There have been a number of famous
chess players; matches between some of these are famous even outside of the chess world. See also
World chess champions.
Male players
- Michael Adams[?] (England, 1971 - )
- Alexander Alekhine (Russia, 1892 - 1946)
- Viswanathan Anand[?] (India, 1969 - )
- Adolf Anderssen (Germany, 1818 - 1879)
- Konstantin Aseev[?] (Russia, 1960 - )
- As-Suli (Abbasid Caliphate, circa 880 - 946)
- Maurice Ashley (Jamaica, USA, 1966 - )
- Mikhail Botvinnik (Russia, 1911 - 1995)
- David Bronstein (Russia, 1924 - )
- José Raúl Capablanca (Cuba, 1888 - 1942)
- Max Euwe (Netherlands, 1901 - 1981)
- Bobby Fischer (USA, 1943 - )
- Boris Gelfand[?] (Belarus, USSR, 1968 - )
- Efim Geller[?] (Ukraine, USSR, 1925 - 1998)
- Vassily Ivanchuk[?] (Ukraine, 1969 - )
- Sergey Ivanov[?] (Russia, 1960 - )
- Anatoly Karpov (Russia, 1951 - )
- Garry Kasparov (Russia, 1963 - )
- Paul Keres[?] (Estonia, 1916 - 1975)
- Alexander Khalifman[?] (Russia, 1966 - )
- Viktor Korchnoi (Russia, Switzerland, 1931 - )
- Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 1975 - )
- Emanuel Lasker (Germany, USA, 1868 - 1941)
- Peter Leko[?] (Hungary, 1979 - )
- Luke McShane (England, 1984 - )
- Tony Miles (England, 1955 - 2001)
- Alexander Morozevich[?] (Russia, 1977 - )
- Paul Morphy (USA, 1837 - 1884)
- Aaron Nimzowitsch (Latvia, 1886 - 1935)
- Oscar Panno[?] (Argentina, 1935 - )
- Bruno Parma[?] (Slovenia, 1941 - )
- Tigran Petrosian (Georgia, USSR, 1929 - 1984)
- François-André Danican Philidor (France, 1726 - 1795)
- Vasja Pirc[?] (Slovenia, 1907 - 1980)
- Ruslan Ponomariov[?] (Ukraine, 1983 - )
- Valery Salov[?] (Russia, 1964 - )
- Yasser Seirawan (Syria, USA, 1960 - )
- Alexei Shirov[?] (Latvia, Spain, 1972 - )
- Nigel Short (England, 1965 - )
- Vasily Smyslov (Russia, 1921 - )
- Boris Spassky (Russia, France, 1937 - )
- Howard Staunton (England, 1810 - 1874)
- Wilhelm Steinitz (Bohemia, USA, 1836 - 1900)
- Mark Taimanov[?] (Russia, 1926 - )
- Mikhail Tal (Latvia, USSR, 1936 - 1992)
- Siegbert Tarrasch[?] (Germany, 1962 - 1934)
- Jan Timman (Netherlands, 1951 - )
- Veselin Topalov[?] (Bulgaria, 1975 - )
- Milan Vidmar (Slovenia, 1885 - 1962)
Female players
- Elizaveta Ivanovna Bykova[?] (Russia, 1913 - 1989)
- Zhu Chen[?] (China, 1976 - )
- Maya Chiburdanidze[?] (Georgia, USSR, 1961 - )
- Pia Cramling[?] (Sweden, 1963 - )
- Nona Gaprindashvili[?] (Georgia, USSR, 1941 - )
- Xie Jun (China, 1970 - )
- Irina Krush (Ukraine, USSR, USA, 1983 - )
- Vera Menchik-Stevenson[?] (Czech Republic, England, 1906 - 1944)
- Judit Polgar (Hungary, 1976 - )
- Zsuzsa Polgar (Hungary, USA, 1969 - )
- Olga Rubtsova[?] (Russia, 1909 - )
- Lyudmila Rudenko[?] (Russia, 1904 - 1986)
- Alexandra Kosteniuk[?] (Russia, 1984 - )
Famous people who were/are avid chess players
The people in this list are famous in other areas of activity, but are known to have played chess or maintain a current interest in chess.
- Woody Allen
- Humphrey Bogart
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- John Cage
- Catherine the Great
- Ray Charles
- Marcel Duchamp
- Benjamin Franklin
- Thomas Jefferson
- Stanley Kubrick
- Lennox Lewis
- Sergei Prokofiev (Russian composer & pianist)
- Juan Maria Solare (Argentine composer & pianist)
- Will Smith
- Sting
- Josip Broz Tito
- Leo Tolstoy
- George Washington
- John Wayne
Also of note
In 1997, the IBM chess playing computer Deep Blue was victorious in a match against then-world champion Garry Kasparov.
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