Benjamin M. Landey, born in 1912, 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 Engla... Read more »
Max Lange (1832-1899) was a German chess player and inventor of the helpmate in 1865 and the Max Lange Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 4.O-O Bc5 5.e5) in 1854. From 1858 to 1864, he was the editor of Deutsche Schachzeitung, the... Read more »
Bent Jorgen Larsen, born March 4, 1935, is a Danish Grandmaster (1956) who now lives in Buenos Aires with his Argentinean wife. In 1954 at the age of 19, he won the Danish championship and became an International Master. Larsen won the Danis... Read more »
Strongest chess tournament ever held. This was a category 21 event with an average rating of 2756. The event included the top 6 players in the world: Garry Kasparov (2785), Anatoly Karpov (2775), Vladimir Kramnik (2765), Veselin Topalov (2... Read more »
Tassilo von der Lasa (1818-1899) was a Prussian diplomat (part of the Diplomatic Service until 1864), baron, and ambassador who never played in a tournament or match. Yet, in offhand games he beat some of the world’s best players, incl... Read more »
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... Read more »
Edward Lasker 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 hi... Read more »
Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) was the second world chess champion, from 1894 to 1921, who played in 8 world championship matches. Emanuel Lasker took first place at Breslau in 1889 by accident. Another competitor, needing a draw or win fo... Read more »
In 1851, at the first International Chess Tournament, Eduard Loewe, M. Brodie, E.S. Kennedy, Samuel Newham, and Carl Mayet all got knocked out without a single win in 2 games. In 1857, at the 1st American Chess Congress, James Thompson and S... Read more »
Joel Lautier, born in 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 wass President of the Association of Chess Profession... Read more »