When I was first made aware of the "G-Star" project (basically that we, Chess.com, would be hosting a "Magnus Carlsen vs the World" match) I was pretty pumped. I wanted to find a way to contribue to the event in any way that I could. As most of ...
Jose Raul Capablanca (pictured) was born in Havana, Cuba on November 19, 1888. He died March 8, 1942. (For reincarnation fans, that is a year and a day before the birth of Robert James Fischer.) While losing no games (1916-1924), Capablanca was...
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...
In August the traditional Russia-China match took place. It is held every year, usually shifting the venue from Russia to China and vice versa. The 2010 edition happened to be the 7th one. For Russia this friendly chess match is a nice opportunity...
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...
Mendel Najdorf was born near Warsaw, Poland April 15, 1910 and died in Malaga, Spain July 4, 1997. He was instructed in chess by Dawid Przepiorka and Savielly Tartakower. For links to my articles on Najdorf’s teachers see: http://www.chess.com/art...
Domenico Ercole del Rio (c. 1718 - c. 1802) was born in Guiglia, Italy, and wasa lawyer and author. He published a legendary chess book in 1750 under thepseudonym "Anonymous Modenese” which was the basis of a work by Giambattista Lolli thirteen ye...
The 2010 US Junior Championship concluded a week ago. The tournament was held in St. Louis, side by side with the US Women’s Championship (for more on that event, check out WFM Zenyuk’s articles). The event was very well organized, as has beco...
Vera Menchik (16 February 1906—27 June 1944) was born to Czech (father) andEnglish (mother) parents, in Moscow. She was a British chess player who gainednotoriety as the world's first women's chess champion. From 1927 until her death she was women...
Géza Maróczy (3 March 1870-29 May 1951) was a leading Hungarian chess master and also a practicing engineer. He learned to play chess at the age of fifteen, and soon acquired the skill of a master in competition with the best players in the Intern...
Milan Vidmar (22 June 1885 – 9 October 1962) was a Slovene electrical engineer,chess player, chess theorist, philosopher, and writer born in Ljubljana, Austria-Hungary (now Slovenia). He won renown especially in the field of electrical engineering...
Playing in strong events is essential for a person’s improvement in chess. Also, one should have distinct goals and try to attain them. Thus, when I recently received an invitation to visit France and play in a GM-norm round robin, I heartily agre...
Stahlberg, Stoltz, and Lundin, were called “The Three Swedish Musketeers"! They made their names as world players at the Olympic Games at Folkstone 1933 and Warsaw 1935 where Sweden took the third and second place respectively.The Swedish Grandmas...
Ossip Bernstein (20 September 1882, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) – 30 November 1962 in the French Pyrenees) was a chess grandmaster. Born in Imperial Russia to a family of Jewish heritage, Ossip Bernstein grew up in pre-revolutionary Russia. He ea...
Carlos Torre Repetto was born in Yucatan, Mexico, in 1904. He is considered one of the brightest geniuses of the game of all time. His games are usually measured and qualified as jewels of beauty in books and journals. The Masters of the epoch com...
Ernst Franz Grünfeld (or Gruenfeld) was born on the 23rd of November 1893 in Vienna, Austria like many other chess players. He was the seventh of eight children. His father was from Silesia and his mother from Bohemia.His childhood was very unhapp...
Fridrik Olafsson was born January 26, 1935 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He won the championships of Iceland (1952) and Scandinavia (1953). He became a grandmaster in the interzonal at Portoroz 1958 and advanced to the Candidates Tournament of 1959. He a...
Friedrich (Fritz) Saemisch was born on the 20th of September 1896 in Berlin, Germany.A thoughtful opening theoretician, he has two major opening variations named after him, which are still played today at the highest levels! Nimzo-Indian, Samisch ...
Edgar Colle was born in Gent, Belgium, in 1897, best known for the eponymous Colle System: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3. The formation c3-d4-e3 is the famous Colle triangle, a species of reversed Semi-Slav Defense. This placid-looking o...
Pal Benko was born July 14, 1928 in Amiens, France to Hungarian parents and raised in Hungary. In 1948, he won the Hungarian Championship. He was an international master playing board one for Hungary in the World Student Team Championship of 19...
In case you haven't heard about it already, Andor Lilienthal passed away recently. He was a Hungarian chess master who played against ten male and female world champions. During his long career, he defeated Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botv...
Bill Hook was born May 28, 1925 in New Rochelle, New York. He died May 10, 2010. He was a photographer, an artist, a writer, and a translator for writers. While doing these things, he was a chess master. He played in numerous Olympiads from 1968-2...
In the month of “Chithirai”, 27th day, 2010 (for information about the Tamil calendar you can see the following link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_calendar ) in Sofia, Bulgaria, Mother India danced with pride and in her forehead the rich and...
