Chess theoreticians

Dragoljub Velimirović (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгољуб Велимировић; 12 May 1942 – 22 May 2014) was a Serbian (formerly Yugoslav) chess grandmaster, born in Valjevo.

Dejan Bojkov (Bulgarian: Деян Божков) (born July 3, 1977) is a Bulgarian grandmaster and chess author.

Thomas Wilson Barnes (1825–1874) was an English chess master, one of the leading British masters of his time.

Johann Baptist Allgaier (June 19, 1763, Schussenried – January 3, 1823, Vienna) was a German-Austrian chess master and theoretician.

Bukhuti (Buchuti) Ivanovich Gurgenidze (Georgian: ბუხუტი გურგენიძე; November 13, 1933 – May 24, 2008) was a Georgian chess Grandmaster, born in Surami.

Vadim Zvjaginsev (Russian: Вадим Звягинцев, Vadim Zvyagintsev; born 18 August 1976 in Moscow) is a Russian chess grandmaster.

Yakov Isaevich Neishtadt (Russian: Яков Исаевич Нейштадт), born Moscow 6 October 1923, is a Russian (formerly Soviet), now Israeli chess player and author.

Luis Ramírez de Lucena (c. 1465 – c. 1530) was a Spanish chess player who published the first still-existing chess book.

Gedeon (Gideon) Barcza (August 21, 1911 in Kisújszállás – February 27, 1986 in Budapest) was a Hungarian chess master.

Mikhail Yudovich (8 June 1911, Roslavl – 19 September 1987) was a Russian chess master, journalist, and writer.

Nicholas Ernest (Nick) de Firmian (born July 26, 1957 in Fresno, California), is a chess grandmaster and three-time U.

Elias Stein (5 February 1748, Forbach – 12 September 1812, The Hague) was a Dutch chess master.

Géza Maróczy (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈmɒroːt͡si ˈɡeːzɒ]; 3 March 1870 – 29 May 1951) was a leading Hungarian chess master, one of the best players in the world in his time.

Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a leading Czech chess grandmaster of the mid-20th century, who became a national hero in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s.

Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1 December 1880 – 14 March 1961) was a Polish chess grandmaster who is considered to be one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion.

Carl Schlechter (2 March 1874 – 27 December 1918) was a leading Austrian chess master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century.

Amos Burn (1848–1925) was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer.

Max Lange (August 7, 1832, Magdeburg – December 8, 1899, Leipzig) was a German chess player and problem composer.

Domenico Ercole del Rio (c. 1718 – c. 1802) was an Italian lawyer and author.

Vladas Mikėnas (17 April 1910 – 3 November 1992) was a Lithuanian International Master of chess, an Honorary Grandmaster, and a journalist.

(For the Danish handball player, see Bent Larsen (handballer).) Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author.

Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov (Russian: Евгений Андреевич Васюко́в, born March 5, 1933 in Moscow) is a Russian chess Grandmaster.

Ilya Abramovich Kan (Russian: Илья Абрамович Кан; 4 May 1909 – 12 December 1978), was a Russian / Soviet International Master (IM) of Chess.

Pedro Damiano (in Portuguese, Pedro Damião; Damiano is the Italian form, much like the Latin Damianus) was a Portuguese chess player who lived from 1480 to 1544.

Carlos Jesús Torre Repetto (29 November 1904 in Mérida, Yucatán – 19 March 1978 in Mérida, Yucatán) was a chess grandmaster from Mexico.

Alexey Alexeyevich Troitsky, or Alexei, Troitzky, or Troitzki (Russian: Алексе́й Алексе́евич Тро́ицкий) (March 14, 1866–August 1942) is considered to have been one of the greatest composers of chess endgame studies.

Gyula ("Julius") Breyer (30 April 1893 Budapest – 9 November 1921) was a Hungarian chess player and 1912 Hungarian national champion.

Pietro Carrera, (July 12, 1573 – September 18, 1647) was a chess player, historian, priest and Italian author, born in Sicily, in Militello in Val di Catania (Province of Catania), located in the Valley of Noto; here he grew up in the old colony of San Vito.

Miguel Ángel Quinteros (born December 28, 1947 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine chess grandmaster.

Horatio Caro (5 July 1862 – 15 December 1920) was an English chess master.

Philip Walsingham Sergeant (27 January 1872, Notting Hill, London – 20 October 1952) was a British professional writer on chess and popular historical subjects.

Paul Keres ([ˈpɑu̯l ˈkeres]; January 7, 1916 – June 5, 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer.

Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (Russian: Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов; born 7 February 1926 in Kharkiv) is a leading Soviet and Russian chess player and concert pianist.

Yakov Borisovich Estrin (Russian: Яков Борисович Эстрин, April 21, 1923 – February 2, 1987) was a Russian chess International Master, International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster and world champion, chess theoretician, and writer.

Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (Russian: Ю́рий Льво́вич Аверба́х; born February 8, 1922) is a Soviet and Russian chess player and author.

Larry Melvyn Evans (March 22, 1932 – November 15, 2010) was an American chess grandmaster, author, and journalist.

Semyon Abramovich Furman (December 1, 1920 – March 17, 1978) was a Soviet chess International Grandmaster and trainer.

Vasily Nikolayevich Panov (Russian: Васи́лий Никола́евич Пано́в, November 1, 1906 – January 13, 1973) was a Soviet chess player, author, and journalist.

Reuben Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess grandmaster, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology.

Gioachino Greco (c. 1600 – c. 1634) was an Italian chess player and writer.

Efim Petrovich Geller (Russian: Ефим Петрович Геллер, Ukrainian: Юхим Петрович Геллер; March 8, 1925 – November 17, 1998) was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak.

Vladimir Ivanovich Nenarokov (1880 – 13 December 1953) was a Russian chess master and theoretician.

Vitaly Alexandrovich Chekhover (also spelled Tschechower or Czechower, pronounced "chekh a VYAIR") (Russian: Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Чехове́р) (December 22, 1908 – February 11, 1965) was a Soviet chess player and chess composer.

Semyon Zinovyevich Alapin (Russian: Семён Зиновьевич Алапин; 19 November [O.S. 7 November] 1856 in Saint Petersburg – 15 July 1923 in Heidelberg) was a chess master, openings analyst, and puzzle composer.

Ashot Nadanian (sometimes transliterated as Nadanyan; Armenian: Աշոտ Նադանյան; born September 19, 1972) is an Armenian chess International Master (1997), chess theoretician and chess coach.

Nicolas Rossolimo (Russian: Николай Спиридонович Россолимо; February 28, 1910, Kiev – July 24, 1975, New York) was a Russian-born chess Grandmaster of Greek ancestry.

Ernst Franz Grünfeld (November 21, 1893 – April 3, 1962) was a leading Austrian chess grandmaster and chess writer, mainly on opening theory.

Andrew Jonathan Mestel (born 13 March 1957 in Cambridge, England) is Professor of Applied Mathematics at Imperial College London.

Edmar John Mednis (Edmārs Mednis) (March 22, 1937– February 13, 2002) was an American International Grandmaster of chess (awarded in 1980) born in Riga, Latvia.

Hans Fahrni (1 October 1874 in Prague – 28 May 1939 in Ostermundigen) was a Swiss chess master.

Bruno Parma (born December 30, 1941) is a Slovene chess player and Grandmaster.

Aron Nimzowitsch (Latvian: Ārons Ņimcovičs, Russian: Аро́н Иса́евич Нимцо́вич, Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich; born Aron Niemzowitsch; 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935) was a Russian-born, Danish leading chess master and a very influential chess writer.

Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (also Tchigorin; Russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Чиго́рин; 12 November [O.S. 31 October] 1850 – 25 January [O.S. 12 January] 1908) was a leading Russian chess player.

Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1795–1840) was a French chess master, possibly the strongest player in the early 19th century.

Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky (1 January 1806 [O.S. 20 December 1805] in Tartu – 18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1853 in Paris) was a Baltic German chess master, famous primarily for a game he lost against Adolf Anderssen, which because of its brilliance was named "The Immortal Game".

Marian Wróbel (1 January 1907 – 25 April 1960) was a prominent Polish chess problemist of the mid-twentieth century.

Victor Ciocâltea (January 16, 1932, Bucharest, Romania – September 10, 1983, Manresa, Spain) was a Romanian chess master.

Michael Francis Stean (born 4 September 1953) is an English chess grandmaster, an author of chess books and a tax accountant.

Igor Vladimirovich Glek (Russian: Игорь Владимирович Глек; born 7 November 1961) is a Russian chess Grandmaster, coach, theorist, writer and organiser.

André Chéron (September 25, 1895 – September 12, 1980) was a French chess player, endgame theorist, and a composer of endgame studies.

Friedrich (Fritz) Sämisch (September 20, 1896, Charlottenburg – August 16, 1975, Berlin) was a German chess Grandmaster (1950).

Tassilo, Baron von Heydebrand und der Lasa (known in English as "Baron von der Lasa", 17 October 1818, Berlin – 27 July 1899, Storchnest near Lissa, Greater Poland, then German Empire) was an important German chess master, chess historian and theoretician of the nineteenth century, a member of the Berlin Chess Club and a founder of the Berlin Chess School (the Berlin Pleiades).

Luděk Pachman (German: Ludek Pachmann, May 11, 1924 in Bělá pod Bezdězem, today Czech Republic – March 6, 2003 in Passau, Germany) was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist.

Bernhard Horwitz (1807 in Neustrelitz – 1885) was a German English chess master and chess writer.

Dr. Petar Trifunović (31 August 1910, Dubrovnik – 8 December 1980, Belgrade) was an International Grandmaster and five-times Yugoslav Champion of chess.

Walter Korn (22 May 1908; Prague, Czechoslovakia – July 9, 1997; San Mateo, California, United States) was a Czech-born, naturalised American author of books and magazine articles about chess.

Emil Joseph (Josef) Diemer (15 May 1908 in Radolfzell – 10 October 1990 in Fussbach/Gengenbach) was a German chess master.

Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz (May 17, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and later American chess Master player, and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894.

Eugene Ernest Colman (11 October 1878, Merton, England – 20 July 1964) was an English chess master.

Machgielis "Max" Euwe, PhD (Dutch: [ˈøːwə]; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, author, and chess administrator.

Michael John Basman (born 16 March 1946 in St Pancras, London) is an English chess player, chess author and International Master.

Captain Joseph Bertin (1690s – c. 1736) was one of the first authors to write about the game of chess.

Richard Clewin Griffith (22 July 1872 in London – 11 December 1955 in Hendon, London) was an English chess player, author and editor.

Jerzy Konikowski (born 24 January 1947, Bytom, Poland) a Polish–German chess master, problemist and author.

Weaver Warren Adams (April 28, 1901 – January 6, 1963) was an American chess master, author, and opening theoretician.

Charles Edward Ranken (5 January 1828 – 12 April 1905) was a Church of England clergyman and a minor British chess master.

Hugh Edward Myers (January 23, 1930 – December 22, 2008) was an American chess master and author.