Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985, a three-time FIDE World Champion, twice World Chess champion as a member of the USSR team, and a six-time winner of Chess Olympiads as a member of the USSR team. The International Association of Chess Press awarded him nine Chess Oscars.
Jan Timman is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known as "The Best of the West". He has won the Dutch Chess Championship nine times and has been a Candidate for the World Chess Championship several times. He lost the title match of the 1993 FIDE World Championship against Anatoly Karpov.
Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal was a Soviet-Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as one of the most influential players in chess history. Tal played in an attacking and daring combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability. Vladislav Zubok said of him, "Every game for him was as inimitable and invaluable as a poem".
David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was one of the world's strongest players from the mid-1940s into the mid-1970s, and was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics. He was also a renowned chess writer; his book Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 is widely considered one of the greatest chess books ever written.
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions. Smyslov twice tied for first place at the USSR Chess Championships, and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won is an all-time record. In five European Team Championships, Smyslov won ten gold medals.
Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov (Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Ко́тов; was a Soviet chess grandmaster and author. He was a Soviet chess champion, a two-time world title Candidate, and a prolific writer on the subject of chess. Kotov served in high posts in the Soviet Chess Federation, and wrote most of his books during the Cold War. The importance and breadth of Kotov's work rank him among the all-time greats in this field.
Vitaly Valeryevich Tseshkovsky was a Russian chess Grandmaster and a former champion of the USSR.
Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions. He won four Ukrainian SSR Championship titles and shared first in the 1991 World Seniors' Championship, winning the title outright in 1992. His wife Oksana was a ballet dancer while his son Alexander was also a chess master. Geller was coach to World Champions Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov. He was also an author.
Lajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest non-Soviet players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated in twelve consecutive Interzonals from 1962 through 1993, qualifying for the World Chess Championship Candidates Cycle a total of eight times. Portisch set several all-time records in Chess Olympiads. In Hungarian Chess Championships, he either shared the title or won it outright a total of eight times. He won many strong international tournaments during his career. In 2004, Portisch was awarded the title of 'Nemzet Sportolója', Hungary's highest national sports achievement award.
Emil Sutovsky is an Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1996. Sutovsky is the FIDE CEO since 2022. Previously he served as FIDE Director-General (2018-22). He was the president of the Association of Chess Professionals from 2012 to 2019.
Boris Gelfand is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player.
Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov was a Russian chess player and writer who is credited with development of the Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1977.
Artur Mayakovich Yusupov is a chess grandmaster and a chess writer. Born in Soviet Russia, he has lived in Germany since the early 1990s.
Oleg Mikhailovich Romanishin is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and former European junior champion.
Alexander Markovich Konstantinopolsky was a Soviet chess player, trainer and writer. He was a five-time champion of Kiev, and trained the world title challenger David Bronstein from a young age. He was awarded the title of International Master (IM) by FIDE in 1950, won the first Soviet Correspondence Chess Championship in 1951, earned the IM title at correspondence in 1966, and earned the title of Honorary Grandmaster in 1983.
Mikhail Gurevich is a Soviet-born Belgian chess player. He was a top ten ranked player from 1989 to 1991. Gurevich became an International Grandmaster in 1986, and is currently an FIDE arbiter and senior trainer.
Peter Biyiasas is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He was Canadian champion in 1972 and 1975, represented Canada with success on four Olympiad teams, and played in two Interzonals. He moved to the United States in 1979, settling in California. He retired from competitive play in the mid-1980s to work as a computer programmer. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a frequent training partner of Bobby Fischer, who stayed at his home in San Francisco for extended periods.
Deen Hergott is a Canadian International Master of Chess. By profession, he is a mathematician, computer programmer, and chess journalist.
Vladimir Pavlovich Malaniuk was a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and three-time Ukrainian champion. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship 1998. In team events, Malaniuk played for Ukraine in three Chess Olympiads, two World Team Chess Championships and 1997 European Team Chess Championship. He won team silver and bronze medals in 1996 and 1998 Chess Olympiads respectively, team silver and an individual gold medals in the 1993 World Team Championship.
Sergey Kalinitschew is a Russian-born German chess Grandmaster who won the German Chess Championship (2016).
