Outstanding Players

Portuguese chess player at the beginning of the 16th century, an apothecary by profession. He was the author of the first popular chess book in Italian “Questo Libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li parti (probably Rome, 1512), which was reprinted in Italy 8 times until 1564. This book was translated into

Born in the Polish city of Lublin, Zuketort studied in Breslau where he graduated with a doctorate in medicine. He was fluent in eleven languages and also a talented pianist. During his studies, he met in the local chess club the great player Adolf Andersen, who was living in the same city. He was involved

Russian chess master born in Saint Petersburg. Railway engineer and merchant, for some time he was living in Paris and Berlin. By the end of 1870’s he was one of the strongest chess players in Russia. One of his best achievements was in Petersburg Tournament, 1878/79, when he shared the victory with Mikhail Chigorin. He was second in Vienna,

Alexander Alekhine, considered by many the greatest chess master in the history of the game. Born in Moscow, Alekhine learned his moves from his mother very early on in his childhood; at the age of 9 he was proficient enough to take up blindfold play, inspired by one of the Pillsbury’s impressive exhibitions in Moscow.

Anderssen was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). He was a Mathematics teacher at Friedrichs Gymnasium in Breslau. He learned chess in 1827 at the age of 9. In 1842, he published a book containing 60 chess problems called Aufgaben fur Schachspieler. In 1846, he joined the editorial staff of Schachzeitung (later Deutsch Schachzeitung).

Jose Raul Capablanca y Graupera was born in Havana, Cuba. A fascinating world-personality and an outstanding representative of the Latin-American chess tradition. He started his chess career at an early age, becoming the Cuban National Champion at the age of 11 years, defeating in a match the then Cuban Champion, Juan Corzo, by 4 to