Nigel David Short is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 19 and was ranked third in the world by FIDE from July 1988 to July 1989. In 1993, he became the first English player to play a World Chess Championship match, when he qualified to play Garry Kasparov in the PCA world championship in London, where Kasparov won 12½ to 7½.
A chess prodigy is a young child who possesses an aptitude for the game of chess that far exceeds what might be expected at their age. Their prodigious talent will often enable them to defeat experienced adult players and even titled chess masters. Some chess prodigies have progressed to become grandmasters or even World Chess Champions.
Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbek chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Champion (2004-05). He was Asian champion in 1998.
A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition in which one player plays multiple games at a time with a number of other players. Such an exhibition is often referred to simply as a "simul".
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 took place in Potrero de los Funes, San Luis Province in Argentina from September 27 to October 16, 2005. It was won by Veselin Topalov.
Karen Asrian was an Armenian chess player. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1998, he was a three-time Armenian champion. Asrian was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team in the 37th Chess Olympiad.
Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami is an Iranian chess grandmaster (2000). He is the record holder of the Iranian Chess Championship with 13 titles.
Elshan Moradi Abadi is an Iranian-American chess grandmaster.
Boris Leonidovich Avrukh is an Israeli chess grandmaster. He was the World Under-12 champion in 1990.
Amon Simutowe is a Zambian chess grandmaster. He is the first grandmaster from sub-Saharan Africa and the third black chess grandmaster in history, after Maurice Ashley and Pontus Carlsson. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master of Science in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford.
Below is a list of events in chess during the year 2008, and a list of the top ten players during that year:
Igor Kurnosov was a Russian chess grandmaster.
Quality Chess UK Ltd is a chess publishing company, founded in 2004 by International Master Ari Ziegler, Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard and Grandmaster John Shaw. The company is based in Glasgow.
Morteza Mahjoub or Morteza Mahjoob is an Iranian chess grandmaster. He won Iranian Chess Championship in 2005 and 2008.
Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov was a Russian-born chess grandmaster who defected from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1980. A four-time winner of the Canadian chess championship, he represented Canada at an interzonal tournament for the world chess championship and was a Canadian team member at two Chess Olympiads. He also was a nine-time US Grand Prix chess champion.
Alireza Firouzja is a French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2800, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months.
Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan is an Indian chess player. He earned the title of Grandmaster in 2015 and is the 41st Grandmaster from India. As of September 2023, he is ranked No. 8 in India.
Masoud Mosadeghpour is an Iranian chess grandmaster.
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