2nd British Chess
Association Challenge Cup in
London. In 1870, he took 3rd in the
3rd British Chess Association
Congress in London. In 1874, he tied
a match with Amos Burn in
Liverpool (+4-4=0). In 1875, he lost
a match with Burn in London (+11-
6=3). In 1876, he tied for 2nd-4th in
the 12 British Counties Chess
Association Congress in Chelenham.
In 1878, he lost a match with
Zukertort (+0-8=3). In 1881, he took
2nd in the 16th British Counties
Chess Association Congress. In
1888, he defeated Amos Burn in a
match in Liverpool (+5-3=0). In
1890, he tied for 3rd-4th in the 23rd
British Counties Chess Association
Congress. In 1894-1895, he took
2nd-3rd in the 3rd Craigside
Tournament in Llandudno, England.
He died on November 24, 1901.
Owen — Burn, London 1887 1.Nf3

d5 2.d4 Bf5 3.e3 e6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.a3
c5 6.Bb5+ Nbd7 7.Ne5 Bd6 8.g4
Bxe5 9.gxf5 Bd6 10.dxc5 Bxc5
11.b4 Bd6 12.Bb2 Rc8 13.Qd4 O-O
14.Bxd7 Qxd7 15.Nxd5 Ne8
16.Nf6+ gxf6 17.Rg1+ Kh8
18.Qxf6+ Nxf6 19.Bxf6+ 1-0
Karlis Ozols (1912-2001) was a

Latvian chess master who won the
Riga championship in 1944. He
immigrated to Australia in 1949. He
was accused of taking part in war
atrocities during World War II and
being a Nazi war criminal. He won
the Australian championship in
1956. In 1977 he was awarded the
Correspondence International Master
title.
Franz Pachl (1951- ) is a German

Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions (2005). His hobby is
mini-golf, at which he was German
champion in 1977.
Ludek Pachman (1924-2003) was

born in Bela pod Bezdezem,
Czechoslovakia. He won the
Czechoslovakian championship
seven times between 1946 and 1966.
He represented Czechoslovakia in 8
Chess Olympiads from 1952 through
1966. He won three Zonal
tournaments. He was awarded the
Grandmaster title in 1954. In August
1969, Pachman was arrested and
imprisoned for his political activities
in Czechoslovakia. He was charged
of defaming a representative of the
Republic and supporting Dubcek. He
was sent to Ruzyn Prison on the
outskirts of Prague. He was later
charged with subversion and up to
10 years imprisonment. He was
released in December 1970, but was
banned from chess in
Czechoslovakia. In 1972, he
immigrated to West Germany after
being a political activist. For some
years, he was boycotted by the
Communist bloc. In 1976, he
represented West Germany in the
Chess Olympiad. In 1978, he won
the West Germany Championship.
L. Pachman - Al Awadi, Baden-

Baden 1987 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3
Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3
Nbd7 7.Bd3 O-O 8.Qc2 h6 9.Bh4
Re8 10.Nge2 c6 11.O-O b5 12.Rab1
a5 13.Bg3 a4 14.Nxb5 Qb6 15.Nc7
1-0
Vladimir Pachman (1918-1984) was

the older brother of Ludek Pachman.
He was a Czech Grandmaster for
Chess Compositions (1975). He
composed about 1,200 chess
problems and studies. He edited the
chess problem column in
Ceskolovensky Sach.
Nikola Bochev Padevsky (1933- ) is

a Bulgarian Grandmaster (1964). He
won the Bulgarian Championship 4
times. He played for Bulgaria in 11
Chess Olympiads. He is a corporate
lawyer.
In 1793, Thomas Paine (1737-1809),

author of The Rights of Man and
Common Sense, was supposedly
arrested in Paris for favoring the
exile of King Louis XVI rather than
his execution. Paine was scheduled
to be guillotined, but his
fiancee/wife intervened in a strange
way. She frequented the Cafe de la
Regence, disguised as a man, where
Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-
1794) frequented, and she defeated
him in a game of chess. Robespierre
challenged her again and promised
to grant any wish if she won again.
She again won and asked that her
husband's life be spared. Thomas
Paine then was released from prison.
(source: Ripley's Believe It or Not,
1944). Another source says the lady
was Jacqueline Armand, the fiancee
of a duke who was about to be
guillotined. A third source says that
the lady was the wife of the Marquis
de Merin, who was recently
condemned to death by guillotine.
Zbigiew Pakleza (1986- ) is a Polish

was 2515 in 2015.
Mladen Palac (1971- ) is a Croatian

Croatian Championship in 2001 and
2004. His peak rating was 2551.
Dr. Victor Palciauskas (1941- ), born

in Lithuania, was the winner of the
Championship in 1984. He has a
PhD in Theoretical Physics in 1969
and is a professor of geophysics. He
became an International
Correspondence Chess Federation
(ICCF) grandmaster in 1983.
Marvin Palmer (1897-1985) won the

Iowa State Championship in 1917.
He won the Missouri State
Michigan State Championship 6
times between 1933 and 1943. In
1944, he won the Chess Review
Correspondence Championship, with
a record of 22-0. He worked as a
printer for the Detroit News. (source:
Chess Review, May 1949, p. 131)
Davor Palo (1985- ) is a Danish

GM at the age of 19. In 2013, he
won the Danish Chess
Championship.
Alexander Nikolayevich Panchenko

Grandmaster (1980).
Oscar Roberto Panno (1935- ) is an

Argentine Grandmaster (1955) and
civil engineer. In 1953, he won the
World Junior Chess Championship
and the Argentina chess
championship (he won in 1953,
1975, and 1985). He was South
American Champion in 1957 and
1969. At the 1970 Interzonal in
Buenos Aires, he was to play Bobby
Fischer but protested because he did
not like that fact that Fischer was
playing his last round games at a
different time than all the other
players due to Fischer's religious
beliefs. Fischer was a follower of the
Worldwide Church of God and
recognized the Sabbath on a
Saturday. Fischer played 1.c4 for the
first time in his life and waited for
Panno to make his move. Panno was
out of the tournament room but
returned 52 minutes before returning
to the game and resigned the game,
making it the shortest game ever
played.
Panno - Paglilla, Buenos Aires 1990

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Nd2 Nf6
4.Ngf3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e3 O-O 7.b3
c5 8.Bb2 cxd4 9.exd4 Ne4 10.Bd3
f5 11.O-O Nc6 12.b4 a6 13.Nb3
dxc4 14.Bxc4 b5 15.Bd3 Bb7
16.Re1 Qd5 17.Bb1 Ng5 18.Nxg5
Nxd4 19.Nf3 Nxb3 20.Ba2 1-0
Vasily Panov (1906-1973) was a

In 1929, he was Moscow Chess
Champion. He competed in 6 USSR
championships from 1929 to 1948.
He was chess correspondent for
Izvestia from 1942 to 1965. He was
a journalist by profession.
Levan Pantsulaia (1986- ) is a

Gerogian Grandmaster (2005).
Enrico Paoli (1908-2005) was born

in Trieste on January 13, 1908. He
learned chess at the age of nine. In
1938, he won the Italian
championship. He won it again in
1957, and in 1968, at the age of 60.
He became an International Master
in 1951. He became an honorary
Grandmaster in 1996. He was the
strongest active nonagenarian in the
world, and still playing chess at the
age of 97. He died on December 15,
2005. He died less than a month
before his 98th birthday.
Ioannis Papadopoulos (1988- ) is a

Greek Grandmaster. In 2007, he won
the Greek Championship. His peak
Vasily Papin (1988- ) is a Russian

was 2583 in 2011.
Mark Paragua (1984- ) is a Filipino

youngest Filipino master ever, at the
age of 9. His peak rating was 2621
in 2006.
David Paravyan (1998- ) is a

Jazz saxophonist and composer

Charlie 'Bird' Parker (1920-1955)
played chess and loved the game. An
Irish lady taught him how to play
chess. He played chess with Dizzie
Gillespie.
Mircea-Emilian Parligras (1980- ) is

a Romanian Grandmaster (2002). In
2001, he won the Romanian
2650 in 2011.
Bruno Parma (1941- ) was World

Junior Chess Champion in 1961 and
Slovene Grandmaster (1963). He
won the Slovenian Chess
played for Yugoslaiva in 8 Chess
Olympiads.
Canal - Parma, Reggio Emilia 1965

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 c6
5.Qe2 h6 6.Bh4 Qa5 7.O-O-O Bg7
8.e5 dxe5 9.dxe5 Nh5 10.Re1 Be6
11.Nh3 Nd7 12.g4 Bxe5 13.gxh5
Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qa3+ 15.Kd2 O-O-O
16.Ke3 Qxc3+ (17.Kf4 g5+; 17.Qd3
Qxe1+; 17.Ke4 Bd5+) 0-1
Gyorgy PAros (1910-1975) was a

Hungarian Grandmaster of Chess
Compositions (1975). He became
the foremost composer of helpmates.
He was a personnel manager by
profession.
Julius Partos (1915-1968) was a

strong chess amateur fron New
York. In 1933, he won the
Interborough High School Chess
League. He was member of the
Queens Chess Club and the Log
Cabin Chess Club. He won the
Queens County Championship
several times. He won the
championship of Colorado in 1951.
He was one of the strongest blitz
players in America. He was an
administrator in the New York
Department of Social Services.
p. 148)
Arman Pashikian (1987- ) is an

Arrmenian Grandmaster (2007). He
was Armenian Youth Champion in
1997 and 1998. He has won the
Armenian Championship twice. His
married to WGM Maria Kursova.
In 1958, Boris Pasternak (1890-

Literature. He wrote Dr. Zhivago.
He was an avid chess player. His
love for chess was second only to his
devotion to literature. He was an
enthusiastic spectator at the great
international tournaments in
Moscow in 1935 and 1936.
In the 19th century, Cardinal

Constantino Patrizi (1798-1876)
challenged five other nobles to a
pistol duel because they denied him
membership in the Noble Chess
Circle of Rome. (Chess Review,
February 1951, p. 50)
Louis Paulsen (1833-1891) was

second prize winner (after Paul
Morphy) in the first American Chess
Congress in 1857. He was born in
Nassengrund, Germany, and his
family owned a potato farm in
Germany, but the potato blight
wiped out the family crops. Louis
Paulsen, and his brother Ernst,
1854 and settled in Dubuque, Iowa.
He established a distillery, was a
wholesale tobacco merchant, and
made cigars. Paulsen himself did not
drink or smoke. His father taught
chess to Louis, his two older
brothers, and his two sisters. He was
probably the number two chess
player in the world from 1858 to
1873. The Paulsen variation of the
Sicilian Defense is 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6. Paulsen's
sister, Amalie, was the first woman
to beat a master. Louis returned to
Germany to work on his family's
potato farm. He remained a chess
amateur all his life. Louis was able
to play 15 games simultaneously
blindfolded.
Wolfgang Pauly (1876-1934), born

in Germany, was the greatest chess
problemist of Romaina. He is best
known for his fairy problems. He
was also an amateur astronomer who
discovered a comet, now named the
Pauly comet (1898 VII). In 2001,
Marian Stere wrote Wolfgang Pauly:
Challenge of a Legacy. The book is
736 pages with 1,350 diagrams. The
current Romanian parliament was
built over Pauly's old house. He was
an actuary by profession.
Dusko Pavasovic (1976- ) is a

Slovenian Grandmaster (1999). In
1999, he won the Slovenian
Championship.
Dr. Max Pavey (1918-1957) was an

American senior chess master and
medical doctor. While studying
medicine at Glasgow University in
Scotland in 1939, he won the
Scottish Championship. He was U.S.
Lightning Champion in 1947. In
1949, he won the New York State
Championship, held in Rochester. In
1953, he won the Manhattan Chess
Club Championship and the U.S.
speed chess title. He was vice-
president of the USCF. He managed
a chemical plant. In 1957, he died of
leukemia at the age of 39, possible
poisoned by radiation from exposure
to radium. (source: Chess Review,
Sep 1949, p. 259 and Chess Review,
Oct 1957, p. 293)
In 1961, Gregory Peck (1916-2003)

played chess with Anthony Quinn
(1915-2001) between scenes in the
filming of "The Guns of Navarone."
Quinn brought several portable chess
sets to the film's location, and chess
was the main off-screen pastime. In
1962, Gregory Peck (1916-2003)
taught Polly Bergen (1930-2014)
how to play chess between scenes
when they both starred in Cape Fear
in 1962.
Joseph Peckover (1897-1982) was

the best known American chess
composer in the early 20th century.
He was born in England but
immigrated to New York in 1921.
He was the endgame editor for the
American Chess Quarterly from
1961 to 1965. He composed over
100 endings.
Ji?i PelikAn (1906-1984) was a

Czech-Argentine International
Master (1965). He played for
Czechoslovakia in 3 Chess
Olympiads. Following the outbreak
of World War II, Pelikan decided to
stay permanently in Argentina after
the Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad
was over, in which he was a
participant. In 1957, he won the first
Argentine Correspondence Chess
Championship. A variation of the
Sicilian Defense is named after him.
Yannick Pelletier (1976- ) is a Swiss

Swiss championship 6 times. His
now lives in Paris, France. He is
fluent in 5 languages and is one of
the best Internet broadcasters for
chess events.
Pelletier — Carlsen, Biel 2005 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5
5.cxd5 c5 6.dxc5 Nxd5 7.Bd2 Bxc5
8.Nxd5 Qxd5 9.e4 Qd4 10.O-O-O
Nd7 11.Bb5 O-O 12.Bc3 Qxf2
13.Qxf2 Bxf2 14.Bxd7 Be3+ 15.Kc2
Rb8 1-0
Peng Xiaomin (1973- ) is a Chinese

won the Chinese Championship. His
married to WGM Qin Kanying. He
recently moved to Canada.
Peng Zhaoqin (1968- ) is a Chinese-

born Dutch Grandmaster (2004). She
has won the Chinese Women's
Championship 3 times. She has won
the Durch Women's Championship
13 times. In 2004, she tied for 1st in
the European Women's
2472 in 2002.
John Penquite (1935-2007) had the

highest chess rating ever recorded by
the United States Chess Federation.
In the 1990s his correspondence
rating was 2939 with a perfect 58-0-
0 score from correspondence play.
He won the Iowa State Chess
Championship 8 times between 1951
and 1973. (source: Chess Life, April
1993, p. 36)
Dr. Jonathan Penrose (1933- ) was

an English Grandmaster (1993) and
an International Correspondence
British Junior Championship and
London Championship in 1949 at
age 15. He has won the British chess
championship a record 10 times
(1958-63 and 1966-69). He is one of
the top correspondence chess players
in the world. He played for Britain in
9 Chess Olympiads. In 1970, he
collapsed at the Siegen Chess
Olympiad from nervous tension. He
turned to correspondence chess after
that and became a Correspondence
Chess Grandmaster in 1983. He was
runner-up in the 13th World
Championship, won by M. Umansky
of Russia. He was awarded the Order
of the British Empire (OBE) in
1971. He has a doctorate in
psychology. His father, Lionel, was
a distinguished geneticist and chess
problem composer. His mother was
a medical doctor. His brother, Roger
(1931- ), was knighted in 1994 for
services to mathematics and
science.
Veitch — J. Penrose, Buxton 1950

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4
5.Nbd2 c5 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.Bg2
Bxf2+ 8.Kxf2 Bg4+ 9.Ke1 Ne3
10.Qa4+ Bd7 0-1
Fernando Peralta (1979- ) is an

Eugene Perelshteyn (1980- ), born in

the Ukraine, is an American
won the US Junior Closed Chess
awarded the Samford Chess
Fellowship. His peak rating ws 2555
in 2008.
On November 13, 1988,

International Master Bela Perenyi
(1953-1988) died in a car accident
near Kistelek. He was travelling to a
chess tournament in Saloniki. He
was the fiance of WGM Ildiko Madl.
In 1994, Shimon Peres (1923-2016)

shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He
was a chess player and took interest
in visiting chess clubs and chess
academies in Israel.
Federico Perez-Ponsa (1993) is an

became a GM at the age of 17. His
Dr. Julius Perlis (1880-1913) was a

Viennese player of Russian origin.
On September 11, 1913, Dr. Perlis
died in a mountain climb in the Alps.
During a pleasure trip, he went
astray and spent the night on a
mountain. He died of extreme
exposure to low temperatures during
a climb in the Austrian Inntaler Alps
(Hochtor-Ostgrat). He was only
wearing light clothing. He fell asleep
on the ridge and froze to death. He
was a lawyer by profession.
Maroczy - Perlis, Vienna 1904 1.e4

e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Be6
5.Be2 Nf6 6.c3 Bb6 7.fxe5 Ng4 8.d4
dxe5 9.Ng5 Nh6 10.O-O Qd6
11.Kh1 O-O 12.Na3 exd4 13.Nb5
Qd7 14.Nxd4 Bg4 15.Bxg4 Nxg4
16.h3 c5 17.Rf5 Qxf5 18.Nxf5 Nf2+
19.Kh2 Nxd1 20.Bf4 Nxb2 0-1
Louis Persinger (1887-1966) was

one of the greatest violinists who
ever lived. He was a long-standing
member of the U. S. Chess
Federation. In 1941, he won the first
USCF Open postal chess
tournament. In 1944, he played in
the U.S. Chess Championship, but
took last place. When he was a judge
at violin contests, he would usually
pull out his pocket chess set and
study chess or find some other
judge, such as David Oistrakh, to
play chess. He was a member of the
Marshall Chess Club in New York.
In 1956, at the age of 68, he married
one of his 18-year-old music players.
p. 133) In 1959, he was elected
president of the New York State
Chess Association.
Nicholas Pert (1981- ) is an English

2574. His twin brother, Richard Pert,
is an International Master. Micholas
has a degree in Mathematics and
Statistics.
Milos Perunovi? (1984- ) is a

2005, he won the Servia dn
Montenegro Championship. In 2007,
he won the Serbian Championship.
John "Jack" A. Peters (1951- ) was

born in Boston, Massachusetts on
February 10, 1951. He was
champion of New England in 1971,
1974, and 1975. He was a USCF life
master at the age of 22. He was
Massachusetts State Champion in
1974 and 1975 (tied with John
Curdo). He played in the 1975 U.S.
Championship (won by Browne),
tieing for 10th-13th place.He was the
winner of the American Open in
1977. In 1978 he was President of
the Professional Chess Association
(PCA). He was awarded the
was a games editor for Chess
Horizons and is a chess columnist
for the Los Angeles Times. His
current Elo rating is 2419. His
maximum Elo rating was 2476. He
currently teaches at the Univeristy of
Southern California.
Jusefs Petkevich (1940- ) is a

Latvian Grandmaster (2002). In
1967, he won the Riga
Champonship, scoring 13-0. He has
won the Latvian championship 3
times. In 2002, he won the World
Senior Chess Champonship.
Petko Andonov Petkov (1942- ) is a
Bulgarian Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions (1984). He has
composed over 6,100 chess
problems. He won the World
Championship for Selfmates and for
Faires. He graduated in Law
Sciences in Sofia. During the
Communist rule of Bulgaria (1944-
1989), the regine did not allow him
to practice as a lawyer. So, he
worked as a journalist.
In 1794, Alexander Dmitrievich

Petroff was born in Viserovo,
Russia. He became the first strong
Russian chess player, chess
composer, and chess writer. In 1814,
he was the strongest chess player in
St. Petersburg. He was the author of
the first chess handbook in Russian,
Shakmatnaya igra (The Game of
Chess), published in St. Petersburg
in 1824. He was nicknamed 'the
Russian Bourdonnais' and 'the
Northern Philidor.' He died in 1867.
A. Petroff-Schimanski, Warsaw
1847 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5
4.c4 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 Ne7 6.Nf3 Bg4
7.Be2 dxc4 8.O-O Bxf3 9.Bxf3 c6
10.Qe2 Qxd4 11.Rd1 Qf6 12.Ne4
Qe6 13.a3 Ba5 14.Bg4 Qg6 15.Bf5
Nxf5 16.Nf6+ (16...Kf8 17.Qe8
mate) 1-0
Jovan Petronic (1964- ) is a Serbian

International Master (1991). From
1992 to 2001, he was director of the
Yugoslav Chess Federation
Computer Center and a Yugoslav
national coach. He is chairman of the
FIDE Computer Chess Committee.
He is a FIDE senior trainer.
Davit G. Petrosian (1984- ) is an
Tigran Levonovich Petrosian (1984-

) is an Armenian Grandmaster
(2004). In 2012 and 2013, he won
the Armenian Chess Championship.
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (1929-

1984) was an Armenian
Grandmaster (1952) and 9th world
chess champion. (1963-1969). His
parents died before he was 16 and he
took a job as caretaker of an officer's
home. In 1951, he won the Chess
Championship of Moscow and took
2nd in the USSR Chess
Championship. Between 1968 and
1975 he never lost more than a
single game in any tournament. He
drew more than half his total games
of chess, a higher fraction than any
other World Champion. He received
less than $2,000 for winning the
world chess championship in 1966
against Spassky. When Petrosian
defeated Spassky in 1966, it was the
first time a World Champion
defeated his challenger in 32 years
(Alekhine defeated Bogoljubov in
1934). In 1972 at the Skopje
Olympiad he lost a game on time to
Eobert Huebner, his first loss on
time in his whole career. When he
was later told that the incident had
been shown on TV, he said, "If I had
known that, I would definitely have
smashed the clock." His first official
match that he played was for the
World Championship, which he won
when he defeated Botvinnik in 1963.
When he lost his match with Fischer
in 1971, Petrosian's wife, Rona, put
the blame on his trainer, Alexey
Suetin, and slapped him. Petrosian
was unbeaten in 6 USSR
championships. He only lost one
game out of 129 in chess Olympiad
play. Before Rona married Petrosian,
she was flirting and dating both Efim
Geller and Tigran Petrosian. In
1952, when both players went to
Sweden for the Interzonal, she said
she would marry whoever performed
better in the Interzonal. Petrosian
finished Å“ point better than Geller,
and Petrosian and Rona Avinezer
were later married. In 1964, he won
the championship of the Trade
Unions in Moscow. He had a PhD
from Yerevan State University. His
dissertation was entitled. "Chess
Logic." In 1971, Tigran Petrosian
lost his Candidates match with
Fischer in Buenos Aires. After the
match, Petrosian's wife, Rona,
blamed Petrosian's loss on his
trainer, Alexei Suetin. Rona slapped
Suetin's face for his poor analysis
after Tigran lost the 6th game.
T. Petrosian - Necsesov, Tbilisi 1944

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3
Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.d3 Nf6 7.Bg5
Qxe2+ 8.Bxe2 Be7 9.Nc3 c6 10.O-
O-O O-O 11.Rhe1 Bf5 12.Nd4 Bg6
13.Bg4 Bd8 14.Bc8 Bb6 15.Bxb7
Bxd4 16.Bxa8 1-0
Manuel Petrosyan (1998- ) is an

2016, he wont he World under-18
in the World Junior Championship.
Vladimir Petrov (1907-1945) was
three-time Latvian champion (1930,
1934, 1937). In 1926, he won the
Chess Championship of Riga. He
took 10th place in the 1940 USSR
Championship. He took 2nd place in
the 1942 USSR chess championship.
In August 1942, he was arrested on
basis of a denunciation. He was
accused of making disparaging
remarks about the falling standard of
living in Soviet-ruled Latvia, where
he was from. He was sentenced to 10
years under Article 58 (treason), but
died shortly after arriving at a labor
camp. He died of pneumonia in a
Soviet forced-labor camp in the
Gulag mining town of Vorkuta,
Russia, above the Arctic Circle.
Page - V. Petrov, Folkestone 1933

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nbd2 c5 4.e3
Nc6 5.c3 e6 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.Qe2 O-O
8.O-O e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5
Bxe5 11.Nf3 Bc7 12.b4 c4 13.Bc2
Bg4 14.h3 Bh5 15.g4 Nxg4 16.hxg4
Bxg4 17.Kg2 Bxf3+ 18.Kxf3 Qf6+
19.Kg4 Qe6+ 20.Bf5 h5+ 21.Kxh5
Qxf5+ 22.Kh4 g5+ 23.Kh5 Kg7
(threatening 24...Rh8 mate) 0-1
Nenad Petrovic (1907-1989) was the

first Croatian Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions (1975). In 1947, he
won the world championship for
chess problem solving. In 1951, he
started the chess problem magazine
Problem, which later became the
official organ of the Permanent
Commission for Chess Composition
(PCCC) of FIDE. He was the creator
of the "codex of chess composition."
He was editor of 13 volumes of
FIDE Albums, containing the best
compositions from the period 1914
to 1982. He was a former president
of the FIDE Commission for Chess
Compositions. As a composer, he
published some 650 chess problems.
He was a civil engineer by
profession.
Margeir Petursson (1960- ) is an

Icelandic Grandmaster (1986). He
won the Icelandic Championship in
1986 and 1987. He was Nordic
Champion in 1987. He played for
Icleand in 11 Chess Olympiads. He
is a millionaire investment banker
and one of the richest men in
Iceland.
Lawrence Pfefferkorn (1904-1980)

was a chess patron who sponsored
the Lawrence Pfefferkorn Open
(LPO) in North Carolina. The LPOs
were always the largest tournaments
in North Carolina, attracting over
200 players from over 20 states.
Pfefferkorn wrote a chess column for
the Atlanta Journal in the 1920s. He
was chairman of a mortgage banking
and insurance business. Pfefferkorn,
with the help of Dr. Alan Lipkin and
Bill Wall, organized and directed the
early LPOs.
Gustavus Pfeiffer (1837-1933) was

an American businessman and
philanthropist who was a serious
chess collector. He donated his
entire collection of chessmen to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York and hundreds of rare chess
books to the New York Public
Library, which became part of the
Frank J. Marshall Collection of
Chess books.
Dr. Helmut Pfleger (1943- ) is a
was born in Czechoslovakia. In
1960, he was German Junior
Champion. He was West German
champion in 1965. He played for
Germany in 7 Chess Olympiads. His
occupation is a medical doctor. His
Francois-Andre Danican Philidor

(1726-1795) was born on September
7, 1726 in Dreux, France. He
belonged to a family which had been
connected for three generations with
the band of the Chapel-Royal in
Versailles. The first of the family,
whose surname was Danican
(Michel Danican, who died in 1659),
succeeded an Italian wood-wind
player named Filidori. The oboe
(hautbois) was invented by Michel
Danican and Jean Hotteterre in 1650.
The family adopted that name after
Louis XIII (1601-1643) had
playfully used it in praise of his
playing. Filidori had preceded
Danican in that section of wood-
wind players of the Versailles
orchestra. Philidor's father, Andre
Danican (1647-1730), was the
keeper of the music for the royal
family in France. He was known as
Philidor l'aine (Philidor the Elder).
He was a member of the Grande
Edurie military band (played the
oboe and crumhorn) and later
performed at the Royal Chapel
Court. He was an official musician
of the court of King Louis XIV
(1638-1643). In 1744 Andre
Danican Philidor (1726-1795)
played 2 opponents blindfold
simultaneously in Paris. This was the
first time blindfold play against two
opponents was recorded. He said he
had learned how to play blindfold
chess when he could not sleep at
night, so he played chess in his head
without site of a chess board. In
1747, Philidor established himself as
the leading player of his time by
defeating Philipp Stamma (1705-
1755) decisively. Two years later
Philidor published his book Analyse
du jeu des echecs. This book
supplanted that of Greco.
Sheldon - Philidor, London 1790

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.exd5
cxd5 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.d4 e4 7.Ne5 Be6
8.O-O f6 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.f3 f5
11.Be3 Nf6 12.Nd2 Bd6 13.c4 O-O
14.Ba4 Qc7 15.f4 Ng4 16.Qe2 Nxe3
17.Qxe3 c5 18.Nb3 dxc4 19.Nxc5
Bxc5 20.dxc5 Rac8 21.c6 Rfd8
22.Rfd1 Rd3 23.Rxd3 cxd3 24.Bb3
Bxb3 25.axb3 Qb6 26.Kf2 Qxe3+
27.Kxe3 Rxc6 28.Rxa7 Rd6 29.Kd2
e3+ 30.Kxe3 d2 31.Ra1 d1=Q 0-1
Philip II (1527-1598) was king of

Spain (Hapsburg Dynasty and
infamous Spanish Armada) and
patron of chess. Around 1574 and
1575, the top chess players in Spain
and Italy played in King Philip's
court. Players included the Spanish
players Ruy Lopez de Segura and
Alfonso Ceron (Zerone or Girone) of
Granada, and the Italian players
Leonardo di Cutri, Paoli Boi, and
Giulio Polerio. These were the first
recorded matches and tournaments
in the world. Leonardo defeated Ruy
Lopez in a match in August 1575
win 3 wins and 2 losses. King Philip
rewarded Leonardo very
handsomely.
Harold Meyer Phillips (1874-1967)

was a lawyer and amateur chess
player. He founded and was
champion of the College of the City
of New York (CCNY) from 1892 to
1896. He was also champion of
Columbia Law School. He was
President of the Intercollegiate
Chess League for over 20 years. In
the Manhattan Chess Club. He was
the organizer and director of the
great New York 1924 International
Tournament. In 1930, he played for
the U.S. in the chess Olympiad at
Hamburg (drawing one and losing
one). He played in chess
tournaments for over 70 years. In his
earlier years, he was known as "Der
Kleine Morphy." He the President of
the United States Chess Federation
(USCF) from 1950 to 1954. He was
President of the Manhattan Chess
Club and former New York State
Champion. He was the organizer and
director of the great New York 1924
International. (source: Chess
Review, Mar 1933, p. 11, Chess
Review, Oct 1940, p. 154, and Chess
Review, Mar 1967, p. 69)
James Phillips (1942-1969) was

New Zealand Champion in 1957,
1958, and 1965. He committed
suicide and drowned in Wellington
Harbor in 1969.
Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976) was

a world-famous cellist and chess
patron. In 1920, he defected to
Poland from Russia. In 1937, he
married Jacqueline Rothschild. He
later fled France in the wake of the
Nazi occupation during World War
II. They settled in New York and
Philadelphia He became a U.S.
citizen in 1942. In 1963, he
sponsored the first Piatigorsky Cup
in Los Angeles, won by Petrosian
and Keres. This was the stronges
chess tournament to be held in the
USA since New York 1927. In 1966,
he sponsored the 2nd Piatigorsky
Cup in Santa Monica, won by
Spassky. Fischer took 2nd and
Larsen took 3rd. When Spassky
played Fischer, there were over 900
spectators, and many others were
turned away. This was the largest
audience ever to witness a chess
tournament in the United States.
Jacqueline Rothschild Piatigorsky

(1911-1991) was married to Gregor
Piatigorsky and woman chess player
and patron. She played in several
U.S. Women's Championships. In
1961, she sponsored a chess match
between Fischer and Reshevsky. She
asked Fischer to rearrange his
schedule and play his match game
earlier so she could attend the match
and her husband's concert later that
evening. Fischer refused to play
earlier and was forfeited.
Alan Pichot (1998- ) is an Argentine

Championship. He became a GM at
2017.
In 2006, Alexander Pichushkin

(1974- ), 32, was arrested in
Moscow for murdering 48 people.
He said he killed 61 people and was
trying to murder 64 people, one for
each square of the chessboard. He
said he was a great fan of chess and
was dubbed the Crazy Chess Killer.
He said his killings were linked to
moves in a chess game. He is known
as the Chessboard Killer.
William Timbrell Pierce (1839-

1922) was a British chess player and
a chess problem composer. In 1873,
he and his brother James published
Chess Problems. In 1878, he
introduced standard chess notation in
England, when he used it in his
chess colum in the Brighton Herald.
Wolfgang Pietzsch (1930-1996) was

a German Grandmaster (1965). He
played for Germany in 6 Chess
won the East Germany Chess
Evgeny Pigusov (1961- ) is a

Jeroen Piket (1969- ) is a Dutch

Dutch Championship 4 times. He
was the personal secretary of
businessman Joop van Oosterom.
Jeroen's peak rating was 2670.
Henry "Harry" Neslon Pillsbury

(1872-1906) was the next great chess
player after Paul Morphy (1837-
1884). He learned chess at age 15. In
April 1893, he beat the visiting
master Walbrodt, and afterwards,
began his career as a professional
chess player. In 1894-95, he
captained the Brooklyn Chess Club
to victory in the Metropolitan Chess
League. In June 1895, the Brooklyn
Chess Club selected him as its
representative to the Hastings Chess
Congress after raising $300.
Pillsbury sailed to England on July
24, 1895. When Pillsbury arrived in
Hastings, he refused to stay at a
hotel that had any of the other
players in the Hastings Chess
Congress. He said, "I want to be
quiet; I mean to win this
tournament." And he did. In August-
September 1895, he played at the
Brassery's Institute in Hastings and
won the event at the age of 22. He
won 15 games, drew 3 and lost 3.
After losing to Chigorin in round 1,
he won 9 games in a row. At the
time, no player had ever won their
first major tournament the first time
playing it. He finished ahead of
reigning world champion Emanuel
Lasker, former world champion
William Steinitz, and world chess
challengers Mikhail Chigorin, Isidor
Gunsberg, Siegbert Tarrasch, Carl
Schlechter, and Dawid Janowski.
First place for Pillsbury was $1,000
(about $26,000 in today's currency).
In 1896, U.S. chess champion Harry
Nelson Pillsbury (1872-1906)
resigned from the Manhattan Chess
Club (he had earlier won the
Manhattan CC championship)
because someone stole his umbrella
and that umbrellas were not safe in
the club house. (source: Brooklyn
Daily Eagle, July 3, 1896) He died
of syphilis, which he caught from a
prostitute in Saint Petersburg about
10 years before his death. In March
1905, he tried to jump out a 4th story
window at the Presbyterian Hospital
in Philadelphia. He was stopped by
several nurses and doctors. He died
at Friends Asylum in Frankford,
Pennsylvania. His obituary in the
New York Times stated that he died
from an "illness contracted through
overexertion of his memory cells."
He was only 33. Pillsbury's family
denied a report that his brain was
willed to any institution or scientists
for any purpose of scientific
investigation (source: Brooklyn
Daily Eagle, Jun 19, 1906).
However, Dr. Elmer E. Southard
(1876-1920), Professor of
Psychology at Harvard University,
and a strong chess player himself,
was able to get Pillsbury's brain and
studied it. Dr. Southard studied the
brain of Pillsbury in an attempt to
decide whether a genius for chess
tends to deteriorate the mind. He
found no difference between a chess
player's brain and anyone else's
brain. (source: Chess Life, Nov
1972, p. 712)
Pillsbury - Fernandez, Hanover 1900

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 d6 4.Nf3 a6
5.Bc4 Bg4 6.fxe5 Nxe5 7.Nxe5
Bxd1 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9.Nd5 mate 1-0
Hermann Pilnik (1914-1981) was an

was born in Germany but settle in
Argentina in 1930. He won the
Argentinian championship in 1942,
1945, and 1958. In 1945, Herman
Pilnik (1914-1981) of Argentina was
involved in a car crash on his way to
Hollywood to play in the Pan
American Chess Congress
(sponsored by the Los Angeles
Times). Two other occupants of the
car were hospitalized with broken
bones. Pilnik, who had lost his plane
priority, then tried to drive by car to
Hollywood from Dallas, Texas. He
crashed his car into an unlighted and
parked truck at night near El Centro,
Arizona. The car overturned with
part of it hanging over the edge of a
steep embankment. Pilnik spent two
days in a hospital in Yuma, Arizona
and missed his first-round game
against Sammy Reshevsky. Pilnik
arrived all bandaged up after a 4-day
delay (source: Chess Review, Aug-
Sep 1945, p. 8). In 1950, he played
one of the longest chess games on
record. He played a 191-move draw
against Czerniak in Mar del Plata,
Argentina. In 1973, he few to
Philadelphia from Argentina for an
international chess tournament.
While driving to the playing site, the
car was struck and overturned with
part of it hanging over the edge of a
steep embankment. Two other
occupants of the car were
hospitalized with broken bones, but
Pilnik made it to the tournament,
won his first-round game (against
Soltis) and tied for 1st place in the
tournament. He later moved to
Venezuela and taught chess at the
Caracas Military Academy.
Pilnik — Sanguineti, Mad del Plata

1947 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4
4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.Bc4 Bf5
7.Ne2 e6 8.Ng3 Bg6 9.c3 Bd6
10.Qe2 Qc7 11.Nh5 Bxh5 12.Qxh5
Qe7 13.Bd2 Nd7 14.O-O-O O-O-O
15.Rhe1 Rdg8 16.g3 f5 17.Qe2 Nf6
18.Bd3 Qc7 19.c4 Rg6 20.Kb1 Kb8
21.c5 1-0
Jozsef Pinter (1953- ) is a Hungarian

Hungarian Championship in 1978
and 1980.
Kacper Piorun (1991- ) is a Polish

won the Polish under-16 Chess
Polish Blitz Championship. In 2017,
he won the Polish championship. He
has won the world championship in
chess problem solving 5 times. His
peak rating is 2685.
Vasja Pirc (1902-1980) was born in

Illyria, but moved to Maribor,
Yugoslavia. In 1927, he won the
Yugoslaivan Amateur
Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
He pronounced his name Vasya
Peerts (source: Chess Review, May
1938, p. 122). In 1953, he was
was a historian by profession. The
variation now known as the Pirc
Defense, long regarded as dubious,
became standard play during his
lifetime.
JAn Plachetka (1945- ) is a

Slovakian Grandmaster (1978). He
won tournaments at Polanica Zdroj
in 1975, Sofia in 1979, and Trnava
in 1979.
Nikita Plaksin (1931- ) is a Soviet

chess composer and FIDE Master
from Moscow. He specialized in
retrograde analysis. He has
published over 1,000 retro problems
since 1964.
Francisco Planas-Garcia (1908-?)

was Cuban champion in 1927 and
1929. In 1941, he broke all
simultaneous records by playing 618
opponents at 103 tables in Havana.
Six players consulted at each table.
He won 64, drew 26, and lost 13. It
took him 16 hours to finish and he
walked over 15 miles. (source:
Chess Review, May 1941, p. 115)
In 1918, Max Planck (1858-1947)

won the Nobel Prize in Physics for
his discovery of energy quanta. Max
Planck played chess with Emanuel
Lasker.
Albin Planinc (1944-2008) was a

Slovenian Grandmaster (1972). In
1962, he won the Slovenian youth
championship. He won the
Slovenian Championship in 1968
and 1971. He spent the last years of
his life in a mental institution.
James Plaskett (1960- ), born in

Cyprus, is an English Grandmaster
(1985). In 1990, he was Brish Chess
Champion. His peak rating was
2529.
On November 13, 1994, Soviet

grandmaster Igor Platonov (1934-
1994), age 60, returned home to his
apartment in Kiev after a chess
tournament, when two thieves
ambushed him and murdered him.
The killers were never caught.
Vasily Platov (1881-1952) was a

Latvian chess composer. He was one
of the pioneers in study composing
in Russia. Many of his studies were
composed in collaboration with his
brother Mikhail Platov (1883-1938).
In 1928, they wrote Selection of
Chess Studies. Vasily was an
epidemiologist.
Dr. Joseph Platz (1905-1981) was

born in Cologne, Germany on April
11, 1905. He was a USCF Master
Emeritus and a medical doctor. In
Cologne. In 1928, he won the
championship f the Rhine. In 1931,
he won the championship of
Hannover. In the 1940s, he won the
Bronx Championship six times. In
1948, he played in the US
Championship, placing 14th out of
20. Between 1954 and 1972, he won
the Western Massachusetts &
Connecticut Valley Open
Championship 14 times. He won the
Connecticut Championship three
times. He tied for the New England
Championship four times. In 1978,
he wrote Chess memoirs: The chess
career of a physician and Lasker
pupil. He died on December 30,
1981 in Manchester, Connecticut.
Natalia Andreevna Pogonina (1985-

) is a Russian Woman Grandmaster
(2004). In 1998, she won the
Russian under-14 Girls Chess
Women's Russian Chess
Championship. In 2015, she was the
runner-up of the Women's World
Chess Championship. Her peak
rating was 2508 in 2014. She lists
her hobbies as flamenco, music,
photography, travelling, sports,
literature and poetry.
Ernst Pogosyants (1935-1990) was

an Armenian Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions (1988). He composed
about 6,000 problems and studies.
He was a mathematics teacher.
Giulio Cesare Polerio (1548-1612)

was a leading Italian chess player
from Lanciao. In 1574, he and
Leonardo da Cutri travelled to Spain
where they defeat Ruy Lopez and
Cerone in a match play. In 1584,
Polerio returned to Rome and
became the strongest chess player in
Rome. He wrote a number of chess
codices. Polerio became a member
of the household (the palace called
Torricella) of Giacomo
Boncompagni (1548-1612), Duke of
Sora (1579) and the illegitimate son
of Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585),
also known as Ugo Boncompagni.
The Duke game him a rental in
Giantro with the annual value of 300
scudi (crowns).
Judit Polgar (1976- ) was playing

blindfold chess at the age of five.
She was playing in chess tournament
at the age of 6. At age 9, she was
rated 2080. She beat her first
International Master at age 10. She
beat her first Grandmaster at age 11.
She became a GM at age 15. She is
considered the strongest female
chess player in history. She was
once ranked #8 in the world and was
#1 ranked woman in the world for
over 20 years. Her peak rating was
2735 in 2005. She announced her
retirement from competitive chess in
2014. She also plays ping pong and
tennis. She said her hobbies were
animals, skiing, and going to the
theatre.
Judit Polgar - Rivas, Dos Hermanas

1993 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7
4.f4 e5 5.Nf3 exd4 6.Qxd4 c6 7.Be3
d5 8.exd5 Bc5 9.Qd3 Qe7 10.Nd4
Nb6 11.dxc6 O-O 12.O-O-O bxc6
13.Bg1 Qc7 14.g3 Rd8 15.Ndb5 1-0
Sofia Polgar (1974- ) is a strong

International Master (1990) and a
1986, she was World under-14 Girls
Champion. In 1989 Sofia (Zsofia)
Polgar achieved the highest
performance rating ever recorded
when she scored 8.5 out of 9 at an
international tournament in Rome.
Her performance rating was over
2900. She was a two-time Gold
medallist with the Hungarian
national women's team in 1988 and
1990. In 1994, she took 2nd place at
the World Junior Chess
2505 in 1998. She lives in Israel and
has worked as a chess teacher and
artist. She is married to Israeli GM
Dr. Yuna Kosashvili.
Sofia Polgar - Selles, San Sebastian

1991 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Nf6 3.fxe5 Nxe4
4.Nf3 d5 5.d3 Nc5 6.d4 Ne4 7.Bd3
Bg4 8.O-O c5 9.h3 Bh5 10.Bb5+
Nc6 11.Kh2 cxd4 12.g4 Bg6
13.Nxd4 Rc8 14.c4 Be7 15.Nf5 dxc4
16.Nxg7+! (16...Kf8 17.Ne6+ and
18.Nxd8) 1-0
In 1982, at the age of 12, Susan

Polgar (1969- ) won the first World
Under-16 (Girls) Championship,
held in Le Havre, France. In 1984, at
age 15, she was the top-rated female
chess player in the world. In 1986,
Susan Polgar became the first
woman in history to qualify for the
"men's" World Chess Championship.
In 1986, Susan Polgar was banned
from the men's world chess
championship after qualifying,
forcing FIDE to change the rules and
allow women to compete against
men. In January 1991, she became
the first woman to earn the
Grandmaster title in the conventional
way of achieving three Grandmaster
norms and an Elo rating over 2500.
In 2009, Grandmaster Susan Polgar
and her husband were banned from
the USCF after being accused of
posting nasty remarks on the Internet
in the name of another chess player.
She has coached Webster University
to 5 Pan-American intercollegiate
championships in a row. Her peak
De Los - Susan Polgar, Novi Sad

1990 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7
4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Be3 Nf6
7.f3 O-O 8.Bc4 Qb6 9.Qd2 Nxe4
10.fxe4 Bxd4 11.Bh6 Qxb2
(threatening 12...Bxc3) 0-1
William Pollock (1859-1896) was

winner of the 1885 Irish Chess
Championship. At the time, he was
not a resident of Ireland. He had
been a member of the Dublin Chess
Club from 1880 to 1882 during his
stay at as medical student. He then
moved back to England and became
a surgeon. In 1885, he took 4th place
in the first British Chess Association
Congress. In 1889, he made the
voyage to New York to participate in
the New York International
tournament. He later moved to
Baltimore as the resident chess
professional. He soon was writing a
chess column for the Baltimore
Sunday News, as well as reports on
American chess for the British Chess
Magazine. In 1890, he took 2nd
place at the S. Louis Chess
Congress, behind Showalter. In
1892, he was William Steinitz's
secretary. He played in Hastings
1895 and defeated Steinitz and
Tarrasch, but took 19th place. He
died in England in 1896 at the age of
37.
Pollock — Hall, England 1890 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bc4 Nf6
5.O-O d6 6.Nd5 Bg4 7.c3 Bc5 8.d3
Ne7 9.Nxe5 Bxd1 10.Nxf6+ gxf6
11.Bxf7+ Kf8 12.Bh6 mate 1-0
Lev Abramovich Polugaesky (1934-

1995) was a Soviet Grandmaster
(1962). He was born in Mogilev
(now Mahilyou, Belarus) on
November 20, 1934. He did not
become a chess master until he was
an adult. He played in 20 Soviet
chess championships and finished
with a winning score in every one of
them. He won or tied in the USSR
Chess Championship three times
(1967, 1968, 1969). He was a noted
opening theorist and best
remembered for the Polugaevsky
Variation of the Sicilian Defense
(1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 b5). He
was a highly respected chess author,
writing seven chess books, and
wrote a classic called Grandmaster
Preparation in 1984. About chess
books, he wrote, "Ninety per cent of
all chess books you can open at page
one and then immediately close
again for ever. Sometimes you see
books that have been written in one
month. I don't like that. You should
take at least two years for a book, or
not do it [at] all."
Polugaevsky - Franco, Havana 1966

1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 Ne4
4.Nxe4 fxe4 5.f3 d5 6.e3 Bf5 7.fxe4
Bxe4 8.Ne2 h6 9.Bf4 Nc6 10.Nc3
Bg6 11.Bd3 Bf7 12.O-O e5 13.dxe5
Qd7 14.e6 Qxe6 15.Nb5 1-0
Arturo Pomar-Salamanca (1931-

2016) was a Spanish Grandmaster
(1962). He was a chess prodigy who
won the championship of the
Balearic Islands at age 11 and was a
master at age 13. At age 13, he drew
a game against world champion
Alexander Alekhine, becoming the
youngest player ever to draw against
a reigning world champion. He won
the Spanish championship at age 14.
He won the Spanish chess
championship 7 times, beginning in
1946 when he was 14. He tied for
first place at the US Open in 1954
(with Larry Evans).
Pomar — Gallegos, Gijon 1944 1.d4

e6 2.c4 f5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 Nf6
5.Nf3 b6 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 Bb7 8.e3
O-O 9.Bd3 d6 10.d5 exd5 11.Bxf5
Qe7 12.Ng5 h6 13.Be6+ Kh8 14.h4
Ne4 15.Qh5 Nd7 16.Qxh6 mate 1-0
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov

(1983- ), born in the Ukraine,
became the world's youngest
grandmaster at age 14 years, 14
days. At the age of 10, he won the
World Under-12 Championship. At
the age of 12, he had his first FIDE
rating published at 2550. At age 13,
he won the World Under-18
Championship. In 2002, he defeated
Vassily Ivanchuk to become the
youngest FIDE world champion ever
at the age of 18. He was world
champion from 2002 to 2004, when
he lost to Rustam Kasimdzhanov. In
2003, former world chess champion
Ruslan Ponomariov was banned
from the European Team
Championship when his cell phone
rang during the course of the event.
He was the first person banned under
the new FIDE law banning players
from receiving cell phone calls. He
was playing in a match representing
the Ukraine against Sweden at the
European Team Championship in
Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He lost in his
game against Swedish Grandmaster
Evgeny Agrest. Ponomariov
protested and refused to sign the
scoresheets indicating his loss. In
2011, he won the 80th Ukrainian
Ponomarev — Grishchuk, Szeged

1994 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4
Nf6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 c5 7.dxc5 Qa5
8.O-O Qxc5 9.Kh1 Nc6 10.Bd3 e5
11.Qe1 exf4 12.Bxf4 Ne5 13.Nxe5
dxe5 14.Bg5 Ne8 15.Nd5 f6 16.Be3
Qd6 17.b4 b6 18.c4 Rf7 19.c5 bxc5
20.Bxc5 Qb8 21.Ne7 Kh8 22.Bc4
Rf8 23.Nxg6 1-0
Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani (1719-

1796) was a chess author, law
lecturer, and priest. From 1742 to
1772, he was professor of Civil Law
in the University of Modena. In
1766, he was Canon of the
Cathedral. In 1785, he was Capitular
Vicar. In 1769 he published one of
the first practical chess guides to
chess, Il Guico Incomparibile Degli
Scacci Sviluppato con Nuovo
Metodo, Opera d'Autore Modenese.
This book dealt with chess openings
and endings. A second and improved
edition was published in 1782. The
Ponziani opening is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6 3.c3.
Ivan Popov (1990- ) is a Russian

won the Russian Junior
World under-18 Championship. In
2012, he won the Moscow
2661 in 2015.
Petar Popovic (1959- ) is a Serbian

Grandmaster (1981). He was co-
winner of tournament at Pecs in
1980 and Novi Sad in 1981. He now
lives in Brussels.
Joseph Porath (1909-1996) was an

International Master (1952) who was
born in Germany and represented
Germany in the 1928 Olympiad. He
moved to Palestine in 1934 and won
the Palestine chess championship 6
times.
Porath - Kraidman, Netanya 1961

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d5
5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Nf3 O-O 7.O-O Nb6
8.Nc3 Nc6 9.d5 Nb4 10.e4 e6
11.Bg5 f6 12.Be3 Qe7 13.Qb3 Kh8
14.Rfd1 exd5 15.exd5 Rd8 16.Rac1
c6 17.d6 Rxd6 18.Bc5 N4d5 19.Re1
Be6 20.Nxd5 cxd5 21.Qb4 Rad8
22.Nd4 Bf8 23.Nxe6 1-0
Lajos Portisch (1937- ) is a

one of the top chess players in the
world in the 1970s. He has won the
Hungarian championship 9 times.
He played in 12 consecutive
Interzonals from 1962 through 1993.
He qualified for the World Chess
Championship Candidates' cycle 8
times. He holds the record for most
career victories in the Chess
Olympiads — 121. He participated
in a record 20 Olympiads from 1956
to 2000. His peak rating was 2655 in
1980. He says his main hobby is
singing operatic arias. His younger
brother, Feenc (1939- ) is an
International Master.
Naranja — L. Portisch, Siegen 1970

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5
Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4
c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 O-O 10.h4 cxd4
11.cxd4 Qd6 12.Rc1 Rd8 13.d5 Ne5
14.Qb3 Bd7 15.f3 b5 16.Bd3 Qb4+
(17.Qxb4 Nxd3+ and 18...Nxb4) 0-1
Evgeny Postny (1981- ) is an Israeli

won the Israeli Junior Championship
and the National Open. His peak
Vladimir Potkin (1982- ) is a

Individual Chess Championship. His
William Norwood Potter (1840-

1895) was an English chess master
and writer. He was a chess columnist
for the Westminster Papers from
1868 to 1879. From 1874 to 1876,
he was the editor of the City of
London Chess Magazine. He was a
barrister's clerk by trade.
Amir Reza Pourramezanali (1992- )

is an Iranian Grandmaster (2016). In
2017, he won the Championship of
the Asican Zonal 3.1 in Tehran.
Pertti Poutiainen (1952-1978) was

Finnish champion in 1974 and 1976.
He was awarded the International
Master title in 1976. He committed
suicide on June 11, 1978.
Borki Predojevic (1987- ) is a

Bosnain Serb Grandmaster (2005).
In 2003, he won the World under-16
2655 in 2016.
Razvan Preotu (1999- ) is a

Canadian Grandmaster (2016).
Jean-Louis Preti (1798-1881) was an

Italian-born chess player who lived
in France. In 1826, he had to flee
Italy because of his involvement in a
political conspiracy against Austria.
From 1867 to 1875, he edited the
French chess magazine La Strategie.
He wrote the first books devoted to
the practical endgame. He was a
musician, played the flute, and was a
professor at the Royal College. He
also ran an export business. He died
at the age of 83.
Edith Charlotte Price (1872-1956)

was five-time British Ladies
Champion (1922, 1923, 1924, 1928,
1948). She first played in the British
Ladies Championship in 1912,
finishing 2nd. She won it in 1948 at
the age of 76, the oldest player ever
to win a national championship. She
was the woman's world chess
championship challenger in 1927
and 1933. She founded the Gambit
Chess Rooms in Budge Row for men
only (except for waitresses), which
was still active until 1958. This
chess club was opened every day of
its existence but for two days. It was
closed for two days in September
1940 because it was bombed during
a Nazi raid.
Eric Prie (1962- ) is a French

won the French Championship. He
has won the Paris Championship 4
times. His peak rating was 2532.
Lodewijk Prins (1913-1999) was a

Dutch International Master (1950)
and an Honorary Grandmaster
(1982). He played for the
Netherlands in 12 Chess Olympiads
from 1937 to 1968. In 1965, he won
the Dutch Chess Championship.
Dietrich G. Prinz (1903-1989) had a

Ph.D. in Philosophy whose teachers
included Einstein and Planck. He
was the author of the first chess
playing program for a general
purpose computer (the Manchester
Ferranti). The program first ran in
November , 1951. The limitations of
the first computers did not allow for
a whole game of chess to be
programmed. Prinz could only
program mate-in-two positions.
Prinz also wrote the first Artificial
Intelligence (AI) program. The first
full-fledged chess program was
written in 1957 for an IBM 704.
Elaine Saunders Pritchard (1926- )

was British Ladies Champion (1939,
1946, 1956, 1965) and World under-
21 Ladies Champion at age 13. She
was the youngest person to win the
British Ladies' Championship until
2000, when Humpy Koneru won it
at the age of 13 years and 4 months.
Professor Ladislav Prokes (1884-

1966) was a Czech chess master. He
was posthumously awarded the title
of International Master for Chess
Compositions (1966). He played for
Czechoslovakia in 3 Chess
Olympiads. In 1928, he won the
championship of Prague. He
composed 1,159 endgame studies.
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was a

Russian music composer who
probably was the composer most
devoted to chess. He was strong
enough to be a professional chess
player. He may be best remembered
for his symphonic fairy tale Peter
and the Wolf and his piano
concertos. He also played chess
throughout his entire life. He learned
chess at the age of 7, and took chess
lessons from his cousin, a student at
Moscow University. He was a good
friend with Capablanca and defeated
him in a simultaneous exhibition (St.
Petersburg, 1914). He also drew
with Lasker (St. Petersburg, 1914)
and lost a game to him (Paris, 1933),
and lost to Botvinnik (1940 and
1951). He always had a chess set on
his piano, ready to play anyone at
chess. He died on March 5, 1953, the
same day as Stalin. Because of this,
his death went unreported for a
whole week.
Dawid Przepiorka (1880-1940) was

a prominent Polish chess player and
problem composer. In 1926, he won
the first Polish chess championship,
held in Warsaw. He played for
Poland in 2 Chess Olympiads. He
was one of the richest men in
Warsaw before the Nazi invasion.
He was the chief organizer of the
1935 Warsaw Chess Olympiad. In
1939, he sold his house to finance
the Polish team's trip to the Buenos
Aires Olympiad. In January 1940, he
was present at a forbidden meeting
of the Warsaw Chess Circle. The
German occupiers arrested everyone
there and the Jews, including
Przepiorka, were all shot during a
mass execution around April 1940.
(source: Chess Review, Jan 1942, p.
17, and The Life and Games of
Akiva Rubinstein, by Donaldson and
Minev, p. 220)
Lev Borisovich Psakhis (1958- ),

born in Russia, is an Israeli
Soviet Championship in 1980 and
1981. He won the Israeli
Stojan Puc (1921-2004) was a

Slovenian International Master
Slovenian Championship 4 times.
Cecil John Seddon Purdy (1906-

(1951) and Grandmaster of
was the winner of the first world
correspondence chess championship
(1950-1953). In 1923, at the age of
17, he won the New Zealand
Championship. In 1929 he founded
the Australasian Chess Review (later
named Check!, then Chess World).
He was the editor for nearly 40
years. He won the Australian
Correspondence Championship in
1937 and 1945. He was the
champion of Australia in 1935,
1937, 1949, and 1951. His son was
the junior champion of Australia. He
won the Australian championship
four times and held the Australian
Correspondence Championship for
16 years in a row. Both Purdy's
father-in-law Spencer Crakenthorp
(champion from 1926 to 1929), and
his son John (champion in 1962)
have been champions of Australia.
In 1979, Cecil Purdy of Australia,
the first correspondence world
champion, was playing a game of
chess in Sydney when he suffered a
heart attack. His last words to his
son (who was also in the same
tournament) were purportedly, "I
have a win, but it will take some
time." Another source says that his
last words were "I have to seal a
move." He died shortly after. His
opponent was Ian Parsonage. Purdy
was born in Egypt. He learned to
play chess from an encyclopedia at
age 15. He played only 46
correspondence games in his entire
life (won 34, drew 10, lost 2).
In 1952, Juan Quesada (1912-1952),

former Cuban chess champion, died
of a heart attack just before the 17th
round in an international tournament
in Havana. He was 40. (source:
Chess Review, Apr 1952, p. 99)
Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (1852-

1936) was a Spanish engineer and
mathematician who built the first
true automaton, El Ajedristica, in
1910. It automatically played the
endgame of King and Rook against
King from any position without any
human intervention. He
demonstrated his chess playing
machine at the Paris World Fair in
1914. In 1894 he build an algebraic
equation solver. In 1903, he built the
world's first apparatus controlled by
radio control. He later demonstrated
this by guiding a boat from the
shore. In 1905 he built Spain's first
dirigible. In 1910 he became
President of the Royal Academy of
Exact Sciences in Madrid. In 1916
he built a cable car across the
Niagara Falls, which is still in use
today.
Yuniesky Quezada-Perez (1984- ) is

a Cuban Grandmaster. He won the
Cuban Championship in 2008 and
2011.
Anthony Quinn (1915-2001) played

chess. He played chess with Gregory
Peck on the set of The Guns of
Navarone. Quinn sometimes visited
the Manhattan Chess Club in New
York to play chess.
Miguel Quinteros (1947- ) is an

Argentine Grandmaster (1973) who
won the Argentina championship at
age 18 in 1966. In 1987, was barred
from playing in FIDE events for
three years because he played in
South Africa, a FIDE-forbidden
country. He played a 6-game
exhibition match in Johannesburg in
1988. Quinteros was the first
grandmaster to visit South Africa
since 1981. He gave simultaneous
exhibitions in Cape Town, Sun City
and Johannesburg. He is married to a
former model from the Philippines
that he met at the 1973 Manila
International. In 1979, he missed
round 1 of the Atlantic Open in
Washington D.C. because he thought
the tournament was in Atlantic City,
New Jersey. He played for Argentina
rating was 2555.
Quinteros-Szmetan, Buenos Aires

1979 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.g3
Ba6 5.Qc2 c5 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.O-O
cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxg2 9.Kxg2 Qc8
10.e4 Nc6 11.Nf3 Qb7 12.Qe2 d6
13.Rd1 Be7 14.Bf4 Rd8 15.Nc3 O-O
16.Rd2 a6 17.Rad1 Qb8 18.h3 Ne5
19.c5 Nxf3 20.cxd6 Bxd6 21.Bxd6
1-0
Braslav Rabar (1919-1973) was a

(1950). In 1950, he won the gold
medal on board 4 in the Dubrovnik
Chess Olympiad. He was Yugoslav
played in 13 Yugoslav
championships. He took 14th-15th in
the 1955 Goteborg Interzonal. In
1966, he designed the Encyclopedia
of Chess Openings (ECO) opening
classification system used in Chess
Informant. He was co-editor of the
monthly Yugoslav chess magazine
ÂŠahovski Glasnik. He was a
broadcaster and journalist by
profession.
Ilya Rabinovich (1891-1942) was a

leading Russian master. In 1914, he
travelled to Mannheim, Germany to
play in a Hauptturnier. During the
tournament, World War I erupted
and he was interned in Germany for
abour 3 years. He was Leningrad
champion 11 times. He was the first
Soviet master to be allowed to a
major international chess tournament
outside the USSR. In 1925, he
played at Baden-Baden, Germany.
This tournament was won by
Alekhine. Rabinovich took 7th
place. In 1927, he wrote the first
Russian chess book on endgames. In
1934, he shared 1st place with
Levenfish in the USSR
USSR chess championships.
Rabinovich died of malnutrition
during the siege of Leningrad. He
was Jewish.
Rabinovich — Vainstein, Triberg

1914 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 d5
4.Bxd5 Qh4+ 5.Kf1 Ne7 6.Nf3 Qh5
7.Nc3 g5 8.h4 h6 9.Bxf7+ Qxf7
10.Ne5 Qf6 11.Qh5+ Kd8 12.Nf7+
Kd7 13.Nxh8 Bg7 14.Nf7 Ng6
15.Nxh6 Nxh4 16.Qf7+ Kd8 17.Nd5
1-0
Stuart Rachels (born Sep 26, 1969)
is a professor at the University of
Alabama. In 1981 Stuart Rachels,
from Birmingham, Alabama, became
the youngest master in U.S. history
at the age of 11 years, 10 months. He
became the first chessplayer in the
United States to become a master
before the age of 12. He learned the
game a few weeks prior to his 9th
birthday, taught by his older brother.
He won the 1982 $1,000 Aspis Prize
after winning the U.S. Junior High
School Championship and the U.S.
Junior Open Championship. He has
participated in a record seven U.S.
Junior Championships. He tied for
first place in the 1989 U.S.
Championship (with Dzindzihashvili
and Seirawan), despite being the
lowest rated player. He retired from
active play in 1993 with a USCF
rating of 2605.
Teimour Radjabov (1987- ) is a

Grandmaster from Baku, Azerbaijan.
In 1999, he won the European
Under-18 championship. In 2001, at
the age of 14 years and 14 days, he
became the youngest Grandmaster in
history. In 2003, he became the
youngest player ever to defeat Garry
Kasparov. In 2003, He became the
second youngest player in history to
enter the FIDE Top 100 Players list.
He started playing chess when he
was four. In 2007, he tied for 1st
with Topalov and Aronia at Corus.
On February 18, 2007, Radjabov had
all of his possessions stolen from a
hotel room while playing in the
Morelia-Linares chess tournament in
Mexico. The burglary occurred in
Patzcuaro, Mexico only a few days
before the start of the tournament.
Radjabov and his father left for a
quick dinner and returned to their
room within 30 minutes. All of their
valuable items were stolen. They
reported the crime, but got neither
help from the local authorities, nor
even a police investigation. In 2012,
he was ranked #4 in the world. His
Ivan Radulov (1939- ) is a Bulgarian

Bulgarian Championship 4 times. He
played for Bulgaria in 8 Chess
Olympiads. He was a practicing civil
engineer and contributed to the
design of the central train station in
Sofia, Bulgaria.
Yulian Radulski (1972-2013) was a

Bulgarian Grandmaster (2004).
Markus Ragger (1988- ) is an

has won the Austrian Championship
3 times. His peak rating was 2703 in
2017.
Viacheslav Ragozin (1908-1962)

was a Soviet grandmaster (1950). In
Leningrad Chess Championship. In
1937, he took 2nd in the USSR
Championship. In 1944 Ragozin
trained with Botvinnik for the USSR
Championship. They trained with a
radio going full blast in the room to
get accustom to a possibly noisy
tournament hall. Ragozin ended up
in 14th place out of 17 and blamed
his results on the unusual quietness
of the tournament hall! Ragozin was
Botvinnik's second in the 1948
world championship tournament and
in the 1951 world championship
match. He was also a
(1959), winning the 2nd world
correspondence chess championship
(1956-1959), Å“ point ahead of
Lucius Endzelins of Australia.
Professionally, he was a civil
engineer and had a career in the
construction industry. The Ragozin
variation is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3
Nf6 4.Nf3 Bb4.
Ragozin - Boleslavsky, Sverdlovsk

1942 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4
4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.Bc4 Bd6
7.Qe2+ Be7 8.Nf3 O-O 9.O-O Bd6
10.Re1 Bg4 11.Qe4 Bh5 12.Nh4
Nd7 13.Qf5 Nb6 14.Qxh5 Nxc4
15.Bh6 Qd7 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Nf5+
Kh8 18.Re4 Bxh2+ 19.Kh1 1-
Vasik Rajlich (1971- ) was born in

Cleveland, Ohio in 1971 to Czech
parents. He is an International
Master and the creator of Rybka
chess engine. He grew up in Prague,
then returned to the United States as
a student, graduated from MIT. His
father teaches computer science in
Detroit. His mother is a
mathematician. Two of his brothers
are computer scientists and a third
brother is a medical doctor. In 2011,
Rybka, the strongest computer
engine in the world, and it creator,
Vasik Rajlich, were banned from all
future World Computer Chess
championship tournaments until the
program no longer contained
derivatives of other chess engine
programs. Rajlich was given a
lifetime ban by the International
Computer Games Association
(ICGA).
Johan Gottlieb Rahl (1720-1776)

was a British commander (Colonel)
of the Hessians (mercenary troops
from Germany employed by the
British) in Trenton, New Jersey
when George Washington crossed
the Delaware river with his army and
attacked on December 26, 1776. Col
Rahl (or Rall) had 1,500 soldiers and
Washington had over 2,400 men.
Rahl and 40 others in his army were
killed during the battle. Rall was
struck by a musket ball and died
later that day of his injuries. The
Americans had two killed, two
wounded (one of them was James
Monroe) and three that were frozen
to death. Washington's army at
Trenton included James Madison,
James Monroe, John Marshall,
Aaron Burr, and Alexander
Hamilton. Earlier, an outlaw named
Moses Doan observed Washington's
army was on the move and surmised
that their intention was to surprise
the British and Hessians at Trenton.
He delivered a note ("Washington is
coming on you down the river. He
will be here afore long ...Doan")
informing Col Rahl that Washington
was about to cross the Delaware. Col
Rahl received the note, but was
annoyed at being interrupted from
his chess game, and put the note in
his vest pocket. The unread note was
found on Rahl's body the next day.
This story has been repeated in
various sources. Governor Rodman
Price (1916-1894), who was
governor of New Jersey from 1854
to 1857, repeated this story in his
speeches while governor. Emanual
Lasker wrote an article of Colonel
Rahl and the chess theme in his
Lasker's Chess Magazine Volume 7
(Nov 1907-April 1908). Gerald
Abrahams mentioned this story in
his book Not Only Chess, published
in 1974. The story has been
repeated, except that Col Rahl was at
a card party, not playing chess.
Moses Doan was later shot while
robbing a house.
Ziaur Rahman (1974- ) is a

Dusan Rajkovic (1942-) is a Serbian

for 1st in the Yugoslav Chess
2522 in 2007.
Ankit Rajpara (1994- ) is an Indian

Grandmaster (2014).
Francesco Rambaldi (1999- ) is an

Italian Grandmaster (2015). He
became a GM at age 16.
Ramachandran Ramesh (1976- ) is

2002, he won the British
Commonwealth Championship. He
is married to WGM Aarthie
Ramaswamy. They are India's first
Grandmaster couple.
In 2009, Venkatraman
Ramakrishman (1952- ) shared the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his
work on the structure and function of
the ribosome. He was on his college
chess team. (Source: nobelprize.org
and Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan,
by Arun Anand)
Alejandro Ramirez (1988- ) is a

Costa Rican-born chess grandmaster
(2004). At the age of 15, he became
the first Central American to become
a GM. In 2010, he won the US Open
in Irvine, California. In 2013, he tied
for 1st place with Gata Kamsky in
the US Chess Championship, but
lost on tiebreak. In 2013, he tied for
1st at the World Open. He graduated
from the University of Texas in
Dallas with a Masters Degree in Arts
& Technology/Design and
Production of Videogames.
Charles Edward Ranken (1928-

1905) was born in Brislington, near
Bristol, on January 5, 1828. He
learned chess as a schoolboy and
became a strong player while
attending Wadham College, Oxford.
He graduated from Oxford in 1850.
He took 2nd place at the 1851
London Provincial Tournament,
losing to Samuel Boden. In 1867, he
became Vicar at Sandford-on-
Thames near Oxford. In April 1869,
he founded the Oxford University
Chess Club with Lord Randolph
Churchill (Winston Churchill's
father), and became its first
president. In 1869, he tied for 2nd-
3rd at the 5th British Counties Chess
Association Congress in York,
England. The event was won by
reverend Arthur Skipworth. The
Counties Chess Association was
organized for amateur players
outside London. In 1871, he moved
to Malvern, England and stayed
there the rest of his life. In 1872, he
won the 8th British Counties Chess
Association Congress in Malvern.
Ranken participated in several
correspondence matches and took
1st place in the British Chess
Association's 1872 competition.
From 1877 to September 1880,
Ranken was the editor of the Chess
Player's Chronicle. In 1878, he took
2nd at the 14th British Counties
Chess Association Congress in
London. The event was won by
Edmund Thorold. In 1881, he won
the 16th British Counties Chess
Association Congress in
Leamington, England. In 1883, he
took 5th-6th place at the
Vizayanagaram tournament in
London. The event was won by Von
Bardeleben. In 1889, he published,
in collaboration with E.
Freeborough, Chess Openings
Ancient and Modern. This was the
predecessor of Modern Chess
Openings.
Richard Rapport (1996- ) is a

11 months, and 6 days. In 2006, he
Championship. He listed his hobbies
as cinema, reading, cycling, table
tennis, football (soccer), and
bodybuilding. He is married to
Serbian Woman Grandmaster Jovana
Vojinovic.
Nukhim Rashkovsky (1946- ) is a

played in 8 Soviet Championships.
In 1982, he tied for 1st in the
Mocow Chess Championship. In
2007, he won the European Senior
2560 in 1995.
In June 1941, Estonian player Ilmar

Raud (1913-1941) was found
wandering in the streets of Buenos
Aires and was arrested by the police.
A fight occurred while he was in jail,
and he was later sent to a lunatic
asylum, where he died on July 13,
1941, most likely of starvation.
Igors Rausis (1961- ), born in the

Ukraine, is a Latvian Grandmaster
(1993). In 1995, he was Latvian
Chess Champion. From 2003 to
2007, he represented Bangladesh.
After 2007, he represented the Czech
Republic.
Vsevolod Rauzer (1908-1941) was a

Soviet chess master and theorist. He
shared first place in the Ukraine
championship in 1933. He took 2nd
place in the 1936 Leningrad
USSR championships from 1927 to
1937. He died during the siege of
Leningrad. He is credited for
inventing the Rauzer Attack, 1.e4 c5
5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5.
Freyman — Rauzer, Leningrad 1934

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5
Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.Rc1 a6
8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bd3 c6 10.O-O Re8
11.Rc2 Nf8 12.Ne5 Be6 13.f4 N6d7
14.Bxe7 Rxe7 15.Ng4 Bxg4
16.Qxg4 Rxe3 17.Rd2 Nf6 18.Qh4
Ng6 19.Bxg6 hxg6 20.f5 gxf5
21.Rxf5 Ne4 22.Qxd8+ Rxd8
23.Re5 Re1 mate 0-1
Yuri Razuvaev (1945-2012) was a

was the second to Anatoly Karpov
from 1971 to 1978. His peak rating
was 2590 in 1991. He was a
historian by profession. He died at
the age of 66.
Damian Reca (1894-1937) was first

champion of Argentina (1921). He
was champion in 1921, 1923, 1924,
and 1925.
Dr. Tim Redman (1950- ) is a former

President of the USCF twice (1981-
1984 and 2000-2001) and
International Arbiter. He earned a
PhD in comparitive studies in
literature from the University of
Chicago. Redman is a Professor of
Literary Studies at the University of
Texas at Dallas. He is a world
leading expert on poet Ezra Pound.
Hans Ree (1944- ) is a Dutch

Grandmaster (1980). He was twice
Junior champion of Amsterdam. He
was a student of mathematics and
philosophy at Amsterdam
University, but gave it up to be a
full-time chess professional. He was
Netherlands Champion in 1967,
1969, 1971, and 1982. In 1971, he
tied for 1st in the Canadian Open
with Boris Spassky. He is a chess
journalist and commentator.
Birdie Reeve Kay (1907-1996) was

considered the world's cleverest girl
of her age. She was able to play 10
chess games simultaneously and was
considered one of the best women
chess players in America. She later
became an American champion
typist who could type over 200
words, or 800 letters, per minute.
She was billed as the "World Fastest
Typist."
Actor Keanu Reeves (1964- ) is a

strong chess player. He learned
chess as a boy. He played on his
high school chess team and hustled
chess for a dollar a game in Toronto.
To unwind, he says he plays chess
with his computer.
Dr. Kenneth Regan (1959- ) was a

chess prodigy and International
Master (1980) who was a master at
age 12. In 1973, he was the first
player to break Bobby Fischer's
record of America's youngest
master. In 1977, he tied for 1st place
in the U.S. Junior Invitational. He
won a Marshall scholarship and
earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at
Oxford. He is now an associate
professor at the University of
Buffalo, Department of Computer
Science, working in complexity
theory.
Hans-Peter Rehm (1942- ) is a

German Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions (1984) and
Compositions (1972). He is a
mathematics teacher at Karlsruhe
University.
Gustavus Charles Reichhelm (1839-

1905) was a strong chess plaer and
American chess composer from
Philadelphia. From 1861 to 1870, he
was the chess editor in the
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. In
1873, he founded The Chess
Record.
Brian Reilly (1901-1991) was an

Irish master. He won the Irish
championship in 1959 and 1960.He
was the editor of the British Chess
Magazine from 1949 to 1981.
Dimitri Reinderman (1972) is a

Dutch Grandmaster (1998). In 2013,
he won the Dutch Championship.
Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964) was born

in New York City on January 27,
1910. He was a former Executive
Editor of Chess Review. In 1932, he
began to write on chess. He was the
author of 260 books on chess,
checkers, coins (14 books), geology,
history, medicine, electronics, and
astronomy. He wrote at least 102
books on chess alone. He also wrote
chess books under the name of
Robert Masters and Edward Young.
Before Isaac Asimov, he was
considered the most prolifc of living
authors, authoring over 250 books.
He was a master chess player who
won the U.S. Intercollegiate Chess
Championship in 1929, the New
York State Championship (twice —
im 1931 and 1935), the Marshall
Chess Club Championship (1935),
and the Manhattan Chess Club
Championship (1942). He was
invited to play in the U.S.
Championship but declined. He was
one of the top 10 players in the US
in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He
taught chess at Columbia University
and New York University. His chess
books include: 100 Instructive
Games of Alekhine; The Unknown
Alekhine; Botvinnik's Best Games;
The Immortal Games of Capablanca;
The Fireside Book of Chess;
Winning Chess; Chess Strategy and
Tactics; Colle's Chess Masterpieces;
51 Brilliant Chess Masterpieces; M.
Euwe: From My Games, 1920-1937;
Alekhine vs. Bogoljubuw: World
Chess Championship 1934; Flohr vs
Botvinnik 1933; Chess Traps,
Pitfalls, and Swindles; First Book of
Chess; How to Improve Your Chess;
The Macmillan Handbook of Chess;
Hastings 1936-37; Margate, 1935;
Warsaw International Chess Team
Tournament, 1935; Kemeri
Tournament 1937; Semmering-
Baden 1937; Keres' Best Games of
Chess, 1931-1948; Dr. Lasker's
Chess Career; The Art of Chess; The
Principles of Chess in Theory and
Practice; 35 Nimzovich Games;
United States Chess Championship
1948; Two Weeks to Winning
Chess; 100 Instructive Games of
Alekhine; 1001 Brilliant Ways to
Checkmate; 1001 Chess Sacrifices
and Combinations; 1001 Ways to
Checkmate; 101 Chess Problems for
Beginners; Attack and Counterattack
in Chess; Beginner's Guide to
Winning Chess; Cambridge Springs
1904; Botvinnik, The Invincible;
British Chess Masters: Past and
Present; Challenge To Chessplayers,
A Chess Manual; Chess: Win in 20
Moves or Less; Chess At A Glance;
Chess By Yourself; Chess For
Amateurs; Chess For Children;
Chess For Young People; Chess in a
Nutshell; Chess is an Easy Game;
The Chess Masters On Winning
Chess; Chess Mastery By Question
and Answer; A Chess Primer; Chess
Quiz; Chess Secrets Revealed; Chess
Victory: Move By Move; Complet
Book of Chess Openings; Complet
Book of Chess Stratagems;
Complete Book of Chess Tactics;
The Complete Chess Course; The
Complete Chess Player; Creative
Chess; E.S. Lowe's Chess in 30
Minutes; The Easiest Way to Learn
Chess; Eighth Book of Chess: How
to Play the Queen Pawn Openings;
The Elements of Combination play
in Chess; An Expert's Guide to
Chess Strategy; Fifth Book of Chess:
How to Win When You're Ahead;
Fourth Book of Chess: How to Play
the Black Pieces; Great Brilliancy
Prize Games of the Chess Masters;
The Great Chess Masters and Their
Games; Great Games by Chess
Prodigies; Great Moments in Chess;
Great Short Games of the Chess
Masters; How Do You Play Chess?;
How to be a Winner at Chess; How
to Beat Your Opponent Quickly;
How to Force Checkmate; Challenge
to Chess Players; How to Get More
Out of Chess; How to Play Better
Chess; How to Play Chess Like A
Champion; How to Play Winning
Chess; How to Win Chess Games
Quickly; The Human Side of Chess;
Hypermodern Chess; Improving
Your Chess; Second Book of
Chess:The Nine Bad Moves, and
How to Avoid Them; Instructive and
Practical Endings from Master
Chess; The Joys of Chess; Lasker's
Greatest Chess Games, 1910-1964;
Learn Chess From the Masters'
Modern Fundamentals of Chess;
Morphy Chess Masterpieces; A New
Approach to Chess Mastery;
Nimzovich: The Hypermodern;
Practical Endgame Play; Reinfeld
Explains Chess; Reinfeld on the
Endgame in Chess; Relax With
Chess; The Secret of Tactical Chess;
Seventh Book of Chess: How to Play
the King Pawn Openings; Sixth
Book of Chess: How to Fight Back;
Third Book of Chess: How to Play
the White Pieces; A Treasury of
British Chess Masterpieces; The
Treasury of Chess Lore; The Way to
Better Chess; Why You Lose At
Chess; Win At Chess; Winning
Chess For Beginners; Winning
Chess Openings; Championship
Chess; Tarrasch's Best Games of
Chess; Ventnor City Tournament,
1939. Fred Reinfeld was inducted
into the United States Chess Hall of
Fame in 1996. He was the 26th
person to be so inducted, and the
first to be inducted primarily for his
writing. He may have done more to
popularize American chess in the
20th century than in any other
person. Over 50 of his chess books
have been reprinted after his death.
(source: Chess Review, July 1964,
pp. 193-194)
Dana Reizniece-Ozola (1981- ) is the

Minister of Finance of the Republic
of Latvia. She is also a Woman
Grandmaster (2001). She has won
the Women's Latvian Chess
Championship 4 times. She won the
European Girls under-18
She played for Latvia in the 2016
Chess Olympiad in Baku, beating
world champion Hou Yifan in the
final round. She has played for
Latvia in 8 Chess Olympiads. Her
Ludwig Adolf Friedrich Rellstab

(1904-1983) was a German
he won the German Chess
Championship. He played for
Germany on board 5 in the Munich
1936 unofficial Chess Olympiad. He
played for West Germany in 3 Chess
Olympiads. He was a chess
journalist by profession.
Josef Resch is a successful

businessman from the Ukraine,
chess patron and philanthropist. He
organized the 2008 World
Championship in Bonn. He uses his
money to create chess schools for
children. He has financed matches
with leading players and has
organized tournaments in Moscow.
Samuel Herman Reshevsky (1911-

1992) was born in Ozorkow, Russian
Empire (now Poland). He was the
6th child of a Jewish family. His
original name was Szmul
Rzeszewski. He learned how to play
chess at the age of 4 and soon
became the strongest of all child
prodigies. At age 6, he was giving
simultaneous exhibitions in Poland.
In November 1920, he and his
family moved to the United States,
making a living giving simultaneous
chess exhibitions. As a 9-year-old,
his first simultaneous exhibition was
with 20 officers and cadets at the
Military Academy at West Point. He
won 19 games and drew one. In
November 1922, his parents were
charged with 'improper guardianship'
and Reshevsky spent a night in jail.
The case was later dismissed, but a
guardian was appointed to prevent
'undue exploitation.' Reshevsky, who
didn't start school until he was 13,
first enrolled at the University of
Detroit to study accounting. He
played tennis for the college tam.
After two years, he transferred to the
University of Chicago School of
Business. In 1933, he graduated with
a degree in accounting. He was a
Certified Public Accountant by
profession. He was an accountant for
a Manhattan engineering and
construction firm and coached chess
teams on the side. He played in 21
U.S. Championships and won the
U.S. Championship 7 times. He was
1950. He listed his hobbies as ice
skating, table tennis, and watching
television.
Reshevsky — Salgado, Long Beach

1988 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7
4.Nc3 O-O 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 c5 7.O-O
cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Be3 Bd7 10.Qd2
a6 11.f3 Qa5 12.Nb3 Qb4 13.Qd1
Na5 14.e5 1-0
Reshevsky - Denker, Syracuse 1934

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.e4 d6
5.Be2 Nxe5 6.f4 Ng4 7.Nf3 Nc6
8.O-O Bd7 9.Nc3 Be7 10.h3 Nf6
11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Ng8 13.Be3 f6
14.Bd3 fxe5 15.Ng5 Nf6 16.Rxf6
Bxf6 17.Qh5+ g6 18.Bxg6+ hxg6
19.Qxg6+ (19...Ke7 20.Bc5 mate) 1-
0
Richard Reti (1889-1929) was an

Austro-Hungarian, later
Czechoslovakian chess master, chess
author, and composer of endgame
studies. He almost gave up chess
after his first international chess
debut. In 1908, a huge chess
tournament was held in Vienna. One
of the international players dropped
out at the last minute, so the
tournament organizers allowed the
strong local player Reti to enter in
the event. Reti did very poorly. He
only drew 3, lost 16 games, and not
winning a game. He was so
discouraged that he almost gave up
chess. Fortunately, he persevered to
become one of the most original
thinkers in the game of chess. Reti
took last place at Vienna 1908 with
1.5 out of 19 (the next to the last
person had 6 points). There was a 3-
way tie for 1st place with Schlechter,
Maroczy, and Duras. By the way,
Reti took 1st place in his next
tournament in Vienna in 1909. In
1925 Reti set a world record for
blindfold chess with 29 games
played simultaneously. He won 21,
drew six, and lost two. He studied
mathematics and physics at Vienna.
In 1929, Reti was crossing the road
and was hit by a street car in Prague.
He was taken to a hospital to heal,
but developed scarlet fever while in
the hospital in Prague and died.
Reti - N.N., Vienna 1913 1.e4 e5

2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Nxe5 Nxe5
5.d4 Bxd4 6.Qxd4 Qf6 7.Nb5 Kd8
8.Qc5 (threatening 9.Qf8 mate and
9.Qxc7+) 1-0
Emil Reubens (1886-1973) was born

in Russia on September 23, 1886. He
was a master emeritus and USCF life
director. He was a founding member
of the United States Chess
Federation. In June, 1973, he
received a Master's degree in
business administration from Boston
University in Massachusetts. He was
the oldest person in the university's
history to obtain such a degree at age
86. He died on August 29, 1973 at
the age of 86.
Alexander Riazantsev (1985- ) is a

won the Moscow Championship. In
Championship Supefinal and the
2720 in 2012.
ZoltAn Ribli (1951- ) is a Hungarian

Hungarian Championship 3 times, in
1973, 1974, and 1977. He won the
European Junior Championship 3
1989. He is married to WIM Maria
Grosch.
Pablo Ricardi (1962- ) is an

has won the Argintine Chess
for Argentina in 11 Chess
2554 in 2001.
Isaac Rice (1850-1915) was born in

Bavaria on February 22, 1850. He
came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with
his parents in 1856. The family later
moved to Philadelphia where Isaac
attended high school. After high
school, he went to Paris to study
music for 3 years. He returned to the
USA, moved to New York City and
practices music for a few years
before going back to school to get a
law degree in 1878. He was the
inventor of the unsound Rice Gambit
(1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4
5.Ne5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.exd5 Bd6
8.O-O). He spent $50,000
subsidizing Rice Gambit events. He
was a millionaire, president of the
first company to make rubber tires,
organized the first taxi service in
New York, and one of the earliest
developers of the submarine. He was
a lecturer at Columbia University,
then began the practice of railroad
law. He was the founder of General
Dynamics (Electric Boat Company)
and sold the British Royal Navy its
first submarine in 1901. He built the
U.S. Navy's first submarine. He was
a chess patron and sponsored many
chess tournaments and players in the
early 20th century. The Rice
Mansion was designed in 1900 and
complete in 1903. Isaac Rice called
it Villa Julia, after his wife (a
physician). He had a fully equipped
chess room made out of solid rock.
Rice lived at Villa Julia from 1903
to 1907. The mansion was later an
Orthodox Jewish school. The
mansion is at the corner of Riverside
Drive and West 89th Street in New
York He was president of the
Manhattan Chess Club and
sponsored many chess tournaments,
such as the Rice Gambit
tournaments. He earned a Doctor of
Law degree from Bates College in
1902.
Keith Bevan Richardson (1942-
2017) was awarded the title of
International Grandmaster of
Correspondence Chess in 1975,
becoming the first British player to
be awarded the title of Grandmaster
for chess playing. He took 3rd place
in the 7th and 10th World and 13th
Championship Final. He was a bank
manager by profession.
Kurt Paul Otto Joseph Richter

International Master (1950). In 1921
and 1948, he won the Berlin Chess
Championship. He won the German
chess championship in 1935. His
nickname was the Scharfrichter
(executioner) of Berlin.
Fritz Riemann (1859-1932) was a

Polish-born (then Prussia) German
master. He was the last surviving
pupil of Adolf Anderssen. He was a
town councilor at Ergurt, Germany.
Henri Rinck (1870-1952), born in

Lyons, was a French-Spanish
endgame composer. He settled in
Spain in 1910. In 1952, he wrote
1414 Fins de Parties. He published
1,670 chess studies and won 58 first
place prizes. He is considered one of
the founders of modern endgame
composing (along with Troitzky).
He specialized in the refining of
olive oils. A copy of one of his chess
books was buried with him, under
his arm.
Horst Robert Rittner (1930- ) is a

German International
(1961). He won the 6th World
Championshp (1968-1971). He was
the editor of the German chess
magazine Schach from 1966 to
1990.
Nikolai Riumin (1908-1942) was a

Russian chess master. He won the
Moscow Chess Championship 3
times. He played in 4 USSR
championships, taking 2nd in 1931,
behind Botvinnik. He died from
tuberculosis during World War II in
Omsk, Siberia.
Jules Arnous de Riviere (1830-1905)

was the strongest French chess
player in the late 1850s to the late
1870s. Against Paul Morphy, he
won 6 and lost 18 games. He was the
organizer of the Monte Carlo chess
tournaments. He edited several chess
columns and published books on
billiards and roulette. He died of
influenza in Paris.
Aimen Rizouk (1979- ) is an

Algerian Grandmaster (2007). In
1999, he won the Algerian Chess
2540.
Karl Robatsch (1928-2000) was an

was Austrian Champion in 1960 and
won the gold medal for the best first-
board score (11 wins and 5 draws) at
the 14th Chess Olympiad, held in
Leipzig in 1960. He was an
orchidologist (a botanist specializing
in the study of orchids) by
profession. He died of throat cancer.
William "Bill" Gerrard Robertie
(1946- ) was born in Cambridge,
Massachusetts on July 9, 1946. He is
a chess master and former winner of
the U.S. chess speed championship.
In 1965, he tied for first in the USCF
Golden Knights Correspondence
Chess Championship, but lost in a
playoff to Brian Owens. He is
considered the world's best
backgammon player and has won the
world backgammon championship
twice (1983 and 1987). He is the
author of at least a dozen books on
chess, backgammon, and poker. He
graduated from Harvard and is a
systems analyst. In 2003, he wrote
Easy Endgame Strategies and Master
Checkmate Strategy.
Julia Roberts (1967- ) plays chess. In

the past, she has requested a chess
set be made available in her trailer
when making a movie.
In 1947, Robert Robinson (1886-

1975) won the Nobel Prize on
Chemistry for his work on plant
dyestuffs and alkaloids. He was
president of the British Chess
Federation (1950-1953) and played
correspondence chess while in his
80s. He co-wrote a book called The
Art and Science of Chess.
Ray Robson (born in Guam on Oct

25, 1994) is an American
Grandmaster (2010). He learned how
to play chess at age 3. He played in
his first tournament at age 6. At age
9, he defeated his first master in
tournament play. At age 10, he was
the national champion in the K-6
division of the Nationals. At age 11,
he defeated his first GM. At age 12,
he qualified for the US Chess
Championship, making him the
youngest player to participate in this
event. At 13, he became the
youngest International Master ever
in the USA. At 13, he tied for 1st
place in the 2008 Florida
championship. At 14, he won the US
Junior championship. He became a
GM at age 14, younger than Bobby
Fischer. He has won 7 national
scholastic titles. In 2009, he won the
US Junior Chess Championship. In
2015, he took 2nd place in the US
Maxim Rodshtein (1999- ) is a

Russian-born Israeli Grandmaster
won the Israeli Championship. His
served in the Israeli Air Force.
Ludwig Roedl (1907-1970) was a

German International Master (1953).
He was a lawyer by profession. In
1931, he tied for 1st in the 27th
German Chess Championship. In
1936, he played for Germany in the
3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at
Munich, winning the individual gold
for board 7. After World War II, he
lived in West Germany. In 1947, he
won the South German Chess
Championship.
Adolf Roegner was author of a

German chess book called
Spielregeln fur Nicht-Mitspieler
(Advice to Spectators of Chess
Tournaments), published in the
1880s. It includes a few blank pages,
except for one. On that page are the
words "halt's Maul!!" (Keep Quiet).
Under the title, it says 14th revised
edition. It does not include 300
blank pages that Reuben Fine states
in his book Bobby Fischer's
Conquest of the World's Chess
Championship. He was a book
publisher in Leipzig.
Bror Axel Folke Per Rogard (1899-

1973) was second president of FIDE
(after Dr. Alexander Rueb). He was
FIDE president from 1949 to 1970.
He was the Swedish Chess
Federation President between 1939
and 1949. He was a lawyer in
Stockholm by profession and could
speak 5 languages. From 1944 to
1948 he was married to Swedish
model and actress Viveca Lindfors
(1920-1995). She co-starred with
Ronald Reagan in Night Unto Night
(1949). She appeared in more than
100 films.
Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869) was

author of Roget's Thesaurus and
devised the first pocket chess set in
1845. He was addicted to the game
of chess. He contributed the first
chess problems for the Illustrated
London News. He was also a
medical doctor, philologist, and
inventor. He invented the slide rule
and created the London sewage
system.
Ian Rogers (1960- ) is an Australian

Australia's highest rated player for
over 20 years. He played for
Australia in 14 Chess Olympiads. He
has won the Australian
Championship 4 times. He has a
Bachelor of Science degree in
Meteorology. His peak rating was
2618 in 1999.
Dr. Kenneth Saul "Ken" Rogoff

(1953- ) is an American
Grandmaster (1978). He learned
chess at age 6. He was a chess
master and New York Open
champion at the age of 14. In 1968,
Ken Rogoff gave a 26-board
blindfold simultaneous exhibition at
the age of 15, a world record for his
age. The exhibition, at the Rochester
Chess Club in New York, lasted 5
hours. At 16, he dropped out of
school to play chess. In 1969, he
won the US Junior Championship.
At 18, he was 3rd in the world
Junior championship. He was
title at the age of 21. In 1975, he
took 2nd in the US championship,
behind Walter Browne. He became a
GM at the age of 25. He went back
to school and got a PhD in
economics from MIT. He gave up
chess to become the chief economist
at the World Bank and was a
professor at Princeton and Harvard.
He is the Thomas D. Cabot
Professor of Public Policy and
Professor of Economics at Harvard
University.
Dorian Rogozenko (1973- ), born in

Moldava, is a Romanian
won the championship of Moldova.
Michael Rohde (1959- ) is a

Grandmaster (1988) and winner of
the first National Scholastic Junior
High Chess Championship, in 1973.
He was a chess master at the age of
13. He was the first American since
Fischer to achieve a 2300 rating at
age 14. He won the 1991 US Open.
He is a former National Junior High
(1973), National High School (1974
— while still in Junior High) and US
Junior Champion (1976). In 1974, at
the age of 14, he became the
youngest player ever to win the
National High School Chess
Championship. In 1976, at the age of
16, he was the youngest American
since Fischer to gain an IM norm. In
2007, he tied for 1st at the US Open.
He is now an attorney.
Wilder — Rohde, Colorado 1987

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3
Be7 5.Bg5 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 c5
8.O-O-O dxc4 9.Bxc4 Qa5 10.h4
cxd4 11.Rxd4 Bb4 12.Ne4 Nxe4
13.Qxe4 Nc5 14.Qf4 f6 15.Bh6 b5
16.Qg3 Rf7 17.Rhd1 Bb7 18.Bxg7
Rxg7 19.Rg4 Rxg4 20.Qxg4+ Kh8
21.Bxe6 Be4 0-1
Michael Roiz (1983- ), born in

Russia, is an Israeli Grandmaster
2008.
Oleg Romanishin (1952- ) is a

1973, he won the European Junior
2615 in 1993.
Actor and restaurateur Mike

Romanoff (1890-1971) played chess.
His chess partner at his restaurant
was Humphrey Bogart.
Evgeny Romanov (1988- ) is a
Russian Granmaster (2007). In 1998,
he won the World under-10
2662 in 2013.
Peter Romanovsky (1892-1964) was

an International Master (1950) and
Soviet champion in 1923 (2nd USSR
Ch) and 1927 (with Bohatirchuk). In
1913, he won the Polytechnic
Institute championship in St.
Petersburg. In 1914, he went to
Mannheim to seek his master title,
however, when World War I broke
out during the tournament, he and
other Russian players, including
Alekhine, were interned. He tied for
first in the 1925 Leningrad
championship. In 1934, he was the
first Soviet chess player to be
awarded Honored Master of Sport.
During the winter of 1941-42, a
rescue party reached his home in
Leningrad. They found Romanovsky
half-conscious from starvation and
cold. The rest of his family had
frozen to death. All the furniture in
the house had been used for
firewood. In 1954, the Soviets
withdrew their application for
Romanovsky to receive the
Grandmaster title. They based his
GM title on his 1st place in the 1927
USSR championship. But because
Fedor Bohatirchuk also took 1st
place in 1927, and he was no longer
recognized in the USSR (having
defected), the USSR Chess
Federation did not want to give the
GM title to Bohatirchuk, so they
withdrew the application for
Romanovsky.
Romanovsky — Ilyin-Zhenevsky,
Leningrad 1938 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6
3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e3
Nc6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.a3 f5
10.Qe2 Kh8 11.Nxd5 Qxd5 12.dxc5
Bxc5 13.b4 Be7 14.Bb2 Bf6 15.Rfd1
Qb3 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Bc4 Qa4
18.Bb5 Qb3 19.Rd3 1-0
In 1971, 16-year-old Soni Romans

was banned from participating in the
Channelview High School, Houston
chess club. The reason was that the
16-year old had been married,
divorced, and had a child (which she
gave up for adoption). The school
felt she shouldn't be allowed to
participate in any club activity
because of her background and that
she "might discuss sex with other
students."
In July 1955, Nancy Roos (1905-

1957) was in a car accident just
before the U.S. women's
championship and had spinal
injuries. She recovered to win the
women's championship a few
months later.
George Emlen Roosevelt (1887-

1963) was a cousin of Theodore
Roosevelt and Franklin D.
Roosevelt. He was a banker and
chess patron. In 1938, he was elected
President of the Marshall Chess
Club. In 1939, he was head of the
committee to select a team to
represent the USA in the
International Team Tournament in
Buenos Aires. He was willing to pay
the travel for the U.S. team to attend
the Chess Olympiad in Buenos
Aires. But when the players also
asked for extra money to cover lost
wages while attending the event,
Roosevelt balked and decided not to
finance the team. He felt that the
players should be honored to play
for the flag. He contributed funds for
the U.S. chess championships in the
1930s and 1940s.
Kermit Roosevelt (1889-1943) was

an American businessman, soldier,
explorer, and writer. He was the
second son of Theodore Roosevelt.
Kermit was a graduate of Harvard
University, served in both World
Wars and explored two continents
with his father. He fought a lifelong
battle with depression ultimately
leading to suicide while serving in
the U.S. Army in Alaska during
World War II. He was an avid chess
collector. His chess pieces were on
display at the 1933 World's Fair in
Chicago.
Dr. Alexey Wilhelmina Root (1965-

) is a chess player, teacher, and
writer. In 1989, she won the US
Women's Chess Championship. She
earned a PhD in education from
UCLA in 1999. She is Senior
Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies
at the University of Texas at Dallas,
and has written six books on the
relationship between chess and
education. She is married to
Internation Master (1988) Doug
Root.
Charles R. "Chuck" Rosburg (1932-

1969) won the Seattle Chess
1959 Arkansas State Championship
with a perfect 5-0 score. At the time,
Captain Rosburg he was a B-47 pilot
at Little Rock Air Force Base. Later
on, Major Rosburg became a U-2
pilot and a test pilot at the Area 51
Special Projects in Nevada. He died
in 1969 in England when he was
flight testing a vertical take-off jet.
He ejected horizontally and was not
able to land on the ground safely.
Dr. Christine Rosenfeld (1936- ) was

the first US correspondence
International Woman Master (1990).
She is a medical doctor.
Hector Rosenfeld (1857-1935) was

born in Richmond, Virginia just
before the Civil War. In 1863, he
and two brothers were smuggled
through the Northern blockage and
brought to New York. He was the
founder of the Riddlers in New
York, a puzzle club. He was the
puzzle editor of the Ladies Home
Journal. He composed more than
10,000 puzzles and was syndicated
through 40 newspapers under the
name "Hector." Hector was
considered one of the best informed
and most respected chess amateurs
in the east and a member of the
Manhattan Chess Club. (source:
Chess Review, Jan 1936, p. 24 and
American Chess Bulletin, Dec 1935,
p. 169)
Samuel Rosenthal (1837-1902) was

a Polish player and law student who
moved from Warsaw to Paris,
France in 1864 after the Polish
revolution to become a professional
player and writer. In 1880, he played
Zukertort in a match, but lost with 1
win, 7 losses, and 11 draws. From
1885 to 1902, he edited Monde
Illustre. He founded the Cercle des
Echecs, at which he gave blindfold
chess exhibitions. In 1898, he sued
one of his chess students, Prince
Balaschoff, when his chess teaching
contract was terminated. The First
Chamber of the Civil Tribunal at
Paris awarded Rosenthal 15,000
francs. The Prince had been paying
Rosenthal 500 francs a month, and
1,000 francs when Rosenthal
accompanied the Prince in travel.
Lessing Rosenwald (1891-1979) was

the son of Julius Rosenwald,
president of Sears, Roebuck and
Company. Lessing succeeded his
father and donated money to support
American chess. He sponsored the
U.S. Chess Championship in the
1950s (named after him). He also
acquired and collected a number of
historically important and beautiful
chess sets and boards.
Samuel Rosenthal (1837-1902) was

a Polish-born (Russian Empire)
French chess master. He won the
Cafe de la Regence championship 3
times and became the strongest
French chess player. In 1880, he
won the first unofficial French Chess
Championship. He gave up serious
play to write chess articles, edit
chess columns, and teach chess.
From 1885 to 1902, he edited a
chess column for the Le Monde
Illustre. He was a journalist by
profession. He died 5 days after
turning 65.
In 1924, Solomon Rosenthal (1890-

1955), born in Vilnius, Lithuania,
won the first Belarusian Chess
Championship. He won it again in
1925.
Alexander Borisovich Roshal (1936-

2007) was editor-in-chief of 64-
Chess Review. It became the biggest
and most influential chess magazine
in the USSR. In 1992 the publication
was stopped due to financial
difficulties, but then privatised and
resurrected by Roshal, who ran it as
Editor in Chief until his death. He
also revitalized the Chess Oscar in
the early 1990s. He was Karpov's
press agent.
Hector Decio Rossetto (1922-2009)

was an Argentine Grandmaster
(1960). He won the Argentine
Championship 6 times from 1942 to
1972. He played for Argentina in 6
Chess Olympiads.
Nicolas Rossolimo (1910-1975) was

born in Kiev. His father was Greek
and his mother was Russian. He
lived in Moscow in the mid 1920s
and moved to Paris in 1929. He won
the French Championship in 1948.
He won the Paris championship 7
times. In 1950, he represented
France in the Chess Olympiad. In
1952, he moved to New York,
settling in Greenwich Village in
Manhattan. He was awarded the
he won the US Open (on tiebreak
over Samuel Reshevsky), held in
Long Beach, California. First prize
was a 1955 Buick, which he sold for
$2,250 (source: Chess Review, Oct
1955, p. 290). He represented the
USA in the 1958, 1960, and 1966
Chess Olympiads. He moved back to
France in the early 1970s and
represented France in the 1972
Chess Olympiad. He then returned to
the USA. On July 24, 1975, GM
Rossolimo died in New York City at
the age of 65. He died of head
injuries following a fall down a
flight of stairs in Greenwich Village.
He is buried in a Russian Orthodox
cemetery in New Jersey. He was a
taxi driver in New York by
profession.
Rossolimo - Golombek, Venisce

1949 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4
4.e3 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 O-O
7.Bd3 d6 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.O-O e5 10.e4
Nh5 11.Be3 b6 12.f4 exf4 13.Nxf4
Nxf4 14.Rxf4 Qe7 15.Qh5 g6
16.Qf3 Bb7 17.Rf6 Nd8 18.d5 Qe5
19.Rf1 Bc8 20.Bh6 Bf5 21.Rxf5
gxf5 22.exf5 1-0
David Lee Roth (1954- ), an

American rock star, plays chess. He
took a few chess lessons at the Chess
Forum in New York.
Baron Albert Salomon von

Rothschild (1844-1911) was the
richest person in the Austro-
Hungarian empire who was also a
chess patron. As a boy, he had
Wilhelm Steinitz as his chess tutor.
He was member and president of the
Vienna Chess Society (Wiener
Schachgesellschaft), founded in
1857. He played chess daily at the
Vienna Chess Club and was
considered a strong player. The
baron financed the Vienna
international tournaments from 1873
to 1908. He was a patron to Ignaz
Kolisch, whom he had met in 1868.
Rothschild also donated money for
brilliancy prizes, such as 500 francs
($100) to the brilliancy prize at
Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania in
1904
Gersh A. Rotlewi (1889-1920) was

one of the strongest Polish players
from 1909 to 1911. He took 2nd in
the 1909 Russian championship,
behind Alekhine. In 1911, he took
4th place, ahead of Alekhine,
Marshall, Nimzovich, Vidmar,
Tartakower, and others. The next
year, at the age of 23, he dropped out
of chess due to a serious nervous
illness, and never played again.
Lewis Rou (1680-1750) was perhaps

the first known American chess
author (December, 1734), according
to Daniel Fiske in his book, The Lost
Manuscript of the Rev. Lewis Rou's
'Critical Remarks upon the letter to
the Craftsman,' published in
Florence in 1902. Rou was a pastor
of the Huguenot Protestant Church
in New York City who wrote a tract
relating to chess. He wrote a
manuscript on chess in response to A
Letter to the Craftsman on the Game
of Chess, occasioned by his Paper on
the Fifteenth of this Month pamphlet
published in London. His title was
"Critical Remarks Upon the Letter to
The Craftsman at the Game of Chess
Occasioned by His Paper on the 15th
of Sept. 1733, and dated from
Slaughter's Coffee-House, Sept, 21."
This manuscript has not been found
and may be a hoax.
Eugene Rousseau (1810-1870), a
distant relative of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, was born in St. Denis,
France. In December 1845, Eugene
Rousseau played a match against the
Englishman Charles Henry Stanley
(1819-1901), the secretary of the
New York Chess Club, for the title
of chess champion of the United
States, the first contest ever for this
title and the first organized chess
event in the U.S. The match was
played for a stake of $1,000 (winner
take all and no time limit) at the
Sazerac Coffee House in New
Orleans. Stanley won with 15 wins,
8 draws, and 8 losses (there was no
time limit and draws didn't count —
first to win 15 games was the
champion). Rousseau's second in the
match was Ernest Morphy, who took
his 8 1/2 year old nephew Paul
Morphy to the match. It was at this
match that Paul Morphy got
interested in chess. In 1858, Eugene
Rousseau returned to France and was
the secretary-general of the variety
theater in Paris. He was a bank
cashier by profession.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

was born on June 28, 1712 in
Geneva, Switzerland. Rousseau
discovered that he loved chess, and
for some months he was completely
obsessed with it. He relied on
intuition and not memory. Laborious
attempts to memorize chess
openings and combinations got him
nowhere. On February 26, 1770
Rousseau wrote a letter to M. de
Saint-Germain and mentioned that
chess was his only amusement.
Rousseau called chess "the
touchstone of human intellect."
Rousseau did not like to gamble, He
playe at the casino once while in
Venice, but was to bored to go on.
He said, "Chess, where one does not
bet, is the only game that gives me
pleasure."
Armand (Marc) Rousso founded a

company manufacturing 3D shutter
glasses. He became a chess patron
and organized a rapid chess match
between Kasparov and Karpov in
Times Square. He sponsored the
Kasparov vs Deep Junior match and
the Kasparov vs X3D Fritz.
Dr. Jonathan Rowson (1977- ) is a

Scottish Grandmaster (1999). He has
won the Scottish Championship 3
times. He has won the British
won the Canadian Open. His peak
PhD degree in Philosophy.
Shanker Roy (1996-2012). Died at

age 36. He was one of Bengal's
leading chess players and an
International Master. He committed
suicide. He hung himself from a
ceiling fan using his wife's long
scarf. He had been suffering from
depression.
Arthur John Roycoft (1929- ) is an

English chess endgame study
composer and author. In 1959, he
was awarded the title International
Judge of Chess Compositions. He is
the founder of the endgames
magazine, EG, which he started in
1965. He is the author of Test Tube
Chess (1972). He was a computer
systems analyst for IBM for 26
years. He is chairman of the FIDE
Studies Subcommittee.
Bela Rozsa (1905-1977) was an

American chess master. He won the
Oklahoma State Championship 12
times. In 1952, He won the 10th
Grand National Correspondence
Chess Tournament.
Sol Isaac Rubinow (1924-1981) was

born in New York City on
November 6, 1923. In 1943, he was
intercollegiate chess champion. He
earned a doctorate at the University
of Pennsylvania and moved to
Massachusetts in 1951. He later
became a professor of
biomathematics at Cornell. In 1952,
he won the Massachusetts State
Championship. He was a master
emeritus with the USCF. He died on
February 22, 1981.
Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein

(1882-1961) was the youngest of 12
children. He was a Polish chess
master who claimed he studied chess
six hours a day, 300 days a year.
Another 60 days he spent playing in
chess tournaments. The remaining
five days he rested. He never ate in
public and would not shake hands
for fear of germs. He was so
paranoid that if a stranger came to
his door, he would exit out the
window. He suffered from a nervous
disorder known as anthrophobia
(fear of people and society). At age
16, he obtained the only chess book
available in Hebrew, Chess,
Checkmate, by Sossnitz. In 1912 he
won five consecutive strong
tournaments in one year (Vilna, San
Sebastian, Breslau, Pistyan, and
Warsaw), a record which has never
been surpassed. During World War
I, Like Lasker, he invested all his
money in German War bonds. He
beat Capablanca, Alekhine, and
Emanuel Lasker the first time he
played them in tournament play. In
1911 at San Sebastian he
complained of a fly which kept
settling on his forehead and breaking
his concentration. After he won the
tournament, the tournament director,
Jacques Mieses, took him to a
leading psycho-neurologist at
Munich. The doctor examined
Rubinstein and said, "My friend, you
are mad. But what does it matter?
You are a chess master!" Rubinstein
imagined noises in the night:
knockings on the walls. Had not
World War I intervened, Rubinstein
would have played Lasker for the
world championship title in 1914 or
1915. In the spring of 1914, he was
scheduled to play a chess match with
Emanuel Lasker for the World Chess
Championship, but it was cancelled
due to the outbreak of World War I.
In 1927, he won the 2nd Polish
championship, held in Lodz. His
later life was plagued by mental
illness. (source: Chess Review, Jan
1935, p. 11) He once burst in the
room next door and tried to strangle
Richard Reti, believing he was the
source of these strange noises. After
1932, he never competed in chess
tournaments again. He spent four
years hiding in a sanatorium in
Belgium during the Nazi occupation.
He defeated Alekhine, Lasker, and
Capablanca the first time he ever
played them. He was the youngest of
12 children. He learned chess at the
late age of 19.
Mieses - Rubinstein, Prague 1908

1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 d5 4.e5 dxc3
5.Nf3 cxb2 6.Bxb2 Nh6 7.Nc3 Be6
8.Bd3 Be7 9.Qc2 Nc6 10.a3 Qd7
11.Bc1 Nf5 12.Qa4 O-O 13.Qf4 f6
14.g4 fxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Qxe5
Bf6 0-1
In 1963 Mrs. Edvige Rubinstein of

Milan, Italy was the first woman to
divorce her husband because he
played chess. The court ruled that
she was entitled to the divorce and
custody of the children because her
husband was so obsessed with chess
that he refused to work and support
their two children.
In 1927, Olga Rubtsova (1909-

1994), at the age of 17, won the first
Soviet Women's Chess
Championship, held in Moscow. She
also won it in 1931, 1937, and 1948.
In September 1956, Olga Rubtsova
won the Women's World Chess
Championship after finishing ahead
of Elisaveta Bykova and Lyudmila
Rudenko. in a match-tournament,
held in Moscow. Each played an 8-
game match with each other.
Rubtsova scored 10 points, followed
by Bykova with 9.5 points, and
Rudenko with 4.5 points. She
became the fourth Women's World
Chess Champion. She is the only
person to become World Champion
in both over-the-board and
correspondence chess.
Huguet — Rubtsova, Plovdiv 1959

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3
Qe7 5.O-O d6 6.a4 a6 7.Na3 Nf6
8.d3 Be6 9.Nc2 O-O 10.Ne3 Bxe3
11.Bxe6 Bxc1 12.Bxf7+ Rxf7
13.Rxc1 Nd7 14.h4 h6 15.g4 Raf8 0-
1
Ludmilla Vladmirovna Rudenko

woman grandmaster (1976) from
Leningrad. In 1928, she became
women's champion of Moscow. She
was the first Soviet woman to
capture the World Women's
Championship. In January 1950,
Lyudmila Rudenko (1904-1986)
won the 8th Women's Chess
Championship, scoring 11.5 points
out of 15 (9 wins, 1 loss, and 5
draws). Her only loss was the
American player Gisela Kahn
Gresser (1906-2000). The event was
a 16-player round robin. The 16
players were from 12 different
countries, with the four Soviet
players taking the top four spots.
After the tournament, she was
(IM) and Woman International
Master (WIM) titles. She was the
first woman awarded the IM title.
She was USSR Women's champion
in 1952. She lost the World
Women's Championship in 1953 to
Elizaveta Bykova (+4-7=2). Her
occupation was an economic
planner.
Valentin Rudenko (1938-2016) was

a Ukrainian Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions (1980). He was the
first chess composer who ever had
his own composition in space,
aboard the mission Soyuz 9. He is
considered as the best orthodox
problem composer who ever lived.
He worked at the Sternbrg
Astronomical Institute.
Mary Rudge (1842-1919) was

winner of the first Women's
International tournament, held at the
Ladies' Club in London in 1897. She
was 55 and the oldest of the 20
players. She won the event with 18
wins and 1 draw (she won 60
pounds). She was the first woman
member of the Bristol Chess Club,
which did not allow women to be
members of the club until she joined
in 1872. In 1889, she became the
first woman in the world to give
simultaneous chess exhibitions. In
her first exhibition, she took on 6
opponents at once and won all her
games. By the end if 1889, she was
being hailed as the leading lady
chess player in the world. In 1898,
she played against world champion
Emanuel Lasker in a simultaneous
display in London. Lasker was
unable to finish the game with her in
the time available, and conceded
defeat because he would be lost with
best play.
Alexander Rueb (1882-1959) was a

Dutch lawyer and diplomat who
became the first President of FIDE
(1924-1949). He owned one of the
largest chess libraries in the world
until destroyed by aerial bombs in
1945. He wrote several books on
endgames. He was an International
Judge of Chess Compositions
(1951).
Jan Rusinek (1950- ) is a Polish

Grandmaster of chess compositions
(1983). He was editor of the study
section of the Polish chess magazine
Szachy (Chess) from 1971 to the
magazine's closure in 1990. He
teaches mathematics at Warsaw
University.
William Henry Russ (1833-1866)

was a leading American compiler of
chess problems in the 19th century
who wrote under the name W. R.
Henry. He was the first person to
collect all chess problems published
in America and compiled a
manuscript collection. He adopted an
11-year old girl and proposed to her
in Brooklyn when she turned 21.
When he rejected him, he shot her
four times in the head. He left her for
dead (she survived), then tried to
commit suicide by jumping into the
river to drown himself.
Unfortunately, the tide was out and
not deep enough. He climbed out of
the river and shot himself twice in
the head. He died 10 days later in a
hospital, lacking the will to win. His
chess book, published
posthumously, was entitled
American Chess Nuts, published in
1868.
In 1950, Bertrand Russell (1872-

Literature. He played chess with his
family and said he lost friends to one
of three addictions: alcohol or
religion or chess.
HanonW. Russell (1947- ) is a

lawyer, chess collector, chess
historian, and chess expert. He has
been publishing chess books for over
30 years. He is the former owner of
ChessCafe that included many
historical chess articles.
Alexander Rustemov (1973- ) is a

2000, he took 2nd in the Russian
2625 in 2001.
William Ruth (1886-1975) was a

chess master from Philadelphia. He
took last place in the 1945 US
Championship (+1-7=2). The
opening 1.d4 Nf6 2.Ng5 is
sometimes known as the Ruth
Opening, but more commonly
named the Trompowsky Opening.
RZA (1969- ), or Robert Diggs, is an

American rapper, and one of the
founders of the Wu-Tang Clan. He is
a huge chess fan. He is a Director of
Development and chess champion of
the Hip-Hop Chess Federation.
Porterfield Rynd (1847-1917) was

the first Irish chess champion. He
won the Irish championship in 1865
(16 out of 17) and 1892 to 1913. He
was a barrister. He helped form the
Irish Chess Association in 1885.
Mihhail Rytsagov (1967- ) is an

Estonian Grandmaster (1997). His
Fernando Saavedra (1847-1922),

born in Seville, was a Spanish monk.
His claim to chess fame is based on
the discovery while he was in
Scotland of a single move. On May
4 and May 11, 1895, a chess
problem was published in the
Glasgow Weekly Citizen by G. E.
Barbier (1844-1895), Scottish
champion in 1886. Barbier pointed
out that the position was a draw
because the final position led to
stalemate. But Saavedra, after seeing
the problem in the problem in the
paper, discovered that instead of
promoting a pawn to a queen, the
promotion of the pawn resulted in a
win. He showed his solution to
Barbier and others at the Glasgow
Chess Club. In his next chess
column, on May 18, Barbier wrote,
"A member of the Glasgow Club,
the Reverend Saavedra, has pointed
out a win for White. The position is
a very remarkable one." On May 25,
Barbier published the winning rook
promotion, adding, "This position is
one of the most remarkable end
games we have seen for years." It is
one of the most famous examples of
underpromotion in chess, and a rare
example of a player being famous
for a single move.
Matthew Sadler (1974- ) is an

English Grandmaster (1993) who
won the British championship in
1995 and 1997 (jointly with Michael
Adams). His peak rating was 2687 in
2017.
Illescas — Sadler, Linares 1995 1.d4

d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nc6 4.Be3 Nf6
5.Nc3 e5 6.d5 na5 7.Nf3 Bd6
8.Qa4+ Bd7 9.Qxa5 a6 10.Nb1 Nxe4
11.Kd3 c3 0-1
Darmen Sadvakasov (1979- ) is a

Kazakhstan. He was the winner of
the 37th World Junior
Championship, held in India in
1998. He has won the championship
of Kazakhstan 5 times.
Yulianti — Sadvakasov, Bali 2000

1.f4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e4 e6 4.g3 d5
5.e5 Nh6 6.Bg2 Nf5 7.Nc3 Be7 8.O-
O h5 9.d3 Qb6 10.Kh1 Bd7 11.Bd2
O-O-O 12.Re1 Kb8 13.Rb1 c4
14.dxc4 h4 15.cxd5 Nxg3+ 16.hxg3
hxg3+ 17.Bh3 Qf2 0-1
Friedrich Saemisch (1896-1975) was

born in Berlin. He was awarded the
title of International Grandmaster in
1950. In 1921, he won the first
Austrian chess championship. He
may have been the loser of more
games of chess on time than any
other master. In 1959 at Linkopping,
Sweden, he lost all 13 games on
time. He once spent 45 minutes
before making his first move, got in
time trouble and lost. In another
event he lost a game on time in 13
moves. The time control was 45
minutes in 2 1/2 hours. However, he
could play blitz chess. He won two
lightning tournaments at the age of
61. He was imprisoned for awhile by
the Nazis in 1944 because of some
remarks he made against the German
war effort. It was Saemisch he
defeated Nizmowitsch in one
tournament, when Nimzowitsch
responded with, "Why must I lose to
this idiot?" He was a bookbinder by
profession.
Saemisch - Rathai, Berlin 1941 1.d4

d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6
5.Nbd2 Qe7 6.g3 Bg4 7.Bg2 O-O-O
8.O-O d3 9.exd3 Nxe5 10.Qa4 a6
11.Nxe5 Qxe5 12.c5 Rd4 13.Nc4
Qf6 14.Be3 Rxd3 15.Qe8+ (15...Rd8
16.Qe4) 1-0
Eltaj Safarli (1992- ) is an

Azerbaijan Championship in 2010
in 2016.
Shukhrat Safin (1970-2009) was an

won the Uzbekistan Championship
in 2001. He died of blood cancer.
Dragutin Sahovic (1940-2005) was a

Yugoslav Grandmaster (1978). In
1977, he tied for 1st in the Lone Pine
International tournament.
Astronomer and astrophysicist Carl

Sagan (1934-1996) played chess in
high school.
Dr. Anthony Saidy (1937- ) is an

USA. He is a medical doctor
specializing in tuberculosis. He
played in 8 US Chess
Championships. In 1960, he won the
Canadian Open. In 1972, Larry
Evans was playing Anthony Saidy in
the final round of the Church's Fried
Chicken San Antonio tournament.
The game was adjourned and Saidy
had a winning position. Evans, after
staying up all night studying the lost
position, decided the adjourned
position was hopeless and booked an
early flight home. The next day,
Saidy blundered on move 46. At
move 60 when there was still time to
catch the plane, Evans said "It's a
book draw." "Show me the book"
replied Saidy. Evans responded, "I
have a schedule to meet." Saidy
replied, "Show me the schedule."
With each move the draw became
more obvious. Finally, Saidy said
"You know it's against the rules to
talk to your opponent." "Show me
the rules!" said Evans . The game
was finally drawn after 106 moves.
After the game, Saidy told Evans
"You know we have played 12
games and it was the first time I was
up a pawn against you. I was
enjoying it too much. Sorry." The
tournament director later told Evans
that he should not have told Saidy
that he had a plane to catch. When
Saidy finally signed the score sheets,
Evans rushed off to the San Antonio
airport, but he missed his flight and
had to stay another day.
Huguet — Saidy, Las Palmas 1973

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6
8.O-O-O Bd7 9.f4 Be7 10.f5 Ne5
11.fxe6 fxe6 12.Nf3 Qc7 13.Be2
Rd8 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Qxd6 Qa5
16.Rd5 exd5 17.Nxe5 Bg4 18.Qa3
Qxa3 19.bxa3 Bxe5 20.Bxg4 Bxc3
0-1
Pierre Charles Fournier (Fournie) de

Saint-Amant (1800-1872) was born
in Chateau Latour (a French wine
estate) in the Bordeaux region of
France on September 12, 1800.
Around 1823, Saint-Amant learned
chess from Wilhelm Schlumberger
(1800-1838), a European chess
master. Schlumberger started
teaching chess as the Cafe de la
Regence and Saint-Amant was one
of his pupils. Schlumberger soon left
France to become an operator in the
Turk automaton. In 1840, after
Louis-Charles Mahe La
Bourdonnais' death, Saint-Amant
was considered France's best chess
player, although Deschapelles may
have been stronger until he died in
1847 at the age of 67. Around 1840,
Saint-Amant played a long series of
about 35 games with Boncourt.
Boncourt was said to be about 3
games up during the match. He died
at 3 pm on October 28, 1872 (some
sources say it was Oct 9; others say
Oct 25 or Oct 29) after being thrown
from his carriage at his chateau near
Algiers. His body was interned at the
Cemetery of Birmandreis. His
business career included being a
clerk, actor, wine merchant, and
explorer.
Schulten — Saint-Amant, Paris 1842

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e5 3.f4 d6 4.Nf3 exf4
5.d4 Nf6 6.Bd3 Be7 7.Bxf4 O-O
8.Nbd2 Nc6 9.O-O Bg4 10.e5 dxe5
11.dxe5 Nh5 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7
13.Ng5+ Bxg5 14.Qxg4 Nxf4
15.Ne4 Ne6 16.Qh5+ Kg8 17.Rad1
Qe7 18.Rd7 Qxd7 19.Nf6+ gxf6
20.Rxf6 Bxf6 0-1
Jaroslav Sajtar (1921-2003) was a

Czech chess master. He earned the
International Master title in 1950.
FICE made him an honorary
was elected vice-president of FIDE.
Konstantin Rufovich Sakaev (1974-

) is a Russian Grandmaster (1992).
In 1990, he won the Russian Youth
Championship. He won the World
Youth Championship in 1990, 1991,
Russian Championship.
Sakaev — Kramnik, Russia 1989

1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f3 d6
5.e4 Bg7 6.e5 Nh5 7.g4 dxe5 8.gxh5
exd4 9.Nd5 e5 10.h4 h6 11.Qe2 O-O
12.Qg2 c6 13.Bxh6 Bxh6 14.Qxg6+
Bg7 15.h6 Rf7 16.Nh3 cxd5 17.Ng5
Re7 18.Rg1 Nc6 19.cxd5 Qa5+
20.Kd1 Qxd5 21.hxg7 1-0
In 1979, Abdus Salam (1926-1996)

his work on the electro-weak theory.
He played chess in college and spent
many hours at the game before being
reprimanded by his father for
wasting valuable study time.
Salem Saleh (1993- ) is an Emirate

chess championship of the UAE
three times. He won the Arab
2015, he won the Asian Chess
2656 in 2016.
IvAn Salgado-Lopez (1991- ) is a

2013, he won the Spanish Chess
Championship.
Johan Salomon (1997- ) is a

won the Norwegian Championship
in 2016.
Valery Salov (1964- ) is a Russian

Gradmaster (1986). In 1980, he was
the World under-17 Chess
Champion. He was the Euoprean
Junior Champion in 1983-84. In
1987, he tied for 1st place in the
USSR Championship. He was once
ranked #3 in the world. His peak
Alessandro Salvio (1570-1640) was

a chess author from Naples and best
chess analyst of his time. He
defeated Paolo Boi in 1598 (who
died three days later) and Geronimo
Cascio in 1606. He was unofficial
world chess champion around 1600.
In 1604 in Naples, he published the
first comprehensive chess book,
called Trattato dell'inventione et arte
liberale del gioco degli scacci. It
contained 31 chapters with chess
openings. In 1612, he authored a
tragic poem about chess, La
Scaccaide. It contained some
historical information about Italian
players. No copies are known to
exist. In 1634, he started a chess
academy in Naples. In 1634, he
wrote Il Puttino, altramente detto, il
Cavaliere Errante del Salvio, Sopra
il gioco de' Scacchi con la sua
Apologia contra il Carrera, an
account of Leonardo da Cutri. The
famous Lucena position (Rook and
Pawn vs Rook) first appeared in Il
Puttino in 1634. He was a doctor of
law.
Georg Salwe (1860-1920) was born

into a Jewish family in Warsaw
(then Russian Empire). He played in
his first major chess tournament at
the age of 42. In 1906, he took 1st at
the 4th Russian Championship, held
in St. Petersburg. In October 1913,
Salwe edited the first Jewish chess
newspaper, Erste Yidishe
Shahtsaytung. World War I ended its
publication in 1914. He died 3 days
after his 58th birthday. He was a
manufacturer by profession.
Bator Sambuev (1980- ) is a

Russian-Canadian Grandmaster
(2006). He has won the Canadian
Championship three times, in 2011,
2012, and 2017. His peak rating was
2571 in 2014.
Sid Samole (1935-2000) was the

owner of Fidelity Electronics
(makers of hearing aids and chess
computers) and a chess
philanthropist. He founded Excalibur
Electronics, which housed the World
Chess Hall of Fame in Miami, until
it moved to Saint Louis in 2011.
Sandipan Chanda (1983- ) is an

Indian Grandmaster (2003). His peak
Albert Sandrin (1923-2004) was one

of the world's best blind chess
players. He was the winner of the
50th US Open in Omaha in 1949. In
1952, he enrolled in the Marshall
School for the Blind and became a
piano tuner. He advertised in the
Chicago telephone book for
customers and soon found himself
tuning pianos all over Chicago. In
1968 he was totally blind and was
the #1 player on the US Braille
Chess team.
Frank P. Sanford (1921-1986) of

Birmingham, Alabama, was CEO of
the Liberty National Life Insurance
Company. He established the
Samford Fellowship, which is given
to elite young chess players to assist
in their training and living expenses.
It is the richest and most important
chess fellowship in the US.
Raul C. Sanguineti (1933-2000) was

an Argentine Grandmaster (1982).
He won the Argentine
Championship 7 times from 1856 to
1974. He played for Argentina in 7
Chess Olumpiads.
Anthony Santasiere (1904-1977)

was an American chess master. The
opening 1.Nf3 c5 2.b4 is known as
Santasiere's Folly, but was played by
Alekhine in 1923. In 1943, he won
the New England Championship. He
won the 46th US Open in 1945 in
Peoria, Illinois. He won the New
York State championship (1928,
1930, 1946, 1956) and the Marshall
Chess Club (he was 17 when he won
in 1922) six times. He played in four
U.S. championships (taking 3rd
place in 1946). He was school
teacher in Manhattan's public
schools for 35 years, as well as an art
and music critic. He wrote books on
chess, poetry, and a children's novel.
He died at the age of 72.
Santasiere — R. Byrne, New York

1946 1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6
4.Bc4 Nd7 5.Bxf7+ Kf8 6.Ng5 Nb6
7.Qf3 Nf6 8.e5 dxe5 9.dxe5 Bg4
10.exf6 Bxf3 11.fxg7+ Kxg7
12.Ne6+ 1-0
Marc Santo-Roman (1960- ) is a

French Grandmaster (1996). He has
won the French Championship 3
1991.
Ortwin Sarapu (1924-1999) was a
New Zealand International Master
(1966). He was born in Estonia. In
1940, he won the Estonian Junior
Copenhagen Championship. He
moved to West Germany after World
War II. In 1950, he emigrated to
Australia. He won the Australian
championship in 1957-59. He won
the New Zealand championship 20
times.
Gabriel Eduardi Sargissian (1983- )

is an Armenian Grandmaster (2002).
In 1996, he won the World Under-14
won the European Under-16
Armenian Championship in 2000
in 2015.
Ivan Saric (1990- ) is a Croation

won the World Under-18 Youth
Croatian Championship in 2009 and
2014. He has a bachelor's degree in
Computer Science.
Dr. Peter Sarnak (1953- ) is famous

for proving the Riemann hypothesis.
He is head of the mathematics
department at Princeton and an avid
chess player. In high school, his
main interst was chess, in which he
played competitively at the national
and international levels. He was
once Junior Chess Champion of
South Africa, and then Champion of
Rhodesia.
Jacob Henry Sarratt (1772-1821)
was a chess player and author. He
was a London schoolmaster and the
first professional to teach in
England. In 1804, Sarratt became the
house professional at the Salopian
Coffee-house at Charing Cross in
London, founded in 1770. He played
for a guinea per game. Sarratt called
himself the 'Professor of Chess.' One
of his students was William Lewis.
In 1803, he published Treatise on the
Game of Chess. In 1813, he
published the works of Damiano,
Ruy Lopez, and Salvio. In 1817, he
published the works of Gianutio and
Gustavus Selenius. Sarratt persuaded
chess players in England to accept a
stalemate as a draw. In some areas,
stalemate was a lost game for the
stalemating player. On Nov 6, 1819,
Sarratt died in London at the age of
47 after a protracted illness and
living in poverty. He left his wife
destitute. Sarratt succeeded in
changing the stalemate rule in
England to be a draw. Previously, in
England, the side giving stalemate
was a loss. Under his influence, the
London Chess Club (founded in
1807) adopted the continental rule
that a game ending in stalemate was
a draw, not a win for the player
stalemated. After his death, Lewis
published New Treatise on the Game
of Chess in 1821.
Sarratt — NN, London 1818 1.d4 d5

2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 b5 4.a4 Bd7 5.axb5
Bxb5 6.Nc3 Ba6 7.Qf3 c6 8.Rxa6
Nxa6 9.Qxc6+ Qd7 10.Qxa8+ Qd8
11.Qc6+ Qd7 12.Qxa6 1-0
Jeff Sarwer (1978- ) learned chess at
the age of 4. At age 6, he was
playing at the Manhattan Chess
Club. At age 7, he was giving
simultaneous exhibitions to as many
as 40 players at a time. At age 7, he
tied for 1st in the US Primary School
championship. At age 8, won the
Under 10 World Youth Chess
Championship in Puerto Rico. His
sister, Julia, won the world
champion for girls under 10. Jeff's
father did not allow him to continue
his chess career. He moved the
family away from New York City
and ran into trouble with The
Children's Aid Society (CAS) of
Ontario. A featured article in Vanity
Fair magazine detailed child abuse
of Jeff and Julia and prompted the
CAS to take him and his sister into
protective custody. Jeff and Julia ran
away from the CAS back to their
father and hid out from authorities in
order to not be taken away into
custody again. The Sarwers lived in
various countries and got used to
living an anonymous lifestyle. In
2007, he played in an international
chess tournament in Poland and took
3rd place with the score of 7 out of
9. In 2015, he scored an
International Norm in an
international tournament in Finland.
He is now a professional poerk
player in Europe.
Krishnan Sasikiran (1981- ) is an

Indian Grandmaster (2000). He has
won the Championship of India 4
times. In 1999, he won the Asian
won the Asian Blitz Championship.
In 2016, he became a Senior
International Master in
Correspondnece Chess. His peak
Elaine Saunders Pritchard (1926-

2012) was a child prodigy. She won
the World Junior Women's
championship at the age of 10, and
repeated it at age 11. At age 13, she
won the British Women's
Championship.
Boris Savchenko (1986- ) is a

won the Moscow Championship in
2008 and 2016. In 2009, he won the
Baku Open. He won the Moscow
Open in 2013. His peak rating was
2655 in 2009.
Stanislav Savchenko (1967- ) is a

Ukrainian Grandmaster (1993).
Diane Savereide (1954- ) is an

International Woman Master (1975)
and six-time winner of the US
Women's Chess Championship. She
won in 1975 and 1976. In 1977 and
1978 she shared the championship
with Rachel Crotto. She won it again
in 1981 and 1984. In 1982 she was
ranked number 10 on the list of the
world's top women. She lost the title
in 1986 to Inna Izrailov. She was the
top woman player in the 1976 US
Open. She works as a software
developer in Los Angeles. She began
playing chess at 17.
Vladimir Savon (1940-2005) was a

played in 10 USSR championships
and won the 39th USSR
Championship in 1971. He was not
even an International Master when
he won the USSR championship. He
won it 1 Å“ points ahead of Tal and
Smyslov. He took 8th place in the
1973 Petropolis Interzonal
tournament. He died at the age of 65.
Feldman — Savon, Kiev 1959 1.Nf3

Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 O-O
5.g3 d6 6.d4 d5 7.Bg2 c5 8.cxd5
Nxd5 9.Ne5 Nb4 10.Na3 N8c6 11.e3
Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd3+ 13.Ke2 Nxb2
14.Qxd8 Rxd8 15.f4 Bg4+ 0-1
Gyula Sax (1951-2014) was a

1972, he won the European Junior
Hungarian Championship in 1976
2610 in 1988.
Emil Schallopp (1843-1919) was a

German chess master who had a
classic education. He was also chief
stenographer (shorthand) of the
Reichstag in Berlin and worked as
stenographer in the Prussian House
of Representatives. He was also
President of the Shorthand
Association and a member of the
Commissioner of Examiners.
In 1921, Richard Schayer (1880-

1956) was described as the chess
champion of motion pictures. In
1930, he organized the Beverly Hills
Chess Club. Cecil B. DeMille (1881-
1959) was one of its first members.
In March 1933, he became the new
president of the Hollywood Chess
Club (renamed the Hollywood Chess
and Bridge Club), which moved to
the 6735 Yucca Street in Hollywood.
Schayer was a screenwriter who
wrote over 100 films between 1916
and 1956. He wrote some chess
scenes into a few of his scripts, such
as The Black Cat, with Boris Karloff
playing chess with Bela Lagosi.
Schayer was once considered the
strongest chess player in Hollywood.
He believed that next to newspaper
work, chess is the best mental
training for script writing, and that it
is unequaled as a pastime for
keeping veteran writers like himself
from getting "stale." (source: Los
Angeles Herald, Mar 28, 1921)
Theodor von Scheve (1851-1922),

born in Prussia (now Poland), was a
German chess master and writer. In
1888, he took 2nd in the Jubilee
tournament of the Berlin Chess
Club, behind Max Harmonist. He
was an army officer by profession.
Emmanuel Stepanovich Schiffers

(1850-1904) was born in St.
Petersburg, Russia. He was the
Russian chess champion for 10
years, from 1870 to 1880, until
Chigorin defeate him. Schiffers was
known as "Russia's Chess Teacher."
From 1889, he gave public lectures
on chess in many cities, the first to
be given in Russia. He finshed 2nd,
behind Chigorin, in the first and
second All-Russian tournaments in
1899 and 1900. He earned his
livelihood largely by giving private
chess lessons.
Israel Abramovich Schiffmann

(1903-1930), a native of Odessa,
was a Jewish Romanian chess
composer. He won more than 60
awards and composed over 200
chess problems of all kinds. He
contracted a lung illness in 1924 and
began composing chess probems
while in a German sanitorium. From
1928 to 1930, he was chess
composition editor of the Romanian
chess magazine Revista Romana de
Sah. In 1929, he won the
Composition World Cup. He was
fluent in 6 languages. He moved to
Romania where he died of influenza
in 1930 at the age of 26.
Dr. Eric Schiller (1955- ) is a chess

author and USCF national master,
International Arbiter, and
International Trainer. In 1974, he
won the Illinois Junior
Championship. He has written over
100 chess books. He earned a PhD in
linguistics from the University of
Chicago in 1991, specializing in
Khmer (Cambodian) languages. His
dissertation was entitled, "An
Autolexical Account of
Subordinating Serial Verb
Constructions." In 2008, he had to
have his right hand and foot
amputated due to complications
from diabetes.
Carl Schlechter (1874-1918) was

Viennese player who was ranked in
the top 5 in the world. He was the
quietest of all grandmasters. He was
known as the "Drawing Master" as
he drew half of his 700 tournament
and match games. He was one of the
few grandmasters who also
composed chess problems. In 1910,
he drew a match with Emanuel
Lasker. All he needed to do was
draw his last game, but he lost it and
the match. Some view this match as
a world championship match. On
December 27, 1918, Carl Schlechter
(1874-1918), leading Austrian
player, died from pneumonia and
starvation in Budapest, Hungary,
during the war-imposed famine in
Central Europe. He never mentioned
to any of his acquaintances that he
needed food or money. He was
found in a room without any money,
heat or food. He was buried in
Budapest on December 31, 1918. He
was only 44.
Schlechter — H. Wolf, Berlin 1894

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5
Be7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.Nf3 O-O 7.e5
Be7 8.Bd3 Bd7 9.h4 f6? 10.Ng5
fxg5 11.Bxh7+ Kxh7 12.hxg5+ Kg8
13.Rh8+! Kf7 14.Qh5+ g6 15.Qh7+
Ke8 16.Qxg6 mate 1-0
Dr. Karl Wilhelm Adolph

Schliemann (1817-1872) was a
German chess master. He was a
lawyer by profession. A variation in
the Ruy Lopez, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 f5, is named after him. He
died in Liepzig at the age of 54.
William Schlumberger (1800-1837)

was the strongest player in America
from 1826 to 1837. He supported
himself by giving chess lessons at
the Cafe de la Regence in Paris,
earning 4 francs a day. He taught
chess to Pierre Saint Amant. When
Johann Maelzel brought his
automaton, the Turk, to the U.S, he
could find no strong player for it. He
wrote to the Cafe de la Regence
asking for a chess expert and
Schlumberger accepted. He was he
last operator of the Turk. He died of
yellow fever while sailing to Cuba
with Maelzel and the Turk. Maelzel
died on the trip back from Cuba.
Roland Schmaltz (1974- ) is a

German Grandmaster (2011).
Lothar Maximilian Lorez Schmid

Grandmaster (1959) and
International Grandmaster of
was the chief arbiter of the 1972 and
1992 Fischer-Spassky matches (and
the 1978 World Chess
Championship). In 1941, at the age
of 13, Schmid won the Dresden
Chess Championship. He took 2nd
in the World Correspondence Chess
Championship, 1956-58. In 1964, he
won the second South African Open
with a perfect 11-0 score. He was the
owner of the largest private chess
library in the world, over 50,000
chess books, occupying 7 rooms on
the top two floors of his house in
Bamberg, Germany. In the 1950s,
when Bobby Fischer visited
Germany, he stayed with Lothar
Schmid in his family home in
Bamberg and was absorbed in
Schmid's large chess library. Schmid
took the underage Fischer to a
casino, telling the casino managers
that Fischer was his nephew. Fischer
was not a big risk taker when it came
to gambling. His family were the co-
owners of the Karl May press, which
published the German author Karl
May (1842-1912) adventure novels.
Karl May, after Goethe, was
Germany's best-selling author.
Schmid studied law and became
manager of the publishing firm in
Bamburg when his father died.
L. Schmid — Sahlmann, Essen 1948

1.e4 c5 2.Ne2 Nc6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nbc3
g6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 d6 7.f3 Qb6
8.Be3 Qxb2 9.Na4 Qa3 10.Bc1 1-0
Dr. Paul Felix Schmidt (1936-1984)

was an Estonian International Master
(1950). He won the Estonian Chess
1937, he won Estonia's first-ever
international tournament at Parnu. In
1939, he emigrated from Estonia to
Germany. In 1941, he won the
German Open chess championship.
After World War II, he studied at
Heidelberg University and gained a
PhD in chemistry. In 1952, he
moved to Cananda, then to the
United States. He was a chemist and
professor by profession. He died in
Allentown, Pennsylvania 9 days
before his 68th birthday.
Wlodzimierz Schmidt (1943- ) is a

played for Poland in 14 Chess
Olympiads. He won the Polish
Dmitry Schneider (1984- ) won the

US Cadet (Under-16) championship
at age 13. At 14, he won the
Marshall Chess Club championship,
the youngest ever. At age 15, he won
the Greater New York Junior
Championship with a perfect 5-0
score. At 15, he was the Under-16
Pan-American Youth Champion. At
16, he was New York State co-
champion. Between 1996 and 2002,
he represented the U.S. in six world
championships. At 18, he was an
International Master (2002).
Harold Schonberg (1915-2003) was

a Pulitzer Prize winner and chess
journalist. He was senior music critic
for the New York Times. He wrote
The Grandmasters of Chess. He
covered the Fischer-Spassky match
in Reykjavik for the New York
Times.
In 1933, Erwin Schrodinger (1887-

Physics for his work in quantum
mechanics. He once wrote "I do like
chess, but it has turned out to be not
the appropriate relaxation from the
work I am doing."
James R. Schroeder (1927-2017)

won the Ohio championship in 1950
and 1985 (a tie with Calvin
Blocker). He founded the Prison
Chess Project and authored
numerous chess books.
Jan-Cristian Schroeder (1998- ) is a

2018.
Ray Schutt (1944-2007) was a

National Master from Hayward,
California. In 1967, he tied for 1st in
the Southwest Open Championship.
He tied for 2nd place (with George
Kane) in the 1968 California State
Championship (won by David
Blohm). In 1995, he won the US
Senior Open Championship.
Adolf Schwarz (1836-1910) was a

Hungarian-born chess master who
settled in Vienna. He was considered
the strongest chess player in Vienna.
He was a merchant and a stock
broker. He died 6 days before his
64th birthday.
Gabriel Schwartzman (1976- ) is a

Romanian-born American
Grandmaster (1993). He played in
his first chess tournament at the age
of 4. He was a master at the age of
12. He was an International Master
at 15. He became a Grandmaster at
age 17. He was originally from
Bucharest, Romania and moved to
Florida. In 1988 he took 2nd in the
world Under 12 championship. Judit
Polgar took 1st place. He won the
1996 US Open at the age of 19
(youngest since Bobby Fischer) and
was the winner of the Internet World
Student Championship. He started
the world's first interactive chess
school in 1996, the Internet Chess
Academy. He has a Bachelor's
degree in finance from the
University of Florida and an MBA
as Palmer Scholar from The
Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania. He is now a CEO at a
software company.
Schwartzman — Asanov, Metz 1994

1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.g3
Nc6 5.d4 e5 6.dxe5 Nxe5 7.Nxe5
Bxe5 8.Bg2 Ne7 9.O-O h5 10.h4
Nf5 11.e4 Ne7 12.Bg5 c6 13.Qd2
Bg4 14.f3 Be6 15.f4 Bg7 16.f5 f6
17.fxe6 fxg5 18.Rf7 Bf8 19.Qxg5
Qb6+ 20.Kh2 Qd4 21.Nb5 1-0
Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947- ) is

an avid chess player. In 2002, he
played a friendly games with Garry
Kasparov.
In 1965, Julian Schwinger (1918-

1994) shared the 1965 Nobel Prize
in Physics for his work in quantum
electrodynamics. He played chess
while in college. (Source: Climbing
the Mountain: The Scientific
Biography of Julian Schwinger, by
Jagdish Mehra and K. Milton, 2000,
p. 47)
Actor George C. Scott (1927-1999)

played chess. He played chess with
director Stanley Kubrick during
breaks on the set of Dr. Strangelove.
He played chess with Marlon
Brando on the set of 'The Formula.'
General Winfield Scott (1786-1866)

was a chess player, but a sore loser.
In 1846, when he lost a chess game
to eight-year-old Paul Morphy in
New Orleans, he did not take his
defeat gracefully.
Robert Scrivener (1881-1969) was a

chess master. In 1913, Scrivener
placed 4th in the US Open. In 1920,
he placed 5th in the US Open. He
was President many times of the
Western Chess Association. He won
the state chess championships of
Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and
Mississippi. In 1957, at the age of
76, he won the Southern Open. In
1961, at the age of 80, he won the
Mississippi Open Championship. He
won the St. Louis District Chess
1940. In 1963, the US Chess
Federation recognized his
achievements by awarding him the
title of master emeritus. His
nickname was "Uncle Bob." He died
at the age of 87. He was inducted in
the Tennessee Chess Hall of Fame In
1990.
Actor Steven Seagal (1952- ) plays

chess. While visiting the Republic of
Kalmykia, he played chess with
FIDE president Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov.
Marie Rachel Sebag (1986- ) is a

French Grandmaster (2008). She has
won the French Women's Chess
Championship twice. Her peak
Matej Sebenik (1983- ) is a Slovene

won the Slovenia Chess
2573 in 2012.
Narek Seferjan (1974- ), born in

Moscow, is an Armenian
won the Moscow Youth
US Open and the North American
Open. His peak rating was 2541 in
2002.
Yasser Seirawan (1960- ) was born

in Damascus, Syria. His father was
Arab and his mother was English. In
1962, the family moved to England.
In 1967, his family immigrated to
the USA, first settling in Virginia,
then moving to Seattle. He began
playing chess in 1972 at the age of
12. In 1973, he won the Washington
State Junior Championship. In 1979,
he won the World Junior Chess
Championship. He was awarded the
Grandmaster title in 1980. First
American to beat a reigning world
champion in the modern era. He
defeated Karpov at the Phillips and
Drew International in London in
1982. He was once featured in
Cosmopolitan magazine as Bachelor
of the Month in September 1983. He
has since married to another chess
player. He has won the U.S. Chess
Championship 4 times (1981, 1986,
1989, 2000). He won the U.S. Junior
won the U.S. Open championship in
1985 and 1990. In 1979 he won the
Skein, Norway. He became a
grandmaster at age 19 (1980). He
was the editor of Inside Chess for 12
years. In 2011 and 2012, he won the
Dutch Open Blitz Championship. He
is a very popular Internet broadcaster
for chess events. His peak rating was
2658 in 2011.
Seirawan - Yermolinsky, Key West

1994 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e3
f5 5.g4 fxg4 6.Qxg4 Nf6 7.Qg2 c5
8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Bd2 a6 10.O-O-O Qc7
11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Rg1 O-O 13.Ng5
Kh8 14.Kb1 Ne5 15.Na4 Ba7
16.Bb4 Rg8 17.Qg3 (threatening
18.Qxe5 Qxe5 19.Nf7 mate) 1-0
Gustavus Selenus (1579-1666) was

the author of Das Schach-oder
Konig-Spiel (Chess or King-play),
the earliest detailed account of living
chess and the earliest German chess
book. It was printed in Leipzig in
1616. Gustavus Selenius was the
pseudonym for August (Augustus)
the Younger, the Duke of
Brunswick-Luneberg-Dannenberg.
He also wrote nine books on
cryptography. His use of chess
notation in which the squares were
numbered from 1 to 64 made his
chess books too hard to study.
Between 1590 and 1610, he had 70
sorcerers and witches burned. Duke
Charles of Brunswick (Karl von
Braunschweig), who played Paul
Morphy in 1858, was a descendent
of August the Younger.
In the 1957 World Junior Chess

Championship, held in Toronto, the
USSR representative, Vladimir
Selimanov (1939-1960), could only
manage 4th place. This was very
disappointing, as the Soviets
expected him to win the gold medal.
After all, the previous world junior
championship, held in 1955, was
won by Boris Spassky. And what
happened to Selimanov? While
Selimanov was in Canada, he fell in
love with a girl. Selimanov returned
to the USSR and was barred from
any further international chess or any
travel outside the USSR. Three years
later, at age 21, he committed
suicide by jumping out of a window
from a high building. Selimanov's
step-father was ex-world champion
GM Vasily Smyslov. Selimanov's
biological father was killed in a
Stalinist purge. Selimanov
committed suicide because the
Soviet authorities would not allow
him to travel to see his girlfriend.
Deep Sengupta (1988- ) is an Indian

won the World Youth Chess
Junior Chess Championship of India.
In 2014, he won the Commonwealth
Chess Championship, held in
Glasgow. His peak rating was 2594.
He works for an oil and natural gas
company in India.
Drazen Sermek (1969- ) is a

Croation-Slovenian Grandmaster
(1994). He won the Slovenian
Championship in 1993 and 1998.He
played for Slovenia in 5 Chess
Olympiads.
Gregory Serper (1969- ), born in

Uzbekistan, is an American
won the World Open. In 1999, he
advanced to the finals of the US
Chess Championship, but lost in the
finals to Boris Gulko.
S. P. Sethuraman (1993- ) is an
he won the World Under-16 Chess
Asian Championshio. His peak ratng
was 2658 in 2016.
On June 9, 1970, cosmonauts Vitaly

Sevastyanov (1935-2010) and
Andrian Nikolayev (1929-2004)
played chess against their ground
controllers (Gorbaty and Kamanin)
while on board Soyuz 9. This was
the first time that chess was played
in space. The game was drawn after
35 moves. The mission, and the
chess game, was commemorated in a
stamp issued shortly after the
mission was completed. He was
selected as a cosmonaut in 1967 and
trained to be one of the first Soviet
cosmonauts for a trip to the moon. In
1975 he flew on Soyuz 18 and
stayed in space for 63 days. He
helped design the Mir spacecraft. He
invented the Soyuz-Apollo cocktail
(25% vodka, 25% gin, 50% brandy).
It was designed to put you in orbit.
In 1985 he became and International
Arbiter and was awarded honorary
member for life in the World Chess
Federation (FIDE). Sevastyanov
later became head of the Soviet
In 1986, he was replaced by
Alexander Chikuaidze, a career
diplomat.
Samuel Sevian (2000- ) is an

learned chess at the age of 5. At age
8, he defeated his first master in
tournament play. In January 2010,
he had a FIDE rating of 2119 and
was the highest rated chess player in
the world for his age. At age 8, he
became the youngest expert in U.S.
history. In 2010, he became the
youngest master in USCF history at
the age 9 years, 11 months and 23
days. In 2012, he won the World
played in the US Chess
Championship as the youngest ever
participant. In 2014, he earned his
GM title at the age of 13 years, 10
months, and 27 days. He is
America's youngest ever
grandmaster. In 2017, he won the
American Continental Chess
Championship, held in Medellin,
Colombia. His peak rating was 2633
in 2017.
Alexander Shabalov (1967- ) was

born in Latvia, but moved to the
United States in 1992. He has won
the US Chess Championship four
times. He also won or tied for first
place seven times in the U.S. Open
of Fame. In 2017, he won the 44th
Eastern Open with a perfect 7-0
score. His peak rating was 2645 in
1998.
Greg Shahade (1978- ) is an

American International Master. was
the winner of the 1993 National
Junior High School Co-Champion
and 1996 National High School Co-
Champion. In 1999 he was the
recipient of the Samford Fellowship.
He has been a professional poker
player.
Jennifer Shahade (1980- ) is a

Woman Grandmaster (2005) and a
two-time U.S. Women's Champion
(2002 and 2004). She is the author of
Chess Bitch (2005). In 1998, she
became the first and only female to
win the U.S. Junior Open. She has a
degree in comparative literature at
New York University. She is also a
professional poker player.
Tal Shaked (1978- ) was America's

youngest Grandmaster in 1997 and
highest rated Junior (2500). He was
won the 1987 National Primary
Championship, the 1990 National
Elementary Championship, the 1991
National K-8 Championship, the
1992 National K-8 Championship,
the 1992 U.S. Cadet (under 16)
Championship, and the 1995 U.S.
Junior (under 20) Championship. In
1991, he won the Laura Aspis Prize
as the number-one rated American
chess player under the age of 13, and
that same year became the youngest
ever winner of the Arizona State
National Open. He won the Samford
Chess Fellowship in 1996. In 1997,
he won the World Junior
Championship in Poland. He was a
grandmaster at the age of 19. In
2002, he graduated from the
University of Arizona with a degree
in computer science. In 2004, he
received a master's degree in
computer science from the
University of Washngton. He now
works as a software engineer for
Google.
Leonid Shamkovich (1923-2005)

was born in a Jewish family in
Rostov-on-Don, Russia. In 1954 and
1956, he won the Russian Federation
(RSFSR) Chess Championship.
From 1954 to 1972, he played in 6
USSR championships. In 1965, he
was awarded the Grandmaster title.
In 1975, he immigrated to Israel,
then to Canada, and finally to the
USA. In 1975, he won the Canadian
Open. In 1976, he tied for 1st in the
U.S. Open.
Shamkovich — Shaposhnikov,
Rostov on Don 1954 1.c4 e6 2.Nf3
d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Qc2 O-O
6.Bg5 Ne4 7.Bxe7 Qxe7 8.Rc1 Nxc3
9.Qxc3 c6 10.g3 Nd7 11.Bg2 dxc4
12.O-O b5 13.b3 cxb3 14.Qxc6 Rb8
15.axb3 Qb4 16.Qc7 Rb6 17.Ne5
Nxe5 18.dxe5 g6 19.Qxa7 Ra6
20.Qb8 1-0
Sam Shankland (1991- ) is an
has won the Californis State
won the US Junior Championship.
He had a degree on Economics.
In March, 1949 Claude Shannon

(1916-2001) described how to
program a computer and a Ferranti
digital machine was programmed to
solve mates in two moves. He
proposed basic strategies for
restricting the number of
possibilities to be considered in a
game of chess. Shannon was an avid
chess player. He first proposed his
idea of programming a computer for
chess at the National Institute for
Radio Engineers (IRE) Convention
in New York.
Oscar Shapiro (1909-2002) was born

in Boston, Massachusetts on March
18, 1909. In 1939, he won the
Massachusetts State Championship.
He won the Washington, D.C.
Championship several times. In
1951, he won the Virginia Open
Chess Tournament. He became a
USCF master at the age of 74. He
died on January 1, 2002 at the age of
92.
Natan Sharansky (1948- ) is an

Israeli politician. He is a chess
player. As a human rights activist in
Russia, he kept himself sane during
solitary confinement by playing
chess with himself, in his head.
Andrey Shariyazdanov (1976- ) is a

The band leader and clarinetist Artie

Shaw (1910-2004) was an avid chess
player. He played chess with
Grandmaster Larry Evans. He was
married to Ava Gardner and hired a
chess master to teach her chess in
1946.
John K. Shaw (1968- ) is a Scottish

Grandmaster. He has taken 1st place
in 3 Scottish Championships. His
Chief Editor of Quality Chess
publishing house.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

was a British playwright who was
openly hostile to chess. He and his
wife, Charlotte, did play chess. In
his play, The Admirable Bashville
(1901), he wrote: "The world's a
chessboard, and we are mortal
pawns in the fist of fate." His other
quote is: "Chess is a foolish
expedient for making idle people
believe they are doing something
very clever, when they are only
wasting their time."
James Sherwin (1933- ) is an

International Master (1958) and an
attorney. In 1951, he won the
Intercollegiatge Championship and
the New York State Championship.
He graduated from the U.S. Coast
Guard Academy Officer Candidate
School in 1956 and later became a
Lieutenant Commander. He was an
Executive Vice President of GAF
Corporation who was the American
Chess Foundation (ACF) President
from 1979 to 1990. He was involved
in some Wall Street scandals in 1988
and was replaced as President of the
ACF by Fan Adams, a retired Mobil
Corporation executive. Sherwin was
tried 3 times for stock manipulation
charges. In 1986 he tried to lift the
price of Union Carbide stock shortly
before selling a large block of
shares. Government prosecutors
finally dropped the charges after the
appeals court overturned the verdict
in 1991. His arrest made the front
page of the New York Times and all
the financial publications. Sherwin
lost his job and moved to
Switzerland and England. The
United States Attorney who
prosecuted Sherwin was Rudi
Giuliani. They spent over a million
dollars in prosecuting the case. GAF
and Sherwin spent over a million
dollars defending the case. He now
lives neat Bath, England.
Aleksandr Shimanov (1992- ) is a

2012, he won the Saint Petersburg
2664.
William Anthony Shinkman (1847-

1933), born in Liberec, Bohemia,
was an American chess composer for
over 60 years. Together with his
contemporary Samuel Loyd he was
the most famous chess composer of
the USA in the late 19th and early
20th century. He composed over
3,500 chess problems in his lifetime.
He developed the selfmate and
several other new ideas in chess
composition. He was known as the
"Wizard of Grand Rapids." He lived
in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where
he first worked as an insurance
agent, real estate broker, and, in
1893, city clerk of Grand Rapids..
(source: Chess Review, Jun 1933, p.
7)
Walter Penn Shipley (1860-1942)

was an American lawyer from
Philadelphia, chess player, and chess
organizer. He was a recognized
expert in the law of decedents'
estates. He won the Pennsylvania
State Chess Championship three
times. He was the referee in the
Marshall-Capablanca and the
Lasker-Capablanca world
championship matches. was the key
organizer of Cambridge Springs
1904 and New York 1924. He edited
a chess column in the Philadelphia
Inquirer for over 30 years. (source:
Chess Review, Apr 1936, pp. 88-91)
Walter Shipman (1929-2017) was a

lawyer, an International Master
(1982), and chess historian. He
maintained the history of the
Manhattan Chess Club back to
1883.
Sergei Shipov (1966- ) is a Russian

was 2662 in 1999.
Alexei Shirov (1972- ) is a Latvian

and Spanish Grandmaster (1990). In
ranked #2 in the world. In 200, he
was the Challenger in the World
Chess Championship, but lost to
Anand. In 2005, he won the
2755 in 2008. From 2001 to 2007 he
was married to Lithuanian GM
Viktorija Cmilyte.
Samy Shoker (1987- ) is an Egyptian

was 2517.
Nigel David Short (1965- ) leaned

chess at 7. At age 10, he defeated
Viktor Korchnoi in a simultaneous
exhibition. At age 11, he qualified
for the British Chess Championship
and was its youngest participant
ever. At 14, he tied for 1st in the
British championship and earned his
first IM norm. At the time, he
became the youngest International
Master in chess history. At age 19,
he was awarded the GM title —
becoming the youngest GM in the
world at that time. In 1993, he
became the first English player to
play a World Chess Championship
match, when he qualified to play
Garry Kasparov in the World Chess
Championship 1993 in London
(Kasparov won, 12.5 to 7.5). In
1997, British GM Nigel Short was
playing in a chess tournament in the
Russian city of Novgorod. Just
before the last round, where he was
supposed to play Kasparov the next
day, Nigel decided to take a
midnight stroll down by the river.
Unfortunately, one of the locals was
also there, accompanied by his
Russian German shepherd. The dog
escaped from his owner and attacked
Nigel, biting both of his arms as
Nigel tried to fend off the dog. The
dozy owner realized that his dog was
attacking someone and called the
dog off, but Nigel was badly bitten
and wasn't sure if the dog had rabies.
Nigel spent much of the night in a
Russian hospital, an experience he
later described as worse than the
attack itself. The hospital was filthy
and unsanitary and he was told that
rabies was quite widespread amongst
dogs in Russia at that time. Despite
the trauma, Nigel was able to draw
against Kasparov the next day. Short
went to St. Philip's Primary School
in Atherton and studied at Bolton
School and Leigh College. He has an
Honorary Doctorate from the
University of Bolton. In 2017, he
was the oldest player ranked among
the top 100 players in thw world. His
Short - Bischoff, Dortmund 1983

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.g3
e5 5.Nf3 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.O-O O-O
8.b3 Re8 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Bb2 c6
11.Ng5 e4 12.Qc2 e3 13.f4 Nc5
14.Rad1 Qa5 15.f5 Ncd7 16.fxg6
Qxg5 17.gxf7+ Kxf7 18.Ne4 Rxe4
19.Qxe4 Nf8 20.Rd8 Ne6 21.Qxh7
Nxd8 22.Bxf6 1-0
Jackson Whipps Showalter (1860-

1935) learned chess at age 8 from his
older brother, John, who served as
Judge of the U.S. Circuit Court,
being appointed to that position by
President Grover Cleveland. In
1890, he won the United States
Chess Association's 3rd Annual
Congress Championship tournament
in St. Louis. Shortly after this
tournament in 1890, he lost a match
to Max Judd by a score of 7-3. In
1892, he defeated Judd by the score
of 7-4. In 1894, he defeated Albert
Hodges by the score of 8-6. Later in
1894 Showalter lost to Hodges in a
return match with a score of 5-3. In
1895 Showalter defeated Simon
Lipschuetz, Emil Kemeny, John
Barry, and Adolf Albin in matches.
In 1897 Showalter lost to Harry
Pillsbury by the score of 9.5-11.5. In
1898, Showalter lost a return match
with Pillsbury by the score of 4-8. In
1909 Showalter lost to Frank
Marshall by a score of 3.5-18.5. His
nickname was the Kentucky Lion.
He was a 5-time U.S. chess
champion, an avid baseball fan and
amateur player. He was a noted
pitcher in Lexington, Kentucky, and
famous for his curve ball (he did not
invent it as some sources say). He
was the first man in Kentucky to
pitch a curve ball (source: Chess
Review, March 1935, p. 63). He was
known as the Kentucky Lion after
his birthplace and his mane of hair.
Showalter - Burille, New York 1889

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O Nf6 7.d4 O-O
8.Nxe5 Nxe4 9.Qh5 Nxe5 10.dxe5
c6 11.Nd2 Nxd2 12.Bxd2 Bb6
13.Bg5 Qe8 14.Rae1 Bd8 15.Bf6 d5
16.Qg5 1-0
Yuri Shulman (1975- ) is an

Armenain-born American
Grandmaster (1995). He completed
undergraduate studies from the State
Academy of Sports in Belarus. He
has a Bachelor's degree in Computer
Science and an MBA specializing in
Finance from the University of
Texas at Dallas. He won the 2008
U.S. chess championship. He is a
chess patron who founded Chess
Without Borders, an organization
that uses chess as a medium for
philanthropic causes. His peak rating
was 2639 in 2009.
In 1819, Ilya Shumov was born. He

was one of the first serious Russian
chess players. In 1867, he published
the first book on chess compositions.
He died in 1881.
Sebastian Siebrecht (1973- ) is a

In 1905, Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-

Literature. He wrote about chess in
several of his works. He played
chess in many of the Warsaw cafes.
He wrote the historical novel The
Knights of the Cross or The
Teutonic Knights. The book was
first serialized by the magazine
Tygodnik Illustrowany, and then
printed in book form in 1900. It was
the first book to be printed in Poland
at the end of World War II in 1945.
The knights play chess in the
evening. Other works of his where
he mentions chess include Hania,
Without Dogma, and With Fire and
Sword.
Gudmundur Sigurjonsson (1947- ) is

an Icelandic Grandmaster (1975). He
has won the Icelandic Chess
for Iceland in 10 Chess Olympiads.
After studying law, he became a
professional chess player.
In 1950, Chantal Chaude de Silans

(1919-2001) was the first female to
play in the Chess Olympiads. She
played on the men's French team as
first reserve. She won one, drew one,
and lost four games at the 9th Chess
Olympiad, held in Dubrovnik in
1950.
Hirsch Hermann Silberschmidt

(1801-1866) was a chess author. In
1829, he published Das Gambit oder
Angriff und Verteidigung gegen
Gambitzuge. From 1830 to 1844, he
was held as a political prisonee in
the Brunswick, Germany, jail.
Jeremy Silman (1954- ) is an

International Master (1988). He is
the author of over 30 chess books,
including How to Reassess Your
Chess and The Amateur Mind. In
2001, he was the chess consultant
for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone" and created the moves for the
chess battle. He has won the
American Open, the National Open,
and the US Open (1981).
Tim Taylor-Silman, Lone Pine 1976

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Nc2 Bg7
8.Be2 Nd7 9.h4 Nc5 10.h5 f5
11.hxg6 hxg6 12.Rxh8+ Bxh8
13.exf5 Bxf5 14.Ne3 Qd7 15.Nxf5
Qxf5 16.Be3 Nb4 17.Qd2 Nc2+
18.Kd1 Nxa1 19.g4 Bxc3 20.Qxc3
Qb1+ 21.Qc1 Qxa2 0-1
Vladimir Simagin (1919-1968) was

a Russian grandmaster (1962) and
International Correspondence Chess
Master (1966). He won the Moscow
championships. He died of a heart
attack at the age of 49 while
participating in the Kislovodsk 1968
tournament.
Froim Simkhovich (1896-1945) was

a Soviet composer of chess problems
and endgame studies from
Leningrad. He composed about 85
problems. He started out as a
pharmacy clerk and became a
chemical engineer. He may have
starved to death during the siege of
Leningrad.
In 1997, Joshua Simms, age 15, got

into a fight with John Slack, age 13,
over a chess game. Simms hit Slack
in the head so hard that Slack was
rushed to a hospital in critical
condition to have brain surgery and
lapsed into a coma.
In 1978, Dr. Herbert Simon (1916-

Economics. He was an American
psychologist and made a study of
chess players. In 1957, he predicted
a digital computer would beat the
world chess champion by 1967. He
developed a chess program in the
1950s and co-invented the alpha-
beta algorithm in chess. He was a
major contributor to artificial
intelligence and co-wrote Perception
in Chess in Cognitive Psychology.
He earned a PhD in political science
from the University of Chicago.
Sir John Simon (1873-1954) was a

Member of Parliament, Attorney
General, Home Secretary, Foreign
Secretary, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and Lord Chanclllor. He
was an avid chess player. In 1923, he
drew with world champion
Alexander Alekhine in a
simultaneous exhibition.
Hrair Simonian (1991- ) is an

Albert Charles Simonson (1914-

1965) was an American chess
master. He was part of the USA
team which won the gold medals at
the 1933 Chess Olympiad in
Folkestone, England. He was the
youngest player of the USA team at
age 19. He played on the first
reserve board win 2 wins, 2 losses,
and 2 draws. In 1936, he took 2nd
place in the first U.S. Chess
Championship (of modern times) in
New York, a half-point behind
Samuel Reshevsky, scoring 9 wins,
4 draws, and 2 losses. In 1950, he
was ranked #6 in the USA on the
first official USCF rating list. He
died in Puerto Rico. (source: Chess
Amon Simutowe (1982- ) is a

Grandmaster (2007) from Zambia.
He is the first GM from sub-Saharan
Africa. In 1996, he won the
Xambian Championship. In 1997, he
won the African Junior Chess
South African Open. He holds a B.S.
in Economics and Finance from the
University of Texas at Dallas and a
M.S. in Economics for Development
from the University of Oxford.
Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) was an

American singer. He played and
enjoyed chess. He had his own chess
pieces made for him. Humphrey
Bogart got Sinatra interested in
chess. He played chess with
Grandmaster Walter Browne in Las
Vegas.
In 1978, Isaac Bashevis Singer

Literature. He was a chess player. In
an interview, he said, "I consider
chess the fairest of games because
the opponents can hide nothing from
each other." He had a chess prodigy
character in his book Shadows of the
Hudson, written in 1997. Singer is
also quoted as saying, "We all play
chess with Fate as partner. He makes
a move, we make a move. He tries to
checkmate us in three moves, we try
to prevent it. We know we can't win,
but we're driven to give him a good
fight." In 1968, he wrote 'A Friend
of Kafka' for The New Yorker. He
mentions chess being played by
Kafka and Jacques Kohn.
Rex Sinquefield (1944- ) is a

businessman (formed Dimensional
Fund Advisors) and chess patron. He
is the major contributor to the Chess
Club and Scholastic Center of Saint
Louis, founded in 2007, and the
World Chess Hall of Fame that
moved from Miami to Saint Louis in
2011. In 2009, he purchased a large
collection of Bobby Fischer
memorabilia. The collection of
valuables and belongings of Bobby
Fischer was offered by the auction
house Bonhams and Butterfields,
composing of over 320 chess books,
400 chess periodicals, three sets of
proofs of My 60 Memorable Games,
and other items. Sinquefiled paid
$61,000 for the collection.
Marcel Sisniega-Campbell (1959-
2013) was a Mexican Grandmaster
(1992). He was the first Mexican
Grandmaster. He won the Mexican
Championship 9 times. He was a
film writer and director.
Sanan Sjugirov (1993- ) is a Russian

World Under-10 Youth Chess
Championships in 2003. He won the
World Under-14 Youth
Championship in 2007. In 2008, he
won the Russian Under-20
2678 in 2015.
Arthur Skipworth (1830-1898) was

born in 1830 and became a reverend.
He was secretary of the British
Counties' Chess Assocation and
editor of the Chess Players'
Chronicle. In September 1865, he
won the first British Counties' Chess
Association, held in Redcar. In 1869,
he won the 5th British Counties
Chess Association Congress at York,
England. In 1871, he won the 3rd
British Chess Association Challenge
Cub (7th Counties Chess
Association) at Malvern. In 1873, he
won the 9th British Counties Chess
Association Congress at Bristol. In
1880, he tied for 1st at the 15th
British Counties Chess Association
Congress, held in Boston, England.
In 1883, he took last place at the
1883 London International with 3
out of 26. The event was won by
Zuckertort. In 1884, he took 2nd in
the 19th British Counties Chess
Association Congress at Bath,
England. In 1885, he lost a match to
Henry Bird (+2-5=0). In 1886, he
participated in the Nottingham
International, but withdrew after he
lost the first two games. In 1891, he
tied for 1st in the 24th British
Counties Chess Association
Congress, held at Oxford, but lost
the play-off to Joseph Blake. In
1892, he lost all 8 games to take last
place in the 25th British Counties
Chess Association Congress, held in
Brighton, England. In 1893, he took
2nd in the 26th British Counties
Chess Assoication Congress at
Woodhall Spa, England. Skipworth
had the habit of falling ill early in a
tournament , especially when things
were not going his way. He died in
1898. When he died, the British
Counties' Chess Association ceased
to exist. Skipworth had the habit of
suddenly getting "ill" when he lost a
few games, then would petition the
tournament committee to return his
entry fee due to his poor health. He
dropped out of the BCA London
tournament in 1868 after a few
losses. In 1883, he lost his second
game to Mortimer in the BCA
tournament in London, then said he
was in ill-health and wanted his
deposit money back, which they
returned to him. In 1886, he dropped
out of a Nottingham tournament
after losing his first 2 games (his
first game was adjourned in a lost
position, but he would not resign),
claiming ill health and asked for his
entry fee back. In 1888, he dropped
out of a Bradford tournament after a
few losses, claiming illness. He did
that throughout his chess career.
Frank Skoff (1916-2009) was United
States Chess Federation (USCF)
Vice-President from 1969 to 1972,
and President of the USCF from
1972 to 1975. He was a former
president of the Illinois Chess
Association. From 1962 to 1972, he
was editor of the Illinois Chess
Bulletin. From 1967 to 1970, he was
the non-playing captain of the US
Student Chess Team. During his
tenure as USCF President, there
were efforts to ban smoking in
USCF tournaments. Whe the
smoking motion came up, Frank,
chairing the meeting, took out one of
his long, thin cigars, slowly and
methodically lit it, puffed on it a few
times, and then said, "Over my dead
body." The ban passed in August,
1975. He had an M.A. in English
from the University of Illinois
(1950) and taught high school
English in Chicago. (source: Chess
Life, May 1969)
James Derrick Slater (1929-2015)

was a British chess patron who
added 50,000 British pounds
($125,000) to the 1972 world
championship prize fund between
Fischer and Spassky. He founded the
Slater Foundation in 1973, which
pays for coaching of young players.
He offered 5000 pounds (worth
$167,000 today) to the first English
player to gain the GM title, which
was won by Tony Miles.
Bogdan Sliwa (1922-2003) was a

Polish International Master (1953),
andHonorary Grandmaster (1987).
He was Polish champion 6 times.
Roman Slobodjan (1975- ) is a
Chess Championship.
Jorn Sloth (1944- ) is an

International Correspondnce Chess
Grandmaster (1978) and FIDE
Master from Denmark. He is the first
Dane to win a world championship
at chess. In 1964, he won the
European Junior Championship at
Groningen. He won the 8th World
(1975-1980) on tiebreaks. At age 36,
he was the youngest player ever to
win the Corrospondence World
Champion title. He teaches
mathematics and Russian.
Jan Smeets (1985- ) is a Dutch

Dutch Championship in 2008 and
2010.
Sergey Smagin (1958- ) is a Russian

was 2613 in 2001.
Jan Smejkal (1946- ) is a Czech

championship of Czechoslovakia 3
1976.
Dr. David Smerdon (1984- ) is an

2009, he won the Oceania Chess
Championship. He has a PhD in
economics.
Ilya Smirin (1968- ), born in

Belarus, is an Israeli Grandmaster
(1990). In 2000, he won the New
York Open. In 2002, he won the
Israeli Championship. His peak
Anton Smirnov (2001) is an

2014, he won the Australian Junior
Championship. His father, Vladimir,
is an International Master.
Pavel Smirnov (1982- ) is a Russian

took 2nd place in the Russian
2645 in 2005.
Ken Smith (1930-1999) was a Texas

master who founded Chess Digest in
1962. In 1954 he won the British
Open and the British Blitz
Championship while stationed in
England as an Air Force enlisted
man. He was not given a prize
because he was not British. In 1983
while playing in the National Open
in Las Vegas, Ken Smith won
$140,000 at a poker tournament. He
once took 2nd place in the World
Championship of Poker. He had won
the Texas Championship 8 times, the
Southwest Championship 7 times,
the Southern Open 4 times, the
Mexican Championship once, and
the British Open once. He had
written nine books and 49 articles on
the Smith-Morra Gambit, 1.e4 c5
2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 (including Smith-
Morra Accepted and Smith Morra
Declined by Ken Smith and Bill
Wall).
Quinton Smith (1994-2011) was

competing in the K-12 Nationals in
Dallas. During the tournament, he
climbed to the roof of the Hilton
Anatole (27 stories) and fell (or
jumped) to his death. He laid on the
ground for several hours before
someone called the police. He had
lost his first four games and was
given a bye in the 5th round.
Will Smith (1968- ) is an American

rapper and actor. He received chess
lessons from Chicago's National
Master Marvin Dandridge and
Robert Snyder. Smith learned chess
from his father at age 7.
Vasily Smyslov (1921-2010) was a

World Chess Champion (1957-58).
He was a student at the Moscow
Institute of Aviation from 1938 to
1940 and studied aviation science.
He took 1st in the 1938 Moscow
championship and won the All-
Union boys' championship. He
wanted to become a professional
baritone singer and took singing and
music lessons in 1948. In 1950, he
failed an audition with the Bolshoi
Theatre, and only then decided to
make chess a career. He became a
candidate for the world
championship by taking 2nd place at
the 1982 Las Palmas interzonal at
the age of 61, the oldest candidate
ever. In his candidates match with
Huebner in Velden, Austria, the
match was tied 7-7. To break the tie,
both players agreed to use a roulette
wheel to select the winner.
Huebner's color was black and
Smyslov's color was red. The wheel
was spun at it came up 0. The
second spin saw the ball land in
"Red 3" and Smyslov won. He won
the first World Seniors
Championship in 1991 at the age of
70. He won the Staunton memorial
at Groningen at the age of 75. He
championships. Smyslov's father
once beat Alekhine in a chess
tournament in 1912. Smyslov has
been the oldest player to play in a
Soviet championship. He was 67
when he played in the 55th USSR
Championship in Moscow in 1988.
At the age of 75 he produced his first
CD of Russian romances.
Smyslov - Prins, Helsinki 1952 1.d4

Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 c5 5.cxd5
Nxd5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.O-O Be7 8.e4
Nf6 9.e5 Nd7 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Bf4
h6 12.Nc3 g5 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.fxe3
Ndxe5 15.Nxe5 Qxd1 16.Bxc6+ 1-0
Robert Michael Snyder (1955- ) is a

US senior chess master and chess
author. He is the author or Chess for
Juniors series. He is a former
Western U.S. Chess Champion. He
also qualified for the semifinals of
the world correspondence ches
championship. In 1999, he gave
chess lessons to Weston Cage, son
of the actor Nicholas Cage. He also
taught chess to the actor Will Smith.
He taught chess to children ages 5 to
17 at his home in Fort Collins,
Colorado. In 2003, he was accused
of sexually abusing an 11-year-old
boy and two 13-year-old boys and
was arrested in 2005. In 2007, he
was sentenced to two years in jail
and 10 years of supervised probation
after pleading guilty to sexual
assault in a child. He later escaped
and was featured on America's Most
Wanted in 2009. He was later
captured in Belize after someone
recognized him from the TV show.
He was released from jail in 2008
and was supposed to register as a sex
offender, but he never did. He was
featured on America's Most Wanted
in November, 2009. A girl had
recognized him as a chess teacher in
her school in Belize and notified the
authorities. US Marshals tracked
him down in Belize and arrested
him. He has been given life
imprisonment.
Wesley So (1993- ) learned chess

from his father at the age of six. He
was playing competitive chess at the
age of 9. He won the under-9
Philippine championship. He won
the Philippines under-10
championship in 2003. At the age of
12, he was the youngest player in the
37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy.
Also at the age of 12, he won the
Philippine championship, the
youngest ever. At age 13, he won the
gold medal on board one at the 2007
World Under 16 Team
Championship, with nine wins and
one draw. He became a GM at the
age of 14 years, 1 month, and 28
days. In 2008, he was the youngest
player to pass the 2600 rating. In
2014, he left Webster University to
focus full-time on chess. He had
been the Philippine's youngest
National Champion, youngest
International Master, and youngest
Grandmaster. In 2015, he
represented the Philippines until
transferring to the US. In 2017, he
won the US Chess Championship
and the Tata Steel Masters
tournament. His peak rating was
2822 in 2017, ranked #2 in the
world.
Bartosz Sozko (1978- ) is a Polish

won the Polish Championship. He
played for Poland in 6 Chess
2660 in 2007. His wife in GM
Monika Sozko.
Monika Bobrowska Sozko (1978- )

is a Polish Grandmaster (2008). She
has won the Polish Women's
Championship 8 times. Her peak
rating was 2505 in 2008. She is
married to Polish GM Bartosz
Sozko.
In 1921, Frederick Soddy (1877-

Chemistry for his research in
radioactive decay and his
formulation of the theory of
isotopes. He was secretary of the
Oxford University Chess Club in
1898 and Captain of the Oxford
University Chess Club in 1900.
Ram Soffer (1965- ) is an Israeli

Solving Grandmaster title.
Andrei Sokolov (1963- ), born is

Russia, is a French Grandmaster
1984, he won the Soviet Chess
Ivan Sokolov (1968- ) is Dutch

won the Yugoslav Championship. In
1995 and 1998, he won the Dutch
2706 in 2004.
Alexey Sokolsky (1908-1969) was a

Soviet chess player who was
awarded the title USSR Master of
Sport in 1938. He popularized the
opening 1.b4, which is sometimes
called the Sokolsky opening. He
played in four USSR chess
championships and six USSR
Championships. He was twice
champion of the Ukraine. He was the
first Soviet Correspondence Chess
Champion (1948-1951).
Dragan Solak (1980- ) is a Turkish-

won the Turkish Championship in
2639 in 2014.
Kenneth Terence Solomon (1979- )

is a South African Grandmaster
(2015). In 2003, he won the South
African Championship. He has won
the South African Open 3 times. In
2014, he won the African Chess
Championship.
Evgeniy Solozhenkin (1966- ) is a

Leningrad (St. Petersburg)
Championship.
Andrew Eden Soltis (1947- ) is an

American Grandmaster (1980),
author, columnist, and chess
historian. He has written dozens of
chess books, many dealing with the
history of chess. In 1964, he won the
New York City Junior
US Intercollegiate championship. He
has won the Marshall Chess Club
Championship 9 times. He tied for
1st in the 1977 and 1982 US Open.
He has played in 4 US
Championships. His monthly
column "Chess to Enjoy" in Chess
Life magazine, was begun in 1979
and is the longest running column in
that magazine. In 2011, he was
Fame. He has authored over 100
chess books. He was a news reporter
for the New York Post from 1969
until he retired in 2014.
Evgeny Somov-Nasimovich (1910-

1944) was a noted Soviet chess
composer. Starting in 1926, he
composed over 100 chess studies. In
the 1940s, he worked at the Dukat
cigarette factory in Moscow, where
he was arrested in early 1943. In
May 1943, he was set to a
psychiatric hospital in Kazan for
"Anti-Soviet and
counterrevolutionary propaganda
and agistation." He died in Kazan in
1944.
On June 30, 2007, GM (1992)

Maxim Sorokin (1968-2007) died of
complications from a car accident
that occurred while driving home
from the Candidates matches in
Elista, Kalmykia at the age of 39. He
died in the Elista hospital several
days after an auto crash on the road
from Elista to Volgograd.
Business magnate George Soros

(1930- ) plays chess. He learned
chess from his father in 1944 in
Hungary while hiding from the
Gestapo. In 2012, he invited Magnus
Carlsen to his summer house in the
Hamptons and they played chess.
Gennady Sosonko (1943- ) was born

in Troitsk, Russia. In 1958, he won
the Leningrad Junior Championship.
In 1967, he played in the USSR
Championship. In 1972, he defected
to Israel, and then to the
Netherlands. This was a highly
publicized defection, which led the
USSR Chess Federation pressuring
FIDE to declare him "persona non
grata." He won the Dutch
Grandmaster title. He represented
the Dutch team in 11 Chess
2595 in 1981.
Dr. Elmer E. Southard (1876-1920)

was a Professor of Psychology at
Harvard University, and a strong
chess player. He represented his
college in the intercollegiate
matches, and scored 24 wins out of
24 games in the four annual contests
of his collegiate career. (source:
Chess Review, Jan 1933, p. 10)
Veniamin Sozin (1896-1956) was a

Russian chess master. He played in 4
Soviet chess championships. In
1924, he was awarded the title of
Master of Sport. However, he was
unable to maintain this level of
performance and his title was
revoked in 1935. A major variation
of the Sicilian Defense was named
after him. He was an accountant by
profession.
Hugo Spangenberg (1975- ) is an

1993, he won the Argentina
Championship.
Jerry Spann (1912-1968) was a

former President of the US Chess
Federation (1958-1960). He was also
captain of several US chess Olympic
teams and a FIDE Vice President.
His daughter won the Oklahoma
Junior Championship two years in a
row.
Vasil Spasov (1971- ) is a Bulgarian

Bulgarian Championship 5 times. He
has played for Bulgaria in 8 Chess
Olympiads.
Boris Vasilyevich Spassky (1937- )

was born in Leningrad. He learned
how to play chess at the age of 5 in
the Urals where he lived during
World War II. He was a Soviet
master at the age of 15. In 1955, he
won the World Junior Championship
and was awarded the Grandmaster
title. He played in 11 USSR
Championships and took 1st place in
four USSR Championships. He won
the World Championship in 1969,
becoming the 10th official world
chess champion. He represented the
USSR in 7 Chess Olympiads. He
graduated from high school with
honors and attended Leningrad State
University and studied journalism,
graduating in 1959. His studies were
in the history-philology department,
but the subject for his diploma thesis
was chess in the central press. In
1976 he moved to France and
became a French citizen in 1978. He
represented France in 4 Chess
Olympiads. In 2012, he returned to
Russia and now lives in Moscow. He
is the oldest former world chess
champion. His peak rating was 2690
in 1971.
Hunerkopf - Spassky, France 1984

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4
Nf6 5.e5 d5 6.Bb5 Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bc5
8.Be3 Bxd4 9.Qxd4 O-O 10.Bxc6
bxc6 11.f3 c5 12.Qa4 Bd7 13.Qa3
Qh4+ 14.g3 Nxg3 15.Bf2 Qh6 0-1
Jonathan Simon Speelman (1956- )

was British champion in 1978, 1985,
and 1986. In 1978, he was part of the
English chess team that won the
world's first youth teams (under 26)
championship, held in Mexico City.
He became a grandmaster in 1980.
He played in the 1988-90 World
Championship Candidates matches
and lost to Jan Timman. In 1989, he
was ranked #4 in the world.
Harandi - Speelman, London 1989

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 Be7
8.O-O-O O-O 9.Ndb5 Qa5 10.Bxf6
Bxf6 11.Nxd6 Rd8 12.Nc4 Rxd2
(13.Nxa5 Rxd1+ and 14...Nxa5) 0-1
Rudolf Spielmann (1883-1942) was

born on May 5, 1883 in Vienna,
Austria. During World War I, he
served in the Austrian army as an
officer. In 1919, he was Nordic
German championship. In 1936, he
published The Art of Sacrifice. As a
Jew, he fled Germany and moved to
Sweden in 1939. During his lifetime,
he played in more than 100 chess
tournaments and over 50 matches.
He died in poverty in Stockholm,
Sweden at the age of 59 on August
20, 1942. His family said that he
locked himself in a room and starved
to death. Other sources say he was
admitted to a hospital and died of
hypertension and heart disease.
Reti - Spielmann, Dortmund 1928

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nc3
Bb4 5.Nge2 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.Bxd5
Qxd5 8.O-O Qa5 9.a3 O-O 10.Be3
Bxc3 11.Nxc3 Nd4 12.b4 Qa6 13.f4
Qc6 14.Qd2 Qxc3! (15.Qxc3 Ne2+
and 16...Nxc3) 0-1
Kevin Spraggett (1954- ) is a

Canadian Grandmaster (1985). He is
the only Canadian to have qualified
for the Candidates' level, having
done so in 1985 and 1988. He has
won the Canadian Open 8 times. He
has won the Canadian championship
7 times. He has played for Canada in
8 Chess Olympiads. In 1983, he won
the World Open. In 1984, he won
the New York Open. In 2000, he
was inducted into the Canadian
Chess Hall of Fame.
Srinath Narayanan (1994- ) is an

won the Asian Junior Chess
won the World Under-12 Youth
Chess Championship.
John H. Staffer (1872-?) won the

New Jersey championship in 1895,
1898, 1904, and 1912. In 1911, he
won the New York Open
Tournament. He was the winner of
the first Chess Review Golden
Knights postal chess tournament of
1943 (then called the Victory
Tournament). He also won the 1951
Golden Knights Postal Chess
Championship. (source: Chess
Review, May 1955, p. 131)
Anders Gideon Tom Stahlberg

(1908-1967) was a Swedish
Swedish Chess Championship 11
times. He played for Sweden in 7
Chess Olympiads. In August 1941,
he broke the world's record for the
number of boards played
simultaneously and time of play in
Buenos Aires. He played 400
separate games in 36 hours and 5
minutes. He won 364, lost 22, and
drew 14 (source: Chess Review,
Aug-Sep 1941, p. 156). On May 26,
1967, he died of a liver ailment in
Leningrad at the age of 59. He had
just participated in the drawing of
lots at the 1967 Leningrad
International when he became ill and
died several days later. He is buried
in Gothenberg, Sweden.
Stahlberg - Dahlin, Gothenborg

1927 1.f4 d5 2.e3 c5 3.Nf3 e6 4.b3
Bd6 5.Bb2 f6 6.Bd3 Nh6 7.Ng5 g6
8.Nxh7 Rxh7 9.Bxg6+ Rf7 10.Qh5
Bf8 11.g4 Qe7 12.g5 Nf5 13.Bxf6
Qd7 14.Be5 Nc6 15.Bxf7+ Qxf7
16.g6 Qg8 17.g7+ Kd8 18.Qh8 1-0
Phillip Stamma (1705-1770) was a

chess player and author from Aleppo
(Haleb), Syria. In 1737, he published
Essai sur le Jeu des echecs. The
book was a collection of 100
endgames and problems. It was the
first chess book to use algebraic
notation (a=QR, b=QN, c=QB, etc).
In 1745, he published The Noble
Game of Chess. It was a collection
of 100 endgames with 74 openings
added to it. In London, he was one
of the strongest chess players at
Slaughter's coffee house. In 1747, he
lost to Philidor in a match played at
Slaughters. He was Interpreter of
Oriental Languages to the British
government.
Nikolaus Stanec (1968- ) is an

has won the Austrian Chess
Charles Henry Stanley (1819-1901)

was born in Brighton, England. He
was well known from about 1837, in
all the London chess clubs, and at
the Divan, where he was a frequent
visitor. Stanley considered H. W.
Popert (1797-1846) his principal
chess instructor. Popert lived in
Hamburg, Germany, and visited
London in the 1840s as a merchant.
From 1845 to 1848, he wrote
America first chess column in the
Spirit of the Times. The column
contains the first chess problem to be
published in America. In December
1845, Charles Henry Stanley
defeated Eugene Rousseau in the
first-ever U.S. chess championship
(although the term "US Chess
Champion" did not exist at the time).
The match was played for a stake of
$1,000 (winner take all) and held at
the Sazerac Coffee House in New
Orleans. Stanley won the match with
15 wins, 8 losses, and 8 draws.
Rousseau's second in the match was
Ernest Morphy, who took his 8-year-
old nephew, Paul Morphy, to the
match. The match was held from
December 1 through December 27,
1845. Both players were foreign
emigres. In October 1857, Stanley
was knocked out in the first round of
the 1st American Chess Congress by
Theodore Lichtenhein, winning 2
games and losing 3 games. Paul
Morphy won the tournament. After
the tournament, Morphy beat
Stanley +4-1 in a casual match while
giving Stanley the odds of "pawn
and the move." Morphy won the
$100 stake and gave the money to
Stanley's pregnant wife (Charles
Stanley had a drinking problem and
would have spent the money on
alcohol). Stanley's wife was so
grateful, she named her daughter
Pauline. He spent his last 20 years in
and out of hospitals in New York
due to alcoholism.
Zvonko Stanojoski (1964- ) is a

Macedonian Grandmaster (2004).
He won the Macedonian
has played for Macedoni in 8 Chess
Olympiads.
Ilmars Starostits (1979- ) is a

Latvian Grandmaster. In 2002, he
won the Latvian Championship.
Ringo Starr (1940- ) plays chess. He
claimed to have learned to play
chess during the tedious recording of
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band.
During breaks in the music studio,
he played chess with one of the
engineers. He had a chess set
modeled on his hands and fingers.
The set sold for $36,000.
Dr. Louis Statham (1907-1983) was

a physicist, inventor, philanthropist
and American chess patron. He
owned the Playboy mansion in Los
Angeles before selling it to Hugh
Hefner and moving to Lone Pine.
His Lone Pine tournaments (1971-
1981) became one of the premier
events in the US. He paid for all the
travel and living expenses for all
participants. His interests also
included yacht racing, opera singing,
and ham radio. Statham was the
original owner of the Playboy
Mansion West, when he sold it to
Hugh Hefner. At 60 he took up
correspondence chess, playing over
40 games at once. He had a
doctorate in mathematics and
pioneered the use of shock waves in
oil exploration. He also contributed
to the development of the artificial
heart. He built the $300,000 Lone
Pine Town Hall for his chess
tournaments and donated it to the
city. He had a PhD in mathematics
and pioneered the use of shock
waves in oil exploration.
Howard Staunton (1810-1874) was

born in April, 1810 in
Westmoreland, England. He may
have been the illegitimate son of the
Frederick Howard (1748-1825), fifth
Earl of Carlisle, but there is little
evidence to support this claim. This
was first mentioned by William
Wayte in the Dictionary of National
Biography. There is no mention of
Staunton in Frederick Howard's will.
It appears that Howard Staunton was
not his real name. From 1841 to
1854, he was editor of the Chess
Player's Chronicle, England's first
successful chess magazine. In
December 1843, he defeated Saint-
Amant at the Cafe de le Regence,
ending the French supremecy in
chess. From 1845 to 1874, he wrote
a chess column in the Illustrated
London News. On June 22, 1874
Staunton was working on papers
about Shakespeare when he suffered
a fatal heart attack and died in his
library chair in London.
Coincidently, it was on Morphy's
birthday. At the same time, he was
working on his last chess book,
Chess: Theory and Practice, which
was published posthumously in
1876. Staunton's grave is located at
Kensal Green in London, England.
The tombstone simply says Howard
Staunton 1810-1874 and has a large
knight on the headstone (added in
1997). Previously, his grave was
unmarked and neglected. Staunton
was the first British player to be
honored with a memorial chess
tournament. Staunton was an
eminent authority of chess and
Shakespeare. He started out as an
actor in Shakespeare's plays and may
have used this name as a stage name.
He was a Shakespearean scholar and
wrote a 517-page book on the
history of English public schools
The latter years of his life were
devoted to literary pursuits, and
especially to Shakespearian study.
For editing the Illustrated
Shakespeare, known as Routledge's
edition, he received $5,000, which is
the largest pay ever given for work
of this description. (source: Chicago
Daily News, June 27, 1874)
Cochrane - Staunton, London 1842

1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e5
Nge7 5.Nc3 Ng6 6.Qe2 Nf4 7.Qe4
g5 8.g3 d5 9.exd6 f5 (10.Qe2 Ng2+
wins the Queen) 0-1
Michael Francis Stean (1953- ) is an

Chess Championship. He played for
England in 5 Chess Olympiads. He
was a second for Viktor Kori during
his world championship matches.
He is a tax accountant.
Antoaneta Stefanova (1979- ) is a

Bulgarian grandmaster (2002). In
1989, she won the Girls under-10
World Championship. In 1995, she
won the Bulgarian women's
championship. She was the 10th
women's world champion (2004-
2006). She won the title in 2004 in a
64-player knockout tournament held
in Elista, Kalmykia. Her peak rating
was 2560 in 2003 when she was
ranked #2 in the world for women.
In 2012, she was the runner-up in the
Women's World Chess
Championship.
Luks — Stefanova, European Youth

Chess Championship 1992 1.e4 d5
2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6
5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Ne2 Bg4 7.f3 Bh5
8.Bd2 a6 9.O-O O-O-O 10.a3 Qb6
11.Na4 Qa7 12.Be3 e5 13.Bf2 exd4
14.c3 b5 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 c5
17.Bf2 Bg6 0-1
Hannes StefAnsson (1972- ) is an

11 times. In 1987, he won the World
Under-16 Championship. His peak
Elias Stein (1748-1812) was a Dutch

chess master and the strongest player
in the Netherlands. He recommended
what is now known as the Dutch
Defense (1.d4 f5) as the best reply to
1.d4. He was employed as a chess
teacher to the sons of William V,
Prince of Orange. One son became
King of Holland, the other was an
Austrian Field Marshall. Other
students included Gustavus the
Third, who became a king of
Sweden, Prince of Waldeck and
Prince Christian of Hesse-
Darmstadt. Stein died at The Hague
in 1812. One of his sons became a
physician and botanist of some note.
Leonid Stein (1934-1973) was a

Jewish Soviet Grandmaster (1962)
from the Ukraine and three-time
Soviet champion (1963, 1966, and
1967). He learned chess at the late
age of 13. In 1958 he became a
master at the late age of 24. He won
the Ukrainian Championship in
1960. In 1961, he took 3rd place in
the USSR Championship and
qualified for the 1962 Staockholm
Interzonal. There he won a playoff
match but was still excluded from
the Candidates' Tournament because
of limitation on the number of
players from the USSR. In 1967 he
was, again, involved in a three-way
playoff. He would have made the
Candidates' Tournament there had he
accepted Hort's offer of a draw.
Stein refused and lost the game and
his chance to play in the Candidates'
Tournament. In played in 3
Interzonal tournaments. Stein
(pronounced "Shtane") was heading
with the Soviet team for the
European Team Championship in
Bath in 1973 when he was found
dead on July 4, 1973, of a heart
attack in the Rossiya Hotel in
Moscow at the age of 38. He was
also due to play in the Brazil
Interzonal. His place was taken by
David Bronstein. At the time of his
death, he was ranked #12 in the
world, rated 2620. (source: Chess
Life & Review, Sep 1973, p. 513)
He was a factory work (a fitter) by
profession before he became
professional chess player.
L. Stein — Portisch, Stockholm

1962 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.O-O Qc7
7.Nd2 Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.f4 Bc5+
10.Kh1 d6 11.Nf3 e5 12.fxe5 dxe5
13.Nh4 O-O 14.Nf5 Be6 15.Qe2 a5
16.Bc4 Kh8 17.Bg5 Nd7 18.Rad1
Nb6 19.Nxg7 Bxc4 20.Bf6 Be7
21.Qf3 1-0
Endre Steiner (1901-1944) was a

Hungarian chess master. He played
for Hungary in 5 Chess Olympias.
He died in a Nazi concentration
camp near Budapest on December
29, 1944. He was the older brother
of Lajos Steiner.
Herman Steiner (1905-1955) was a

Hungarian-born American
born in Dunaszerdahely, Austria-
Hungary (now Dunajska Streda,
Slovakia) on April 15, 1905. He
came to New York City at a young
age. At age 16, he was a member of
the Hungarian Chess Club and the
Stuyvesant Chess Club. He won the
US Open in 1942 and 1946. On May
30, 1937, Herman Steiner was on his
way back to Hollywood from the
annual North-South chess match
when he hit a car head-on. Steiner's
passenger was Dr. Robert B. Griffith
(1876-1937), who played Board 2
for the South (Steiner played Board
1). Griffith died in the car crash and
the driver in the other car was
critically injured. Dr. Griffith was a
medical doctor for the Hollywood
film industry. He was the physician
for Mary Pickford and Charlie
Chaplin. In 1945, Steiner made the
only plus score for the USA in the
Radio Match with Russia. He scored
1.5-0.5 against Bondarevsky. In
1946, he won the London Victory
Tournament. He was a former New
York State champion and a former
vice-president of the USCF. In 1948,
he won the US Chess Championship.
On November 25, 1955, former US
champion Herman Steiner, age 50,
died of a heart attack after a
California State Championship game
in Los Angeles. He was defending
his state championship title and
finished his 5th round game (a 62-
move draw against William
Addison). He then said he felt
unwell, so his afternoon game was
postponed. About two hours later,
around 9:30 pm, Steiner had a heart
attack while being attended by a
physician. He was editor of a chess
column in the Los Angeles Times
from 1932 until his death. (source:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 10, 1937
and Chess Review, Dec 1955, p.
356)
Lajos Steiner (1903-1975) was

Hungarian champion in 1931 and
1936. He played for Hungary in 3
Chess Olympiads. In 1939, he
immigrated to Australia where he
won the Australian championship 4
times. He married Edna Kingston,
Australia's best woman chess player.
He was awarded the International
Master title in 1950. He was trained
as a mechanical engineer.
Hedinn Steingrimsson (1975- ) is an

3 times. In 1987, he was World
Under-12 Champion. His peak rating
was 2582 in 2017.
Wilhelm (William) Steinitz (1836-

1900) was an Austrian and later
American chess master, and the first
undisputed world chess champion,
from 1886 to 1894. He was born in
Prague, one of the youngest sons of
a large Jewish family. He went to
Vienna as a young man to earn a
living as a journalist. In 1862, he
won the Vienna Chess
Championship. He later settled in
London and became a professional
chess player. Steinitz and Henry
Blackburne would sometimes get in
a scuffle. Steinitz wrote of
Blackburne "...he struck with his full
fist into my eye, which he blackened
and might have knocked out. And
though he is a powerful man of very
nearly twice my size, who might
have killed me with a few such
strokes, I am proud to say that I had
the courage of attempting to spit into
his face, and only wish I had
succeeded." In 1897, he began to
have the illusion that he could talk
on the phone without a wire and his
secretary often surprised him waiting
for a response through the invisible
hearing aid. He also used to
approach to the window where he
spoke and singed, remaining after
waiting for an answer. The secretary
informed about this to the American
consul who suggested that Steinitz
should be taken to a sanatorium. In
1890, he played a telegraph match
with Mikhail Chigorin. At one point,
Steinitz was arrested, charged as a
spy. Police authorities assumed the
moves made by Steinitz in playing
his correspondence games with
Chigorin were part of a code by
means of which importatnt war
secrets could be communicated.
(source: Chess Review, Dec 1935, p.
285) In 1900, he thought he could
deliver electric charges, with the
help of which it would be feasible to
move the pieces at will. Claimed to
be in electrical communication with
God and could give him a pawn
ahead and White pieces. Steinitz
died in the Manhattan State Hospital
(Ward Island) and is buried in
Brooklyn's Evergreen Cemetery,
Bethel Slope Section, Lot 5896. His
birth date on his grave is wrong. He
was born on May 17, 1836. His
tombstone says that he was born on
May 14, 1837. The inscriptions on
his tombstone are written in German,
but his first name on the tombstone
reads William instead of Wilhelm.
The top of his tombstone is a
chessboard. One of Steinitz's
maxims was: "A chess master has no
more right to be ill than a general on
the battlefield."
Steinitz - Unknown, New York 1890

1.e4 e5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 Bd7 4.Bc4 Nf6
5.Qb3 Qe7 6.Qxb7 Bc6 7.Qc8+ Qd8
8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9.Qe6 mate 1-0
Daniel Stellwagen (1987- ) is a

Dutch Grandmaster (2004). He
cevame a GM at age 20. In 1999, he
won the Dutch Under-12
2639. He is pursuing a PhD in
inorganic chemistry.
Radio shock jock Howard Stern

(1954- ) plays chess. He is a card-
carrying member of the Marshall
Chess Club. He took chess lessons
from FIDE master Dan Heisman.
Stern plays with an anonymous
handle on the Internet Chess Club.
Don Imus, another radio personality,
also plays chess.
Sting (1951- ), Gordon Matthew

Thomas Sumner, plays chess. His
original ambition in life was to be a
chess grandmaster. He has played
chess with Gary Kasparov, lasting
45 moves. Sting's estate in France
has a giant chess board in the
grounds.
Ottavio Stocchi (1906-1964) was an
Italian chess composer and an
Compositions (1956). He specialized
in orthodox two-movers. He
composed over 920 problems, of
which 840 were two-movers. He was
a director of his own agricultural
firm in Langhirano, Italy. He died at
the age of 57.
Gosta Stoltz (1904-1963) was a

Swedish Grandmaster (1954). He
won the Swedish championship in
1951, 1952, and 1953. He played for
Sweden in 9 Chess Olympiads. His
results were increasingly affected by
his alcoholism. He worked as a car
mechanic, but eventually became a
full-time chess professional. (source:
Chess Review, Oct 1963, p. 296 and
Chess Review, Nov 1963, p. 336)
Leon Stolzenburg (1895-1974) won

the U.S. Open in 1926 and 1928. He
won the Michigan chess
championship a record 13 times. He
won the Chess Review Golden
Knights Postal Chess Championship
3 times. He won the third US Open
Postal Chess Championship in 1966.
He won the championship of the
Correspondence Chess League of
America (CCLA) twice. He was a
medi in the hospital at Tarnopol,
Ukraine, in world War I.He was a
pharmacist.
In 1986, David Straus (1946- )

became the first International Master
(1982) to lose to a computer in
tournament competition. He lost to a
Fidelity computer at the U.S. Open
in Somerset, New Jersey.
Arkadijs Strazdins (1923-2007) won
the New Britain, Connecticut Chess
Championship 23 years in a row. He
also had been president of the New
Britain Chess Club for over 25
years. He was a member of the club
for over 50 years. His son, Andris,
was the club treasurer for over 34
years. (source Chess Life, June
1975, p. 379)
In 1971, Trevor Stowe, an antiques

dealer in London was arrested and
fined for indecent exhibition of a
chess set while on display in the
window of his shop. Each of the 32
pieces showed couples in sexual
positions. The dealer had to pay
$132 in fines and court costs. Stowe
specialized in newly manufactured
chess sets at his "Galeries d'Echec"
in Harcourt Street, London.
Aleksa Strikovic (1961- ) is a

1992. He won the South African
Open in 2016.
In 1904, John William Strutt (Lord

Rayleigh) (1842-1919) won the
Nobel Prize in Physics for
discovering argon. He was the
president of the Essex County Chess
Association from 1898 to 1901.
NoÃ«l Studer (1996- ) is a Swiss

Grandmaster (2017). He was a GM
at age 20. In 2016, he won the Swiss
2498 in 2017.
Kirill Stupak (1990- ) is a Belarusian

was 2579 in 2017.
George Sturgis (1891-1944) was a

banker, chess enthusiast, and chess
patron. In 1932, he was elected
president of the Massachusetts State
Chess Association. In 1938, he was
elected president of the American
Chess Federation. He was the first
President of the United States Chess
Federation (USCF), elected in 1939.
In 1944, he was Massachusetts
Speed Chess Champion. He died on
December 20, 1944 in Boston after
returning from his honeymoon in
New Hampshire. (source: Chess
Review, Feb 1937, p.32, Chess
Review, Oct 1938, p. 247, and Chess
Zurab Sturua (1959- ) is a Georgian

Georgian Championship 5 times. He
has played for Soviet Georgia in 6
Chess Olympiads. In 2014, he won
the World Over-50 Senior Chess
2605 in 1999. He is married to GM
Nino Gurieli.
Mihai Suba (1947- ) is a Romanian

Romanian Championship 3 times, in
1980, 1981, and 1985. He tied for
1st in the 2008 World Senior Chess
Championship.
Subandbu was the author of the

Sanskrit romance Vasavadatta,
which contains the first written
reference to chess.
Walter Bradford Suesman (1918-

1984) was born in Providence,
Rhode Island on September 19,
1918. He won the Rhode Island
Championship 14 times and was co-
champion five times. He was New
England champion three times. He
played in the 1938 (taking last place)
and 1946 U.S. Championship. He
died on November 11, 1984.
Alexei Stepanovich Suetin (1926-

2001) was a Russian Grandmaster
(1965) and author. In 1958, he
wrtore Modern Chess Opening
Theory. He played in 10 USSR
championships, placing 4th in 1963
and 1965. He won the World Senior
Championship in 1996. On Sep 10,
2001, Suetin died of a heart attack in
Moscow at the age of 74. He had
just returned home from the Russian
Senior Chess Championship.
Zilber - Suetin, Leningrad 1957 1.c4

g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.f4 c5 5.dxc5
Qa5+ 6.Nc3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Nf6
8.cxd6 Nxe4 9.Qd4 O-O 10.dxe7
Re8 11.Qe5 Nc5 12.Be3 Nc6
13.Qxc5 Qxc3+ 14.Kf2 Qxa1
15.Nf3 Nxe7 16.Be2 Qxh1 17.Qe5
Bh3 0-1
Sarunas Sulskis (1972- ) is a

has won the Lithuaian
played for Lithuania in 7 Chess
2595 in 2012.
Mir Sultan Khan (1905-1966) was

born the the Punjab ara of India. He
was the winner of the All Indian
championship (1928) and winner of
the Championship of the British
Empire several times (1929, 1932,
and 1933). He played first board for
Britain in the Chess Olympiads of
1930, 1931, and 1933. He was the
strongest chess master of his time
from Asia. He could not read or
write and had to learn the rules of
chess in Europe, which were
different than Eastern chess (pawns
could only move one square at a
time, for example). He could barely
speak English, needed an interpreter,
and had to have an attendant write
down his score. He was a servant in
the household of Colonel Umar
Hayat Khan, an army officer in
charge of the horses for King George
V. He defeated Capablanca,
Nimzovich, Rubinstein, Tartakower,
Flohr and other top players. He
returned to India with his master, Sir
Umar. When Umar died, Sultan
Khan was left a small farmstead near
his birthplace, and there he lived out
the rest of his life.
Aaron Summerscale (1969- ) is an

Rapidplay Chess Championship.
Patricia Anne Sunnucks Mothersill

(1927- ) is an English Woman
International Master (1954). She was
British Women's champion in 1957,
1958, and 1964. She was a major in
the Women's Royal Army Corps and
was not allowed to travel to the
USSR.
Jaime Sunye-Neo (1957- ) is a

has won the Brazilian Championship
6 times. In 1989, he won the South
American Zonal. From 1988 to
1992, he was president of the
Brazilian Chess Federation. His peak
Actor Kiefer Sutherland (1966- )

plays chess. He is a big fan of the
game of chess. There is a photo of
him playing chess at a pub in
London, taken in 2007. He plays
chess with his daughter.
Emil Sutovsky (1977- ), born in

Azerbaijan, is an Israeli Grandmaster
(1991). He is the president of the
Association of Chess Professionals
(ACP). In 1996, he won the World
won the European Individual Chess
Championship. He has played for
Israel in 9 Chess Olympiads. His
Duncan Suttles (1945- ) is a

Canadian Grandmaster (1973) who
became Canada's second
Grandmaster and first
correspondence GM in 1982. He was
born in San Francisco and moved to
Vancouver, British Columbia in
1951. He won the British Columbia
was Canadian Champion in 1969.
He tied for 1st at the US Open in
1973. He retired from chess and
became involved in stocks and
computer programming. His peak
rating was 2475.
Garcia — Suttles, Nice 1974 1.e4 g6

2.d4 d6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Be2 Nf6 5.Nc3
a6 6.O-O b5 7.e5 Nfd7 8.Qd3 Nb6
9.Bf4 Nc6 10.Qe4 Na5 11.Bd3 b4
12.Nd1 Bd7 13.Qe2 O-O 14.Ng5
Nc6 15.Qe4 Qc8 16.e6 Nxd4
17.exf7 Rxf7 18.Qe3 Nd5 0-1
Rasmus Svane (1997- ), born in

Denmark, is a German Grandmaster
2017.
Dr. Ludvig Oskar Svenonius (1853-

1926) was a Swedish master. In the
late 19th century, he was considered
Sweden's best chess player. He
contributed many articles on chess
openings to Deutsches
Wochenschach. A variation in the
Four Knights Opening is named
after him. He was a medical doctor.
Evgeny Sveshnikov (1950- ) is a

qualified for and played in his first
USSR Chess Championship at the
age of 17. He won the Latvian
2017, he won the World Senior
Over-65 Chess Championship. His
peak rating was 2610 in 1994. His
son, Vladimir, is an International
Master.
Dmitry Svetushkin (1980- ) os a

Moldovan Grandmaster (2002). He
won the Moldovan Championship in
2000. He has played for Moldova in
was 2621 in 2011.
Peter Svidler (1976- ) is a Russian

Russian Chess Championship 8
times. He has played for Russia in
10 Chess Olympiads. In 2004, is was
rating was 2769 in 2013,
Rudolf Swiderski (1878-1909) was a

German master. In 1900, he took 1st
in the Munich Haupturnier. In 1904,
he tied for 1st place with Frank
Marshall at the Rice Gambit
tournament in Monte Carlo. He also
tied for 1st place at Coburg, 1904,
with Schlechter and von Bardeleben.
Marshall described him as the
weirdest chess player he ever met.
Swiderski was the first to play the
Maroczy Bind. And he played it
against Maroczy. Maroczy then
started playing it with good results,
so the opening is named after him. In
August 1909, Swiderski committed
suicide in Leipzig. He took some
poison, and then shot himself in the
head with his revolver. He had
recently been convicted of perjury in
connection with a love affair and he
was to face legal proceedings. Other
sources say that he had an illness
extending over a period of years and
was discouraged by what he deemed
a hopeless flight. Another source
says that he took his own life
because he could not face an
operation. He died a week after his
31st birthday.
Swiderski — Schwan, Amsterdam

1899 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6
4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 b5
7.Nxe5 Nf6 8.Bb3 Nxe5 9.dxe5 c5
10.exf6 c4 11.Re1+ 1-0
Dariusz Swierez (1994- ) is a Polish

GM at the age of 14 years and 7
months. In 2011, he won the 50th
World Junior Championshhip. In
2012, he won the World Under-18
2665 in 2016.
Eugenio Szabados (1898-1974) was

a Hungarian-Italian International
Master. He won the Italian
championship in 1921. He was
President of the Italian Chess
Federation from 1950 to 1958. He
sponsored four international
tournaments in Venice. He built and
owned a fleet of ships, but all of his
ships were confiscated in 1956 due
to the Suez crises.
Laszlo Szabo (1917-1998) was a

former Candidate for the World
Chess Championship. He was born
in Budapest, Hungary on March 19,
1917. Szabo was a National Master
by the time he was 17. In 1935, at
the age of 18 and just out of school,
he won the first official Hungarian
Chess Championship, with 10 wins,
6 draws, and 1 loss. He won the
Hungarian championship 9 times,
and tied for first, but lost the play-off
on two other occasions. In 1938-39,
he won at Hastings. Before World
War II, he worked in the foreign
exchange department of a Budapest
bank. During World War II, he was
in a Hungarian Forced Labor unit
where he was captured by the
Russian army. He was a prisoner of
war until after the end of World War
II. After the war, he was editor of the
Hungarian national chess magazine.
Szabo was the leading Hungarian
chess player from 1945 to 1960,
when Portisch became Hungary's
leading player. In 1945, he took 2nd
place in a tournament in Kecskemet
and won 10 kilograms of lard. In
1946, he tied for 4th, with Najdorf,
at Groningen. In 1947-48, he won at
Hastings. In 1948, he won an
international tournament in
Budapest, ahead of Gligoric, Foltys,
Pachman, and Tartakower. In 1949-
50, he won at Hastings. He became
an International Arbiter in 1954. He
played on 11 Hungarian Chess
Olympiad teams from 1935 to 1968.
He participated in three Interzonals
(1948, 1952, 1955), taking 2nd in
1948. He participated in three
Candidates' tournaments (1950,
1953, 1956), finishing joint third in
1956. In 1979, he retired from active
chess play. In 1981, he wrote
100,000 Moves in 50 Years. In
1986, he wrote, My Best Games. He
died on August 8, 1998.
Zakar - Szabo, Hungary 1933 1.e4

c5 2.c3 d5 3.e5 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4
5.cxd4 Qb6 6.Ne2 Bf5 7.Nbc3 Nb4
8.f3 Bc2 9.Qd2 Nd3+ 0-1
Count Istvan Szechenyi (1791-1860)

Hungarian military leader, reformer,
and writer who helped form the first
ministry in Hungary. As a rich
landowner, he helped establish the
Hungarian (Magyar) Academy of
Sciences in 1825. During the
Hungarian Civil War of 1848-49,
Szechenyi suffered a nervous
breakdown and withdrew to a private
hospital in Vienna. It is said that he
recovered from his mental illness by
playing chess in the hospital 12
hours a day. He wrote reform articles
under the alias name Ignotus, He
was harassed by the Viennese police
and threatened with prosecution for
sedition which drove him to suicide.
He shot himself in 1860. He is
known as the greatest Hungarian.
Peter Szekely (1925-2003) was a

the 2003 Capablanca Memorial
tournament in Cuba, he drew all 13
of his games, the shortest in 8 moves
and the longest in 13 for a total of
130 moves played.
Jozsef Szen (1805-1857) was born in

Pest, Hungary on July 9, 1805 (Pest
merged with Buda in 1873 to
become Budapest). He learned chess
from his uncle. In 1838, Szen
founded the Budapest Chess Club
(Pesti Sakk-kor). In 1851, he took
5th at the first international chess
tournament, London 1851 (behind
Anderssen, Wyvill, Williams, and
Staunton). In the first round, he
defeated Samuel Newham (1796-
1875), England's leading provincial
player, with two wins. He played
Adolf Anderssen in the 2nd round,
in which they shared a hotel room.
Szen was famous for his endgame
skill in both analysis and play. He
worked as a paid official in the Pest
Department of Archives.
In 1937, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Physiology or Medicine for
discovering vitamin C. He was
president of the Szeged chess circle
in Hungary.
Farhad Tahirov (1987- ) is an

Azerbaijan Grandmaster (2002). In
2007, Tahirov played in the 2006-
2007 Hastings Chess Congress.
After the last round, having a couple
of hours to kill before the prize-
giving, he decided to take a walk
along the Hastings seafront on
Harold Road. Unfortunately, he
passed by a particularly dodgy pub,
frequented by various skinheads and
other charmers, several of whom
attacked and robbed him. He lost
almost 1,000 pounds in cash, plus a
mobile phone and camera, as well as
ending up in hospital for treatment to
his injuries. His peak rating was
2583 in 2003.
Mark Taimanov (1926-2016) was a

concert pianist. In 1948, he won the
Leningrad Chess Championship. In
1971, Taimanov lost to Fischer 0-6
in Vancouver, British Columbia, and
returned to the USSR in disgrace.
Normally grandmasters are not
searched when crossing the border to
the Soviet Union, but Taimanov was
asked to open his luggage for
examination. They found one of
Solzhenitsin's banned books which
Taimanov brought from Canada. He
was stripped of his title 'Honored
Master of Sport' and deprived of his
monthly earnings for holding the
grandmaster title. Both were
returned to him when Fischer also
beat Larsen 6-0. Taimanov's trainer,
Evgeny Vasiukov, blamed
Taimanov's loss to malnutrition.
Taimanov was trying to save money
(he was allocated $11 a day for food
by the USSR Sports Committee) and
paid less for food so that he could
buy some things he couldn't buy in
the USSR. Taimanov never visited
the restaurant of his 5-star hotel that
he was staying at. He purchased
cheap food products at a
supermarket instead. Taimanov has
been quoted as saying, "When I play
chess I think about music, and when
I play the piano I think about chess,
but I never get them mixed up."
After returning to the USSR, the
piano duets he and his wife played at
concerts ened when their 26-year-old
marriage dissolved. In 1973, he won
the Leningrad Chess Championship
for the 5th time. In 1976, he played
in his 23rd and last USSR Chess
Championship (a record). He died in
Saint Petersburg at the age of 90.
Stjerbakov - Taimanov, Leningrad

1954 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6
7.Qd3 a6 8.O-O-O Bd7 9.f4 h6
10.Bh4 g5 11.fxg5 Ng4 12.Qg3
hxg5 13.Nf3 gxh4 14.Qxg4 e5 0-1
Sandor (Alexander) Takacs (1893-

1932) was a Hungarian master. In
1929, he tied for 1st place at
Hastings. In 1931, he entered a
Belgian sanitorium because of
mental problems. When beyond
hope of recovery, he was released
from the hospital, returned to
Budapest, and died a week later.
Mikhail (Misha) Nekhemievich Tal,

born Mihails Tals, (1936-1992) was
born in Riga, Latvia (then an
independent country), on November
9, 1936. Tal became interested in
chess at age eight after watching the
game played by patients in the
waiting room of his father, a medical
doctor specializing in internal
disorders. At age 8 he joined the
Riga Palace of Young Pioneers. He
won the Latvian championship at
age 17. In 1960, Mikhail Tal was
driving to the 14th Chess Olympiad
in Leipzig, Germany when he got
into a car accident. He was unable to
play the first 3 rounds, but when he
did show up to play, he played board
1 for the USSR. He won 8 and drew
6 games and only lost the final
round, to Englishman Jonathan
Penrose. That cost him the gold
medal for board 1, and he settled for
silver. In 1966, during the Chess
Olympiad in Havana, Tal went out
one evening to a local bar in the city.
Apparently, he was caught flirting
with a local woman, whose husband
or boyfriend took exception. Tal
ended up being struck over the head
with a beer bottle. As a result, he
missed the first four rounds of the
event, and when he did appear in the
tournament hall, it was with his head
heavily bandaged. In 1976, during a
chess tournament in Palma de
Mallorca, Spain, Mikhail Tal
became the first Soviet grandmaster
to oppose a bull in a bull-fighting
arena. Years later, Larry
Christiansen also opposed a bull in a
bull-fighting arena. On June 28,
1992, GM Mikhail Tal died of a
hemorrhage of the esophagus and
renal failure at a hospital in Moscow
at the age of 55. A month earlier, he
left the hospital to play at the
Moscow blitz tournament where he
defeated Garry Kasparov. Tal was
fluent in Russian, English, German,
Spanish, and Serbian. He is buried at
the Jaunie ebreju Kapi cemetery in
Riga, Latvia.
Tal - Vaganian, Dubna 1973 1.e4 e6
2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5
Nd7 6.Nb3 f6 7.Bb5 fxe5 8.dxe5
Nc5 9.Ng5 Bd7 10.Bxc6 bxc6
11.Qh5+ g6 12.Qf3 1-0
Taleb Moussa (1978- ) is an Emirati

United Arab Emirates (UAE) first
professional chess player and its first
GM. In 2001 and 2003, he won the
UAE Championship. His peak rating
was 2517 in 2004.
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-

1877) was one of the greatest figures
of the 19th century. He was a
mathematician, physicist, classicist,
philologist, transcriber of cuneiform
texts, and chess player. In 1840, he
invented the positive/negative
process in film and is known as The
Father of Modern Photography. He
may have ben the first person to take
a picture of chess players playing
chess. Talbot made photographic
experiments before Louis Daguerre
(1787-1851) exhibited his pictures
taken by the sun. Talbot made a
daguerreotype (no negative as the
image is exposed directly onto a
mirror-polished surface of silver) of
two chess players playing chess in
England in the early 1840s. Talbot
took photographs of Antoine Claudet
(1797-1867), one of the first
commercial photographers, playing
chess with another player (available
on eBay for $5,400).
Tamerlane (1336-1405) was the

Mongol ruler and conqueror of the
14th century. He considered hunting
and chess as the two pastimes
worthy of a warrior. He named his
son Shahrukh (chess rook).
Tan Zhongyi is a Chinese

Grandmaster (2017). She won the
World Youth Under-10 Girls
Championship twice. In 2002, she
won the World Yourh Under-12
Girls Championship. In 2015, she
won the Chinese Women's Chess
Women's World Chess
2518 in 2016.
Aryan Tari (1999- ) is a Norwegian

won the Norwegian Junior
Norwegian Chess Championship at
age 16. In 2017, he won the World
Junior Chess Championship. His
James Edward Tarjan (1952- )

became an International
was a member of the USA team that
won the World Student Team
Championship. He played for the
USA in 5 Chess Olympiads. In 1978,
he took 2nd in the US Chess
Championship. In 1984, he gave up
professional chess to become a
librarian at the Santa Cruz Public
Library. He donated all his chess
trophies to be used in scholastic
chess tournaments. He graduated
from the University of California,
Berkeley and received a Master in
Library Science (MLS) degree from
UCLA. In 2014, he re-entered the
tournament chess world and played
in the US Open in Orlando. He
scored 7 out of 9.
Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch (1862-1934)

was one of the top chess players in
the world for about 20 years. In
1883, he won the German master
title. In 1908, he challenged
Emanuel Lasker for the world
championship, but lost. In 1916,
during World War I, Siegbert
Tarrasch and Jacques Mieses played
a chess match in Berlin in which the
prize was Å“ pound of butter.
Tarrasch won the match and the
butter with 7 wins, 2 losses, and 4
draws. Tarrasch lost two sons in the
early days of World War I. (source:
Chess Review, December 1947, p.
16). He was a Jewish medical doctor
in Nuremberg specializing in
hypnosis.
Tarrasch - Schroeder, Nuremberg

1890 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d6 3.d3 f5 4.Nc3
fxe4 5.dxe4 a6 6.fxe5 dxe5 7.Nf3
Bb4 8.Bg5 Qd6 9.Rc1 Qg6 10.Qd8+
Kf7 11.Bc4+ Be6 12.Nxe5 mate 1-0
Savielly Grigoryevich Tartakower

(1887-1956) was born in Rostov-on-
Don, Russia to Jewish Austrian
parents. In 1897, he learned the
game of chess while in Russia. In
1899, after both his parents were
murdered, he fled Russia and moved
to Geneva, then to Vienna. In 1906,
he gained the German master title.
During World War I, he was drafted
into the Austro-Hungarian army and
saw action in Russia. After the war,
he immigrated to France and settled
in Paris. In 1918, he accepted Polish
citizenship without knowing how to
speak Polish or living in Poland. He
was fluent in Russia, German,
French, Latin, and Greek.
Translating poems was his secret
hobby. In the 1930s, Tartakower
once lost five games in a row. He
was asked how that could happen.
He replied, "I had a toothache during
the first game. In the second game, I
had a headache. In the third game it
was an attack of rheumatism. In the
fourth game, I wasn't feeling well.
And in the fifth game? Well, must
one have to win every game?" He
won the Polish Championship in
1935 and 1937. He represented
Poland in 6 Chess Olympiads. In
1939, he was representing Poland in
the Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad
when World War II broke out. He
stayed in Argentina for a few
months, and then returned to France
in 1940. He joined the underground
forces of General Charles de Gaulle.
He went to England, serving with
the Free French Army. His French
colleagues found his name too
difficult to pronounce, so he changed
it to Geroges Cartier. (source Chess
Review, Feb 1942, p. 46). After
World War II and the communist
takeover of Poland, he became a
French citizen. He represented
France in the 1950 Chess Olympiad.
He was awarded the Grandmaster
title in 1950. In 1953, he won the
French Championship. (source:
Chess Review, Apr 1956, pp. 123-
124)
Perlis - Tartakower, Ostende 1907

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4
cxd4 5.cxd4 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be2
e6 8.Nc3 Qa5 9.O-O Nf6 10.Ne5
Bxe2 11.Nxc6 Qxc3 0-1
Stefano Tatai (1938-2017) was an

Italian International Master (1966).
He won the Italian Chess
Championship 12 times between
1962 and 1994. He played for Italy
rating was 2495 in 1984. He died at
the age of 79.
On October 17, 2015, International

Master Emory Tate (1958-2015)
died while playing in a chess
tournament near San Jose. He was
56. He was a 5-time Armed Forces
Champion while serving in the US
Air Force. His peak FIDE rating was
2413 in 2006. His peak USCF rating
as 2499 in 1997.
Creassey Tattersall (1877-1957) was

an English chess composer and
compiler of the first major anthology
of endgames, A Thousand End-
Games, in 1910.
Jean Taubenhaus (1850-1919) was

born in Warsaw, but spent most of
his life in Paris. At the London
tournament of 1886, he placed third,
behind Blackburne and Burn. In
1889 he operated the Mephisto
automaton during its visit to Paris. In
1910 he wrote Traite du Jeu
d'Echecs.
Taubenhaus — Locock, Manchester

1890 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5
4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Qf3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Be7
7.d4 O-O 8.Bd3 f6 9.Qh5 g6
10.Bxg6 hxg6 11.Qxg6+ Kh8
12.Qh5+ Kg8 13.Bh6 Qe8 14.Qf3
Rf7 15.Qh5 fxe5 16.Qg6+ Kh8
17.Bg7+ Kg8 18.Bf6+ 1-0
Marcin Tazbir (1988- ) is a Polish

Polish Junior Championship 3 times.
Richard Teichmann (1868-1925)

was a student of modern languages
and studied in Berlin. In 1891, he
won the chess championship of
Berlin. He was one of the top chess
players in the world at the beginning
of the 20th century. He was
handicapped by chronic eye trouble
and wore a patch over his right eye.
He is often quoted as saying "Chess
is 99% tactics." During World War I,
he was suspected of British
sympathies (he lived in England for
10 years), and moved to
Switzerland.
Teichmann — NN, Berlin 1914 1.e4

d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 4.Nf3
Bg4 5.Bc4 e6 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6
8.d3 Qf6 9.Qg3 Nh6 10.Bg5 Qg6
11.Nb5 cxb5?? 12.Qxb8+! Rxb8
13.Bxb5 mate 1-0
Physicist Dr. Edward Teller (1908-

2003) was an avid chess player. He
learned chess from his father when
he was six. He often hiked and
played chess with friends without a
board. Teller played chess with
Heisenberg, but could not beat him
at chess. During lunch breaks or
after work, he played chess with
other physicists at Lawrence
Livermore Labs.
Otto Mandrup Tennison (1834-

1909) was born in Copenhagen,
Denmark on December 8, 1834. He
attended Heidelberg University in
Germany as an engineering student
and graduated at the age of 20. He
then moved to Richmond, Virginia
and became a surveyor. On July 26,
1891, he published analysis on the
opening 1.Nf3 d5 2.e4 (which can
also be reached by 1.e4 d5 2.Nf3) ,
which appeared in the New Orleans
Times-Democrat. He called the
opening the "Black Rook's Gambit."
It was later called the Tennison
Gambit or the Abonyi Gambit,
named after Istvan Abonyi (1886-
1942), a chess master from Hungary
who first analyzed and played 1.Nf3
d5 2.e4 in 1912.
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

was a famous poet who was once the
President of the British Chess
Association (1885). Winston
Churchill's father was Vice-
President of the British Chess
Association during that time.
Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (1993- ) is an

2003, he won the European Under-
the European Under-18
World Under-18 Championship.
In 1566, Teresa (Teresa Sanchez de

Cepeda y Ahumada) of Avila
(March 28, 1515 — Oct 4, 1582),
also called Saint Teresa (Theresia de
Jesus) of Jesus, wrote The Way of
Perfection, a special guidance for
fellow sisters of the Carmelite Order,
written in 1566. In chapter 16, she
used an analogy to chess to describe
the preparations for prayer, with
apologies for mentioning so worldly
a game alongside so heavenly a
pursuit. Teresa advised her sister
nuns to play chess in the
monasteries, even against the rules,
in order to "checkmate the Lord."
Her point was that a person who
wishes to play chess must do a great
deal of study and then a great deal of
practice to become a champion. The
same was true of a person who
wished to approach God through
prayer in order to receive
contemplation. In her Valladolid
manuscript, she tore out these pages
about chess because she thought
they were too secular, but they were
later added by modern editors. She is
considered the patron saint of chess.
She learned how to play chess and
once saved a soldier's soul by
teaching him chess.
Otto Mandrup Tennison (1834-

1909), born in Copenhagen, was an
American chess player. He was a
charter member of the New Orleans
Chess, Checker, and Whist Club.
The Tennison Gambit (1.e4 d5 2.Nf3
or 1.Nf3 d5 2 e4) is named after him.
In 1891, he published his analysis of
the Tennison Gambit in the New
Orleans Times Democrat. He called
his gambit, the Black Rook's
Gambit. He attended Heidelberg
University as an engineering studend
and graduated at age 20. He then
moved to Richmond, Virginia, and
became a surveyor. Tennison served
with the Union forces in the US
Civil War as Lieutenant Colonel in
the 1st Kansas Infantry Regiment. In
May 1863, Tennison decided he
could no longer support the Union
cause and resigned his commission.
As a result, he was to face a court
martial but managed to escape to a
Confederate camp in Kentucky. He
was not allowed to join the
Confederate Army and was instead
taken as prisoner and held captive
for 16 months. Thinking he was a
Union spy, the Confederates had
sentenced him to hang. However, his
sentence was reprieved when the
Confederates were finally convinced
he was not a spy. They then gave
him the rank of Captain in June
1863. Nearly a year later he was
later wounded at the Battle of
Pleasant Hill and served out the rest
of the war as a drill master before
leaving the army in June, 1865.
After the Civil War, he moved to
New Orleans. He was a reporter for
the Republican newspaper and was a
court reporter at the House of
Representatives of the State of
Louisiana.
Rudolf Teschner (1922-2006) was a

German chess master from Potsdam.
He won the Berlin Championship 7
times. In 1948, he won the chess
championship of East Germany. In
1951, he won the combined
championship of East and West
Germany. He played for West
Grmany in the 1952 and 1956 Chess
Olympiads. In 1957, he was awarded
the International Master title. In
1992, FIDE awarded him the
complimentary Grandmaster title,
the first in history. From 1950 to
1988, he was publisher of Deutsche
Schachzeitung, the world oldest
surviving chess magazine. His peak
journalist by profession.
Vitaly Teterev (1983- ) is a

Belarusian Grandmaster (2007). At
the 2010 Chess Olympiad at Khanty-
Mansiysk, he won the gold medla
for best individual performance on
board 3. His peak rating was 2539 in
2010.
Praveen Thipsay (1959- ) is an

won the Championship of India 7
times. He has played for India in 7
WIM Bhagyashree Sathe Thipsay.
Sir George A. Thomas (1881-1972)

was born in Constantinople. His
mother, Lady Edith Thomas, who
taught him chess, was the winner of
the first British women's chess
championship at Hastings in 1895.
He won the British chess
championship twice (1923 and
1934). He won the London Chess
Club Championship 16 times. He
tied for 1st at Hastings 1934-35. He
played in over 80 chess tournaments.
He played for England in 7 Chess
was also 7-time British badminton
champion (he won 21 British
badminton titles between 1903 and
1928). He was on the winning tennis
doubles team championship at
Wimbledon in 1919. In 1922, he was
a quarter-finalist tennis player at
Wimbledon. He played at
Wimbledon from 1919 to 1926. He
won between 300 and 400 first
prizes in badminton tournaments. He
played at Wimbledon from 1919 to
1926. He was also an internationally
ranked hockey, squash and table-
tennis player. (source: Chess
Review, Feb 1935, p. 35) In 1946 he
won the London chess championship
at the age of 65. He became "Sir
George" when he succeeded his
father, Sir George Sidney Meade
Thomas, as the 7th Baronet in 1918.
International Master title. In 1952,
Judge title.
Tylor - Thomas, Margate 1937 1.d4

d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5
5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bc4 e6 7.O-O Nd7
8.Re1 N5b6 9.Bb3 Be7 10.e4 Bg6
11.Nc3 O-O 12.Bf4 c5 13.d5 c4
14.dxe6 fxe6 15.Nd4 Nc5 16.Bxc4
Nxc4 0-1
In 1982, Ken Thompson (1943- )

traveled to Moscow for a computer
chess tournament and thought his
computer, BELLE (PDP-11/23), was
traveling with him on the airplane in
a crate. However, the U.S. Customs
Service confiscated the chess
computer at Kennedy Airport as part
of Operation Exodus, a program to
prevent illegal export of high
technology items to the Soviets. It
took over a month and a $600 fine to
retrieve BELLE from customs.
Thompson later said that the only
way the BELLE would be a military
threat if it was dropped from an
airplane on the head of some
government official. (source: Chess
Life, September 1982, p. 12)
Theophilus Thompson (1855-1910)

was the first African-American chess
player and perhaps the first Black
chess master. He contributed several
chess problems to the Dubuque
Chess Journal. In 1873 he wrote
Chess Problems: Either to Play and
Mate.
Throstur Thorhallsson (1969- ) is an

Icelandic Grandmaster (2510). In
2012, he won the Icelandic Chess
2510 in 1997.
Edmund Thorold (1832-1899) was

an English chess player. He was
instrumental in setting up the
Sheffield Chess Club and, at one
time, was its President. He was also
president of the West Yorkshire
Chess Association. He was a
member of the Bath and Bristol
Chess Club. He graduated from
Oxford. He was a private tutor in the
classics and mathematics. He died of
a heart attack. A variation in the
King's Gambit is named after him.
Hans Tikkanen (1985- ) is a Swedish

won the Swedish Junior Chess
Swedish Championship. His peak
Viktor Tietz (1859-1937) was a

Czech-German chess player and
patron who sponsored the great
Carlsbad tournaments of 1907, 1911,
1923, and 1929. He was the co-
founder and first president of the
Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) Chess
Club.
Jan Henrick Timman (1951- ) is a
Dutch Grandmaster (1974) and
author. He has won the Dutch
championship 9 times. He was the
third Dutch player to become a GM,
after Euwe and Donner. In 1993, he
lost to Karpov in the FIDE world
championship (2 wins, 6 losses, and
13 draws). He played for the
Netherlands in 13 Chess Olympiads.
Timman - Cosulich, Venedig 1974

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6
5.Nge2 Ba6 6.Ng3 d5?? 7.Qa4+ 1-0
Artyom Timofeev (1985- ) is a

1999, he tied for 1st in the World
Under-14 Championship. In 2000,
he won the European Under-18
Russian Under-20 Championship. In
2008, he won the Moscow Open. His
peak rating ws 2690 in 2010.
Gennady Timoshenko (1949- ) is a

was winner of chess tournaments at
Polanica Zdroj in 1976 and Slupsk in
1997.
In 2008, chess player Leonid

Timoshenko had a precious diamond
he was carrying stolen. The diamond
was part of a trophy won by the
Ukrainian National Chess Team in
the 2008 Chess Olympiad. The
diamond and trophy was in his
checked bag on the airplane, but
when he landed, his bag was open,
the trophy was broken and the
diamond was stolen. He was forced
to check the cup into baggage at
Frankfurt on his flight to Kiev. On
the previous flight from Dresden, he
was allowed to take the trophy
onboard as a carry-on piece.
Jonathan Tisdall (1958- ) was born

in New York, but later became an
Irish citizen, and then a Norwegian
citizen. He won the Norwegian
Chess Championship three times. He
was awarded the Grandmaster title in
1993. He is a chef and works as a
freelance journalist.
Sergei Tiviakov (1973- ) is a

Russian-born Dutch Grandmaster
Under-18 Chess Championship. In
2006 and 2007, he won the Dutch
European Individual Chess
2699 in 2005.
Vladislav Tkachiev is a French-

Russia-Kazakhstani Grandmaster
(1995). In 1985, he won the
Kazakhstani Youth Championship.
He has been the champion of
Kazakhstan twice. In 2006, he won
the French Championship. In 2007,
he won the European Championship.
In September 2009, Tkachiev
appeared for his round 3 game at
Calcutta, India in an intoxicated
state. He could hardly sit in his
chair. He fell asleep during the game
a number of times, resting his head
on the table, Attempts to wake him
up appeared futile. He was
ultimately declared the loser after 15
moves. He had to be carried off. He
lost his game to Praveen Kumar.
Miodrag Todorcevic (1940- ) is a
Serbian-French Grandmaster (1989),
now living in Spain. He won the
Paris Championship 5 times. In
1975, he won the French
Championship.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was the

great Russian writer (War and
Peace) and a chess fanatic. When
Tolstoy was a young officer in the
Caucasus, he was promised a St.
George Cross for bravery. However,
he was so absorbed in a game of
chess that he failed to go on duty the
night before the awards were to be
given out. The commander found
him playing chess rather than
protecting the guns in his unit and
had Tolstoy arrested. The next day,
when the crosses for bravery were
distributed, Tolstoy was a prisoner
and missed the honor. Tolstoy
played chess all his life and was
photographed playing chess just
befor he died.
Alexander Tolush (1910-1969) was

was Leningrad champion in 1937,
1938, 1946, and 1947. He took 2nd
in the 1950 USSR championship,
behind Keres. He played in 10
Soviet chapionships. He was an
early trainer for Boris Spassky from
1951 to 1961. He was a tank officer
during the siege of Leningrad. He
was a chess journalist.
Evgeny Tomashevsky (1987- ) is a

Russian Championship. His peak
Professor Charles Tomlinson (1808-

1897) was an English chess player
and writer. From 1841 to 1844, he
ran a chess column in the Saturday
Magazine. In 1845, he wrote
Amusements in Chess. In 1856, he
published the first chess-players'
annual, Tomlinson's Chess Players'
Annual. He was Fellor of the Royal
Society (FRS). He was the founder
and president of the Salisbury Chess
Club and president of the Highgate
Chess Club. He was a lecturer on
experimental science at King's
College. He died at the age of 88.
(source: British Chess Magazine,
1897, pp. 109-114)
Jacek Tomczak (1990- ) is a Polish

2583 in 2013.
Veselin Topalov (1975- ) is a

was a chess master by the age of 12.
He attended special classes in chess
at Vazrazhdane Secondary General
Educational School. He has been
mostly coached and managed by
International Master S. Danailov. In
1989 he won the World Under-14
championship. In 1990, he took 2nd
in the World Under-16
Championship. At age 17 he was a
grandmaster. In October, 2005, he
won the FIDE World Championship
tournament, held in San Luis,
Argentina. He was World Champion
from 2005 to 2006. In 2006, he was
ranked #1 in the world. In 2010, he
was the Challenger in the World
Chess Championship, but lost to
Viswanathan Anand. He played for
Bulgaria in 9 Chess Olympiads. His
Pons - Topalov, Palma de Mallorca

1992 1.Nf3 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Ng5 d5
4.d3 Qd6 5.dxe4 h6 6.Qh5+ g6
7.Qh4 Bg7 8.Nf3 g5 9.Qh5+ Kf8
10.e5 Bxe5 11.Bd3 Nc6 12.O-O Nf6
13.Qg6 Bg4 14.Bxg5 hxg5 15.Nxg5
Bxh2+ 16.Kh1 Bf4+ (17.Kg1 Bxg5
18.Qxg5 Qh2 mate) 0-1
Roman Toran-Albero (1931-2005)

was a Spanish International Master
(1954). He was Spanish Champion
in 1951 and 1953. He represented
Spain in 6 Chess Olympiads. He was
a FIDE Deputy President from 1982
to 1990, and President of the
Spanish Chess Federation from 1984
to 2000. He was a sports journalist.
He wrote 30 chess books. He died of
cancer.
Carlos Torre-Repetto (1905-1978)

was Mexico's first grandmaster
(1977). He was born in Merida,
Yucatan. In 1915, his family moved
to New Orleans. He won the
Louisiana state championship in
1923. He won the New York State
Chess Championship and the
Western Championship in 1924. In
1925, he went to Europe and played
in 3 international eventsIn 1926, he
won the Mexican chess
championship and was told he would
be given a post teaching chess at the
National University in Mexico.
While competing in 1926 Western
championship in Chicago, he
received two letters from Mexico.
The first letter reneged on a teaching
offer at the University of Mexico
because Torre did not have any
academic credentials. The second
letter was from his French-American
fiancee who decided to marry
another man. He suffered a nervous
breakdown from the stress of chess
and the social gathering invitations.
He quit serious chess in 1926, at the
age of 22, after playing only two
years professionally. He returned to
Mexico and worked in a drug store.
He never married. He was addicted
to pineapple sundaes and consumed
about 15 a day, according to Reuben
Fine. He played against three world
champions and had a plus score. He
defeated Lasker, and drew with
Capablanca and Alekhine.
Unknown — C. Torre, Mexico 1928

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4
Nf6 5.Ng3 h5 6.Bxf6 hxg3 7.Be5
Rxh2 8.Be5 Rxh2 9.Rxh2 Qa5+
10.c3 Qxe5+ 11.dxe5 gxh2 0-1
Eugenio Torre (1951- ) is a Filipino

grandmaster (1974) and Asia's first
grandmaster. He won the Philippine
was once voted one of the ten sexiest
sportsmen in the Philippines and was
featured in a movie. He is president
of the National Chess Federation of
the Philippines. Torre served as
Fischer's second during the 1992
Fischer-Spassky return match. He
was the first player to both finish
first ahead of World Champion
Karpov in a tournament and the first
to defeat him in an individual
encounter (Manila, 1976). He has
played Board 1 for the Philippines in
18 Chess Olympiads. He has played
in 23 Chess Olympiads, from 1970
to 2016, more than any other person.
His name appropriately means
"rook."
Homayoun Tofighi (1990- ) is an

Iranian Grandmaster (2010). He has
won the Iranian Blitz and Rapid
Championship twice. His peak rating
was 2503 in 2010. He has a Bachelor
of Sports Science degree.
Eileen Trammer (1910-1983) was a

British chess player who won the
British Ladies' Championship with a
perfect 11-0 in 1949. She won the
British Ladies' Championship four
times (1947, 1949, 1953, 1961). She
took 5th-7th place in the World
Championship for Women in 1949-
1950. She took 7th place at the 1952
Women's Candidates Tournament.
She was awarded the International
Woman Master title in 1950. She
was a musician by profession until
deafness compelled her to retire. She
then took up chess.
Peter Karel Traxler (1866-1936) was

a well-known Czech chess master
and problemist, best known for the
Traxler Variation of the Two
Knights Defense (also known as the
Wilkes-Barre Variation), 1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bc5!?.
He first played it in 1890. He
composed and wrote under a number
of pseudonyms (Vis Maior; Karel
Kaplan; Karel Zbonek). From 1896
to 1899, he edited Ceske listy
sachove (Czech chess letters). He
composed over 900 chess problems.
He was a Catholic priest.
Leopold Trebitsch (1842-1906) was

a wealthy Austrian industrialist (silk
manufacturer) and chess patron. His
family advanced the sum of 100,000
kronen (40,000 crowns) to the
Vienna Chess Club (Wiener
Schachklub) to organize a series of
tournaments. Trebitsch was the
Vice-President of the Vienna Chess
Club. Since Leopold Trebitsch died
one month before the start of the first
tournament, the competitions were
named in his memory, the Leopold
Trebitsch Memorial. (source: Chess
Review, Feb 1936, p. 36). A series
of 20 Trebitsch Memorial
tournaments took place in Vienna
from 1907 to 1938. After 9
Memorial tournaments, there was a
gap between 1918 and 1926.
Leopold Trebitsch's son, Oskar,
made more funds available, enabling
eleven additional competitions to be
held until 1938, when Germany's
annexation of Austria ended the
event.
Alan N. Trefler (1956- ) was born on

March 10, 1956 in Boston,
Massachusetts. In 1975, as a USCF
expert (2075), he tied for 1st place
(with International Grandmaster Pal
Benko) in the open section of the
World Open in New York. He is
CEO of Pegasystems, a leader in
Business Process Management. He
holds a degree in Economics and
Computer Science from Dartmouth
College.
Pavel Tregubov (1971- ) is a Russian
won the European Individual Chess
2658 in 2008. He is married th GM
Alexadra Kosteniuk.
Dr. Karel Treybal (1885-1941) was a

Czech chess master. He won the
Czechoslovakian Championship in
Czechoslovaia in 4 Chess
Olympiads. During World War I, he
fought for Czechoslovakia as an
army lieutenant (later captain) and
was wounded twice. In 1941, Dr.
Treybal died during the Nazi
occupation of Czechoslovakia
(Bohemia-Moravia). On May 30,
1941, he was arrested in his office,
imprisoned and later charged with
concealing weapons for use by
resistance forces and the illegal
possession of a pistol. He was
condemned to death by Reinhard
Heydrich (1904-1942) and shot on
October 2 in Prague. Following his
execution, his body was not handed
over to his family and whereabouts
of his grave or remains are unknown.
He was a District Judge near Prague.
(source: Chess Review, Nov 1941, p.
194 and ChessBase News, Jan 26,
2018))
Treybal — Rejfir, Prague 1933 1.e4

c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd3 d5 7.e5 Nfd7
8.Qg4 Bf8 9.Nxe6 Qa5 10.Nxg7+
Kd8 11.Bg5+ 1-0
Nelson Treysman (1881-1959) was

called the greatest coffeehouse
player of all time by William
Lombary. He earned his livelihood
in the dingy cafes on the Lower East
Side of Manhattan. In one game, he
was losing. At the critical moment of
the game a waiter came by that had a
salt shaker on the tray. Treysman
captured the salt shaker and
slammed it down on the appropriate
square, and shouted "Mate!" Before
his startled opponent could protest,
Treysman had pocketed the stakes
and begun to set up the pieces for the
next game. Sometimes he grabbed
an unmoved rook from an adjacent
board. Treysman (age 55) tied for
3rd place in the 1936 US
championshhip. In 1950, when the
first USCF rating list appeared, he
was one of the highest rated players
in the US, rated 2531.
Dr. Petar Trifunovi? (1910-1980)

was a Yugoslav (Croatia)
Yugoslav championship 5 times. He
played for Yugoslavia in 7 Chess
Olympiads. He held the Doctor of
Law degree and became a
government official.
Georgi Tringov (1937-2000) was a

Bulgarian Grandmaster (1963). In
Bulgarian Chess Championship. In
1972, at the 20th Chess Olympiad in
Skopje, Yugoslavia, Tringov was
playing Viktor Korchnoi. At time
control, Tringov was to seal his next
move. Tringov wrote his sealed
move on his scoresheet and thought
he sealed his scoresheet in the
envelope. When the game was
resumed, the arbiter opened the
envelope. In the envelope was
Korchnoi's score sheet but not the
one belonging to Tringov. The
arbiter ruled the game a forfeit win
for Korchnoi, which the Bulgarian
team captain protested. After the
Olympiad was over, it was learned
that Tringov had accidentally placed
his score sheet in his pocket.
Tringov discovered his mistake
several days after his forfeit but was
too ashamed to admit his mistake to
the organizers of the Olympiad.
Kayden Troff (1998- ) is an

learned chess at age 3. At the age of
10, became Utah's blitz chess
champion and G60 (Game in 60
minutes) chess champion in 2009.
He won the state elementary
championship four times. He took
2nd place in the Nationals. At age
11, he was the highest rated player in
Utah and became a master. He
earned his first IM norm at the age
of 13. In 2012, he won the World
won the US Junior Chess
2556 in 2015.
In 1993, Tim Trogdon got so mad at

a tournament director, Jim
Gallagher, for poor pairings and bad
tournament conditions at a hotel in
San Antonio that he tore down and
ripped up all the pairing sheets that
were posted for the next day. The
police were called and he was
arrested. Bill Wall bailed him out.
Alexey Troitzky (1866-1942) was

founder of the modern endgame
study composition (along with Henri
Rinck). In 1928 he was named an
Honored Art Worker by the Russian
government, recognizing chess
composition as an art form. He died
of starvation at the siege of
Leningrad. He composed over a
thousand chess problems and is
regarded as the greatest chess
composer of endgame studies. He
was a forest engineer in remote parts
of Russia.
Alexey Troitsky (1866-1942) is

considered to have been the greatest
composers of chess endgame
studies. He worked as a forester in
Siberia. He died of starvation during
the sieges of Leningrad.
OctAvio Siqueiro Figueira

Trompowsky de Almeida (1897-
1984) was a Brazilian chess master.
In 1939, he won the Brazilian
Championship. The variation 1.d4
Nf6 2.Bg5 is named after him.
Mark Danilovich Tseitlin (1943- ),

born in Leningrad, is an Israeli
Leningrad Championship 4 times.
He has won the European Senior
Mikhail Semyonovich Tseitlin

(1947- ) is a Belarusian Grandmaster
(1987), now living in Germany as
Michael Zeitlein. He won the
Moscow Championsin 1976 and
1978.
Vitaly Tseshkovsky (1944-2011)

In 1978, he tied for 1st in the Soviet
53rd Soviet Championship, held in
Kiev. In 2009 and 2010, he won the
European Senior Chess
2600 in 2005.
TÃ¹ HoÃ ng ThÃ´ng (1972- ) is a

Vietnamese Grandmaster (1999). In
1986, he won the Vietnamese Chess
Championship at age 14. He has
won the Vietnamese Championship
6 times. He won the Asian Youth
1992. He has played for Vietnam in
10 Chess Olympiads.
In 1988, Jesse Tuggle (1928-1991)

of Houston, played 771 USCF-rated
games, the most rated games ever in
on year. He was the most active
chess player in the U.S. from 1985
to 1990. From 1985 to February,
1991 he played over 3,400
tournament-rated games. He said he
wanted to get through the opening so
that he could win in the Middlegame
or the Endgame, whichever came
first.
Vladimir Tukmakov (1946- ) is a

1970, he won the Ukrainian
at Buenos Aires. His only loss was
to Bobby Fischer, who won the
event. He played in 10 USSR chess
championships, placing 2nd in 1970,
1972, and 1983.
In 1945 Alan Turing (1912-1954)

used chess-playing as an example of
what a computer could do. Turing
himself was a weak chess player. In
1946 Alan Turing made his first
reference to machine intelligence in
connection with chess-playing. In
1947, Alan Turing specified the first
chess program for chess. In 1950,
Alan Turing wrote the first computer
chess program. The same year he
proposed the Turing Test that in
time, a computer could be
programmed (such as playing chess)
to acquire abilities rivaling human
intelligence. If a human did not see
the other human or computer during
an imitation game such as chess,
he/she would not know the
difference between the human and
the computer.
Abe Turner (1924-1962) was a chess

master and had taken 2nd place in
the Manhtattan Chess Club
Championship 5 times. On October
25, 1962, Theodore W. Smith, an ex-
mental patient, was arrested for
murder after stabbing to death
Turner at the office of Chess Review
magazine. Turner had been an
employee at Chess Review for only
a few weeks and Smith had been an
employee at Chess Review for 6
months. Smith stabbed Turner 9
times in the back, and then stuffed
his 280 pound body in a large wall
safe in a basement on 72nd Street in
New York. The offices of Chess
Review were on the 3rd floor.
Turner weighed 280 pounds and was
dragged 40 feet along the basement
corridor and shoved into the safe.
Turner's body was found by the
building superintendent, Miguel
Vasquez, that afternoon. Smith led
police to a hunting knife buried in
Central Park. Smith had been
released from an insane asylum and
claimed that Turner was a
Communist spy and had to be killed
on orders from the U.S. Secret
Service. Smith was committed to
Bellvue Hospital. (source: Chess
Review, Dec 1962, p 356)
Maxim Turov (1979- ) is a Russian

IM Irina Slavina Turova.
Isaac Turover (1892-1978) was a

wealthy lumber dealer, chess patron
and philanthropist. He sponsored
Bobby Fischer's attendance in the
1962 Stockholm Interzonal.
Throughout his life, he offered cash
prizes for brilliancies in chess
games.
Evan Turtel (1972- ), at age 9,

became the youngest player to beat a
master when he defeated Alan
Williams (2322) at a chess
tournament in New York City.
Turtel's rating at the time was 1605.
In 1984 he won the National
Elementary School Chess
Championship in Syracuse, New
York with a perfect 8-0 score. He
received a B.S. in Computer Science
at Cornell University.
Richard Twiss (1747-1821), born in

Rotterdam, was an English writer,
known for his books on chess and
travel. In 1787 and 1789, he
anonymously published Chess in 2
volumes. He was a member of the
Royal Society.
Theodore Henry Tylor (1900-1968)
was a British Correspondence
Champion from 1932 to 1935. For
nearly 40 years, he was a Fellow and
tutor in jurisprudence at Oxford. He
was 2nd in the 1933 British
championship, behind Sultan Khan.
He was almost totally blind. In 1965
he was knighted for his service to
organizations for the blind. He
competed in 12 British
championships.
Dimitri Tyomkin (1977- ) is an

Israeli-Canadian Grandmaster
(2001). In 1977, he won the Israeli
Junior Championship and the
2004, he tied for 1st in the Canadian
Open.
Elizbar Ubilava (1950- ) is a

Georgian-born Spanish Grandmaster
(1988). He won the Georgian Chess
In the 1960s. Yugoslav GM Mijo

Udovcic (1920-1984) agreed to give
a 10-board simultaneous blindfold
exhibition in a village in Yugoslavia.
At one point, he could no longer
remember the positions on the
boards. He then excused himself to
go to the bathroom, found an open
window, climbed out of it, and went
as fast as he could back to his home
town in Zagreb. Udovcic was the
first Croation grandmaster and was
Yugoslav chess champion in 1963.
Louis Uedemann (1854-1912), born

in Germany, was an American chess
master. He won the Illinois State
Chess Championship twice. He won
the Western Chess Association
Championhip (US Open) in 1900
(the first championship), 1902, and
1904. In 1904, he took 3rd, behind
Frank Marshall and Max Judd, in the
7th American Chess Congress in St.
Louis. He wrote a chess column for
the Chicago Tribune. He came to
America at age 12 and lived the rest
of his life in Chicago.
Wolfgang Uhlmann (1935- ) is a

German grandmaster (1959). In
1951, he won the German Youth
Championship. He won the East
German championship eleven times.
He played on for East Germany in
11 Chess Olympiads. In 1971 he
became a World Championship
Candidate, but was eliminated by
Bent Larsen in the quarter finals. His
was an expert on the French
Defense. He is an accountant.
Uhlmann — Ljubojevic, Niksic

1978 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.e4
cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Be3 d6 7.Nc3 e6
8.Be2 e6 9.Qd2 Ne5 10.Rd1 Qc7
11.Ndb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Qc6
13.Nxd6+ Ke7 14.Qb4 Kf6 15.f4 g5
16.fxe5+ Kg6 17.Nxf7 1-0
Mihail Ulibin (1971- ) is a Russian

for 1st place in the Soviet Junior
took 2nd place in the World Junior
in the Russian Championship. His
Olaf Ulvestad (1912-2000) was a

chess master from Washington State.
He won the championship of
Washington State 3 times. In 1957,
he founded the Seattle Chess Center.
In the early 1960s, he moved to
Andorra and played 1st board for
that country in the 1970 Chess
Olympiad. During World War II, he
has a tank commander in North
Africa, Italy, France, and Germany.
Dr. Irina Mikhailova Umanskayal

(1963- ) is a Woman Grandmaster
from Russia. She has a PhD in
pedagogy. Her dissertation was
"Developing of advanced junior
chess-players with the help of chess
software and Internet resources."
Wolfgang Unzicker (1925-2006)

was a German grandmaster (1954)
born in Pirmasens, Germany on June
26, 1925. He started to play chess at
the age of 10, taught by his father.
His older brother was also a chess
player, bur was killed in World War
II. He was West German champion 7
times. He was East and West
German Champion in 1953. He was
the strongest West German player
from 1945 to about 1970. From 1950
to 1978 he competed in 13 chess
Olympiads for West Germany,
playing board 1 in 10 of them. He
was a law student and judge of an
administrative court. He was legal
advisor to the German Chess
Federation. He died of heart failure
during a holiday in Portugal on April
20, 2006. (source: ChessBase News,
April 24, 2006)
Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal (1993- )

is a Norwegian Grandmaster (2016).
He won the Norwegian
Sergey S. Urusov (1827-1897) was a

leading 19th century Russian master.
He was considered the second
strongest Russian player after
Alexander Petrov. The Urusov
Gambit in the Bishop's Opening
(1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3)
is named after him. He was a prince
and a major general in the Tsarist
army. He fought in the Crimean War
in 1854-55. At one point, he offered
to play the enemy a game of chess in
the front trench, the winner taking
the trench. Urusov was a friend of
Leo Tolstoy and gave all his chess
books to Tolstoys' son. He was an
amateur mathematician, reading
mathematical essays before the
Moscow Mathematical Association.
In 1870-71, he wrote Handbook for
the Study of Geometry, Algebra and
Trigonometry, published in 3
volumes. He died at the age of 70.
Anna Yuriyivna Ushenina (1985- )

is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2012).
She was the 14th Women's World
Chess Champion from 2012 to 2013.
She won the Ukrainian Girls under-
20 Championship at age 15. In 2016,
she won the European Women's
2502 in 2007.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (1990- )

was born on Oct 21, 1990 in France.
In 2002, he was 2nd in the World
Under-14 Championship. In 2005,
he became a Grandmaster at the age
of 14 years, 4 months. In 2009, he
French Championship 3 times. In
2017, he won the Sinquefield Cup in
St. Louis. His peak rating was 2819
in 2016, when he was ranked #2 in
the world. He holds a bachelor's
degree in mathematics.
LAszlo VadAsz (1948-2005) was a

1976, he took 3rd place in the
Hungarian Chess Championship. His
died only a few weeks before his
57th birthday.
Rafael Vaganian (1951- ) is an

Armenian Grandmaster (1971). He
became a GM at age 19. In 1971, he
took 4th place in the World Junior
Chess Champioship, won by Werner
Hug. Angered by his failure,
Vaganian challenged Hug to a blitz
match. They played 10 games, with
Vaganian taking 2 minutes and Hug
taking 7 minutes. Vaganian won all
10 games. In 1975, he took 2nd in
the USSR In 1989, he won the 56th
Soviet Championship on his 38th
birthday. His peak rating was 2670
in 2005.
Boris Vainstein (1907-1993) was a

former President of the Soviet Chess
Federation (1945). He was also a
Colonel in the KGB. He later
became a chess author and assisted
David Bronstein in writing Zurich
International Chess Tournament,
1953. In 1945, as President of the
Soviet Chess Federation, he objected
to a world championship match
between Botvinnik and Alekhine,
declaring Alekhine a traitor.
Anatoly Vaisser (1949- ) is a Soviet-

born French Grandmaster (1985). He
has won the World Senior
won the Russian Chess
French Championship.
Paul Vaitonis (1911-1983) was an

born in Lithuania and emigrated to
Canada in 1948. He was Lithuanian
Champion in 1934, 1937, 1938,
1942, 1943, and 1944. He was
Canadian Champion in 1951 and
1957.
Dr. Arpad Vajda (pronounced

Vyder) (1896-1967) was a
Hungarian International Master
(1950). He was champion of
Hungary in 1928. He played for
Hungary in 9 chess Olympiads,
between 1927 and 1937. For 20
years, he was an editorial member of
the Hungarian chess magazine
Magyar Skkelet. He died from
accidental gas poisoning from a gas
leak in a faulty oven. He had a PhD
degree.
Jahongir Vakhidov (1995- ) is an

tied for 1st in the 2013/14 and
2015/16 Hastings International
Chess Congress.
In December 2008, a man was so

upset in losing a chess match, that he
threw his opponent out the window.
It happened in Gloazov, Russian
Republic of Udmurtia. 43-year-old
Aleksey Valentikhin lost several
games to a 60-year-old pensioner
neighbor. He got so mad that
Aleksey threw his opponent from his
second floor window. The pensioner
broke several bones and later died.
Valentikham was sentenced to 6
years in prison.
Francisco Vallejo-Pons (1982- ) is a

Spanish Grandmaster (1999). He
was a GM at the age of 16 years and
9 months. In 2000, he won the
World under-18 Youth Chess
European Championship. His peak
Mike Valvo (1942-2004) was an

International Master (1980). He
spent much of his life working with
computers. He was a commentator
for the Kasparov vs. Deep Blue
matches in 1996 and 1997.
In 1942, Arnoldus van den Hoek

(1921-1945). took 2nd place in the
Dutch chess championship. In 1943,
he won the top section at the Wijk
aan Zee tournament. In late 1943, he
was deported to do forced labor in a
German military plant in Watenstedt,
a suburb of Brunswick. He was
killed there by an Allied
bombardment on January 14, 1945 at
the slave labor camp.
Paul van der Sterren (1956- ) is a

Dutch Grandmaster (1990). He won
the Dutch Championship in 1985
and 1993. He played for the
Netherlands in 10 Chess Olympiads.
John van der Wiel (1959- ) is a
he won the European Championship.
In 1981, he won at Wijk aan Zee. In
1986, he won the Netherlands
Championship, from 1980 to 1998.
He played for the Netherlands in 9
was 2590 in 1987.
Jorden van Foreest (1999- ) is a

he won the Dutch Championship. In
Championship. He became a GM at
2017.
Antonius van der Linde (1833-1897)

was one of the greatest chess
historians of all time. In 1876 he
sold his library of 750 volumes to
the Dutch Royal Library after being
appointed librarian in Wiesbaden by
the German emperor. In 1897 he
wrote Researches in the History and
Literature of Chess.
Dirk Daniel van Geet (1932-2012)

was a Dutch International Master
won the Dutch Youth
Championship. His name is
associated with 1.Nc3, sometimes
called the Van Geet Opening.
Robin van Kampen (1994- ) is a

Dutch Grandmaster (2011). He was
Dutch youth champion for four
consecutive years. At the age of 14,
he won the Dutch under-20
Championship, the youngest ever.
He was a GM at the age of 16 years,
8 months, and 17 days. His peak
In 1897, Norman Willem van

Lennep (1872-1897), a Dutch chess
master, killed himself by jumping
into the North Sea from a ship at the
age of 25. His father had disowned
him unless he gave up chess and
found a steady job.
Joop van Oosterom (1937-2016) was

a Correspondence Grandmaster
(1993) from the Netherlands. He
finished 2nd-4th in the 15th World
championship (1996-2002). He won
the 18th (2003-2005) and the 21st
(2005-2008) Correspondence Chess
World Championship. He was a
Dutch billionaire and chess patron
that sponsored the Melody Amber
(his daughter) chess events in Monte
Carlo and the yearly Women vs.
Veterans tournaments. He made his
fortune as the founder of the Volmac
Software Group.
Sinke — Van Oosterom,

Correspondence 1981 1.e4 e5 2.f4
exf4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.d4 Bb4
6.e5 Ne4 7.Kf1 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Bxc3
9.Ba3 b5 10.Qg4 g6 11.Qxf4 d5
12.Qh6 Be6 0-1
Theo Van Scheltinga (1914-1994)

was a Dutch International Master
Dutch championship, but lost the
play-off to Euwe. He worked as a
carpenter at the Amsterdam Stock
Exchange.
Reid — Van Scheltinga, Stockholm

1937 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6
4.Bc4 Nc6 5.c3 Bg4 6.d4 exd4 7.O-
O Nf6 8.e5 dxe5 9.fxe5 dxc3+
10.Kh1 Qxd1 11.Rxd1 Ne4 12.Rf1
Nf2+ 13.Kg1 Nd1+ 0-1
Loek van Wely (1972- ) is a

Netherlands. He has won the Dutch
championship 8 times. In 2002, he
drew a match with REBEL with 2
wins and 2 losses. van Wely was
driving on the autobahn heading for
a chess tournament in his brand new
Jaguar X. He lost control of the
vehicle and flipped the car over
while driving around 100 mph. The
car was totaled, but "Lucky Loek"
walked away with only a mild
concussion. This was the third car he
had totaled in 5 years. No one in the
Netherlands wants to be a passenger
with van Wely. (source:
chessbase.com, Nov 27, 2011) His
peak FIDE rating was 271 In 2001.
Van Wely — Dalderop, Europe

1987
1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Bc4
Nf6 5.Qe2 e5 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Nf3
Nbd7 8.Bg5 c6 9.O-O-O Qa5
10.Rd6 O-O 11.Rhd1 h6 12.Bh4 b5
13.Bb3 b4 14.Na4 Ba6 15.Qe3 Bb5
16.Bxf6 Nxf6 17.Nc5 Ng4 18.Qd2
Bc4 19.Bxc4 Qxc5 20.Rxg6 Qxc4
21.Rxg4 f5 22.b3 Qa6 23.Rxg7+
Kxg7 24.Qxb4 1-0
Maarten van't Kruijs (1811-1885)

was a Dutch player who won the 6th
Dutch championship in 1878. In the
1860s, he popularized the opening
1.e3, now known as Van't Kruijs
opening.
Zoltan Varga (1970- ) is a Hungarian
Grandmaster (1995).
M. Varzhapetian is a chess player

from Russia. He had the worst
performance in any Soviet chess
championship, both in terms of
overall percentage and lowest finish.
In 1967, at the 35th USSR
Championship in Kharkov, he
scored 1.5-11.5 and ended up in
126th place.
Jezdimir Vasiljevic, president of the

Jugoskandic Bank, sponsored the
1992 match between Fischer and
Spassky, donating $5 million in
prize fund. The match took place in
the exclusive resort of Sveti Stefan,
Yugoslavia. Since Yugoslavia was
under UN sanctions at the time,
participation at the match caused
Bobby Fischer legal trouble with the
US State Department. Vasiljevic
later went to prison, accused of
stealing over $130 million in a Ponzi
pyramid scheme. He later escaped to
the Netherlands, where he was
arrested and extradited to Serbia. He
was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Evgeny Vasiukov (1933- ) is a

won the Moscow Championship 6
times. Bobby Fischer played him
several blitz games in 1956 in
Moscow. When Vasiukov again met
Fischer in 1971, Fischer was able to
recite back all the moves they played
in 1956. In 1961, he won the
Belgrade Open. In 1962, he was
ranked #11 in the world. In 1967,
Vasiukov took 3rd place in the
USSR championship. He was
Moscow champion in 1955, 1958,
1960, 1962, 1972, and 1978. In
1971, he was Mark Taimaonv's
trainer and 2nd during Taimanov's
Candidate Match with Bobby
Fischer in Vancouver, British
Columbia. He was also a trainer for
Anatoly Karpov. In 1998 he was the
chess trainer of the Turkish National
Chess Team. His peak rating was
2580 in 1976. He was a journalist by
profession.
Vasiukov — A. Zaitzev, Berlin 1968

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4
Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.cxd5
Nxd5 8.Qb3 Bxf3 9.gxf3 e6
10.Qxb7 Nxd4 11.Bb5+ Nxb5
12.Qc6+ Ke7 13.Nxb5 a6 14.Nd4
Nb4 15.Bg5+ 1-0
Rodrigo Vasquez-Schroder (1969- )

is a Chilean Grandmaster (2004). He
has won the Chilean Championship
3 times. He played for Chile in 5
was 2561 in 2005.
Petr Velicka (1967- ) is a Czech

took 2nd place in the Czech Chess
Championship.
Petar Velikov (1951- ) is a Bulgarian

won the Bulgarian Championship.
He has played for Bulgari in 4 Chess
Olympiads.
Dragoljub Velimirovic (1942-2014)

was a Grandmaster (1973) from
Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia). He
was nicknamed the Yugoslavian Tal.
He won the Yugoslav Championship
3 times. He won his Zonal
tournament in 1878 and 1981 and
played in 3 Interzonal tournaments.
He played for Yugoslavia in 6
Olympiads, from 1974 to 1990. His
mother, Jovanka Velimirovic (1910-
1972), was Yugoslavia's first
women's champion. His peak rating
was 2575 in 1986. A variation of the
Sicilian Defense, the Velimirovic
Attack, is named after him. He died
at the age of 72. (source: ChessBase
News, May 26, 2014)
Velimirovic — Donner, Denmark

1962 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4
4.c3 d3 5.Bxd3 d6 6.h3 Nf6 7.O-O
Be7 8.Nd4 O-O 9.Nd2 Re8 10.f4
Bf8 11.Qc2 g6 12.N2f3 Nd7 13.Bc4
Nb6 14.Bd3 Nb8 15.f5 N8d7
16.fxg6 fxg6 17.Bg5 Nf6 18.Qb3+
1-0
Verdoni (1740?-1804) was a French-

Italian chess player. In the late 18th
century, he was considered a leading
European chess champion. He was
one of the leading master at the Cafe
de la Regence. In 1775, he co-wrote
Traite theorique et pratique du jey
des echecs par Ã¹ne societe
d'amateurs. During the French
Revolution, he moved to London as
a refugee. After Philidor's death in
1795, Verdoni took his place as the
professional chess player at the
Parsloe's Coffee-House in London.
His pupils included Jacob Sarratt,
Count Bruehl, and George Atwood.
Gavriil Veresov (1912-1979) was a

Belarus International Master (1950).
He won the championship of Belarus
5 times. He was Captain of the
Guards and wounded several times
during World War II. He arrived
from the front lines to play in the
1944 USSR National Championship
in Moscow. The Veresov Opening,
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5, is named
after him.
Litvinov — Veresov, Minsk 1958

1.c4 f5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3
Bb4 5.Qc2 O-O 6.e3 b6 7.Be2 Bb7
8.O-O Bxc3 9.Qxc3 Ne4 10.Qc2 Rf6
11.Nd2 Rh6 12.g3 Qh4 13.Nf3 Ng5
0-1
In 1895, Beniamino Vergani (1863-

1927), chess champion of Italy, was
invited to play in the Hastings
International tournament of 1895. He
was a chess master from Italy. He
ended up in last place, scoring only 3
points (2 wins and 2 draws) out of
21. He was so disgusted with his
game that he never played in a
masters' chess tournament again. He
was given two British pounds for his
efforts. He wrote a chess column for
the Illustrated Sport of Milan from
1890 to 1897.
Boris Verlinsky (1888-1950) was a

Jewish Ukrainian-Russian
he won at Odessa, ahead of
Bogoljuvow. In 1912, he won the
Odessa championship. He won the
championship of Moscow in 1928.
He was USSR Champion in 1929
(6th USSR Championship in
Odessa). He was the first Soviet to
be given the title Grandmaster of the
USSR (1929). The title was later
abolished in 1931, but resurrected in
1935 and given to Botvinnik so that
he could be the first Soviet GM.
Verlinsky played in 5 USSR
championships. Verlinksy was a
deaf mute as a result of Meningitis
as a youngster. In 1950, Isaac
Asimov wrote Pebble in the Sky.
Asimov's first science fiction novel
contained the moves of Verlinsky-
Levenfish, Soviet Championship
1924, to advance the plot.He died at
age 62.
Rusakov — Verlinsky, Moscow

1947 1.e4 e5 2.c3 Nc6 3.d4 Nf6
4.Bg5 h6 5.Bh4 g5 6.Bg3 exd4 7.e5
dxc3 8.exf6 cxb2 9.Qe2+ Qe7!
10.fxe7 Bg7 0-1
In October, 2015, James Vernon, a

75-year-old public library chess club
teacher was injured saving children
from a knife attack. He acted as a
human shield against a public library
attacker with two hunting knives.
The attacker, Dustin Brown, barged
into the classroom where Vernon
was teaching chess claiming he was
there to kill somebody. The children
escaped and Vernon suffered several
knife wounds. The attack occurred at
the public library in Morton, Illinois.
Giovanni Vescovi (1978- ) is a

has won the Championship of Brazil
2010.
Francesch Vicent (1450-1512) was

the author of the first practical chess
book to be printed, written in the
Catalan dialect of Spanish and
published in Valencia, Spain, in
1495. The title was Libre dels jochs
partiuis dels schachs en nombre de
100 ordenat e compost par mi
Francesch vicent natural de Segorbe.
The book used the present-day
moves for the queen and the bishop.
Vincent is considered the founder of
modern chess. A copy was known to
exist in the Benedictine monastery
of Montserrat, near Barcelona, but
disappeared during the occupation of
French soldiers in 1811 during the
Peninsular War (1807-1814). In
1834, the library of the Convent of
Monserrat was removed for safey to
madrid, and since then the book has
never been found. No copy is now
known. Around 1500, Vincent left
the Kingdom of Valencia for Italy,
due to problems with the Spanish
Inquisition. As asteroid is named
after him.
Marcus Hieronymus Vida (1489-

1566), from Cremona, Italy, was
Bishop of Alba, Italy and poet. In
1510 he wrote Scacchia Ludus (The
Game of Chess), a chess poem. It
was published anonymously in 1525,
and in 1527 in an authorized editon.
The aim of the poem was to describe
in Latin a game of chess played
between Apollo and Mercury in the
presence of other Gods at the
wedding of Ocean. The poem has
679 verses.
Milan Vidmar, Jr. (1909-1980) was

a Yugoslav (Slovene) International
Master (1950). He was an
electronics engineer by profession.
Milan Vidmar, Sr. (1885-1962) was

a Yugoslav (Slovene) Grandmaster
(1950). He won the 7th Nordic
championsip, held at Gotheburg, in
1909. He was Yugoslav champion in
1939. He was Yugoslavia's first
grandmaster in 1950. He was the
chief referee for the 1948 World
Championship, held in The Hague
and Moscow. He was an electrical
engineer (PhD from the University
of Vienna). He was a specialist in
power transformers and transmission
of electric current. He was also the
Chancellor of the University of
Ljubljana.
Norman-Hansen — Vidmar,
Harsting 1926 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5
3.dxe5 Ng4 4.e4 Nxe5 5.f4 Nec6
6.Be3 Bb4+ 7.Nd2 Qe7 8.Qf3 d6
9.Bd3 Nd7 10.Ne2 Nde5 11.fxe5
Nxe5 12.Qg3 Nxd3+ 0-1
Vidmar — Goldsand, Vienna 1902

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4
5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.d4 d5
8.Bxf4 Nf6 9.Nc3 Bb4 10.Bd3
Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Nxe4 12.O-O Kg6
13.Qe2 Bf5 14.Be5 Rf8 15.Rxf5
Rxf5 16.Qxg4+ Kf7 17.Qxf5+ Nf6
18.Qg6+ 1-0
In July 1887, Frederic Viewig,

manager of the Eden Musee in New
York, was arrested for having
violated the Sunday law by
exhibiting wax figures, permitting
music to be played, and also by
allowing Ajeeb, the chess
automaton, to play a game of chess.
He responded, "I consider it absurd
to contend that a playing a game of
chess or looking at was figures was a
violation of the Sunday law." Mr
Viewig had to pay $100 for bail.
(source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jul
16, 1887)
Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (1979- )

was India's first Woman
Grandmaster (2001) and India's first
female International Master (2001).
In 1988 and 1990, she won the
Under-10 National Girls' Chess
Championship. She won the
National Under-12 Girls'
Championship twice. She won the
Asian Women's Zonal
She is married to GM Siram Jha. Her
Buenaventura Villamayor (1967- ) is

a Filipino-born Singaporean
was 2560 in 2001.
Yge Visser (1963- ) is a Dutch

was 2533 in 2006.
Eeltje Visserman (1922-1978) was

an International Judge of Chess
International Grandmaster of Chess
Compositions (1972). During his
lifetime, he composed over 800
chess problems. He was problem
editor in Tijdschrift van de KNSB
and Probleemblad. He used the
pseudym S. van Mierse. He is
considered the greates chess
composer in the Netherlands. He
was a civil servant in the Dutch
Ministry Housing and Building.
In 1930, Isakas Vistaneckis (1910-

2000) won the Lithuanian Chess
Championship. He won again in
1935, 1941, 1949, 1954, 1956, and
1959). In May 1931, Vistaneckis
won the first Baltic Chess
Championship.
Alvis Vitolinsh (1946-1977) was an

Latvian champion in 1973, 1976,
1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, and 1985.
He won the championship of the
Baltic Republics in 1968. He
committed suicide in 1997 by
jumping into the frozen ice of the
Guaja river from a railway bridge in
1997.
Nikita Vitiugov (1987- ) is a Russian

Grandmaster (2007). In 2005, h was
Russian under-18 champion. In
2006, he took 2nd place in the World
2017, he tied for 1st int the Russian
Championship, but lost the playoff
to Peter Svidler. His peak rating was
2747 in 2014.
Yakov Vladimirov (1935- ) is an

Grandmaster for Chess
Compositions (1988). He has won
14 Soviet and Russian national
composing championships. He is a
14-time world champion in chess
composition. He is the editor of
Shakhmatnaya Kompozitsiya chess
magazine. He is head of the Russian
Chess Federation's commission on
composition. He is a technical
college lecturer.
Yevgeniy Vladimirov (1957- ) is a

Kazakhstan Grandmaster (1989). In
1986, he was one of Gary
Kasparov's seconds in his 1986
World Championship match against
Anatoly Karpov, when he was
accused by Kasparov of giving
information about the former's
preparation to Karpov. He was then
let go as of of Kasparov's seconds.
Daniele Vocaturo (1989- ) is an

Italian Grandmaster (2009). His peak
Erwin Voellmy (1886-1951) was

Swiss champion in 1911, 1920, and
1922. He was a mathematics teacher
at Basle Gymnasium and had a PhD
in mathematics. He edited the chess
column in the Basler Nachrichten for
40 years. He was the Swiss
representative at the first meeting of
FIDE in 1924. He represented
Switzerland in the 1928 chess
Olympiad.
Lothar Vogt (1952- ) is a German

grandmaster (1976). He was East
German champion in 1977 and
1979.
Vogt — Bricard, Wildbad 1990 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Qe7 4.O-O Nd8
5.d4 f6 6.Nc3 Nf7 7.Be3 g6 8.dxe5
fxe5 9.Nd5 Qd8 10.Ng5 Ngh6
11.Ne6 1-0
Sergey Volkov (1974- ) is a Russian

was Russian champion. His peak
Andrei Volokitin (1986- ) is a

became a GM at age 15. He has won
the Ukrainian championship twice,
in 2004 and in 2015. His peak rating
was 2725 in 2013.
Voltaire (1694-1778) was a French

philosopher and writer who was an
enthusiastic chess player. He played
a correspondence game with
Frederick the Great of Prussia. He
has been quoted as saying, "Chess is
the game which reflects most honor
or human wit."
Alexander Volshin (1971- ) is a

2000, he won the Capablanca
Memorial in Cuba. He is a vice-
president at Barclays Capitaln
London.
Andrey Vovk (1991- ) is a Ukrainian

was 2654.
Yuri Vovk (1988- ) is a Ukrainian

won the under-20 Ukrainian
2632 in 2015.
Bojan Vuckovic (1980- ) is a

Serbian Grandmaster (2001). He is
also a Grandmaster in Chess
Problem Solving.
Dr. Milan Radoje Vukcevich (1937-

2003) was born in Belgrade. His
father was a liaison officer between
the Royal Army of Yugoslavia and
the US forces. He was branded an
enemy by the occupying Soviets and
was forced to flee to the United
States. Milan endured the
confiscation of family property, food
rationing, and the incarceration of
his mother. Milan, at age 8, was
branded a "war profiteer." In 1955,
he won the Yugoslav Junior
Championship. In 1960, he
represented Yugoslavia in the Chess
Olympiad and won a bronze medal.
In 1963, he immigrated to the USA.
In 1964, he won the state
championships of Massachusetts and
Maine. In 1969, he tied for 1st in the
US Open with Benko and Bisguier.
In 1972, he gave a simultaneous
exhibition in Cleveland Heights
against 155 opponents. He won 151,
drew 3 and lost 1. In 1973, he won
the championship of Cleveland. In
1975, he took 3rd in the US
Championship, behind Walter
Browne and Ken Rogoff. He was the
first US citizen or resident to
become a Grandmaster of Chess
Composition (1979). He had over
100 problems published in FIDE
albums. In 1981, he took 3rd in the
FIDE World Problem Solving
Fame. His peak USCF rating was
2530. He was once considered a
candidate for the Nobel prize in
Chemistry. He was a professor of
metallurgy (Ph.D. from MIT) at
Case Western Reserve University
from 1967 to 1973 before leaving to
work for General Electric. He later
became Chief Scientist at General
Electric and Saint-Gobain Crystals
& Detectors, and was awarded 7
patents. He died of cancer
(leiomyosarcoma) at the age of 66.
(source:
http://www.vivacityinc.com/chess/M
RV/biography.htm)
Milan Vuki? (1942- ) is a Bosnian
Yugoslav Championship 3 times. In
2005, he won the fist ever
Championship of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
Vladimir Vukovi? (1898-1985) was

a Yugoslav (Croatian) International
Master (1951). He was the author of
several chess books. He edited the
monthly chess magazine ÂŠahovski
Glosnik (Chess Journal) for several
years. He served as vice-president of
the Croatian Chess Federation.
Alexey Vyzmanavin (1960-2000)

In 1990, he tied for 1st in the USSR
2620 in 1993. He died of a heart
attack.
In May, 1931, Andors Wachs of

Hungary had just checkmated his
opponent at a chess club in Hungary.
He then dropped his head on the
table and died of a heart attack.
In 1951, Dr. Saul Philip Wachs

(1931- ), of Philadelphia, won the
U.S. Junior Championship, held in
Philadelphia. In 1954, he took 8th-
9th place in the US Chess
Championship. He later became a
rabbi. He received a PhD in
Education and Jewish history from
Ohio State University.
Robert "Bob" Graham Wade (1921-

2008) was a New Zealand and
British International master (1950).
He has won the New Zealand
championship three times (1943,
1944, and 1947) and the British
championship twice (1952 and
1970). He played in 7 Chess
Olympiads. In 1951, played a
simultaneous exhibition against 30
Moscow schoolchildren in and didn't
win a single game. He lost 20 games
and drew 10 after 7 hours of play. In
1958, he earned the International
Arbiter title and made much of his
living from directing chess events. In
1972, he assisted Bobby Fischer in
the preparation of the 1972 World
Championship match by collating a
special file of Spassky's games. He
also assisted Fischer in his rematch
with Spaasky in 1992. When FIDE
offered him an Honorary
Grandmaster title, Wade declined.
He was awarded the Order of the
British Empire (OBE) for his
services to chess in 1979. He died of
pneumonia at the age of 87. He was
a civil servant by profession.
(source: The Telegraph, Nov 30,
1988)
Wade — Kinzel, Varna 1962 1.d4

d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 c6 4.Bxf6 gxf6
5.e3 e5 6.Qh5 e4 7.f3 f5 8.fxe4
fxe4?? 9.Qe5+ 1-0
Wade — Radiocic, Bognor Regis

1956 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4 4.d3
Nf6 5.Nd2 Bf5 6.dxe4 Nxe4 7.Qe2
Qe7 8.Ngf3 Nxd2 9.Bxd2 Bxc2
10.Ne5 Nd7 11.Rc1 Nxe5 12.Qxe5
Qxe5+ 13.fxe5 Be4 14.Rxc7 Bxd5
15.Bb5+ Bc6 16.Rxc6 1-0
Dennis Wagner (1997- ) is a German

took 2nd in the German Chess
2586 in 2025.
Elbert A. Wagner, Jr. (1904-1970)

was the second president of the
(1944-1948), after George Sturgis
(1940-1943). In 1939, he handled
the arrangements for the formation
of the USCF. He was also a former
editor of Chess Life magazine.
During his team of office as USCF
president, he inititated and promoted
the U.s. Junior Open tournaments. In
August 1947, the U.S. Open was
held in Corpus Christi, Texas. One
of the players was Norman
Whitaker, who had just been
released from Alcatraz. The
president of the USCF, Elbert
Wagner, told the tournament
organizers not to let him play. But
the organizers, in a unanimous
decision, said that Whitaker paid his
debt to society and allowed him to
play (he took 8th place). Wagner
died of a heart attack in Washington,
D.C. He was a a Chicago lawyer and
clerk of the Federal District Court in
Chicago. (source: Chess Life, Mar
1971, p. 148)
In 1927, Julius Wagner-Jauregg

Physiology or Medicine for his work
on malaria inoculation. He was an
avid chess player in Vienna. One
night in September, a Berlin reporter
woke him from a sound sleep around
1 a.m. to tell him that he won the
Nobel Prize. After that news, he
could not sleep: he got up and
played chess against himself.
(Source:
http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.
cfm/2753.html and The Malaria
Project, by Karen Masterson, 2014)
Matthias Wahls (1968- ) is a German

won the German Youth
2609 in 1999. In 2007, he founded
the world's largest poker school,
PokerStrategy.com. It has over 6
million members.
Joshua Waitzkin (1976- ) learned

chess at age 6. He led his school to 7
national chess championships
between the 3rd and 9th grades. He
won 8 individual titles. He beat his
first master at age 10. At age 11, he
drew a game with world champion
Garry Kasparov in a simul. At 13, he
became a master. At 16, he became
an International Master. He won the
US Junior championship in 1993 and
1994. He is the only person to have
won the National Primary,
Elementary, Junior High School,
High School, U.S. Cadet, and U.S.
Junior Closed chess championships
in his career. The movie Searching
for Bobby Fischer is based on his
early life. His peak rating was 2480
in 1998. He later gave up chess and
became a martial artist. In 2004, he
won the world champion title in the
competitive sport of Taiji Push
Hands (Taiji Tui Shou).
Carl August Walbrodt (1871-1902),

born in Amsterdam, was a Austrain-
German chess master. In 1893, he
tied for first at the 8th German
Congress at Kiel. From 1899 to
1902, he wrote a chess column in the
Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger. He was a
manufacturer of pantographs by
profession. He suffered from
tuberculosis at died of it at the age of
30.
George Walker (1803-1879) became

interested in chess after reading Sir
William Jones's poem on chess. He
learned chess from a cheap copy of
Philidor's chess book that he bought
at a book stall. From 1823 to 1824,
he edited a chess column in the
medical journal Lancet. It was the
first such chess column to appear in
a periodical. In 1823, George Walker
Junior, along with three other
friends, founded the Percy Chess
Club at the Percy Hotel in Rathbone
Street, Oxford Street. Walker first
visited about 50 taverns on the west
end of London, but could not get a
room to play chess or they would not
allow gambling (chess) in the
establishment. The Percy Chess
Club began with 20 members. The
club only lasted two years. Members
of the Percy club then migrated to
the Lewis Subscription Rooms in St.
Martin's Lane, run by William
Lewis. Lewis's club ended in 1827.
One of the early members was
Duncan Forbes, the chess historian.
From 1837 to 1838, he edited
England's first chess magazine, The
Philidorian. In February, 1844,
Chess Studies: comprising one
thousand games, actually played
during the last half century, by
George Walker was published in
London. It was a vast collection of
1,020 games played from 1780 to
1844. It was all the games of that
period that Walker could discover.
When the book appeared, Howard
Staunton was so indignant at what he
called 'wholesale spoliation' that he
threatened legal action proceedings.
On May 14, 1874, Walker sold his
chess library of 314 books through
auction by Sotheby in 1874. The
majority of his chess books were
purchased by Rimington-Wilson.
Walker was the first person to
establishe the custom of recording
chess games. Walker was a music
publisher by profession, and then
became a stockbroker.
Walker — Popert, London 1841 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bb4+
5.c3 dxc3 6.bxc3 Ba5 7.e5 d6 8.O-O
dxe5 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Nxe5+ Ke8
11.Qh5+ g6 12.Nxg6 Nf6 13.Re1+
Be6 14.Rxe6+ Kf7 15.Nxh8+ Kxe6
16.Qh3+ Kd5 17.Qf5+ Kc4 18.Na3+
Kxc3 19.Qc5+ Kd3 20.Qc4+ 1-0
Brian Douglas Wall (1955- ) is a

USCF Life Master and former
Colorado State Champion. In 1972,
he won the Coloado Junior
Kansa Open. In 2010, he won the
North American Open.
Gavin Wall (1968- ) is an

Ireland. His peak FIDE rating is
2413.
Tim P. Wall (1966- ) is a FIDE

Master from England.
William "Bill" Wall (1951- ) is a

chess author, player, and organizer.
In the early 1970s, he and his boom
operator were perhaps the only
people who have played a game of
chess on a KC-135Q tanker while
refueling an SR-71 Blackbird in
flight. He may be the only person
president of two state chess
associations at the same time. In
1980, he became president of the
Ohio Chess Association (OCA)
while still president of the North
Carolina Chess Association
(NCCA). He was a resident of North
Carolina but serving military duty in
Ohio at the time. He is a former
secretary to the Chess Journalists of
America (CJA). He has written over
30 books on chess miniatures, chess
traps, and less-common openings.
He is a retired Air Force major. He is
a senior Information Systems
Security Engineer (ISSE) at Harris
Corporation in Florida.
Johannes Wallensis (John of Wales)

(1210-1285) is the author of Summa
Collationum, sive
Communiloquium, the earliest
printed book with chess content. It
was published in Cologne, Germany
around 1470. He was a Franciscan
and the regent master of the Friars
Minor at Oxford and a Doctor of
Theology at Paris. Gallensis was
active in the second half of the 13th
century.
Wan Yunguo is a Chinese

Grandmaster (2016).
Wang Hao (1989- ) is a Chinese

GM at age 16. He became a GM
withour first gainin an International
Master title. His peak rating was
2752 in 2013.
Wang Rui (1978- ) is a Chinese
was 2526 in 2000.
Wang Yue (1987- ) is a Chinese

GM at the age of 17. He was China's
first player to break into the top 10
of the FIDE World Rankings. In
2005, he became the youngest
Chinese champion. In 2007, he
became the first Chinese player to
cross the 2700 Elo rating mark. In
Wang Zili (1968- ) is a Chinese

Chinese champion in 1988 and 1999.
Chris Ward (1968- ) is an English

won the British Chess
Championship.
Preston Ware, Jr. (1821-1890) was

an American chess master from
Boston. He competed in the 1st, 2nd,
4th, and 5th American Chess
Congresses. Around 1840, he was
one of the organizers of the
Baltimore Chess Association. In
1858, he co-founded the Boston
Chess Club. In 1880, going into the
last round of the 5th American Chess
Congress in New York, the leading
scores were: James Grundy 12.5,
Preston Ware 12.5, Charles Moehle
12.5 and George Henry Mackenzie
12.5. So, the distribution of $1,000
prize money and a gold medal
depended on the final games.
Mackenzie won his game and scored
13.5. Then Moehle drew and scored
13 points. But Grundy's game with
Ware lingered on. At one time, it
appeared that Ware had a certain win
and the game was adjourned.
Unaccountably to the onlookers,
when the players resumed in the
evening, Ware played what are
described as 'some apparently
purposeless moves', and Grundy
scored a lucky point after 64 moves
to tie Captain Mackenzie for first
and second prizes. A two-game play
off was arranged between
Mackenzie and Grundy. But before
it began, Ware made a written
complaint to the congress
committee. Ware wrote, "As I was
walking down the Bowery with Mr
Grundy, on Sunday 25 January, he
remarked that he was poor and really
needed the second prize." Ware
alleged that Grundy had offered him
$20 to play for a draw. He admitted
that he had fallen in with the plan
and that, even with a won game, he
merely — in his own words —
"moved back and forward as agreed.
Grundy was making desperate
efforts to win, and finally did so,
perpetrating an infamous fraud on
me." The committee couldn't do
anything about the unsupported
allegations, and conceded to Grundy
the benefit of a technical doubt.
Grundy lost the play-off 2-0 and
took the $300 second prize. In 1882,
he played in the Vienna Congress.
He took 16th place, but beat the two
strongest players, Steinitz and Max
Wess. Ware was known for his
eccentric opening play, such as 1.a4
and 1...a5. Ware established a
wholesale boot and shoe company.
John Watkinson (1833-1923) was

first editor of the British Chess
Magazine, the oldest chess magazine
in continuous publication. He was
editor from 1881 to 1887. In 1853, at
the age of 20, he took over the
Huddersfield Chess Club in
England. He was still President of
the chess club 70 years later, when
he died at the age of 90.
John L. Watson (1951- ) is an

International Master who was
winner of the first National
Scholastic High School
Championship, held in New York
City in 1969. He was written over 21
chess books. He has a BS in
electrical engineering.
William Watson (1962- ), born in

Baghdad, is an English Grandmaster
(1990). In 1994, he won the British
Chess Championship. He is a
practicing tax lawyer.
Actor John Wayne (1907-1979)

played chess well. He had a chess
board permanently set up on his 136-
foot boat, The Wild Goose. When he
took friends for boat rides, he played
chess.
Simon Webb (1949-2005) was an

(1983). In 1966 he won the British
Under-18 championship. In 1969 he
tied for 1st place (with Richard
Eales) in the British Universities'
Championship. In 1978 he wrote
Chess for Tigers. At one time, he
was ranked 7th in the world in
correspondence chess. He worked as
a quality manager in Sweden. He
also represented England at bridge,
partnering with his younger brother.
In March 2005, he was stabbed at
least 20 times and murdered by his
25-year-old son Dennis (a convicted
drug dealer) in his fifth floor
Stockholm apartment. Simon had
just returned from a chess
tournament (Swedish Chess League
finals) late at night. After the attack,
his son tried to commit suicide by
driving a car at high speed into a bus
stop. Simon learned chess at the age
of 7.
Tom Wedberg (1953- ) is a Swedish

Swedish Championship in 2000. He
has played for Sweden in 6 Chess
2540 in 2002.
Henri Gerard Marie Weenik (1892-

1931) was a Dutch master, author,
and problem composer. During
World War I, he was a recerve
lieutenant in the Dutch infantry. In
1921, he wrote Het Schaakprobleem,
Ideeen en Scholen (The Chess
Problem). He won at Amsterdam in
1930, ahead of Euwe and
Spielmann. He played on the
Netherlands chess Olympiad team in
1927, 1928, 1930, and 1931 (board
1). He was problem editor of Op de
hoogte and Tijdschrift, chess editor
of the Oprechte Haarlemsche Couran
and editor of the French chess
journal L'Echiquier. He composed
over 400 chess problems during his
lifetime. He had a B.S. in
mathematics and physics. He died of
tuberculosis at the age of 39.
Wei Yi was born on June 2, 1999. In

Chesmapionship. He became a GM
at the age of 13 years, 8 months and
23 days. In November 2013, at the
age of 14 years, 4 months and 30
days, he reached a rating of 2604,
making him the youngest player in
history to achieve a rating over 2600.
At 15, he was the youngest ever to
reach a rating of 2700. He won the
Chinese Championship in 2015,
2016, and 2017. His peak rating was
2753 in 2017.
Norman Stephen Weinstein (1950- )

was born in New York City on
October 4, 1950. He was the winner
of the 1968 US Junior Open (with
Greg DeFotis), the 1972 Atlantic
Open, the 1972 Massachusetts State
Championship, and the 1973 US
Open (on tiebreak over Browne,
Suttles, DeFotis, and Rodriquez) in
Chicago. He tied for 2nd (behind
Walter Browne) in the 1972 US
Open in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
He became an International Master
in 1975. He won the Canadian Open
in 1976. He attended MIT and went
to graduate school at Brandeis. He
was a computer programmer and
now a very successful currency
trader (Banker's Trust).
Raymond Allen Weinstein (1941- )

was winner of the 1958 U.S. Junior
Championship. He played on two
U.S. Olympiad teams and became an
the 1959 New Jersey Open and the
1960 Western Open. He won the
Marshall Chess Club championship
three times (1960-1962). He took
3rd in the 1960/61 US
Championship. In 1964 he killed an
83-year old man in a nursing home
with a razor — the first murder by a
chess master. He was judged
mentally ill and is confined to
Ward's Island for the Mentally Ill.
His cousin was Grandmaster Arthur
Bisguier. He has a degree in
psychology.
Miksa (Max) Ignaz Weiss (1857-

1927) was a Hungarian-born
Austrian chess master. He tied for
1st with Mikhail Chigorin at New
York 1889 (both won $875). He was
offered a world championship match
with Steinitz after his victory in New
York, but declined. He quit chess for
a banking career (Rothschild Bank).
He studied mathematics and physics
at the University of Vienna, and later
taught those subjects.
Peter Kenneth Wells (1965- ) is an

English Grandmaster (1994). He was
British Rapidplay Chess Champion
in 2002, 2003, and 2007. His peak
Wen Yang (1988- ) is a Chinese

was 2631 in 2013.
Jan Werle (1984- ) is a Dutch

was 2607 in 2009.
Maurice Wertheim (1886-1950) was

an American investment banker, art
collector, and chess patron. He
financed much of the activity in
American chess during the 1940s. .
He served as president of the
Manhattan Chess Club from 1941 to
1950 and was vice=president of the
(USCF). He conceived and financed
the 1946 chess match between the
USA and the USSR, held in New
York. He served as Chairman of the
U.S. Chess Championship
tournament committee. (source:
Chess Review, May 1946, pp. 5-6
and Chess Review, July 1950, p.
195)
Heikki Westerinen (1944- ) is a

Finnish Grandmaster (1975- ). He
has won the Finnish Championship 4
1976.
George Wheatcroft (1905-1987) was

British Correspondence Champion
in 1935. He was President of the
British Chess Federation from 1953
to 1956. He was Professor of
English Law.
Norman Tweed Whitaker (1890-

(1965). He competed in 10 Western
championships (US Open) from
1913 to 1931. He avoided military
service during World War I by
travelling around the country,
staying ahead of recruiting notices,
before finally reporting as the war
wound down in November 1918,
then being discharged after one day,
for defective vision. He tied for 1st
in 1923 and 1930. He took 2nd place
in 6 US Opens. In 1920, Whitaker
represented Washington, D.C.
against Chicago (Edward Lasker) in
the first American shortwave radio
long-distance chess match. After 3
hours of play, Capablanca
adjudicated the position as a win for
Whitaker. In 1921, he was 2nd, and
top American, in the 8th American
Chess Congress in Atlantic City. In
November 1921, Whitaker, his
brother and sister, were arrested for
stealing automobiles and collecting
on the insurance. Whitaker was
convicted, but escaped. He was
arrested in 1925 and sent to the
federal prison at Fort Leavenworth.
In 1930, Norman Whitakerwas
arrested in Pleasantville, New Jersey
after being caught depositing slugs
in the coin box of a telephone pay
station. He then failed to appear in
court to answer to the charge of
defrauding the telephone company.
His $1,00 bail was forfeited. (source:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jun 13, 1931)
In 1932, Whitaker was arrested for
attempted extortion in a scheme to
swindle $104,000 from a wealthy
heiress by claiming to be in contact
with the Lindbergh kidnappers. The
money was never found. Earlier in
his life, he was convicted of several
other crimes, including auto theft,
sending morphine through the mail,
and sexual molestation of a minor.
He served time in Alcatraz and was a
friend of Al Capone there. In 1950,
he was convicted of sexual
molestation of a minor. In 1955,
Whitaker was banned from chess
tournaments sponsored by the US
Chess Federation, due to his shady
past and criminal record. Whitaker
sued the USCF and the ban was
revoked. In September 1961, chess
Whitaker, chess expert Glenn
Hartleb, and a 16-year-old boy were
driving in Arkansas when they got
into a car wreck, killing Glenn
Hartleb. Apparently, Whitaker and
Hartleb were too tired to drive, and
they allowed the 16-year-old to
drive. He lost control, hit a bridge
abutment and overturned the car.
Whitaker was famous for buying a
car when he landed in Europe and
selling it months later with about
100 miles on the odometer. "Simple"
he said, "if you know how to use a
screwdriver." Whitaker was trained
as a lawyer and worked as a civil
servant for the US Patent and
Tradmark Office, as a patent
attorney. He graduated from
Georgetown University with a law
degree.
Edwards — Whitaker, Pennsylvania

1921 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.e3
Bb4+ 5.Bd2 dxe3 6.Qa4+ Nc6
7.Bxb4 exf2+ 8.Kxf2 Qh4+ 9.g3
Qd4+ 10.Kg2 Qxb2+ 0-1
Alain Campbell White (1880-1951),

born in Cannes, France, was an
American problem composer,
author, and patron. He lived in
Connecticut. In 1914, he founded the
Good Companion Club, to which
almost all known chess composers
belonged. During World War I, he
helped break the German Navy
cryptographic codes (source: New
York Times, July 17, 1988). Each
Christmas, he published one or more
chess problem books, and sent it out
as a Christmas gift to his friends. He
published 44 volumes of the
Christmas Series chess books from
1905 to 1936 (source: Chess
Review, June 1951, pp. 168-169).
He was a botanist by profession and
was the founder of Connecticut's
State Park system. He graduated
from Harvard with honors in
Romance languages, then earned a
master's degree from Columbia
University. He died in Summerville,
South Carolina.
John Griswold White (1845-1928)

was a Cleveland attorney and chess
bibliophile. He was considered the
greatest chess book collector of his
day. Over a period of 60 years, he
collected over 12,000 chess and
checkers books as well as 428
beautifully carved chessmen. He also
collected 60,000 volumes of folklore
and orientalia. White donated his
collection to the Cleveland Public
Library to form the John G. White
Collection of Folklore, Orientalia,
and Chess. He gave the library over
75,000 books and pamphlets in 50
different languages. His library was
valued at over $300,000. The chess
collection now contains over 35,000
volumes of chess books and over
6,000 volumes of bound periodicals.
White was also the founer of the
Cleveland Yacht Club and collected
fungi. He could read 29 languages.
He studied law under his father, who
was also a lawyer. In 1919, he
received a Doctor of Laws from
Western Reserve College. He loved
to hike and fish. He died of
pneumonia in a remote camp at
Jackson Lake, Wyoming at the age
of 83.
John Herbert White (1880-1920)

was co-author with R. G. Griffit of
the first three editions of Modern
Chess Openings. The first editon
came out in 1911. He was the
Secretary of the Hampstead Chess
Club. He died in a bicycle accident.
Jay Whitehead (1961-2011) was a

former US Junior chess champion
and International Master who spent
his last few years devoted to
historical research and collecting
chess games prior to 1867. He spent
much of his time researching old
newspaper archives for chess games
and chess articles.
Fedorowicz — J. Whitehead, Lone

Pine 1977 1.Nf3 d6 2.c4 c5 3.b3 Nf6
4.g3 g6 5.Bb2 Bg7 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.O-
O O-O 8.e3 Bf5 9.d3 Qd7 10.Re1
Rab8 11.Nc3 a6 12.d4 cxd4 13.exd4
Nb4 14.Re2 Rab8 15.Ba3 b5 16.Nh4
b4 17.Nxf5 Qxf5 18.Ne4 Nxe4
19.Qxd3 Nc3 0-1
Paul Whitehead (1960- ) is a FIDE

Master. He was co-winner (with
David Strauss) of the 1978
American Open.
Paul Whiteman (1891-1967) was

known as the King of Jazz and
leader of dance and concert
orchestras. He was the creator of
"symphonic jazz" for popular
audiences. He was a fanatic chess
player along with the rest of his
orchestra who played during
intermissions.
Ken Whyld (1926-2003) was a

British chess author and researcher,
best known as the co-author with
David Hooper of The Oxford
Companion to Chess. He made his
living in information technology
while writing books on chess and
researching its history. His library
was sold to the Musee Suisse du Jeu
in 2004. The museum is located on
lake Geneva in Switzerland. After
Whyld's death, the Ken Whyld
Association was established with the
aim of compiling a comprehensive
chess bibliography in database form
and promoting chess history. He was
a chess columnist of the British
Chess Magazine for 25 years.
In 2001, Carl Wieman (1951- )

his work on the Bose-Einstein
condensate. He was a strong chess
player in his younger years and was
an inter-state chess player. (Source:
Nobel Faces, by Peter Badge, 2008,
p. 48 and Wieman biography at
nobelprize.com)
Michael Wilder (1962- ) is an

1988, he won the US Chess
Championship. He is now a
practicing tax attorney.
Elijah Williams (1810-1854) was an

English chess master. From 1840 to
1846, he wrote a chess column for
the Bath and Cheftenham Gazette.
He was the first president of the
Clifton Chess Club. He came in 3rd
at the London International in 1851.
Elijah Williams was a long chess
thinker. There were no chess clocks
or time limit during the 1851
London international chess
tournament that Williams
participated in. Williams, took so
long between his moves against
Howard Staunton that Staunton
protested in a loud manner and later
forfeited a playoff match against
Williams out of sheer frustration.
Williams sometimes spent over 2
hours on a move. Staunton is quoted
as remarking while playing against
Williams, "... Elijah, you're not just
supposed to sit there — you're
supposed to sit there and think!" In
1852 Williams published Horae
Divanianae (Hours of the Divan), a
book of 150 chess games played at
Simpson' Divan. It included the
"Immortal Game" between
Anderssen and Kieseritzky. He was
President of the Bristol Chess Club.
From 1853 to his death, he edited a
chess column in The Field. His
occupation was an apothecary
(druggist), but he gave this career up
for chess. When cholera broke out in
London, he posted a notice on the
door of his house offering the poor
preventive medicine for free. On
leaving his home for the last time, he
asked his wife to give him some of
the medicine, as he felt unwell.
Unfortunately, there was no more
medicine left, as it was given away
to all the visitors to his home. He
walked to town and checked himself
in at the Charing Cross Hospital. But
it was too late. He died at the
hospital 2 days later in the London
Broad Street cholera epidemic of
1854 at the age of 44. The epidemic
killed 616 people. His wife and
children were left destitute.
Actor Guy Williams (1924-1989)

played chess. He played chess
between takes during Lost in Space.
Living in New York, he used to go
to Central Park to play chess and
visited the Manhattan Chess Club. A
biography says that he competed in
chess tournaments.
In 2011, Justus Williams (1998- ) is

an International Master (2018). His
first rating in 2006 was 311. He
became the youngest African-
American Chess master ever at the
age of 12. At age 11, he was already
rated over 2100 and was selected to
join the USCF's All-American
scholastic team. In 2013, he starred
in the movie Brooklyn Castle.
Simon Williams (1979- ) is an

English Grandmaster (2008). He
finished 2nd in the British
2005, he won the British Blitz
2550 in 2009.
Thomas Bright Wilson (1843-1915)

was inventor of the chess clock (stop
clock), with the advice of Henry
Blackburne. He lived in Manchester
England and was secretary of the
Manchester Chess Club. The first
major tournament to use the chess
clock was London, 1883 (won by
Zukertort). It consisted of two
balanced clocks on a seesaw beam
so that when one was tilted, it
stopped and the other started.
Szymon (Simon) Abramovicz

Winawer (1838-1920) was a Polish
master from Warsaw. He finished
2nd at Paris 1867, behind Kolisch. In
1868, he won ar Warsaw, the first
chess tournament conducted in
Poland. He took 1st at Paris 1878,
Vienna 1882, and Nuremberg 1883.
His entry into the 1883 Nuremberg
tournament (19 entries) was by
accicent. On his way from Warsaw
to Vienna, he developed a bad
toothache and stopped in Nuremberg
to find a dentist. The Nuremberg
tournament )3rd German Congress)
was about to begin and the
organizers of the event persuaded
Winawer to play. Winawer did play
and won, ahead of Blackburne,
which he defeated. He was German
champion in 1883. His rivalry with
Henry Blackburne stretched from
1870 to 1901, five decades. The
variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4
is the Winawer variation in the
French Defense. He was a merchant
by profession.
Elliott Winslow (1952- ) was an

American International Master
(1986) who became a backgammon
professional (2001 Player of the
Year) and a poker professional. He
won the Missouri State Chess
Championship in 1969.
Bogner — Winslow, Pasadena 1983

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2
Nc6 5.O-O d5 6.c4 dxc4 7.Qa4 Bd7
8.dxc5 Na5 9.Qc2 Bxc5 10.Bg5 h6
11.Bd2 O-O 12.Ne5 Bb5 13.Bxa5
Qxa5 14.Bxb7 Rab8 15.Bc6 Rfc8
16.Bxb5 Qxb5 17.Nxc4 Bxf2+
18.Rxf2 Rxc4 19.Qd1 Qc5 20.Nd2
Ng4 0-1
In Feb 1892, Matthew Wilson

(1814-1892), a well-known portrait
painter, died while playing chess at
the Brooklyn Chess Club. He was 77
years old. His portraits included
President Arthur and Lincoln.
(source: New York Times, Feb 24,
1892)
Veteran actor William Windom

(1923-2012) was an enthusiastic
chess player. He was a life member
of the United States Chess
Federation (USCF) and rated 1540,
last playing in 1991. He was profiled
twice in 'Chess Life' magazine. He
used to play and beat John Wayne.
In 1967, Peter Winston (1958-

1978?) scored 12-0 in the New York
Elementary School Championship.
He won the event again in 1968. In
1969, as an 11-year old, h e played
in the Open section of the New York
High School championship and tied
for 1st place. In 1969, he won the
New York Junior High School
Championship. He tied for 1st place
with Larry Christiansen in the 1974
US Junior Championship. He
disappeared in mysterious
circumstances in January 1978,
perhaps a suicide.
Edward Winter (1955- ) is a chess

archivist, historian and author. He
has been writing a regular column on
chess history called 'Chess Notes"
since 1982, now located at
www.chesshistory.com. John
Donaldson considers him the world's
leading chess historian. He lives in
Geneva. He is the author of
Capablanca A Compendium of
Games, Notes, Articles,
Correspondence, Illustrations and
Other Rare Archival Materials on the
Cuban Chess Genius Jose Raul
Capablanca, 1999-1942 (1989),
Chess Explorations (1996), Kings,
Commoners and Knaves (1999), A
Chess Omnibus (2003), and Chess
Facts and Fables (2006).
William Winter (1898-1955) was an

International master (1950). He was
a nephew of Sir James Barrie who
wrote Peter Pan and two-time British
champion (1935 and 1936). He had
been an active Communist Party
organizer and in 1921, was
sentenced to 6 months in jail for
sedition. Winter became a chess
player after his doctor told him to
give up politics. In 1919, he was
champion at Cambridge University.
He was London Champion in 1926,
1928-29, 1932, 1939, and 1947. He
probably played the only game in
master chess that it would have been
more profitable to draw or lose than
to win. A draw or loss would have
qualified him for special awards to
non-prizewinners in the London
1927 tournament, which was in
excess of 7 English pounds, more
than his 6th place prize. He played in
4 Olympiads for England. He was a
chess journalist for the Manchester
Guardian and the Daily Worker.
G. Thomas — W. Winter, London

1927 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4
4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Na6 6.a3 Bxc3+
7.Qxc3 Nxc5 8.b4 Nce4 9.Qd3 d5
10.cxd5 Nxf2 11.Kxf2 Ng4+ 12.Kg3
Qf6 13.Nf3 Qxa1 14.Bd2 Nf6 15.e4
exd5 16.exd5 O-O 17.Bc3 Qxc3 0-1
In 1994, Martin Wirth, 37, of Fort

Collins, Colorado, shot to death
Vernie Cox, 24, on his birthday after
the two argued over a chess game.
Cox died of two gunshot wounds to
the chest. Witnesses said that Wirth
had lost a chess game with Cox,
knocked over the chess board and
some furniture, and then began to
argue with his opponent. Wirth went
across the street to his home and
returned with a gun and shot Cox to
death.
John Wisker (1846-1884) was

British Chess Champion in 1870
(after beating Amos Burn in a play-
off) and 1872 (after a play-off with
Cecil Valentine De Vere). By
winning twice in succession, Wisker
retained the British Chess
Association (BCA) championship
Challenge Cup and the British chess
championships ceased until 1904.
Secretary to the British Chess
Association (the president was Lord
Lyttelton). He wrote chess columns
for the Sporting Times and Land and
Water. From 1872 to 1876, he was
co-editor of the Chess Player's
Chronicle. In 1877 he was told he
had tuberculosis (consumption), and
he moved to Australia for the
warmer climate. In Australia, he
edited a chess column in the
Australasian newspaper. He was a
journalist by profession and was a
reporter for the City Press. He died
of bronchitis and tuberculosis in
Richmond, Victoria in 1884.
Dr. Jack P. Witeczek (1937-1983),

born in Lodz, Poland, was an
American chess master. In 1960, he
won the Ohio Chess
Championshhip. In 1964, he won the
Michigan Chess Championship. He
appeared on the cover of the October
1966 issue of Chess Review for
winning the 12th Annual Golden
Knights Postal Chess Championship
and the First Annual United States
Open Postal Championship, which
began in 1958. He had 23 wins and
one draw in the event. He had a PhD
degree in physical chemistry.
(source: Chess Review, Oct 1966, p.
292)
Alexander Wittek (1852-1894) as an

Austrian chess master. He played at
Graz 1880, Berlin 1881, and Vienna
1882. In 1882, he was ranked 9th in
the world with a historical rating of
2607 (source: Chessmetrics). He was
an architect by profession. He died
in a lunatic asylum in Graz in 1894.
One source says that he committed
suicide.
In 1986, grandmaster Aleksander

Wojtkiewicz (1963-2006) was
arrested and sent to prison in Latvia
for dodging the Soviet Army draft.
While in prison, he studied chess
and found a novelty in the Sicilian
Defense, Accelerated Dragon
variation. The new move was coined
the "Prison Novelty." On July 14,
2006, Wojtkiewicz died of a
perforated intestine and massive
bleeding in Baltimore, Maryland at
the age of 43. A few weeks earlier,
he tied for 1st at the World Open in
Philadelphia.
Karol Jozef Wojtyla (1920-2005),

who became Pope John Paull II, was
an avid chess player in his younger
days. While acting as a vicar for
university students in Krakow,
Poland, he frequently played chess
with other students. His uncle was
one of Poland's leading chess
problemists.
Heinrich Wolf (1875-1943) was a

Jewish Austrian chess master of
about grandmaster strength. From
1900 to 1923, he played in 17 strong
chess tournaments. He was 1st at
Vienna 1902, 2nd at Vienna 1905,
and 3rd at Vienna 1922 (behind
Rubinstein and Tartakower). He
retired from active play in 1923. He
played in coffee houses and earned
his living that way and teaching
chess. He was a regular contributor
to the Neue Wiener Schach-Zeitung
chess magazine. In 1925, he married
Paula Kalmar (1880-1931), who was
Austria's strongest female chess
player. He was killed by the Nazis
during World War II. (source:
https://atypus.wordpress.com/2015/0
7/05/heinrich-wolf-1875-1943/)
Patrick Wolff (1968- ) is an

American Grandmaster (1990) and
the 1992 US Chess Champion and
the 1995 US Chess Co-Champion.
He is a former National High School
(1987) champion and US Junior
champion (1984). He attended Yale
and graduated from Harvard in 1996
with a B.A. degree in philosophy.
He is a managing director of a hedge
fund.
Wolff — Glliamova, Adelaide 1988

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Be7
8.Qe2 a6 9.O-O-O Qc7 10.Bb3 O-O
11.Rhg1 b5 12.g4 Rb8 13.g5 Nd7
14.Qh5 Nxd4 15.Bxd4 b4 16.g6
hxg6 17.Rxg6 Nf6 18.Rxg7+ 1-0
Baruch Harold Wood (1909-1989)

was owner and editor of the monthly
chess magazine Chess, which was
founded in 1935. He was the editor
for 52 years, after which failing
health forced him to sell it to
Pergamon Press in 1988. He was a
correspondent for the Daily
Telegraph and Illustrated London
News. He wrote Easy Guide to
Chess. He played on the English
chess Olympiad team at Buenos
Aires in 1939. During World War II,
he continued to publish Chess while
serving as director of a chemical
research laboratory. In 1945, he was
the British Correspondence
Champion. In 1948, he took 2nd in
the British Championship.
B. Wood — Stokes, England 1964

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7 4.Bc4
Nf6 5.Nc3 Nxe4 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7
7.Ne5+ Ke6 8.Nxe4 d5 9.Qg4+
Kxe5 10.d4+ Kxd4 11.c3+ Kc4
12.Qe2 mate 1-0
B. Wood — Znosko-Borovsky,
Netherlands 1947 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6
3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 c6
6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e4 Nb6 8.Be3 O-O
9.Rd1 Be6 10.Qc2 Bc4 11.h4 Bxf1
12.Kxf1 N8d7 13.h5 Nc4 14.Bc1 e5
15.hxg6 hxg6 16.Qd3 Ncb6 17.Nxe5
Nxe5 18.Qh3 f5 19.dxe5 Qc8
20.Qh7+ Kf7 21.Rd6 Rg8 22.Bh6
Nd7 23.e6+ Ke7 24.Rxd7+ Kxe6
25.Rxg7 1-0
In July 2015, Craig Woolcock of

Wales killed himself after he quit his
job as a customer services official to
concentrate on chess, but failed to
qualify for the British chess
championship. The unlucky player
suffered from mood swings. (source:
MailOnline, July 14, 2015)
Dr. Wong Meng Kong (1963- ) is a

Singaporean Grandmaster (2000). In
1979, he won the Asian Junior Chess
championship of Singapore 3 times.
He has played for Singapore in 11
Chess Olympiads. He is a medial
doctor and practices psychiatric
medicine.
Robert Bownas Wormald (1834-

1876) was an English chess amateur
and the author of several chess
books. He was a problem composer
and chess columnist for the
Illustrated London News. In 1860,
he wrote The Hand-Book of Chess.
In 1864, he wrote The Chess
Openings. It was updated in 1875.
His analysis of this variation
appeared in Chess World in 1867.
He completed Howard Staunton's
last chess book. A variation of the
Ruy Lopez is named after him. He
graduated from Oxford and was a
journalist by profession. He died at
the age of 43.
Harriet Jona Worrall (1836-1928)

was considered as America's
strongest woman chess player. She
was the wife of Thomas Herbert
Worrall. They were married in 1856.
She learned chess from her husband.
When he died in 1868, she was left
destitute. In 1886, she was suffering
from epileptic attacks and
depression. In 1890, she attempted
suicide by dring carbolic acid. She
later recovered and played a match
for the US women's championship
with Nellie Showalter, the wife of
Jackson W. Showlater. When Nellie
was leading 3-1 with one draw, the
match was interrupted on account of
Nellie Showalter's illness and never
resumed. Because Harriet was a
friend of Nellie, she never claimed
victory. In 1897, Harriet sailed for
England to play in the First Ladies'
International Chess Tournament in
London. She finished 4th with 13
wins and 6 losses, earning $150 in
prize money. She died of natural
causes at the age of 92.
Thomas Herbert Worrall (1807-

1878) was a strong British-American
chess amateur. Paul Morphy played
15 games against Worrall at knight
odds, winning 8 and losing 7. He
was a former British Army officer.
He was British Commissioner in
Mexico as part of the British
Mexican Legation and was later
transferred to New York. A variation
of the Ruy Lopez, the Worral Attack
(1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Qe2), is named
after him.
Wu Shaobin (1969- ) is a Chinese-

born Singaporean Grandmaster
(1998). He was champion of
Singapore in 2003 and 2005. His
married to former Women's World
Chess Champion Xie Jun.
Wu Wenjin (1976- ) is a Chinese

won the Asian Junior Chess
2602 in 2000.
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip

hop group. They are active in chess
activities and promote the game. Its
founder, RZA, won the first Hip-
Hop Chess Federation
championship.
Otto B. Wurzburg (1875-1951) was

an American chess composer from
Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was the
nephew of American chess
composer William Anthony
Shinkman. Otto composed more
than 1,200 chess problems in 3 or
more moves. He was one of the
secretaries in the Good Companion
Club. In January 1933, the first issue
of Chess Review was published. The
cover features one of Wurzburg's
chess problems. He worked full time
in the US Post Office.
Dr. Robert Wyller of Hillsborough,

California played a record number of
postal games, at one time having
more than 1,100 goint altogether and
always having several hundred on at
once. (source: Chess Review, June
1959, p. 163)
Marmaduke Wyvill (1814-1896)

was a strong English player of the
19th century. In 1850, he was the
strongest chess player at the St.
Geroge's Chess Club in London. He
took 2nd place in the first
international chess tournament, the
London 1851 knockout tournament,
behind Adolf Anderssen (2 wins, 4
losses, 1 draw). This was Wyvill's
only tournament that he played in.
He was the first English opening
specialist, almost always playing
1.c4 on his first move. In 1883, he
contributed to the organization and
funding of the 1883 London
tournament, won by Zukertort. He
was elected Member of Parliament
(MP) for Richmond, North
Yorkshire in 1847 and was a Liberal
Party politician. He remained a
member of Parliament until 1868.
His father, also named Marmaduke
Wyvill, was also a Member of
Parliament.
Xie Jun (1970- ) is a Chinese

grandmaster player (1993) who
defeated Maya Chiburdanidze
(Women's World chess champion
since 1978) for the Women's World
Championship title in 1991 after a
15 game match in Manila. She
became the 7th Women's World
Champion and the first from Asia
She was the first player outside the
Soviet Union to become world
women's champion. She defended
her title in 1993 against Nana
Ioseliani. She lost her title to Zsuzsa
Polgar in 1996. She became
again from 1999 to 2000 when she
defeated Alisa Galliamova in 1999
and Qin Kanying in 2000. Her peak
rating was 2574 in 2008. Her name
is pronounced 'Chay Yoon.' She is
married to GM Wu Shaobin.
Xie Xiaxun (1888-1987) was winner

of the first Chinese chess tournament
in 1918. He credited his longevity to
Chinese chess (xiangqi). He was
vice chairman of the Shanghai Chess
Association and is credited for
bringing western chess to China.
Jeffrey Xiong is an American

awarded the GM title at the age of
14. In 2016, he won the US Closed
Junior Championship and the World
Junior Chess Championship. His
Xiu Deshun (1989- ) is a Chinese

Thailand Open in 2008 and 2009.
Xu Jun (1962- ) is a Chinese

champion of China in 1983 and
2000.
Xu Yuhua (1976- ) is a Grandmaster

(2007) from China. In 2000 and
2004, she won the Women's World
Cup. She won the 11th Women's
World Chess Championship in
Ekaterinburg, Russia on March 25,
2006. She was Women's World
Champion from 2006 to 2008. Her
peak rating was 2517 in 2006. She
has a Bachelor of Law degree and a
Master of Literature, Chinese
Linguistics.
Vitold Yakimchik (1911-1977) was

a Soviet chess master from
Kazakhstan and a leading chess
composer. He began composing
chess problems in 1927. In 1967, he
was awarded the International Judge
of Chess Compositions. In 1968, he
tied for 1st place in the USSR
Championship for Chess Studies. He
was a metallurgical engineer.
(source: EG, Vol 4, #60, April 1980)
Yuri Yakovich (1962- ) is a Russian

Grandmaster (1990).
Daniel Abraham Yanofsky (1925-

2000) was a Polish-born (his parents
were Russian) Canadian
Grandmaster (1964) who was the
first Grandmaster in the British
Commonwealth. He learned to play
chess at 8 years old in Winnipeg. In
Manitoba. n 1939 he was selected to
play for Canada as 2nd board at the
Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad when
only 14 years old. At this event, he
made the highest percentage score at
second board with 12 wins, 3 draws,
and 1 loss. He won the Canadian
championship 8 times (from 1941 to
1965), won the US Open on tiebreak
over Herman Steiner in 1942, and
won the British Championship in
1953. He took 1st at Hastings in
1953. He played for Canada in 11
Chess Olympiads. In 2000, he was
inducted into the Canadian Chess
Hall of Fame. He edited Canadian
Chess Chat for several years. He was
a lawyer by profession and did
postgraduate work at Oxford from
1951 to 1953. He had been the
mayor of a suburb of Winnipeg.
Yanofsky — Therein, Quebec 1947

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4
Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6
7.Bd3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Ne5 c5
10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Qe2 b6 12.Bg5
Bb7 13.Rad1 Qe7 14.Nd7 Rfd8
15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Qg4+ Kh8 17.Qh4
f5 18.Nf6 Kg7 19.Qg5+ 1-0
Frederick Dewhurst Yates (1884-

1932) was six-time British champion
(1913, 1914, 1921, 1926, 1928, and
1931). In 1911, he tied for 1st in the
British championship, but lost the
play-off to Atkins. He took 1st place
at Hastings in 1920/21. He was
trained as an accountant, but
abandoned this career in favor of
chess and journalism. He was the
chess correspondent of the
Manchester Guardian and wrote a
chess column in the Yorkshire Post.
He had just finished a 16-game
simultaneous exhibition in London
when, on November 11, 1932, Yates
died in his sleep at his home in
London from a gas leak due to a
faulty gas pipe connection. It was
not suicide. A gas company official
proved that no gas tap was turned
on. It was ruled an accidental death.
He was buried at Leeds on
November 16, 1932. He was only
48.
Yates — Marin, Hamburg 1930 1.e4

e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7
5.e5 Ne4 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Bd3 Nxc3
8.bxc3 c5 9.Qg4 O-O 10.Nf3 c4
11.Bxh7+ 1-0
Yates — Rubinstein, Budapest 1926

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.Qe2 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 O-O
8.O-O d6 9.Rd1 Qe7 10.d4 Bb6
11.Bg5 Nd8 12.Nh4 Ne6?!
(12...exd4) 13.Nf5 Qe8? (13...Qd8)
14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Bxe6 (15...fxe6
16.Qg4+ Qg6 17.Ne7+) 1-0
Ye Jiangchuan (1960- ) is a Chinese

beame the first Chinese player to
cross the 2600 Elo rating mark. He
has won the Chinese Championship
2003.
Ye Rongguang (1963- ) is a Chinese

beame the first Chinese GM. In
China. His peak rating was 2545 in
1991. He now lives in the
Netherlands and works for the
Netherlands Chinese Photographic
Society.
In 1923, William B. Yeats (1865-

Literature. He was an Irish poet and
an avid chess player. He wrote a
chess scene for Time and the Witch
Vivien. Yeats often associated chess
with death or the life after death.
Chess is mentioned in some of his
other works such as John Sherman,
and Dhoya, and Deirde (about a
chess board and a King and Queen
who played upon it). His son was
Honorary Secretary the chess club at
Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Arsen Yegiazarian (1970- ) is an

Armenian Youth Championship. His
Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) was

President of Russia. He was an avid
chess player and founded the
Sverdlosk Chess Club in the 1950s.
Alex Yermolinsky (1958- ) is a US

Grandmaster (1992). He was US
Champion in 1993 and 1996. He
won the U.S. Open in 1995
(Concord, CA) and 1997 (Orlando).
He has represented the USA in four
chess Olympiads. In 2012, he was
inducted into the US Hall of Fame.
He is married to WGM Camilla
Baginskaite.
Moskalenko — Yermolinsky,
Odessa 1981 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4
Bg7 4.Nc3 d5 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4
O-O 7.e4 a6 8.h4 b5 9.Qb3 c5 10.e5
Ng4 11.Qd5 cxd4 12.Qxa8 dxc3
13.Qxb8 cxb2 14.Bxb2 Qa5+
15.Nd2 Nxf2 0-1
Mustafa Yilmaz (1992- ) is a

Turkish Grandmaster (2012). In
2009, he became the youngest
Turkish chess champion.
Yu Ruiyuan (1991- ) is a Chinese

Grandmaster (2012).
Yu Shaoteng (1979- ) is a Chinese

was 2550 in 2002.
Yu Yangi (1994- ) is a Chinese

months, and 23 days. His peak rating
was 2760 in January, 2018.
Leonid Yudasin (1959- ), born in

Russia, is an American Grandmaster
(1984). In 1984, he won the
Leningrad Championship. In 1990,
he tied for 1st in the USSR
Championship. He won the Israeli
1991 and he was ranked #5 in the
world. He is Director of the
Brooklyn Chess Academy.
Mikhail M. Yudovich Sr. (1911-

1987) was a Jewish Soviet
(1972). He took 3rd place in the
1931 USSR championship, behind
Botvinnik and Riumin. He won the
7th USSR Correspondence
Championsip in 1966. He was the
author of The Soviet School of
Chess, written in 1951. He was co-
editor of the chess magazine
Shakhmaty v SSSR from 1945 to
1978. He was a journalist by
profession. He is buried in Moscow.
Fine — Yudovich, Moscow 1937

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c5
5.Bg5 cxd4 6.Nxd4 e5 7.Ndb5 a6
8.Nxd5 axb5 9.Nxf6+ Qxf6 10.Bxf6
Bb4+ 11.Qd2 Bxd2+ 12.Kxd2 gxf6
0-1
Danil Aleksandrovich Yuffa (1997- )

is a Russian Grandmaster (2016).
Jacob Yukhtman (1935-1985) was a

strong Russian chess player. In
1959, he took 14th place in the
USSR championship, defeating Tal
ank Kholmov. His games were
suppressed in the Soviet Union
because he was not a communist.
Yukhtman — Gorodezky, Tiumen

1959 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Qg4
cxd4 5.Nf3 f5 6.Qg3 Nc6 7.Bd3
Nge7 8.O-O Ng6 9.h4 Qc7 10.Re1
Bc5 11.h5 Nf8 12.c3 dxc3 13.Nxc3
h6 14.Bf4 a6 15.Bxf5 d4 16.Ne4
Bb4 17.Nd6+ Kd8 18.Be4 Bxe1
19.Rxe1 Qe7 20.Rc1 Nb4 21.Ng5
Rg8 22.Qa3 1-0
Peter Yurdansky (1891-1937) was a

Russian chess master. In 1913, he
won the Moscow Chess
2nd place at Mannheim (won by
Alekhine). In 1927, he was the
champion of the Red Army and
Navy. A variation of the Two
Knights Defense is named after him.
Leonid Nikolayevich Yurtaev (1959-

2011) was a Krgyzstan Grandmaster
(1996). He was the first GM from
Krgyzstan. He played for
Kyrgyzstan in 7 Chess Olympiads.
Yusuf III (1374-1417) was the

thirteenth Nasrid ruler of the
Moorish Emirate of Granada in Al-
Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula
from 1408 to 1417. In 1408, he was
ordered slain by his older brother,
Muhammed VII (1370-1408). Yusuf
was playing chess when the
executioner appeared before him.
Yusuf asked and was granted his last
request — permission to finish a
chess game he had started. Before
the game ended, messengers from
the court arrived with the news that
Muhammed VII was dead, and that
Yusuf was to ascend the throne.
Yusuf III was freed and became
Sultan of Granada. (source: Chess
Review, Mar 1962, p. 68 and The
Historians' History of the World,
edited by Henry Williams, 1904)
Artur Mayakovich Yusupov

(Jussupow in German) is a Russian-
place in the USSR championship. In
1986, he won the Canadian Open. In
1990, along with Mark Dvoretsky,
he opened a chess school for gifted
young chess players. The school
lasted for 3 years. 8 of their students
became grandmasters, including
Peter Svidler. In May 1990, top
Russian Grandmaster Artur Yusupov
returned to Moscow after taking
second equal prize at the SKA
tournament in Munich. Hence he
was carrying quite a lot of money on
the homeward trip. Shortly after he
had arrived home, armed thieves
came to his apartment and proceeded
to rob him of money and other
valuables. Although Yusupov put up
no resistance, one of the thieves
panicked and discharged a shotgun
into his stomach. For some time
Yusupov was critically ill, but his
energy levels were never quite the
same after this traumatic experience,
and he gradually fell back from his
position as one of the top half-dozen
players in the world. In 2002, he
won the World Open. In 2005, he
won the German Championship. In
2009, he won the Boleslavsky Medal
for the best instructional book (Build
Up Your Chess). His peak rating
was 2680 in 1995.
Yusupov — Timman, Tilburg 1986

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5
Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4
b6 8.Qf3 O-O 9.e5 Ba6 10.Bd5 c6
11.Bb3 Qc7 12.h4 c5 13.h5 cxd4
14.cxd4 gxh5 15.Rxh5 Bb7 16.Qd3
Rd8 17.Qxh7+ Kf8 18.Ne2 Rxd4
19.Bh6 1-0
Darius Zagorskis (1969- ) is a

has won the Lithuanian
Championship twice. In 2007, he
was awarded the Senior International
Correspondence Chess master title.
He has played for Lithuania in 7
Chess Olympiads.
Vladimir Zagorovsky (1925-1994)

was a Russian Correspondence
Grandmaster (1965) and the 4th
Correspondence World Chess
Champion (1962-1965). In the 5th
Championship, he finished in 4th
place. In the 6th World
Correspondence Championship, he
finished 2nd. In the 7th World
finished 3rd. In the 8th World
tied for 1st place with Sloth from
Denmark. In the 11th World
finished 5th. He holds the record for
the most appearances (6) in World
Championships. He was Moscow
champion in 1952. He was a science
historian. He is buried in Voronesh,
Russia.
Zagorovsky — Nielsen,
Correspondence 1965 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 f5 5.exf5 e4
6.d4 exf3 7.dxc5 Qe7+ 8.Be3 fxg2
9.Rg1 Nf6 10.Qf3 d5 11.cxd6 Qxd6
12.Nd2 Bd7 13.Qxg2 Qe5 14.Bxc6
bxc6 15.Qxg7 O-O-O 16.O-O-O
Bxf5 17.Bd4 Qd5 18.Qxf6 Rhf8
19.Qe7 Rf7 20.Qa3 h6 21.Qa6+ 1-0
Sergey Zagrebelny (1965- ) is an

won the Uzbekistan Championship
was 2540 in 2003.
Alexander Nikolayevich Zaitsev

(1935-1971), born in Vladivostok,
was a Soviet Grandmaster (1967).
He tied for 1st in the 36th USSR
Championship at Alma-Ata in 1968-
69. He was awarded the GM title in
1967. Wishing to marry, he decided
to remedy a limp by having one leg
lengthened. He died on October 31,
1971, from thrombosis (blood clot)
after an operation to correct his limp
by lengthening one of his legs. He
died at the age of 36. The Ziatsev
variation of the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-
O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O
9.h3 Bb7) is named after him.
Gaiduk — A. Zaitsev, Vladivostok

1958 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5
4.Nf3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qa4+ Nbd7
7.Qxd4 Bc5 8.Qd1 exd5 9.Nxd5
Nxd5 10.Qxd5 Qa5+ 11.Kd1 Nf6
12.Qe5+ Be6 13.e3 Ng4 14.Qxg7 O-
O-O+ 15.Bd2 Bb4 16.Rc1+ Kb8
17.Rc2 Rhg8 0-1
Igor Arkadievich Zaitsev (1938- ) is

a Russian grandmaster (1976) and
chess analyst. In 1969 he won the
Moscow championship. He played
in 6 USSR Chess Championships.
He coached Tigran Petrosian and
Anatoly Karpov. He was head coach
of the junior national team of Russia.
Apartsev — I. Zaitsev, Moscow

1963 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6
4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kf1 Qe7
7.Nxh8 d5 8.Qf3 Bh4 9.Nxd5 Nd4
10.Qa3 Nxd5 11.Qxe7+ Kxe7
12.exd5 Bh3 13.Nc3 Rf8+ 14.Kg1
Rf2 15.d3 Rxg2+ 16.Kf1 Rg1+
17.Kxg1 Nf3 mate 0-1
Vladimir Zak (1913-1994) was the

principal chess trainer of Leningrad
(St. Petersburg) players since 1958.
He was the first chess trainer of
Boris Spassky (beginning in 1946)
and Korchnoi.
Igor Zakharevich (1963-2008) was a

2005, he tied for 1st in the Chigorin
Memorial, held in St. Petersburg.
Viacheslav Vladimirovich
Zakhartsov (1968- ) is a Russian
Grandmaster (2007).
In 1931, Lazar Zalkind (1886-1945),

a statistician who composed many
chess problems, was arrested and
sentenced to 8 years in prison as a
"renegade and traitor to the working
class." Krylenko forced his fellow
composers to denounce him in the
Russian chess magazine, 64. He was
due to be released in 1938, but was
given another 5-year sentence in a
harsher camp. When he was released
in 1943, he was told that his son,
Boris, had just died on the
Belorussian front. Lazar was still not
allowed to return home. He died of a
heart attack on June 25,1945 in
Komsomolsk-on-Amur, located in
the Russian Far East.
Oswaldo Zambrana (1981- ) is a

Bolivian Grandmaster (2007). He
has won the Bolivian Championship
5 times. He has played for Bolivia in
6 Chess Olympiads.
Alonso Zapata (1958- ) is

Colombia's first grandmaster (1984).
He won the Colombian
Championship 7 times. He played on
the Columbian chess Olympiad team
12 times.
Zapata — Anand, Biel 1988 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4
5.Nc3 Bf5 6.Qe2 1-0
Pabl Zarnicki (1972- ) is an

Chess Championship. He played for
Argentina in 5 Chess Olympiads.
Tatiana Zatulovskaya (1935-2017)

was a Russian-born Israeli Woman
Grandmaster (1976). She was USSR
women's champion in 1960, 1962,
and 1963. In 1967, she took 2nd in
the Women's Candidates
tournament. In 1971, she won the
first Women's Interzonal
tournament, held in Ohrid. In 1993
and 1997, she won the Women's
Seniors World Championship. She
was a geological engineer and
gymnast.
Louis Zeckendorf (1838-1937) was a

German born-American merchant.
He was primarily involved in the
mining industry in New Mexico and
Arizona, as well as shipping and
supplies in support of that industry.
During the Civil War, he played and
defeated Confederate General James
Longstreet (1821-1904) in a chess
game. He retired and moved to New
York City where he joined the
Manhattan Chess Club in the 1870s.
He may have been the oldest player
of the Manhattan Chess Club when
he died 26 days before his 100th
birthday. (source: Chess Review,
Apr 1937, p. 85)
Elmars Zemgalis (1923-2014) was a

Latvian-American chess master. He
first learned to play chess at age 11.
He settled in Seattle and was the
strongest player in the Pacific
Northwest from 1952 to the mid
1960s. He won the 1953 Washington
State championship, scoring 9-0. He
won the 1959 Washington State
Championship, scoring 6-0. In 2003,
he was awarded the Honorary
Grandmaster title. He was a
mathematics professor and a
research mathematican for Boeing.
He died at the age of 91.
Zeng Chongsheng (1993- ) is a

Chinese Grandmaster (2013). In
2016, he took 2nd place in the
Chinese Chess Championship.
Dr. Erich (Eric) Ernest Zepler (1898-

1980) was a German-born chess
composer. He started composing
chess problems at age 14. In 1957,
he was awarded the Internationl
Judge of Chess Compositions title.
International Master for Chess
Compositions. In Germany, he was
head of the Telefunken radio
receiver laboratories. Of Jewish
birth, he became a refugee in 1935.
He abandoned all his possesstions
and moved to England. During
World War II, he worked for the
British Army. His discoveries in
radio electronics were used in the
Royal Air Force bombers. In 1949,
he became a professor of electronics
at Southampton University, perhaps
the first electronics professor in the
world. A department building was
later named after him. In 1951,
Zepler and Ado Kraemer published
Im Banne des Schachproblems
(Under the spell of the chess
problem). In 1957, they published
Problemkunst im 20. Jahrhundert
(The art of the chess problem in the
20th century). He had a PhD in
physics.
Jurij Zezulkin (1971- ), born in

Belarus, is a Polish Grandmaster
(1999). In 1989, he won the Belarus
Zhang Pengxiang (1980- ) is a

Chinese Grandmaster (2001). In
1992 and 1993, he won the Chinese
Youth Championship. In 1999, he
won the National Junior
Chinese Championship. In 2007, he
won the Asian Championship. His
Zhang Zhong (1978- ) is a Chinese-

born, Singapore Grandmaster
2001. He has won the Chinese
2003. In 2005, he won the Asian
2667 in 2001. He is married to
WGM Li Ruofan.
Zhao Jun (1986- ) is a Chinese

was 2634 in 2016.
Zhao Xue (1985- ) is a Chinese

won the World Junior Girls Chess
2579 in 2013.
Zhao Zong-Yuan (1986- ), born in

China, is an Australian Grandmaster
(2008). He became the youngest
Australian International Master at
the age of 14. In 2001, he won the
Australian Junior Championship. In
2007, he won the Australia Open. In
2011, he won the Oceania Chess
2592 in 2010. He has a degree in
Medicine from the Univerisity of
Sydney.
Yaroslav Zherebukh (1993- ) is a

Ukrainian-born American
Grandmaster (2009). He learned to
play chess at the age of 7. He is
working on a Masters in Applied
Financial Economics.
Sergei Zhigalko (1989- ) is a

has won the championship of
Belarus 3 times. In 2003, he won the
World Under-14 Chess
European Under-18 Championship.
His brother, Andrey Zhigalko, is
also a chess grandmaster (2006).
Zhou Jianchao (1988- ) is a Chinese

was 2669 in 2010.
Liren Zhou became a USCF master

in 2017 at the age of 9 years, 3
months, and 22 days, making him
America's youngest master. In 3
years, his rating went frm 200 to
over 2200.
Zhou Weiqi (1986- ) is a Chinese

was 2646 in 2015.
Zhu Chen (1976- ) is a Chinese-born

Qatar Grandmaster (2001). In 1988,
she became the first Chinese player
to win an international chess
competition when she won the
World Girls Under-12
Championship. In 1994 and 1996,
she won the World Junior Girls
Chess Championship. She was
from 2001 to 2004. She did not
defend her title in 2004 due to a
jammed playing schedule and her
pregnancy. She is married to GM
Mohamad Al-Modiahki. Her peak
Natalia Zhukova (1979- ), born in

Dresden, East Germany, is a
1996, she was Ukrainian women's
champion at age 16. She has won the
European women's championship
twice, in 2000 and 2015. Her peak
rating was 2499 in 2010. She is
married to GM Alexander Grischik.
Yaacov (Jacob) Zilberman (1954- )
is an Israeli Grandmaster (1998).
Helgi Dam Ziska (1990- ) is a

Grandmaster (2017) from the Faroe
Islands. He is the first Faroese player
to qualify for the GM title. In 2009,
he won the Nordic Championship.
Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (1884-

1954), was born in Russia and, after
1920, living in France, was both a
chess master and a chess author. In
1903, he and his two other brothers
competed in a tournament in St.
Petersburg, and all three won prizes.
He fought and was wounded in both
the 1905 Russo-Japanese war and
World War I. He also fought for the
White forces during the Russian
revolution and was evacuated to
France. In 1908, he took 3rd place in
the All-Russia tournament if Lodz.
In the 1920s, Eugene Znosko-
Borovsky supposedly published a
booklet called "Capablanca's
Errors," featuring most of
Capablanca's chess losses.
Capablanca responded that he hoped
to write a book called "Znosko-
Borovsky's Good Moves" but, he
said, "Unfortunately, I didn't succeed
in finding material for it." (source:
Chess Review, Mar 1955, p. 73-74,
Chernev, The Golden Dozen, 1976,
p. 325 and Soltis, Chess Life, April
1993, p. 20) He was the first to write
about the middle-game in chess. His
occupation was a music and drama
critic, and he was an expert on
Russian theater.
Mansfield — Znosko-Borovsky,
Tenby 1928 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Bc5 6.c3
Ba7 7.d4 Nxe4 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nxe5 O-
O 10.Bc2 d6 11.Nxf7 Nxf2
12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Qh5+ Kg8 0-1
In 1110, John Zonaras (1074-1130),

a monk and Byzantine theologian
and canonist, excommunicated chess
players and banned chess as a kind
of debauchery. He wrote a
commentary on the rules of
Apostolic Canon and laid down
excommunication as the penalty for
playing chess (Canon 50), even
among the laity. Zonaras had been a
former captain of the Byzantine
imperial guard.
Alexander Volodymyrovych
Zubarev (1979- ) is a Ukrainian
was 2608 in 2011.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Zubarev

the Moscow Championship in 1927
and 1930.
Bernard Zuckerman (1943- ) is an

International Master. In 1964 he
competed in the 11th Student
Olympiad in Cracow Poland (with
Bill Lombardy, Raymond Weinstein,
Charles Kalme, Mike Valvo, and
Mitchell Sweig). The Americans
finished in 4th place. He took 4th
place in the 1965/66 US
Championship. He has played in 7
US Championships. In 1975,
Zuckerman was playing in the
Cleveland International in Ohio. A
spectator became too loud for him
and Zuckerman told him to shut up.
When the spectator continued to talk
loudly, Zuckerman threw a chess
piece (it was a bishop) at him.
Zuckerman was reprimanded for his
"unsportsmanlike" conduct.
Zuckerman has not played in a
serious chess tournament since 1990,
but occasionally plays blitz
tournaments.
Dr. Johan Hermann Zukertort (1842-

1888) was a Polish-born Jewish
chess master. He was the second
strongest chess player in the world
from about 1871 to 1886, after
Steinitz. In 1878, he won an
international chess tournament in
Paris. The first place prize, given to
him by the President of France, was
a Sevres vase, worth over 5,000
francs (perhaps about $10,000 in
today's currency). A few days later,
Zukertort took the vase to a pawn
shop and sold it for about 2,500
francs. In 1886, after the first
Steinitz-Zukertort game, Johannes
Zukertort (1842-1888) complained
of want of chess practice. "Why
didn't you practice in London?" he
was asked. "I couldn't," fired back
Zukertort: "Blackburne is always
sick and Mason is always drunk."
(source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Feb
14, 1886). On June 20, 1888,
Zukertort died of a stroke while
playing chess at Simpson's, a
London coffee-house at the age of
45. While playing a chess game with
Sylvain Meyer, Zukertort fainted.
Instead of calling for medical help,
he was taken to the British Chess
Club in an unconscious state. They
then took him to Charing Cross
Hospital where they diagnosed the
problem as a cerebral attack. He
never regained consciousness, and
died at 10 a.m. the next day. The
cause of death was cerebral
hemorrhage. At the time, Zukertort
was also in the middle of a
tournament at the British Chess Club
and was in 1st place. He was
scheduled to play a match with
Blackburne on June 23, 1888 and
Bird on June 26, 1888. He is buried
at Brompton Cemetery in
Kensington, England. His grave is
A.F. 107 x 18. His grave was
rededicated in 2012. In 1865, he
obtained a medical degree at
Breslau. Zukertort was a fencer, a
world class whist and dominoes
player, a pianist, a music critic,
swordsman, marksman, editor of a
political paper, and on the staff of
Bismark's newspaper, the
Allgemeine Zeitung. He was a
leading spokesman for prison
reform. Although he never married,
he had two illegitimate daughters,
Iseln and Maud. He was fluent in 9
languages.
Kornfeld — Zukertort, Posen 1865

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 d5 4.Bxd5
Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nge2 c6 7.Bb3
Bg4 8.d3 Nxe4 9.dxe4 Qh4+ 10.Kf1
f3 11.gxf3 Bh3+ 12.Kg1 Bc5+
13.Nd4 Bxd4+ 14.Qxd4 Qe1 mate 0-
1
Konrad Zuse (1910-1995), a German

engineer and computer pioneer, was
one of the first persons to write on
the theoretical contribution of
computer chess. He is considered the
inventor of the world's first
programmable computer, and the
first hegh-level programming
language (Planjalhul). In 1941, his
Z3 machine was programmable
through punched tape programs. In
1945, Zuse designed the world's first
chess program. His son, Klaus, is a
FIDE Master and won the Baden
Chess Championship in 2005.
(source: ChessBase News, June 22,
2010)
Vadim Zvjaginsev (1976- ) is a

2000 and 2002 he was first at Essen.
At the Mainz Chess Classic in 2003
and 2004, he finished joint 2nd. In
2005, he took 3rd place in the
Russian Championship qualifier and
4th in the Superfinal. His peak rating
was 2688 in 2012.
Kira Zvorykina (1919-2014) was a

Woman grandmaster (1977) from
Russia who moved to Bulgaria. She
took 1st in 5 Soviet Women
championships in 1951, 1953, 1956,
1957 (lost the play-off to
Borisenko), and 1958 (lost the play-
off to Volpert). She lived in Minsk
where she was an engineer and
taught chess. In 1959, she won the
Women's Candidates tournament
and played for the world women's
championship. In 1959 she lost to
Bykova for the title in Moscow,
winning 2, losing 6, and drawing 5.
She was married to GM Alexey
Suetin.
Arne Zwaig (1947- ) is a Norwegian

the Norwegian Championship in
1964 and 1969. He played on the
Norwegian chess Olympiad team in
1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1972, and
1974.
Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was an

Austrian biographer and novelist. He
committed suicide in Brazil in 1942
out of a sense of loneliness. His last
novel, The Royal Game, was
published posthumously in the
March 1944 issue of Woman's Home
Companion. Yugoslav idiot-savant
(Mirko Czentovic) who becomes
chess champion of the world. He
plays a Dr. B (Viennese lawyer) who
recently escaped from a prison
hospital after being tortured by the
Nazis. Dr. B studied chess in prison
to prevent going insane.
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Sverre Johannes Aarseth (1934- ) is

Nijat Azad oglu Abasov (1995- ) is

Farid Abbasov (1979- ) is a chess

Abbasov — Bajarani, Baku, 2010 1.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2004) is an

Lalith — Abdusattoriv, Moscow

Thal Abergel (1982- ) is a French

Neelotpal — Anupama, Calcutta

Arthur Abolianin (1966- ) is an

Van Leeuwen — Abolianin, Gent

IstvAn Abonyi (1886-1942) was a

Abonyi — Hromadka, Prague 1908

Gerald Abrahams (1907-1980) was a

NN - Abrahams, England 1929 1.d4

Tatev Abrahamyan (1988- ) is a

Aryam Abreu-Delgado (1978- ) is a

Leonardas Abramavicius (1900-

Abramavicius — Mezgailis, Munich

Lev Yakovlevich Abramov (1911-

Bosko Abramovic (1951- ) is a

Jude Frazer Acers (1944- ) was born

Steers - Acers, Santa Monica 1968

Armando Acevedo-Millan (1937- )

Acevedo — Fischer, Siegen 1970 1.

Peter Acs (1981- ) is a Hungarian

Van Wely — Acs, Netherlands 2002

Dr. Edmund Adam (1894-1958) was

Napolitano — E. Adam, Corr. 1950

Faneuil (Fan) Adams, Jr. (1923-

John Quincy Adams (1769-1848)

Michael Adams (1971- ) learned

Wickert - M. Adams, Islington 1992

Weaver Warren Adams (1901-1963)

W. Adams — Santasiere, Baltimore

Jan Adamski (1943- ) is a Polish

Robby Adamson (1970- ) is a FIDE

Mirabile — Adamson, World Open,

William Grady Addison (1933-

Addison - Kostro, Havana 1966 1.d4

Dr. Georgy Maximovich Adelson-

Walter Ader-Hausman (1913-?) was

Baskaran Adhiban (1992- ) is a

Adhiban- Al Ansi, Iraq 2014 1. d4

Utut Adianto-Wahyuwidayat (1965-

Adianto - Neamtu, Biel 1994 1.d4 d5

Ahmed Adly (1987- ) is an Egyptian

Andras Adorjan (1950- ) is a

Spassov — Adorjan, Sochi 1977

Naira Agababean (1951- ) is a

Agababean — Shaughnessy, Turin

Djakhangir Agaragimov (1986- ) is

Simen Agdestein (1967- ) is

Agdestein - Quinteros, Tessaloniki

Gamil Aghamaliyev (1974- ) is an

Robert Aghasaryan (1994) is an

Hyacinth Agnel (1799-1871) was a

Georgy Tadzhiyevich Agzamov

Agzamov - Gulko, Sochi 1985 1.d4

Carl Ahlhausen (1835-1892), was

Esam Aly Ahmed (1964-2003) was