Chess Personalities

English Grandmaster born in Hungary. One of the strongest chess players and journalists at the end of 19th century, he was also a challenger for world title. Gunsberg came from a Hungarian Jewish family, who immigrated in 1863 to England. Since 1876 lived in England, London -world chess centre at that time where he could

Italian player, FIDE International Organizer, author, publisher and manager. Yuri has organized or directed over 40 international tournaments among which the world renown Reggio Emilia round robin, the Rocca di Papa rapid, the Porto Mannu Open, the ACP Golden Classic and the Bergamo Open. Since 2013 he is deeply involved in fighting cheating in chess and

German Grandmaster (2007) born in Ukraine. Best results: the Ukraine 2000 Championship, 5th-10th; Cuxhaven in 2002, 1st; Bad Zwischenahn 2004 and 2005, 1st; Delmenhorst. Peak rating: 2550 in 2005.

Hungarian Master, he has also been known as Leo Forgacs. Fleischmann had some successes in the first decade of the twentieth century but seemed to abandon play with the advent of the First World War.  He always played in tournaments under the name of Fleischmann.  He was quite active from 1905-1913 and his first success

German journalist and co-founder of ChessBase in 1985, he studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and in Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language.  From 1983 to 2004 Friedel edited the computer chess magazine Computerschach &Spiele and he is also the editor of chess news at Chessbase.com.

Austrian Master and journalist who founded the famous Wiener Schachzeitung in 1855. Falkbeer lived in England from 1855 to 1864. Best results: He tied first with Johann Lowenthal at Birmingham in 1858 but lost the play-off (+1 −3 =4) to finish second. In 1856, he went to London where he lost two matches against Henry Bird

Strong Polish player who was living for some time in England. Best results: Champion of Warsaw in 1910 ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, second at St. Petersburg II in 1911 and third in 1913-14, behind Alexander Alekhine and  Aron Nimzowitsch. He won again in Warsaw 1913, Baden-Baden and Krakow in 1914. In matches, he defeated Efim Bogoljubov

American author, editor, chess collector and philanthropist. Fiske’s work in 1857 brought about the First American Chess Congress, the advent of Paul Morphy as well as the American Chess Monthly.  This very fine magazine lasted for nearly four and a half years and its end was hastened by the civil war (1857-1860). In 1861 Fiske

French abbé and chess writer. One of the few French writers who has left a name in the annals of chess of the 19th century. Durand was a professor of Rhetoric then instructor of Philosophy. He was part author of the popular La stratégie raisonnée: 1- des ouvertures; 2- des parties à avantage and 3- des

British player and accountant who was strong enough to be invited at the Great London Tournament of 1851. He didn’t participate too many tournaments but played few  matches against top players without too much success: Wilhelm Steinitz in 1867 (+6-7=6), Joseph Henry Blackburne in 1884 (+1-4=0), Emanuel Lasker in 1890 (+2-7=3) and again in 1892 (+0-5=0).