Valentines Day: Chess Couplets
I think that I have never seen
A poem as lovely as trapping a queen.
by KevinChessSmith
(Apologies to my wife and to poet Joyce Kilmer; however, I've written a lot about trapping queens in my two books on chessable.com.)
If it's Valentine's Day and you're passionate about the Royal Game, then you should have wondered about chess couples? Who are the players who hitched their yoke to each other, although their chess schedules probably rarely aligned? It's like being a tennis couple. One week, the woman is on the courts at Indian Wells, while the man is at...oh wait, they play Indian Wells the same week.
Well, I'm sure the WNBA and NBA, not to mention the LPGA and PGA, plus the MLS and National Women’s Soccer League, are all unlikely to play in the same locations on the same days or weekends. Of course, I'm also unaware of any dual-sport marriages in those gender-separated leagues, discounting the exceptions who play on the same team.
Anywho, let's look at a rather expansive, but not exhaustive, list of 55 famous, lesser-known, and forgotten chess couples who tied the knot, some of them as far back as the 19th century. I'll also throw in chess couplets, simple rhymes, limericks, and some full-throated poems, from free form to sonnets and beyond. Plus, there'll be more than one haiku!! [Credited to authors when known.]
I won't reproduce anything on the complexity level of the 15th-century Catalan poem, "Scachs d'Amor." That classic describes a game of chess played between Venus and Mars. The game that accompanies that text is believed to be the earliest recorded game using modern chess rules. You can find an English translation at Scachs d'Amor - The Chess Game of Love - English Translation. The game itself...was of distressingly low quality. The idea was great!
So far, seems kind of lame. What else you got, Kevin? Are you a chess smith, or not? Okay, maybe I tinkered around with another idea. Read on, kind inquisitor! ["Nobody fears the Spanish Inquisition!"🤣]
Did I mention games? Oh, sorry, almost forgot that. After all, these are chess couples. So, they share common experiences. If I were able to find games a couple played, then I looked through all their battles, selected a sample game, and analyzed it, even sure to draw Cupid's arrows on the board where appropriate (you call 'em lines, for this post I'm calling them arrows). Sure, a fair number of draws, but most folks fought it out at least once, and some never seemed to let their marital status influence their martial status.
Ah, lest I forget, there's a term you should be prepared to encounter in the game analyses. It's The KISS Principle. No, that isn't a term invented for this holiday, but it is certainly appropriate! It actually stands [in my usage] for Keep it Simple, Smith (KISS), a frequent reminder to myself that when the advantage is great enough, or the complexity too overwhelming, it's often better to take a simpler approach. Still, the KISS Principle seems like a great idea for chess couplets to follow, rather than a debilitating gamesmanship that might potentially ruin a relationship. [Not all of them played that way!😉]
Muzak, anyone? You can have an hour of Romeo and Juliet's music in the background if you choose. There's no video, sorry. Besides, would you really want to watch a two-hour video before jumping into this blog? Well...maybe you would. 🤔
Those sharing their hearts and rings;
Caissa's chess choir sings.
by KevinChessSmith
(A hint: The 55 couples are distinguished by their combined peak Elo, ChessMetrics, or EDO ratings.)
(WARNING: This friggin' ToC goes on forever. Sorry, wanted to list all their names up front. They earned that.)
>5300 (1): Kateryna Lagno & Alexander Grischuk
5200 – 5299 (6): Ivan Cheparinov & Antoaneta Stefanova, Viktorija Čmilytė & Peter Nielsen, Huang Qian & Bu Xiangzhi, Alexandra Kosteniuk & Pavel Tregubov, Anna Zatonskih & Daniel Fridman, Nadezhda Kosintseva & Leonid Kritz
5100 – 5199 (9): Atousa Pourkashiyan & Hikaru Nakamura, Almira Skripchenko & Laurent Fressinet, Anish Giri & Sopiko Guramishvili, Vera Nebolsina & Gata Kamsky, Juan Bellón & Pia Cramling, Rauf Mamedov & Nataliya Buksa, Al-Modiahki & Zhu Chen, Zhang Zhong and Li Ruofan, Kira Zvorykina & Alexey Suetin
5000 – 5099 (15): Alina Moţoc & Erwin l'Ami, Richárd Rapport & Jovana Vojinović, Deimantė Daulytė & Matthieu Cornette, Dennis Wagner & Dinara Dordzhieva, Yona Kosashvili & Sofia Polgar, Grzegorz Gajewski & Joanna Majdan-Gajewska, Maria Tantsiura & Zahar Efimenko, Mateusz & Marta Bartel, Maxim Turov & Irina Turova, Vadim Malakhatko & Anna Zozulia, Boris Gulko & Anna Akhsharumova, Alex Yermolinsky & Camilla Baginskaite, Maria Kursova & Arman Pashikianashikian, Rena & Alexander Graf, Alexandr Fier & Nino Maisuradze
We interrupt this ToC for those who were brave enough to scroll this far and those who didn't just click on the first name they recognized or saw. PLUS, you'll read a limerick missed by those who skipped the full ToC!
Is it true, is it numerology, or is it just the mad ravings of some innumerate idiot with too much time on his hands?
5K combined rating, no less, distinguishes chess power couples from the rest,
Given arcane and mythical math, Grischuk and Lagno are clearly the best,
Wouldn't you like to see
A battle royale between all these,
Putting the hypothesis and metrics to an ultimate, intimate test?
by KevinChessSmith [Limerick #1! I promised you doggerel!! It gets better...imo. Real poets, dontcha know.]
Was that break worth your time? Feel free, let me know! After all, it's your dime.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled ToC (this is not the tock in tick). Only 24 couples left! [Don't hold in that sigh of relief...you might turn blue and pass out.]
4900 – 4999 (15): Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi & Sriram Jha, Jackson Whipp & Nellie Marshall Showalter, Igor Bondarevsky & Valentina Kozlovskaya, Gilberto Hernández Guererro & Claudia Amura, Esther Epstein & Alexander Ivanov, Olena Dvoretska & Pavel Elijanov, Susan Polgar & Paul Truong, Pentala Harikrishna & Nadezda Stojanovic, Pravin & Bhagyashree Thipsay, Zoltán Ribli & Mária Grosch, Bożena Ziemecka & Kyzysztof Pytel, Bobby Fischer & Miyoko Watai, Viktorija Ni & Yuri Shulman, Pawel Jaracz & Barbara Grabarska, Anda Šafranska & Vladimir Lazarev
4800 – 4899 (3): Svetlana & Evgeny Agrest, Erika Sziva & Johan van Mil, Yvette Nagel & Yasser Seirawan
4700 – 4799 (1): Ketevan Arakhamia & Jonathan Grant
4600 – 4699 (3): Ian & Cathy Rogers, Mihail Marin & Maria Yugina, Jovanka (“Jovi”) Houska & Arne Hagesather
4400 – 4599 (0): Didn't happen to find any. Given I already had 55 couples selected, I stopped looking.
4300 – 4399 (1): Robert Smith & Vivian Barrowman
Probably around 5000, but it's a WAG (1): Milko Bobotsov & Antonia Ivanova
Other Links of Interest
Plus, a Sixteenth Century Chess Love Poem
Epilogue
A Draw Between Friends (jest a change of pace from lover's battles)
My Closing Thoughts
A Party of Lovers by John Keats
Kateryna Lagno & Alexander Grischuk
Clocks started, tolling their fates,
What the heck,
Perpetual check?
Round and round, eternal mates.
by KevinChessSmith
Kateryna Aleksandrovna Lagno (Russian: Екатерина Александровна Лагно, Ukrainian: Катерина Олександрівна Лагно), born 27 December 1989, is a Ukranian-Russian GM who changed Federations to Russia in 2014. The women’s World Rapid CC in 2014 and three-time Women’s World Blitz CC, she placed second in the 2018 Women’s World CC. Her peak ELO was 2563 in October 2022.
Kateryna is married to GM Alexander Igorevich Grischuk. Grischuk, born on Halloween 1983, is a Russian GM and three-time Blitz World CC. He won the Russian CC in 2009 and earned two team golds, three team silvers, and one team silver at Chess Olympiads. Surprisingly, he has only one individual Olympiad medal, a bronze. His peak rating was 2810 in December 2014; he had reached his peak world ranking earlier in the year as #3 in the world. You can read more about their relationship in @turtlepro's post The Lovebirds Of Chess (along with two other chess couples.)
With his peak rating of 2810 and her peak rating of 2563, this chess power couple has an unbeatable combined peak Elo of 5373!
I found seven games between the two in the ChesBase online DB. Every game was a draw, and only one game lasted more than fifteen move. Here's their latest across-the-board lovefest.
I do not know you well,
But when the music started
Something drew me to your side.
So many men and girls,
Are in each others arms-
It made me think we might be
Similarly occupied.
Shall we dance?
On a bright cloud of music shall we fly?
Shall we dance?
Shall we then say "Goodnight and mean "Goodbye"?
Or perchance,
When the last little star has left the sky,
Shall we still be together
With are arms around each other
And shall you be my new romance?
On the clear understanding
That this kind of thing can happen,
Shall we dance?
Shall we dance? Shall we Dance?
Ivan Cheparinov & Antoaneta Stefanova
Under the holly and greens,
Wrapped in soft happiness,
Moving our Kings and our Queens,
Portia and I played at chess.
She was coquettish and gay-
Hopeful was I and sedate
She made her moves "just for play"
I was for winning a mate.
Over the chessboard we strayed-
A move left her Queen in my track,
My hand over her quickly closed-
I cried, "I will never give it back."
Now, while the Christmas bells ring,
Seated 'neath holly and green,
I am acknowledged the king,
She my adorable Queen.
by H. B. Hazeltine
Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgarian: Иван Чепаринов; born November 26, 1986) is a GM, four-time Bulgarian CC, and served as a second to FIDE CC Topalov. Ivan's peak rating was 2718 in August 2018, though you have to go over a decade earlier to find his peak ranking of #19 in the world in January 2008.
His partner, Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgarian: Антоанета Стефанова; born 19 April 1979) is a Bulgarian GM, former Women’s World CC, Women’s Rapid World CC, U10 Girls World CC, U14 Girls European CC, and a Member of the Hungarian Parliament since 2021. She played for the Bulgarian open team in the 2000 Olympiad and has otherwise been a member of the Bulgarian Women’s team in the Olympiad since 1992. Her peak rating was 2560 in January 2003.
Together, this chess power couple clocks in at 5278 ELO!
Ivan leads their love-me, love-me-not matches with 2W-2D-0L. His most recent victory against Antoaneta was in 2015 and in 2005 he won a 155-move marathon. The two games they played in 2017 were short draws of thirteen and ten moves. Hmm...I wonder when they got married and if that impacted their games?! 🤔 The 2005 game should have been a draw, but I suspect sheer fatigue caused her blunders in an objectively drawn endgame.
Anyway, we'll look at their 2015 game. A game filled with great lessons...well, except for the on-the-board thrashing of the woman you married when she blundered away a draw late in the game.
Does "Sorry, honey" get one out of the doghouse?
Image from 14 Famous Chess Couples - Chess.com
Kings and pawns can move one square,
Queens can wander anywhere.
Kings are limited in gait
Over-cautious and sedate;
But when action gets too hot
Kings retreat; the pawns cannot.
by Peter B. Payne
Peter Heine Nielsen (24 May 1973) is a Danish GM and trainer. A five-time Danish CC, and one-time Danish shogi champion, he has a peak ELO of 2700 in July 2010 and was #37 globally in January 2010. Except for brief blips in January 2025, I found no FIDE-rated games for him since April 2020.
His wife, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen (née Čmilytė, born 6 August 1983) is a Lithuanian GM, one-time European CC, two-time Lithuanian CC, one-time Lithuanian Women’s CC, one-time European Women’s Rapid CC, one-time European Women’s CC, one-time European U12 Girls CC, one-time World U12 Girl’s CC, and politician. Her peak rating was 2542 in June 2017.
A true chess power couple! Together, this knotted pair has a combined peak rating of 5242—wow!!
One of their two draws took place in this event. I probably should have done the research for a tournament table. So it goes. The position where they chose to call it a hard work's night was not yet flat, but GMs gotta do what GMs wanna do.
They clearly didn't have any motivation to play on, so called it a game. On the plus side, at least it wasn't a Mobius dance where you always return to the same starting point, a common GM refuge when the result of playing the game is a foregone conclusion before they even approach the board.
We can't all play a winning game-
Someone is sure to lose;
Yet we can play, so that our name,
No one may dare accuse;
That when the Master Referee
Scores against our name,
It won't be whether we won or lost,
But how we've played the game.
by Unknown
Bu Xiangzhi (Chinese: 卜祥志; pinyin: Bǔ Xiángzhì; born December 10, 1985) is a Chinese GM and one-time Chinese CC. His peak rating was #22 globally in April 2008. His peak rating was 2731 in February 2019. He is still in the top fifty as of January 2026. His spouse, Huang Qian (Chinese: 黄茜; born July 18, 1986) is a Chinese WGM with a peak rating of 2494! She won the Chinese Women’s CC and the Asian Women’s CC once each.
With his peak rating of 2731 this chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5225!!
I'm sorry, any triskadekaphobic would tell you to never end a game on move thirteen. Twelve, fine. Fourteen, fine. But don't you realize there's a reason many hotels don't boast a floor 13? Well, actually, there is no sound reason. It's just superstition. Besides, considering two members of my immediate family celebrate birthdays on the 13th of a month, it's hardly fair for me to pick on this couple's choice of when to end a game in pursuit of family bliss. Still...the triskadekaphobics, man! Think about them, won't you?
A game of shadows and light.
Life; like a chessboard!
Like a chessboard! - American Haiku - Medium
Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (Russian: Александра Константиновна Костенюк; born 23 April 1984) is a Russian and Swiss GM, former Women’s World CC, Women’s World Rapid CC, two-time World Chess 960 Women’s CC, two-time Russian Women’s CC, one-time European Women’s CC, one-time Swiss CC (two years after Korchnoi claimed the crown), three-time Swiss Women’s CC, World U12 Girls CC. Oh, and she’s a model, mom, marathon runner, and did a turn as an actress in the Russian film Bless the Woman, playing the daughter of one of the lead characters. Her peak rating was 2561 in January 2018.
She is married to GM Pavel Tregubov (a Russian player now representing France), with a peak rating of 2658, and a one-time European CC. You can read more about their relationship in @turtlepro's post The Lovebirds Of Chess (along with two other chess couples.)
This chess power checks in at a combined peak ELO of 5219.
I found six games and, lol, three of them lasted eight moves or less, and the shortest draw was one move! Those were all on chess.com, including one blitz game and two rapid games. In the over-the-board world, Alexandra leads Pavel with 1W-2D-0L. That loss was way back in 2008. However, we're going to take a peek under the hood of this 2023 game because it lasted 37 moves. Sure, it was a draw, but normally, they could have ended sooner than that.
Image from 14 Famous Chess Couples -chess.com
Chess is a great wife:
She feeds me morning and night
Then cuts like a knife.
by Max Ilingworth
Anna Zatonskih (born Hanna Vitaliivna Zatonskih, July 17, 1978) is a Ukrainian American IM and WGM, former Ukrainian Women’s CC, and four-time US Women’s CC. Her peak rating of 2537 in May 2011 was more than sufficient for the GM title, but no mention is made of whether she achieved the necessary GM norms. Her husband, Daniel Friedman, is a GM born on 15 February with a peak rating of 2670, who reached #65 globally in 2009.
Together this chess power couple has a peak combined rating of 5207.
Daniel leads Anna with 1W-6D-0L. Her lone loss was this game, so we'll look at this one. They had played games in 2005 and 2006 that ended in twelve and eleven moves, and had three short draws after this loss. The last game I found between them was in 2017, a 28-move draw.
Nadezhda Kosintseva & Leonid Kritz
Like pawns and pieces, love's sweet design.
by Unknown
Leonid Kritz (February 26, 1984) is a Russian-German GM and former World U16 CC. His peak rating was 2624 in September 2010. He is married to GM Nadezhda Anatolyevna Kosintseva (Russian: Надежда Анатольевна Косинцева; born 14 January 1985). A two-time bronze medalist in the World Girls U20 CC, one-time World Girls U14CC, one-time European U10 Girls CC (1995), Girls U12 CC (1997), and Girls U18 CC (2000). She took silver in the 2005 European Women’s CC after losing the playoff match.
With her peak rating of 2576 in November 2010, this chess power couple rises above most peaks, sitting at a combined peak Elo of 5200.
It's game time! A seventeen-move draw in 2010, and this longer draw in 2013.
Atousa Pourkashiyan & Hikaru Nakamura
by KevinChessSmith
Atousa Pourkashiyan (Persian: آتوسا پورکاشیان), born 16 May 1988) is an Iranian-American WGM, seven-time Iranian Women’s CC, and World Girls U12 CC.
Hikaru Nakamura, born 9 December 1987, is an American GM, streamer, YouTuber, and more. His accomplishments include five US CCs, and he was a Fischer Random World CC. He has finished as the runner-up to Magnus in two World Blitz CCs, plus two third-place finishes. Naka has twice placed third in the World Rapid CCs. You can read more about their relationship in @turtlepro's post The Lovebirds Of Chess (along with two other chess couples.)
With his peak rating of 2816 that places this chess power couple’s peak combined ELO at 5190.
A close call for finding an actual pairing! The only game I found was this Titled Tuesday matchup that Naka won in 36 moves. So, how did one of the world's preeminent streamers and current #2 worldwide (as of today, 28 January 2026) handle this pairing?
Draws early on TT are not conducive to finishing in the money.
Image from 14 Famous Chess Couples - Chess.com
True love is like playing chess
A boy always afraid of losing his queen
And a girl risking everything just to protect her king.
by Unknown
Almira Skripchenko (born 17 February 1976) is a Moldovan-French IM and WGM. A seven-time French Women’s CC she also won the World U16 Girls CC in 1992, and the next year earned the bronze in the U18 category. In 2001 she won the Women’s European CC and was decorated with the Order of National Merit in her native country Moldova. With a peak rating of 2501 it is no surprise that she has always played board one in the Women’s Olympiads, whether playing for France or Moldova. Married to French GM Joël Lautier from 1997 – 2002, she later married French GM Laurent Fressinet, and they have a daughter.
Laurent Fressinet, 31 November 1981, is a French GM and one-time French CC. Laurent was Magnus’ second for all of Carlsen’s World CC matches. Laurent was once among the "super-GMs", with a peak Elo of 2720 in June 2015. That has declined, but only to 2605. His peak world ranking was #27 in September 2010.
Given Fressinet's peak rating of 2720 they are hugely into the Elo 5000+ club for couples with a peak combined rating of 5221. [Yes, she also would have qualified for the chess power couples club with her first GM-husband whose peak rating of 2687 would have placed the couple at 5188.]
I found ten games in the ChessBase online DB. The score is wildly in Laurent's favor at 7W-2D-1L. Let's go back to their first flirt. She won that whimsical encounter with a tactical flourish at the end. It was a good enough game to catch the attention of annotator Alexander Finkel. That means less analysis for me, given I've got a huge number of games to review for this single post. Any random and scurrilous thoughts I add to this analysis will be preceded by "Kevin".
Make all there is in love so true.
'Tis fit, methinks, my heart to move,
To give it thee, sweet girl, I love!
by Edward Smyth Jones
Anish Kumar Giri (Nepali: अनीश कुमार गिरि; Russian: Аниш Кумар Гири; born 28 June 1994) is a Dutch GM, five-time Dutch CC, and author. His peak rating was 2798 in October 2015, placing him #2 globally. In April 2025 Giri was signed by the esports organization Team Secret. His wife, Sopiko Guramishvili, born 1 January 1991, is Georgian and Dutch IM and WGM who also provides chess commentary and is a chess author. She won silver in the World U12 Women’s CC and gold in the World U16 Women’s CC.
Married in 2015, this chess power couple has a peak combined rating of 5181.
Unfortunately, I found not a single game between these two. Sigh.
Chess
Exactly four different men have tried
to teach me how to play. I could never
tell the difference between a rook
or bishop, but I knew the horse meant
knight. And that made sense to me,
because a horse is night: soot-hoof
and nostril, dark as a sabled evening
with no stars, bats, or moon blooms.
It’s a night in Ohio where a man sleeps
alone one week and the next, the woman
he will eventually marry leans her body
into his for the first time, leans a kind
of faith, too—filled with white crickets
and bouquets of wild carrot. And
the months and the honeyed years
after that will make all the light
and dark squares feel like tiles
for a kitchen they can one day build
together. Every turn, every sacrificial
move—all the decoys, the castling,
the deflections—these will be both
riotous and unruly, the exact opposite
of what she thought she ever wanted
in the endgame of her days.
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, 2015
Gata Kamsky (Tatar/Russian: Гата Камский; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American GM, five-time US CC, and author. With a peak rating of 2763 in July 2013, his peak world ranking was almost twenty years earlier at #4 in July 1995. At age 16 Gata reached #8 globally, the youngest player ever to reach the top ten. Somehow, Gata’s lifetime arc in the FIDE rating system aligns mysteriously with the ChessMetrics baseline as the latter lists him with a peak rating of 2779 and ranking of #4 in March 1995.
Gata’s wife, Vera Nebolsina (Russian: Вера Неболсина; born 16 December 1989), is a WGM with a peak rating of 2389.
This chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5168.
Their only game, a pro forma draw. No notes added as this was a no-brainer.
Image from 14 Famous Chess Couples - Chess.com
The lovely Queen has unique style
She moves in ranks, diagonals, and files
King can move here, there, everywhere
But at a time, only one square.
by Rucha Pujari
Juan and his wife Pia Cramling became the first married couple who both held the GM title.
Juan Manuel Bellón López, 8 May 1950, is a Spanish GM, FIDE Developmental Instructor, and five-time Spanish CC. He played for the Spanish team in eleven Olympiads, winning an individual silver medal on fourth board in 1978. With a peak rating of 2510 in July 1991, he maintains an active playing schedule that has seen his rating gradually decline to 2263 as of April 2025. ChessMetrics lists him with a peak rating of 2546 in July 1990, and a best world rank of #204 in 1976.
Pia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling (23 April 1963) is a Swedish GM and two-time European Women’s CC…I found an entry for the Swedish Women’s CC in only one year so that wasn’t very helpful in terms of national titles. FIDE lists her peak rating at 2550 in October 2008 but given her birth year and the institution of a FIDE rating system in 1970 we can look to ChessMetrics for her peak rating. That new baseline finds her peak at 2605 in May 1990, good enough for #152 globally.
Anna Cramling Bellón, their daughter, is a WFM and a well-known chess personality.
Together, this chess couple had a peak combined ChessMetrics rating of 5151, well above the chess power couple mark arbitrarily established at 5000.
Thirty-four games, starting all the way back in 1986 at the Christmas Congress. All but one were draws, and most in 20 moves or less. We'll gape at the only decisive game in the lot. They were married three years prior to this game.
Epitaph: That's all she wrote.
The board is life,
Light and dark days ahead of us.
Pawns are strangers,
Never sure what they may become in The Game.
Rooks are our beliefs,
We fall on them when The Game gets tough.
Knights are our friends,
Any direction we move, they are close and supportive.
Bishops are our family,
They surround us or from a distance protect us.
The Queen is the “One” we love
No matter how far they go away, their place is next to us.
King is us,
We choose who to give up on and who to support no matter what.
Win or Lose,
We choose how to play The Game.
by D.J. Lanz
Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijani: Rauf Məmmədov; born 26 April 1988) is an Azerbaijani GM, four-time Azerbaijani CC, European U14 CC, and four-time competitor in the FIDE World Cup. With a peak rating of 2709 in December 2017, his peak global ranking followed several months later when he reached #33 in May 2018. He is married to Ukrainian IM Nataliya Buksa, a one-time Girl's World Junior CC and one-time Ukrainian Women's CC.
With her peak rating of 2437, this chess power couple clocks in at 5146 combined ELO.
A brilliant exhibition of love at play, in their only game.
How many moves? Only eight! Like the white rabbit, they must have been late for a very important date.
I've got a lot more for you,
Mon chess pas de deux.
by KevinChessSmith
Mohammed Ahmed Al-Modiahki (Arabic: محمد أحمد المضيحكي), 1 June 1974, is a Qatari GM, four-time Arab CC, President of the Qatar Chess Federation, and a FIDE International Director. His peak rating was 2588 in October 2003. He is still rated 2542 as of May 2025, but has not played a FIDE-rated game since September 2016.
He is married to former Women's World CC, Zhu Chen. Zhu Chen (simplified Chinese: 诸宸; traditional Chinese: 諸宸; pinyin: Zhū Chén, Arabic: زو تشن; born March 13, 1976) is a Chinese-born Qatari GM, former Women’s World CC, and three-time Chinese National Women’s CC.
With her peak rating of 2548, this chess power couple has a peak combined rating of 5136.
I found four games, all draws. So, we'll stick with the shortest, since the longest was still only sixteen moves. Close encounters of the friendly kind, eh?
GM-lover's draw. Blink and you'll miss the game. Whether your eyes were closed or not, you'll never know what else they were up to.
First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If bright or dim the season, it might be
Summer or Winter for aught I can say;
So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand – Did one but know!
by Christina Rossetti
Zhang Zhong (simplified Chinese: 章钟; traditional Chinese: 章鍾; pinyin: Zhāng Zhōng; born 5 September 1978) is a Chinese GM, two-time Chinese CC, and one-time Asian CC. His peak rating was 2667 in July 2001, placing him 27th internationally. He is married to WGM Li Ruofan (Chinese: 李若凡; pinyin: Lǐ Ruòfán; born April 30, 1978), a one-time Asian Women's CC and one-time Chinese Women's CC.
With her peak rating of 2433, this chess power couple clocks in at a combined peak rating of 5126.
Another couple who missed a chance to prove what kind of sports they were over the board.
However sweetly rang the night-bird's sighs
But fondling pawn-tops and twin castles' thighs
I worried the enigma till the light.
I made it, haunt and hecatomb despite
With you by night lit up by joyous cries
Unstable stars swimming in streaming skies
And darkling leaves stirred by the poet's right.
My Spaniard and my gnome, my Philidor
You see it here spread out your eyes before
Pieces, though few, with harmony imbued
By lunar glow enhancing pale and jet
While I performed enraptured, you subdued
Perfected on your chessboard my sonnet.
by Vladimir Nabokov, a translation. Sourced from Skittles Room. This is the third of three linked sonnets.
Kira Alekseyevna Zvorykina (Russian: Ки́ра Алексе́евна Зворы́кина, Belarusian: Кіра Аляксееўна Зварыкіна; September 29, 1919 – September 6, 2014) was a Soviet WGM, IA, three-time Belarusian Women’s CC, three-time Soviet Women’s CC (on two other occasions she shared the winning score), and World Chess Hall of Fame inductee. Her peak Elo is listed as 2295 in January 1990, but that underestimates her true strength. ChessMetrics more accurately depicts her peak playing strength at 2401 and #383 globally in February 1958.
She was married to GM Alexey Suetin (Russian: Алексе́й Степа́нович Суэ́тин; November 16, 1926 – September 10, 2001). Suetin was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was the World Senior Chess Champion from 1996 to 1997 and six-time Belarus CC. FIDE lists his peak rating at 2560 in January 1971, and #28 worldwide in July 1971. ChessMetrics offers a more meaningful rating scheme for players of his generation. The site placed his peak rating at 2701 in October 1970, and ranked him 15th globally for eleven months between January 1970 and January 1971.
With his ChessMetrics peak rating of 2701, this chess power couple clocked in at a combined peak rating of 5102.
Oofdah! They had a son together six years prior to this, so we can presume they were married...or at least living together. How do you go home together after this massacre? Hey, championship quarterfinals just means, "Take no prisoners", right? Well, see for yourself. A twenty-one gun salute is usually reserved for internments of the final kind. Well, they didn't play again, so that says something in itself.
Image via scacchierando.net
Caissa
A lovely dryad rang'd the Thracian wild,
Her air enchanting, and her aspect mild:
To chase the bounding hart was all her joy,
Averse from Hymen, and the Cyprian boy;
O'er hills an valleys was her beauty fam'd,
And fair Caissa was the damsel nam'd.
Mars saw the maid; with deep surprize he gaz'd,
Admir'd her shape, and every gesture prais'd:
His golden bow the child of Venus bent,
And through his breast a piecing arrow sent.
The reed was hope; the feathers, keen desire;
The point, her eyes; the barbs, ethereal fire.
Soon to the nymph he pour'd his tender strain;
The haughtly dryad scorn'd his amorous pain:
He told his woes, where'er the maid he found,
And still he press'd, yet still Caissa frown'd;
But ev'n her frowns (ah, what might smiles have done!)
Fir'd all his soul, and all his senses won.
by William Jones, 1763...the naming of Caissa
Alina l'Ami (née Moţoc; born 1 June 1985) is a Romanian IM and WGM, World Girls U10 CC, European Girls U18 CC, and Women’s Balkan CC. With a peak rating of 2446 in August 2014, she has not played since January 2024 when her rating rose slightly to 2290. She is married to GM Erwin l’Ami who has a peak rating of 2651.
Erwin l’Ami (born 5 April 1985) is a Dutch GM and one-time Dutch CC with a peak rating of 2651 in May 2014 and a peak rank of #90 almost a decade later in May 2023. He lost a few rating points in February 2025 to enter March rated 2616.
Together this chess power couple’s peak ratings cross the 5000 ELO threshold, topping out at 5097.
I only found this one game, and it was a slugfest! What a way to celebrate a decade of connubial bliss.
One can perhaps imagine the internal monologue. "Okay, husband mine, you have a bishop, a knight, and three pawns against my rook and pawn. Time to pencil in the result and sign the scoresheet. And renew my vow that next time, I shall emerge the victor."
Well, based on my research, there was no next time. Is this like some World CCs who dodged worthy challengers? 🤔
Charming as the sweetest music;
High above the common reach,
Easy to the bright and wise;
Splendid in the hands of genius;
Such the royal game of chess.
by W.A. Ballantine; It's a double acrostic, you can surely figure that out!
Curses! No games in my DB for this couple. Well, not too many curses as it's one less game to analyze.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Matthieu Cornette (born 4 September 1985) is a French GM and one-time French CC. He had a peak rating of 2620 in March 2018. He is married to Deimantė Cornette (nee Daulytė), born 22 February 1989. She is an IM, WGM, and five-time Lithuanian Women's CC.
With her peak rating of 2470 this chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5090.
Ten games and they've split evenly...but they weren't all draws. Sure, there was a meaningless nine-mover in the 2021 Montagne Rapid Open and a quick split of the point in the 2015 Rhodes Colossus Open. The other eight games were played to the hilt. Their ten-game split was 2W-6D-2L each. We'll look at the most recent victory by Deimante. A full point that evened their marriage-time score.
There's a mystery in the outcome. Did Black lose on time? Is the DB score incorrect? Did Matthieu see a ghost on the board and resign in fright? He overlooked the "Play on!" resources of 29...a6 or 29...Bd3? An anniversary or birthday gift of a full point? A decision to balance the marital scorecard because the game result meant nothing towards determining the final tournament standings? We'll never know. Well, unless one of you knows them and asks.
The position is objectively equal, so I have no idea what really happened. Certainly, there's too much fun stuff going on to declare a draw. Perhaps The Shadow knows. I don't.
A darling, fair, and delicate;
So deep in love, he thought her mew
The sweetest voice he ever knew.
by Jean de La Fontaine
Dennis Wagner, 19 June 1997, is a German GM and German U10 CC. His peak rating was 2620 in March 2024. He is married to Dinara Wagner (née Dordzhieva), an IM/WGM with a peak rating of 2469. She was born 25 May 1999. Notably, she has achieved two GM norms.
Together, this chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5089.
No messing around by this couple. Two long games (well, in terms of the number of moves), and Dinara leads at this point in their marriage with 1W-1D-0L. Both their games were played in the Titled Tuesday events in 2022. One wonders about any conversations in their household during breaks in the event (they played in the third round once, and in the fourth round in the other event).
The first time I played through this game, my reactions were, "Huh?" and "What?" Finally, a kick in the brainpan. I remembered it was blitz, and there's money involved because it's Titled Tuesday. That proved at least somewhat critical to trying to figure out at least semi-plausible reasoning behind many of the moves, while avoiding attribution to marital considerations. For instance, were they at home? Do they have kids distracting them at critical points? Well, they got married in 2021, and according to a search engine, they don't have children. They're young, no rush on that account. So, no distracting little one (this game was the year after their nuptials).
Bottom line, blitz is different. Perhaps made even more so if you're within the same domicile and shouting distance, but I chose to discount that. There. Now you're ready for my clearly sideways analysis.
I'll note that at some point, it would seem to have been quite insulting for him to continue. He probably should have called it a game after losing the rook. Just imagine it she had faltered and lost? Oh, that would have been adding injury to insult, earning him time in the spousal penalty box. As it is, I assume he lost on time in a completely lost position.
Twould otherwise signal sad dereliction.
A touch, shared glance, a caress, love blooms...
Mon Dieu!
J'adoube!
The local establishment has no rooms?
by KevinChessSmith
Yona Kosashvili (Hebrew: יונה קוסאשווילי; July 3, 1970) is an Israeli GM and orthopedic doctor. His peak rating was 2580 in July 1995. He has not played since 2012.
He is married to Sofia Polgar (more correctly, Polgár Zsófia), born 2 November 1974, a Hungarian and Israeli IM, WGM, and artist. The middle sister of three, she is bookended by her GM sisters. One cannot help but be curious if their two children play the royal game. Sofia’s peak FIDE rating was 2505 in July 1998, crossing the threshold for the GM title by rating.
This chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5085.
Two quick draws between these two in their careers, but Yona did lose to Sofia's sister Judit Polgar in a rapid game.
The humor you might find in this game is in some of the other clearly pre-arranged draws I found for your viewing pleasure...or dismay, depending on your thoughts about the fix being in.
Over half of the 5,600 games reaching this point generated draws by repetition in a few more moves. Given this was a 40th ANNIVERSARY Open, even if it clearly wasn't their 40th wedding anniversary, perhaps a draw seemed appropriate?
Battlefield of Life
I make this pledge to you alone,
that I shall serve your royal throne.
My silver sword, I gladly wield.
Squares eight times eight the battlefield.
With knights upon their mighty steed
the front line pawns have vowed to bleed
and neither Queen shall ever yield.
Squares eight times eight the battlefield.
The castle walls protect our back
and Bishops plan for their attack;
a master plan that is concealed.
Squares eight times eight the battlefield.
For chess is but a game of life
and I your Queen, a loving wife
shall guard my liege and raise my shield.
Squares eight times eight the battlefield.
by Amera M. Andersen
Joanna Majdan-Gajewska, 9 June 1988, is a Polish WGM. Her peak rating was 2420 in November 2013. Joanna is married to Grzegorz Gajewski. He is a Polish GM (born 19 July 1985), one-time Polish CC, and former #86 worldwide.
With his peak rating of 2659 their combined peak ratings easily place this duo in the chess power couple at 5079.
The only game I found between these two. Given the disparity in their ratings, it is unsurprising that they only met across the board one time. This was two years before they got married. A good thing his victory didn't spoil their future together, eh?
Too many lines point at the white king. Combine that with back rank issues, and it's a paralyzing position. Resignation seems right.
In the kingdom of sixty-four squares,
The game of kings is played,
With bishops, knights, and pawns,
In battle array arrayed.
The queen, in all her majesty,
Strides boldly 'cross the board,
While the king, though proud and regal,
Must be ever on guard.
Each move a calculated risk,
Each piece a sacrificial pawn,
The object of the game the same –
To checkmate before the dawn.
by Unknown
Together this chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5060
Their only game was played a bit over four years after they married on 25 April 2015.
Okay, no need for a demonstration of GM prowess at this point. Too many threats and too much time on the clock. Sign those score sheets and move on to Evening Events!
Mateusz & Marta Bartel
A chess-ter's reimagining of a classic ditty
Hush, little baby, don't say a word,
Papa's gonna teach you to play the Bird,
And if that line, just don't sing,
Mama's gonna show you the Gambit's King.
And if that king, is tarnished brass,
Papa's gonna pay for a middle game class.
And if that class, is mirrors and smoke,
Mama's gonna get you a training GOAT.
And if that goat, can't teach like Kant,
Papa's gonna show you the Caro-Kann.
If your can fills, and spills over,
Mama's gonna warn you, about chess rovers.
And if that life, still sounds smart,
Papa's gonna fund, your tournament start.
In that start, if you fall down,
You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town;
You've got time for zwischenzugs,
Cuddles, kisses, family hugs.
by KevinChessSmith
This poem is dedicated to Kira and Lucca, the children of two great bloggers.
Mateusz Bartel, 3 January 1985, is a Polish GM and four-time Polish CC. With a peak rating of 2677 in May 2012, and a #73 world ranking, he is still rated 2618 as of December 2024. Marta Bartel, 20 May 1988, is a Polish WGM who tied for the Polish Women’s CC in 2006 but lost in the playoff. Her peak rating was 2379 in September 2012 but gradually slid to 2212 as of November 2024.
This chess power couple has a peak combined rating of 5056.
Three games, all won by Mateusz and all AFTER they got married in 2013. I'm presenting the shortest victory to ease my analytic workload!
Okay, I suspect I'd wait until White played Qh6 to resign, but mayhap it's a reasonable decision to call it quits against your hubby?
Upon the checkered battlefield she stands,
A sovereign forged by mighty hands.
She moves through fire, wind, and air,
Where king would tremble, she would dare.
The king? He takes but one slow pace,
Yet all the world must guard his place.
She sweeps the board to shield his name,
While he remains a throne, a frame.
She leaps through lines, across the night,
Her strength is feared, her aim is right.
But when she falls oh, silent doom!
A pawn may rise to fill her room.
No grand crown mourned, no songs are sung,
Her courage known but seldom rung.
A lesser piece takes her fading light,
As if her power held no right.
She bled for him, and when she’s gone,
Another stands as if nothing’s wrong.
But if the king should fall in fight,
No pawn can rise to claim his right.
Why must the Queen be thrown aside,
While weaker soul enjoy the ride?
Why can the game not truth confess
That all revolves around her finesse?
So let the rules be drawn anew:
The Queen shall rise as sovereign true.
If she must fall, the crown shall end
No pawn pretend, no false ascend.
The king, if brave, must prove his might,
Or lose the board to equal right.
No longer will her death be cheap,
No longer will her silence keep.
This is the Queen’s game sharp and wise,
No longer masked in king’s disguise.
Let Queen be Queen in full command,
No shadow bound to his demand.
Let every move her story tell:
She ruled the board. She ruled it well.
And now, at last, the game replays
With justice ruled by Queen’s own ways.
by AliHassan #chess - Hello Poetry
Irina Iosifovna Turova (Russian: Ирина Иосифовна Турова; born 10 August 1979), née Irina Slavina (Russian: Ирина Иосифовна Славина, also Irina Slavina-Turova), is a Russian IM, WGM, Russian U20 Women’s CC, one-time Russian Women’s Cup CC, one-time Russian Women’s Fast CC, and one-time Russian Women’s CC. Her peak rating was 2442 in May 2011.
She is married to Russian GM Maxim Turov (Максим Туров; 7 December 1979), a former #86 worldwide.
With his peak rating of 2667 this chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5048.
Nine games, nine lover's draws. We'll glance at the longest of the lot, as seven of those were either ten or eleven moves. Lucky numbers? Who knows. Who cares. After all, their lives are not ours to live.
I've got a dance,
I ain't got no steps,
no I'm gonna let the music move me around
I've got a dance,
I ain't got no steps
I'ma gonna let the music move me around
Will it go 'round in circles?
Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
Will it go 'round in circles?
Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
by Billy Preston
Hey, what can I say? Those lyrics always struck me as the perfect tune for a perpetual of any king.
It's like we’re playing chess.
Moving strategically, testing boundaries,
all while watching each other’s expression.
by sarasunshine777 #chess - Hello Poetry
Vadim Volodymyrovych Malakhatko (Ukrainian: Вадим Володимирович Малахатько; 22 March 1977 – 5 June 2023) was a Ukrainian GM and member of the gold-medal team at the 2001 World Team CC and bronze medal team at the 2000 Olympiad. With a peak rating of 2633 in October 2008, he reached #98 globally. He was married to IM/WGM Anna Zozulia (born March 10, 1980), herself a player with a peak rating of 2412 in October 2004, a one-time Belgian Women's CC, and one-time U16 World Girls CC.
The widow and her husband would have formed quite the chess power couple at their peak with a combined peak rating of 5045.
Twenty-two games, only one draw! I'd show the draw, but someone was kind enough to post a brief analysis of one of Vadim's games. Given my workload, I was more than happy to offload some of the work I'll still check their analysis, whoever "RR" is.
Pin to win! Are we talking wrestling, rasslin', or chess? Hmm...mine is not to be too suggestive.
You were my knight
Shining armor
Chess board was our home
Queen's fondness you garnered
A kiss sweeter than honeycomb.
by AmandaKayBurke #chess - Hello Poetry
Boris Franzevich Gulko (Russian: Борис Францевич Гулько, IPA: [bɐˈrʲiz ɡʊlʲˈko]), 9 February 1947, is a Soviet-American GM. He is the only person to win both the Soviet CC and the U.S.CC. He won the latter twice. He also won the U.S. Masters CC once. His peak Elo of 2644 in January 2000 was reached over a decade after his highest ranking among the world’s top players, which was #14 in January 1989.
Boris’ wife Anna Akhsharumova is a WGM who won the Women’s Soviet CC twice and the U.S. Women’s CC once. Her peak rating was 2400.
Their combined peak ratings put them at 5044 in the club for couples rated over 5000.
Nope, I was unlucky in finding a game. Glad they were not similarly unlucky in finding love.
Image from 14 Famous Chess Couples - Chess.com
Life is But A Game of Chess
How strange life Is you can change the path you walk upon In a split second a decision that will change your life
forever
A bit like a game of chess you can plan a move you can make the move but until you let go of the piece
the move can be
reversed
Once you let go, the move Is made there Is no taking It back just as In life once you've decided which path In life you'll
take
Your move Is made, life Is but a game of chess each
of us represents a piece on the board each piece that's moved
A pathway through life Is forged to where we will follow that path through
life the move Is
made
And like every piece on the board still to be moved you can still change the outcome on life
Just as you can In a game of chess and to where It may still take
you
Life Is but a game of chess where we can change direction by the move we make through out our life.
by cfc2 "chess" poems - Hello Poetry
Alex (“the Yerminator”, aka “Yermo”) Yermolinsky (Russian: Алексей Ермолинский, romanized: Alexey Yermolinskiy; born April 11, 1958) is a Russian-born, American GM, two-time US CC, and inductee into the US Chess Hall of Fame His peak rating was 2660 in January 1998, placing him #21 in the world. Like others born around the late 1950s to mid-1970s, his ChessMetrics numbers are somewhat similar in the rating peaks. ChessMetrics lists his peak rating at 2672 in May 1998.
Yermo is married to Camilla Baginskaite (Lithuanian: Kamile Baginskaite; born 24 April 1967) is a Lithuanian and American WGM, two-time Lithuanian Women’s CC, former World Junior Girls CC, and won the US Women’s CC in 2000. Her peak ELO was 2365 in April 2002.
Together this chess couple has a maximum peak rating of 5037, making them a chess power couple to be reckoned with!
Only this one game. Call it low energy, call it boring, it clearly wasn't a pairing where one person needed to win.
Yermo is a fun guy, as I learned during some group lessons he led. This position, on the other hand, is b-o-r-i-n-g. No reason for the couple not to call it even-stevens and move from martial to marital activities.
This is Psychological chess
and i am two moves behind
i figured out your game
and you have figured out mine
Our knights are dead,
our bishops have fled
and so much has got to my head
but when will we look up and realize,
we are on the same side?
Our difference is you're a queen
I am a king,
you are stronger and faster,
but i lead the team,
we are chess pieces of the same color
king am i, and you the queen
but sadly i do not know one thing
what does this mean?
by DallasAllen "chess" poems - Hello Poetry
Arman Pashikian (Armenian: Արման Փաշիկյան; born 28 July 1987) is an Armenian GM, two-time Armenian Youth CC, two-time Armenian CC (he tied for first in 2003, but placed second on tiebreaks), and FIDE Senior Trainer. His peak Elo was 2663 in September 2009, #70 internationally.
He is married to WGM Maria Kursova, born 3 January 1986, two-time Armenian Women's CC, a former World U10 Girls CC, and one-time European U16 Girls CC.
With her peak rating of 2366 this chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5029.
Another gameless duo.
Like a bug to the flames,
Like the sapling to the rays,
Like a chess player trying to find ways,
I got addicted to your little mind games...
by Siya Mulge, 02/16/2020
With her peak rating of 2353 this chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5014, crossing the mythical 5000 waterline.
Ah, I breathed quite the sigh of relief at this point in the couples list, thinking perhaps there would be few games left to annotate, and surely many would be draws. Time to kick back in my easy chair. I could not have been more mistaken.
Life Is a Chess Battle
Life is like playing
a game of chess.
Every move requires
careful consideration.
Plan dozens of steps
ahead of time.
You are like this pawn
simple, lowly, unimportant.
When I place you over a square
I can't see any mystery.
But it can play a crucial role
in the endgame.
Look at these pieces
also very important.
They are rewarding men
to the King's dominion.
Rulership over 64 squares
a gruesome battle of life.
Everyday is a chess battle
love your role, play fair.
We are any King's disposition
in this arena of life.
Don't love yourself, it's fleeting.
Love the one who play the King.
by Hugo Sarvida Jr.
Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier (born 11 March 1988) is a Brazilian GM and five-time Brazilian CC who won most recently in December 2024. He has competed in six FIDE World Cups and represented Brazil at multiple team events including Olympiads and the World Team CC. With a peak rating of 2653 in November 2009, he reached #76 globally.
Nino Maisuradze (13 June 1982) (Georgian: ნინო მაისურაძე; born 13 June 1982) is a Georgian and French WGM, two-time French Women’s CC and two-time Vice-Champion, two-time French Women’s Rapid CC, and two-time Francophone Women’s CC. Her peak rating was 2349 in September 2014.
Adding their peak ratings together, they just squeak into the ELO 5000+ combined couples club at 5002.
Another couple with a lopsided lifetime score (perhaps the lopsided aspect is only difficult to understand as a married man). Alexander has six wins while Nino can only claim a single draw. They married in 2010 and all the games took place between 2014 and 2018. This one is a true miniature, with mate delivered on move 20. It's also the last game I found between the two.
Well, the help-mate was perhaps the saving grace of this game, rather than dragging it out and enduring the pain of a king hunt.
Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi & Sriram Jha
Nothing is just black and white
Lines are blurred sometimes.
by Andrew Fitzpatrick
Sriram Jha (born 18 July 1976) is an Indian GM and 2014 Indian Rapid CC. His peak rating was 2511 in January 2010.
He is married to IM/WGM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi who has a peak rating of 2485. Born 25 March 1979, she is the first woman from India to earn those titles! She has won the Indian Women’s CC six times, including five consecutive championships starting in 1998. Her first championship was before she turned eighteen! She is also a two-time Commonwealth Women’s CC.
Combined, this chess couple has a peak rating of 4996, four points short of the chess “power couple” I arbitrarily defined at 5000 Elo.
For once, we encounter a game that is an even match if comparing ratings. Seven games and Jha Sriram leads with 2W-5D-0L. Both victories came before the turn of the century. Since 2000, it's been mostly short draws, though the game in 2002 lasted 49 moves.
We'll look at that 1999 victory, over a quarter century ago.
Does the loss still burn? Many top players never forget a loss. But how long can one hold a grudge against a lifelong partner?
Greeting challenges as one.
Destiny calls us.
by Unknown
Jackson Whipps Showalter, aka the Kentucky Lion, (February 5, 1859 – February 5, 1935) was a five-time U.S. CC when matches determined the title. Although Showalter won five matches, he lost six other matches for the title. He was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2010. ChessMetrics estimates his peak rating at 2676 in September 1897 and lists him as #9 in the world on the April and May 1902 lists.
Nellie Love Marshall Showalter (August 19, 1870 – March 25, 1946) was an American women's CC, and World Chess Hall of Fame inductee. ChessMetrics doesn’t list her, but there’s always Edo Ratings! They place her peak rating at 2312 in 1893 based on eleven games.
Both were famous enough in their time that Kentucky journalists still wrote about them in 2024 Kentucky by Heart: Nellie and Jackson Showalter were champion chess players from Georgetown - NKyTribune.
By using EDO's historical data we find that this 19th-century chess power couple achieved a peak combined rating of 4988.
I glanced in the DB for a game between these two. I doubt they ever recorded one of their off-hand games, let alone saw it published anywhere. But I did find a pen and ink drawing of what could have been the two of them playing!
f3 then e5
g4 then mate Qh4
Learning to play chess.
by Phil Green
(Sheer genius! An entire game in a haiku. Best of all, it aligns with the text in the pen & ink drawing.)
Press the clock.
The moving hand,
A wedding band.
A tie together,
Chess cannot sever.
by KevinChessSmith
Igor Zakharovich Bondarevsky (Russian: Игорь Захарович Бондаревский; May 12, 1913 – June 14, 1979) was a Soviet Russian GM, Correspondence GM (CGM), one-time Soviet CC, IA, trainer, and author. FIDE lists his peak OTB rating at 2430 in July 1972 and his peak ICCF rating at 2625 (oddly, Wikipedia shows his peak ICCF rating for 1992, so it appears he continued to correspond from beyond the veil.) ChessMetrics offers a much more accurate view of his OTB playing strength, listing him at 2669 in February 1943, and #13 globally the following month.
He was married to Valentina Kozlovskaya, a Russian WGM, one-time Soviet Women's CC, and one-time Women's World Senior CC with a peak ELO of 2315.
Their peak ratings (his from ChessMetrics and hers from FIDE) combined to reach 4984, on the cusp of the 5000 combined rating chess power couples.
[Yes, I absolutely had to include this couple, if only because of her first name.😍]
No OTB love matches, and online chess was a bit after their time.
On our first date
Sitting at home
By the pool
She suggested a game of strip chess
I told her
I didn’t know how to play
She replied…perfect!
by Cj Krieger Funny Chess Poems - Funny Poems for Life
Claudia Noemí Amura (born 26 August 1970) is an Argentinian WGM, one-time Pan American Women’s CC, five-time Argentine Women’s CC, five-time South American Women’s CC, and columnist. Her peak rating was 2405 in January 1991. Her husband is Gilberto Hernández Guererro , a Mexican GM.
With his peak rating of 2574 this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4979.
Eight games and Gilberto leads with 3W-5D-0L. We'll look at their first game. Does losing spark love? Or were they already married. These are questions I cannot answer. But they were in their late 20s when this game was played.
The fog of war dissipates, and it's obvious the king will soon stand alone on an ever more desolate field.
It's up to you,
Three, four,
It's thee I adore,
Five, six,
Traps and tricks,
Seven, eight,
Be my mate.
by KevinChessSmith
Alexander Vladimirovich Ivanov, 1 May 1958, is a Soviet-born American GM and one-time US co-CC. His peak rating of 2606 was achieved in 2006. His birth year of 1956 and the institution of FIDE’s rating system in 1970 mean that his peak FIDE and ChessMetrics ratings are quite similar. The latter lists his peak at 2673 in August 1989. Esther Epstein, 10 May 1954, is an American WIM, two-time US Women's CC, and has a peak rating of 2305.
Oof! This couple has a combined peak rating of 4978, ever so close to the mythical 5000 chess power couple combined rating.
The only game I found for this pairing. The result is no surprise given the rating gap.
More pieces evacuate the board. White's material advantage was more than sufficient to elicit a handshake, and perhaps a post-game buss on the cheek? To the victor go the spoils!!
His ability to do several things at once
Was one of the qualities she loved about him
Today he was watching a Burt Reynolds movie
While playing a game of computer chess
The computer gaining a momentary advantage
Did not seem to bother him at all
Always thinking at least three moves ahead
He slowly and methodically reached over
Lowering the chess computers IQ 700%.
by Cj Krieger Funny Chess Poems - Funny Poems for Life
Pavel Eljanov (Ukrainian: Павло Володимирович Ельянов, romanized: Pavlo Volodymyrovych Elyanov; born 10 May 1983) is a Ukrainian GM with a peak rating of 2765 in March 2016, and a peak world rank of #6 in September 2010. He still slots in at 2668 as of April 2025, just outside of the top fifty at #54. He has earned two team gold medals and an individual silver in Olympiads as a member of the Ukrainian team. He is married to WIM Olena Dvoretska.
With her peak rating of 2212 this chess couple sits at a combined ELO of 4977, just below the 5000 threshold arbitrarily established as a true chess power couple. So it goes.
Their lifetime chess score stands at 0W-0D-0L. Guess they're stuck with a hybrid tennis score of love, love, love, all you need is love (The Beatles)? Or would it be "Deuce?"🤔
Chess of the Heart
The heart knows to move
when it's time to play
When the move's for another
in a heart who'll slay
That the game's for another
in a love we'll say
When the chess for another
is a heart who'll stay.
by Trevor Mcleod Funny Chess Poems - Funny Poems for Life
Susan Polgar, 19 April 1969, born as Polgár Zsuzsanna and is often known as Zsuzsa Polgár, is a Hungarian-American GM, and the third woman to ever be awarded the FIDE title. She was the first woman to achieve the title by achieving norms, the previous two having earned the title by winning the Women’s World CC. A World U16 Girls CC, she later held the Women’s World CC title for four years, only losing her title by forfeit when FIDE would not make accommodations to the schedule or location that did not account for the recent birth of her child. Susan is also a former Women’s World Blitz CC and Rapid CC, and she won the U.S. Open Blitz CC three times.
Paul Truong (born June 2, 1965) is a Cambodian and American FM, trainer, coach, organizer, author, and photographer. He was born Trương Hoài Nhân in Saigon, South Vietnam. His peak rating of 2395 was achieved in July 1986.
This chess power couple falls just shy of the 5000 barrier, peeking at that barrier from a close-up view at 4972 combined.
They were too busy with their careers to play rated chess games against each other. I didn't cover all the activities they are or have been involved in, but it's hard to believe there are enough hours in the day if you do the research and build a list of what they do.
Checkered battlefield;
Sweet victory or despair,
By one deadly move!
– Justin Tan
Pentala Harikrishna, 10 May 1986, is an Indian GM and former World Junior CC, World U10 CC, Commonwealth CC, and Asian CC. A super-GM of long standing, he first crossed the 2700 waterline in February 2013 and reached 2770 in December 2016 and was #10 globally the month prior. He is married to WFM Nadezda Pentala (nee Stojanovic) who had a peak rating of 2185 in 1998.
Combined (so to speak😉), this chess couple checks in at 4955 Elo.
Another game-free couple. And no, they are not as tall as the image above would indicate. I got lazy in formatting them because I liked the rest of the image far too much for their own good.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
by William Shakespeare
Pravin Mahadeo Thipsay (born 12 August 1959) is an Indian GM, one-time Commonwealth CC, seven-time Indian CC, and played for India in seven Olympiads. FIDE lists his peak rating at 2515 in January 1995. ChessMetrics cites a peak of 2571 in August 1981, placing him 141st globally. He is married to WIM Bhagyashree Sathe Thipsay (4 August 1961).
With her ChessMetrics peak rating of 2384, this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4955.
It mildly intrigues me that the further I went down the combined peak Elo list, the less likely I was to find a game score for the couple.
Tournament medals, a fleeting "Bye".
A pattern was set
Perpetual checks,
Long walks,
Chess talks,
As opening gambit
Blitz proved a hit.
Missed date
A game ran late,
First hug
Zwischenzug.
Shared stories
of glories,
Of pains
and gains.
Fits and starts,
Games of chess and hearts;
True chess lovers' fates
Eternal mates.
– KevinChessSmith
Zoltán Ribli (September 6, 1951) is a Hungarian GM, IA, three-time Hungarian CC, and two-time European CC. FIDE lists his peaks at 2625 Elo in January 1989 and #8 internationally in July 1988. ChessMetrics lists his peak rating at 2730 in November 1984 and places him #8 globally from July until September 1984.
Mária Grosch (born 3 August 1954) is a Hungarian WIM with a peak rating of 2220 in January 1987. She retired from play in 1989.
Together, this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4950.
Okay, okay, that's five in a row without a game archive. Probably you're wondering if there are any more delectable games. Hang on, the temperature heats up eventually.
Bożena Ziemecka & Kyzysztof Pytel
That's just right,
Sixty-four squares,
Hopes and scares.
– KevinChessSmith
Krzysztof Pytel, 15 May 1945 – 30 June 2019, was a Polish IM, two-time Polish CC, trainer, journalist, and author. FIDE lists his peak ELO at 2500 in July 1994. ChessMetrics sees that a bit differently, charting him at 2572 in July 1984, #198 globally. Bożena Pytel (née Ziemecka, born 3 May 1945) is a Polish WIM and one-time Polish Women’s CC. Her peak rating was 2115 in July 1993. ChessMetrics offers a much higher rating in their system, placing her at 2375 in November 1990, #1411 globally.
A chess couple whose combined ratings peak at 4947.
Well, it just doesn't heat up yet. But I promise you, there are more games, more opportunities for aches and heartbreaks, and a few lovers' draws.
This problem in humans always seems to vary
Like a game of chess the movements are scary
Calla lilies given to a queen of hearts to mend
Bishops followed by knights pictures the men
Players like to steal hearts with a crooked smile
For a queen to know he's a joker may take a while
Unless it's obvious he has no money in the bank
Skeleton keys with no home he takes back rank
Relationships like board games are complicated
Almost every person we know have tried to play it
Ones who play and win "I Do" is what they say
With a pilot fountain pen signing their life away.
by Keyonda Aldana
Robert (Bobby) James Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American GM, the 11th World CC, and eight-time U.S. CC. In 1964 he won the U.S. CC with an unmatched 11-0 score. That career highlight was exceeded when he won 20 games in a row across the end of the Interzonal and three Candidates matches before losing to Petrosian in the second game of their match. WIM Miyoko Watai, 8 January 1905, was ruled Fischer’s widow by an Icelandic court.
Combine her peak rating of 2050 in January 2007 with his peak ChessMetrics rating of 2895, and they achieve a chess couple power rating of 4945, still a bit short of the combined 5000 rating numerous couples have achieved.
Sorry, lucky seven does not serve you well here. Surely you didn't think they'd have played a reported game?
Image from 14 Famous Chess Couples - Chess.com
Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
by William Shakespeare
Yury Markavich Shulman, born April 29, 1975. is a Belarusian-American GM, one-time Belarus C, and one-time US CC who tied for first in a different year but lost the rapid tie-break against Kamsky. He reached a high of 2648 in July 2009, #85 globally. He is married to Viktorija Ni (born December 30, 1991), a Latvian-American WIM, two-time Latvian Women's Rapid CC, one-time Latvian Girls U16 CC and European Rapid Girls U16 CC.
With her peak rating of 2264 in July 2012, this couple's combined peak rating is 4923.
OTB, she had one shot at her man and lost. In real life, they both won.
Pawel Jaracz & Barbara Grabarska
I am sweetly perplexed by love sallies, releases,
By the countless retreats and the numberless captures,
By the petulant coldness and agreeable raptures,
By the whisper of phrases that hurts and then pleases,
I am drunk by the prodigal total of leases
From her body and spirit, her soul and her senses,
I revel in approaches and artless offenses,
In her challenging taunts and her tenderly teases.
Now will I disengage a red flower from her tresses,
And uplift her lithe form from a divan of roses,
For the zephyr of night too much passion opposes,
And in delicate folds now has rumpled her dresses.
On tomorrow’s new ventures the heart eager presses,
I repose now to ponder on life-soothing losses.
by Luis G. Dato
Pawel Jaracz (22 June 1975) is a Polish GM, won four Polish Junior CC age group titles, three-time Polish Blitz CC, one-time Polish Rapid, and EU Individual Open CC. His peak rating was 2575 in May 2011. His wife, Barbara Jaracz (née Grabarska; born 8 June 1977) is a Polish WGM with a peak rating of 2342 in April 2003.
Together this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4917.
Here's a couple that lives by the credo: What happens on the board means nothing when we walk away from the table. Sure, their first two games were draws. But five of the next six results were decisive. Currently, Pawel has the lead with 5W-3D-0L. Considering their ratings, that's not likely to change. Particularly since they haven't played since 2011.
As usual, I pick a short victory. They're more fun for me, and hopefully for you, the intended reader. Plus, bonus for me, fewer moves to analyze! White played too passively in the opening against a very rare variation they must not have recognized. They spent so much time trying to find familiar footing, that Black safely equalized.
Well, that finish hurts. In a very short sequence, the game went from dynamically equal to dead lost for Black to dynamically equal to dead lost for White. Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows. Actually, the signed scoresheet says it all. 0-1.
Anda Šafranska & Vladimir Lazarev
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
by Kahlil Gibran
Anda Šafranska, born 2 December 1960, is a Latvian WGM who won the Latvian Women’s CC eight times between 1982 and 1997. She played for the Latvian Women’s team in four Olympiads, twice on first board. Her peak rating was 2367 in January 2000. She has lived in France since 2000 with her GM husband Vladimir Lazarev (Russian: Владимир Лазарев; born 5 June 1964 in Saratov, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union). FIDE lists his peak rating at 2536, but ChessMetrics suggests it was 2544. Every point counts towards the mythical chess power couple waterline of 5000, so we'll go with ChessMetrics!
That places the combined peak ratings of this couple at 4903. Sigh, 97 points short of mythological status but still impressive!!
Another couple not afraid to duke it out over the table and then retreat to (presumably) connubial bliss. Perhaps that tension was a leading element in the chess love lives! Vlad won fourteen of their sixteen games, while two draws took place. Amusingly, one of the losses occupied all of one move, while one of the draws took far longer, clocking in at six moves!
We'll look at the last game they played, almost twenty years after their first over the board encounter.
"Smart-a__", she says as she signs the scoresheet (well, it's what my wife would have said.) Clearly, the bishop is immune. Not as a member of the clergy claiming sanctuary, but because of the queen fork from the d5 square.
I, Lover
Never shall I dread love’s strength
Nor any pain it might give.
Through all the years I may live
I shall never have any fear of love.
I shall never draw back from love
Through fear of its vast pain
But build joy of it and count it again.
I shall never have any fear of love.
by Elsa Gidlow
Evgeny Agrest (born 15 August 1966) is a Soviet-born Swedish GM, four-time Swedish CC, three-time Nordic CC, and trainer for Nils Grandelius since 2013. His peak rating was 2616 in January 2004 and he spent some time in the Top 100, peaking at #82 in January 2000. He is married to WIM Svetlana Agrest, a Swedish WIM.
With her peak rating of 2270 in January 2005 this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4886.
Evgeny rules the roost on this one with 2W-1D-1L. The draw lasted all of six moves, taking place in 2009, the last game I found between the two. The game below is far more fun to analyze than their first game in 1992, thus this choice. It's by no means a great game, but demonstrates why lower-rated players, and perhaps spouses, sometimes fold under the slightest pressure.
Ooh, unlucky move thirteen. The rest was just some frantic flopping around, like a trout that jumped in the air for a fly and somehow landed in a fisherman's boat.
This coyness, Lady, were no crime
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love's day.
by Andrew Marvell
Erika Sziva (born 8 June 1967) is a Hungarian-born Dutch WGM, one-time Hungarian Women’s CC, and five-time Dutch Women’s CC. Her husband was GM Johan van Mil who passed away at age 49, far too young. His peak rating was 2518 according to ChessMetrics.
Together this chess couple would have had a peak combined rating of 4849.
The only game I found between these two, and a victory for the distaff side on the Black side of a Sicilian Defense.
Safe! She reached the time control with a dominating position and material advantage. Take that, husband!!
Yasser Seirawan & Yvette Nagel
Why I love thee?
Ask why the seawind wanders,
Why the shore is aflush with the tide,
Why the moon through heaven meanders;
Like seafaring ships that ride
On a sullen, motionless deep;
Why the seabirds are fluttering the strand
Where the waves sing themselves to sleep
And starshine lives in the curves of the sand!
by Sadakichi Hartmann
Yasser Seirawan (Arabic: ياسر سيروان; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American GM, four-time U.S. CC, and 1979 World Junior CC. FIDE lists his highest rating a 2658 in Nobember 2011 but placed him at #10 globablly over 20 years before that, in July 1990. ChessMetrics was completed in 2005 and estimates his peak rating at 2711 in September 1987, with a peak rank of #14 at that point. He is married to WFM Yvette Nagel who sports a peak rating of 2100 in 1993.
This couple falls short of the chess super-couples with a combined rating over 5000. The Seirawan’s peak combined rating comes in at 4811.
I shall make a song like your hair. . . .
gold-woven with shadows green-tinged,
And I shall play with my song
As my fingers might play with your hair.
Deep in my heart
I shall play with my song of you,
Gently...
I shall laugh
At its sensitive lustre...
I shall wrap my song in a blanket,
Blue like your eyes are blue
With tiny shots of silver.
I shall wrap it caressingly,
Tenderly...
I shall sing a lullaby
To the song I have made
Of your hair and eyes...
And you will never know
That deep in my heart
I shelter a song of you
Secretly...
by Gwendolyn Bennett
Ketevan (aka Keti) Arakhamia-Grant (née Arakhamia; born 19 July 1968) is a Georgian (former Soviet Union)-born Scottish GM, one-time World Junior Girl’s CC, one-time Soviet Women’s CC, three-time Georgian Women’s CC, two-time Scottish CC (she shared the title with Paul Motwani on one of those occasions), three-time British Women’s CC, and coach. Her peak rating was 2506.
She is married to Jonathan Grant, a FIDE Arbiter and Trainer with a peak rating of 2283. He was a one-time Scottish CC but has no FIDE player's title.
Their combined peak ratings max out at 4789.
Their first OTB encounter was a smashing victory for Keti in 1995. They played three times between 2011 - 2018, but all were quick draws, only one lasting as long as eleven moves. I was somewhat surprised by that "longest" draw as it took place at the Scottish CC where both had overall success at various times.
Ouch. You've been forked by your spouse and it's very painful. Perhaps for both of you? Best to resign here and tend to those wounds.
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
That when we live no more we may live ever.
by Anne Bradstreet
Ian Rogers, 24 June 1960, is an Australian GM, four-time Australian CC, FIDE Senior Trainer, writer, and reporter. His peak rating was 2628 in January 1999, and he reached #50 a few months later, in May 1999. He is married to Cathy Rogers, a WFM, IA, photographer, and lawyer.
With her peak rating of 2070 this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4698.
A singleton game, a charming couplet. But a victory for Ian, rated over 600 Elo higher. There's a surprise, lol. The couple had known each other for about a quarter of a century by this time, and traveled together for a long time, occasionally referring to each other as husband and wife when it was convenient to do so based on location and customs.
Hardly any player's vision of a good time. Retirement from this site of strife seems strategically sound.
CHESS
Chess may be a game
However hard it may be
Each move critical
Similar to a real life
Seeking a mate in the end.
– an acrostic by Howard Osborne
Mihail Marin, 21 April 1965, is a Romanian GM, writer, and one of my favorite chess analysts. A three-time Romanian CC, he played for his country in ten Olympiads, winning an individual bronze in 1988. His peak rating of 2616 in September 2009 came eight years after his peak ranking of #86 in January 2001. His wife, Maria Yugina, is a WFM and professional artist.
With her peak rating of 2183 in December 2018, this chess couple touts a combined peak rating of 4624.
Time to return to the land of misplaced or never played games.
Dusk is old mountains
sipping whisky over chess
playing the end game
by Lisa Alletson
Jovanka (“Jovi”) Houska, 10 June 1980, is an English IM/WGM, nine-time British Women’s CC, European Junior CC, Commonwealth Women’s CC, English Federation Chess Player of the Year (2006), writer, announcer, and has a law degree. Her peak rating was 2433 in July 2010. She is married to Arne Hagesather (b. 1972) who had a peak Elo of 2186 in July 2006.
Together this chess couple has a peak combined Elo of 4619.
Nope, they never played, as near as I can determine.
Love’s Growth
But if this medicine, love, which cures all sorrow
With more, not onely bee no quintessence,
But mixt of all stuffes, paining soule, or sense,
And of the Sunne his working vigour borrow,
Love’s not so pure, and abstract, as they use
To say, which have no Mistresse but their Muse,
But as all else, being elemented too,
Love sometimes would contemplate, sometimes do
And yet no greater, but more eminent,
Love by the spring is grown;
As, in the firmament,
Starres by the Sunne are not inlarg’d, but showne,
Gentle love deeds, as blossomes on a bough,
From love’s awakened root do bud out now.
by John Donne
Vivian Joyce Smith (née Barrowman, born 15 September 1951) is a New Zealand WFM, ten-time New Zealand Women’s CC, one-time NZ Seniors CC (tie), two-time Oceania Senior Women’s CC, FIDE Instructor, and former member of the NZ Chess Federation Council. Her peak rating was 2035 in January 1991. She represented New Zealand in fifteen Women’s Olympiads.
She is married to FM Robert Smith. He shared the New Zealand CC in 1995/96, won the New Zealand Correspondence CC in 1978, and jointly won the New Zealand Rapid CC in 1999/2000 and 2008.
With his peak rating of 2333, this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4368.
I only found two games they played. Robert won both, but this was the far more interesting game of the two. That 500-point rating difference is a bit much to make up.
An imagined inner monologue: "Okay, this has gotten too ridiculous. I will sign your score sheet, but don't expect the next spot on my dance card to be open for you. The one after that, and all others, certainly. But not the next one."
Life is a Gambit,
Let Love move at the Flagfall,
Checkmate of the Heart.
by Mrunalini.D.Nimbalkar
<I had to edit that haiku. It was written "Checkmate over the Heart", but that's six syllables. KevinChessSmith>
Milko Georgiev Bobotsov (Bulgarian: Милко Георгиев Бобоцов; 30 September 1931, in Plovdiv – 3 April 2000, in Sofia, Bulgaria) was the first Bulgarian GM, a one-time Bulgarian CC, and full-time gymnastics instructor until suffering a near-fatal stroke in 1972. Given the inaccuracies of the Elo system that had just been instituted in 1970, we’ll note that his peak Elo was 2485 in July 1971, placing him 95th globally. However, we’ll rely on ChessMetrics for a better estimate of his peak strength. That site places his peak rating at 2602 in January 1969 and ranked him #53 internationally in January 1962.
He was married to WGM Antonia Ivanova, a six-time Bulgarian Women’s CC, and one-time Bulgarian Girl’s CC.
Because she had no published ratings that I could find (FIDE, EDO, ChessMetrics), there is no chess couple power rating for this pair. Given her championships and birth date, I'd guesstimate 2400, placing them at 5002 combined peak Elo. For now, they'll stay here.
No games between them.😔 No rating for her.😢 At least the Valentine's card I created was aces. Well, imo.
For an always incomplete list of chess family relationships, go to List of chess families - Wikipedia. They show parent-child, sibling, and couples. No grandparents, though one might have expected that with the van Foreests. Nor aunts/uncles. Cousins would be a bit too far! On the downside for lovers of chess couples, many of those listed have since divorced, and sometimes married other players of the Royal Game.
Looking for some blogs? Here are a few:
- JustGettingThisOffMyChess offered sparkling wordplay to tell a sparkling history of bishops and martyrs, sacrifices from the third century to the 21st at Valentine's Day: This Bishop Knew his F8 (2026)
- @TrynafindL for ESCAPE THE VALENTINE, a lovely discussion of two very personal approaches to the hubbub around V-Day (2026)
- @MrRiskau's ode to romance found in the sounds of silence (Simon and Garfunkel, anyone....anyone) in his post Love Between The Moves: A Game Of Unspoken Words (2026)
- Care to read eight "I love chess" letters translated into actual correspondence? Enjoy WGMJolie92's engaging text as a student peppers her coach with questions about the emotional hazards of the game in Chess Problems We’ve Been Crushing On (Valentine’s Edition). Plus puzzles!! It's wonderful fun wrapped around a tasty message.
- @AstroTheoretical_Physics made an all-too-rare appearance for the BlogChamps Valentine's Day contest (as did the other's above) with his Sixty-Four Places of Serendipity. It's a wonderful love story set in a time before ours, and involves a living board and a chess couple. It's a story of love and heartbreak, beginnings and endings. (2026)
- @VOB96 with a love story on the board that transcended the bounds of 64 mere squares, The Squares Between Us (2026)
- @JugadaBrillante takes you on a breath-taking mystery adventure (a CHYOA) to save your wife and earn many rating points along the way!! Would you sacrifice your Elo for love?
- @nbrasington for Hopeless Romantics: The Rivalry That Sparked Love for Attack about two of the greatest players of the Romantic Era.
- @alberthepirate for converting a Middle Ages poem Le Chevalier de la Charrette (Lancelot) by Chrétien de Troyes into a chess variant! It actually engaged me, and I'm rarely a fan of variants. Puisqu’Amour Le Commande Et Veut
- I highly recommend all of the above posts. There are more in the contest, but there is insufficient time to list all of them as I need to post my own contribution, even though it is not part of the contest.
- @Pete's post 14 Famous Chess Couples (circa 2016)
- @KevinChessSmith's February Chess Lovers (14 February 2025)
- @turtlepro's post The Lovebirds of Chess (updated 2024)
- @MomOnaBreak's Cupid's Move: A Chess.com Click That Sparked an Extraordinary Love Story (posted 14 Feb 2024)
- chess.com staff @NathanielGreen's Chess Romances (updated February 2022)
- Looking for the names of a few chess players born on Valentine's Day? Look here! @KevinChessSmith's February Babies: A Chess Zodiac (2025)
- IM @Vlad_Akselrod's Strongest chess couples: 5000+ club (2009. Note that he credits Natalia Pogonina's website as the primary source for his post. His thumbnail is terrible, chopping off the heads while trying to fit a square picture in a rectangular box of 16:9.)
- Finally, I'll repost the link to this 15th century Catalan poem about a chess game played by Venus and Mars, Scachs d'Amor - The Chess Game of Love - English Translation.
A Sixteenth Century Chess Love Poem
Here's a link to a Wikipedia article about a famous 16th century poem Chess (Polish: Szachy), including the game moves. It was written by Jan Kochanowski and first published in 1564 or 1565. He was inspired by Marco Girolamo Vida's Scacchia Ludus, [the poem from which the concept of Caissa originated]. Chess is a narrative poetry work that describes a game of chess between two men, Fiedor and Borzuj, who fight for the right to marry Anna, princess of Denmark.
The poem anthropomorphizes the pieces, "presenting the game as a battle between two armies, in a style reminiscent of battle scenes in the works of Homer and Virgil." (Wikipedia) In case you don't want to transport the game to the board, I faithfully copied the moves and the (minimal) discussion provided at the link. However, the link has a lot more information on the background in which the poem was written.
It's a horrible, amateurish game. But the finale is grand! Black is about to be mated in one, then saves the game with a mate in three (I provide the puzzle in the second diagram below). There are only a few comments shown in the game line, just enough to let you understand the buildup to the coup de grâce. [The full poem is a lengthy narrative that wouldn't fit well in a diagram.]
The below is taken from the Wikipedia description of what transpires between the moment one side concludes they are lost, pauses until an adjournment is agreed, only to find the game situation reversed the next day after receiving a vital, if somewhat obscure, clue from the princess!
The game has reached a position which seems to end with white inevitably mated next move. Fiedor sees no way to evade his loss and makes no move, despite urging comments from Borzuj and advice to resign from members of Tarses' court who watch the game. The sun sets with black still not making any move and it is decided that the players will stop the game for the night, to resume on the following day.Later Anna, who would rather marry Fiedor, visits the room with the chessboard, guarded for the night. She also initially believes that there is no way to evade white's mate but subsequently notices a chance for black. Anna loudly expresses an enigmatic opinion: "That knights know how to fight, priests are good at giving advice, infantry doesn't hesitate to walk forward and that it's no loss to change a dear thing for someone beloved."Before leaving, the princess turns the black rook to the side. The following day, hopeless Fiedor and content Borzuj meet to finish their game. Fiedor asks the guards about the turned rook and learns about Anna's visit and her words. Borzuj pays no attention, believing she was referring to the real-life knights and priests.Fiedor starts to think deeply and understands that the princess' words are a message with a hidden hint for him: that he should not use the knight and the bishop, but sacrifice the most valuable piece he still has, the rook; before ending the game using the pawns. To get the attention of his spectators, Fiedor proclaims that he will admit loss if he won't be able to mate his opponent in the next three moves. To Borzuj's surprise, it happens exactly that way.
Hurray for the future queen, her favored champion wins!! Fiedor marries Anna, while Borzuj leaves, declining an invitation to the wedding. Duh. Like that refusal was a surprise twist.
I wish at least one of the marital bliss draws had been half as enchanting as the following and unique friendly draw. You are about to encounter an arbitrator's nightmare and a unicorn's delight.
Damia, Angelo (2137) - Pace, Pietro Dario (2233), Bologna-ch 2nd, 2005.10.15
DRAW!!!! What a frightful, hall of mirrors image has prevailed!
With that, always remember the following:
Dance, like nobody's watching,
Sing, though your whole house is listening,
Play, like the results don't matter,
Write, but not to flatter.
by KevinChessSmith
Finally (for real), please don't be a member of A Party of Lovers, those critiqued by Keats because they never opened themselves to passion.
Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes,
Nibble their toast, and cool their tea with sighs,
Or else forget the purpose of the night,
Forget their tea — forget their appetite.
See with cross’d arms they sit — ah! happy crew,
The fire is going out and no one rings
For coals, and therefore no coals Betty brings.
A fly is in the milk-pot — must he die
By a humane society?
No, no; there Mr. Werter takes his spoon,
Inserts it, dips the handle, and lo! soon
The little straggler, sav’d from perils dark,
Across the teaboard draws a long wet mark.
Arise! take snuffers by the handle,
There’s a large cauliflower in each candle.
A winding-sheet, ah me! I must away
To No. 7, just beyond the circus gay.
‘Alas, my friend! your coat sits very well;
Where may your tailor live?’ ‘I may not tell.
O pardon me — I’m absent now and then.
Where might my tailor live? I say again
I cannot tell, let me no more be teaz’d —
He lives in Wapping, might live where he pleas’d.’
by John Keats
I hope you loved our little journey!
