- Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (born May 23, 1951) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He is the most successful tournament player of all time, and as of July 2005 he has 161 first-place finishes to his credit. From 1978 to 1998 he played in every FIDE World Championship match. His overall professional record is 1,118 wins, 287 losses, and 1,480 draws in 3,163 games. His peak Elo rating is 2780. The asteroid 90414 Karpov is named in his honour. - Garry Kimovich Kasparov
After long term friction with the international chess organisation, FIDE, Kasparov set up the rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association (PCA) and arranged a World Championship match in 1993 in which he beat British Grandmaster, Nigel Short. At the same time FIDE held their official Championship match between former World Champion, Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman which Karpov won. Both Kasparov and Karpov claim the title of World Champion. - Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky (also Spasskij) (born January 30, 1937) is a Russian-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky won the Soviet Championship twice outright (1961, 1973), and twice more lost in playoffs (1956, 1963), after tieing for the top during the event proper. He was a World Championship Candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1985). - Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (May 5, 1995) was a Russian International Grandmaster and long-time World Champion of chess. - Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian (June 17, 1929 - August 13,1984) was a former World Chess Champion. He is often known by the Russian version of his name, Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else - Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal (November 9, 1936–June 28, 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player, and the eighth World Chess Champion. - Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й), born March 23, 1931, in Leningrad, USSR, is a professional Swiss chess player and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the world tournament circuit. Korchnoi is best known for playing three matches against Anatoly Karpov for the World Chess Championship. In 1974, he lost the Candidates final to Karpov, who went on to win the World championship by forfeit against Bobby Fischer). - Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov (born March 24, 1921, in Moscow) is a Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. - Paul Keres
Paul Keres was an Estonian chess grandmaster and one of the strongest chess players of all time. On four consecutive occasions he missed the chance of a World Championship match by being runner-up in the Candidates' Tournament. Many claim him to be the strongest player never to become World Chess Champion. He was dubbed "The Crown Prince of Chess". - Efim Geller
Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player, a Grandmaster of world class at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice, in 1955 and 1979. - David Bronstein
David Ionovich Bronstein was renowned as a leading chess grandmaster and writer. Described as a creative genius and master of tactics by pundits and plaudits the world over, Bronstein provided ample evidence that chess should be regarded as part science, part art. - Mark Taimanov
Mark Evgenievich Taimanov is a Jewish, leading Ukrainian chess player and concert pianist. He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1952 and played in the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953, where he tied for eighth place. From 1946 to 1956, he was among the world's top 10 players. He played in 23 USSR Chess Championships (a record equalled by Efim Geller) and tied for first place twice. In 1952 he lost the playoff match to Mikhail Botvinnik, … - Lyudmila Rudenko
Lyudmila Vladimirovna Rudenko ; the transcription of her first name may vary in different sources - "Liudmila, Ljudmila, Ludmila..."; 27 July 1904 in Lubny, Russia — 4 March 1986) was a Soviet chess player and the second Women's World Chess Champion from 1950 until 1953. Rudenko held the FIDE International Master and Woman International Master titles. Born in Lubny in the Poltava region of Ukraine, … - Anjelina Belakovskaia
Anjelina Belakovskaia (born May 17 1969) is a United States chess player who has achieved the FIDE Woman Grandmaster and International Master titles. She is a three-time U.S. Women's Chess Champion, with victories in 1995, 1996, and 1999. Belakovskaia, a native of Odessa, Ukraine, won the Women's Championships of Soviet Union and Ukraine and graduated from the Odessa Agricultural University with a bachelor's degree in accounting and bookkeeping. - Lev Polugaevsky
Lev Polugaevsky was an International Grandmaster of chess and frequent contender for the world chess championship, although he never achieved that title. He was one of the strongest players from the world from the late 1960s until the early 1980s, as well as a distinguished author and opening theorist whose contributions in this field remain important to the present day. Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky was born in Mogilev in the then Soviet Union (now Mahilyow, Belarus). - Nona Gaprindashvili
Nona Gaprindashvili (born May 3, 1941) is a Georgian chess player, the sixth women's world chess champion (1962-1978), and first female Grandmaster. Born in Zugdidi, Georgia (then part of the Soviet Union), she was the strongest female player of her generation. In 1961, aged 20, Gaprindashvili won the fourth women's Candidates Tournament, setting up a title match against Russian world champion Elisabeth Bykova. She won the match easily, with a final score of 9-2 (+7-0=4), … - Lev Alburt
Lev Osipovich Alburt (b. August 21, 1945) is a chess grandmaster. Alburt was born in Orenburg, Russia, and won the Ukrainian Chess Championship three times, from 1972 to 1974. In 1976 he earned the International Master title, and in 1977 he became a GM. Defecting to the United States in 1979, Alburt led the U.S. Chess Olympiad team in 1980 at Malta. He was the U.S. chess champion two years in a row, in 1984 and 1985. - Elisabeth Bykova
Elisabeth Bykova (or "Elisabeth Bikova" or "Elisaveta Ivanovna Bykova", Russian: Елизавета Ивановна Быкова; November 4, 1913 in Bogolyubovo, Russia – March 8, 1989 in Moscow) was a Soviet chess player and the third and fifth Women's World Chess Champion, from 1953 until 1956, and again from 1958 to 1962. She defeated the reigning champion Lyudmila Rudenko in a Candidates Tournament in Moscow, winning with seven wins, … - Mikhail Gurevich
Mikhail Naumovich Gurevich (born February 22, 1959, in Kharkov, USSR) is a Ukrainian chess player residing since 2005 in Turkey. He previously lived in Belgium from 1991 to 2005. Gurevich won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 1984 and became USSR Champion in 1985, controversially taking the title on tiebreak points from co-winners Alexander Chernin and Viktor Gavrikov, after a three-way playoff was organized and all the games were drawn. - Olga Rubtsova
Olga Rubtsova. As of 2006, she remains the only player, male or female, to become World Champion in both over-the-board and correspondence chess. - Boris Gelfand
Boris Gelfand (born 24 June 1968) is a chess grandmaster. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he made aliyah to Israel in 1998, and now lives in Rishon LeZion. He currently is a member of the Israeli national chess team. On the July 2007 FIDE list he had an Elo rating of 2733, making him number 13 in the world and Israel's number 1. - Alexander Khalifman
Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman is a Russian chess grandmaster and former world champion. When he was 6 years old, he was taught chess by his father. He gained the International Grandmaster title in 1990 with one particularly good early result being his first place in the 1990 New York Open ahead of a host of strong players. His most notable achievement was winning the FIDE World Chess Championship in 1999, a title he held until the following year. - Vladimir Makogonov
Vladimir Andreevich Makogonov (August 27, 1904 - January 2, 1993) was a chess player from Azerbaijan. He was born in Nakhchivan but lived in Baku for most of his life. He became an International Master in 1950 and was awarded an honorary Grandmaster title in 1987. Makogonov never became well known outside the Soviet Union, but was highly respected in his country as a player and coach. - Alexander Kotov
Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov was a Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was a Soviet champion, a two-time world title Candidate, and one of the greatest of all chess authors. - Boris Gulko
Boris Franzevich Gulko (b. February 9, 1947 in Erfurt, East Germany) is a U.S. International Grandmaster in chess. In Russian, his name is pronounced "bah-REES gul-KO". As of April 2007, his Elo rating was 2576, making him the # 12 player in the US and the 214th-highest rated player in the world. His rating was 2644 in 2000. Gulko became an international master in 1975, and a grandmaster in 1976. He won the USSR Chess Championship in 1977. - Leonid Stein
Leonid Zakharovich Stein, Soviet chess player from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s, and was among the world's top ten players during that era. - Vladimir Simagin
Vladimir Simagin (born Moscow June 21, 1919, died Kislovodsk September 25, 1968) was a Russian Grandmaster of chess. He was three times Moscow champion (1947, 1956, and 1959), helped to train Vasily Smyslov to the World Championship, and made many significant contributions to chess openings. He died of a heart attack while playing in the Kislovodsk tournament. - Isaac Boleslavsky
Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky (June 9, 1919 Zolotonosha, Ukraine - February 15, 1977 Minsk) was a Ukrainian-Jewish chess Grandmaster. - Salo Flohr
Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 - July 18, 1983) was a leading Czechoslovak and later Soviet chess grandmaster of the early 20th century. He became a national hero in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s and his name was used to sell many of the luxury products of the time, including Salo Flohr cigarettes, Salo Flohr slippers and Salo Flohr eau-de-cologne. He dominated many of the chess tournaments of the pre-WWII years, … - Grigory Levenfish
Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish was a leading Jewish Russian chess grandmaster of the 1920s and 1930s. He was twice Soviet champion (1934 jointly, and 1937), and drew a 1937 match against future world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. - Mark Dvoretsky
Mark Izrailovich Dvoretsky (born December 9, 1947, Moscow) is a world-renowned Russian chess trainer, writer and International Master. He was awarded the International Master title in 1975 and for a while, was widely regarded as the strongest IM in the world. This was due to a number of excellent results; he was Moscow Champion in 1973, … - Alexander Beliavsky
Alexander Henrikhovich Beliavsky (born December 17, 1953) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. Beliavsky was born in Lviv. He currently lives in Slovenia and he plays for the Olympic team there. He is noted for his uncompromising style of play and for his classical opening repertoire, including openings such as the Queen's Gambit, Ruy Lopez and French Defence, for example. - Maia Chiburdanidze
Maia Chiburdanidze (born January 17, 1961) is a Georgian chess grandmaster, and the seventh (and youngest) Women's World Chess Champion. Chiburdanidze's FIDE Elo rating in the April 2007 list was 2510, making her the 7th highest rated female player in the world. - Semyon Furman
Semyon Abramovich Furman was a Soviet chess International Grandmaster and trainer. He is best known for developing Anatoly Karpov into a World Chess Champion, but was a formidable player himself, as well as a successful coach for several other world-class players. His name is sometimes written as Semen or Semion Furman. - Leonid Yudasin
Leonid Grigoryevich Yudasin (born in Leningrad, August 8, 1959) is a prominent chess master and trainer, now living in New York City. Awarded the International Master title in 1982 and the International Grandmaster title some time later, he was Leningrad Champion in 1984 and took the USSR Cup for rapid chess in 1988. Those early achievements were surpassed when he became joint winner of the USSR Championship in 1990 (with Belyavsky, Bareev and Vyzmanavin, … - Yuri Averbakh
Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (born February 8, 1922, in Kaluga, Russia) is a Russian chess player and author. His father was German Jewish, and his ancestors came from Germany and were named Auerbach, meaning "meadow brook." His mother was Russian. Both sets of grandparents disapproved of their marriage because his father was a likely atheist and his mother was Eastern Orthodox, … - Sergey Dolmatov
Sergey Viktorovich Dolmatov (born February 20 1959) is a Russian International Grandmaster of chess and former World Junior Chess Champion. Born in Kiselevsk in the former Soviet Union, Dolmatov's solid yet enterprising style of play was soon to launch him to the forefront of youth chess, culminating in him winning the World Junior Chess Championship in 1978. He was awarded the title of International Master in the same year and became a Grandmaster in 1982. - Andrey Lukin
Andrei Lukin (born in 1948) is a Chess International Master and a chess coach. He was one of the strongest junior chess players in the Soviet Union in the late 60s, qualified for the "World Juniors" in 1967 ahead of Karpov, Balashov and other very strong players, and was subsequently denied his shot at the title by the fact that the event was held in Israel, which at the time was a no-fly zone for Soviet sportsmen. - Gregory Kaidanov
Gregory Kaidanov (born October 11, 1959) is an International Grandmaster of chess. As of April 2007, his Elo rating was 2587, making him the # 9 player in the US and the 179th-highest rated player in the world. His peak rating was 2646 in 2002. He was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, but in 1960 first moved to Kaliningrad, Russia. He learned to play when he was 6 years old from his father. At age 8, he started to attend a chess study group in 'Pioneer's House.' As an adult, … - Alexander Tolush
Alexander Kazimirovich Tolush was a Russian chess grandmaster. He was one of Boris Spassky's mentors.
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