Morphy number
Encyclopedia
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player is connected to Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
(1837–1884) by way of playing chess games. People who played a chess game with Morphy have a Morphy number of 1. Players who did not play Morphy but played someone with a Morphy number of 1 have a Morphy number of 2. People who played someone with a Morphy number of 2 have a Morphy number of 3, et cetera.
The idea is similar to the Erdős number
Erdos number
The Erdős number describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.The same principle has been proposed for other eminent persons in other fields.- Overview :...
for mathematicians and the Bacon number for actors. For example, Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
, along with most current top players, has a Morphy number of 5: Kasparov played Ratmir Kholmov
Ratmir Kholmov
Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov was a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his career, and tied for the Soviet Championship title in 1963, but lost the playoff...
(Morphy number 4), who played Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
(Morphy number 3), who played Reginald Michell (Morphy number 2), who played John Owen
John Owen (chess player)
John Owen was an English vicar and strong amateur chess player.In 1858 he won a game against Paul Morphy, which led to a match between the two...
(Morphy number 1), who played Morphy. (Chess historian Taylor Kingston thinks that it is likely that Kasparov played an offhand game with Botvinnik, which would give him a Morphy number of 4.) Kingston states that the idea of the Morphy number may have originated in a June 2000 note by Tim Krabbé
Tim Krabbé
Tim Krabbé is a Dutch journalist and novelist.Krabbé was born in Amsterdam. His writing has appeared in most major periodicals in the Netherlands. He is known to Dutch readers for his novel De Renner , first published in 1978...
, who has Morphy number 4.
As of September 28, 2010, Leonard Barden
Leonard Barden
Leonard William Barden is an English chess master, columnist, author, and promoter. The son of a dustman, he was educated at Whitgift School, South Croydon, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Modern History. He learned to play chess at age 13 while in a school shelter during a German air...
, Pal Benko
Pál Benko
Pal Benko is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.- Early life :Benko was born in France but was raised in Hungary. He was Hungarian champion by age 20. He emigrated to the United States in 1958, after defecting following the World Student Team...
, Arthur Bisguier
Arthur Bisguier
Arthur Bernard Bisguier is an American chess Grandmaster, chess promoter, and writer. Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships , three U.S. Open Chess Championship titles , and the 1954 United States Chess Championship title. He played for the United States in five chess Olympiads...
, Melvin Chernev, Andrija Fuderer
Andrija Fuderer
Andrija Fuderer was a Croatian–Belgian chess master.At the beginning of his career, he won the Yugoslav Junior Chess Championship in 1947...
, Svetozar Gligorić
Svetozar Gligoric
Svetozar Gligorić is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia...
, Dennis Horne, Borislav Ivkov
Borislav Ivkov
Borislav Ivkov is a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was the first ever World Junior Champion in 1951. He won the Yugoslav Championship in 1958 , 1963 and 1972. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979...
, Erik Karklins, Franciscus Kuijpers, Louis Levy, Aleksandar Matanović
Aleksandar Matanovic
Aleksandar Matanović is a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was born in Belgrade.Awarded the GM title in 1955, he was junior champion of Yugoslavia in 1948 and Yugoslav national champion in 1962 , 1969 and 1978...
, Fridrik Olafsson, Jonathan Penrose
Jonathan Penrose
Jonathan Penrose, OBE is an English chess player, emeritus Grandmaster, and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster who won the British Chess Championship ten times between 1958 and 1969. He is the son of Lionel Penrose, a world famous professor of genetics, and brother of Roger Penrose...
, Oliver Penrose
Oliver Penrose
Oliver Penrose FRS, FRSE is a British theoretical physicist.He is the son of the scientist Lionel Penrose, brother of the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, and brother of chess master Jonathan Penrose...
, Arturo Pomar
Arturo Pomar
Arturo Pomar Salamanca is a Spanish chess Grandmaster .A chess prodigy , and a pupil of Alexander Alekhine, he became quite famous...
, Lothar Schmid
Lothar Schmid
Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid is a German chess grandmaster who was born in Dresden. He is best known as the arbiter of several World Chess Championship matches...
, and Peter Swinnerton-Dyer
Peter Swinnerton-Dyer
Sir Henry Peter Francis Swinnerton-Dyer, 16th Baronet KBE FRS , commonly known as Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, is an English mathematician specialising in number theory at University of Cambridge...
are the only known living players with Morphy number 3. Andor Lilienthal
Andor Lilienthal
Andor Arnoldovich Lilienthal was a Hungarian and Soviet chess Grandmaster. In his long career, he played against ten male and female world champions, beating Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Vera Menchik...
and Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...
, who also had Morphy numbers of 3, died in May and September 2010, respectively.
There will probably be few new players with Morphy number 4, although there are probably many thousands of them alive. There may be millions of people with Morphy number 5. Many ordinary players have a Morphy number of 6 (or less).
Morphy number of famous players
These are players who are important in making links for Morphy numbers.Morphy number 1
Morphy is known to have played about 100 people, but all of the known links for players with Morphy number 2 go through the following five players. Some Irish players could go through the Rev. Dr George SalmonGeorge Salmon
The Reverend George Salmon was an Irish mathematician and theologian. His publications in algebraic geometry were widely read in the second half of the 19th century, but he devoted himself mostly to theology for the last forty years of his life...
, who played in one of Morphy's blindfold chess
Blindfold chess
Blindfold chess is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces or touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces...
simultaneous exhibitions.http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1227744
- Adolf AnderssenAdolf AnderssenKarl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was a German chess master. He is considered to have been the world's leading chess player in the 1850s and 1860s...
- Henry Bird
- James MortimerJames MortimerJames Mortimer was an American chess player, journalist, and playwright who spent the last 40 years of his life in Britain.-Life:...
- John OwenJohn Owen (chess player)John Owen was an English vicar and strong amateur chess player.In 1858 he won a game against Paul Morphy, which led to a match between the two...
- Louis PaulsenLouis PaulsenLouis Paulsen was a German chess player.In 1860s and 1870s, he was among the top five players in the world. He was a younger brother of Wilfried Paulsen....
- Other opponents
Morphy number 2
Everyone in this group played someone in the group above.Some of the most important members of this group follow. Tartakower lost to Mortimer early in his chess career, which spanned beyond WW2, so allowed many younger players to gain a 3.
- Semyon AlapinSemyon AlapinSemyon Zinovyevich Alapin was a Russian and Lithuanian chess master, openings analyst, and puzzle composer. He was a linguist, railway engineer and merchant .-Biography:...
- Ossip BernsteinOssip BernsteinOssip Samoilovich Bernstein was a Russian chess grandmaster and a financial lawyer.-Biography:...
- Joseph BlackburneJoseph Henry BlackburneJoseph Henry Blackburne , nicknamed "The Black Death", dominated British chess during the latter part of the 19th century. He learned the game at the relatively late age of 18 but quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years...
- Amos BurnAmos BurnAmos Burn was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer....
- Mikhail ChigorinMikhail ChigorinMikhail Ivanovich Chigorin also was a leading Russian chess player...
- Isidor GunsbergIsidor GunsbergIsidor Arthur Gunsberg began his career as the player operating the remote-controlled chess automaton Mephisto, but later became a chess professional....
- David Janowski
- S. Lipschütz
- Emanuel LaskerEmanuel LaskerEmanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years...
- George MackenzieGeorge Henry MackenzieGeorge Henry Mackenzie was a Scottish–American chess master....
- James MasonJames Mason (chess player)James Mason was a famous chess player and writer. He was born in Kilkenny in Ireland. His original name is unknown: he was adopted as a child and only took the name James Mason when he and his family moved to the United States in 1861...
- Jacques MiesesJacques Mieses----Jacques Mieses was a German-born Jewish chess Grandmaster and writer. He became a naturalized British citizen after World War II.p258-Chess career:...
- Géza MaróczyGéza MaróczyGéza Maróczy was a leading Hungarian chess Grandmaster, one of the best players in the world in his time. He was also a practicing engineer.-Early career:...
- Reginald Michell
- Harry PillsburyHarry Nelson PillsburyHarry Nelson Pillsbury , was a leading chess player. At age 22, he won one of the strongest tournaments of the time , but his illness and early death prevented him from challenging for the World Chess Championship.- Early life :Pillsbury was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, moved to New York City...
- Carl SchlechterCarl SchlechterCarl Schlechter was a leading Austrian chess master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker.-Early life:...
- Jackson ShowalterJackson ShowalterJackson Whipps Showalter was a five-time U.S. Chess Champion: 1890, 1892, 1892–1894, 1895-1896 and 1906–1909.-Chess career:...
- Wilhelm SteinitzWilhelm SteinitzWilhelm Steinitz was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier...
- Siegbert TarraschSiegbert TarraschSiegbert Tarrasch was one of the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of the late 19th century and early 20th century....
- Savielly TartakowerSavielly TartakowerKsawery Tartakower was a leading Polish and French chess Grandmaster. He was also a leading chess journalist of the 1920s and 30s...
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1455250 - Richard TeichmannRichard TeichmannRichard Teichmann was a German chess master.He was known as "Richard the Fifth" because he often finished in fifth place in tournaments. But in Karlsbad 1911, he scored a convincing win, crushing Akiba Rubinstein and Carl Schlechter with the same line of the Ruy Lopez...
- Szymon WinawerSzymon WinawerSzymon Abramowicz Winawer , born in Warsaw, Poland, was a leading chess player who won the German Chess Championship in 1883...
- Eugene Znosko-BorovskyEugene Znosko-BorovskyEugene Alexandrovich Znosko-Borovsky was a Russian chess master, music and drama critic, teacher and author. Born in Saint Petersburg, he settled in Paris in 1920, and lived there for the rest of his life.-Biography:...
- Johannes ZukertortJohannes ZukertortJohannes Hermann Zukertort was a leading chess master of German-Polish-Jewish origin. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, and lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886, which is generally seen as the first World Chess Championship match, he...
Morphy number 3
Most of the mastersChess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
in this group played several members of the previous group. This group includes some of the most important players for making connections to later generations. Botvinnik and Reshevsky played older masters such as Lasker and Janowski, had long careers, and played many younger players. Najdorf was Tartakower's pupil and they played a number of published games together, and Najdorf played blitz right into his 80s, allowing many younger players to achieve 4. C.J.S. Purdy played Tartakower (2), enabling many Australian players to achieve 4.
- Alexander AlekhineAlexander AlekhineAlexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...
- Leonard BardenLeonard BardenLeonard William Barden is an English chess master, columnist, author, and promoter. The son of a dustman, he was educated at Whitgift School, South Croydon, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Modern History. He learned to play chess at age 13 while in a school shelter during a German air...
- Pal BenkoPál BenkoPal Benko is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.- Early life :Benko was born in France but was raised in Hungary. He was Hungarian champion by age 20. He emigrated to the United States in 1958, after defecting following the World Student Team...
- Arthur BisguierArthur BisguierArthur Bernard Bisguier is an American chess Grandmaster, chess promoter, and writer. Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships , three U.S. Open Chess Championship titles , and the 1954 United States Chess Championship title. He played for the United States in five chess Olympiads...
- Efim Bogolyubov
- Fedor BogatyrchukFedor BogatyrchukFedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk was a Ukrainian-Canadian International Master of chess, and an...
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1100044 - Mikhail BotvinnikMikhail BotvinnikMikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
- David BronsteinDavid BronsteinDavid Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet chess grandmaster, who narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics...
- José Raúl CapablancaJosé Raúl CapablancaJosé Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
- Martin Christoffel
- Arnold DenkerArnold DenkerArnold Sheldon Denker was an American chess player, Grandmaster, and chess author. He was U.S. Chess Champion in 1945 and 1946....
- Marcel DuchampMarcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
- Oldřich DurasOldrich DurasOldřich Duras was a leading Czech chess master of the early 20th century...
- Erich EliskasesErich EliskasesErich Gottlieb Eliskases was a chess Grandmaster of the 1930s and 1940s, who represented Austria, Germany and Argentina in international competition....
- Max EuweMax EuweMachgielis Euwe was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion . Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.- Early years :Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam...
- Reuben FineReuben FineReuben Fine was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the early 1930s through the 1940s, an International Grandmaster, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology.Fine won five medals in three chess Olympiads. Fine won the U.S...
- Salo FlohrSalo FlohrSalomon Mikhailovich Flohr was a leading Czech and later Soviet chess grandmaster of the mid-20th century, who became a national hero in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s. His name was used to sell many of the luxury products of the time, including Salo Flohr cigarettes, slippers and eau-de-cologne...
- Svetozar GligorićSvetozar GligoricSvetozar Gligorić is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia...
- Borislav IvkovBorislav IvkovBorislav Ivkov is a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was the first ever World Junior Champion in 1951. He won the Yugoslav Championship in 1958 , 1963 and 1972. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979...
- Paul KeresPaul KeresPaul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
- George KoltanowskiGeorge KoltanowskiGeorge Koltanowski was a Belgian-born American chess player, promoter, and writer. He was informally known as "Kolty". Koltanowski set the world's blindfold record on 20 September 1937, in Edinburgh, by playing 34 chess games simultaneously while blindfolded, making headline news around the world...
- Bent LarsenBent LarsenJørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...
- Edward LaskerEdward LaskerEdward Lasker was a leading German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author.-Background:...
- Andor LilienthalAndor LilienthalAndor Arnoldovich Lilienthal was a Hungarian and Soviet chess Grandmaster. In his long career, he played against ten male and female world champions, beating Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Vera Menchik...
- Frank Marshall
- Stuart Milner-BarryStuart Milner-BarrySir Stuart Milner-Barry KCVO, CB, OBE was a British chess player, chess writer, World War II codebreaker and civil servant. He represented England in chess both before and after World War II...
- Miguel NajdorfMiguel NajdorfMiguel Najdorf was a Polish-born Argentine chess grandmaster of Jewish origin, famous for his Najdorf Variation....
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?pid=10247&pid2=21930
- Aron NimzowitschAron NimzowitschAron Nimzowitsch was a Russian-born Danish unofficial chess grandmaster and a very influential chess writer...
- Friðrik ÓlafssonFriðrik ÓlafssonFriðrik Ólafsson is an Icelandic chess Grandmaster and former president of FIDE.Friðrik was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. A first-time winner of the Icelandic Championship in 1952 and of the Scandinavian Championship a year later, he rapidly became recognised as the strongest Icelandic player of his...
- Jonathan PenroseJonathan PenroseJonathan Penrose, OBE is an English chess player, emeritus Grandmaster, and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster who won the British Chess Championship ten times between 1958 and 1969. He is the son of Lionel Penrose, a world famous professor of genetics, and brother of Roger Penrose...
- Arturo PomarArturo PomarArturo Pomar Salamanca is a Spanish chess Grandmaster .A chess prodigy , and a pupil of Alexander Alekhine, he became quite famous...
- Lodewijk PrinsLodewijk PrinsLodewijk Prins was a Dutch chess player and referee of chess competitions.Prins was awarded the International Master title in 1950, and was made an International Arbiter in 1960. In 1982 FIDE made him an honorary Grandmaster.Prins represented the Netherlands twelve times in all Chess Olympiads...
- C.J.S. Purdyhttp://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1270333
- Samuel ReshevskySamuel ReshevskySamuel "Sammy" Herman Reshevsky was a famous chess prodigy and later a leading American chess Grandmaster...
- Akiba RubinsteinAkiba RubinsteinAkiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein was a famous Polish chess Grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. He was scheduled to play a match with Emanuel Lasker for the world championship in 1914, but it was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War I...
- Friedrich SämischFriedrich SämischFriedrich Sämisch was a German chess grandmaster .-Main results:* 2nd at Berlin 1920...
- Rudolf SpielmannRudolf SpielmannRudolf Spielmann was an Austrian-Jewish chess player of the romantic school, and chess writer.-Career:He was a lawyer but never worked as one....
- Herman SteinerHerman SteinerHerman Steiner was a United States chess player, organizer, and columnist.He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 1948 and became International Master in 1950....
- Milan VidmarMilan VidmarMilan Vidmar was a Slovene electrical engineer, chess player, chess theorist, philosopher, and writer. He was a specialist in power transformers and transmission of electric current.- Biography :...
- Norman Whitaker
Morphy number 4
many of these players are still alive; a few (such as Short) are still active.- Ulf AnderssonUlf AnderssonUlf Andersson is a leading Swedish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1970 and the Grandmaster title in 1972 .-Career:...
- Yuri AverbakhYuri AverbakhYuri Lvovich Averbakh is a Soviet and Russian chess player and author. He is currently the oldest living chess grandmaster.-Life and career:...
- Alexander BeliavskyAlexander Beliavsky-External links:...
- Isaac BoleslavskyIsaac BoleslavskyIsaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky was a Soviet–Jewish chess Grandmaster.-Early career:Boleslavsky taught himself chess at age 9...
- Donald ByrneDonald ByrneDonald Byrne was one of the USA's strongest chess players during the 1950s and 1960s.Born in New York City, he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1953, was awarded the International Master title by FIDE in 1962, and played for or captained five U.S. Chess Olympiad teams between 1962 and 1972...
- Mark DvoretskyMark DvoretskyMark Izrailovich Dvoretsky is a world-renowned Russian chess trainer, writer and International Master.He was awarded the International Master title in 1975 and for a while, was widely regarded as the strongest IM in the world...
- Bobby FischerBobby FischerRobert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
- Semyon FurmanSemyon FurmanSemyon Abramovich Furman was a Soviet chess International Grandmaster and trainer. He is best known for developing Anatoly Karpov into a World Chess Champion, but was a formidable player himself, as well as a successful coach for several other world-class players...
- Efim GellerEfim GellerEfim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions...
- Vlastimil HortVlastimil HortVlastimil Hort is a chess Grandmaster of Czech nationality. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the Candidates stage of competition for the world chess championship, but was never able to compete for the actual title.Hort was born in Kladno,...
- Robert HübnerRobert HübnerRobert Hübner is a respected German chess Grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist . At eighteen, he was joint winner of the West German Chess Championship...
- Ljubomir LjubojevićLjubomir LjubojevicLjubomir Ljubojević is a Grandmaster of chess. He was born on November 2, 1950, in Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia . Ljubojević was awarded the International Master title in 1970 and the GM title in 1971. He was Yugoslav champion in 1977 and 1982. He won the 1974 Canadian Open Chess Championship...
- Anatoly KarpovAnatoly KarpovAnatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
- Garry KasparovGarry KasparovGarry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
- Ratmir KholmovRatmir KholmovRatmir Dmitrievich Kholmov was a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his career, and tied for the Soviet Championship title in 1963, but lost the playoff...
- Viktor KorchnoiViktor KorchnoiViktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...
- Alexander KotovAlexander KotovAlexander Alexandrovich Kotov was a Soviet chess grandmaster and author. He was a Soviet champion, a two-time world title Candidate, and a prolific chess author. Kotov served in high posts in the Soviet Chess Federation and most of his books were written during the period of Cold War between the...
- Gary LaneGary LaneGary William Lane is a professional chess player and author. He became an International Master in 1987 and won the Commonwealth Chess Championship in 1988...
- Tony MilesTony MilesAnthony John Miles was an English chess Grandmaster.- Early achievements in chess :Miles was born in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham...
- Bruce PandolfiniBruce PandolfiniBruce Pandolfini is a chess author, teacher and coach. He was famously portrayed by Ben Kingsley in the 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer, based on the book of the same name by Fred Waitzkin...
- Tigran PetrosianTigran PetrosianTigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
- Susan PolgarSusan PolgarSusan Polgar is a Hungarian-American chess Grandmaster...
- Lev PolugaevskyLev PolugaevskyLev Abramovich Polugaevsky was an International Grandmaster of chess and frequent contender for the world chess championship, although he never achieved that title...
- Lajos PortischLajos PortischLajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik"...
- Hans ReeHans ReeHans Ree is a Dutch Grandmaster of chess and is a columnist and chess writer for the NRC Handelsblad. He contributes to the leading chess magazines New In Chess and ChessCafe.com...
- Ortvin SarapuOrtvin SarapuOrtvin Sarapu MBE , sometimes known as "Mr Chess", was a New Zealand chess International Master who won or co-won the New Zealand Chess Championship 20 times between 1952 and 1990.-Early life:Born Ortvin Sarapuu in Estonia, he won the Estonian Junior Championship in 1940, then defected to Finland...
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1269019
- Jonathan SarfatiJonathan SarfatiJonathan D. Sarfati is a former New Zealand national chess champion and creationist author with a PhD in chemistry. Sarfati works for Creation Ministries International , formerly part of Answers in Genesis , a non-profit Christian Apologetics ministry specialising in Young-Earth creationism...
- Yasser Seirawan
- Nigel ShortNigel ShortNigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
- Vasily SmyslovVasily SmyslovVasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...
- Boris SpasskyBoris SpasskyBoris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
- László SzabóLászló Szabó (chess player)László Szabó was a prominent Hungarian Grandmaster of chess.Born in Budapest, he burst onto the international chess scene in 1935, at the unusually young age of 18...
- Mark TaimanovMark TaimanovMark Evgenievich Taimanov is a leading Soviet and Russian chess player and concert pianist.-Chess:He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1952 and played in the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953, where he tied for eighth place. From 1946 to 1956, he was among the world's top...
- Mikhail TalMikhail TalMikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
- Jan TimmanJan TimmanJan Timman is a Dutch chess Grandmaster who was one of the world's leading players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known as "The Best of the West"...
- Rafael VaganianRafael VaganianRafael Artemovich Vaganian, also transliterated Vahanyan is an Armenian chess grandmaster known for his sharp tactical style of play...
- Robert WadeRobert Wade (chess player)Robert Graham Wade OBE , was a British chess player, writer, arbiter, coach, and promoter. He was New Zealand champion three times, British champion twice, and played in seven Chess Olympiads and one Interzonal tournament...
Morphy number 5
many of the top grandmasters are in this group (along with a large number of lesser players).- Michael Adams
- Viswanathan AnandViswanathan AnandV. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
- Nigel DaviesNigel Davies (chess player)Nigel Davies is an English chess Grandmaster, chess coach and writer.Davies won the British Boys Championship in 1979 and the British Rapidplay Chess Championhship in 1987.-External links:* Nigel Davies' own website...
- Boris GelfandBoris GelfandBoris Abramovich Gelfand is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.-Biography:...
- Mikhail GurevichMikhail Gurevich (chess player)Mikhail Naumovich Gurevich is a Soviet chess player. He lived in Belgium from 1991 to 2005 and since then resides in Turkey....
- Vassily Ivanchuk
- Gata KamskyGata KamskyGata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
- Rustam KasimdzhanovRustam KasimdzhanovRustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic...
- Alexander KhalifmanAlexander KhalifmanAlexander Valeryevich Khalifman is a Soviet and Russian chess Grandmaster of Jewish descent; he is also a former FIDE champion.When Khalifman was 6 years old, he was taught chess by his father....
- Vladimir KramnikVladimir KramnikVladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
- Joël LautierJoel LautierJoël Lautier is a French chess grandmaster and FIDE Senior Trainer .Born in Canada, of French father and Japanese mother, Lautier is one of the strongest grandmasters from France. He won the 1988 World Junior Chess Championship on tiebreak at Adelaide, and the French Chess Championships in 2004...
- Péter LékóPéter LékóOn the way to winning the prestigious Corus chess tournament in 2005, Lékó defeated Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand with the black pieces. The moves were:...
- Karsten MüllerKarsten MüllerDr. Karsten Müller was born November 23, 1970 in Hamburg, West Germany. He is a German chess Grandmaster. He earned the Grandmaster title in 1998 and a PhD in mathematics in 2002 at the University of Hamburg. He placed third in the 1996 German championship and second in the 1997 German...
- Predrag NikolićPredrag NikolicPredrag Nikolić is a Bosnian chess grandmaster.He first competed for the Yugoslav Championship in 1979, taking a share of second place. The following year and again in 1984, he went one step further and became the Yugoslav national champion...
- John NunnJohn NunnJohn Denis Martin Nunn is one of England's strongest chess players and once belonged to the world's top ten. He is also a three times world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician....
- Judit PolgárJudit PolgárJudit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, the youngest person ever to do so at that time.Polgár was ranked No...
- Ruslan PonomariovRuslan PonomariovRuslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
- Zoltán RibliZoltan RibliZoltán Ribli is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and International Arbiter . He was twice a World Championship Candidate and three times Hungarian Champion.-A career in chess:...
- Valery SalovValery SalovValery Salov is a Russian chess grandmaster.Salov was awarded the International Master title in 1984 and the Grandmaster title in 1986. He was the World under-17 Champion in 1980 and European Junior Champion in 1983-84...
- Alexei ShirovAlexei ShirovAlexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
- Jon SpeelmanJon SpeelmanJonathan Simon "Jon" Speelman is an English Grandmaster chess player, mathematician and chess writer.-Early life and education:He was educated at Worcester College, Oxford, where he studied mathematics, earning a doctorate.-Career:...
- Peter SvidlerPeter SvidlerPeter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
- Veselin TopalovVeselin TopalovVeselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
- Artur YusupovArtur YusupovArtur Mayakovich Yusupov is a German International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer.-Chess career:...
See also
- Comparing top chess players throughout history
- List of chess players
- Shusaku number, the equivalent of this, for the board gameBoard gameA board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
of Go