Lives of the champions

Who they were, how they played, and positions from their games to solve.

• Aaron Nimzowitsch
  The theorist of the hypermoderns, and the man of the immortal zugzwang game. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Adolf Anderssen
  He won the great London tournament of 1851 and played the Immortal and the Evergreen Game, a mathematics professor who played in the school holidays. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Alexander Alekhine
  Fourth world champion, and the only one who died while still holding the title. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Anatoly Karpov
  Twelfth world champion, and the player with more tournament first places than anyone in history. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Bobby Fischer
  World champion from 1972 to 1975. In 1971 he won twelve consecutive games against two of the strongest players in the world.
• Boris Spassky
  World champion between Petrosian and Fischer, and the man who applauded the player who took his title. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Emanuel Lasker
  Twenty-seven years world champion, longer than anyone else, and a mathematician: the Lasker-Noether theorem carries his name. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Garry Kasparov
  World champion from 1985 to 2000. His 2851 of 1999 remained the highest rating ever reached until 2013.
• José Raúl Capablanca
  World champion from 1921 to 1927. Between 1916 and 1924 he played sixty-three games without losing one.
• Judit Polgár
  The only woman ever ranked in the world top ten, and the first to beat the reigning number one. Positions from her games, to solve.
• Maia Chiburdanidze
  Women's world champion at seventeen, and for thirteen years. Positions from her games, to solve.
• Mikhail Tal
  World champion in 1960, the most feared attacking player of his time. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Nona Gaprindashvili
  Sixteen years women's world champion, and the first woman Grandmaster. Positions from her games, to solve.
• Paul Keres
  The eternal second: four times runner-up in the Candidates, never world champion, and nine world champions beaten. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Paul Morphy
  In two years he beat the best players in Europe, then stopped at twenty-two. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Richard Teichmann
  They called him “Richard the Fifth” for how often he came fifth. Then, at Carlsbad in 1911, he came first.
• Savielly Tartakower
  Grandmaster in 1950, the first year the title existed. French champion at sixty-six.
• Siegbert Tarrasch
  Praeceptor Germaniae: the doctor from Nuremberg who taught Germany chess. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Vera Menchik
  The first women's world champion in history, and the one who held the title longest. Positions from her games, to solve.
• Wilhelm Steinitz
  The first world champion: a ferocious attacker as a young man, then the man who invented positional chess. Positions from his games, to solve.
• Xie Jun
  The first non-European women's world champion, who came from xiangqi. Positions from her games, to solve.