Chess Personalities

Austrian world-class player, one of the pretenders in the World Championship at the beginning of the twentieth century. Chess theoretician and composer. Main editor of the magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung 1912-18. German Champion in 1900 (joint), 1904 (joint) and 1910. Schlechter started to play chess at the age of 13. Already at 1, he was one

Soviet Russian chess player, USSR Master (19310, Honoured Master of Sports (1931). Best results: USSR championship 1931, 2nd; Moscow championships 1931, 1933-34 and 1935, 1st; Masters’ Tournament 1932, 1st. Shared the second-third place at the Leningrad in 1934. In 1935 he won a match against Nikolay Dmitrievich Grigoriev (+6, =1, -1). Ill health started to

Soviet Ukrainian Master (1929). At the age of 19, he finished second in the Ukrainian championship but won the title in 1927. Kiev champion in 1930. Rauzer won the Caucasus, Ukraine and Uzbekistan Masters’ Tournaments held at Tbilisi in 1935 and was second in the Leningrad Championship in 1936. He participated in six USSR championships,

English player who won the Nottingham Major Open B and had also a great success in Ostende 1937, beating Ruben Fine, one of the world’s top players at the time. Serving in the R.A.F. during World War II, he was downed and then arrested by the Japanese. Sent to a prison ship, the boat was

US chess player, the world’s most prolific chess writer, with more than 100 titles to his name. He was a good, but not a great player, twice the New York State Champion. Most of his books have little real content, but a few are worthwhile. Reinfeld began writing about chess in 1932. Reinfeld was the

Swedish chess organizer. International Arbiter (1951). Lawyer. President of the Swedish Chess Federation in 1939. Vice-President of FIDE (1947-49). President of FIDE (1949-70). From 1944 to 1948 he was married to Swedish model and actress Viveca Lindfors.    

Russian strong chess amateur, author, and journalist. The promoter of the annual Chess Oscar between 1995 and 2007. Master of Sports of the USSR in 1963. Honored coach of the Russian Federation 1967 and of several Grandmasters like Mark Dvoretsky. Chief editor of the chess magazine 64. Director of the Press Centre at many chess

Czechoslovakian Grandmaster level, chess theorist, and composer of endgame studies, chess literature. Reti studied mathematics and physics in Vienna where he received extensive practice in chess and began to play chess professionally before World War I. He wrote chess columns for Becsi Magyar Ujsag, Morgen Zeitung in Ostrava, Algemeen Handelsblad in Amsterdam, Berliner Borsen-Courier, Berliner

Leading French player of the 1850s and 60s, of almost Grandmaster strength. His father was French, and his mother was English. He played in the Paris International Tournament in 1867, taking sixth place, well behind the world’s leaders but ahead of Rosenthal. Riviere also played in a few minor tournaments in Paris. In 1855, he

A Polish chess master, player mostly known for his famous game (Immortal) vs. Rubinstein in 1907. Best results: Lodz 1907, 3rd; St. Petersburg 1909, 2nd; Hamburg 1910, 1st; Cologne 1911, 2nd-5th; Carlsbad, 4th. Rotlewi played two matches against Gersz Salwe, losing in 1909 (+5 –8 =5) and winning in 1910 (+3 –1 =6). A nervous