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José Raúl Capablanca From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia José Raúl Capablanca Full name José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera Country Cuba Born November 19, 1888Havana, Cuba Died March 8, 1942 (aged 53)New York City, United States World Champion 1921-1927 José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (Havana, Cuba, 19 November 1888 – New York, 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was World Chess Champion from 1921 to 1927. Capablanca was a child prodigy with an astonishing natural talent for the game. He grew up into a cultured and charming man, whom the Cuban government made its roving ambassador-at-large. He was a media celebrity: his travels round the world were reported in newspapers, radio and film newsreels. In his lifetime, he was probably the Cuban best-known to the rest of the world.[1][2][3][4] In December 1921, shortly after becoming World Champion, Capablanca married Gloria Simoni Betancourt. They had a son, José Raúl Jr., in 1923 and a daughter, Gloria, in 1925.[5]

Emanuel Lasker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Not to be confused with Edward Lasker. Emanuel Lasker Full name Emanuel Lasker Country Germany Born December 24, 1868Berlinchen, Prussia (nowBarlinek, Poland) Died January 11, 1941 (aged 72)New York City, United States World Champion 1894–1921 Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years.In his prime Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players ever.His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew the openings well but disagreed with many contemporary analyses. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods. He demanded high fees for playing matches and tournaments, which aroused criticism at the time but contributed to the development of chess as a professional career.The conditions which Lasker demanded for World Championship matches in the last ten years ofhis reign were controversial, and prompted attempts, particularly by his successor José Raúl Capablanca, to define agreed rules for championship matches. Lasker made contributions to the development of other games. He was a first-class contract bridge player and wrote about bridge and other games, including Go and his own invention, Lasca. His books about games presented a problem which is still considered notable in the mathematical analysis of card games. Besides, Lasker was a research mathematician who was known for his contributions to commutative algebra. On the other hand, his philosophical works and a drama that he co-authored received little attention.

Wilhelm Steinitz From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wilhelm Steinitz Wilhelm Steinitz Country Kingdom of Bohemia, part of theAustrian EmpireUnited States Born May 17, 1836Prague, Bohemia; then part of the Austrian Empire Died August 12, 1900 (aged 64)New York City, United States World Champion 1886–94 (undisputed)Earlier dates are debated by commentators Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz (Prague, May 17, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier. Steinitz lost his title to Emanuel Lasker in 1894 and also lost a rematch in 1897. Statistical rating systems give Steinitz a rather low ranking among world champions, mainly because he took several long breaks from competitive play. However, an analysis based on one of these rating systems shows that he was one of the most dominant players in the history of the game. As author Will Hartson wrote in his chess historical, Steinitz was unbeaten in over 25 years of match play. He was perhaps the first of what's deemed the modern champions with and established greater in depth playing. Although Steinitz became "world number one" by winning in the all-out attacking style that was common in the 1860s, he unveiled in 1873 a new positional style of play and demonstrated that it was superior to the previous style. His new style was controversial and some even branded it as "cowardly", but many of Steinitz's games showed that it could also set up attacks as ferocious as those of the old school. Steinitz was also a prolific writer on chess, and defended his new ideas vigorously. The debate was so bitter and sometimes abusive that it became known as the "Ink War". By the early 1890s, Steinitz's approach was widely accepted and the next generation of top players acknowledged their debt to him, most notably his successor as world champion, Emanuel Lasker. As a result of the "Ink War", traditional accounts of Steinitz's character depict him as ill-tempered and aggressive; but more recent research shows that he had long and friendly relationships with some players and chess organizations. Most notably from 1888 to 1889 he co-operated with the American Chess Congress in a project to define rules governing the conduct of future world championships. Steinitz was unskilled at managing money and lived in poverty all his life.

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year 1 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2826 10 1990 2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2811 10 1969 3 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2802 10 1982 4 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2800 6 1975 5 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2781 15 1987 6 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2775 26 1969 7 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2768 0 1975 8 Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2763 15 1990 9 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2762 17 1977 10 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2758 10 1987 11 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2757 10 1986 12 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2755 21 1976 13 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2752 21 1983 14 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2744 4 1968 15 Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2740 22 1987 16 Wang, Hao g CHN 2736 6 1989 17 Adams, Michael g ENG 2734 10 1971 18 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2733 11 1985 19 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2732 16 1974 20 Nepomniachtchi, Ian g RUS 2730 11 1990 21 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2729 23 1983 22 Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2729 22 1987 23 Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2727 27 1992 24 Navara, David g CZE 2724 19 1985 25 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2723 33 1983 26 Leko, Peter g HUN 2720 12 1979 27 Moiseenko, Alexander g UKR 2715 23 1980 28 Le, Quang Liem g VIE 2714 25 1991 29 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2714 21 1983 30 Giri, Anish g NED 2714 14 1994 31 Naiditsch, Arkadij g GER 2712 26 1985 32 Dominguez Perez, Leinier g CUB 2712 18 1983 33 Dreev, Aleksey g RUS 2710 23 1969 34 Movsesian, Sergei g ARM 2710 20 1978 35 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2710 16 1976 36 Riazantsev, Alexander g RUS 2710 11 1985 37 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2710 10 1990 38 Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2707 4 1976 39 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2705 22 1972 40 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2705 14 1982 41 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2705 14 1987 42 Berkes, Ferenc g HUN 2705 10 1985 43 Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2705 8 1980 44 Laznicka, Viktor g CZE 2703 22 1988 45 Efimenko, Zahar g UKR 2702 21 1985 46 Li, Chao b g CHN 2700 19 1989 47 Fressinet, Laurent g FRA 2700 5 1981 48 Short, Nigel D g ENG 2698 0 1965 49 Wang, Yue g CHN 2697 18 1987 50 Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2696 12 1977