- Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer is a United States-born chess Grandmaster who in 1972 became the only US-born chessplayer to become the official World Chess Champion. In 1974 he officially resigned the title when FIDE, the international chess federation, refused to accept his conditions for a title defense. He is a regular candidate in considerations of the greatest chess player of all time. - 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. - Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov (born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE world champion. In the April 2007 FIDE rating list, he is ranked second in the world with an Elo rating of 2772. His current trainer and manager is International Master Silvio Danailov. Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. Topalov was awarded the 2005 Chess Oscar. - 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. - 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). - Nigel Short
Nigel Short MBE (born June 1, 1965 in Leigh, Lancashire) is widely regarded as the strongest British chess player of the 20th century. He became a Grandmaster at age 19, and challenged for the World Championship against Garry Kasparov at London 1993. Still active, Short remains in the world's top 30 players, and continues to enjoy international success. - Alexander Morozevich
Alexander Morozevich is a Russian chess player. In the July 2007 FIDE list, he had an ELO rating of 2758, making him number 5 in the world. Morozevich is noted for employing unusual openings. Against the Queen's Gambit, for instance, he has often played the Chigorin Defence (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6), and more recently the Albin Countergambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5); both systems are hardly ever seen at the top level. - Peter Svidler
Peter Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster. On the July 2007 FIDE rating list he has an ELO rating of 2735, making him the number twelve in the world. Peter Svidler learned to play chess when he was six years old. He became Grandmaster in 1994. He is four-time Russian champion (1994, 1995, 1997, 2003). In 2001, he reached the semi-finals of the FIDE World Championship. Andrei Lukin is his coach. Svidler is a noted exponent of Fischer Random Chess (also called Chess960). - Michael Adams
Michael Adams is an International Grandmaster of chess. On the July 2007 FIDE rating list he is number fifteen in the world with an Elo rating of 2724, making him the number one British chess player. - Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov (born December 5, 1979) is a chess grandmaster from Uzbekistan. In the Uzbek language, which since 1992 has officially used Latin script, his name is written "Qosimjonov". He was the FIDE world champion during 2004-05. His best results include first in the 1998 Asian Championship, second in the World Junior Chess Championship in 1999, first at Essen 2001, … - Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov (Aleksejs Širovs, Алексей Широв, a chess grandmaster. On the July 2007 FIDE rating list he was ranked number eleven in the world with an ELO rating of 2735. - Vassily Ivanchuk
Vassily Ivanchuk, also transliterated as Vasyl (born March 18 1969), is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. Ivanchuk has an Elo rating of 2762 on the FIDE July 2007 ratings list, making him number four in the world and Ukraine's number one. Ivanchuk was born in Berezhany, Ukraine, and reached chess world fame at the age of 21 when he won the Linares tournament in 1991. Fourteen players participated, eight of them rated top-ten of the world, … - Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (sometimes spelled "Aljechin or Alechin") (October 31 or November 1, 1892 - March 24, 1946) was a Russian-born naturalized French chess grandmaster (officially naturalized in 1927 only three days before the World Champion title), and the fourth World Chess Champion. He was known for his fierce and imaginative attacking style. - 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). - Yasser Seirawan
Yasser Seirawan (born March 24, 1960) is a chess grandmaster and 4-time US-champion. He was winner of the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. He was born in Damascus, Syria. His father was Arab and his mother an English nurse from Nottingham, where he spent some time in his early childhood. When he was seven, his family emigrated to Seattle (USA), where he attended McClure Middle School and Garfield High School, and honed his game at a (now-defunct) coffeehouse, … - Max Euwe
Machgielis (Max) Euwe (May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess Grandmaster and Mathematician. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935–1937). Euwe also served as President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) from 1970-1978. - 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. - Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz (May 17, 1836, Prague-August 12, 1900, New York) was an Austrian-English-American chess player and the first official world chess champion. Known for his original contributions to chess strategy such as his ideas on positional play, Steinitz, along with Paul Morphy, is considered by many chess commentators to be the founder of modern chess. - Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Bareev (born in a Tatar family on 21 November 1966) is a Russian chess Grandmaster.He once reached the #3 position in the world, behind Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, and, as recently as October 2003, was in fourth place in the world rankings, with an ELO rating of 2739. Bareev was World Under-16 Champion in 1982 when his talent was first showcased internationally. Bareev was a member of the Russian national team in the two Chess Olympiads of 1994 and 1996. - Silvio Danailov
Silvio Danailov (born 21 April 1961) is a Bulgarian International Master chessplayer and the manager of two former FIDE world chess champions, Veselin Topalov and Ruslan Ponomariov. Danailov attained notoriety during the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006 by making accusations against Topalov's opponent Vladimir Kramnik (who subsequently won the match). - John Nunn
John Denis Martin Nunn (born April 25, 1955 in London) is an English chess player and mathematician. John Nunn went up to Oriel College, Oxford, to study mathematics when he was only 15 years of age in 1970. At the time, it was said that he was Oxford's youngest undergraduate since Cardinal Wolsey. He graduated in 1973, gained his doctorate in 1978 and remained at Oxford University as a mathematics lecturer until 1981, when he became a professional chess player. - Vladimir Akopian
Vladimir Akopian ; born December 7, 1971 in Baku) is a leading Armenian chess Grandmaster. In Armenia his surname is more commonly written Hakobyan however, most English texts and the Fédération Internationale des Échecs use a transliteration of the Russian version. Akopian won the World Under-16 Championship in 1986 at the age of 14 and the World Under-18 Championship at 16. - Florencio Campomanes
Florencio Campomanes (born Manila, February 22, 1927) is a Filipino political scientist, chess player and chess organizer. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of the Philippines in 1948. Then, he studied at Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island), where he earned his M.A. in 1951. He undertook doctoral studies at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., from 1949-54. He was a National Master strength player during his peak years, … - Robert Byrne
Robert E. Byrne (born April 20, 1928) is a leading American chess player and author. He won the U.S. Championship in 1972. He was the chess columnist from 1972-2006 for the "New York Times", which ran his final column (a recounting of his 1952 victory over David Bronstein) on November 12, 2006. - Paul Truong
Paul Truong is a chess player, trainer, promoter and organizer, born in June 1965 in South Vietnam. He became a refugee from South Vietnam in 1979 and currently resides in the United States. As a player, he holds the USCF title of National Master, and the FIDE title of FIDE Master. He learned the moves of chess from his father at the age of five and played at the National Sports Center in Saigon. - Bessel Kok
Bessel Kok (b. 13 December, 1941 in Hilversum, The Netherlands) is a Dutch businessman and chess organiser living in Prague. He has served in top management positions in telecommunications companies in Belgium and in the Czech Republic. He was also President of the Belgian-based Banking communications company SWIFT and responsible for SWIFT's sponsorship of several major International chess events.. - 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, … - Pal Benko
Pal Benko is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. - Ulf Andersson
Ulf Andersson is a leading Swedish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1970 and the International Grandmaster title in 1972. At his peak, Andersson reached number four on the FIDE Elo rating list. Tournaments he has won include Belgrade 1977, Buenos Aires 1978, Hastings 1978-79, Phillips & Drew 1980, Phillips & Drew 1982, Turin 1982, Wijk aan Zee 1983, Reggio Emilia 1985, Rome 1985, and Rome 1986. - Jon Speelman
Jonathan Simon Speelman (born October 2, 1956) is an English chess player, a Grandmaster. He was educated at Worcester College, Oxford. He studied mathematics at university. Winner of the British Chess Championship in 1978, 1985, and 1986, Speelman is a regular member of the English Chess Olympiad team. Speelman qualified for two Candidates' Tournaments. In the 1989-1990 cycle, he qualified by placing third in the 1987 Subotica Interzonal tournament. - Carl Schlechter
Carl Schlechter (March 2, 1874 - December 27, 1918) was a leading Austrian chess master at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker. - Fred Reinfeld
Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964) was an American chess player and writer. - Mikhail Chigorin
Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin was a leading Russian chess player. He served as a major source of inspiration for the "Soviet school of chess," which dominated the chess world in the middle and latter parts of the 20th century. - Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch (born April 4, 1937 in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary) is a Hungarian chess player, grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname of the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest non-Soviet grandmasters in the 1960s and 1970s, he participated in twelve straight Interzonals and qualified for the World Chess Championship candidates cycle five times. In these matches he was not very successful: he lost in the first round against Tal in 1965, … - Rudolf Spielmann
Rudolf Spielmann (5 May 1883 - 20 August 1942) was an Austrian-Jewish chess player of the romantic school. - 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, … - Konstantin Sakaev
Konstantin Sakaev (born in a Tatar family 13 April 1974) is a Russian chess International Grandmaster, from St Petersburg, a title he obtained in 1992. He is on the staff of the Grandmaster Chess School in St. Petersburg and has assisted Vladimir Kramnik and Nana Ioseliani while preparing for World Championship Candidates' Matches. - Zhang Pengxiang
Zhang Pengxiang is a Chinese chess Grandmaster. In November 2001, he defeated former world champion Anatoli Karpov at the FIDE World Chess Championships in Moscow. On the April 207 FIDE Elo rating list, Zhang has a rating of 2657, making him the highest-rated player in China and 47th in the world. - Donald Byrne
Donald Byrne was one of the USA's strongest chess players during the 1950s and 1960s. He won the U.S. Open in 1953, was awarded the International Master title from FIDE (English: World Chess Federation) in 1962, and played for or captained five U.S. Chess Olympiad teams between 1962 and 1972. His brother, International Grandmaster Robert Byrne, was also a leading player of that time. Byrne lost to Bobby Fischer in the Game of the Century in 1956. - Arthur Bisguier
Arthur Bisguier, born 1929, is a US chess International Grandmaster. On March 18, 2005, the United States Chess Federation (USCF) proclaimed him "Dean of American Chess." He is believed to have played more people, of all standards, than any other grandmaster in history. He was taught chess at the age of four by his father, a mathematician. In 1944, aged 15, he was third at the Bronx Empire Chess Club. In 1946, aged 17, he came fifth in the U.S. Open at Pittsburgh, …
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