International master Attila Turzo is a featured host of open tournaments for Pro Members on Chesspark. Each week we will honor a great chess champion with a series of memorial events
Week Sixty Four: Vladimir Akopian
- Wednesday June 24 – 2pm EST Bullet 5 min *** Winner: FM mikel44
- Thursday June 25 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Penabur, Mr-lonely
- Friday Jne 26 – 10am EST 15 min *** Winner: Jaysie
- Saturday June 27 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Feki
- Sunday June 28 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Penabur
Vladimir Akopian (Russian: Владимир Акопян; born December 7, 1971 in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR) is a leading Armenian chess Grandmaster.
Akopian won the World Under-16 Championship in 1986 at the age of 14 and the World Under-18 Championship at 16.
In 1991 he won the World Junior Chess Championship and in 1999 he made his way through to the final of the FIDE Knock-Out World Chess Championship, but lost to Alexander Khalifman, 3.5-2.5. Akopian was one of the contributing players on the Armenian chess team which won gold at the 2006 Chess Olympiad ahead of second placed China and third placed United States and the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden, 2008.
Week Sixty Three: Ilya Gurevich
- Tuesday June 16 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Penabur
- Wednesday June 17 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Penabur
- Saturday June 20 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
- Sunday June 21 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Big-k
Ilya Gurevich (born February 8, 1972 in Kiev) is a Ukrainian-born American chess grandmaster.
He became a chess master at 12 years, 3 months.[1] In 1983 he was National Scholastic Elementary School Chess Champion in the U.S.[2] In 1984, as a 13-year-old he won the World under-14 championship in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina.
As an 18-year-old from Worcester, Massachusetts, he won the 1990 World Junior Championship held in Varones, Chile. A Soviet emigre, he tied for first place but was awarded the title because of superior tiebreak points.
With a pre-tournament ranking of 11th in the field of the world’s top players under 20 years of age, Gurevich was not one of the favorites, but was the only player who was undefeated. The victory earned him the International Master title.
He later became a stock exchange options trader.
Week Sixty Two: Vasil Spasov
- Monday June 8 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Penabur
- Tuesday June 9 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Empress
- Wednesday June 10 – 29m EST Bulet 1 min *** Winner: Penabur
- Thursday June 11 – 1pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
Vasil Spasov (sometimes spelled Spassov; Bulgarian: Васил Спасов; born February 17, 1971) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. Spasov won the 1989 World Junior Chess Championship. Spasov has been Bulgarian Champion several times: 1990, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2008.
On the April 2009 FIDE list his Elo rating is 2598.
Week Sixty One: Walter Arencibia
- Tuesday June 2 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: FM mikel44, Penabur, Laszlo2
- Thursday June 4 – 4pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: _Njdeh_
- Sunday June 7 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: FM mikel44, _Njdeh_
Walter Arencibia (born July 21, 1967) is a Cuban chess player. He learned chess at the age of eight and has won various tournaments, including the 1986 World Junior Chess Championship. He became a Grandmaster in 1990. Other tournament victories include the Cuban Youth Championships in 1985, and cowinning the Canadian Open Chess Championship in 2006, along with Abhijt Kunte. He has also represented Cuba at many Chess Olympiads from 1986 to 2006.
Week Sixty: Curt Hansen
- Tuesday May 26 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Der.arzt3
- Wednesday May 27 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Penabur, Johanwassermann
- Thursday May 28 – 4pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Penabur
- Sunday May 31 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: DrQuahog
He (born September 18, 1964) is a Danish chess player. He is the 1984 World Junior Chess Champion and has won the Danish Championship several times.
Hansen became an International Grandmaster in 1985.
In the April 2009 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2619, making him Denmark’s number second.
Week Fifty Nine: Kiril Georgiev
- Monday May 18 -4pm EST Blitz 1 min *** Winner: Penabur
- Tuesday May 19 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: withthebiba
- Wednesday May 20 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Penabur
- Thursday May 21 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Big-k, Littlewad
- Friday May 22 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
He (born November 28, 1965 in Petrich) is a Bulgarian chess master and three times the national champion.
Kiril Georgiev first caught the eye of the chess world in 1983, when he became the World Junior Champion and an International Master. Two years later, he was awarded the International Grandmaster title.
In the process of becoming the Bulgarian Champion of 1984 (shared), 1986 and 1989, he rapidly became recognised as Bulgaria’s number one player, taking over from Radulov and eventually giving way to Topalov. He has represented his country at the Chess Olympiad many times, playing on either board 1 or 2.In 2009, he broke the world record for the most simultaneous chess games played: 360 games in just over 14 hours. He won 284, drew 70 and lost 6 for a total score of 88%. A score of at least 80% was required for the record to be accepted.[1] In the same year he received the certificate from Guinness World Records.
Week Fifty Eight: Andrei Sokolov
- Monday May 11 – 3pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: der.arzt3,withthebiba, matthewmnvva, empress
- Tuesday May 12 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: withthebiba
- Wednesday May 13 – 3pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: kilbil5
- Thursday May 14 – 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winners: dufferbros, ruben2001, littlewad
- Sunday May 17 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Penabur
He is a French chess Grandmaster of Russian origin, now living in France.He learnt the game from his father Yuri, a Soviet Army officer and Candidate Master. At just 6 years of age, inspiration arrived in the form of a book of Alekhine’s games. By 1982, the groundwork was really paying off as he went on to win the Junior World Chess Championship, held in Copenhagen. A strong entry had included Joel Benjamin, Ivan Morovic, Nigel Short and Niaz Murshed. His Grandmaster status was achieved in 1984, a year of outstanding achievement for the 21-year-old as he rocked the chess world by winning the Championship of the Soviet Union at his first attempt. Representing the Soviet Union at the Thessaloniki 1984 and Dubai 1986 Chess Olympiads, his performances were assured, scoring close to 67% on each occasion and contributing to two team gold medals.
Week Fifty Seven: Ognjen Cvitan
- Monday May 4 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Matthewmnvva, Littlewad
- Wednesday May 6 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
- Thursday May 7 – 2pm EST Speed 15min *** Winner: Mr-lonely
- Sunday May 10 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner:_Njdeh_
He (born 10 October 1961 in Šibenik, Yugoslavia) is a Croatian (formerly Yugoslavian) chess grandmaster. Cvitan earned the International Master title by winning the 1981 World Junior Championship.
Week Fifty Six: Yasser_Seirawan
- Monday April 27 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: withthebiba
- Tuesday April 28 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: GM gmjoey,_Njdeh_, withthebiba
- Wednesday April 29 – 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winners: Camat, Kilbil5
- Thursday April 30 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
- Saturday May 2 – 2pm EST ATOMIC Blitz 5 min *** Winner: YoshiDinoJr
- Sunday May 3 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: _Njdeh_, withthebiba, RaminS
He (born March 24, 1960) is a chess grandmaster and 4-time US-champion. He was winner of the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a respected chess author and commentator.
He was born in Damascus, Syria. His father was Arab and his mother an English nurse from Nottingham, where he spent some time in his early childhood. When he was seven, his family emigrated to Seattle (U.S.), where he attended McClure Middle School and Garfield High School, and honed his game at a (now-defunct) coffeehouse, The Last Exit on Brooklyn, playing against the likes of Latvian-born master Viktors Pupols and six-time Washington State Champion Jim McCormick.
He is married to FIDE Master Yvette Nagel, daughter of former Leefbaar Nederland political party president and politician Jan Nagel.
Seirawan began playing chess at 12; at 13 he became Washington junior champion. At 19 he won the World Junior Chess Championship. He also won a game against Victor Korchnoi, who then invited Seirawan to Switzerland, where Korchnoi was training for his world title match against Anatoly Karpov.[1]
For many years he was the chief editor of the Inside Chess magazine. Yasser Seirawan has, with chess writer and IM Jeremy Silman, written several books, all part of his popular “Winning Chess” Series.
Week Fifty Five: Sergey Dolmatov
- Monday April 20 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday April 21 – 1pm EST 15 min *** Winner: Galing_Mental
- Wednesday April 22 – 2pm EST Blitt 5 min *** Winners: Timur
- Thursday April 23 – 2pm EST Bullet 51min *** Winner: GM gmjoey, penabur, _Njdeh_, withthebiba
- Sunday April 26 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Penabur,*hardyboyz*, hardyboyz
He (born February 20, 1959) is a Russian Grandmaster of chess and former World Junior Chess Champion.
Born in Kiselevsk in the former Soviet Union, Dolmatov’s solid yet enterprising style of play was soon to launch him to the forefront of youth chess, culminating in him winning the World Junior Chess Championship in 1978. He was awarded the title of International Master in the same year and became a Grandmaster in 1982.
Along with the titles, the early part of his chess career yielded many international tournament victories, including the Amsterdam Masters 1979, Bucharest 1981, Hradec Kralove 1981, Frunze 1983, Barcelona 1983 and Tallinn 1985. Also notable was Dolmatov’s second place (to Vitaly Tseshkovsky) in a category 11 tournament at Minsk in 1982.
However, as is often the case, such rapid early progress can be difficult to sustain. Despite winning at Hastings (1989-90) and qualifying as a World Championship candidate from the strong Manila Interzonal of 1990, Dolmatov narrowly failed to convert his ‘preliminary round’ match against Artur Yusupov the following year. Nevertheless, during this period his Elo rating exceeded 2600 and he managed to maintain this level for the next decade.
Week Fifty Four: Mark Diesen
- Monday April 13 – 3pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: DrCheck
- Tuesday April 14 – 2pm EST 1 min *** Winner:_Njdeh_
- Thursday April 16 – 3pm EST Bullet 5 min *** Winners: Jozeph, Jdrei_27, culture
- Saturday April 18 – 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Penabur
- Saturday April 18 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Penabur, Hardyboyz
- Sunday April 19 – 3pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
Mark Carl Diesen (born September 16, 1957 in Buffalo, New York, died December 9, 2008 in Conroe, Texas ) was an American chess player. He earned the International Master title in 1976 by winning the World Junior Championship. Other achievements included being Louisiana State Champion in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, he had a degree in Chemical Engineering. After dropping out of mainstream chess, he worked as a reservoir engineer for Shell Oil, Pennzoil and Noble Energy.
Diesen was married with three daughters.
Week Fifty Three: Tony Miles
- Monday April 6 – 8am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Mahesh97
- Wednesday April 8 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: BetaMaster
- Thursday April 9 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Galing_Mental
- Sunday April 12 – 3pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Ramins, Big-K, Wasabi2
Anthony John Miles (23 April 1955 in Edgbaston, Birmingham – 12 November 2001 in Harborne, Birmingham) was an English chess Grandmaster.
Miles was born in Edgbaston in Birmingham, and he learned the game of chess at an early age. In 1968 he won the British under-14 championship, and in 1973 won the silver medal at the World Junior Chess Championship at Teesside, his first important event against international competition. He won the title the following year in Manila.
Miles had a string of good results in the late 1970s and 1980s, and his success is considered to be one of the most important factors in the explosion in the number of strong British players around that time—shortly after Miles became a GM, Keene, John Nunn, Jon Speelman and a number of others followed him. Miles won games against a number of former World Chess Champions, including Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, and Boris Spassky.
Most famously, in 1980 at the European Team Championship in Skara, he beat reigning world champion Anatoly Karpov with black using the extremely unorthodox opening 1. e4 a6!?, the St. George Defence.
The Miles Variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Bf4) in the Queen’s Indian Defence is named after him.
Week Fifty Two: Alexander_Beliavsky
- Monday March 30 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday March 31 - 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Empress
- Wednesday April 1 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
- Thursday April 2 – 10am EST Speed 15 min *** Winners: Jaysie, Empress
- Friday April 3 – 8am EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: DrQuahog
- Sunday April 5 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: GM gmjoey
Alexander Henrikhovich Beliavsky (sometimes transliterated as Belyavsky, born December 17, 1953) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster.
Beliavsky was born in Lviv. He currently lives in Slovenia and he plays for the Olympic team there. He is noted for his uncompromising style of play and for his classical opening repertoire, including openings such as the Queen’s Gambit, Ruy Lopez and French Defence, for example.
Beliavsky won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1973 and the USSR Chess Championship four times in 1974, 1980, 1987 and 1990.
In the World Chess Championship cycle, Beliavsky qualified for the Candidates Tournament only once, losing to eventual winner Garry Kasparov in the quarterfinals of the 1983 Candidates matches.
In tournaments, he was first equal at Baden 1980, first at Tilburg 1981, second equal at Tilburg 1984, joint winner at Wijk aan Zee 1984 and joint second at the same venue a year later. At the second Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World match in 1984, he was top scorer for the victorious Soviet team, defeating Yasser Seirawan 2-0 and Bent Larsen 1½-½.
Beliavsky is also a first-class endgame study composer, having published about 50 studies, many together with Leopold Mitrofanov. He won six first prizes in composition tourneys.
He is also a chess coach and in 2004 was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer.[1]
As of January 2009, he is the second oldest person in the world’s top 100 players, behind Anatoly Karpov.
Week Fifty One: Werner Hug
- Monday March 23 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Jumpman_23,mercamg,penguindaddy
- Tuesday March 24 - 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
- Wednesday March 25 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: BetaMaster
- Thursday March 26 – 10am EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Jaysie
- Sunday March 29 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: DrQuahog,_Njdeh_, jdrei_27
Werner Hug (born September 10, 1952 in Feldmeilen) is a Swiss chess player. Hug was World Junior Chess Champion in 1971 and was Switzerland’s leading player of the 1970s.
In 1968 he won the Swiss Junior Championship. In a game in a preliminary section of the 1969 World Junior Championship, he overlooked a mate in two against Anatoly Karpov and the game ended in a draw. Had Karpov lost this game he would not have qualified for the final A section. Karpov went on to win the Junior championship, and would become the World Champion in 1975.
He was awarded the title of International Master (IM) in 1971, when he became World Junior Champion in Athens. He won the Swiss Championship in 1975.
Hug has played on the Swiss team in the Chess Olympiads eleven times, playing first board in 1972, 1974, 1976, 1980, and 1984. He also played first board in the World Student Olympiad in 1972 and 1976.
Week Fifty: Julio Kaplan
- Monday March 16 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Galing_Mental
- Tuesday March 17 - 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Empress
- Wednesday March 18 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: DrQuahog
- Saturday March 21 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: *hardyboyz*
- Sunday March 22 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: DrQuahog
Julio P Kaplan (born 25 July 1950, Argentina) a Puerto Rican chess player and former world junior champion.
Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1963 to Puerto Rico, where he was raised and studied, and then later in his life to the United States, where he works for Autodesk.
In 1967, he was the Puerto Rico National Chess Champion.
In addition, in 1967, he also won the World Junior Chess Championship in Jerusalem, followed by the well-known Raymond Keene, Jan Timman, Robert Hübner, etc.
This victory earned Julio Kaplan the International Master title. Kaplan played for the Puerto Rico National Chess Team in four Chess Olympiads. He played for the Puerto Rico National Chess Team (1966, 1971) and for the USA (1976) in the World Student Team Chess Championships. He won the individual gold medal at Örebro 1966, and the team silver medal at Caracas 1976.
Week Fourty Nine: Bojan Kurajica
- Monday March 9 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Empress
- Tuesday March 10 - 8am EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mahesh97
- Wednesday March 11 – 7am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Loaded_Weapon
- Thursday March 12 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: GM gmjoey
- Friday March 13 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: FM mikel44
- Sunday March 15 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
Bojan Kurajica (born 15 November 1947, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia) is a Croatian-Bosnian (formerly Yugoslavian) chess grandmaster (GM).
Kurajica earned the International Master (IM) title in 1965 by winning the World Junior Championship. He was awarded the GM title in 1974.
He played for Yugoslavia in Chess Olympiads at La Valletta 1980 (won team bronze medal) and Thessaloniki 1984. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, he represented eight times Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1992 to 2006 (won team silver medal at Moscow 1994).
In 2005 Kurajica was awarded the title of FIDE Trainer.
Week Fourty Eight: Florin Gheorghiu
- Monday March 2 – 9am EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Johngonzaga
- Monday March 2 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winners: jdrei_27,Littlewad
- Tuesday March 3 - 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winners: Camat,_Njdeh_,Luiza,loaded_Weapon
- Thursday March 5 – 7am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday March 5 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Luiza
- Friday March 6 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Empress,Luiza
- Sunday March 8 – 3pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Yuri2559
Florin Gheorghiu (born April 6, 1944) is a Romanian chess player and university lecturer in foreign languages.
Born in Bucharest, his prodigious talent for the game was evidenced by his many early achievements; he became an International Master in 1963 and Romania’s first Grandmaster just two years later. He was also awarded the title of World Junior Chess Champion (on tie-break) in 1963 at Vrnjacka Banja.
In his home country there were few who could rival his dominance of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. He won the Romanian Championship nine times (the first at age 16) and represented his country in all of the Chess Olympiads between 1962 and 1990, playing first board on ten occasions.
Week Fourty Seven: Bruno Parma
- Monday February 23 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winners:_Njdeh_, *hardyboyz*,Adjematje
- Tuesday February 24 - 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Galing_Mental
- Wednesday February 25 – 8am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: jaysie
- Thursday February 26 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Kuntakinte
- Saturday February 28 – 11am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Zaldy
Bruno Parma (born December 30, 1941) is a Slovene chess player and Grandmaster.
Parma was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia). He first played in the World Junior Chess Championship in 1959, sharing second place. Two years later at age 21 he won the next Junior Championship (The Hague 1961), receiving the title of International Master. FIDE granted him the grandmaster title based on his outstanding performance at the Beverwijk tournament in 1963. He was the third Slovene to become a grandmaster, after Milan Vidmar (1950) and Vasja Pirc (1953). He won the Slovenian Chess Championship in 1959 and 1961 and shared third place with Dragoljub Minić, Milan Matulović, and Bojan Kurajica in the 1968 Yugoslav Championship in Čateške Toplice.
In an international tournament at San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1969 he was second together with two American grandmasters, Arthur Bisguier and Walter Browne, behind Boris Spassky. His best results was shared first with Georgi Tringov in Vršac 1973 ahead of Wolfgang Uhlmann.[2]
Parma played for the Yugoslav team in the Chess Olympiads eight times: 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1978, and 1980. The Yugoslav team won four silver medals and two bronze medals in those years.
Week Fourty Six: Carlos Bielicki
- Tuesday February 17 - 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Galing_Mental
- Wednesday February 18 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Koshin
- Saturday February 21 – 5pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: jdrei_27
- Friday February 20 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Galing_Mental,_Njdeh_,colby37373
- Sunday February 22 – 5pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
Carlos Bielicki (born 15 May 1940) is an Argentine chess master.
In 1958, he won the Argentine Junior Championship. In 1959, Bielicki was World Junior Chess Champion, winning the tournament in Münchenstein and earning the International Master title. In 1960, he took 11th at Mar del Plata (Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer won). In 1961, he took 7th in Mar del Plata (Miguel Najdorf won). In 1961, he tied for 3rd–5th in the Argentine Chess Championship (Hector Rossetto won).
Week Fourty Five: William Lombardy
- Tuesday February 10 - 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: jdrei_27
- Wednesday February 11 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: GM gmjoey,skrto1
- Thursday February 12 – 5pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: jaysie
- Saturday February 14 – 11am EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
He won the 1956 Canadian Open Chess Championship. In 1957, Lombardy became the first American to win the World Junior Chess Championship and, in so doing, the first American World Chess champion of any kind. He won the tournament in Toronto with a perfect score of 11-0, the only time such a result has been achieved. Lombardy drew a two-game match with World Chess Champion Mikhail Botvinnik.
In 1972, Bobby Fischer was scheduled to play a match against Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship. However, Fischer had a falling out with Grandmaster Larry Evans who had been Fischer’s second in his successful matches against Tigran Petrosian and Bent Larsen. Therefore, Fischer remembered and called upon his old friend William Lombardy to help him out with the match. Although Lombardy was still a Roman Catholic priest, he was allowed to take time off from the priesthood to go to Reykjavík, Iceland to serve as the official “second” to Fischer during the World Chess Championship 1972, between Fischer and Boris Spassky. Nevertheless Fischer often didn’t make use of his services. Don Schultz remembers the following conversation: Lombardy to Fischer ‘That’s a difficult position. Let’s go back to the hotel and analyze it.’ Fischer replied ‘What do you mean, analyze? That guy’s a fish. Let’s go bowling.’ Fischer won the match and became World Chess Champion.
Weeak Fourty Five: Oscar Panno
- Monday February 2 – 3pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Jdrei_27
- Tuesday February 3 - 4pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: DrCheck
- Wednesday February 4 – 3pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Jdrei_27
- Thursday February 5 – 3pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Littlewad, Kuntakinte, Kartal12, Lilbiggums
- Sunday February 8 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: big-k
Oscar R. Panno (born 1935 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine chess Grandmaster.
Panno won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1953, and also won the championship of Argentina the same year. He became a grandmaster at the age of twenty. He had an Elo rating of around 2580 Elo in his prime, and of 2515 in 1986 and 2429 in 2008. Panno has several successes at the tournaments at Mar del Plata. He won the international tournaments in 1954 and 1969 (shared with Miguel Najdorf), and the open tournaments in 1986, 1988, and 1994. Panno tied for first at Lone Pine 1977. He played various more famous grandmasters, occasionally losing to them brilliantly. Panno was the first top world chess player born in South America. He was still active as of 2008, finishing third in the Bobby Fischer Memorial tournament held in Villa Martelli.
Week Fourty Four: Borislav Ivkov
- Monday January 26 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winners: Mr-lonely, Bernardin, Daimaaskim
- Tuesday January 27 - 8am EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mahesh97
- Wednesday January 28 – 8am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: GM Gmjoey
- Friday January 29 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Galling_Mental, KingCapturer, Jdrei_27, Kuntakinte
- Sunday February 1 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: NM Chopotin@wuchess.com
Borislav Ivkov (born November 12, 1933 in Belgrade) is a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was World Junior Champion in 1951. He won the Yugoslav Championship in 1958 (joint), 1963 (joint) and 1972. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979. Ivkov represented Yugoslavia 12 times in Olympiad competition, from 1956 to 1980, and six times in European Team Championships. Ivkov won nearly two dozen high-class events during his career; notable tournament triumphs include Mar del Plata 1955, Buenos Aires 1955, Beverwijk 1961, Zagreb 1965, Sarajevo 1967, Amsterdam 1974, and Moscow 1999. For more than 15 years from the mid-1950s, he was the second-ranking Yugoslav player, after Svetozar Gligorić. He remains an active tournament competitor at age 73, having played successfully in the 2007 Canadian Open in Ottawa. He is preparing his chess autobiography.
Week Fourty Three: Tal Shaked
- Monday January 19 – 3pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Anne20.rb
- Tuesday January 20 - 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Jaysie
- Thursday January 22 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Bnsreenath
- Friday January 23 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: GM gmjoey, Jaysie
- Sunday January 25 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
He is an American chess grandmaster. Shaked was the 1997 World Junior Champion.
Shaked developed his chess skills in the scholastic chess organizations of Tucson, and was already in the K-6 group at age 7. As a junior, Shaked won several national scholastic championships, the U.S. Cadet, the U.S. Junior Open and the National Open. In 1997 Shaked won the World Junior Championship scoring six wins and seven draws. John L. Watson played a substantial role in his coaching.
Tal Shaked eventually gave up competitive chess, though he remained active with blitz on the internet. His last serious competition was the FIDE World Chess Championship 1999, and he had already decided to leave chess prior to that tournament due to motivation and the economic uncertainty in being a professional chess player. He now works as a software engineer for Google.
Week Fourty Two: Abhijeet Gupta
- Monday January 12 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winners: GM gmjoey, Bernardin, JohanWassermann
- Tuesday January 13 - 9am EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: GM Ardiansyah
- Wednesday January 14 – 1pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Jdrei_27, Camat
- Friday January 16 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Anne20.rb
- Sunday January 18 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Kuntakinte
He hails from Bhilwara in Rajasthan. In 2002, Abhijeet entered the Limca Book of Records on becoming the youngest National junior (under-19) champion at the age of 13 years and 10 days. Abhijeet has won 14 international medals, including six gold medals from the Asian, Commonwealth and British age-group categories.
On August 15th 2008, Abhijeet won the World Junior Chess Championship at Gaziantep, Turkey. He is the third Indian to win this championship.
Week Fourty One: Maxim Dlugy
- Monday January 5 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: edgebander
- Tuesday January 6 - 8am EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Luiza
- Wednesday January 7 – 1pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Mr.Lion, Camat
- Thursday January 9 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winner: GM gmjoey
- Sunday January 11 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: GM gmjoey, Bernardin
He is a Grandmaster of chess. He was born on January 29, 1966 in Moscow, USSR. He arrived with his family in the United States in about 1979. He was a late developer and was only an average player for his age until he shot up in strength in the early 1980s. He was awarded the International Master title in 1982. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1985. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1986 at the World Chess Olympiad in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he played on the U.S. team that was in first place going into the last round. Always a superb speed chess player, Dlugy was formerly ranked number one in the world by the World Blitz Chess Association.
He emigrated to America when a young boy and first came to notice in 1984 when he finished 3rd in the U.S. Chess Championship. He was 2nd= in New York 1985, 2nd= in Clichy 1986-87 and 3rd= in the 1987 U.S. Chess Championship.
He turned to chess politics and ran for and was elected President of the United States Chess Federation in 1990.
Bankers Trust placed an ad in the New York Times for young chess masters who, studies had shown, made good securities traders. Dlugy answered the ad and was hired and got a job working on Wall Street. Eventually, he became a principal of the Russian Growth Fund, a hedge fund. Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov was formerly associated with Dlugy’s Russian Growth Fund.
Week Fourty: Arpad Emrick Elo
- Monday December 29 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Mr.Lion, Camat
- Tuesday December 30-pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Mr.Lion, Camat
- Wednesday December 31 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Mr-loney
- Thursday January 1 – 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Camat, Kuntakinte
- Thursday January 1 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Mr.Lion, Camat
- Sunday January 4 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: _Njdeh_,bnsreenath
He is the creator of the Elo rating system for two-player games such as chess. Born in Hungary, he moved to the United States with his parents as a child in 1913.
Elo was a professor of physics at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was also a chess master. By the 1930s he was the strongest chess player in Milwaukee, one of the nation’s leading chess cities. He won the Wisconsin State Championship eight times.
Elo is best known for his system of rating chess players. The original chess rating system was developed in 1950 by Kenneth Harkness, the Business Manager of the United States Chess Federation. By 1960, using the data developed through the Harkness Rating System, Elo developed his own formula which had a sound statistical basis and constituted an improvement on the Harkness System. The new rating system was approved and passed at a meeting of the United States Chess Federation in St. Louis in 1960.
Week Thirty Ninth: Judit Polgar
- Monday December 22 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mr.Lion
- Tuesday December 23- 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
She is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chessplayer in history.[1] In 1991, she achieved the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years and 4 months. She was, at that time, the youngest person to do so. Polgár is ranked number 27 in the world on the October 2008 FIDE rating list with an Elo rating of 2711, the only woman on FIDE’s Top 100 Players list, and has been ranked as high as number eight.
Week Thirty Eight: Joël Lautier
- Monday December 15 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday December 16- 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday December 17 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday December 18 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winners: Mr.Lion, JohanWassermann
- Sunday December 21 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: Littlewad, Camat
He is a French chess grandmaster. Lautier is one of the strongest grandmasters from France. He was World Junior Chess Championship winner in 1988 on tiebreak at Adelaide, and has won the French Chess Championship in 2004 and 2005. He is in 2005 the second best French GM after Étienne Bacrot. He is also one of the founders of ACP, Association of Chess Professionals (www.chess-players.org). He has been the president of the association in 2004-2005. He is one of only three players (the others being Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler) to have beaten every world champion dating back to 1975 (Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Khalifman, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, and Veselin Topalov).
Week Thirty Seven: Boris Gelfand
- Monday December 8 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mr.Lion, Memotek
- Tuesday December 9- 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner:Mr.Lion, Der.artz3
- Wednesday December 10 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday December 11 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winners: Rwo
- Sunday December 14 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
He is a chess grandmaster. Born in Minsk, Belarussian SSR, he emigrated to Israel in 1998, and now lives in Rishon LeZion, and is Israel’s number 1 ranked chess player. He finished in the top 10 in the 2005 FIDE World Cup, which qualified him for the Candidates for the World Chess Championship 2007. He won his Candidates matches against Rustam Kasimdzhanov (in rapid tie-breaks) and Gata Kamsky (+2-0=3), to qualify for the championship tournament in September 2007. Gelfand was not one of the favourites for the World Chess Championship 2007, but he surprised most observers by finishing joint second.
Week Thirty Six: Viktor Korchnoi
- Monday December 1 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mr.Noway
- Tuesday December 2- 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Kuntakinte
- Wednesday December 3 – 11am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: GM Ardiansyah
- Thursday December 4 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winners: Kuntakinte, Camat
- Sunday December 7 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
He is a professional Swiss chess player and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the world tournament circuit. Korchnoi is also a chess author.
Korchnoi is best known for playing three matches against Anatoly Karpov for the World Chess Championship. In 1974, he lost the Candidates final to Karpov, who went on to win the World championship by forfeit against Bobby Fischer. Then, after defecting from the Soviet Union in 1976, he won the Candidates twice to qualify for World Championship matches against Karpov in 1978 and 1981, losing both times.
In all, Korchnoi was a Candidate for the World Championship on ten occasions (1962, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988 and 1991). Korchnoi is also a four-time USSR chess champion (1960, 1962, 1964–65, 1970), a five-time European champion, and a six-time member of Soviet teams that won the Chess Olympiad. In September 2006, he won the World Senior Chess Championship.
Week Thirty Five: Ruy López de Segura
- Monday November 24 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mr.Lion and Camat
- Tuesday November 25- 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday November 26 – 11am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday November 27 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winners: Mr.Lakat
- Sunday November 30 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_, Gheorghius
He was a Spanish priest and later bishop in Segura whose book Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez was one of the first fundamental chess books in Europe, only after Pedro Damiano’s.
He was born in Zafra near Badajoz, probably of Marrano Jewish descent, and he studied and lived in Salamanca. Considered by many to be the first unofficial world chess champion, as he won the first modern chess tournament in Madrid. He would later lose the title to Leonardo di Bona, a Roman lawyer.
The Ruy Lopez Opening is named after him, as is the variation in the Petroff Defence 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Qe7.
Week Thirty Four: Reuben Fine
- Monday November 17 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mr.Lion
- Tuesday November 18- 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday November 19 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday November 20 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winners: Mr.Lion
- Friday November 21 – Noon EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Mahesh97
- Sunday November 23 – 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat, fightme, Fannon, Littlewad
He was one of the best chess players in the world from the mid 1930s through the early 1940s, an International Grandmaster, as well as a chess author, psychologist, and psychology author. Fine won five medals (four gold) in three chess Olympiads. Fine won the U.S. Open Chess Championship all seven times he entered (1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1941). He was the author of several chess books which are still popular today. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York in 1932. After World War II, he earned his doctorate in psychology, and wrote many successful books in that field as well.
Week Thirty Three: Friedrich Sämisch
- Monday November 10 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Dufferbros
- Tuesday November 11- 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Captain97
- Wednesday November 12 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Mr.Lion
- Thursday November 13 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winners: Dufferbros and TorontoJer
- Sunday November 16 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
He was a German chess grandmaster. He was the champion of the first, although unofficial, Austrian Chess Championship in Vienna, Austria in 1921, and finished third at the Baden-Baden tournament 1925, after Alexander Alekhine and Akiba Rubinstein. In 1921, he also won a match against Richard Réti. Sämisch is today remembered primarily for his contributions to opening theory. Two major opening lines are named after him: the Sämisch Variations of the King’s Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3) and Nimzo-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3) Defenses. Perhaps his most famous game is his loss to Nimzowitsch in the Immortal Zugzwang Game. 
Week Thirty Two: Aron Nimzowitsch
- Monday November 3 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday November 4 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Duffebros
- Wednesday November 5 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Laszlo2, Camat
- Thursday November 6 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday November 9 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Luiza
He was a Latvian-born Danish unofficial chess grandmaster[1] and a very influential chess writer. He was the foremost figure amongst the hypermoderns. He wrote three books on chess strategy: Mein System (My System) (1925), Die Praxis meines System (The Practice of My System) (commonly known as Chess Praxis), and Die Blockade (The Blockade). He discovered such concepts as overprotection (the least important of his ideas from a modern standpoint though still interesting and sometimes applicable), control of the center by pieces instead of pawns, blockade, and prophylaxis — playing to prevent the opponent’s plans. He was also a leading advocate and exponent of the fianchetto development of the bishops. Nimzowitsch also formalised strategies using open files, outposts and invasion of the seventh rank, all of which are widely accepted today. Others had utilized such ideas in previous years, but he was the first to knit them together into a cohesive whole.
Week Thirty One: Siegbert Tarrasch
- Monday October 27 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Littlewad
- Tuesday October 28 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday October 29 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Duffebros
- Thursday October 30 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winner: Bernardin
- Sunday November 2 – 1 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
He was one of the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Tarrasch was a highly esteemed chess writer. It was Tarrasch who wrote in his Preface to The Game of Chess (1931) that oft repeated line, “Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.” A medical doctor by profession, Tarrasch may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s.
Week Thirty: Akiba Rubinstein
- Monday October 20 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mr.lakat
- Tuesday October 21 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday October 22 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat, Bernardin
- Thursday October 23 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winner: Camat
- Friday October 24 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winner: Kuntakinte
- Sunday October 24 – 1 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Memotek
He was a famous Polish chess Grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. He was Jewish, and his family planned for him to become a rabbi, yet he did not finish his studies and chose to devote himself to chess entirely. The decision came in 1903 after he won fifth place at a tournament in Kiev. He learned to play chess when he was 16. and had been training with the strong master Gersz Salwe in Łódź, and playing frequently against him. Rubinstein flourished especially from 1907 to 1912. Beginning from his win at Karlovy Vary in 1907, through a shared win at St. Petersburg in the same year, he culminated it in a record string of wins in 1912. He won five consecutive major tournaments that year: San Sebastian, Piešťany, Breslau (the German championship), Warsaw and Vilnius (although none of these events included Lasker or Capablanca). Some believe that he was better than world champion Emanuel Lasker at this time. Ratings from Chessmetrics support this conclusion, placing him as world #1 between mid 1912 and mid 1914.
Week Twenty Nine: Alexander Morozevich
- Thursday October 16 2pm Speed 15 min *** Winners: Camat, N.Imi, Mcsherry
- Friday October 17 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Kuntakine, N.Imi
- Saturday October 18 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Mr.lakat
- Sunday October 19 1pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: Camat
He is a Russian chess player. In the July 2008 FIDE list, he had an ELO rating of 2788, making him the second highest rated player in the world.[1] Morozevich is noted for employing unusual openings. Against the Queen’s Gambit, for instance, he has often played the Chigorin Defence (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6), and more recently the Albin Countergambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5); both systems are hardly ever seen at the top level. He is also well known for preferring complicated rather than clear positions.
Week Twenty Eight: Vassily Ivanchuk
- Monday October 6 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday October 7 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Johanwassermann
- Wednesday October 8 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday October 9 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday October 10 – 1 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
He has been a leading player in the world since 1988, at times reaching 2nd in the Elo rating list, but has never won the World Chess Championship. As of November 2007 he is the World Blitz Chess champion.Ivanchuk reached chess world fame at the age of 21 when he won the Linares tournament in 1991. Fourteen players participated, eight of them rated top-ten of the world, including World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, while the rest were all among the world’s top 50 players. It was a close call between Ivanchuk and Kasparov, but Ivanchuk won by half a point, and Ivanchuk defeated Kasparov in their individual game.
Week Twenty Seven: Walter Browne
- Monday September 29 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday September 30 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday October 1 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday October 2 – 2pm EST speed 15 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday October 5 – 1 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Johanwassermann
Walter Shawn Browne is an Australian and American chess Grandmaster . Browne has won the U.S. Chess Championship six times. Browne was a dominant presence in American chess in the 1970s and 1980s. Aside from his U.S. Championship wins, he also won the National Open eleven times, the American Open seven times, the World Open three times, and the U.S. Open Chess Championship twice (1971, 1972).
Week Twenty Six: Artur Yusupov
- Monday September 22 – 2pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday September 23 – 1pm EST Speed 15min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday September 24 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat,_Njdeh_,Johanwasserman and Pateltcp
- Thursday September 25 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday September 28 – 1 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: Camat
He learned to play chess at the age of six and trained at the Young Pioneers’ Palace in Moscow. He was a winner of the World Junior Chess Championship in 1977. This was also the year that he gained the International Master title, qualification as a grandmaster following in 1980. Second place at his first USSR Championship in 1979. ‘Purposefulness’ and ’strength of mind’ are two of Yusupov’s attributes, according to Alexei Suetin, who described him as “a player with a rational, positional style. He boasts high technical skill in the endgame and detailed knowledge of his customary opening systems. Least of all does he rely on inspiration; his every move is based on industrious study”.
Week Twenty Five: Gata Kamsky
- Monday September 15 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Daestro
- Tuesday September 16 – 10am EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday September 17 – 11am EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday September 18 – 1pm EST Bullet 15 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday September 21 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: _njdeh_
He is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster. At one point he was the third highest-rated player in the world, but he played almost no FIDE-rated games between 1997 and late 2004. In November-December 2007, Kamsky won the Chess World Cup 2007. In the final he defeated Alexei Shirov (+1-0=3). This earned him a match against Veselin Topalov in 2008, for the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship 2009.
Week Twenty Four: Jan Timman
- Monday September 8 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Tuesday September 9 – 1pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Kuntakinte and Pateltcp
- Wednesday September 10 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Thursday September 11 – 10 am EST Bullet 15 min *** Winner: Blaz023
- Sunday September 14 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: _njdeh_ and Big-k
He 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”. He has won the Dutch Chess Championship nine times and has been a Candidate for the World Championship several times.
Week Twenty Third: Nigel Short
- Monday September 1 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Tuesday September 2 – 1pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Wednesday September 3 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Thursday September 4 – 10 am EST Bullet 15 min *** Winner: JohanWassermann
He is often regarded as the strongest British chess player of the 20th century. He became a Grandmaster at age 19, and challenged for the World Chess Championship against Garry Kasparov at London 1993. Still active, Short continues to enjoy international success. He is also a chess columnist, coach and commentator. 
Week Twenty Second: Veselin Topalov
- Monday August 25 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Littlewad and camat
- Tuesday August 26 – 1pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday August 27 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Kuntakinte
- Thursday August 28 – 10 am EST Bullet 15 min *** Winner: Yuri2559
- Sunday August 31 – 1 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: camat, Luiza, _njdeh_
He is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE world champion. Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. Topalov was awarded the 2005 Chess Oscar In October 2006, Topalov had the second highest Elo rating of all time (2813).
Week Twenty First: Rustam Kasimdzhanov
- Monday August 18 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: camat
- Tuesday August 19 – 1pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Wednesday August 20 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _njdeh_ and Fanon
- Thursday August 21 – 10 am EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Littlewad and soso2323
- Sunday August 24 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: kuntakinte
He is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, Kasimdzhanov unexpectedly made his way through to the final, winning mini-matches against Alejandro Ramirez, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, Vasily Ivanchuk, Zoltán Almási, Alexander Grischuk and Veselin Topalov to meet Michael Adams to play for the title and the right to face world number one Garry Kasparov in a match.
Week Twentieth: Ruslan Ponomariov
- Monday August 11 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Tuesday August 12 – 1pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Sockss
- Wednesday August 13 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Thursday August 14 – 10 am EST 15 min *** Winner: Lttlewad
- Sunday August 17 – 5 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: camat
He is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE world champion. Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine to parents of Russian ethnicity. 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 twelve, and the following year won the World Under-18 Championship. In 1998, at the age of fourteen, he was awarded the Grandmaster title, making him the youngest ever player at that time to hold the title.
Week Nineteen: Viswanathan Anand
- Monday August 4 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner:_njdeh_
- Tuesday August 5 – 1pm EST Blitz 5min *** Winner: Sockss
- Wednesday August 6 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Mfathih
- Sunday August 10 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Big-k
He is an Indian chess grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion. Anand won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000, at a time when the world title was split. His win in the World Chess Championship 2007 has made him the undisputed World Champion since 2007. He will defend his title in the World Chess Championship 2008 against Vladimir Kramnik in October-November 2008. Anand has been top of the world rating list since April 2007, is one of four players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list, and has been among the top three ranked players in the world continuously since 1997. In 2007 he was awarded the second highest civilian award of India, the Padma Vibhushan.
Week Eighteen: Alexander Khalifman
- Tuesday July 29 – 3pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner:_njdeh_
- Wednesday July 30 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner:_njdeh_
- Thursday July 31 – 9 am EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
- Saturday August 2- 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _Njdeh_ and for gatoNegro203
- Subday August 3 – 3pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: _Njdeh_
His most notable achievement was winning the FIDE World Chess Championship in 1999, a title he held until the following year. With his trainer Genadi Nesis he runs a chess academy in St. Peterburg, called “The Grandmaster Chess School.” There he trains players from all over the world following the motto: “chess = intellect + character.”
Week Seventeen: Vladimir Kramnik
- Monday July 21 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner:_njdeh_
- Tuesday July 22 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner:_njdeh_
- Wednesday July 23 – 1 pm EST Blitze 5 min *** Winner: gatoNegro203
- Thursday July 10 – 9 am EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Johngonzaga
- Friday July 11 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Blaz023
He is a Russian chess grandmaster and was the World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2007. In October 2000, he beat Garry Kasparov in a match played in London, and became the Classical World Chess Champion. In late 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title against challenger Péter Lékó in a drawn match played in Brissago, Switzerland. In October 2006, Kramnik, the Classical World Champion, defeated reigning FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in a unification match, the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006. As a result Kramnik became the first undisputed World Champion, holding both the FIDE and Classical titles, since Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993. In September 2007, Kramnik lost his title to Viswanathan Anand at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007.
Week Sixteen: Garry Kasparov
- Wednesday July 16 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat and _njdeh_
- Thursday July 17 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Littlewad and _njdeh_
- Friday July 18 – 1pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Saturday July 19 - 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
He is a Russian chess grandmaster widely regarded to have been the greatest player of all time, former World Chess Champion, writer and political activist. Kasparov became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the “Classical” World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. He is also widely known for being the first world chess champion to lose a match to a computer, when he lost to Deep Blue in 1997. Kasparov’s ratings achievements include being rated world #1 according to Elo rating almost continuously from 1986 until his retirement in 2005 and holding the all-time highest rating of 2851. He also holds records for consecutive tournament victories and Chess Oscars.
Week Fif
teen: Anatoly Karpov
- Monday July 7 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday July 8 – 1pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday July 9 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday July 10 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Friday July 11 – 1pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
He is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was undisputed World Champion from 1975 to 1985, repeatedly challenged to regain the title from 1986 to 1990, then was FIDE World Champion from 1993 to 1999. His tournament successes include 161 first-place finishes. He had a peak Elo rating of 2780.
Week Fourteen: Bobby Fischer
- Monday June 30 – 3pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Dufferbros
- Tuesday July 1 – 1pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Empress
- Wednesday July 2 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat and Dufferbros
- Thursday July 3 – 12pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: kartal12
- Friday July 4 – 1pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Drcheck
He was an American-born chess Grandmaster, and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Fischer became famous as a teenager as a chess prodigy. In 1972, he became the first, and so far the only, American to win the official World Chess Championship, defeating defending champion Boris Spassky in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. The match was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. He is often referred to as one of the greatest chess players of all time.
Week Thirteen: Boris Spassky
- Monday June 23 – 3pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Tuesday June 24 – 1pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Camat and dendysofyan
- Wednesday June 25 – 2 pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday June 26 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Dufferbros
- Friday June 27 – 1pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat and dendysofyan
He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky was considered an all-rounder on the chess board, and his adaptable “universal style” was a distinct advantage in beating many top Grandmasters.
Week Twelve: Tigran Petrosian
- Monday June 16 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: NM Ramlan_Samuel
- Tuesday June 17 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Camat
- Wednesday June 18 – 7am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Johngonzaga
- Thursday June 19 – 1pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Mr.Lakat
- Friday June 20 – 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
Tigran Petrosian was 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. He was arguably the hardest player to beat in the history of chess.
Week Eleven: Mikhail Tal
- Monday June 9 – 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday June 10 – 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: NM Ramlan_Samuel
- Wednesday June 11 – 1pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Penceda
- Thursday June 12 – 1pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Mr.Lakat
- Friday June 13 – 10 am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
Mihail Tal was a Soviet-Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion. Known as “The Magician from Riga,” Tal was the archetype of the attacking player, developing an extremely powerful and imaginative style of play.
Week Ten: Vasily Smyslov
- Monday June 2 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: _njdeh_
- Tuesday June 3 5pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Dufferbros
- Wednesday June 4 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday June 5 1pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Blaz023
- Friday June 6 11am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Penceda
- Sunday June 8 10 am EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: NM Ramlan_Samuel
Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov is a Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions (1948, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1983, and 1985). Smyslov was twice Soviet Champion (1949, 1955), and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won is an all-time record. In five European Team Championships, Smyslov won ten gold medals.
Week Nine: Mikhail Botvinnik
- Monday May 26 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Ramlan_Samuel
- Tuesday May 27 3pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winner: Sky_walker
- Wednesday May 28 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Memotek
- Thursday May 29 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Mr.Lakat
- Friday May 31 11am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday June 1 1pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winners: NM Ramlan_Samuel and dendysofyan
He was a Russian International Grandmaster and long-time World Chess Champion. Botvinnik also played a major role in the organization of chess, making a significant contribution to the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II and becoming a leading member of the coaching system that enabled the Soviet Union to dominate top-class chess during that time. One of his famous pupils was Garry Kasparov.
Week Eight: Max Euwe
- Monday May 19 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Camat
- Tuesday May 20 2pm EST Bullet 1 min *** Winners: Memotek and Kuntakinte
- Wednesday May 21 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: camat, kook1427, dufferbros and kuntakinte
- Thursday May 22 1pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Camat
- Friday May 23 11am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat and Johngonzaga
- Sunday May 25 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: dufferbros
He was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, Mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935–1937). Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.
Week Seven: Alexander Alekhine
- Monday May 12 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winners: dufferbros, Luiza, memotek and _njdeh_
- Tuesday May 13 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: dufferbros
- Wednesday May 14 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Thursday May 15 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Empress
- Friday May 16 2 pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday May 18 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winners: Camat and Mr.Lakat
He is known for his fierce and imaginative attacking style, and is considered one of the greatest chess champions of all times. He is also highly regarded as a chess theoretician (giving his name to the Alekhine’s Defence) and a chess writer.
Week Six: Jose Raul Capablanca
- Monday May 5 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Memotek
- Tuesday May 6 2pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Empress
- Wednesday May 7 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Kook1427
- Thursday May 8 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Camat and laszlo2
- Friday May 9 2 pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Empress and dufferbros
- Sunday May 11 2pm EST Speed 15 min Winner: memotek, mr.lakat and loaded_weapon
“In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame.“
Week Five: Emanuel Lasker
- Monday April 28 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Dragonmax
- Tuesday April 29 11am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Blaz023
- Wednesday April 30 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Camat, Kook1427 and Kartal12
- Thursday May 1 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winners: Mr.lakat and Laszlo2
- Friday May 2 2 pm EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday May 4 2pm EST Long 30 min *** Winners: Mr.lakat, Camat and Dean25
Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German-born chess grandmaster, mathematician, and philosopher, and was World Chess Champion for a record 27 years.
Week Four: Wilhelm Steinitz
- Monday April 21 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Siffo
- Tuesday April 22 11am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Washnwear
- Wednesday April 23 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Washnwear
- Thursday April 24 2pm Speed 15 min *** Winners: Mr.lakat and Anne20.rb
- Friday April 25 10AM EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Camat
- Sunday April 27 2pm EST Long 30 min *** Winners: Empress and Memotek
Wilhelm Steinitz is known for his original contributions to chess strategy such as his ideas on positional play, Steinitz, along with Paul Morphy, is considered by many chess commentators to be the founder of modern chess. – from Wikipedia
Week Three: André Danican Philidor
- Monday April 14 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winner: Luiza
- Tuesday April 15 3pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winner: Algerian
- Wednesday April 16 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Empress + Kook1427
- Thursday April 17 2pm Speed 15 min *** Winners: Empress + Anne20.rb
- Friday April 18 Noon EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Wabbit
- Sunday April 20 2pm EST Long 30 min *** Winners: Empress and Kook1427
He was regarded as the best single chess player of his age, although the title of World Chess Champion was not yet in existence. – from Wikipedia
Week Two: Paul Morphy
- Monday April 7 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winners jimy1968, darth_chess and Wabbit
- Tuesday April 8 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winners mr.lakat and kook1427
- Wednesday April 9 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner kook1427
- Thursday April 10 2pm Speed 15 min *** Winners siffo and camat
- Friday April 11 Noon EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner kook1427
- Sunday April 13 2pm EST Long 30 min *** Winner camat
Paul Morphy “The Pride and Sorrow of Chess,” was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion.
Week One: Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen
- Monday March 31 2pm EST Bullet 1min *** Winners: Dufferbros, Wabbit, Ambrouse and Blaz023
- Tuesday April 1 2pm EST Speed 15 min *** Winners: Penceda + Memotek
- Wednesday April 2 10am EST Blitz 5 min *** Winner: Empress
- Thursday April 3 2pm Speed 15 min *** Winners: Ethyl, Mr.Lakat and Elnayrb
- Friday April 4 Noon EST Blitz 5 min *** Winners: Kook1427 and Jimy1968
- Sunday April 6 2pm EST Long 30 min *** Winners: Kook1427, Empress, Wabbit, and Duffau
Arpad Elo, inventor of the Elo rating system, retroactively calculated ratings through history, and estimated that Anderssen was the first player with a rating over 2600 (Elo 1978:191). – from Wikipedia
14 Comments
WOWY!!
So far this site has been above my expectations. One improvement I can think of: posting the tournament schedule. It could be posted independently where it is easily accessible to all, ie: on the Chesspark window under Future Tournaments (or some other heading) instead of having to chase all over the site to find it. Just a thought. Good work.
cet bon et manifique
good
Fantastic. It’s great to have this overview of the greats of chess. It’s a much nicer way to learn about the game, by researching how the greats of the past played, rather than just studying openings or defenses without anyone to relate them to.
Thanks!
interesting
its a really great and witty way of motivating more people to become chess loverzzzzzzzzzz
To the best chess site of all times… BRAVO!
IT’s great I like Nigel Short ,and cant wait for the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008
very very useful for chess lovers…!!!
I love Jose Raul Capablanca of his original theory of studieng the end games to middle games to openings of chess……
I do know chesspark and that is the chess help to us just like World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca with his studies of chess.
Hello! I’ve been reading your blog and I wanted to invite you to the upcoming chess tournament in St. Louis. The championship will be taking place at the new and most technologically advanced chess club in the country: The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.
The Chess Club will be offering daily coverage of the championship through blogs, Tweeds, nightly video recaps (Macauley Peterson of ICC’s Chess.Fm will be administering), game analysis and streamed PGN coverage.
The championship features the top 12 American players by rating, the 2008 U.S. Junior Closed Champion, the 2008 U.S. Open Champion and the 2009 U.S. State Champion of Champions….not to mention over $200,000 in cash prizes.
Competitors include Gata Kamsky, Nakamura Hikaru, Onischuk Alexander, Yuri Shulman, Larry Christiansen, Akobian Varuzhan and Gregory Kaidanov.
For further information, check this out:
http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/US-Championship-2009
eLow!
it was just my curiosty brought me here..
weLL nice blogs here..
its nice to read those..