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 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 not yet a British citizen. In 2005, he was awarded the GM title. In 2007, he won the 94th British Championship. In 2010, he reached 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 awarded the International Master 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 rating was 2502 in 2014. 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 rating was 2526 in 2003. 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 rating was 2616 in 2004. 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. His peak rating was 2588 in 2003. 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. His peak rating was 2535 in 2009. 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 Championship. In 2017, he won the 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 peak rating was 2415 in 1988. 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 Championship. In 2013, he won the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba. His peak rating was 2726 in 2011. 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 Championship. In 2014, he won the 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 1969, he was awarded the 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 Woman Grandmaster (1998) from 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 peak rating was 2502 in 2005. 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 Championship. In 2012, he won the 65th Russian Championship. His peak rating was 2743 in 2016. 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2006). In 2005, he won the European under-16 Youth Chess Championship. In 2006, he won the Worl Junior Chess Championship. In 2016, he won the Armenian Championship. His peak rating was 2645 in 2011. 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 Championship. In 2015, he won the Serbian Championship. Mikhail Antipov (1997- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (2013). He became a GM at the age of 16. In 2015, he won the World under-20 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2588 in 2017. David Anton-Guijarro (1995- ) is a Spanish Grandmaster (2013). His peak rating was 2679 in 2017. 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 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2614 in 2010. Rogelio Antonio (1962- ) is a Filipino Grandmaster (1993). His peak rating was 2589 in 2011. 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 Grandmaster (1995). In 1990, he won the Paris Championship. His peak rating was 2560 in 1996. 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 rating was 2506 in 2009. 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 peak rating was 2608 in January 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 International Master (1996) from 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 Championship. In 2005, he won the 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 1995, he won the World under-10 Championship. His peak rating was 2582 in 2012. Goran Arsovic (1967- ) is an International Master (1994) from 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 Russian Grandmaster (2014). In 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 Championship. In 2009, he won the 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 championship in 1999, 2007, and 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 championship in 1895, 1897, and 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 awarded the International Master 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (2006). In 2007, he won the Ukrainian Championship. His peak rating was 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 rating was 2668 in 2009. 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 peak rating was 2702 in 2003. 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 Championship. His peak rating was 2518 in 2011. Vlastimil Babula (1973- ) is a Czech Grandmaster (1997). In 1993, he 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 Cuban Grandmaster (2012). Axel Bachmann (1989- ) is a Paraguayan Grandmaster (2007). In 2015, he took 1st place at the World Open. He has played for Paraguay in 5 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating 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. His peak rating was 2749 in 2013. 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 Chess Championship 3 times. In 2016, he won the World over-50 Senior Championship. His peak rating was 2524 in 2010. 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 Manhattan Chess Club. In 1889, he 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 awarded the International Master 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 2003, he won the European under-16 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2665 in 2012. 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 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2646 in 2014. 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 peak rating was 2619 in 2014. 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 Grandmaster (2011). His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (1953). He won the 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. His peak rating was 2555 in 1987. 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 2006 and 2010. His peak rating was 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 2003, he won the European under-18 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Championship. In 1983, he won the 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 International Master (1980) from 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 Championship 4 times. 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 Grandmaster (1997). He has won the French Championship 3 times. His peak rating was 2679 in 2012. 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 rating was 2614 in 2009. 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 (1854-1917) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Grandmaster (1975). He won the 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. His peak rating was 2710 in 1997. 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 International Master (1974) from 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 Championship. In 2001, he won the 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 International Master (1977) and 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 Grandmaster (2003). In 2007, he won the Moscow championship. His peak rating was 2641 in 2010. 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 peak rating was 2557 in 2011. 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 Grandmaster (2004). He won the 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 the 5th World Correspondence 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 Grandmaster (1985). He was 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 2006, at the age of 21, he was the 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 Russian Grandmaster (1999). In 1993, he won the Russian Chess Championship. In 1999, he won the Ukrainian Championship. His peak rating was 2576 in 1999. 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_moxon.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 Grandmaster (1990). He has won the German blitz championship 11 times. He won the German Chess Championship in 2013 and 2015. His peak rating was 2569 in 2009. Arthur Bisguier (1929-2017) was an American Grandmaster (1956). He 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 International Master (1953). He was 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 Grandmaster (2001). In 2002, he won the Bermuda Open. His peak rating was 2546 in 2002. 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 Grandmaster (2005). His peak rating was 2581 in 2008. He has a degree in computer science. Dmitry Bocharov (1982- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (2003). In 2015, he won the Russian Blitz Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2647 in 2009. 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 (1973) and Correspondence Grandmaster (1975). He won the 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 8th World Correspondence Championship, 1975-1980, he placed 11th-12th. He did not play in the 9th World Correspondence Championship, but took 7th place in the 10th World Correspondence 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 International Master (1963) from Bosnia. He played in 10 Yugoslav championships. His occupation is journalist and radio reporter. Sebastian Bogner (1991- ) is a German-Swiss Grandmaster (2009). His peak rating was 2604 in 2014. 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 awarded the International Master 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 Grandmaster (2008). In 2011, he won the 48th Canadian Open Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 Championship in 1953, 1957, and 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 Correspondence Grandmaster (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 the 4th World Correspondence 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (2015). He won the World under-18 Championship in 2014. His peak rating was 2588 in 2016. 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 Woman Grandmaster (1993) from 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 rating was 2515 in 1993. 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 Grandmaster (2008). In 2006, he won the World under-18 Chess Championship. In 2009, he won the 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 Grandmaster (2007). In 2010, he 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: "That’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 Championship. He has won the 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 Championship. He has won the Cuban Championship 5 times. In 2013, he took 1st place at the World Open. Stellan Brynell (1962- ) is a Swedish Grandmaster (2001). He won the Swedish Championship in 1991 and 2005. His peak rating was 2534 in 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 Grandmaster (2012). His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (1994). His peak rating 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/1153/1153-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 rating was 2440 in 1971. 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 Grandmaster (2010). He won the 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 awarded the International Master 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 Championship. In 2017, he won the 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 2018, he was ranked #2 in the world. 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 Grandmaster (1985). In 2009, he won the 19th World Senior Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 (1891-1974) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Grandmaster (1983). He won the 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Women's World Championship 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 1992, he was awarded the Grandmaster title in Silent Chess. Valery A. Chekhov (1955- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (1984). In 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 Championship. In 2000, he won the 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 Russian Grandmaster (2000). His peak rating was 2597 in 2011. 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 rating was 2560 in 1988. 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 Grandmaster (2016). He became a 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 Championship in 1980, 1983, and 2002 (defeating Nick deFirmian in the playoff). He took 2nd place in the World Junior Championship 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 Grandmaster (1995). In 2000, he won the Belgian Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 (1874-1965) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Grandmaster (2001). His peak rating 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 rating was 2543 in 2004. 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 peak rating was 2490 in 1971. 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, Her peak rating was 2542 in 2017. 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 international chess tournament (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. Correspondence Chess 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 rating was 2657 in 2017. Matthiew Cornette (1985- ) is a French Grandmaster (2008). In 2016, he won the French Chess Championship. He is married to Lituanian WGM Deimante Cornette. His peak rating was 2611 in January 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 championship in 1956, 1959, 1961, 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) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 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 peak rating was 2585 in 1994. 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 Grandmaster (2006). In 2005, he won the European under-18 Championship. His peak rating was 2575 in 2007. He has a Master of Laws degree. Moshe Czerniak (1910-1084) was an International Master (1952) and 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 1962, he was awarded the International Master title, and the Grandmaster title in 1964. In 1964, 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 rating was 2625 in 2006. 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. Her peak rating was 2521 in 2011. Oganes Danielian (1974-2016) was an Armenian Grandmaster (1999). In 1992, he was 2nd in the World under-18 Championship. His peak rating was 2530 in 2009. Henrik Danielsen (1966- ) is a Danish-Icelandic Grandmaster (1996). In 2009, he won the Icelandic Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2545 in 2011. 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 Grandmaster (2013). His peak rating 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 awarded the International Master 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 1982, he was awarded the International Master title. In 1987, he won the British Rapidplay Chess Championship. In 1993, he was awarded the Grandmaster title. He 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 rating was 2524 in 2009. 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/interview/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 Grandmaster (1985). In 1983, he won the Canadian Open Championship. In 1986, he won the 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 2000. His best Elo rating was 2610 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 2004. His best Elo rating was 2556 in 2004. Jesus de la Villa (1958- ) is a Spanish Grandmaster (1999). He won the Spanish Championship in 1985 and 1988. His peak rating was 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 French Grandmaster (1998). In 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 Elo rating was 2602 in 2001. 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 peak rating was 2669 in 2005. Neuris Delgado-Ramirez is a Paraguayan Grandmaster (2002). His peak rating was 2631 in 2016. 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 Manhattan Chess Club 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 peak rating was 2482 in 2009. 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 Manhattan Chess Club 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 Manhattan Chess Club 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 awarded the International Master 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 international chess tournament (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 International Master (1978). In 1969, 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 Championship in 1955 and 1965. He was an accountant by profession. His peak rating was 2515 in 1974. Ding Liren (1992) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2009). He won the 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) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 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 Chess Championship. In 1991, he 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 1986, he was awarded the Grandmaster title. In 1987, he won the National Open in Las Vegas. In 1987 he tied for 3rd in the U.S. Championship. In 1988, he won the $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 Grandmaster (1988). His peak rating was 2580 in 1994. Sergey Viktorovich Dolmatov (1959- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (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 peak rating was 2630 in 1993. 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 Championship. He has won the 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 peak rating was 2394 in 2010. 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 Grandmaster (2013). In 2009, he won the European under-14 Chess Championship. In 2010, he won the World under-16 Championship. His peak rating was 2597 in 2016. 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 Correspondence Chess 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 peak rating was 2523 in 2011. Yuri Drozdovskij (1984- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2004). In 2006, he won the Europan Rapid Championship. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (2011). He became a GM at the age of 14 years, 11 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 Olympiads from 1928 to 1933. He 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 Championship. In 2014, he won the European Rapid Chess Championship. In 2015, he tied for 1st in the World Junior Championship. His peak rating was 2724 in January 2018. 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 2006, he won the World under-14 Chess Championship. In 2010, he 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 œ 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. His peak rating was 2615 in 2004. 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 Uzbekistani Grandmaster (2001). He 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 French Grandmaster (2009). In 2006, he won the European under-16 Chess Championship. In 2012, he tied for 1st in the French Championship. In 2014, he won the 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (2002). In 1999, he won the World under-14 Chess Championship. In 2006, he won the Ukrainian Championship. His peak rating was 2708 in 2011. 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 1999. He won the championship of Monaco in 2008 and 2015. His best Elo rating was 2540 in 1997. Jaan Ehlvest (1962- ) is an Estonian-American Grandmaster (1987). In 1980, he won the USSR Junior Championship. In 1981, he took 2nd 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). His peak rating was 2660 in 1996. 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 rating was 2611 in 2003. In 1921, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) won the Nobel Prize in 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 champion in 1947 and 1948. He was 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. His peak rating was 2527 in 2008. 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 Russian Grandmaster (2013). In 2012, he won the World under-16 Championship. In 2015, he won the 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (2001). In 2010, he was ranked #6 in the world. 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 rating was 2586 in 1999. Lucius Endzelins (1909-1981) was a Correspondence Grandmaster (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 Master (1950) and 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 Grandmaster (2007). In 2011, he won the Hungarian Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 Correspondence Championship (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 Correspondence Championship 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) was born on March 22, 1932 in 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 was inducted into the US Chess Hall 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 Russian Grandmaster (2005). His peak rating was 2569 in 2012. 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 peak rating was 2540 in 1993. 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (2002). In 1995, he won the European under-14 Championship. In 2012, he won the Paris Championship. His peak rating was 2674 in 2010. Alexei Fedorov (1972- ) is a Belarsian Grandmaster (1996). He won the Belarusian Championship 4 times. His peak rating was 2684 in 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 Russian Grandmaster (2011). In 2011, he won the Russian under-18 Chess Championship. In 2013, he won the European under-18 Championship. In 2017, he won the Aeroflot Open. In 2017, he tied for 1st in the European Championship. In 2017, he took 2nd in the World Rapid Chess championship. His peak rating was 2733 in 2017. 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 Championship 5 times. Sebastien Feller (1991- ) is a French Grandmaster (2007). In 2007, he won the French Junior Championship. In 2010, he won the 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 Chess Championship in 1984 and 1987. His FIDE rating is 2232. Antonio Fernandes (1962- ) is a Portuguese Grandmaster (2003). His peak rating was 2487 in 2003. 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 Grandmaster (2007). In 2005, he won the Brazilian Championship. His peak rating was 2653 in 2009. 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Manhattan Chess Club. In 1921, he 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 American Grandmaster (1992). In 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. From 1852 to 1859, he was the 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (1980). In 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 Argentine Grandmaster (2008). He won the Argentine Championship 4 times. His peak rating was 2628 in 2011. Mauricio Flores Rios (1990- ) is a Chilean Grandmaster (2009). His peak rating was 2537 in 2013. 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 Championship. He has won the 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 immigrated to the United States in 1991. He won the championship of 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 and 2014. His peak rating was 2720 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 Championship in 2008, 2012, and 2014. His peak rating was 2665 in 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 American Grandmaster (2008). He 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 (1912-2006) won the Nobel Prize in 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 championship in 1931, 1932, 1933, 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2012). In 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 Junior Championship. His peak rating was 2625 in 2007. 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 Polish Grandmaster (2006). In 2015, he won the Polish Championship. His peak rating was 2659 in 2014. Sergey Galdunts (1965- ) is an Armenian Grandmaster (2003). In 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 times. His peak rating was 2558 in 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 Grandmaster (2013). His peak rating 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 rating was 2495 in 1987. 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 Championship. In 1995, he won the World under-14 Championship. His peak rating was 2491 in 2003. 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. His peak rating was 2682 in 2013. He has a B.A. degree in Business marketing from the University of Texas at Brownsbille. Eldar Gasanov (1982- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2007). In 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 Championship 3 times. 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 Grandmaster (1997). In 1986, he won the Polish Junior Championship. In 1989, he took 2nd 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 peak rating was 2623 in 2007. 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 Championship. In 1987, he won the European Junior Championship. In 1988, he tied for 1st in the World Junior Championship. In 1989, he 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) was born on March 8, 1925 in 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 Grandmaster (2002). He won the Bulgarian championship in 1993 and 1999. His peak rating was 2526 in 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 rating was 2695 in 2001. 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 rating was 2573 in 2003. Stephan Gerzadowicz (1945- ) was a correspondence chess master. He played in five USCF Absolute Championships and one U.S. Correspondence Chess 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 (2009). His peak rating was 2676 in 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- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 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 Championship 4 times. In 2017, he 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (2016). His peak rating was 2618 in 2017. 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 Russian Grandmaster (1993). His peak rating was 2600 in 2011. 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 Grandmaster (1993). His peak rating was 2585 in 2000. Aleksey Goganov (1991) is a Russian Grandmaster (2013). He won the championshipaint Petersburg in 2008 and 2016. His peak rating was 2643 in 2016. 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 (1911-1993) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Woman Grandmaster (1999). She 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 Championship. In 2010, he won the Israeli Championship. His peak rating was 2606 in 2008. 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 peak rating was 2588 in 2013. Mikhail Golubev (1970- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster. In 1996, he won the Ukrainian Championship. His peak rating was 2570 in 1995. 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 Grandmaster (2004). He has won the Mexican Championship 8 times. Yuri GonzAlez-Videl (1981- ) is a Cuban Grandmaster (2008). David Simon Charles Goodman (1958- ) won the World Under-18 Championship in 1975. He was awarded the International Master 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. His peak rating was 2611 in 2010. 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 peak rating was 2556 in 2012. Daniel Gormally (1976- ) is an English Grandmaster (2005). His peak rating was 2573 in 2006. 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 Massachusetts Chess Association (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 Polish Grandmaster (2002). He finished 2nd in the Polish Championship in 1993 and 1995. In 1994, he won the Polish Blitz Championship. Boris Grachev (1986- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (2007). In 1995, he won the World under-10 Championship. In 2006, he won the 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. His peak rating was 2661 in 2004. 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 Championship. His peak rating was 2699 in 2016. Nils Grandelius (1993- ) is a Swedish Grandmaster (2010). In 2011, he won the European under-18 Championship. In 2015, he won the Swedish Championship. His peak rating was 2665 in 2017. 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 Grandmaster (1989). In 1984, he won the Israeli Championship. His peak rating was 2610 in 1994. John Grefe (1947-2013) was an International Master (1975) from 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 rating was 2563 in 2000. 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2008). In 2010, he won the Armenian Championship. His peak rating was 2622 in 2011. Karen H. Grigoryan (1995- ) is an Armenian Grandmaster (2013). In 2008, he won the Armenian under-14 Championship. In 2010, he won the European under-16 Championship. His peak rating was 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 (1983- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (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 2009, he won the Russian Championship. He has won the World Blitz Championship 3 times. In 2014, he was ranked #3 in the world. He is married to Ukrainian grandmaster Natalia Zhukova. His peak rating was 2810 in 2014. 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. His peak rating was 2528 in 1999. 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 Argentine Grandmaster (1960). He won the Argentina Championship 3 times. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (1994- ) is an Indian Grandmaster (2013). In 2008, he won the World under-14 Championship. His peak rating was 2721 in 2017. Namig Guliyev (1974- ) is an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2005). His peak rating was 2617 in 2009. 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 awarded the International Master 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. Chess Championship in 1994 and 1999. He is the only player to have won the chess championship of both the USSR and the USA. His peak rating was 2644 in 2000. 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 Woman Grandmaster (2010). She won the Russian Women's Championship 3 times. In 2012, she won the Women's World Blitz Championship. In 2014, she won the Russian Women's Rapid Championship. In 2015, she won the 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 Grandmaster (2008). He has won the Commonwealth Chess Championship 4 times. In 2008, he won the World Junior Championship. In 2016, he won the Reykjavik Open. His peak rating was 2667 in 2012. Dmitry Gurevich (1956- ) is a Grandmaster (1983) who was born 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 rating was 2580 in 1997. Dmitry Gurevich (1956- ), born in Moscow, is an American Grandmaster (1983). He has won the US Open 4 times. He has won the National Open 6 times. His peak rating was 2580 in 1997. 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 Grandmaster (2003). In 1994, he won the German under-15 Championship. In 1996, he won the German under-17 Championship. In 2001, he won te German Blitz Championship. In 2011, he won the 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 œ 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (1996). In 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 Olympiads. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (2002). His peak rating 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 Chess Championship. In 2013, he 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 Championship in 2013 and 2017. His peak rating was 2705 in 2016. 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 Indonesian Grandmaster (1994). He 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 Manhattan Chess Club 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 peak rating was 2635 in 1992. 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 Grandmaster (2013). He has won the Alberta Championship 4 times. In 2011, he tied for 1st in the Canadian Championship. In 2012, he won the 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 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating 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 peak rating was 2543 in 2016. 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 Championship. He won the 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 championship in 1973, 1974, 1975, 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 peak rating was 2522 in 2009. Ronen Har-Zvi (1976- ) is an Israeli Grandmaster (1995). In 1992, he won the Wrold uner-16 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2515. He works as a stock trader. Dr. Stewart Haslinger (1981- ) is an English Grandmaster (2008). In 1993, he won the British under-12 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2559 in 2010. He has a PhD degree in mathematics from Liverpool University. Arnaud Hauchard (1971- ) is a French Grandmaster (2000). In 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 English Grandmaster (2014). In 2014 and 2015, he won the British Championship. His peak rating was 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 1998, at the age of 83, he was the 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 2010, he won the Armenian Chess 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 Grandmaster (1992). He won the British Rapidplay Championship 7 times. His peak rating was 2567 in 2001. Bartlomiej Heberla (1985- ) is a Polish Grandmaster (2006). In 2001, he won the Polish under-16 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 Correspondence Grandmaster (1999). In 2002, he won the Swedish Championship. His peak rating was 2590 in 2002. Hermann Heemsoth (1909-2006) was a German correspondence champion in 1954 and 1969. He 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 German Grandmaster (2016). His peak rating was 2603 in 2017. 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 (1901-1976) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Grandmaster (2004). In 2006, he won the Swedish Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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, he was awarded the International 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 Championship in 2007 and 2008. His peak rating was 2618 in 2009. 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 Championship. In 2000, she won the 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 Grandmaster (1988). He was 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. His peak rating was 2630 in 2000. 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 Grandmaster (2012). In 2008, he won the US Cadet Championship. In 2014, he won the US Open. His peak rating was 2574 in 2014. Karoly Honfi (1930-1996) was a Hungarian Grandmaster (1996). In 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 Bangladeshi Grandmaster (2531). He won the Bangladshi Chess Championship in 1997 and 2006. His peak rating was 2531 in 2009. 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 became a GM at the age of 14 years, 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2010). In 2011, he won the Armenian Chess Championship. In 2011, he tied for 1st in the World Junior Championship. His peak rating was 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 2014. His peak rating was 2712 in 2015. James Howell (1967- ) is an English Grandmaster (1995). His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (1994). In 1994, he won the Czech Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 International Master (1971). In 1968, 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 rating was 2570 in 2002. 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 Women's Championship in 1978. 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 German Grandmaster (2012). In 2010, he won the German Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2601 in 2017. Alexander Huzman (1962- ) is a Ukrainian-Israeli Grandmaster (1991). He played for Israel in 5 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (1993). In 1991, he tied for 1st in the USSR under-26 Chess Championship. In 2004, he tied for 1st in the US Open. In 2006, he tied for 1st in the World Open. His peak rating was 2637 in 2006. Pouya Idani (1995- ) is an Iranian Grandmaster (2014). In 2013, he won the World under-18 Chess Championship. Miguel Illescas-Cordoba (1965- ) is a Spanish Grandmaster (1988). He won the Spanish Chess Championship 8 times. His peak rating was 2640 in 1996. Max Illingworth (1992- ) is an Australian Grandmaster (2016). In 2014, he won the Australian championship. In 2017, he won the 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. In 1976, he won the championship 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 2002, he won the Russian under-20 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 rating was 2651 in 2012. 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 rating was 2520 in 1997. 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 2014 and 2015. His peak rating was 2662 in 2017. He is fluent in 5 languages. Dean Ippolito (1979- ) is an International Master (1999). In 1988, 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 Uzbekistani Grandmaster (1997). He won the Uzbekistani championship in 1993 and 2003. His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (1988) from the 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. His peak rating was 2787 in 2007. 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 Grandmaster (2000). He has won the Serbian Championship 4 times. His peak rating was 2665 in 2016. 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 International Master title in 1981. He represented Canada in the 1982 and 1988 Chess Olympiads. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 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 Božidar 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 Championship 3 times. He has 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 Grandmaster (2002). In 2000, he 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 rating was 2660 in 2006. 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. In 1915, he won the championship 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 Russian Grandmaster (2001). In 2001, he won the World under-18 Chess Championship. In 2012, he 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 Grandmaster (2002). He won the 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 rating was 2565 in 2015. 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 Grandmaster (2006). His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (2003). He won the Swiss Championship in 2003 and 2005. Sriram Jha (1976- ) is an Indian Grandmaster (2010). His peak rating 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. His peak rating was 2734 in 2012. Leif Erlend Johannessen (1980- ) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (2002). His peak rating was 2564 in 2005. 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 championship 6 times (1984, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2002, and 2012). He has played for Australia in 14 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 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. Correspondence Chess 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 peak rating was 2604 in 2017. 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 inducted into the US Chess Hall of 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 Correspondence Chess Championship. He took last place in the 10th World Chess Correspondence Championship (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 Correspondence Chess 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 Grandmaster (1995). His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (1996). In 1989, he won the World under-12 Chess Championship. In 1991, he won the World under-14 Championship. His peak rating was 2540. He has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Gata Kamsky (1974- ) is a Grandmaster (1990) who was born 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 Championship. In 2006, he won the 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) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 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 Championship. In 2016, he won the 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. His peak rating was 2780 in 1994. 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 Indian Grandmaster (2015). In 2011, he won the World under-12 Chess Championship. In 2013, he won the World under-16 Championship. He won the Indian championship in 2015 and 2016. His peak rating was 2580 in January 2018. 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 Grandmaster (1997) from Uzbekistan. In 1998, he was Asian Champion. He took 2nd place in the World Junior Championship in 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 championship 11 times (1934, 1938, 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 won the World Junior 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 Grandmaster (2008). He was the 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 awarded the Grandmaster title in 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 represented the USA in the Chess 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 rating was 2625 in 1974. He was a 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. His peak rating was 2653 in 2009. 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 peak rating was 2510 in 1977. 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 Polish Grandmaster (1996). In 1995, he won the World Youth Chess Championship in Brazil. He won the Polish Championship in 1997 and 2001. His peak rating was 2627 in 2005. Edvins Kengis (1959- ) is a Latvian Grandmaster (1991). He has won the 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 International Master (1995) and 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 Grandmaster (2007). In 2005, he won the World under-18 Chess Championship. In 2010, he won the St. Petersburg Championship. His peak rating was 2660 in 2013. 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 Russian Grandmaster (1992). In 1990, he won the Russian National Championship. In 2000, he tied for 1st in the European Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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, German Grandmaster (1992). His peak rating was 2670 in 2012. 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. His peak rating was 2714 in 2014. Ratmir Kholmov (1925-2006) was a Soviet Grandmaster (1960) and 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 rating was 2546 in 2005. He has a Master's degree in Neuro-linguistic programming. Daniel John King (1963- ) is an English Grandmaster (1989). His peak rating was 2560. In 1907, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) won the Nobel Prize in 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. From 1935 to 1958, he was the Problem Editor of Chess magazine. Nino Kirov-Ivanov (1945) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (1975). He 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 Grandmaster (1988). In 1985, he 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 rating was 2565 in 1979. 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 Russian Grandmaster (1997). In 1994, he won the European inde-16 Championship. His peak rating was 2679 in 2011. Alexander Kochyev (1956- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (1977). In 1972, he won the USSR Junior Championship. In 1975, he won the 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 Russian Grandmaster (2007). In 1999, he won the World under-18 Championship. His peak rating was 2651 in 2017. Atanas Kolev (1967- ) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (1993). His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (2017). His peak rating 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 peak rating was 2623 in 2009. Imre Konig (1901-1992) was an International Master (1951). He was 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 Grandmaster (1983). He won the 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 (1919-1995) was a Russian 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 Chess Championship 3 times. In 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 Grandmaster (2013). In 2003, he won the Commonwealth under-16 Chesss Championship. His peak rating was 2512 in 2103. He has a 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). His peak rating was 2671 in 2006. Anton Korobov (1985- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2003). He has won the Ukrainian Championship twice, in 2000 and 2012. In 2013, he won the European Blitz Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2723 in 2014. 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 Russian Grandmaster (2000). In 2003, he tied for 2nd in the Russian Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2620 in 2007. 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. His peak rating was 2580 in 1995. Vsevolod Kosenkov (1930-1995) was a Correspondenc Chess Grandmaster (1979). He took 3rd place in 8th World Correspondece Chess Championship (1975-1979). 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 Russian Grandmaster (2011). In 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 Championship. Her peak rating was 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 peak rating was 2581 in 2010. 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 Championship in 2005 and 2016. In 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2006). In 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 times. His peak rating was 2628 in 2008. Pavel Kotsur (1974- ) is a Kazakhstani Grandmaster (1996). His peak rating was 2607 in 2004. 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 Chess Championship. His peak 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 peak rating was 2702 in 2015. Vladislav Kovalev (1994- ) is a Belarusian Grandmaster (2013). He won the Belarus Junior Championship 3 times. Anton Kovalyov (1992- ) is a Ukrainian-born Canadian Grandmaster (2008). He won the 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. His peak rating was 2663 in 2017. 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 peak rating was 2605 in 2015. Zdenko Kozul (1966- ) is a Croatian Grandmaster (1989). In 2006, he won the European Chess Championship. He won the Yugoslavia Championship in 1989 and 1990. His peak rating was 2640 in 2004. Dr. Jesse Kraai (1972- ) is an American Grandmaster (2007). He 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 Championship 5 times. In 2013, he 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 Grandmaster (1998). In 1994, he was 2nd in the World under-16 Chess Championship. Vladimir Kramnik (1975- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (1992) and 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. His peak rating was 2817 in 2016. 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 (1989). His peak rating was 2702 in 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 peak rating was 2703 in 2000. 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (2009). In 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 Grandmaster (2012). He has won the Danish Championship 3 times. In 2012, he won the World Seniors Chess Championship. Stefan Kristjansson (1982- ) is an Icelandic Grandmaster (2011). His peak rating was 2503 in 2014. Nikolai Vladimirovich Krogius (1930- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (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 rating was 2575 in 1971. 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 Argentine Grandmaster (2017). Yuriy Kryvoruchko (1986- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2006). In 2013, he won the Ukrainian Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 Polish Grandmaster (1993). In 1987, 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 Grandmaster (2001). He has won the Estonian Chess Championship 8 times. His peak rating was 2609 in 2011. Adam Kuligowski (1955- ) is a Polish Grandmaster (1980). In 1973, he won the Polish Junior Chess Championship. In 1978, he won the Polish Championship. His peak rating was 2495 in 1979. Dharshan Kumaran (1975- ) is an English Grandmaster (1997). In 1986, he won the World under-12 Championship. In 1991, he won the World under-16 Championship. He is a Neuroscientist. Vitaly Kunin (1983- ) is a German Grandmaster (2006). His peak rating was 2595 in 2016. Abhijit Kunte (1977- ) is an Indian Grandmaster (2000). He won the 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 championship in 1936, 1938, and 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 Championship in 1972 and 2003. His peak rating was 2580 in 1981. 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 Grandmaster (1974). He was the 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (1973). He 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 Championship in 1969, 1989, and 1999. His peak rating was 2600 in 1974. Yuriy Kuzubov (1990- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2004). He 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 Champion. In 2014, he won the 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 Grandmaster (2005). In 2015, he won the Reykjavik Open. His peak rating was 2651 in 2014. 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 Russian Grandmaster (2007) and Woman Grandmaster (2002). In 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 Grandmaster (1988). His peak rating 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 an Indian Grandmaster (2012). In 2012, he won the Commenwealth Chess Championship. In 2017, he won the Indian championship. In 1955, Willis Eugene Lamb (1913-2008) shared the Nobel Prize in 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 Russian Grandmaster (1995). His peak rating was 78 in 2007. Benjamin M. Landey (1912-1981) was a former president of the Massachusetts Chess Association 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 Gräditz, 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 Grandmaster (1992). In 1993, he 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 Women's World Championship 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 Russian Grandmaster (1997). In 2001, he tied for 1st in the Russian Chess Championship. In 2002, he won the Russian Championship. His peak rating was 2659 in 2010. 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 peak rating was 2687 in 2002. He 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 Grandmaster (2007). He won the Philippines Chess Championship in 2004 and 2006. His peak rating was 2556 in 2010. Vladimir Lazarev (1964- ) is a Russian-French Grandmaster (2000). His peak rating was 2490 in January 2018. He is married to WGM Anda Safranska. Viktor Laznicka (1988- ) is a Czech Grandmaster (2006). In 2007, he tied for 1st in the Czech Open. In 2010, he won the World Open. His peak rating was 2704 in 2012. Le Quang Liem (1991- ) is a Vietnamese Grandmaster (2006). In 2005, he won the World under-14 Chess Championship. In 2013, he won the World Blitz Chess Championship. In 2017, he took 2nd in the World pen. He has a B.S. in Finance and a B.A. in Management from Webster University. His peak rating was 2739 in 2017. 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 Championship. In 1965, he won the 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 Grandmaster (2014). In 2017, she 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 1996, he won the World under-18 Championship. He has won the 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 Woman Grandmaster (1977). She won the Bulgarian Women's Championship in 1972 and the Swiss Women's Championship in 1983. 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 Grandmaster (2010). He was the 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 peak rating was 2636 in 2015. 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 Olympiads. His peak rating was 2485 in 1971. Luka Lenic (1988- ) is a Slovenian Grandmaster (2007). In 2002, he won the World under-14 Chess Championship. He has won the Slovenian Championship 4 times. His peak rating was 2659 in 2014. 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 Chess Compositions (1966). He was 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 Championship 3 times. In 1989, he 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 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 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 Grandmaster (2002). His peak rating was 2559 in 2009. Awonder Liang (2003- ) is an American Grandmaster (2017). He 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 Grandmaster (2004). His peak rating was 2588 in 2000. Liang Jinrong (1960- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (1997). He won the Chinese Championship in 1995 and 2000. His peak rating was 2536 in 2000. Vladimir Liberzon (1937-1996) was a Russian-born Israeli Grandmaster (1965). He was the champion of Moscow in 1963 and 1964. He played in 5 USSR chess 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 Championship in 2009 and 2010. 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. From 1951 to 1960, he was the 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 Grandmaster (1997). He has won the Brazilian Chess Championship 3 times. He has played for Brazil in 11 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating 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 Chess Compositions (1980). He was 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 Russian Grandmaster (2009). In 2007, he won the Russian under-18 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2575 in 2011. 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 Soviet International Master (1950). 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 Grandmaster (2015). His peak rating 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 Championship in 1977 and 1982. In 1983, he was ranked 3rd in the world. He played for Yugoslavia in 12 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (1982). In 1978, he won the German Junior Chess Championship. In 1980 and 1984, he won the West German Championship. His peak rating was 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 the World Junior Championship in 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 Championship 4 times. His peak rating was 2640 in 2005. 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 Grandmaster (2011). In 2014, he won the World Junior Chess Championship. In 2016, he won the Asian Blitz Championship. His peak rating was 2638 in 2017. Erik Lundin (1904-1988) was a Swedish International Master (1950) and an Honorary Grandmaster (1983). He won the Swedish Chess championship 7 times. He played for 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 Correspondence Chess 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 Championship 5 times. His peak rating was 2660 in 2014. Thomas Luther (1969- ) is a German Grandmaster (1994). He has won the 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 Russian Grandmaster (1974). He won the Moldovan Chess Championship 6 times. He took 3rd place in the 1968/69 USSR Championship. His peak rating was 2545. Christopher Lutz (1971- ) is a German Grandmaster (1992). He won the German Chess Championship in 1995 and 2001. His peak rating was 2655 in 2002. 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 Grandmaster (2007). In 2004, he won the Russian Junior Rapid Chess Championship. In 2012, he won the Moscow Open. In 2014, he won the Russian Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2700 in 2015. Ma Qun (1991- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2013). In 2014, he tied for 1st in the 89th Hastings International Chess Congress. His peak rating was 2645 in January 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 Polish Grandmaster (1999). In 1994, he won the Polish under-18 Chess Championship. In 2002, he won the 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 Spanish Grandmaster (1994). In 1983, he won the Catalan and Spanish youth chess championships. In 1990, he won the Spanish Chess Championship. He played for Spain in 7 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 2593 in 2010. Elmar Magerramov (1958- ) was the first Azerbaijani Grandmaster (1992). In 1991, he tied for 1st in the 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. His peak rating was 2586 in 2011. Parham Maghsoodloo (2000) is an Iranian Grandmaster (2016). He won the Iranian Chess Championship in 2017. His peak rating was 2590 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 Russian Grandmaster (1976). In 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 rating was 2550 in 1991. Vladimir Makogonov (1904-1992) was a Soviet International Master (1950) and an Honorary Grandmaster (1987). He won the 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 Russian Grandmaster (1998). In 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 Championship 3 times. His peak rating was 2635 in 1993. Burkhard Malich (1936- ) is a German Grandmaster (1975). In 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 peak rating was 2535 in 1977. He has a PhD in History and is a retired university lecturer. Vidmantas Malisaukas (1963- ) is a Lithuanian Grandmaster (1993). He won the Lithuanian Chess champiobship 6 times. His peak rating was 2570 in 1993. Harald Valdemar Malgrem (1904-1957) was a Swedish Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1953). In 1942, he won the Swedish Correspondence Chess Championship. He tied for 2nd in the first World Correspondence Chess Championship (1950-1953). Nijat Mammadov (1985- ) is an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2006). In 1999, he won the European under14 chess championship. He won the Azerbaijan Chess Championship in 2011. His peak rating was 2624 in 2014. Rauf Mamedov (1988- ) is an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2004). In 2004, he won the European under-14 Championship. He has won the Azerbaijani championship 3 times. His peak rating was 2709 in 2017. 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. His peak rating was 2804 in January 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (1993). He has won the Romanian Chess championship 3 times. He has played for Romania in 10 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating 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 Chess Federation from 2003 to 2005. Sergio Mariotti (1946- ) was the first Italian Grandmaster (1974). In 1966, he won the Italian Junior Championship. He was Italian champion in 1969 and 1971. He was 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 Serbian Grandmaster (1978). In 1979, he won at Belgrade with 8 wins and 5 draws. Jan Markos (1985- ) is a Slovakian Grandmaster (2007). He has won the championship of Slovakia 3 times. His peak rating was 2602 in 2014. 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 times. His peak rating was 2632 in 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 Championship. In 1949, he won the 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). His peak rating was 2480 in 2008. 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 peak rating was 2525 in 1976. He 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. His peak rating was 2730 in 2017. Robin Charles Oliver Matthews (1937-2010) was an International 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 Yugoslav Grandmaster (1965). He won the Yugoslav Championship in 1965 and 1967. He played for Yugoslavia in 5 Chess Olympiads. 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 rating was 2530 in 1974. 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 Grandmaster (2007). His peak rating 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 English Grandmaster (1996). His peak rating was 2500 in 1996. 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 peak rating was 2659. 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 rating was 2500 in 1998. He has a 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 peak rating was 2635 in 1977. 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 International Master (1950). He was 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 Indonesian Grandmaster (2004). He became a GM at age 17. He has won the Indonesian Championship 4 times. His peak rating was 2569 in 2007. Georg Meier (1987- ) is a German Grandmaster (2007). His peak rating 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 Championship. His peak rating was 2529 in 2006. Krikor Mekhitarian (1986- ) is a Brazilian Grandmaster (2010). His peak rating was 2572 in 2014. Hrant Melkumyan (1989- ) is an Armenian Grandmaster (2009). In 2011, he won the European Blitz Championship. His peak rating was 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 (1852-1931) won the Nobel Prize in 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 1991 and 2006. His peak rating was 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 (1996). In 2008, he tied for 1st in the 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 Serbian Grandmaster (1993). In 1993, he won the World Junior Championship. He was once married to WGM Anna-Maria Botsari. His peak rating was 2630 in 2004. 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 1974, he won the World Junior 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 Yugoslav Grandmaster (1977). He 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 peak rating was 2705 in 2008. 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 times. His peak rating was 2620 in 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 Yugoslav International Master (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 2003 and 2008. His peak rating was 2696 in 2009. Azer Mirzoev (1978- ) is an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2001). His peak rating was 2617 in 2009. Aleksander Mista (1983- ) is a Polish Grandmaster (2004). His peak rating was 2625 in 2014. Kamil Miton (1984- ) is a Polish Grandmaster (2002). In 1996, he won the World under-12 Championship. In 2005, he tied for 1st in the 33rd World Open. His peak rating was 2655 in 2007. 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 Championship. In 1928, he was 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 Grandmaster (1997). His peak rating 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (1999). In 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 peak rating was 2585 in 2014. He has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, and an MBA. Wojciech Moranda (1988- ) is a Polish Grandmaster (2009). His peak rating was 2593 in 2014. 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 Championship. In 1981, he won the Chilean Championship. He has played for Chile in 13 Chess Olympiads. Alexander Moroz (1961-2009) was a Ukrainian Grandmaster (1999). He 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 in 7 Chess Olympiads. His peak 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 1887, he took last place out of 10 players in London with 0 points. In 1902, he took last place out of 20 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 1978, he won the World under-17 Championship. He has won the Scottish Championship 7 times. His peak rating was 2552 in 2004. He 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 Russian Grandmaster (2000). In 2001, he won the Russian Championship. In 2014, he won the European Championship. In 2017, he won the Russian Rapid Championship. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (2016). In 2016, he 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 Armenian Grandmaster (1994). In 1981, he won the Armenian Championship. In 2017, he won the European Senior Chess Championship (50+). Martin Mrva (1971- ) is a Slovakian Grandmaster (2005). In 1989, he won the Slovakia Championship. He peak rating was 2512 in 2005. 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 German Grandmaster (1986). His 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 was awarded the International 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 peak rating was 2560 in 1989. He 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. His peak rating was 2490 in 2013. 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 Championship. In 2016, she won the 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 won the European under-10 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 a Russian Grandmaster (1999). He 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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. In 2014, he was ranked #1 in the 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 Chess Championship. He won the 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 Grandmaster (1953). He won the Italian Correspondence Chess Championship in 1941 and 1947. He tied for 2nd in the first World Correspondence Championship (1950-1953), behind Cecil Purdy. He took 2nd in the 2nd World Correspondence Championship (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 American Grandmaster (2013). He 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 (1928-2015) shared the Nobel Prize in 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 peak rating was 2596. David Navara (1985- ) is a Czech Grandmaster (2012). He has won the Czech Championship 7 times. His peak rating was 2751 in 2015. 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 Grandmaster (2012). He has won the Latvian Championsip 3 times. His peak rating was 2631 in 2016. 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 Chess Championship 3 times. In 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (1991). He 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 peak rating was 2601 in 2002. 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 International Master (1954). He was 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 Chess Championship. In 2002, he 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 Grandmaster (2003). He has won the Chinese Championship 3 times. In 2010, he won the Asian Chess Championship. In 2015, he won the 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. His peak rating was 2700 in 2010. 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 Olympiads. His peak rating was 2641 in 2006. Juraj Nikolac (1932- ) is a Croation Grandmaster (1979). His peak rating was 2500 in 1988. He is a retired physics teacher. Ionnis Nikolaidis (1971- ) is a Greek Grandmaster (1995). In 1995, he 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 championship. In 2015, he won the over-50 World Senior Championship. His peak rating was 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 Championship. His peak rating was 2706 in 2005. Jesus Nogueiras (1959- ) is a Cuban Grandmaster (1979). He won the Cuban championship 5 times. His peak rating was 2580 in 1993. 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 Grandmaster (1990). In 1999, he tied 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 Championship. In 1947, he won the 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 Championship. In 1975, he won the European Junior Championship. In 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 peak rating was 2630 in 1995. 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 Grandmaster (2003). In 2002, he tied for 1st in the European under-18 Championship. In 2008, he won the championship of Finland, scoring a perfect 9-0. His peak rating was 2656 in 2011. Illya Nyzhnyk (1996- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2011). In 2007, he won the European under-12 Championship. In 2007, he tied for 1st in the World under-12 Championship. In 2008, he won the 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. His peak rating was 2630 in 2013. 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 Correspondence Championship (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 Russian Grandmaster (2005). 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 Grandmaster (2007). He won the 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 Championship. In 215, he won the 65+ World Senior Championship. His peak rating was 2510 in 2000. 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (2005). In 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 Polish Grandmaster (2009). In 2009, he took 3rd in the World Junior Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2562 in 2010. 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 represented the USA in the Chess 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 Russian Grandmaster (2013). In 2014, he won the Russian Junior Championship. His peak rating was 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 Italian Grandmaster (2001). In 1978, he won the Cuban under-18 Championship. In 2009, he won the Italian Championship. Isan Reynaldos Ortiz-SuArez (1985- ) is a Cuban Grandmaster (2011). He has won the Cuban Championship 3 times. His peak rating was 2625 in 2015. Berge Ostenstad (1964- ) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (2003). He has won the Norwegian Championship 8 times. His peak rating was 2506 in 2004. Predrag Ostojic (1938-1996) was a Yugoslav Grandmaster (1975). He won the Yugoslav Championship in 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 Grandmaster (2014). His peak rating was 2515 in 2015. Mladen Palac (1971- ) is a Croatian Grandmaster (1993). He won the Croatian Championship in 2001 and 2004. His peak rating was 2551. Dr. Victor Palciauskas (1941- ), born in Lithuania, was the winner of the 10th World Correspondence 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 Championship in 1922. He won the 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 Grandmaster (2005). He became a GM at the age of 19. In 2013, he won the Danish Chess Championship. Alexander Nikolayevich Panchenko (1953-2009) was a Russian 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 Soviet International Master (1950). 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 rating was 2490 in 2008. Vasily Papin (1988- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (2011). His peak rating was 2583 in 2011. Mark Paragua (1984- ) is a Filipino Grandmaster (2005). He was the youngest Filipino master ever, at the age of 9. His peak rating was 2621 in 2006. David Paravyan (1998- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (2017). 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 Championship. His peak rating was 2650 in 2011. Bruno Parma (1941- ) was World Junior Chess Champion in 1961 and Slovene Grandmaster (1963). He won the Slovenian Chess Championship in 1959 and 1961. He 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. (source: Chess Review, May 1969, 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 peak rating was 2663 in 2009. He is married to WGM Maria Kursova. In 1958, Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) won the Nobel Prize in 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, immigrated to the United States in 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 Grandmaster (2001). He won the Swiss championship 6 times. His peak rating was 2624 in 2003. He 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 Grandmaster (1997). In 1998, he won the Chinese Championship. His peak rating was 2657 in 2000. He is 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 Championship. Her peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (1983). He won the 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 Correspondence Chess 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 Argentine Grandmaster (2004). Eugene Perelshteyn (1980- ), born in the Ukraine, is an American Grandmaster (2006). In 2000, he won the US Junior Closed Chess Championship. In 2001, he was 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 Argentine Grandmaster (2011). He became a GM at the age of 17. His peak rating was 2589 in 2017. 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. (source: Chess Review, May 1956, p. 133) In 1959, he was elected president of the New York State Chess Association. Nicholas Pert (1981- ) is an English Grandmaster (2004). In 1998, he won the World under-18 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2574. His twin brother, Richard Pert, is an International Master. Micholas has a degree in Mathematics and Statistics. Milos Perunovi? (1984- ) is a Serbian Grandmaster (2004). In 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 International Master title in 1979. He 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2009). His peak rating was 2504 in 2009. Tigran Levonovich Petrosian (1984- ) is an Armenian Grandmaster (2004). In 2012 and 2013, he won the Armenian Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2671 in 2015. 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 œ 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2017). In 2016, he wont he World under-18 Championship. In 2017, he took 2nd 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 German Grandmaster (1975). He 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 peak rating was 2545 in 1972. 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 1902, he won the championship of 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 Grandmaster (2016). In 2014, he won the World under-16 Chess Championship. He became a GM at age 17. His peak rating was 2577 in 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 Olympiads from 1952 to 1968. He won the East Germany Chess Championship 4 times. Evgeny Pigusov (1961- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (1987). His peak rating was 2623 in 2002. Jeroen Piket (1969- ) is a Dutch Grandmaster (1989). He won the 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 Argentine Grandmaster (1952). He 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 Grandmaster (1982). He won the Hungarian Championship in 1978 and 1980. Kacper Piorun (1991- ) is a Polish Grandmaster (2012). In 2007, he won the Polish under-16 Chess Championship. In 2013, he won the 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 Championship. He won the Yugoslavia (now Slovenia) championship 6 times. He played for Yugoslavia in 6 Chess Olympiads. He pronounced his name Vasya Peerts (source: Chess Review, May 1938, p. 122). In 1953, he was awarded the Grandmaster title. He 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 1926, he won the championship of 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 Championship. In 2012, she won the 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 Woman Grandmaster (1988). In 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 Championship. Her peak rating was 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 rating was 2577 in 2005. 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 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2764 in 2011. 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 Grandmaster (2007). In 2007, he won the Russian Junior Championship. In 2007, he won the World under-18 Championship. In 2012, he won the Moscow Championship. In 2015, he won the European Rapid Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (1961) and 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 Grandmaster (2012). In 2001, he won the Israeli Junior Championship and the National Open. His peak rating was 2674 in 2008. Vladimir Potkin (1982- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (2001). In 2011, he won the European Individual Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2684 in 2011. 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (1996). In 1995, he 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 Grandmaster (1982). He won the Soviet Championship in 1980 and 1981. He won the Israeli Championship in 1997 and 1999. His peak rating was 2625 in 1995. Stojan Puc (1921-2004) was a Slovenian International Master (1950) and an Honorary Grandmaster (1984). He won the Slovenian Championship 4 times. Cecil John Seddon Purdy (1906-1979) was an International Master (1951) and Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess (1953). He 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. His peak rating was 2620 in 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 in 6 Chess Olympiads. His peak 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 Yugoslav International Master (1950). In 1950, he won the gold medal on board 4 in the Dubrovnik Chess Olympiad. He was Yugoslav champion in 1951 and 1953. He 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 Šahovski 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 Championship. He played in 9 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 peak rating was 2793 in 2012. Ivan Radulov (1939- ) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (1972). He won the 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 Austrian Grandmaster (2008). He has won the Austrian Championship 3 times. His peak rating was 2703 in 2017. Viacheslav Ragozin (1908-1962) was a Soviet grandmaster (1950). In 1936 and 1945, he won the 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 Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1959), winning the 2nd world correspondence chess championship (1956-1959), œ 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 Bangladeshi Grandmaster (2002). His peak rating was 2570 in 2005. Dusan Rajkovic (1942-) is a Serbian Grandmaster (1977). In 1983, he tied for 1st in the Yugoslav Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 an Indian Grandmaster (2004). In 2002, he won the British Championship. In 2007, he won the 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (2010). His peak rating was 2752 in 2016. He became a GM at the age of 13 years, 11 months, and 6 days. In 2006, he won the European under-10 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 Russian Grandmaster (1980). He played in 8 Soviet Championships. In 1982, he tied for 1st in the Mocow Chess Championship. In 2007, he won the European Senior Championship. His peak rating was 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 Championship. He played in 6 USSR championships from 1927 to 1937. He died during the siege of Leningrad. He is credited for inventing the Rauzer Attack, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 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 Russian Grandmaster (1976). He 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 International Judge of Chess 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. His peak rating was 2608 in 2010. 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 Championship in 1998 and 1999. 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 peak rating was 2355 in 1999. Ludwig Adolf Friedrich Rellstab (1904-1983) was a German International Master (1950). In 1942, 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 awarded the Grandmaster title in 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 Russian Grandmaster (2720). In 1997, he won the World under-12 Chess Championship. In 2006, he won the Moscow Championship. In 2016, he won the Russian Championship Supefinal and the European Rapid Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2720 in 2012. ZoltAn Ribli (1951- ) is a Hungarian Grandmaster (1973). He has won the Hungarian Championship 3 times, in 1973, 1974, and 1977. He won the European Junior Championship 3 times. His peak rating was 2625 in 1989. He is married to WIM Maria Grosch. Pablo Ricardi (1962- ) is an Argentine Grandmaster (1985). He has won the Argintine Chess Championship 5 times. He played for Argentina in 11 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 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 World Correspondence Championship Final. He was a bank manager by profession. Kurt Paul Otto Joseph Richter (1900-1969) was a German 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 Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1961). He won the 6th World Correspondence Chess 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 Championship. His peak rating was 2540. Karl Robatsch (1928-2000) was an Austrian Grandmaster (1961). He 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 Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2680 in 2015. Maxim Rodshtein (1999- ) is a Russian-born Israeli Grandmaster (2007). In 2004, he won the World under-16 Championship. In 2006, he won the Israeli Championship. His peak rating was 2710 in 2016. He 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 Grandmaster (1985). He was 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 awarded the International Master 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 Grandmaster (2002). In 1994, he 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 (2003). His peak rating was 2680 in 2008. Oleg Romanishin (1952- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (1976). In 1973, he won the European Junior Championship. His peak rating was 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Championship in 1954. He won the 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 Grandmaster title in 1953. In 1955, 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 Championship 3 times. In 2000, he won the Canadian Open. His peak rating was 2599 in 2005. He has a 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 (1904-1986) was an International 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 awarded the International Master (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 (1872-1970) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Russian Grandmaster (1998). In 2000, he took 2nd in the Russian Championship. His peak rating was 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 peak rating was 2565 in 1998. 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 Grandmaster (1998) from 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 Azerbaijani Grandmaster (2008). In 2002, he won the World under-10 Chess Championship. He won the Azerbaijan Championship in 2010 and 2016. His peak rating was 2694 in 2016. Shukhrat Safin (1970-2009) was an Uzbekistani Grandmaster (1999). He 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 International Master (1969) from 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 Grandmaster in 1985. In 1956, he 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, and 1992. In 1999, he won the 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) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 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 Grandmaster (2009). He has won the chess championship of the UAE three times. He won the Arab Championship in 2008 and 2014. In 2015, he won the Asian Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2656 in 2016. IvAn Salgado-Lopez (1991- ) is a Spanish Grandmaster (2008). In 2013, he won the Spanish Chess Championship. Johan Salomon (1997- ) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (2017). He 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 rating was 2715 in 1995. 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 rating was 2656 in 2011. 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 times. His peak rating was 2500 in 1991. Ortwin Sarapu (1924-1999) was a New Zealand International Master (1966). He was born in Estonia. In 1940, he won the Estonian Junior Championship. In 1945, he won the 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 Chess Championship. In 1998, he won the European Under-16 Championship. He won the Armenian Championship in 2000 and 2003. His peak rating was 2702 in 2015. Ivan Saric (1990- ) is a Croation Grandmaster (2008). In 2008, he won the World Under-18 Youth Chess Championship. He won the Croatian Championship in 2009 and 2013. His peak rating was 2680 in 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 Junior Championship. In 2011, he won the Asian Blitz Championship. In 2016, he became a Senior International Master in Correspondnece Chess. His peak rating was 2720 in 2012. 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 Russian Grandmaster (2007). He 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (1973). He 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 œ 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (1974). In 1972, he won the European Junior Championship. He won the Hungarian Championship in 1976 and 1977. In 1978, he won the Canadian Open. His peak rating was 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 (1928-2013) was a German Grandmaster (1959) and International Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess (1959). He 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 Championship in 1936 and 1937. In 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 Polish Grandmaster (1976). He played for Poland in 14 Chess Olympiads. He won the Polish Championship 7 times. 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 (1887-1961) shared the Nobel Prize in 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 German Grandmaster (2015). His peak rating was 2556 in January 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 Championship in 1936, 1937, and 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 rating was 2537 in 2013. Matej Sebenik (1983- ) is a Slovene Grandmaster (2012). In 2014, he won the Slovenia Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2573 in 2012. Narek Seferjan (1974- ), born in Moscow, is an Armenian Grandmaster (1998). In 1978, he won the Moscow Youth Championship. In 1995, he won the 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 championship in 1978 and 1979. He won the U.S. Open championship in 1985 and 1990. In 1979 he won the World Junior Championship in 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 Grandmaster (2010). In 2000, he won the World Youth Chess Championship. In 2005, he won the 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 Grandmaster (1992). In 1999, he 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 Indian Grandmaster (2011). In 2009, he won the World Under-16 Chess Championship. In 2016, he won the 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 Chess Federation from 1977 to 1986. In 1986, he was replaced by Alexander Chikuaidze, a career diplomat. Samuel Sevian (2000- ) is an American Grandmaster (2014). He 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 under-12 Championship. In 2013, he 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 Chess Championship. In 2015, he was inducted into the US Chess Hall 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. His peak rating was 2476 in 2013. 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 Championship. In 1995, he won the 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 American Grandmaster (2011). He has won the Californis State Championship 4 times. In 2010, he won the US Junior Championship. His peak rating was 2679 in 2016. 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 Russian Grandmaster (1998). His peak rating was 2605 in 2000. 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 peak rating was 2506 in 2002. He is 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 Russian Grandmaster (2009). In 2012, he won the Saint Petersburg Championship. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (1996). His peak rating was 2662 in 1999. Alexei Shirov (1972- ) is a Latvian and Spanish Grandmaster (1990). In 1988, he won the World under-16 Championship. In 1994, he was 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 Canadian Open. His peak rating was 2755 in 2008. From 2001 to 2007 he was married to Lithuanian GM Viktorija Cmilyte. Samy Shoker (1987- ) is an Egyptian Grandmaster (2014). His peak rating 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 peak rating was 2712 in 2004. 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 German Grandmaster (2008). His peak rating was 2508 in 2013. In 1905, Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Championship 3 times. He played for Iceland in 10 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 2530 in 1976. 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 championship in 1947 and 1959. He played in 7 USSR chess 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 (1916-2001) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2009). His peak rating was 2521 in 2010. 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 Review, Jan 1966, p. 6) 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 Championship. In 2007, he won the 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 (1904-1991) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Grandmaster (2009). He won the 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 Championship. In 2010, he tied for 1st in the World Junior Championship. His peak rating was 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 German Grandmaster (1996). In 1995, he won the World Junior 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 Correspondence Championship (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 Grandmaster (2004). He won the Dutch Championship in 2008 and 2010. His peak rating was 2669 in 2010. Sergey Smagin (1958- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (1985). His peak rating was 2613 in 2001. Jan Smejkal (1946- ) is a Czech Grandmaster (1972). He has won the championship of Czechoslovakia 3 times. His peak rating was 2615 in 1976. Dr. David Smerdon (1984- ) is an Australian Grandmaster (2009). In 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 rating was 2702 in 2001. Anton Smirnov (2001) is an Australian Grandmaster (2017). In 2014, he won the Australian Junior Championship. His father, Vladimir, is an International Master. Pavel Smirnov (1982- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (2003). In 2002, he took 2nd place in the Russian Championship. His peak rating was 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 Soviet Grandmaster (1950) and 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 played in 19 USSR chess 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 Grandmaster (1999). In 2008, he won the Polish Championship. He played for Poland in 6 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 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 (1877-1956) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Grandmaster (1994). In 1998, he was awarded the International Solving Grandmaster title. Andrei Sokolov (1963- ), born is Russia, is a French Grandmaster (1984). In 1982, he won the World Junior Chess Championship. In 1984, he won the Soviet Chess Championship. In 1988, he was ranked #3 in the world. His peak rating was 2645 in 1987. Ivan Sokolov (1968- ) is Dutch Grandmaster (1987). In 1988, he won the Yugoslav Championship. In 1995 and 1998, he won the Dutch Championship. His peak rating was 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 Correspondence Chess Championships. He was twice champion of the Ukraine. He was the first Soviet Correspondence Chess Champion (1948-1951). Dragan Solak (1980- ) is a Turkish-Serbian Grandmaster (2000). He won the Turkish Championship in 2012 and 2013. His peak rating was 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 Russian Grandmaster (1993). In 1986 and 1998, he won the 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 championship. In 1969, he won the 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 inducted into the US Chess Hall of 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 Championship in 1973 and 1978. In 1976, he was awarded the Grandmaster title. He represented the Dutch team in 11 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 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 Argentine Grandmaster (1996). In 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 Grandmaster (1990). In 1989, he won the World Junior Championship. He has won the 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 Champion. In 1927, he won the 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 Indian Grandmaster (2017). He has won the Asian Junior Chess Championship 3 times. In 2005, he 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 Grandmaster (1950). He won the 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 Austrian Grandmaster (2003). He has won the Austrian Chess Championship 10 times. 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 Championship in 2007 and 2015. He 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 English Grandmaster (1977). In 1974, he tied for 1st in the British Chess Championship. He played for England in 5 Chess Olympiads. He was a second for Viktor Kori during his world championship matches. His peak rating was 2540 in 1979. 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 Icelandic Grandmaster (1993). He has won the Icelandic Championship 11 times. In 1987, he won the World Under-16 Championship. His peak rating was 2604 in 2002. 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 International Master (1950). He was 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 Icelandic Grandmaster (2007). He has won the Icelandic Championship 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 International Judge of Chess 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 Serbian Grandmaster (1996). He won the Yugoslav Championship in 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. Noël Studer (1996- ) is a Swiss Grandmaster (2017). He was a GM at age 20. In 2016, he won the Swiss Championship. His peak rating was 2498 in 2017. Kirill Stupak (1990- ) is a Belarusian Grandmaster (2011). His peak rating 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 Review, Jan 1945, p. 12) Zurab Sturua (1959- ) is a Georgian Grandmaster (1991). He has won the Georgian Championship 5 times. He has played for Soviet Georgia in 6 Chess Olympiads. In 2014, he won the World Over-50 Senior Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2605 in 1999. He is married to GM Nino Gurieli. Mihai Suba (1947- ) is a Romanian Grandmaster (1978). He has won the 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 Lithuanian Grandmaster (1996). He has won the Lithuaian Championship 5 times. He has played for Lithuania in 7 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 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 English Grandmaster (1997). In 2000, he tied for 1st in the British 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 Brazilian Grandmaster (1986). He 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 rating was 2558 in 2000. 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 Junior Championship. In 2001, he won the European Individual Chess Championship. He has played for Israel in 9 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 2703 in 2012. 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 Championship in 1963 and 1966. He 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 (2016). His peak rating was 2597 in 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 Russian Grandmaster (1977). He qualified for and played in his first USSR Chess Championship at the age of 17. He won the Latvian Championship in 2003 and 2010. In 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 8 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 2621 in 2011. Peter Svidler (1976- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (1994). He has won the Russian Chess Championship 8 times. He has played for Russia in 10 Chess Olympiads. In 2004, is was ranked #4 in the world. His peak 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 Grandmaster (2009). He became a 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (1950) and 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (1994). In 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 (1893-1986) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Russian Grandmaster (1952) and 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 Grandmaster (2004). He was the 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 Championship. In 2017, she won the Women's World Chess Championship. Her peak rating was 2518 in 2016. Aryan Tari (1999- ) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (2016). In 2012, he won the Norwegian Junior Championship. In 2015, he won the Norwegian Chess Championship at age 16. In 2017, he won the World Junior Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2599. James Edward Tarjan (1952- ) became an International Grandmaster in 1976. In 1970, he 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 œ 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 in 9 Chess Olympiads. His peak 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 Grandmaster (2013). He won the Polish Junior Championship 3 times. His peak rating was 2561 in 2013. 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 Armenian Grandmaster (2009). In 2003, he won the European Under-10 Championship. In 2009, he won the European Under-18 Championship. In 2011, he won the 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 rating was 2633 in 1968. He was a 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 Indian Grandmaster (1997). He has won the Championship of India 7 times. He has played for India in 7 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 2515 in 1995. He is married to 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 Olympiads from 1927 to 1939. He 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. In 1950, he was awarded the International Master title. In 1952, he was awarded the International 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (2010). In 2002, he won the Swedish Junior Chess Championship. In 2011, he won the Swedish Championship. His peak rating was 2596 in 2011. 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. His peak rating was 2680 in 1990. 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 Russian Grandmaster (2003). In 1999, he tied for 1st in the World Under-14 Championship. In 2000, he won the European Under-18 Championship. In 2005, he won the Russian Under-20 Championship. In 2008, he won the Moscow Open. His peak rating ws 2690 in 2010. Gennady Timoshenko (1949- ) is a Russian Grandmaster (1980). He was winner of chess tournaments at Polanica Zdroj in 1976 and Slupsk in 1979. His peak rating was 2540 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 (1991). In 1990, he won the World Under-18 Chess Championship. In 2006 and 2007, he won the Dutch Championship. In 2008, he won the European Individual Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 a Russian Grandmaster (1953). He 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 Grandmaster (2005). In 2009, he won the European Championship. In 2015, he won the Russian Championship. His peak rating was 2758 in 2015. 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 Grandmaster (2012). In 2006, he won the World under-16 Championship. His peak rating was 2583 in 2013. Veselin Topalov (1975- ) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (1992). He 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 peak rating was 2816 in 2015. 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 championship in 1974 and 1976. He 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 peak rating was 2580 in 1983. 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 Grandmaster (1994). In 2000, he won the European Individual Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 1907 and 1921. He played for 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) Grandmaster (1953). He won the 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 1963 and 1981, he won the 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 American Grandmaster (2014). He 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 under-14 Championship. In 2014, he won the US Junior Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (1997). He has won the Leningrad Championship 4 times. He has won the European Senior Championship 3 times. His peak rating was 2545 in 1995. Mikhail Semyonovich Tseitlin (1947- ) is a Belarusian Grandmaster (1987), now living in Germany as Michael Zeitlein. He won the Moscow Championsin 1976 and 1977. His peak rating was 2510 in 1978. Vitaly Tseshkovsky (1944-2011) was a Russian Grandmaster (1975). In 1978, he tied for 1st in the Soviet Championship. In 1986, he won the 53rd Soviet Championship, held in Kiev. In 2009 and 2010, he won the European Senior Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2600 in 2005. Tù Hoàng Thông (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 Chess Championship in 1991 and 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 Ukrainian Grandmaster (1972). In 1970, he won the Ukrainian Championship. In 1970, he took 2nd 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 Grandmaster (1999). His peak rating was 2667 in 2012. He is married to 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 European Junior Championship. In 2004, he tied for 1st in the Canadian Open. Elizbar Ubilava (1950- ) is a Georgian-born Spanish Grandmaster (1988). He won the Georgian Chess Championship in 1974 and 1986. His peak rating was 2561 in 1999. 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 peak rating was 2575 in 1978. He 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 Grandmaster (1991). In 1988, he tied for 1st place in the Soviet Junior Chess Championship. In 1991, he took 2nd place in the World Junior Championship. In 1994, he took 2nd in the Russian Championship. His peak rating was 2589 in 2002. 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 Championship in 2012 and 2014. His peak rating was 2557 in 2016. 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 Championship. Her peak rating was 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 won the World Junior Championship. He has won the 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 Hungarian Grandmaster (1976). In 1976, he took 3rd place in the Hungarian Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2505 in 1978. He 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 Championship 4 times. In 1982, he won the Russian Chess Championship. In 1997, he won the French Championship. Paul Vaitonis (1911-1983) was an International Master (1952). He was 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 Uzbekistani Grandmaster (2014). He 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 Championship. In 2013, he won the European Championship. His peak rating was 2724 in 2011. 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. His peak rating was 2605 in 1994. John van der Wiel (1959- ) is a Dutch Grandmaster (1982). In 1978, 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 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 2590 in 1987. Jorden van Foreest (1999- ) is a Dutch Grandmaster (2016). In 2016, he won the Dutch Championship. In 2013, he won the European under-14 Championship. He became a GM at age 16. His peak rating was 2629 in 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 (1965) and Correspondence Grandmaster (1986). In 1952, he 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 rating was 2647 in 2017. 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 Correspondence Chess 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 (1965). In 1947, he tied for 1st in the 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 Grandmaster (1993) from the 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 Russian Grandmaster (1961). He 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 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 2561 in 2005. Petr Velicka (1967- ) is a Czech Grandmaster (2007). In 1999, he took 2nd place in the Czech Chess Championship. Petar Velikov (1951- ) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (1982). In 1987, he 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 ùne 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 International Master (1950). In 1910, 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 Brazilian Grandmaster (1988). He has won the Championship of Brazil 7 times. His peak rating was 2660 in 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 Championship in 1997 and 1999. She is married to GM Siram Jha. Her peak rating was 2485 in 2005. Buenaventura Villamayor (1967- ) is a Filipino-born Singaporean Grandmaster (2000). His peak rating was 2560 in 2001. Yge Visser (1963- ) is a Dutch Grandmaster (2006). His peak rating was 2533 in 2006. Eeltje Visserman (1922-1978) was an International Judge of Chess Compositions (1958) and 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 International Master (1984). He was 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 Junior Chess Championship. In 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 International Judge of Chess Compositions (1965) and 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. His peak rating was 2628 in 2004. Daniele Vocaturo (1989- ) is an Italian Grandmaster (2009). His peak rating was 2613 in 2017. 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 Grandmaster (1998). In 2000, he was Russian champion. His peak rating was 2659 in 2007. Andrei Volokitin (1986- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2001). He 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 Russian Grandmaster (1997). In 2000, he won the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba. He is a vice-president at Barclays Capitaln London. Andrey Vovk (1991- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2009). His peak rating was 2654. Yuri Vovk (1988- ) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2008). In 2007, he won the under-20 Ukrainian Championship. His peak rating was 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 Championship. In 1998, he was inducted into the US Chess Hall of 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/MRV/biography.htm) Milan Vuki? (1942- ) is a Bosnian Grandmaster (1975). He won the 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 Šahovski Glosnik (Chess Journal) for several years. He served as vice-president of the Croatian Chess Federation. Alexey Vyzmanavin (1960-2000) was a Russian Grandmaster (1989). In 1990, he tied for 1st in the USSR Championship. His peak rating was 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 Grandmaster (2015). In 2014, he took 2nd in the German Chess Championship. His peak rating was 2586 in 2025. Elbert A. Wagner, Jr. (1904-1970) was the second president of the United States Chess Federation (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 (1857-1940) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Grandmaster (1989). In 1985, he won the German Youth Championship. His peak rating was 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 Championship. In 2007, he won the Kansa Open. In 2010, he won the North American Open. Gavin Wall (1968- ) is an International Master (2003) from 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 Grandmaster (2005). He became a 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 Grandmaster (2009). His peak rating was 2526 in 2000. Wang Yue (1987- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2004). He became a 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 2010, he was ranked #8 in the world. His peak rating was 2756 in 2010. Wang Zili (1968- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (1995). He was Chinese champion in 1988 and 1999. His peak rating was 2603 in 2000. Chris Ward (1968- ) is an English Grandmaster (1996). In 1996, he 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 International Master (1977) and Correspondence Grandmaster (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 Grandmaster (1995). He won the Swedish Championship in 2000. He has played for Sweden in 6 Chess Olympiads. His peak rating was 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 2009, he won the World under-11 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 International Master (1962). He won 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 rating was 2545 in 1995. Wen Yang (1988- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2008). His peak rating was 2631 in 2013. Jan Werle (1984- ) is a Dutch Grandmaster (2006). His peak rating 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 United States Chess Federation (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 times. His peak rating was 2485 in 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 (1890-1975) was an International Master (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- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 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 American Grandmaster (1988). In 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 Championship in 2003 and 2009. In 2005, he won the British Blitz Championship. His peak rating was 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. From 1872 to 1877, he was the 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/2015/07/05/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. He has won the 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 peak rating was 2545 in 2003. He is married to former Women's World Chess Champion Xie Jun. Wu Wenjin (1976- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2000). In 1996, he won the Asian Junior Chess Championship. His peak rating was 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 Women's World Chess Champion 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 Grandmaster (2015). He was 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 peak rating was 2667 in 2017. Xiu Deshun (1989- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2011). He won the Thailand Open in 2008 and 2009. His peak rating was 2585 in 2013. Xu Jun (1962- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (1994). He was champion of China in 1983 and 1985. His peak rating was 2668 in 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 1937, he won the championship of 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 Grandmaster (1993). In 2000, he beame the first Chinese player to cross the 2600 Elo rating mark. He has won the Chinese Championship 7 times. His peak rating was 2684 in 2003. Ye Rongguang (1963- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (1990). In 1990, he beame the first Chinese GM. In 1990, he won the championship of 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 (1865-1939) won the Nobel Prize in 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 Grandmaster (2000). In 1984 and 1988, he won the Armenian Youth Championship. His peak rating was 2567 in 2002. 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. His peak rating was 2660 in 1998. 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 Grandmaster (2004). His peak rating was 2550 in 2002. Yu Yangi (1994- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2009). He became a GM at the age of 14 years, 11 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 Championship twice, in 1994 and 1996. His peak rating was 2645 in 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 International Master (1950) and Correspondence Grandmaster (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 1987. His peak rating was 2400 in 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). His peak rating was 2534 in 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 Championship. In 1914, he tied for 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. His peak rating was 2552 in 2000. 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-German Grandmaster (1980). In 1977, he won the World Junior Championship. In 1979, he took 2nd 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 Lithuanian Grandmaster (2013). He 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 World Correspondence Championship, he finished in 4th place. In the 6th World Correspondence Championship, he finished 2nd. In the 7th World Correspondence Championship, he finished 3rd. In the 8th World Correspondence Championship, he tied for 1st place with Sloth from Denmark. In the 11th World Correspondence Championship, he finished 5th. He holds the record for the most appearances (6) in World Correspondence Chess 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 Uzbekistani Grandmaster (1993). He won the Uzbekistan Championship in 1988 and 1990. His peak rating 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. His peak rating was 2520 in 1971. 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 Russian Grandmaster (2000). In 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 Argentine Grandmaster (1994). In 1992, he won the World Junior 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. In 1973, he was awarded the 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 Junior Championship. His peak rating was 2558 in 2004. 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 Championship. In 2002, he won the Chinese Championship. In 2007, he won the Asian Championship. His peak rating was 2657 in 2007. Zhang Zhong (1978- ) is a Chinese-born, Singapore Grandmaster (1998). His peak rating was 2667 in 2001. He has won the Chinese Championship twice, in 2001 and 2003. In 2005, he won the Asian Championship. His peak rating was 2667 in 2001. He is married to WGM Li Ruofan. Zhao Jun (1986- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2005). His peak rating was 2634 in 2016. Zhao Xue (1985- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2008). In 2002, she won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship. Her peak rating was 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 Championship. His peak rating was 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 Belarusian Grandmaster (2007). He has won the championship of Belarus 3 times. In 2003, he won the World Under-14 Chess Championship. In 2006, he won the European Under-18 Championship. His brother, Andrey Zhigalko, is also a chess grandmaster (2006). Zhou Jianchao (1988- ) is a Chinese Grandmaster (2006). His peak rating 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 Grandmaster (2008). His peak rating 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 Women's World Chess Champion 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 rating was 2548 in 2008. Natalia Zhukova (1979- ), born in Dresden, East Germany, is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (2010). In 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 Grandmaster (2002). His peak rating was 2608 in 2011. Nikolai Mikhailovich Zubarev (1894-1951) was a Russian International Master (1950). He won 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 Russian Grandmaster (1994). In 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 International Master (1975). He won 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. Return to Main Page Please report broken or duplicate links to the Webmaster. Official Website Copyright 2017 by William D. Wall All Rights Reserved

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