Najdorf Miguel (15.04.1910 – 04.07.1997)

Argentinian Grandmaster (1950) born in Poland. Author and journalist.  Best ever Argentinian player and one of the top world best 10 players around 1950. National Champion in 1950, 1951, 1955, 1960, 1966 and 1975. Najdorf was awarded a gold medal for the best individual performance at board 1 at the 1950 and 1952 Olympiads. Playing in the Olympiad of Buenos Aires in 1939, he decided like all his team-mates to remain in Argentina due to the outbreak of World War II.

Best results: won or shared first at Budapest 1936 (HUN ch.), Ragoska 1937, Buenos Aires 1941, Mar del Plata (13 times), Buenos Aires 1945, Prague 1946, Barcelona 1946, Buenos Aires 1948, Venice 1948, Bled 1950, Amsterdam 1950, Montevideo and Santa Fe 1956,  Havana 1962.

In a match, he defeated Savielly Tartakower in 1935 (+2=2-1), beat Henri Grob in 1948 (+5-1=0), drew with Reuben Fine in 1949 (+2=4-2), and with Petar Trifunovic (+1=10-1). Finally, he beat Jacob Bolbochan in 1950 (+2-1=7). He participated in the Candidates Tournament and finished twice in fifth place in 1950 and 1953.

Strong blindfolded player, he established a world record by playing 45 opponents in 23 hours and 30 minutes (+39-2=4). A participant in the Interzonal of 1948 and 1955 and Candidates Tournament of 1950. A participated in the Olympiads of 1935, 1937 and 1939 for Poland and 1950, 1952 for Argentina.

The author of Zurich (1953).
Peak rating: 2530 in 1981.