Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky (or Ilyin-Genevsky) born in St Petersburg on the 28th of November 1894 is considered the founding father of the Soviet Chess School! From the enthusiasm of Ilyin-Zhenevsky, the official attitude to the game was brought. H...
Viacheslav Ragozin, born October 8 1908 in St Petersburg, Russia, was a respectable Soviet chess Grandmaster and the second World Correspondence Chess Champion in the period 1956-1959; additionally, he was an International Arbiter of chess, chess ...
Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, born on 16 August 1884 in St. Petersburg Russia, was a multifaceted personality with different natural aptitudes: chess master, teacher, author besides music, dramatic and literary critic. In the latter two he achieved dist...
Boris Kostic, born on the 24th of February 1887 in Vrsac in what was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was a Serbian Grandmaster and one of the greatest travelers in chess history, traveling the globe in the days before the beginning of co...
Jackson Showalter, born on February 5, 1860 in Minerva, Kentucky, was the first officially-crowned Chess Champion of the United States! According to some sources he won the title five times! After being defeated in a match against Frank Marshall (...
Roberto Grau was born on the 18th of March 1900, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a strong Argentine chess master and, above all, an exceptional and marvelous chess columnist and chess writer. It was his father, an amateur, who initiated him in...
Sultan Khan, born in 1905 in Mittha in the Punjab, India, was the strongest chess player from Asia in his time and is unofficially recognized as the first Asian Grandmaster. According to the Oxford Companion to Chess ‘The greatest natural player...
Peter Romanovsky was born on the 29th of July 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the Soviet Champion in 1923 in Petrograd and in 1927 tied with Fedor Bogatyrchuk in Moscow. Years later these successes would cost Romanovsky the GM title! That ...
Frederick Yates, born on the 16th of January 1884 in England, was a respected Yorkshire neighbor. He started a career in accounting, but similar to others colleagues, abandoned it and became a professional chess player. Also he was a journalist. ...
Semyon Alapin, Chigorin's rival, was born on the 19th of November 1856 in Vilnius, Lithuania, later moving to St Petersburg. He was one of the strongest players in Russia in the late 19th century. He played chess throughout many years although wi...
James Mason was born on the 19th of November 1849 in Kilkenny, Ireland. His real name is unknown; it seems James Mason was adopted by his father to avoid prevalent anti-Irish prejudice when they arrived in New Orleans in early 1861. There he learn...
The Major Georg Marco was born on September 29, 1863 in Czernowitz, Romania, later moving to Vienna and becoming secretary of the Viennese Chess Association. He was a professional chess player and journalist.In tournament play Marco debuted in Dre...
Oldrich Duras, born October 30, 1882 in Bohemia is one of the most famous Czech Grandmasters and a renowned master of the early 20th century. He was also an outstanding composer. Duras became Czech Champion three times, in 1905, 1909 and 1911; an...
Grigory Levenfish was born on the 9th of March 1889 in Poland which was then part of the Russian Empire. He was the second Soviet chess player, after Botvinnik, who was awarded the title of grandmaster of the USSR in 1937. He played chess since th...
Alexander Kotov was born on the 12th of August 1913 in Tula, Russia. His trilogy of books “Think Like a Grandmaster”, “Play Like a Grandmaster”, and “Train Like a Grandmaster”, are his best coverletter! The first one is one of the best-selling ...
Alexander Tolush was born on the 1st of May 1910 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was a Soviet Russian chess grandmaster and also one of Boris Spassky's mentors! He got the title of International Master in 1950 and Grandmaster in 1953. He also earned...
Rashid Nezhmetdinov was born on December 15, 1912 to a peasant family then living in the Kazakh town of Aktyubinsk. Both his parents died when Rashid was very young and it was left to his elder brother to care for him. He learned chess by watch...
Louis Paulsen was born at Nassengrund, in Germany, on January 15th, 1833 and at an early age he learned chess from his father. In 1854 he immigrated to America and was the number one player when Paul Morphy wasn't playing. He was a resident of Dub...
Amos Burn born on the 31st of December 1848 in Hull, Yorkshire, England, was one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer. He became apprenticed to a firm of ship-owners and merchants. He only learned chess...
Erich Eliskases born February 15, 1913 in Innsbruck, Austria, was a leading chess player of the 1930s and 1940s who represented Austria, Germany and Argentina in Olympiads! He played for Austria in 1930, 1933 and 1935, for Germany in 1939 and for ...
Salomon Flohr was born November 21, 1908 in what is now Ukraine. He lost his parents during World War I and together with his brother was orphaned as a child and relocated to Czechoslovakia, where he learned chess and became a professional chess p...
Isaac Kashdan born 19 November (like Capablanca!) of 1905 in New York was a phenomenally gifted American chess grandmaster and chess writer, who was spoken of as a possible contender against Alekhine during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Alekhine...
Reuben Fine, born October 11, 1914, had a greater natural gift than Reshevsky; he is considered one of the most brilliant natural players in history. He is the only player who has an overall positive score in his games with world champions! But he...
Samuel "Sammy" Reshevsky was born November 26, 1911 in Poland. Following the events of World War 1, Reshevsky immigrated to the United States in 1920 where he came into prominence as the most remarkable of all child prodigies! He learned the moves...
