Krogius Nikolai Vladimirovich (22.07.1930)

Russian Grandmaster (1964), International Arbiter (1985) and psychologist.  Krogius played in seven USSR Championships between 1958 and 1971 and he was the Co-Champion with Lev Aronin in 1952 of the RSFSR (Russian Federation).

In other events, he was first in Varna 1960 and Sochi 1964, equal first in Sochi 1967, first Varna 1969 and equal third in Sochi 1973.

Krogius was a member of Boris Spassky’s team at the 1972 World Championship as the psychologist.  He then became an organizer in the USSR Chess Federation and was also its President for some time.   A participant in the World Student Olympiad with the Soviet team, where he scored 7.5/9 on board three and won team silver.

Garry Kasparov claims that Kroguis always favored Anatoly Karpov and that Kroguis made things difficult for him in his early days. As Kasparov wrote: “Mr. Gavrilin and Mr. Kroguis… are my dedicated enemies.  They hate Kasparov… I do not speak to Kroguis at all, not at all”.

Kroguis wrote several books on the psychology of chess, advising the chess masters how they should prepare themselves for competitive play. Amoung them the famous Psychology in Chess in 1976. For more than 15 years now he has lived in the United States. Best ELO: 2570 in 1976.

Peak rating: 2570 in 1976.