Chess Personalities

Austrian player of Grandmaster strength who was active during the 1880’s. That time he was considered to be about eight in the world. Best results: winner or shared first at Vienna championship in 1875, the German Championship at Leipzig in 1879, Wiesbaden 1880 and Vienna in 1896 Also equal 2nd with Joseph Blackburne, James Mason,

President of the United States Chess Federation from 1963 to 1966, Executive Director of the USCF from 1966 to 1977 and FIDE Arbiter. He served as an officer, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, with the United States Air Force. A member of the FIDE Bureau from 1970 to 1977. The Edmondson trophy goes to

Hungarian-born US physicist and statistician who, in the early 1960’s, developed a mathematically sound and universally accepted (1970) rating system for chess players. Elo was a professor of physics at Marquette University in Milwaukee and was a good chess amateur many times Wisconsin State chess champion from 1935 to 1961. He spent 20 years developing,

German player and author, he was specialized in unusual gambits called the Diemer Attack and Counterattack : 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3… Best results: winner or shared first at Baden Cup in 1951 and 1953. Swiss national tournament in Zurich 1952, Premier Reserve tourney at Beverwijk 1956, Open championship of Holland 1956, Rapperswil

Dubois was a leading player of the 19th century in Italy. He was one of the pioneers of the theory of chess openings.  His early career coincided with the time when the Italian rules of chess differed from the ones in the other European countries. In 1845, Dubois played a number of friendly games against

The first Georgian Master and International Master (1950). An author. and an Engineer. He was 5th in the 1937 USSR Championship. Champion of Tbilisi in 1927, 1930, 1932 and Champion of Georgia of 1928. Player of positional style, especially strong in defence and counterattack. For two decades memorial tournaments were organized occasionally in Georgia.

Dutch Master who had his peak from 1920 to 1930 by finishing twice second  behind Max Euwe at the Dutch championship in 1921 and in 1924. Best results: Scheveningen in 1923, 6th; Amsterdam in 1925, 1st; Livorno 1926, 2nd; Spa in 1926, 8th; Utrecht 1927, 2nd (Quadrangular, Euwe won); shared 1st with Hartingsvelt at Amsterdam

Russian Master, he is regarded as the founder of Russian chess school. His first participations in a serious chess event came during the period of 1874/75 at the St Petersburg handicap tournament where he took the third place behind E. Schiffers and Schumov. He gained the fame of the strongest Russian player having won the

American player who, for over 50 years, was a leading chess player in the United States. Best results:  in 1874 he won the Brooklyn Chess Club championship.  In 1876, he tied for 2nd place at the New York Clipper tournament, behind James Mason.  In 1879, he defeated Sam Loyd in a match in New York (+5-1=2).

Russian International Arbiter (1999), FIDE officer and chess official in the USSR and Russia, he is seen as someone with a profound knowledge of the Soviet chess era. Since many years, he is the organiser of the Aeroflot Open in Moscow and was the main arbiter in Linares and Dortmund chess tournaments.