September Babies: A Chess Zodiac
A very good month for my side of the Smith family. Both my daughter and my son were born in September!! Bonus: There are plenty of big chess names born in September!
Did any of that influence my children's path in the royal game? Tragically, though they learned the moves, they developed a preference for the game of Risk. "What!" you say. "Why was that?" you ask. Sigh, it was probably my fault. About that same time, I taught them how to gang up on me in Risk. That sometimes works in Risk. Not likely at all in chess, as two heads are not always better than one. Oh, if only I could have induced my wife to play, I might have been able to trick them into a chess mindset with four-player variants where all three could have played against me.🤔
Let's set aside my little sob story. We're chess aficionados and generally more concerned with the Masters of the 64 Squares!
So, here's the big question:
What do the biographies of the chess personalities born on a given day say about the chess potential of those born that same day in September?
What might Wikipedia and other sources be saying about you and chess in the future? Will someone credit you for starting them on the path to World CC?
Like any good zodiac, my attempts often admit to multiple interpretations. What? Did you expect more than pseudo-science? And for now, you'll have to draw your own inferences from the information provided. The lucre, and stunning lack thereof, received to date from these blogs hardly pays for me to walk over to the faucet and fill up my glass of water. Let alone to provide my keen insights into how people are influenced by those with whom they share a random day of birth.
Below you'll find images of photos, stamps, YouTube videos, paintings, book covers, or sketches of various chess luminaries, along with bios that range from short and pithy to chess-boy extremes. In some cases, you'll also find links to websites they maintain and their handle on various social media, including your fave, chess.com.
Scroll through the entire list or just click on a specific day, World CC, particularly famous player, or chess couple. And after looking at the biography of the birthday personality or personalities on a given day you should find a link that returns you here so you can select another day of the month. If you want. Enjoy!
Links to September Birth Dates
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Links to September Classical World CCs (not blitz, rapid, Fischer Random, etc.)
Links to Other September Notables
Erigaisi, Watson, Finegold, Philidor, Zukertort, Leko, Pandolfini, Abdusattorov
Links to September Chess Couples
Cornette, Zhang, Ribli, Smith, Zvorykina, Bobotsov
Looking for birthdays in other months?
October Chess Babies Zodiac
February Babies: A Chess Zodiac
Sources for this information included chess.com, wikipedia.com, ChessBase, FIDE, individuals' websites, YouTube.com, news articles, books, and other sources. Plus, my faulty memories. I mixed, matched, cut, and pasted so much that separation is implausible. Particularly with quotes which are found in a thousand repositories, not to mention book covers, t-shirts, and the rantings of chess coaches of whom I've had more than a few thanks to Chess University and @AttilaTurzo (my primary instructor).
Arturo Pomar Salamanca (1 September 1931 – 26 May 2016) was a Spanish GM, seven-time Spanish CC, and author. His peak rating is listed by FIDE as 2510 in July 1971, placing him 63rd globally. ChessMetrics suggests Pomar’s peak was 2655 and #23 in March 1962. He played for Spain in twelve consecutive Olympiads, earning an individual bronze in 1960. Several nervous breakdowns negatively impacted his progress and saw him leaving tournaments part way through.
Edward Winter dedicated a lengthy article to Pomar Arturo Pomar by Edward Winter. Here is a @billwall post on chess.com Oscar Pomar Former — Chess Prodigy. One of my favorite Top Bloggers, @VOB96, wrote about him twice. You can find her take on this somewhat tragic figure at Chess Prodigies Who Flopped - And Why and Chess Where I lived. Ep. 4: Spain. The Cradle Of Modern Chess.
He wrote several instructional books.
Alexander Kevitz (September 1, 1902 – October 24, 1981) was an American master, correspondence player, analyst, theoretician, and pharmacist. ChessMetrics estimates his peak rating at 2578 in September 1931 and placed him at #29 globally two months later. On the first official US Chess Federation rating list in 1950, Kevitz ranked third at 2610. Only Fine and Reshevsky had higher ratings.
Kevitz made contributions in the Reti Opening, Symmetrical English, Nimzowitsch Defense, and the Ruy Lopez Marshall Attack. You can read a letter he wrote analyzing a game he played against Capablanca at Kevitz v Capablanca, posted by Edward Winter.
Viktor Erdős (born 2 September 1987) is a Hungarian GM and one-time Hungarian CC. His peak rating was 2661 in October 2013. Two months later, he reached #87 globally.
He can be found on chess.com @Magicmaster17 but I found no games since June 2024. That said, he was on the site as recently as 27 August when I checked in late August 2025.
Arjun Kumar Erigaisi (born 3 September 2003) is an Indian GM, one-time Indian CC, and the second Indian GM to cross the 2800 threshold (Anand was the first). His peak rating was 2801 in December 2024, but he reached #3 globally a few months prior, in October. He was rated 2776 entering August 2025, having been shedding rating points recently.
You can find him on chess.com @GHANDEEVAM2003 where his bullet and blitz ratings were 3207 and 3199, respectively, as of 27 August 2025. In early March 2025 he won three consecutive Freestyle Fridays, as written about in That's Three in a Row for Arjun by @NathanielGreen.
Alexander Vasylovych Onischuk, born September 3, 1975, is a Soviet-born American GM, one-time Ukrainian CC, and one-time US CC. His peak rating was 2701 in July 2010, but his peak rank was over a decade earlier, at #27 in July 1999. He has been largely inactive on the FIDE circuit since May 2018. The most recent event I found was in August 2021. His rated currently resides at 2640.
Although he was online on 29 August 2025 @AlexOnischuk, I found no games since 2023.
Gabriel Eduardi Sargissian (Armenian: Գաբրիել Էդուարդի Սարգսյան, Gabriel Eduardi Sargsyan; born 3 September 1983) is an Armenian GM. His peak rating was 2711 in September 2022, placing him 32nd globally. His rating is 2626 as of August 2025.
He was a member of three gold-medal winning Armenian teams at Olympiads and one gold-medal winning team at the World Team CC. He also earned a team silver and two team bronzes at Olympiads.
Alexander Koblencs (Latvian: Aleksandrs Koblencs, Russian: Александр Кобленц, German: Alexander Koblenz; 3 September 1916, Riga – 9 December 1993, Berlin) was a Latvian master, four-time Latvian CC, trainer and writer. He is best known as the trainer of Mikhail Tal. ChessMetrics lists his peak strength at 2570 in May 1946 and placed him at #43 in July 1945.
Along with writing a number of books, he was the editor of the Latvian Šahs and the German Schach-Journal.
Nataša Bojković (born 3 September 1971) is a Serbian IM and WGM, World Girls Junior CC, and four-time Yugoslav Women’s CC. Her peak rating was 2460 in July 1994. She has not played a FIDE-rated game since September 2019, leaving her final rating at 2363.
François Antoine de Legall de Kermeur (4 September 1702–1792) was a French master, and possibly the world's best player from about 1730 to 1755.
Here’s a video about Legal’s Mate, played in 1750. (Truth to tell, it's a boring video. Thank goodness it's short!)
Michael Francis Stean (born 4 September 1953) is an English GM, British U16 CC, author, member of Team Korchnoi, and tax accountant. His peak rating was 2540 in January 1979, #46 globally. ChessMetrics cites figures of 2661 and #34 in June 1979. In 1976 he earned an individual gold and team bronze. He retired from chess at age 29, in 1982.
His performances at Olympiads included numerous honors. In his first, in 1974, he won the prize for the best game of the event.
Stean was one of Korchnoi’s seconds for both World CC matches.
He wrote two books and was a chess columnist for The Observer for 14 years. Below is a mercifully brief video about why simple chess is a great book.
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, and his standard rating stood at 2524 entering July 2025.
He can be found on chess.com @Tocras where he sported a 2902 blitz rating as of August 29, 2025.
He is married to Deimantė Cornette (nee Daulytė), born 22 February 1989. With her peak rating of 2470 this chess power couple has a combined peak rating of 5090.
It is one of the insights of modern players, and especially of the best ones, that one has to play the position itself, not some abstract idea of the position. John Watson Chess Quotes - Strategy
John L. Watson, 5 September 1951, is an American IM, member of the US Chess Hall of Fame, the Colorado Chess Hall of Fame, trainer, coach, and author. FIDE lists his peak Elo at 2430 in January 1981. ChessMetrics suggests that his playing strength peaked at 2563 in May 1994, placing him 238th globally. [P.S. The month and day of birth were only listed on one site. So...it might be wrong.]
John was living in the state of Colorado circa 1973, which is when I got to know him. He and his paramour had a house in Denver. There, they hosted frequent, rated chess tournaments throughout the year with John as the Tournament Director. He also participated in all the major tournaments in the state, such as the Denver Open and the Colorado Open. John didn’t stand out simply because he was one of the few masters in the state. No, he stood out because he played the French Defense! All we Sicilian devotees didn’t get it, though it certainly worked for him. Then again, the highest-rated player in the state played Bird’s Opening as White. Go figure. Later, John became one of the world’s leading French Defense theoreticians.
Though I played multiple offhand blitz games against John, we never happened to play in a tournament, despite the fact I always played in the Open section (barring my victory in the Reserve section of some 9-round tournament, the only time I played in the lower section). Curses, drat, and all that other stuff.
You can read more about John in:
- A 2020 interview by GM @2bf41-0 12 Questions for an American Chess Icon
- John Watson - World Chess Hall of Fame & Galleries
- InvestInChess’s 2015 interview with John.
- There are far more sources, some mentioned below, so I’m stopping here.
John has published more than thirty books. Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy was recognized as Book of the Year by both the British and US Chess Federations. The sequel, Chess Strategy in Action, earned Chesscafe’s Book of the Year Award. I own about a dozen of John's books and can actually say I've read them from cover to cover, except for the book on the French. I don't play 1.e4 anymore, and I don't play 1...e6, so I just couldn't bring myself to focus on his detailed analyses and explanation. Sorry 'bout that, John.
John was a long-time reviewer for The Week in Chess and the began writing book reviews for Chess Life magazine beginning in 2020. Since Nimzowitsch’s My System is the bête noire of many a chess player, I’ll offer you a link so you can look at a piece of John’s work rather than relying on my assessment. John Watson Book Review #108 of E+Plus Books, Part 2: Nimzowitsch Classics | The Week in Chess.
What others had to say about A Strategic Chess Opening Repertoire for White:
The book meticulously outlines strategies, covering essential openings and variations aimed at refining the reader’s opening game. 40 Best Chess Books [Your Ultimate Guide to Chess Mastery]
...stands out for its in-depth analysis and practical approach. Unlike others, it offers a blend of theory and real-game scenarios, making it an invaluable resource for practical learning and application. [Ibid]
Essential for chess enthusiasts, this book is a game-changer. It enhances understanding of openings and instills a strategic mindset, which is crucial for outsmarting opponents and players eager to elevate their game with strategic prowess. [Ibid]
The clear and concise writing makes the complex strategies of chess openings accessible and understandable. [Ibid]
The book is logically organized, making it easy to follow. Each chapter builds on the previous one, which is great for systematic learning. [Ibid]
The book requires careful study and is unsuited for quick learning or reference. [Ibid]
Its text-rich pages with few images may not attract visual or interactive learners. [Ibid]
Its deep dive into chess opening theory may not interest those preferring practical play. [Ibid]
What others had to say about Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy:
It contrasts modern chess strategies with those from Nimzowitsch’s time, offering fresh perspectives on the game’s development. 40 Best Chess Books [Your Ultimate Guide to Chess Mastery]
This book is a key resource for understanding the progression of chess strategy and is essential for players seeking to apply modern tactics in their games. [Ibid]
Using real-game examples, Watson makes complex strategies more understandable and relatable. [Ibid]
Watson’s engaging commentary on strategies and games makes it an enjoyable read for chess fans. [Ibid]
The book covers many modern chess strategies, making it a thorough guide for dedicated players. [Ibid]
The deep, detailed analysis can be tough for readers unfamiliar with intense chess theory. [Ibid]
Its specific focus on modern strategies might not appeal to those seeking a basic chess overview. [Ibid]
Wait, there's more? Sure, but it's super fun stuff now!!
On a light-hearted note, John’s Chessman comic book series (discontinued) is now a collector’s item! A set of his first two comic books was selling for $90 on eBay when I checked 31 August 2025. You can read more about chess and comics at this wayback machine link Chess and comics at the World Chess Hall of Fame | chess24.com, published 9 May 2017 by Macauley Peterson. (I found that page because it references John’s comics.) A highlight of the cover of episode #1 is the notice in the upper right hand corner, “UNAPPROVED BY THE USCF” with a 👎🏻symbol.
To see a whole slew of information on superheroes and chess, you can do no better than to visit the World Chess Hall of Fame site POW! Capturing Superheroes, Chess & Comics - World Chess Hall of Fame & Galleries. If you just want to glance at some chess cartoons and caricatures, prior to the creation of Meme-world, I’ll point you towards Historian Edward Winter and Chess Cartoons and Caricatures (article by Edward Winter)…it’s only a lot of reading if you care to read😉. It folds in the comic books above. Need another reason to investigate Winter's link? The pictures collected there tell a good story all by themselves!
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. I found no FIDE-rated games since December 2023, and his Elo rests at 2561. ChessMetrics lists his peaks at 2683 and #24.
You can find Zhong Zhang on chess.com @liuyuanzhanfu, though I found no games since February 2025. His blitz rating is 2901.
There was a controversy with the Singapore Chess Federation circa 2017 that left him unable to participate in the Asian Zonals. ChessNews published an interview with him in which he provided a refutation of the Federation’s statement that there had been no ban. Zhang Zhong answers: It was indeed a ban | ChessBase. The couple had been representing Singapore since 2007, but switched back to the Chinese Chess Federation following this incident.
On chess.com you can read GM @Kevin_Goh’s reaction to the Singapore Chess Federation’s actions How I became Singapore's top chess player - a tribute to Grandmaster Zhang Zhong. As the second-ranked player in Singapore at the time, he was greatly displeased with his Federation’s actions during this unofficial "banning".
He is married to WGM Li Ruofan. With her peak rating of 2433, this chess power couple clocks in at a combined peak rating of 5126.
Albert Becker (5 September 1896 – 7 May 1984), also known as Alberto Becker, was an Austrian–born, Argentine IM. ChessMetrics lists his peak rating at 2651 in January 1933 and his peak international ranking at #11 in June 1931.
The winner of an individual gold medal in the 1931 Olympiad and bronze in 1936 as a member of the Austrian team, he won a team gold medal as captain of the German team in the 1939 Olympiad in Buenos Aires…and was among the many players who elected to stay in Argentina when war broke out in Europe.
He may be best remembered as the first member of the Vera Menchik Club! The story is considered apocryphal by most, given the source was in a book printed 51 years after the event.
Nikolai (Nikolay) Nikolaevich Riumin (Ryumin, Rjumin, Rumin) (Russian: Николай Николаевич Рюмин; 5 September 1908 – 1942) was a Russian master whose ill health (tuberculosis) beginning in 1936 led to an early decline in his playing ability, and his death in 1942. ChessMetrics rated him 2627 in August 1935, #17 globally.
You can find some games and pictures provided for our illumination by one of my favorite bloggers, @simaginfan. Here you go: Nikolai Riumin. Some Games And Pictures. That Simple! You can also visit Tartajubow’s blogspot for the quick read Tartajubow On Chess II: Nikolai Riumin, Another Tragically Short Career.
Ben Finegold, born September 6, 1969, is an American GM, author, streamer, commentator, and content developer—as in, big-time content developer. His peak FIDE rating was 2563 in January 2006. That aligns very closely with ChessMetrics calculations that rated him 2556 in September 2002, #274 globally. Ben had the dubious distinction of being labeled the strongest IM in the world for some time. He earned his IM title at age twenty and didn’t pocket his GM title until age forty.
You can find Ben on chess.com @GMBenjaminFinegold where he plays regularly, including hyper-bullet, usually while streaming. You can also find many of his videos on that page.
Finegold has a number of books on chessable.com, including some Short and Sweets that are free to Pro members. Thanks, Ben! Several of the books have been translated into German and one into Spanish.
Here's a link to his library of videos, GMBenjaminFinegold - YouTube. You'll see several of Ben's videos in this post as a tribute to various players and as a testimony to Ben's efforts that keep our collective memory of these great players alive and well.
This channel contains videos from Grandmaster Ben Finegold, his wife, Karen, and friends and family. Many videos are taken from various Twitch streams or were Live lectures on various openings, players, and other chess topics. [Description from the site.]
Along with a seemingly endless supply of great YouTube videos, Finegold has provided commentary for numerous major events, including the US CC, US Junior CC, Sinquefield Cup, and Chess World Cup.
Finally, as all the above wasn’t enough, he streams multiple times a week at itsBenAndKaren - Twitch (Karen is his wife.) He has over 150K subscribers on YouTube. That’s a nice monthly stipend! (Well deserved, imo.)
So, he’s clearly one of these stream of conscious folks, based on his profession. Does he have anything interesting to say? You be the judge. I’ve borrowed a small sample from @Steven-Odonoghue’s The Ultimate Mega Compilation of Ben Finegold Quotes and Catchphrases - Chess.com. Thanks, whoever you are!
I’m Grandmaster Ben Finegold, and you’re not.
It’s Pawndemonium!
You know they’re good at chess when you can’t spell or pronounce their name.
The way you tell how good someone is at chess is to see how long their Wikipedia page is.
Taking your opponent’s queen is good.
You haven’t heard of this opening, but you have a great excuse. You haven’t heard of anything!
Always make the same mistake twice.
Buy my book, eat like a grandmaster.
Buy my book, sleep like a grandmaster.
This is the Najdorf variation, named after Mr. Variation.
Now White played h4. Simon Williams was proud.
It’s all about the Benjamins.
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. He lost nine rating points in October 2023 to dip to 2475.
He is married to WIM Mária Grosch. With her peak rating of 2220, this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4950.
John (“Gandalf”) Grefe (September 6, 1947 – December 22, 2013) was an American IM, US co-CC, and author. He is one of only two players to have won or shared the US CC without having or later achieving the GM title. FIDE lists his peak rating at 2470 in May 1974. ChessMetrics lists his peak rating at 2655 in October 1973, #32 globally.
For your reading interest, I’m providing a link to a Jeremy Silman post about John, John Grefe: Talent Isn’t Enough! It’s a great human-interest story told shortly after the occasion of Grefe’s early death at age 66. In Silman’s judgment, Grefe lost the inner fire that propels one to the next level. There is an excellent game included against Arnold Denker, so I didn’t bother to find one myself, though Grefe – Brown, 1973 US CC merits attention for a swift dismantling of a future six-time US CC. Silman also included several puzzles from Grefe’s games. Enjoy!!
Above are the covers of several books Grefe authored. The diagram in the middle book cover is probably difficult to pick out. Here's a hint: It's a book about the Queen's Indian Defense.
Georgy Tadzhikhanovich Agzamov (September 6, 1954, Tashkent – August 27, 1986, Sevastopol) was a Soviet GM, two-time Uzbekistani CC, and philologist. His peak rating was 2590 in January 1985, placing him 14th internationally. Because he died too soon for inflation in ratings to fully set in, we’ll switch to ChessMetrics. They placed him at 2728 in December 1984, #8 globally.
In 1986 he died in a tragic hiking accident when the rescuers reached him too late to save his life. An annual memorial tournament in his memory was established in Tashkent in 2007.
chess.com Hall of Fame #18: François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor (7 September 1726 – 31 August 1795), is widely regarded as the best chess player of his age and several generations thereafter!
The Philidor Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6) is named after him. Regarding that opening, I have to say that I learned the lessons of Morphy's Opera House game (Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Opera Mate) before playing tournaments and in only my third OTB tournament took down a player rated over 1700 because he didn't know how to defend against such White aggressions. Later I came to realize that there is nothing wrong with the opening, I just happened to know some trickery my less-informed opponent had never encountered...though that struck me oddly then and now. The Opera House takedown was famous even for a noob like me. If my opponent was going to play that defense, they should have known that game!
The Philidor position in endgames is one that every player should win if they want to save many half points in rook versus rook plus pawn endgames and grab some free half points if their opponent doesn't know the correct defensive maneuver. Do you know it? Try the simple puzzle above with black to move and reach an easily defensible position.
Philidor's book, Analyse du jeu des Échecs (Analysis of the game of Chess), "was the very first to give detailed annotations on how to play the middlegame, present chess strategy as a whole, and present the concepts of the blockade, prophylaxis, positional sacrifice and mobility of the pawn formation." [François-André Danican Philidor - Wikipedia]. His book was deemed a standard chess manual for at least a century, translated into multiple languages, and continues to be reissued as you'll gather from the rightmost image.
…the Pawns: They are the very Life of this Game. Chess Quotes - Pawns
A pawn, when separated from his fellows, will seldom or never make a fortune. Chess Quotes - Pawns
It is always advantageous to exchange your king's bishop pawn for the king's pawn, since this leads to the seizure of the centre and, in addition, to the opening of a file for the rook. Chess Quotes - Pawns
What others said about the "Father of Modern Chess":
...was the best player in the world for 50 years. In fact, he was probably about 200 rating points better than anyone else yet alive—set apart by the mysteries of the game he had solved. [Chess Life, “Tools of the Trade”, July 1995, p. 12]
Let's close with a GM Ben Finegold video about Philidor.
chess.com Hall of Fame #27: Johannes Zukertort
Johannes Hermann Zukertort (Polish: Jan Hermann Cukiertort; 7 September 1842 – 20 June 1888) was a Polish-born British-German master and author who lost to Steinitz in both an unofficial 1872 World CC match and the 1886 World CC match. ChessMetrics estimated his peak strength at 2798 in February 1886 and lists him at #1 internationally for 56 different months between 1878 and 1886, almost five of those eight years. He was in the top thirteen globally from 1868 until his death in 1888. His greatest tournament success was at London 1883, where he scored 22/26, finishing three points ahead of Steinitz in second.
For what may have been his best game ever, you can listen to a good chess.com review by NM @ChessNetwork’s post Famous Chess Game: Zukertort's Immortal (Zukertort vs. Blackburne). He has a video in the post with some straightforward analysis. [It’s also an excellent example of a technique rarely employed in blogs.]
Any number of articles have been written about Zukertort. who was either one of the most accomplished geniuses ever, or merely had a clever way of publicizing himself with fabulous accomplishments that were rarely documented. I’ve curated a few links that offer games and insights if you care to explore further.
- By IM Jeremy Silman, Johannes Zukertort, Master of Dynamics
- By @billwall, Johannes Zukertort
- By GM @2bf41-0, Chess Romanticism Part I (Zukertort)
- By @simaginfan, My Favorite Game Of. Number 6. Johannes Zukertort and a shorter piece, A Zukertort Anthology Piece With Some Points of Debate!
- J.H. Zukertort’s Alleged Accomplishments (article by Edward Winter)
Here's what Steinitz had to say about his foe,
He had an extraordinary book-knowledge, and when he came across some novelty in friendly analytical trials with strong players he would retain it for years and then apply it in a match or tournament. But though he had a remarkable faculty of assimilating and perhaps correcting other people’s ideas, we feel sure that he was very deficient in originality. We noticed this defect especially in his analysis, as well as in his attempted practical application of the principles of “the modern school.” [International Chess Magazine, July 1888, page 195]
Let's close with a video by GM Ben Finegold talking about that 1886 World CC match of Zukertort versus Steinitz.
Samuel Rosenthal ChessMetrics places his peak playing strength at 2655 in July 1885, and ranked him fourth in the world for thirteen different months between 1873 and 1876. He was a Top Fifteen player for all 22 years shown for him on the site.
Karen Ashotovich Grigorian (7 September 1947 – 30 October 1989) was an Armenian IM, three-time Armenian CC (twice as co-champion). FIDE listed his peak rating at 2520 in May 1974 and ranked him 59th globally in January 1975. ChessMetrics offers a higher rating at 2631, and a similar ranking at #49. He committed suicide by jumping off a bridge at age 42. You can read a bit about that in @AstroTheoretical_Physics' post Chess Players Who Battled Depression.
His twin brother Levon Grigorian was a GM.
GM, two-time Uzbekistani CC, former #63 worldwide
Levon Ashotovich Grigorian (7 September 1947 – 29 November 1975), was a Soviet Armenian GM, six-time Armenian CC, and two-time Uzbekstani CC. FIDE lists his peak rating at 2490. ChessMetrics offers a higher rating at 2601 (thirty points lower than his IM brother), with a peak rank of #63 in February and March 1968. I was unable to find an obituary or article that indicated how Levon died.
His twin brother Karen Grigorian was an IM.
Sergey Kudrin (born September 7, 1959) is a Soviet-American GM. FIDE lists his peak Elo at 2580 in July 1992 and placed him at #32 in the world eight years earlier. ChessMetrics lists his peaks at 2646 in June 1989 and #66 internationally in May 1984. A bit of an oddity those disparities given his birth year. He still plays, though less frequently. The most recent event I found was in April 2025, when he lost eight rating points and slipped just below the 2300 rating mark to 2299 as of May 2025.
chess.com Hall of Fame #44: Peter Leko
HoF #44: Leko–"The Cement Meister"
Peter Leko (Hungarian: Lékó Péter; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian GM World U16 CC, commentator, and author. He nearly became the World CC in 2004, losing the last game to allow Kramnik (on the left in middle picture) to tie the match and retain his title with a score of 7 – 7. There were no tiebreaks in the regulations at that time.
His peak rating was 2763 in April 2025, and he reached #4 in the world in April 2003. Twenty plus years later he is still #58 with a rating of 2666 as of April 2025. However, he has been inactive since May 2023, also the last year he played games on chess.com. His chess.com username is @PeterLeko but he had not visited since 2024 or played a game since 2023 when I checked on 11 April 2025.
Leko represented Hungary in eight Olympiads, earning two team silvers and one individual gold. He served as a second in three World CC matches. First, supporting Anand versus Karpov in 2008, then working for Kramnik versus Anand in 2008, and finally, returning to Anand's team for the matchup versus Carlsen in 2013.
Leko Writings
Leko has two books published on chessable.com, though one is simply a Short & Sweet that is free to Pro members.
Here are some lines taken from his free strategy lesson.
…the importance of knowing the soul of the position so we don't mix ideas and fall into strategically lost positions right from the opening. [Introduction]
The great thing about strategically overwhelming advantages is that often, with simple good moves, we can suffocate the opponent like a Boa! [Analysis of Alireza Firouzja-Magnus Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2020, after move 28…Kg7!]
What chessable.com says about Super Grandmaster Strategy:
The desire to stabilize the situation and gain the benefit no matter how complex it is,” is how Leko describes cemento-style chess.
Leko Quotes
I expected more in this section given his role as a commentator. Then I thought about it and realized, it's not likely that a GM would kick off a day of watching multiple games with a catch phrase such as, "Are you ready to RUMBLE!!!" Drat and double drat.
Still, I managed to find a few things in interviews and elsewhere. Besides, it's not like folks such as Peter Leko entered chess.com's Hall of Fame because of the things they said. It's what they did!
My favorite victory is when it is not even clear where my opponent made a mistake. Chess Mistakes [image above]
The problem is that nowadays, with so much information flying around, it is almost impossible to remember anything you saw just a week ago, never mind three years ago! Quotes About Learning Chess
I'm not the kind who takes unnecessary risks. I believe much more in the logic of our game, rather than gambling on your opponent's nerves. [ChessBase Chess News, interview, 5/26/2009]
Any talent who wishes to be a professional chess player and to develop his chess talent is in the best place and in the best era. [Younger And Younger: How Young Will Grandmasters Become? - Chess.com]
In order to develop, you should be aiming to face as many strong players as possible. It's not about the result. The biggest mistake is to try to find opponents whom you are beating. From just winning, you are not learning. It's much better to lose a lot of games, and the get the chance of improving. The online era is wonderful for this. Sensational stuff. [Ibid]
The technology is developing. All the online access, and during the pandemic we saw this [chess] boom that heavily contributed. The ones who started to play chess suddenly now have so much information. [Ibid]
We are trying to create very big stars, but it's also important to protect the kids. [Ibid]
Vishy is FIDE world champion and played super tournaments in Delhi and Teheran. Vladimir has broken the supremacy of the strongest player for the last 15 years. Taking into consideration tradition, it is logical that he too regards himself as world champion and feels like a champion. Therefore, we currently have two champions, Kasparov, who is as strong as an ox, and a few young grandmasters who also have great potential. This generates a lot of tension and interest. What is wrong with that? In boxing, there are up to four world champions in each weight division. From time to time, they challenge each other. These are the really big fights. [Leko: "A milestone for Fischer Random Chess", The Chess Variant Pages]
And now, let's hear a single comment from the other side!
Peter Leko has three essential qualities (that I know about). He has a great opening repertoire, he is a greatly gifted technical player, and a very nice guy. If he had a good understanding of dynamics as well, he would have been one of the greatest players of our time (rather than just one game away from being World Champion!). [Jacob Aagaard, Grandmaster Preparation - Endgame Play. Quality Chess, 2014, p. 348]
Leko Annotated Game
Below you can ponder a game annotated by Peter Leko. His annotations are lucid and personal. Plus, I'm biased by annotations that hit many of the concepts I rely on in KIMPLODES!, even if Leko's comments are guided by less acronym-bound, teaching guidelines. I'll do some stage setting and a quick wrap up for the game.
If you'd like to see three more of his annotated games, I'll refer you to a lengthier post of mine on Leko HoF #44: Leko–"The Cement Meister".
Leko, Peter (2605) - Karpov, Anatoly (2775) Dortmund SuperGM 23rd, 22.07.1995
In this game we get to hear Leko discussing how he prepared for the game, his thoughts during the game, as well as some thoughts Karpov shared in post-game analysis. Karpov held a slight edge for much of the game and Leko clearly delineates where Karpov missed his best chance, ways Leko could have gone wrong, and the point where Leko knew he could hold a draw despite the FIDE World CC's attempts to that point. (Did you forget that Kasparov had broken from FIDE and formed the PCA by 1995? And that Karpov was again the FIDE World CC?)
[GM Pavel Blatny and FM Alexander von Gleich also added annotations that are labeled clearly.]
Perhaps the comment that most caught my attention was after move fifteen, "Karpov seems to have a fondness for this astonishing kingside move in Dortmund." Knowing what your opponent played in a game two years before in a similar position resonates with me because I've done preparation that deep in some online contests where I had a week to prepare for a specific individual in a 45m rapid game. I suspect Leko didn't put in as much time as I did because I'm a bit slower to catch on to such points!
Let's close with a video produced by Ben Finegold, one of the GMs I find both entertaining and insightful. Plus, Ben's b'day is in September, so I'm including a larger number than usual of his videos this month.
Sergey Smagin (8 September 1958) is a Russian GM. His peak rating was 2613 in April 2001, while his peak world rank was almost fourteen years earlier at #42 in July 1987. ChessMetrics has much more closely aligned peaks, placing Smagin at 2685 in December 1985 and #29 globally in February 1986. Although he plays rated blitz and rapid events, I found no FIDE-rated games at a standard time control since April 2006. His rating has remained unchanged at 2551 since then.
Héctor Decio Rossetto (8 September 1922 – 23 January 2009) was an Argentine GM and five-time Argentine CC. Born well before FIDE instituted the Elo metric for rating players, his peak rating under that system lists him at 2465 in July 1972. ChessMetrics lists him at 2650 and #24 in April 1950.
Rusudan Goletiani (Georgian: რუსუდან გოლეთიანი; born September 8, 1980) is a Georgian-American IM and WGM, one-time US Women’s CC, one-time American Continental Women’s CC, and World Girls U14/U16/U18 CC. She won an individual silver medal and bronze team medal with the US team at the 2008 Women’s Olympiad. Her peak rating was 2403 in October 2006. She effectively stopped playing FIDE-rated events in 2014, with no rated games (except a few at a rapid time control) since April 2018. Her retired (presumably) rating is 2278.
Friedrich (Fritz) Baumbach (8 September 1935 – 24 April 2025) was a German ICCF GM, most famous for being the eleventh ICCF World Champion, 1983–1989. He was also the East German CC in 1970, and held a doctorate in chemistry, though he later worked as a patent attorney.
His peak FIDE rating was 2460 in July 1971. That gradually declined to 2131 in October 2021 as he was still playing actively. Age 86? Really? Hey, I just look at FIDE’s rating charts. ChessMetrics cites peaks of 2570 and #101 in July 1971. Who do we trust for people born before 1950? Uhm, ChessMetrics is my bet for being the closest to chess truth. Baumbach’s peak ICCF rating was 2562 in July 1994, gradually slipping to 2399 in April 2021. Then, if one is to trust the chart at Player Details, he lost 42 points to cascade to 2357 in January 2022.
Herbert William Trenchard (8 September 1857 – 15 April 1934) was an English master. ChessMetrics estimated his rating at 2560 in January 1894 and placed him 34th globally in August 1893.
Bessem Amin (Arabic: باسم أمين; born 9 September 1988) is an Egyptian GM, seven-time African CC, one-time Arab CC, one-time Mediterranean CC, and MD. His peaks were a 2712 Elo in January 2019 and #33 internationally in June of that year. His rating stands at 2636 entering September 2025.
You can find him on chess.com @Dr_Bassem where his blitz rating was 2903 and his bullet rating 2893 as of 29 August 2025.
Elmārs Zemgalis (9 September 1923 – 8 December 2014) was a Latvian and American GM (honorary) and college math professor. Given it was difficult to find a FIDE Elo, I settled for my reliable alternative source, ChessMetrics. The site placed him at 2690 and #40 in January 1950.
Mauricio Flores Rios, born September 10, 1990, is a Chilean GM and author with a peak rating of 2537 in September 2013. Because he was focused on completing his PhD and subsequent employment, he has not played a FIDE-rated game since October 2015, when his rating stood at 2529.
He maintains a robust playing presence on chess.com as @mauricioflores and offers coaching services. As of September 2025, Rios’ bullet rating was 2923, his blitz rating was 2832, and his rapid rating was 2594.
Rios' Books
Rios has written two phenomenal books! The first was sufficient for a lifetime for most!! Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide is brilliant, easy to follow, and offers incredible insights into plans for all the major pawn structures you will encounter in a chess game.
Let me lay out a typical chapter. It starts by describing the overall structure, e.g., isolated pawn, Slav formation, the Hedgehog, KID Type I/II/III, and so on. In instances such as the isolated pawn chapter, it provides a list of opening variations that frequently result in the structure under examination. Then there will be a general discussion of middlegame and endgame prospects for both players. That is followed by a short list of White's thematic plans, followed by a similar list of Black's thematic plans. Then a series of illustrative games are presented that exemplify the execution of the plans, often showing where things went awry and how play should have gone. Each game also includes final remarks that summarize key points to take away from the example.
Rios used to blog on chess.com. When he did, provided additional material on his first book. His posts started in 2015 and ended in 2017 with this post Chess Structures in Practice - The Najdorf Type I. You can quickly see the topics of all his blogs at his blog home page mauricioflores’s Blog. (see author’s blog for all additional info).
Some of Rios' best quotes in his book are:
My aim is to provide something new to chess literature; to write the book I should have studied earlier in my career. Preface
By the time I had become a FIDE Master, I had concluded that the strategic rules in my books only worked sometimes, and this was not good enough. I was afraid to use potentially incorrect rules, and I changed my style to avoid dealing with them. I became a strong tactician and avoided strategy at all costs. Unfortunately, I could not always obtain sharp positions and in quiet games my lack of understanding often led me to lose miserably. Preface
My aim is to provide an easy-to-understand strategic guide to the most frequently occurring classes of positions in chess.
Learning all structures within a family is very useful, as players must frequently decide between two options that yield different, yet related, structures. Introduction, p.9
What others said about his first book:
By studying the 140 games and fragments in this book, the reader will learn many of the most important plans, patterns, and ideas in chess. GM Axel Bachmann, Foreword to Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide
The pawn structure is the most important factor to determine the nature of a game' therefore, studying model games classified by structure allows the reader to acquire reliable strategic knowledge much more easily. Ibid
Mauricio's detailed explanations allow the reader to identify the key elements in each example. Moreover, each game constitutes a building block toward the understanding of the structure as a whole. Ibid
This is an exceptional book on a fundamental topic in chess. Review: Chess Structures - Forward Chess.
I want to point out that although the title suggests the book is aimed at GM level, I think it cannot be farther from the truth. In my view the book target audience should be around a 2000 elo (fide). Lower rated players will benefit greatly from this book too, whatever their level, as the explanations are very clear and accessible. Gollum's Chess Reviews: Review: Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide by Mauricio Flores Rios
I recommend this book wholeheartedly. Any player that seriously studies this book will gain a complete picture of the major pawn structures of the game and will hence improve greatly his understanding. Ibid
Not satisfied with one world-class book, GM Rios gives us another. He has a second book that was released in 2025. Here's some early description he provided on his site Chess Structures – a Grandmaster Guide:
The goal of Chess Imbalances is to teach readers how to conduct each material imbalance that regularly occurs in chess. The book covers all the usual imbalances, like bishop vs. knight, opposite-colored bishops, rook vs. two minor pieces, etc. Then, I also discuss material compensation in great detail, as we have almost 200 pages devoted to pawn sacrifices, exchange sacrifices, piece sacrifices and even positional queen sacrifices (arguably, my favorite topic).
Carissa Shiwen Yip (10 September 2003) is an American IM who won the 2021, 2023, and 2024 US Women's CC. Her first victory against a GM came in 2014 when she defeated Alexander Ivanov at the New England Open. An IM and WGM her peak rating was 2458 in September 2025.
Carissa won an individual gold and team bronze in the 2024 Women’s Olympiad.
When I checked in early September 2025 it had been a month since she played on chess.com @Magician4MA, but she had been online only 19 hours prior to my research.
Dmitry Gurevich (11 September 1956) is a Soviet-born American GM, two-time US Masters CC, and four-time winner of the US Open. By checking ChessBase, and not Wikipedia, you’ll find a peak rating of 2635 in 1997. Meanwhile, his peak world ranking of #36 was thirteen years earlier, in January 1984 (according to Wikipedia). ChessMetrics is less generous, placing his rating no higher than 2594 in August 1997 and #124 globally the next month. Me? I have no idea of ground truth in this instance. There’s a world of difference between #36 and #124.
William Winter (11 September 1897 – 18 December 1955) was a British master, two-time British CC, and author. He has the distinction of being the only British CC to serve time in prison (he was a rabid Communist and was jailed for his activities away from the board). ChessMetrics calculated his peak rating at 2589 in May 1928, and ranked him at #23 internationally in February and April of that year.
You can read a very brief bit about him at William Winter by Edward Winter (no relation, to the best of my knowledge) . Or you could choose to visit CHESS, which published his memoirs between October 1962 and March 1963.
Predrag Nikolić (born 11 September 1960) is a Bosnian Serb GM, two-time Yugoslav CC, and World Senior CC (+50). His peak rating was 2676 in October 2004. Curiously, his peak global rank was almost seventeen years earlier, #6 in January 1988. ChessMetrics placed him at 2735 and #8 in December 1987. Ah, now that makes sense!
As a member of Yugoslav and Bosnian Olympiad teams he earned a team gold, team silver, and individual bronze. In the 1983 European Team CC he earned a team silver and individual gold.
Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska (born 11 September 1971) is a Georgian and German IM and WGM, two-time World Junior Girls CC, and one-time Georgian Women’s CC. Her peak rating was 2465 in April 2002. ChessMetrics produces a peak rating of 2552 in November 1994, placing her at #293 internationally. FIDE shows her rating at 2311 since April 2025.
Jonathan Berry (born September 11, 1953) is a Canadian ICCF GM, FIDE FM, IA, chess administrator, writer, and editor. His peak ICCF rating was 2578 in July 1993. FIDE Lists his peak OTB rating at 2383 in May 1991 (his Wikipedia page only looked at Elo from April 2003 and forward…it’s limited and thus faulty), and he has not played since May 2014 with a rating of 2269. ChessMetrics lists his peak OTB rating at 2389 in December 1975, #588 globally. That aligns closely with the information I found in ChessBase.
Along with working as a columnist for Globe and Mail and the Ottawa Journal, Berry was also an editor for Inside Chess, the CFC Bulletin, and a Duncan Suttles project, Chess on the Edge. He also produced a number of chess books, seen above. His name is not listed on one book because the publishers preferred to focus on the sole GM on the project.
It's @Anna_chess11's birthday! She's one of the star bloggers who participates in blog competitions in BlogChamps and The Blogger Awards v2.0. To date, she has earned five medals in the monthly blogging contests: two silver, and three bronze. We know you have a golden future!!
Alexander (Alex) Shabalov was born in Riga, Latvia on 12 September 1967. Now an American GM, he won the US CC four times in his career and won or tied for first seven times in the US Open CC. He is also a one-time World Senior CC and one-time US Senior CC. His peak FIDE rating was 2645 in July 1998 at which time he was ranked #29 in the world. His current ELO stands at 2475 as of September 2025.
For much of his career he was known for seeking complications even at the cost of objective soundness, akin to Tal and Shirov, two very famous Latvian GMs.
Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant (12 September 1800, Monflanquin – 29 October 1872) was a leading French chess master and an editor of the chess periodical Le Palamède. He is best known for losing a match against Howard Staunton in 1843. ChessMetrics estimated his peak rating at 2603 in August 1846 and placed him at #2 globally from January 1843 until July 1846. If you want to decide for yourself how good he was, you can visit The Best Chess Games of Pierre de Saint-Amant - Chess.com and play through his games!
You can read more about Saint-Amant at Pierre Charles Fournié de Saint-Amant by Edward Winter. Tartajubow also has a rather nice article at Tartajubow On Chess II: Pierre Saint-Amant. Bill Wall also spent some time gathering information that you can find at Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant (1800- 1872).
Alexander Riazantsev (Russian: Александр Рязанцев; born 12 September 1985) is a Russian GM, one-time Russian CC, one-time European Rapid CC, World U12 CC, European U14 CC, and coach of the Russian women’s national team. His peak rating was 2712 in July 2012, placing him at #27 globally. His rating is 2612 as of June 2025.
He has not been online at chess.com since 2022 where he can be found @Riazantsev. The one friend showing on his home page is Daniil Dubov, who still plays regularly as @Duhless.
Kenneth Ray Smith (September 13, 1930 – February 4, 1999) was a US FM, author, and poker player. His claim to fame is the Smith-Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3), throwing a pawn in hopes a lead in development will fan the flames of a winning initiative.
You can read more about Ken at Tartajubow On Chess II: Kenneth Smith’s Incredibly Bad Luck. (That's where I found the image above.
Regarding only the Smith-Morra Gambit, Smith wrote nine books and almost fifty articles. Nakamura even played it twice in rapid games against Caruana in April 2023—they split the outcomes with one win each. Smith wrote and co-authored numerous other chess manuals, a few of which are shown above.
Gregory Serper (@Gserper on chess.com) was born in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic on 14 September 1969. Now an American GM, he moved here in 1996. His peak ELO was 2600, achieved in January 1993. His current rating is 2522, as of September 2024. He placed third in the 27th World Junior CC in 1988, behind Lautier and Ivanchuk, but one place ahead of Gelfand. In 1999, he won the World Open tournament after beating Boris Gulko in an Armageddon playoff game.
A frequent commentator on chess.com, I can safely say I have copies of every “Game of the Day” he has annotated! [You can find the entire collection at Game Of The Day | Library - Chess.com.]
Adolf Albin (14 September 1848 – 22 March 1920) was a Romanian master. He is best known for the Albin Countergambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5) and for authoring the first chess book written in Romanian. Apparently, he did not learn the game until his 20s and played no international tournaments until his 40s. Chessmetrics lists his peak rating at 2643 in August 1895 and ranked him #15 in July and August 1895.
You can read plenty of Albin snippets at Chess: Winning a Won Game by Edward Winter.
Time to throw in another Finegold video.😁
Hans Ree, 15 September 1944, is a Dutch GM, three-time Dutch CC, two-time European Junior CC, and writer. FIDE lists his peak rating at 2520 in January 1980, placing him at #61 internationally. ChessMetrics offers a higher rating of 2605 in December 1979, but a lower peak ranking of #81 in September 1980. He still plays actively though his rating has drifted to 2250 as of June 2025.
Although there is a virtual Hans Ree on chess.com (@koningsbaars), he has not been online since 2014.
A columnist for NRC Handelsblad, Ree also contributes to New in Chess and ChessCafe.com. He has written several books I had never heard of, but his covers are fascinating.
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, winning a bronze medal on board three in 1984. She established NZ’s annual “Girls Chess Week.”
In 2013, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her lifetime contributions to chess.
She has a chess.com page @VivJS, but I found no games since 2021, nor had she been online since 2023.
She is married to FM Robert Smith. With his peak rating of 2333, this chess couple has a combined peak rating of 4368.
Berge Østenstad (born 15 September 1964) is a Norwegian GM and eight-time Norwegian CC, more than any player not named Simen Adgestein. His peak rating was 2506 in October 2004. His rating was 2421 as of March 2025.
Mark Carl Diesen (16 September 1957 – December 9, 2008) was an American IM, World Junior CC, and US Junior co-CC. He earned the IM title by winning the World Junior CC in 1976 ahead of luminaries such as Ľubomír Ftáčnik and Oleg Romanishin. FIDE lists Mark’s peak rating at 2460 in January 1979, shortly before dropping out of professional chess. ChessMetrics calculated his peak rating as 2579 in November 1978, placing him at #122 globally.
He achieved at least two GM norms. His top-notch victories included wins over Larry Evans, Borislav Ivkov, John Nunn, and Eugenio Torre.
Mark was the Louisiana State CC three years running, beginning in 1986. He was also a Texas State CC twice. Why am I mentioning state championships? Well, Hikaru Nakamura is playing in them to qualify for the Candidates.
How do we know this IM was a great player? Well, Ben Finegold did a video…although it was a sponsored video, meaning someone paid for it. Great Players of the Past: IM Mark Diesen
Hans Bouwmeester (16 September 1929) is a Dutch IM, ICCF GM, one-time Dutch CC, and author. FIDE lists his peak rating at 2430 in July 1971, far below his actual OTB strength, but not surprising given his age when Elo was instituted. ChessMetrics lists his peak rating at 2558 in November 1966, and placed him in the world’s Top 100 in March and April 1964, at #99.
Several of his books were translated from the Dutch into English.
George (Kolty) Koltanowski (17 September 1903 – x) was a Belgian-born American GM, four-time Belgian CC, coach, and chess promoter. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 when FIDE first established titles, and received an honorary GM title in 1988. His personal students have included Caruana and Josh Waitzkin.
Best known for his touring, both simultaneous exhibitions and blindfold displays, Kolty repeatedly set new records for blindfold chess. And if you are looking for someone to blame for the widespread use of the Swiss system in U.S. tournament, you need look no further than this giant of the field (well, his tournament results were mixed, but other than that!) who introduced the Swiss system to the U.S. at the 1947 U.S. Open. And then he organized and held Swiss tournaments across the country.
Bruce Pandolfini (17 September 1947) is an American NM, coach, and author. His peak US Chess Federation rating was 2241 in January 1970.
Bruce was a consultant for Walter Tevis when the latter wrote the novel The Queen’s Gambit in 1983. Bruce returned as a consultant for the Netflix miniseries. He was also the guy on the box of Mattel’s initial version of a computer chess game. Just a bit of trivia for those who bought that as a gift in the early 1980s for their would-be chess prodigies.
Below are some of Pandolfini’s sayings, known as “Pandolfinisms.”
Simplify when winning; complicate when losing.
Play the board, not the player, unless you know something about the player.
Sacrifice your opponent's pieces before sacrificing your own.
A principle says where to look, not what to see.
Master the principles so you can know when to break them.
Don't just do something. Sit there.
The biggest mistake is to think you can't make one.
Learn from your mistakes, especially not to repeat them.
Don't consider everything, just everything that matters.
Solve it yourself and it's yours for life.
Every win is first won in practice.
Don't ignore an opening move just because you used to rely on it.
Bad players can play good moves by accident.
No one ever won by resigning.
He has written some 30+ chess books. Some of his efforts have been criticized for inaccuracies and the failure to document sources.
Pandolfini writes a regular column for Chess Life titled The ABC's of Chess and has written regularly for ChessCafe.com and chess.com.
Tigran Levoni Petrosian (Armenian: Տիգրան Լևոնի Պետրոսյան; born 17 September 1984) is an Armenian GM, two-time Armenian CC, and one-time Armenian Rapid CC. His peak rating was 2671 in March 2015, placing him at #71 globally. The past ten years saw a significant rating decline, some 120 Elo. His rating sat at 2551 as of December 2024.
Named after Tigran V. Petrosian, the former World CC, this modern-day Tigran is tremendously skilled but unlikely to repeat the accomplishments of his namesake (they are not related). Still, Tigran L did win two team gold medals in Olympiads.
In 2020, Petrosian received lifetime bans from chess.com and the PRO Chess League for violating chess.com’s fair play regulations during a match in which he was accused of cheating by Wesley So. You can read a synopsis by @sleepyporcyy Chess Players Who Ruined Their Careers, a Top Blogger and member of BlogChamps and The Blogger Awards, or a post from the PROChessLeague published on chess.com, Saint Louis Arch Bishops 2020 PRO Chess League Champions; Armenia Eagles Disqualified. Top Blogger @The_Turtlepro also included this incident in a summary of several cheaters, The Most Famous Chess Cheating Incidents.
David Craig Smerdon (born 17 September 1984) is an Australian GM, author, and PhD economist. His peak rating of 2533 was achieved in November 2016. From 2017 – 2022, he played no FIDE-rated games, and the few events since then saw him slide to 2468 Elo as of November 2024.
His book The Complete Chess Swindler won the English Chess Federation Book of the Year Award in 2020.
He plays on chess.com relatively regularly @smurfo.
Xu Jun (Chinese: 徐俊; pinyin: Xú Jùn; born September 17, 1962) is a Chinese GM, two-time Chinese CC, one-time Asian CC, and FIDE Senior Trainer. His peak rating was 2668, placing him 22nd globally in July 2000. His rating has slipped to 2450 as of January 2025. ChessMetrics is slightly less generous in their calculations, placing his peaks at 2643 in April 2002 and #53 in October 2001.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbek: Nodirbek Fazliddin oʻgʻli Abdusattorov; born on September 18, 2004) earned his final qualifying GM norm when only 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days old. At age 17 years and 9 months, he became the youngest ever overall World CC at any time control when he won the World Rapid CC—he won the World U8 CC earlier. His peak rating (to date) of 2783 was reached in October 2024 while his peak world ranking of #4 was achieved in April 2024. He was at 2748 and #11 entering September 2025 and at 2749.9 and #12 when I checked Live Chess Ratings - 2700chess.com early on 10 September 2025.
In 2021, he played board one for Uzbekistan at the 44th Chess Olympiad. They won gold, and he won individual silver.
He plays regularly on chess.com @ChessWarrior7197 where his bullet and blitz ratings were 3057 and 3140 as of 9 September 2025.
Curt Hansen (born September 18, 1964) is a Danish GM, ICCF GM, six-time Danish CC, former World Junior CC, and one-time European Junior CC (he placed second the following year). His peak OTB rating was 2635 in July 1992, ranking him 18th globally. His peak ICCF rating was 2674 in April 2000.
Yuri Nikolaevich Sakharov (Ukrainian: Ю́рій Микола́йович Са́харов; 18 September 1922 – 26 September 1981) was a Ukrainian ICCF IM, OTB Master, two-time Ukrainian CC, and former #17 worldwide according to ChessMetrics. That site listed his peak rating at 2686 in December 1968. Sakharov might have gone further. but his career was interrupted at a critical moment when he was falsely imprisoned in a gulag for several years—the conviction was later overturned.
Gerald Hertneck (18 September 1963) is a German GM, German U16 CC, and 1 dan shogi player. His peak rating was 2615 in January 1994, placing him 32nd globally. ChessMetrics cites figures of 2646 in August 1994, but never placed him higher than #55. He still plays and was at 2420 entering September 2025.
Although he can be found on chess.com @ghertneck, it appears he has never played on the site and has not visited since December 2024.
September 19 signals the arrival of the Cusp of Beauty, when chess players may exhibit traits of both Virgo and Libra.
Emil Sutovsky is an Israeli GM born September 19, 1977. His peak ELO rating was 2730 in January 2012 and he ranked as high as #17 in the world in October 2004. He is currently rated 2590, as of September 2024. He won the World Junior CC in 1996 and has won multiple high-level tournaments including the 1997 VAM Hoogeveen Tournament, Hastings 2000, and the European Individual CC. He also writes about chess and is a content producer.
At the 2010 Chess Olympiad, Sutovsky won the gold medal on board two.
Currently the FIDE CEO, here’s a link to an article with Sutovsky’s most virulent reaction to Magnus Carlsen and Freestyle Chess, FIDE CEO slams Magnus Carlsen, Freestyle Chess: 'If you want a war - try us'. Magnus also fell in the CEO’s crosshairs for the shared World Blitz CC, as you can read here, FIDE CEO joins Magnus Carlsen 'match-fixing' debate, taunts the 'GOAT' | Sports News | Onmanorama. What’s good enough for #1 is good enough for #2. Sutovsky also took a shot at Hikaru Nakamura, though from the discussion in the article, it seems like a fair shot and avoids scathing criticism, Chess | Drama! FIDE CEO slams Hikaru Nakamura's claims of Magnus Carlsen Candidates favouritism | Chess News - The Times of India.
Sutovsky has also opined on women’s only chess tournaments, FIDE CEO claims if women only competed in 'open' tournaments majority would quit chess | Onmanorama. I’ll leave that one alone. Many more thoughtful people than I have opinions on this topic, including the Polgar sisters. Meanwhile, Nigel Short proved himself an idiot on this topic (imo).
Sutovsky has had his own column since 2006 in the French chess magazine Europe Échecs. And he has numerous YouTube videos. The one shown above is about Morphy and Steinitz, the first in a series on the history of chess. (It lasts an hour, so get comfortable if you plan to watch it now. After all, this blog is long enough before sitting through an hour-long video, no matter how good!)
Rudolf Charousek (Hungarian: Charousek Rezső; 19 September 1873 – 18 April 1900) was a Czech born Hungarian master whose career was grievously cut short by tuberculosis. ChessMetrics estimates his peak rating at 2734 in March 1900 and placed him #6 globally from May 1899 until his death.
Here’s a video by agadmator discussing one of Charousek’s famous attacking games that starts out as a Danish Gambit. It’s about 7m long, so an easy watch. The Hungarian Attacking Legend - Rudolf Rezso Charousek
Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (Armenian: Սամվել Ռուբենի Տեր-Սահակյան; born 19 September 1993) is an Armenian GM, former World U18 CC, European U10/U18 CC, and two-time Armenian CC. His peak rating was 2650 in May 2024, placing him 87th globally. His rating was 2611 entering September 2025.
Friedrich Sämisch (20 September 1896 – 16 August 1975) was a German GM. He was on FIDE’s first list of GMs, published in 1950! ChessMetrics determined his peak rating to be 2665 in July 1929, placing him tenth globally. The site shows him in the Top Twenty from September 1928 until July 1931.
Like our era’s Ivanchuk, Sämisch was known for slipping into time trouble, but displayed amazing accuracy as his clock ticked down to zero. That said, in two 1969 tournaments, he managed to lose every game, all 28, on time. Then again, he was 73-years-old.
Alekhine was notably impressed by Sämisch’s blindfold skills, saying the following, “…his great technique, his speed and precision have always made a profound impression on me.”
Two major opening variations are named after him. They are the Nimzo-Indian, Samisch (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3) and the King's Indian, Samisch Variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3). @simaginfan talks about the fact that Samisch may have popularized that Nimzo-Indian line, but didn’t create it, 'The Saemisch Variation', As Played By Saemisch.
His most famous game was his loss to Nimzowitsch at Copenhagen 1923 in the Immortal Zugzwang Game. Above you can listen to an 18m video by kingscrusher. [In a case of turnabout is fair play, Nimzo lost an equally impressive, immortal zugzwang game to Alekhine in 1930 at a tournament in San Remo, Italy.]
You can also see NM @SamCopeland’s review of this game at Nimzowitsch's Immortal Zugzwang Game - Every Chess Move Explained in case you’d rather play through the moves at your own pace.
Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein (20 September 1882 – 30 November 1962) was a French GM, lawyer, and businessman. ChessMetrics lists his peak rating at 2688 in January 1906 and placed him at #9 internationally for ten different months between April 1904 and March 1906. He was in the Top Twenty from April 1904 until October 1935.
Bernstein made and lost three fortunes. The first was lost because of the Bolshevik Revolution. The second foundered during the Great Depression. The third was abandoned whilst fleeing the Nazis after France was invaded.
Probably apocryphally, Bernstein claimed that he almost lost his life during the Bolshevik Revolution, but the commanding officer recognized his name and offered to let him live if Bernstein one the most important game of his life against that officer. You can read about that incident and more at @kahns’ A Century of Chess: Ossip Bernstein (from 1910-1919).
Here’s a NM @SamCopeland video of a striking 1954 triumph against one of my chess heroes, Miguel Najdorf, Bernstein vs Najdorf: Games Of The 1950s.
GM @Julio_Becerra also offers up that game in a board format, but then includes a number of puzzles based on other Bernstein games. Excellent fun, enjoy! The Last of the Mohicans.
Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO CB OBE (20 September 1906 – 25 March 1995) was a British master (of GM strength), one-time British Boys CC, chess writer, WW II cryptologist (work involving the German Enigma code-encrypting machine), and civil servant. ChessMetrics calculated his peak rating at 2552 in March 1941 and placed him at #65 worldwide from June – August 1941.
Four opening variations are associated with him. The Milner-Barry Variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defense, the Petroff Defense, and the King’s Gambit, plus the Milner-Barry Gambit in the French Defense.
Mariya Muzychuk (Ukrainian: Марі́я Оле́гівна Музичу́к; born 21 September 1992) is a Ukrainian GM, former Women’s World CC, two-time Ukrainian Women’s CC, and European U10 Girls CC. Her peak ELO was 2563 in March 2016. She is rated 2484 as of September 2025.
She was a member of the Ukrainian women’s Olympiad team that took gold in 2022, silver in 2018, and bronze in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
She has a home page on chess.com @MariyaGM. I only found one game in the past four years, and that was in 2024.
Her sister, Anna, is also a GM.
@Fire is a Top Blogger and a member of BlogChamps. For some reason, he is not a member of The Blogger Awards v2.0. Cuts me to the quick. 😢 He has a bullet rating of 2201 as of 10 September 2025. He also had over 1,200 chess.com Awards when I checked.
He has blogged on a wide variety of topics, here's a small sample:
Chess.com Bought By Eccentric Billionaire (An April Fools' special!)
and much, much more.
Yannick Pelletier is a Swiss GM born 22 September 1976. He received his GM title at the relatively advanced age of either 24 or 25. His peak ELO rating was 2624 in January 2003 when he also achieved his peak world ranking of #69. He still plays frequently. His rating has slipped to 2505 entering September 2025. A six-time Swiss CC, he now lives in Luxembourg. Taxes, perhaps? Or perhaps a federation paying for his services? Those are the two most common reasons to switch Federations.
He is the leading Swiss player and has represented his nation at all Olympiads and European Team CCs since 1996. Some highlights of his career include victories against both Nakamura and Carlsen in 2015.
You can find numerous videos by Pelletier on YouTube and he has provided commentary for many top events. Chess historian Edward Winter considers Pelletier one of the all-time top five Internet broadcasters. Whatever that means.
Although he has a page on chess.com @YannickPelletier, I found no games since 2021.
Kirill Serhiyovych Shevchenko (Ukrainian: Кірілл Сергійович Шевченко; born 22 September 2002) is a Ukrainian GM currently (not!) playing for Romania. His peak rating of 2694, and #39 globally, was reached in June 2023, before his suspension from FIDE events. His rating slipped to 2653 in November 2024 after losing twenty rating points in the two prior months. At least part of that can be attributed to a win and a draw being converted to losses.
SUSPENDED! During the 2024 Spanish Team CC (October 2024) several GMs reported what they considered suspicious activity by Shevchenko. That led to his ejection from the tournament and the conversion of one win and one draw into two losses. Kirill Shevchenko Receives 3-Year Ban For Cheating Incident, Admits to Hiding Phone - Chess.com. Bottom line: Bottom line: Initially, he did not lose his title as FIDE felt he intended to cheat but failed to do so effectively. However, on 28 August 2025 FIDE completed a review of the case and removed his GM title. FIDE Strips Shevchenko Of GM Title, Upholds 3-Year Ban In Cheating Case - Chess.com.
In December 2024, his account on chess.com was also banned for violations of the Fair Play policy, though I have not yet found anything to indicate if this was due to the toilet incident or on chess.com’s online assessments.
Pouya Idani (Persian: پویا ایدنی; born 22 September 1995) is an Iranian GM and former World U18 CC. His peak rating was 2647 in September 2022, placing him just outside the Top 100, at #101. Three years later he has dipped below the 2600 waterline to 2599.
Leinier Domínguez Pérez (23 September 1983) is a Cuban-American GM, five-time Cuban CC, and the Blitz World CC in 2008. His peak rating of 2768 was reached in September 2014. He was ranked #8 in the world as recently as January 2024. His current rating is 2738, still good for #18 in the world.
In 2013, he won the Thessaloniki FIDE Grand Prix event ahead of Caruana, Topalov, and Grischuk. That same year, he won the Olympiad individual silver medal while playing board one for Cuba.
Leinier is found on chess.com @DominguezOnYoutube. He plays regularly and his blitz and bullet ratings were at 3057 and 2924 as of 10 September 2025. He provides multiple links to his social media presence on his chess.com homepage.
Aleksandr "Alex" Lenderman (born September 23, 1989) is an American GM, one-time World U16 CC, and former Top 100 player. His peak rating was 2654 in August 2019, eking his way into the Top 100 at #97. Given his youth and peak rating, his rating has plummeted since. He is rated 2455 entering September 2025.
Lenderman was a key student chess player in the book The Kings of New York, written by Michael Weinreb in 2007. It’s a very enjoyable read imo. The book accurately reflects the individual and group dynamics of the top players, the team coach, inter-school competitions, and many other social factors that exist for members of a high school chess club. It almost left me nostalgic.
He was online at chess.com on 10 September 2025 @ AlexanderL, but I found no games since December 2024. He posted a blog in July 2024, New York 1924 Centennial Games, Analyzed by GM Lenderman.
Mark Tseitlin (Hebrew: מארק צייטלין; Russian: Марк Данилович Цейтлин, romanized: Mark Danilovich Tseitlin; 23 September 1943 – 25 January 2022) was a Soviet-born Israeli GM, four-time European Seniors CC, and coach. FIDE lists his peak rating at 2545 in July 1995, two years before he received his GM title. ChessMetrics places his peak at 2618 in October 1975, at the age of 32. That placed him 69th internationally.
He was a coach and mentor for players such as Karpov, Boris Avrukh, Ilya Smirin, and Rafael Vaganian.
@Charlie_Harold is a chess player and blogger. Originally from China, he now lives in New Zealand. A member of both BlogChamps and The Blogger Awards v2.0, he earned a silver medal in August 2025 for The Blogger Awards Most Improved Blogger. He has a number of chess and blogging goals on his home page and checks them off as they are accomplished.
Alexandria Valeria Botez (born September 24, 1995) is a WFM and well-known chess streamer, commentator, and poker player. Her peak rating of 2092 was reached in April 2016, and she was rated 2044 entering September 2025. She has won five Canadian youth national titles.
The “Botez Gambit” is named for Alexandria and her sister Andrea. The gambit requires blundering the queen.
She can be found on chess.com @AlexandraBotez
William John Donaldson (born September 24, 1958), generally known as John Donaldson, is an American IM, author, journalist, and chess official. His official peak Elo was 2460 in January 2004. He does have two GM norms and missed his third norm by half a point. ChessMetrics lists his peak rating at 2544 in January 1993, GM strength, and ranked him #347 globally. Currently, John is rated 2416, but he has not played a FIDE-rated game at standard time controls since October 2021.
Donaldson has captained the US national team 25 times, including too many Olympiads to count. He also served on the Policy Board of the US Chess Federation, and was named as FIDE’s US zone president in 2006. John also worked as a chess director in San Francisco.
Although he played a few games on chess.com in May 2025, @imjohndonaldson, those were the first games shown since 2021.
An editor of the magazine Inside Chess until it folded, Donaldson has written more than thirty books, a few of which are shown above. He collaborated on multiple books with Jeremy Silman and Yasser Seirawan.
@Alina_Bakhtina_24! Our fellow blogger and one of the participants of Blog Champs Season 7 and 8! On behalf of the club, we wish you all the best today and always!
In August 2025, Alina won gold medals from The Blogger Awards for Best Blog and Most Engaging Blog, plus a silver medal for Best Editing! To date, she has earned ten medals in the monthly blogging contest: four gold, three silver, and three bronze.
September 25 heralds the last day of the Cusp of Beauty, when chess players may exhibit traits of both Virgo and Libra.
Guðmundur Sigurjónsson was born 25 September 1947 and was the second-ever Icelandic GM. He earned the GM title in 1975 and is a three-time Icelandic CC. His peak rating of 2576 was reached in January 1976. He is inactive and retired, with his rating still a hefty 2463 when he retired in 2017. ChessMetrics calculates his peak rating at 2623 in August 1971, and placed him 48th globally in both August and October of 1971.
Fedor (Fyodor) Ivanovich Duz–Khotimirsky (sometimes transliterated Dus-Chotimirski, Khotymirsky etc.; Ukrainian: Фе́дір Іва́нович Дуз-Хотимирський; Russian: Фёдор Дуз-Хотимирский; 25 September 1881, Chernihiv or Moscow – 5 November 1965, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet Ukrainian IM. ChessMetrics placed his rating peak at 2638 in January 1911 and determined he was #13 globally the next month.
You can read @Spektrowski’s lengthy transcription of the memories of Dus-Chotimirsky at Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky. Memories, part 1 - Chess.com. Make sure you read the material up front before jumping into the memoirs section. A much more approachable tale of Dus-Chotimirsky’s travails traveling to and playing in Carlsbad 1907 can be found at Tartajubow On Chess II: Fedor Duz-Khotimirsky. That quick, enlightening read includes details of some other aspects of his chess career.
Vitaly Valeryevich Tseshkovsky (Russian: Виталий Валерьевич Цешковский; 25 September 1944 – 24 December 2011) was a Russian GM, two-time Soviet CC (sharing one title with Tal), and two-time European Senior CC. At age sixty, his Elo peaked at 2600. FIDE ranked him 15th interntionally in January 1980. ChessMetrics placed his peak rating at 2711 (super-GM level!) in December 1976 and ranked him 7th globally for October, November, and December of that year.
Vladimir Andreyevich Savon (Ukrainian: Володи́мир Андрійович Саво́н; 26 September 1940 – 1 June 2005) was a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1973. Savon shared the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 1969 and won the USSR Championship in 1971. FIDE lists his peak rating at 2590 in July 1972, placing him 15th worldwide—this while still holding only the IM title. ChessMetrics places him in the super-GM category with a peak of 2732 in December 1971, #7 internationally.
Savon experienced a severe head trauma in 1980 that had a tremendously adverse impact on his ability to play chess at the highest levels. You can sense the damage caused by reviewing his monthly ChessMetrics ratings after March 1981 as he was falling out of the Top 100 for the first time in well over a decade.
Illia Ihorovych Nyzhnyk (Ukrainian: Ілля Ігорович Нижник; born September 27, 1996) is a Ukrainian GM, European U12/U16 CC, World U12 co-CC (placed second on tiebreaks), and US Open CC. His peak rating was 2692 in May 2022, placing him 43rd globally. In a bit over three years he shed almost 140 Elo and entered September 2025 at 2545.
He plays intermittently on chess.com @Illia_Nyzhnyk, where he has a blitz rating of 2827 and a bullet rating of 2960.
John Peter Fedorowicz (born September 27, 1958) is an American GM, two-time US Junior CC (shared first in 1977), US Open CC, coach, and writer. FIDE lists his peaks at 2574 Elo and #43 globally. ChessMetrics rebaseline of ratings and ranking placed him at 2652 and #70 in February 1990.
Fedorowicz served as second to Gata Kamsky on several occasions.
He has written numerous articles for magazines and on-line publishers, and published several books.
She has played for the Russian women’s team in multiple Olympiads, European Team CCs, and World Team CCs. She has won multiple team and individual medals in those events.
Humorously, we share many similarities in our opening repertoire. Both of us often play the Catalan, the Caro-Kann, and the Slav.
You can often find her playing on chess.com @Goryachinka. I say that, but when I checked on 11 September 2025, she had not been online for 15 days.
Nino Khurtsidze (28 August 1975 – 22 April 2018) was a Georgian IM, one-time Georgian CC, five-time Georgian Women’s CC, World Girls U16 and U 20 CC, and European U20 Girls CC. Her peak Elo was 2472 in July 1999.
Vladimir Chuchelov (Russian: Владимир Чучелов; born 28 September 1969 in Moscow) is a Belgian GM, one-time Belgian CC, FIDE Senior Trainer, and coach. His peak rating was 2608 in July 2003. His peak world rank was #75 two years earlier. I found no FIDE-rated games since October 2013, when his rating was on the rise again, reaching 2554.
In 2013 he received the Botvinnik Medal as the best men’s trainer. He has coached or trained chess stars including Caurana, Giri, and Hou Yifan.
Evgenij Petkov Ermenkov (Bulgarian: Евгени Петков Ерменков; born 29 September 1949) is a Bulgarian GM, and five-time Bulgarian CC. FIDE list his peak rating at 2520 in January 1978. ChessMetrics rated his peak at 2657 in June 2000, placing him 44th globally.
He represented Bulgaria in every Olympiad for eight consecutive Olympiads, taking an individual bronze medal in 1990. He switched federations to Palestine and won a gold medal on board one in 2004 and a silver medal on board one in 2006, scoring over 85% in both events. My perhaps incorrect speculation? Palestine probably played lower-rated teams than Evgenij would have faced as a member of the higher-rated Bulgarian teams. Consequently, his board one opponents were weaker, allowing him to “farm them” for victories. He later restored links with the Bulgarian Federation.
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 rating 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.
As a member of the Soviet Union Women’s team she competed in two Olympiads. In 1957, she scored 12/14 on board two, securing both a team and individual gold medal. Her second appearance, in 1961, saw her scoring 5-1/2 of 6 to help the team secure a gold medal board, but she was playing as the team reserve so did not receive an individual medal.
She was married to GM Alexey Suetin. With his ChessMetrics peak rating of 2701, this chess power couple clocked in at a combined peak rating of 5102.
@PokeGirl93 was born September 29, 1993…well, the year is an assumption based on her username. A chess player, blogging judge, blogger, and judoka, she has won numerous awards for her blogs. A few notches in her belt are shown below.
- Silver Medalist, BlogChamps, Season 8, which ended in June 2025. The competition started with almost a hundred contestants!
- 11-time gold medalist, The Blogger Awards v2.0, including Best Blog for June 2025 and Best Blog for February 2025. Best blog is the preeminent category in that club’s monthly competitions.
- 12-time silver medalist, The Blogger Awards v2.0, including a silver medal for Best Blog in January 2025.
- 10-time bronze medalist, The Blogger Awards v2.0, including four times for Best Blog. Clearly, she doesn’t often bother with bronze medals, given that she has more golds and silvers!
Then there is the recognition she has achieved as a judoka and esteemed instructor of children. This Sandan, that’s third dan (third degree for those not familiar with the “dan” structure), judo instructor earned numerous prestigious medals. Here are just a few:
- 2-time gold medalist, Paraná State Championship (2017 and 2018)
- Silver medalist, Paraná State Championship (2015)
- Bronze medalist, Paraná State Championship (2016)
- Silver medalist, Brazilian Championship (2018). That included a victory over the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, Ketleyn Quadros!
- Bronze medalist, South American Games (2019)
- Gold medalist, 2018 Regional competition—Open Division. Held in Guarapuava, her effort included a victory over the defending, two-time male champion.
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. Because she had no published ratings that I could find, there is no chess couple power rating for this pair.
Mark Frederick Noble, born September 30, 1962, is an FM, ICCF GM, and lawn bowls player. He was the first New Zealand player to receive the ICCF GM title. His peak FIDE rating was 2320 in January 1991. His peak ICCF rating was 2575 in April 2011.
You can read more about him in @VOB96’s blog Chess Where I lived - Ep.1: New Zealand. "The Game Of The Kiwis"?.
Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko, or Mykhailo Oleksiienko (Ukrainian: Михайло Олексієнко; born 30 September 1986) is a Ukrainian GM, one-time Ukrainian CC, FIDE Trainer, coach, and PhD in math. His rating peaked at 2643 in January 2015 and again in March 2017. He still plays, and his rating was 2569 entering January 2025.
He can be found on chess.com @hitaman where he plays in bursts of activity only to disappear for a month before testing his mousing skills again.
Let's Wrap it Up!
I hope you enjoyed this blog. It continued to scratch my interest in historical and contemporary chess figures. To the extent time and my lack of diligence allowed, there are links to personal websites, chess.com usernames, and individual home pages. There are even references to some of their feeds on X or YouTube. Along this journey, I also found some interesting games. Given all the material, I was only able to include a smattering of games, book images, and YouTube clips. I hope you find some of interest.
If there were any errors, please advise me and I'll correct those.
That's it! This completed the full Zodiac cycle!! [I started in October 2024.] Some other lucky soul will have to toil to identify today and tomorrow's chess constellations. Or perhaps someone will focus on the chess characteristics of those born in the year of the Dragon, the Rat (1...d6), the Goat! It's not for me to say, though perhaps it is for me to do.🤔
