The Best Chess Players from A-Z: Part 3 - Letters L to Q
The old game of chess has been played all over the globe for centuries. From the earliest recorded games to the modern era, more than a billion people have probably played at least one game of chess. With so many players interested in the game, of course, every single letter of the alphabet would have at least a hundred players to it. Today, I’m going to be showcasing the best chess players from the letter L to the letter Q.
Of course, I have to thank @Rodgy for allowing me to make this post. He had earlier made two blogs (here and here) discussing the best chess players from letters. Thanks once again!
L: EMANUEL LASKER
Emanuel Lasker was born in Prussia (now Poland) on the 24th of December, 1868. He played for Germany and was the World Champion for 27 years, the longest reign ever (as of 2023). Lasker had a psychological approach to the game and was well ahead of his time.
Lasker was also a great mathematician and was good friends with Albert Einstein. Lasker even had the Laskerian Rings named in his honor. He was taught chess by his elder brother, Berthold (who was a top player in the 1890s), and started playing chess as a source of income. Lasker also played games like Draughts and Go and was an author for all three games (chess included).
Lasker became the World Champion in 1894, after beating the overconfident Steinitz with 10 wins, 5 losses and 4 draws. This was the fifth World Championship and was held in Montreal, NYC and Philadelphia. Lasker beat Steinitz again in the year 1896, with 12.5 points against Steinitz's 4.5.
After winning some more World Championships, Lasker lost his title to José Raúl Capablanca in 1921, 27 years after he became the World Champion. Due to WW1, the negotiations for this match took more than 10 years. The match was played in Havana, Capa's hometown.
Lasker played chess that no one could understand. He was resourceful and was able to find the most bizarre-looking moves.
It is not possible to learn much from him (Lasker). One can only stand and wonder
- Max Euwe
Siegbert Tarrasch, who kept losing to Lasker, decided to avoid him and never play tournaments where Lasker did after this World Championship (1908).
Honorable Mentions
Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen was a Danish chess grandmaster and author, born on the 4th of March 1935 and was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play. In the middle of Bobby Fischer's chaos in the 1970s, Larsen was also there with Fischer to challenge the USSR in the late 50s, 60s and 70s.
He was one of the best players from Scandinavia, till the day he died and was a six-time Danish Chess Champion.
Peter Leko
Peter Leko is a Hungarian chess player who narrowly missed winning the 2004 Classical Chess Championship. He was the youngest GM at one point in time. He was once the 4th best chess player in the world and was known for his risk-free chess style. He has been a second for players in many championships, including Anand vs Karpov 1997, Kramnik vs Anand 2008, for Anand vs Carlsen 2013.
He is also known for being a very nice guy. These days, he's a prominent chess commentator.
M: Paul Morphy
For the brief time that he played chess, Paul Morphy was probably the greatest player in the world.
Morphy was an American chess player, born on the 22nd of June in New Orleans, USA. He learned how to play the game after watching some of his family playing it and very soon became one of the best players in the world.
Morphy is called the “Pride and Sorrow of Chess” because he was an amazing player but he retired young. For the letter M, Morphy was a pretty easy choice to make. He was so great at chess that even the Queen of England (Queen Victoria) invited him to a private audience.
Morphy had a romantic style of chess and played many gambits including the Evans Gambit and the King’s Gambit (the best opening in the world). He has a variation of the Ruy Lopez opening named after him, and the variation continues to be the most popular of the Spanish opening to this day. He had a deep understanding of endgames and had a lot of influence on modern chess.
He won the First American Chess Congress by defeating James Thompson, Alexander Beaufort Meek, Theodor Lichtenhein and Louis Paulsen.
The above puzzle is also probably the most well-known chess puzzle composed by a well-known player. If you don't know about it, I'm extremely sorry for your loss.
N: Aron Nimzowitsch
Aron Nimzowitsch was a Danish chess player and author. He was born in Riga and came from a wealthy family. He was going to study Philosophy but quit due to his interest in chess. He lived in Denmark for his later years and obtained citizenship there.
He was one of the most influential chess players ever and was one of the best players of the 1920s. He is called the father of Hypermodernism due to his great contributions to it. He had two chess openings named after him - the Nimzo-Indian Defense and the Nimzowitsch Variation of the French Defence.
He was almost able to challenge Capablanca in 1926 but was unable to raise the funds. He continued to be an active competitor in chess till 1931, but he started to fall off and 3 years later in 1934, died of pneumonia.
His most famous books are My System (1925) and Chess Praxis (1929) and he was and still is regarded as one of the best authors of chess as well.
Honorable Mentions
Hikaru
Hikaru Nakamura is a famous American chess grandmaster and streamer. He was born on the 9th of December, 1987 and is one of the best chess players in history. He's currently the World Fischer Random Chess Champion and is also well known for his great blitz and bullet skills. He and Magnus Carlsen actually keep taking turns being the best on chess.com.
Why is he under Nizmo then? Well, Nimzowitsch was from an era of no computers and created a lot of his own systems and ways of playing, which have influenced the chess world more.
O: Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk is a Soviet-Ukrainian-American chess player, born on the 3rd of September, 1975. After playing for the USSR and Ukraine, Onischuk immigrated to the United States in 2001. He won the Ukrainian World Championship in 2000 and the US Championship in 2006. He has also finished 2nd place in some tournaments - 2007, 2008 and 2017 US Championships.
After 2012, Onischuk started coaching a lot and has led Texas Tech University to win the 2015-2016 and 2019-2020 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships. For his coaching and chess, he was added to the US Chess Hall of Fame in 2018.
He was the chief organizer of the Texas Collegiate Super Finals in 2018 and 2021 as well as the 2022 President's Cup.
P: Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster. He was the ninth World Champion and was known for popularizing chess in Armenia. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his amazing defence and safety chess skills.
Petrosian was born on 17 June 1929 in modern-day Georgia and was an excellent student at school. Sadly, during WW2, he was orphaned and became a street sweeper, a job he was very ashamed of. His hearing started to become worse from a young age (probably as he was working on busy roads) and starved for a lot of days. He used the little money he had to buy Aron Nimzowitsch's Chess Praxis. Petrosian would later say that Nimzo's book had a great influence on him as a chess player.
The 1963 World Championship was played between Botvinnik and Tigran Petrosian. Petrosian won the event, 12.5 - 9.5. Petrosian was the player who finally ended Botvinnik's championship reign.
The 1966 World Chess Championship was played between Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky in Moscow from April 9 to June 9, 1966. Petrosian won this Championship, 12.5-11.5.
In the 1969 World Chess Championship in Moscow from April 14 to June 17, 1969. Petrosian and Spassky were fighting for the world title for the second time in a row. Spassky won the world championship and became the tenth World Chess Champion, reversing the previous result (1966). Petrosian continued to be one of the best players till the early 1980s.
During tournament analysis sessions players all speak at once, but whenever Petrosian said anything, everyone would shut up and listen.
- Yasser Seirawan
The above puzzle has actually been featured in one of my older blogs. A very bad blog, but a great game by Petrosian.
Honorable Mention
Judit Polgar
Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, born on the 23rd of July 1976. She is recognized as one of the greatest female chess players of all time. She is also the only woman to have surpassed 2700 Elo, reaching a peak world ranking of No. 8 in 2004 and a peak rating of 2735 in 2005.
In 2021, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame, a well-deserved award.
Q: Yuniesky Quesada
Yuniesky Quesada Pérez is a Cuban-born-American chess Grandmaster and the fourth to pass the 2600 Elo mark. He was born on July 31, 1984.
He won the Cuban Chess Championship in 2008 and 2011 and the Philadelphia Open in 2015.
He qualified for the 2011 World Cup by sharing first place in the American Continental Championship in Toluca with Lazaro Bruzon Batista, Mark Bluvshtein, and Giovanni Portilho Vescovi. However, he lost to Lazaro Bruzon Batista in the first-round rapid game tiebreaker (in the World Cup).
At the 2012 Istanbul Chess Olympiad, he played on board 3 for Cuba scoring a score of 6/10. At the 2013 World Open, he scored 6.5/9 to place 2nd on tiebreak behind Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian.
At the 2015 American Continental Championship, he tied for first place with Sandro Mareco on a tiebreak, earning a spot in the World Cup. Unfortunately, history repeated itself and he lost to Russian GM Ernesto Inarkiev in the first round (in the World Cup).
The following puzzle isn't really a "puzzle" and is more of an exercise.
Quesada played very accurately at the end to get the win. What's pretty funny here is that Quesada's opponent was none other than Alexander Onischuk, a player mentioned earlier on this list.
In 2015, Quesada decided to be more active as a coach than a player and has been coaching since then.
Honorable Mention
Miguel Quinteros
Miguel Ángel Quinteros is an Argentine chess GM born on the 28th of December 1947. He has a variation of the Sicilian named after him and is the youngest player to win the Argentine Chess Championships.
1986 was a disaster for Grandmaster Quinteros of Argentina. He played chess in South Africa, violating a sanction by FIDE on South Africa for their Apartheid policies. He was suspended and banned from playing chess in international events for three years.
Intruder! How did you get here?
From the strategic brilliance of Lasker, the romantic play of Morphy, the revolutionary contributions of Nimzowitsch, the solid style of Onischuk, the unpredictable style of Petrosian and the professional style of Quesada, these players are probably the best of their respective letters. If you disagree, fight me in the comments.
Thanks for viewing this blog and have a good day!
