List of chess players
This is a list of chess players.
Chess players by vocation
The people in this list are men and women who are primarily known as chess players.
A
- Michael Adams (England, 1971 - )
- Simen Agdestein (Norway, 1967 - )
- Vladimir Akopian (Armenia, 1971 - )
- Alexander Alekhine (Russia, 1892 - 1946)
- Friedrich Amelung (Latvia)
- Viswanathan Anand (India, 1969 - )
- Adolf Anderssen (Germany, 1818 - 1879)
- Ulf Andersson (Sweden, 1951 - )
- Konstantin Aseev (Russia, 1960 - 2004)
- As-Suli (Abbasid Caliphate, circa 880 - 946)
- Maurice Ashley (Jamaica, USA, 1966 - )
B
- Etienne Bacrot (France, 1983 - )
- Newell Banks (USA, 1887 - 1977)
- Curt von Bardeleben (Germany, 1861 - 1924)
- Evgeny Bareev (Russia, )
- Alexander Beliavsky (Ukraine, Slovenia, 1953 - )
- Thomas Wilson Barnes (England, 1825 - 1874)
- Ossip Bernstein (Ukraine, 1882 - 1962)
- Istvan Bilek (Hungary, 1932 - )
- Henry Bird (England, 1830 - 1908)
- Arthur Bisguier (USA, 1929 - )
- Joseph Henry Blackburne (England, 1841 - 1924)
- Claude Bloodgood (1937 - )
- Samuel Boden, (England, 1826 - 1882)
- Efim Bogoljubov (Ukraine, 1889 - 1952)
- Paolo Boi (Italy, 1528 - 1598)
- Julio Bolbochan (Argentina, 1920 - 1996)
- Mikhail Botvinnik (Russia, 1911 - 1995)
- Louis Charles de la Bourdonnais (France, 1795-1840)
- David Bronstein (Russia, 1924 - )
- Walter Browne (Australia/USA, 1949 - )
- Elizaveta Ivanovna Bykova (Russia, 1913 - 1989)
- Amos Burn (England, 1848 - 1925)
- Donald Byrne (USA, 1930 - 1976)
- Robert Byrne (USA, 1928 - )
C
- José Raúl Capablanca (Cuba, 1888 - 1942)
- Pietro Carrera (Sicily, 1573 - 1647)
- Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 1990 - )
- Zhu Chen (China, 1976 - )
- Irving Chernev (USA, 1900 - 1981)
- Maia Chiburdanidze (Georgia, USSR, 1961 - )
- Mikhail Chigorin (Russia, 1850 - 1908)
- Larry Christiansen (USA, 1956 - )
- John Cochrane (England, 1798 - 1878)
- Edgard Colle (Belgium, 1897 - 1932)
- Pia Cramling (Sweden, 1963 - )
D
- Nigel Davies (England, 1960 - )
- Serafino Dubois (Italy, 1817 - 1899)
- Oldrich Duras (Czechoslovakia, 1882 - 1957)
E
F
- Salo Flohr (Czechoslovakia, 1908 - 1983)
- Reuben Fine (USA, 1914 - )
- Bobby Fischer (USA, 1943 - )
G
- Joseph Gallagher (England, Switzerland, 1964 - )
- Nona Gaprindashvili (Georgia, USSR, 1941 - )
- Boris Gelfand (Belarus, USSR, 1968 - )
- Efim Geller (Ukraine, USSR, 1925 - 1998)
- Gioacchino Greco (Italy, 1600-c.1634)
- Isidor Gunsberg (Hungary, 1854 - 1930)
H
- Mac Harmonist (Germany, 1864-1907)
- Israel Horowitz (US, 1907-1973)
- Daniel Harrwitz (Germany, France 1823-1884)
- Bernhard Horwitz (England, 1807-1885)
I
- Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 1969 - )
- Sergey Ivanov (Russia, 1960 - )
J
- David Janowski (Poland, 1868 - 1927)
K
- Gata Kamsky (Russia, USA, 1974 - )
- Anatoly Karpov (Russia, 1951 - )
- Garry Kasparov (Russia, 1963 - )
- Raymond Keene (England, 1948 - )
- Paul Keres (Estonia, 1916 - 1975)
- Alexander Khalifman (Russia, 1966 - )
- Lionel Kieseritzky (Poland and Germany, 1806 - 1853)
- Georges Koltanowski (Belgian and American, 1903 - 2000)
- Viktor Korchnoi (Russia, Switzerland, 1931 - )
- Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia, 1984 - )
- Alexander Kotov (USSR, 1913 - 1981)
- Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 1975 - )
- Irina Krush (Ukraine, USSR, USA, 1983 - )
L
- Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine, 1989 - )
- Bent Larsen (Denmark, 1935 - )
- Edward Lasker (1885 - 1981)
- Emanuel Lasker (Germany, USA, 1868 - 1941)
- Baron Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa (Prussia, 1818-1899)
- Péter Lékó (Hungary, 1979 - )
- Giovanni Leonardo (Italy, 1542 - 1587)
- Alexandre Lesiege (Canada, 1975 - )
- Andrei Lilienthal (Hungary, Russia, 1911 - )
- John Littlewood (England, 1931- )
- Ruy Lopez (Spain, c.1530 - c.1580)
- Johann Löwenthal (Hungary, 1810-1876)
- Luis Ramirez Lucena (Spain, c.1465 - c.1530)
M
- Geza Maroczy (Hungary, 1870 - 1951)
- Frank Marshall (USA, 1877 - 1944)
- Hermanis Matisons (Latvia, 1894 - 1932)
- Alexander McDonnell (Ireland, 1798-1835)
- Luke McShane (England, 1984 - )
- Henrique Mecking (Brazil, 1952 - )
- Vera Menchik-Stevenson (Czech Republic, England, 1906 - 1944)
- Jacques Mieses (Germany, England 1865 - 1954)
- Vladas Mikenas (Lithuania, 1910 - )
- Tony Miles (England, 1955 - 2001)
- Augustus Mongredien (England, 1807-1888)
- Iván Morovic (Chile, 1963 - )
- Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 1977 - )
- Paul Morphy (USA, 1837 - 1884)
N
- Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 1987- )
- Aaron Nimzowitsch (Latvia, 1886 - 1935)
- John Nunn (England, 1955- )
O
P
- Oscar Panno (Argentina, 1935 - )
- Bruno Parma (Slovenia, 1941 - )
- Tigran Petrosian (Georgia, USSR, 1929 - 1984)
- François-André Danican Philidor (France, 1726 - 1795)
- Jeroen Piket (Netherlands, )
- Harry Nelson Pillsbury (USA, 1872 - 1906)
- Vasja Pirc (Slovenia, 1907 - 1980)
- Giulio Polerio (Italy, c.1550 - c.1610)
- Judit Polgar (Hungary, 1976 - )
- Zsuzsa Polgar (Hungary, USA, 1969 - )
- Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 1983 - )
- C.J.S.Purdy (Australia, 1906 - 1979)
R
- Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 1987 - )
- Fred Reinfeld
- Samuel Reshevsky (Poland, USA, 1911 - )
- Richard Reti (Czechoslovakia, 1889 - 1929)
- Jules Arnous de Rivière (France, 1830 - 1905)
- Michael Rohde (USA, 1959 - )
- Eugène Rousseau (France, c.1810 - c.1870)
- Akiba Rubinstein (Poland, 1882 - 1961)
- Olga Rubtsova (Russia, 1909 - )
- Lyudmila Rudenko (Russia, 1904 - 1986)
S
- Pierre St. Amant (France, 1800 - 1872)
- Valery Salov (Russia, 1964 - )
- Carl Schlechter (Austria, 1874 - 1918)
- Yasser Seirawan (Syria, USA, 1960 - )
- Alexei Shirov (Latvia, Spain, 1972 - )
- Nigel Short (England, 1965 - )
- Alexander Shabalov (Latvia, USA, 1967 - )
- Jackson Showalter (USA, 1860-1935)
- Vasily Smyslov (Russia, 1921 - )
- Boris Spassky (Russia, France, 1937 - )
- Jon Speelman (England, 1956 - )
- Kevin Spraggett (Canada, 1954 - )
- Charles Stanley (England,USA 1819 - 1901)
- Howard Staunton (England, 1810 - 1874)
- Wilhelm Steinitz (Bohemia, USA, 1836 - 1900)
- Daniel Stellwagen (Netherlands) 1987 - )
- Mir Sultan Khan (Pakistan, 1905 - 1966)
T
- Mark Taimanov (Russia, 1926 - )
- Mikhail Tal (Latvia, USSR, 1936 - 1992)
- Siegbert Tarrasch (Germany, 1862 - 1934)
- Savielly Tartakower (Poland, France, 1887 - 1956)
- Jan Timman (Netherlands, 1951 - )
- Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, 1975 - )
- Theodore Tylor (England 1900 - 1968)
U
- Wolfgang Unzicker (Germany, 1925 - ?)
V
- Loek Van Wely (Netherlands, )
- Milan Vidmar (Slovenia, 1885 - 1962)
W
- Marmaduke Wyvill (England, 1814 - 1896)
X
Y
- Daniel Yanofsky (Poland, Canada, 1925 - ?)
- Frederick Yates (England, 1884 - 1932)
- Jiangchuan Ye (China, 1960 - )
Z
- Alexander Zaitsev (USSR, 1935 - 1971)
- Zhong Zhang (China, 1978 - )
- Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (Russia, France 1884 - 1954)
- Johannes Zukertort (Poland, 1842 - 1888)
Famous people who were/are avid chess players
The people in this list are famous in other areas of activity, but are known to have played chess or maintain a current interest in chess.
- Woody Allen
- Atahualpa
- George Airy
- Humphrey Bogart
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- John Cage
- Catherine the Great
- Ray Charles
- Marcel Duchamp
- Albert Einstein
- Paul Erdös
- Richard Feynman
- Benjamin Franklin
- Thomas Jefferson
- Stanley Kubrick
- Lennox Lewis
- Abraham de Moivre
- Alexander Pushkin (Russian writer)
- Sergei Prokofiev (Russian composer & pianist)
- Juan Maria Solare (Argentine composer & pianist)
- Will Smith
- Raymond Smullyan
- Sting
- Josip Broz Tito
- Leo Tolstoy
- Queen Victoria
- George Washington
- John Wayne
Computers
- Deep Blue, the IBM chess playing computer, was victorious in a 1997 match against then-world champion Garry Kasparov. (Deep Thought was an earlier, similar machine.)
- Deep Fritz achieved a draw in the 2002 match, "Brains in Bahrain", against Vladimir Kramnik. A variant, X3D Fritz, drew against Kasparov.
- Shredder is another strong program, having won the World Computer Chess Championship eight times.
See also
- World chess champions
- International Grandmasters
- World junior chess champions
- National chess champions