List of chess players

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.