Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz (May 17, 1836, Prague–August 12, 1900, New York) was an Austrian-American chess player and the first official world chess champion. Known for his original contributions to chess strategy such as his ideas on positional play, his theories were held in high regard by such chess players as Aron Nimzowitsch, Siegbert Tarrasch, […]
Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884), “The Pride and Sorrow of Chess,” was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his time, and was unofficial World Chess Champion. [1] He was also the first chess prodigy after the creation of the modern rules […]
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879) was a famous German chess master, one of the most renowned of the classic masters of 19th century chess. He had a long and distinguished chess career, at times considered the leading player in the world, and world famous for his sparkling play even […]
Howard Staunton (April 1810–June 22, 1874) was an English chess master and unofficial World Chess Champion. He was also a newspaper chess columnist, chess book author, and minor Shakespearean scholar. His name is remembered most today for the style of chess figures he endorsed, the “Staunton” pattern of chess pieces. Little is known about the […]
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1795 – 1840) was a French chess master, possibly the strongest player in the early 19th century. The end position of the game MacDonnell-La Bourdonnais, London 1834 after the Black move 37. … e2 De La Bourdonnais was considered to be the unofficial world champion (there was no official title […]
Alexandre Deschapelles (March 7, 1780–1847) was a French chess player who, for a time, was probably the strongest player in the world. He was considered the unofficial world champion from about 1800-1820. When his student, Louis de la Bourdonnais could beat him, Deschapelles retired from chess. Source page: Wikipedia under Wikipedia license http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Deschapelles
François-André Danican Philidor (September 7, 1726 – August 31, 1795) was a French chess player and composer. He was regarded as the best single chess player of his age, although the title of World Chess Champion was not yet in existence. Philidor’s book Analyse du jeu des Échecs was considered a standard chess manual for […]
Legall de Kermeur (1702 – 1792) was a French chess player. Along with other famous players, he played in Paris’s Café de la Régence, and is considered to have been possibly the strongest player in the world around the 1730s.[citation needed] He taught chess to François-André Philidor. Legall is the eponym of Legall’s mate, a […]
Gioacchino Greco (1600–c.1634) was an Italian chess player and writer. Greco recorded some of the first chess games on record, 77 in total. His games, all against anonymous opponents (“NN”), were quite possibly constructs, but acted as highly useful tools for spotting opening traps. Gioachino Greco was a remarkable chess player between Ruy López de […]
Alessandro Salvio (c. 1570 – c. 1640) was an Italian chess player who is considered to be the unofficial world champion around the year 1600. He started an Italian chess academy in Naples, Italy, and wrote a book called Trattato dell’Inventione et Arte Liberale del Gioco Degli Scacchi, which was published in Naples in 1604. […]
