recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Vasily Smyslov

**Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov** was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions (1948, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1983, and 1985). Smyslov twice tied for first place at the Soviet Championships (1949, 1955), and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won is an all-time record. In five European Team Championships, Smyslov won ten gold medals.

Smyslov remained active and successful in competitive chess well after the age of sixty. Despite failing eyesight, he remained active in the occasional composition of chess problems and studies until shortly before his death in 2010.
Robert Hess

**Robert Lee Hess** (born December 19, 1991) is an American chess Grandmaster. In May 2012, his FIDE rating was 2635, fifth in the United States.

Hess achieved his final norm for the International Master title at the 2007 Cannes Open, and was later awarded the title IM by FIDE.

Hess achieved his first grandmaster norm at the 2008 Foxwoods Open, held on April 19 through April 23 at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut. He scored 7–2, tying for first with grandmasters Alexander Shabalov, Yuri Shulman, Julio Becerra, and Alexander Ivanov. Hess won his first two games against masters, then played seven grandmasters, scoring four wins, two draws, and one loss
Anatol Tschepurnoff

**Anatol Tschepurnoff** was a Russian–Finnish chess master.

Before World War I, he played in many tournaments at Saint Petersburg. In 1903, he took 5th. In 1904, he took 9th (Eugene Znosko-Borovsky won), took 2nd (Grigory Helbach won), tied for 4-5th (Koyalovich won). In 1908, he tied for 7-8th (Sergey von Freymann and Rosenkrantz won). In 1909, he took 14th (Alexander Alekhine won), tied for 7-8th (Grigory Levenfish won). In 1911, he took 8th (Fyodor Duz-Chotimirsky and Znosko-Borovsky won), tied for 5-6th (Ilya Rabinovich and Platz won). In 1913, he took 3rd.

After the war, he won 1st Finnish Championship in 1922. He played in 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad at Paris 1924. He was 1st in Qualification Group 7, and tied for 4-6th in Championship Final (1st World-ch Amateurs; Hermanis Matisons won).

In 1926, he took 3rd in Budapest. In 1927, he represented Finland at first board in the 1st Chess Olympiad in London. In 1928, he tied for 12–14th in The Hague (2d FIDE World Amateur Championship; Max Euwe won). In 1929, he took 7th in Gothenburg. (14th Nordic-ch; Gideon Ståhlberg won). In 1930, he took 3rd in Stockholm (15th Nordic-ch; Erik Andersen won). In 1930, he tied for 2nd-4th in Helsinki (Eero Böök won). In 1931, he lost a match to Böök (4,5 : 5,5).
Etienne Bacrot

**Étienne Bacrot** is a French chess grandmaster and former chess prodigy.

He competed at the Candidates Matches in 2007 and won the Aeroflot Open in 2009. He passed 2700 FIDE rating in 2004 and in January 2005 he became the first French player to enter the top 10.

Bacrot won an individual bronze medal at the 37th Chess Olympiad in 2006 for his performance on board one, as well as four medals at the World Team Championships.

He started playing at age 4. By 10, young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov. He became a Grandmaster in March 1997 at the age of 14 years and 2 months, making him the youngest person to that date to have held the title (later in December, Ruslan Ponomariov took his record). He was coached previously by Josif Dorfman.
Sam Shankland

**Samuel L. Shankland**is an American chess grandmaster. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018.

Shankland was California State Champion in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and Champion of State Champions in 2009. He won bronze at the 2008 World U18 Championship, and was US Junior Champion in 2010. He earned his international master title in 2008 and his grandmaster title in 2011. Shankland surpassed a FIDE rating of 2600 in 2012, and entered the world's top 100 players in 2014.

As a member of the United States team, he won the gold medal for the best individual performance on the reserve board at the 41st Chess Olympiad. He also was part of the team at the 42nd Chess Olympiad, where the United States won team gold for the first time in forty years. In 2018, he won the U.S. Chess Championship, simultaneously breaching the 2700 barrier for the first time in his career.
Robert Crépeaux

**Robert Crépeaux** was a French chess master.

He won three French Chess Championship at Strasbourg 1924, Nice 1925, and Paris 1941. He also won Paris City Chess Championship in 1942.

He played for France in the 2nd Chess Olympiad at The Hague 1928, 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936, and the 9th Chess Olympiad at Dubrovnik 1950.
Valentin Fernández Coria

**Valentin Fernández Coria** was an Argentine chess player.

Valentin Fernández Coria was one of the strongest chess players of Argentina in the 1920s. He was repeated participant in Argentine Chess Championship in which he shared 2nd - 4th place in 1923/1924. In 1921/1922 in Montevideo Valentin Fernández Coria shared 2nd - 5th place in South American Chess Championship.

Valentin Fernández Coria played for Argentina in the unofficial Chess Olympiad:

In 1924, at fourth board in the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad in Paris.

Valentin Fernández Coria played for Argentina in the Chess Olympiad:

In 1928, at first board in the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague.
Christian Bauer

**Christian Bauer** is a French chess grandmaster and author. He is a three-time French Chess Champion.

In 2005 he won the 2nd Calvia Chess Festival. In 2009, came first at Vicente Bonil ahead of 21 GMs and 33 titled players. In 2010, he tied for 1st–7th with Alexander Riazantsev, Vitali Golod, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Leonid Kritz, Sébastien Feller, Sébastien Mazé in the 43rd Biel Chess Festival.
Chess terms

#### File

A column of the chessboard. A specific file can be named either using its position in algebraic notation, a–h, or by using its position in descriptive notation. For example, "f-file" and "king bishop file" both denote the squares f1–f8.

#### Rank

A row of the chessboard. In algebraic notation, ranks are numbered 1–8 starting from White's side of the board; however, players customarily refer to ranks from their own perspectives. For example: White's king and other pieces start on their first (or "back") rank, whereas Black calls the same rank the eighth rank; White's seventh rank is Black's second; and so on. If neither perspective is given, White's view is assumed.
Fabiano Caruana

**Fabiano Luigi Caruana** is an American-Italian chess player. A chess prodigy, he became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States at the time.

Born in Miami to Italian-American parents, Caruana grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He played for the United States until 2005, when he transferred to Italy. He earned his grandmaster title in 2007, and in the same year won his first Italian Chess Championship, a feat he repeated in 2008, 2010, and 2011. He won the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting in 2012, 2014, and 2015. He also won the Sinquefield Cup 2014, recording a historic 3103 performance rating and improving his Elo rating to 2844, becoming the third-highest-rated player in history. He transferred back to the US in 2015.
Craig Pritchett

**Craig W Pritchett** is a Scottish chess International Master who has written several chess books. He was educated at Allan Glen's School, where he was a prominent member of the chess club and represented the school in several tournaments. He has represented Scotland nine times in Chess Olympiads from 1966–1990. He has won the Scottish Chess Championships on two occasions (in 1977 and 2005), and played in two Zonal tournaments (1972 and 1975). He is also a chess coach.
Bartłomiej Macieja

**Bartłomiej Macieja** is a chess Grandmaster from Poland.

He is married to Mexican chess master Alejandra Guerrero Rodríguez.

Born in Warsaw, he was Polish Under-18 champion in 1994, and National champion of Poland in 2004 and 2009.

Macieja played his first international tournament at Bydgoszcz in 1985. In 1995, he won in Zlín and in 1996, finished first in Budapest. He tied for 1st-4th places with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Vlastimil Babula and Zoltán Almási at the Krynica 1998 (zonal tournament). A four times qualifier for the FIDE World Championship finals (Las Vegas 1999, New Delhi 2000, Moscow 2001 and Tripoli 2004), at Delhi he beat Jonathan Speelman, Michał Krasenkow, and Alexander Beliavsky but lost in 4th round to Viswanathan Anand.
Mario Monticelli

**ario Monticelli** was an Italian chess player. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1950.

In 1922, he won in Rome (ITA-ch Univ). In 1925, he won in Bologna. In 1926, Monticelli tied for 1st with Ernst Grünfeld in Budapest. In 1929, he took 11th in Budapest (José Raúl Capablanca won). In 1929, he tied for 4-5th in Barcelona (Capablanca won). In 1930, he took 14th in San Remo (Alexander Alekhine won). In 1933, Monticelli won in Milan (Padulli Memorial). In 1934, he took 8th in Syracuse (Samuel Reshevsky won). In 1938, he tied for 1st with Erich Eliskases in Milan. Monticelli was Italian Champion in 1929, 1934, and 1939.
Gerard Kroone

**Gerard Kroone** was a Dutch chess player.

Gerard Kroone played for Netherlands in the Chess Olympiads:

In 1927, at third board in the 1st Chess Olympiad in London.

In 1928, at second board in the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague.

Also Gerard Kroone known for the fact that in 1919 and 1923 he played three matches with the future World Chess Champion Max Euwe and the first match ended in a draw 5:5.
Matthieu Cornette

**Matthieu Cornette** is a French chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2008. He won the French Chess Championship in 2016.

Cornette was born in Bègles on 4 September 1985. He learned to play chess at school at the age of 11. He made quick progress and won the French U18 and U20 Championships. At age 18, he decided to become a professional chess player. Beginning in 2008, he received coaching from Josif Dorfman. Cornette earned his grandmaster title in 2008. In 2009, he represented France at the 17th European Team Chess Championship. Playing on the fourth board, he scored 2/6 (+1–3=2). He won the French Chess Championship in 2016, held in Agen. In 2019, he won the 27th Saint-Affrique Open, with a score of 8/9. He had previously placed second in the tournament in 2016, and tied for first in 2018. Cornette also works as a chess coach.
Heinrich Wagner

**Heinrich Wagner** was a German chess master.

In 1920/21, he won in Kiel. In 1921, he took 8th in Hamburg (the 21st DSB Congress, Erhardt Post won), and won in Hamburg (*Quadrangular*). In 1922 he tied for 3rd-5th in Oeynhausen (the 22nd DSB–Congress, Post won). In 1923 he tied for 2nd-3rd in Frankfurt (the 23rd DSB–Congress, Ernst Grünfeld won). In 1924, he won ahead of Albert Becker and Carl Carls, in Bremen. In 1925 he tied for 3rd-4th in Breslau (the 24th DSB–Congress, Efim Bogoljubow won).

He shared with Karl Gilg 1st place at Vienna 1926 (DSV Kongress), tied for 3rd-4th at Bremen 1927, won at Hamburg 1928 (*Quadrangular*), took 2nd behind Herbert Heinicke at Hamburg 1929, shared 4th at Duisburg (Carl Ahues won), and tied for 6-7th in Swinemünde (Friedrich Sämisch won). In 1932, he took 4th in Hamburg (Kurt Richter won).

He lost a match to Albert Becker (3 : 5) at Hamburg 1924, and won against Herbert Heinicke (8.5 : 3.5) at Hamburg 1930.

Wagner played for Germany in Chess Olympiads.

In 1927, at fourth board in 1st Chess Olympiad in London;

In 1928, at first board in 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague;

In 1930, at first reserve board in 3rd Chess Olympiad in Hamburg;

In 1931, at third board in 4th Chess Olympiad in Prague.

He won team bronze medal at Hamburg 1930.

Wagner was awarded the International Master title in 1953.
Kornél Havasi

Kornél Havasi was a Hungarian chess master.

He won at Budapest 1911; took 9th at Temesvár 1912 (Gyula Breyer won); tied for 4-5th at Budapest 1917 (Breyer won); took 4th at Budapest 1918 (Zoltán von Balla and Richard Réti won); tied for 9-11th at Kaschau (Košice) 1918 (Réti won); tied for 1st-2nd with Szávay at Budapest 1920; took 6th at Gyula 1921 (Borislav Kostić won).
Orla Hermann Krause

**Orla Hermann Krause** was a Danish chess master and analyst.

He took 2nd, behind Andreas Rosendahl, at Copenhagen 1895, took 2nd at Copenhagen 1899 (the 2nd Nordic Championship, Jorgen Moeller won), took 5th at Copenhagen 1907 (the 7th Nordic-ch, Paul Saladin Leonhardt won), shared 2nd, behind Paul Johner at Copenhagen 1916 (the 9th Nordic-ch), tied for 4-8th at Copenhagen 1924 (the 12th Nordic-ch, Aron Nimzowitsch won), and tied for 5-8th at Copenhagen 1934 (the 16th Nordic-ch, Nimzowitsch won).

Krause played for Denmark at first board in the 1st Chess Olympiad at London 1927, and won team silver medal there.
Alexander Grischuk

**Alexander Igorevich Grischuk** is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2000. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).

He has competed in five Candidates' Tournaments: in 2007, 2011 (when he reached the final), 2013, 2018 and 2020. He also reached the semifinals of the 2000 FIDE World Championship.

Grischuk has won two team gold-medals, three team silvers, one team bronze, and one individual bronze medal at Chess Olympiads. He also holds three team gold medals, one team silver and individual gold, two silver and one bronze from the World Team Chess Championship.
Yuri Shulman

**Yuri Shulman** is a Belarusian American chess grandmaster. He also goes by the alternate spelling of "Yury Shulman." He's married to the Women International Master Viktorija Ni.

Shulman started formal chess lessons with coach Tamara Golovey when he was six years old. He went on to study under International Master Albert Kapengut at age 12, and subsequently under the guidance of GM Boris Gelfand. He achieved his grandmaster title in 1995.
Chess Olympiad

The **Chess Olympiad** is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held a one-off Online Chess Olympiad with a rapid time control that affected players' online ratings.

The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympic Games but this failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players. While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris. FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20, 1924, the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad.

FIDE organised the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London. The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.

Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad. Each team is made of up to five players, four regular players and one reserve (prior to the tournament in Dresden 2008 there were two reserves). Initially each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years this became impossible. At first team seeding took place before the competition. Later certain drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted.
Emil Sutovsky

**Emil Sutovsky** is an Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1996. Sutovsky is the FIDE Director General since 2018. He was the president of the Association of Chess Professionals from 2012 to 2019.

Sutovsky learned to play chess at the age of four. He achieved notable successes by winning the World Junior Chess Championship in Medellín in 1996, finishing first at the double round-robin VAM Hoogeveen Tournament in 1997 (ahead of Judit Polgár, Loek van Wely, and Vasily Smyslov) and winning Hastings 2000 (ahead of Alexey Dreev, Ivan Sokolov and Jonathan Speelman).

In 2001, Sutovsky won the European Individual Chess Championship after rapid tiebreaks with Ruslan Ponomariov.

In 2003, he tied for first with Alexander Beliavsky in the Vidmar Memorial. In 2007, he placed second at the 8th European Chess Championship, held in Dresden, following a play-off with the eventual winner GM Vladislav Tkachiev and GMs Dmitry Jakovenko and Ivan Cheparinov.
Zoltan Almasi

**Zoltán Almási** is a Hungarian chess player. Awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1993, he is a nine-time Hungarian champion, winning in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2019.

Almasi has competed in 13 consecutive Chess Olympiads from 1994 to 2018 earning team silver in 2002 and 2014 as well as individual silver in 2010 (on board two) and 2016 (on board three).

In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, he made it to the fourth round where he lost 2–0 to Rustam Kasimdzhanov, the eventual winner of the event.

In 2008 he won the Reggio Emilia tournament in Italy scoring 5½/8 points.

He crossed the 2700 FIDE rating line in November 2009 (2704).

In 2010, he won the European Rapid Chess Championship. He tied with five other players after 13 rounds and won tiebreak matches against Shirov and Gashimov. The next year he won the Sport Accord Mindgames Blindfold section.

In 2013, Almasi won the Capablanca Memorial scoring 6½/10 points.
Josef Lokvenc

**Josef Lokvenc** was an Austrian chess master.

In 1925, he was awarded the Chess Master title in Braunau. In 1926, he took 3rd in Vienna. In 1936, he tied for 6-7th in Vienna (19th Trebitsch-Turnier; Henryk Friedman won). In 1938, he tied for 6-7th in Bad Harzburg (Vasja Pirc won). In June 1939, he tied for 2nd-4th in Bad Elster (Erich Eliskases won). In July 1939, he took 2nd, behind Eliskases, in Bad Oeynhausen (6th German Championship). In November 1940, he took 4th in Kraków/Krynica/Warsaw (1st General Government chess tournament). In April 1943, he tied for 6-9th in Prague. The event was won by Alexander Alekhine ahead of Paul Keres. In August 1943, he won in Vienna (10th GER-ch). In December 1943, he won in Krynica (the 4th GG-ch).

After World War II, Lokvenc tied for 2nd-3rd in Vienna in 1947. In 1951, he tied for 7-8th in Marienbad. In 1951/52, he tied for 2nd-4th in Vienna. He shared 1st in 1951 and won in 1953 the Austrian Championship. In 1954, he tied for 9-10th in Munich (zt).

Lokvenc played for Austria in nine Chess Olympiads: 1927, 1928, 1930, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1960, and 1962.

He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1951.
Birger Axel Rasmusson

**Birger Axel Rasmusson** was a Finnish chess player, Finnish Chess Championship winner (1933).

From the late 1920s to the late 1930s, Birger Axel Rasmusson was one of Finland's leading chess players. In 1933, he won the title of Finnish Chess Champion in a match against Ragnar Krogius but lost that title a year later in a match against Eero Böök.

Birger Axel Rasmusson known for his victory over Paul Keres at the 1935 Chess Olympiad (in the same year, Keres took revenge at the tournament in Helsinki).

Birger Axel Rasmusson played for Finland in the Chess Olympiads:

In 1927, at second board in the 1st Chess Olympiad in London,

In 1930, at first board in the 3rd Chess Olympiad in Hamburg,

In 1935, at second board in the 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw.
Luis Argentino Palau

**Luis Argentino Palau** was an Argentine chess master.

He played for Argentina in three Chess Olympiads.

In 1924 at 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad in Paris;

In 1927 at 1st Chess Olympiad in London;

In 1928 at 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague.

In 1921/22, he tied for 10-12th in Montevideo (Roberto Grau won). In 1925, he won in Montevideo. In 1928, he took 2nd, behind Grau, in Mar del Plata (1st it). In 1934/35, he tied for 3rd-4th in Buenos Aires (Luis Piazzini won).

Palau was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1965.
Ding Liren

**Ding Liren** is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He is the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final and won the Sinquefield Cup in 2019 as the first player since 2007 to beat Magnus Carlsen in a playoff.  Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings. In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest rated Blitz player in the world.

Ding was undefeated in classical chess from August 2017 to November 2018, recording 29 victories and 71 draws. This 100-game unbeaten streak was the longest in top-level chess history, until Magnus Carlsen surpassed it in 2019.
Gösta Stoltz

**Gösta Stoltz** was a Swedish chess grandmaster.

Stoltz played a few matches with strong chess masters. In 1926, he lost to Mikhail Botvinnik at a team match Stockholm – Leningrad in Stockholm. In 1927, he drew with Allan Nilsson in Göteborg (Swedish Chess Championship). In 1930, he won against Isaac Kashdan in Stockholm. In 1930, he lost to Rudolf Spielmann in Stockholm. In 1931, he won against Salo Flohr in Göteborg. In 1931, he lost to Flohr in Prague. In 1931, he drew with Gideon Ståhlberg in Göteborg. In 1934, he lost to Aron Nimzowitsch in Stockholm. In September 1935, he played at a match Sweden vs Germany (Scheveningen system), and took 2nd individual result, behind Ståhlberg, in Zoppot (Sopot).

Stoltz played for Sweden in nine Chess Olympiads (1927–1937, 1952,1954) and in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936:

at fourth board in the 1st Olympiad at London 1927;

at first board in the 2nd Olympiad at The Hague 1928;

at third board in the 3rd Olympiad at Hamburg 1930;

won individual gold medal at second board in the 4th Olympiad at Prague 1931;

won team bronze medal playing at second board at the 5th Olympiad at Folkestone 1933.

won team silver medal and individual bronze medal playing at second board in the 6th Olympiad at Warsaw 1935;

at third board in the 3rd unofficial Olympiad at Munich 1936;

at third board in the 7th Olympiad at Stockholm 1937;

at second board at the 10th Olympiad at Helsinki 1952;

at third board at the 11th Olympiad at Amsterdam 1954.
Miodrag Todorcevic

**Miodrag Todorčević**, a Serbian-French chess master and coach.

In his chess career, he represented Yugoslavia/Serbia (till 1968 and 1977-2003), France (1968-1977), and Spain (since 2003).

He won five times in Paris City Chess Championship (1966, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1976) and won French Chess Championship at Dijon 1975.

Todorcevic played twice for France in Chess Olympiads in 1972 and 1974.

He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1989. His current Elo rating is 2450.
Donald Byrne

**Donald Byrne** was an American university professor and chess player. He held the title International Master, and competed for his country in the Chess Olympiad on several occasions.

Byrne won the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1953 in Milwaukee and around that time he achieved the second-highest rating in the U.S., behind Samuel Reshevsky, against whom Byrne had a winning record. He was awarded the International Master title by FIDE (the World Chess Federation) in 1962, and played for or captained five U.S. Chess Olympiad teams between 1962 and 1972
Queen

The **queen** is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. Because the queen is the strongest piece, a pawn is promoted to a queen in the vast majority of cases.
André Chéron

**André Chéron** was a French chess player, endgame theorist, and a composer of endgame studies. He lived in Switzerland for many years. He was named a FIDE International Master of Chess Composition in 1959, the first year the title was awarded.

Chéron was the French champion three times (1926, 1927, and 1929) and played on the French team at the 1927 Chess Olympiad. He is best known for his work in the theory of endgames, where he was most concerned with detailed proofs about theoretical endgame results. He composed hundreds of endgame studies.
Ruslan Ponomariov

**Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov** is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 2011.

He was runner-up in the Chess World Cup 2005 and Chess World Cup 2009, while reaching the semi-finals in 2011 and the quarterfinals in 2007.

Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. He was taught to play chess by his father at the age of 5. At 9 he became a first category player, and in September 1993 he moved to Kramatorsk. Here Ponomariov attended the A. V. Momot Chess School and was trained by Boris Ponomariov. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just twelve, and the following year won the World Under-18 Championship. In 1998, at the age of fourteen, he was awarded the Grandmaster title, making him the youngest ever player at that time to hold the title. In 1999, he was a member of the Ukrainian national youth team, which won the U-16 Chess Olympiad in Artek, Ukraine.

In 2002 he beat his fellow countryman Vassily Ivanchuk in the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 by a score of 4½-2½ to become FIDE World Champion at the age of 18, the first teenager and youngest person to do so.
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

**Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu** is a Romanian (until 2014) and German (since 2014) chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest ranked Romanian player ever. His highly aggressive style of play has earned him a reputation of a modern-day Mikhail Tal.
Johannes Terho

**Johannes Terho** was a Finnish chess player, Finnish Chess Championship silver medalist (1922).

Johannes Terho participated in chess tournaments since 1911. In the 1922 Finnish Chess Championship, he competed with Anatol Tschepurnoff throughout the tournament. The result of the tournament was decided by their internecine party in the penultimate round. Tschepurnoff won and became the champion of the country. Terho finished the tournament in 2nd place.

Johannes Terho played for Finland in the Chess Olympiad:

In 1927, at fourth board in the 1st Chess Olympiad in London.

For a long time Johannes Terho collaborated with various newspapers and from 1924 to 1945 led the chess department in the newspaper *Helsingin Sanomat*.

At the end of his life, he was engaged in a chess composition. He compiled and published 30 problems. Some of Terho's problems fell into FIDE Album (FIDE rating 3.33).

Johannes Terho was vice president of the Finnish Chess Federation. In 1947, he was awarded the silver medal of the Finnish Chess Federation.
Emanuel Lasker

**Emanuel Lasker** was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champion in history. In his prime, Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players in history.

His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew contemporary analyses of openings well but disagreed with many of them. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods.
Lajos Asztalos

**Lajos Asztalos** was a Hungarian chess International Master, professor, and teacher of languages.

At the beginning of his career, he tied for sixth-eighth at Budapest 1911 (third HUN-ch, Zoltán von Balla and Zsigmond Barász won); tied for 7-8th at Breslau (Wrocław) 1912 (18th DSB–Congress, B tourn, Bernhard Gregory won); took second, behind Gyula Breyer, at Temesvár 1912 (fourth HUN-ch); won at Debrecen 1913 (fifth HUN-ch); tied for 8-9th at Budapest 1913 (Rudolf Spielmann won), took fifth at Mannheim 1914; took 4th at Vienna 1917 (Quadrangular, Milan Vidmar won), and took 5th at Kaschau 1918 (Richard Réti won).

After World War I, he moved to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia). In 1923, he tied for sixth-seventh in Trieste; (Paul Johner won). In 1924, he took third in Győr (7th HUN-ch, Géza Nagy won). In 1925, he took 5th in Budapest (Lovas and Sterk won), and tied for 13-14th in Debrecen (Hans Kmoch won). In 1926, he took third, behind Hermanis Matisons and Savielly Tartakower, in Bardejov (Bártfa, Bartfeld, Bardiów). In 1927 he took 4th in Kecskemét (Alexander Alekhine won).

He represented Yugoslavia in Chess Olympiads:

In 1926, in 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad in Budapest – team silver medal;

In 1927, at third board in 1st Chess Olympiad in London (+4 –3 =8);

In 1931, at second board in 4th Chess Olympiad in Prague (+7 –3 =6);

In 1936, at fourth board in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad in Munich (+5 –3 =8).

In 1931, he took 13th in Bled (Alekhine won). In 1934, he took sixth in Maribor (Vasja Pirc and Lajos Steiner won). In 1935, he tied for 8-9th in Belgrade (Vasja Pirc and Borislav Kostić won). In 1938, he tied for 5-7th in Ljubljana (Kostić won).
Georgi Tringov

**Georgi Petrov Tringov** was a Grandmaster of chess from Bulgaria. He won the Bulgarian national chess championship in 1963, the year he was awarded the Grandmaster title, only the second Bulgarian player thus honored (after Milko Bobotsov). He was active mainly during the 1960s and 1970s and qualified for the 1964 Interzonal stage of the process for selecting a challenger for the World Chess Championship, but finished fifteenth in the Interzonal held in Amsterdam, so did not advance to the Candidates matches held in 1965. Tringov had numerous successes in international tournaments to his credit, including first place at Vrsac 1973.
Opening

A **chess opening** or simply an **opening** refers to the initial moves of a chess game. The term can refer to the initial moves by either side, White or Black, but an opening by Black may also be known as a defense. There are dozens of different openings, and hundreds of variants. The opening is the first phase of a chess game, the other phases being the middlegame and the endgame.
Sir George Thomas, 7th Baronet

**Sir George Alan Thomas, 7th Baronet** was a British chess player. He was twice British Chess Champion

Thomas was British Chess Champion in 1923 and 1934. He shared first prize at the 1934/5 Hastings International Chess Congress with the next world chess champion Max Euwe and leading Czechoslovak player Salo Flohr, ahead of past and future world champions José Raúl Capablanca and Mikhail Botvinnik, whom he defeated in their individual games. For Capablanca, this had been the first loss in tournament play for four years, and the first playing the white pieces for more than six years. Also in Hastings, eleven years later, Euwe would become the third world chess champion to be defeated by Thomas in a game.
Efim Geller

**Efim Petrovich Geller** was a Soviet and Russian chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice (in 1955 and 1979) and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions (1953, 1956, 1962, 1965, 1968, and 1971). He won four Ukrainian SSR Championship titles (in 1950, 1957, 1958, and 1959) and shared first in the 1991 World Seniors' Championship, winning the title outright in 1992.

Geller was coach to World Champions Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov. He was also an author.
Alexander Konstantinopolsky

**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.
Oldřich Duras

**Oldřich Duras** was a leading Czech chess master of the early 20th century. FIDE awarded him the title of International Grandmaster in 1950, when the title was first introduced, in recognition of his achievements in the early twentieth century.

Among his noted tournament wins (all shared) are Bremen (1905), Prague (1908), Vienna (1908) and Breslau (1912). He had plus scores against Richard Teichmann (+6-2=6), David Janowski (+3-1=0), Carl Schlechter (+2-1=11) and Aron Nimzowitsch (+3-2=3), and level scores with Siegbert Tarrasch and Géza Maróczy. He lost the one game he played with Emanuel Lasker, had a draw and loss against José Raúl Capablanca, and heavy minus scores against Akiba Rubinstein, Ossip Bernstein and Milan Vidmar and was one game behind with Frank Marshall (+7-8=5).

Duras was also a noted chess composer.

The Duras Gambit is named after him.
Josif Dorfman

**Josif (Josef, Iossif, Iosif) Davidovich Dorfman** is a Soviet-French chess Grandmaster, coach, and chess writer.

Dorfman played in several USSR championships. In 1975, he took thirteenth in Yerevan (43rd URS-ch; Tigran Petrosian won). In 1976, he finished fifth in Moscow in the 44th Soviet championship as Anatoly Karpov won by a full point over Yuri Balashov. One of his most emphatic victories occurred in qualification for this championship, at the 1976 First League tournament, where he finished 1½ points clear of the field (+6 =11). In 1977, he was joint USSR Champion with Boris Gulko (both +4 =11, ahead of Petrosian, Polugaevsky and Tal). The subsequent play-off match was drawn (+1 –1 =4). In 1978, Dorfman shared thirteenth in Tbilisi as Tal won. In 1981, he tied for 8-9th in Frunze; Lev Psakhis and Garry Kasparov won). In 1984, he took 12th in Lvov (51st URS-ch; Andrei Sokolov won).
Judit Polgár

**Judit Polgár** is a Hungarian chess player. She is generally considered the strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the youngest to have done so, breaking the record previously held by former World Champion Bobby Fischer. She was the youngest player ever to break into the FIDE top 100 players rating list, ranking No. 55 in the January 1989 rating list, at the age of 12. She is the only woman to be a serious candidate for the World Chess Championship, in which she participated in 2005; she had previously participated in large, 100+ player knockout tournaments for the world championship. She is the first, and to date only, woman to have surpassed 2700 Elo, reaching a career peak rating of 2735 and peak world ranking of No. 8 in 2005. She is the only woman to be ranked in the top ten of all chess players, first reaching that ranking in 1996. She was the No. 1 rated woman in the world from January 1989 until her retirement on 13 August 2014.
Boris Gelfand

**Boris Gelfand** is a Soviet-born Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1989.

A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, making him challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012. Although the match with defending champion Viswanathan Anand finished level at 6–6, Gelfand lost the deciding rapidplay tiebreak by 2½–1½.

Gelfand has won major tournaments at Wijk aan Zee, Tilburg, Moscow, Linares and Dos Hermanas. He has competed in eleven Chess Olympiads and held a place within the top 30 players ranked by FIDE from January 1990 to October 2017.
Werner Hug

**Werner Hug** is a Swiss chess player. Hug was World Junior Chess Champion in 1971 and was Switzerland's leading player of the 1970s.

In 1968 Hug won the Swiss Junior Championship. He was awarded the title of International Master (IM) in 1971, when he became World Junior Champion in Athens. He won the Swiss Championship in 1975.

Hug has played on the Swiss team in the Chess Olympiads eleven times, playing first board in 1972, 1974, 1976, 1980, and 1984. He also played first board in the World Student Olympiad in 1972 and 1976.
Pengu

**Pengu** is a male water dragon and the elder brother of Pranee, Jagan, Amba and Sisu. He is one of the co-creators of the Dragon Gem. He appears to be in some sort of leadership role as well, being the oldest watching over his brother and sisters.

## Contents

* Background
	+ Physical Appearance
* Appearance
	+ *Raya and the Last Dragon*
	+ Abilities:
* Gallery

## Background

### Physical Appearance

Pengu has a teardrop shaped horn, and his body and face color is lime green. His mane is darker olive green, long until his shoulders. His sail is dark blue and his eyes are olive green.

## Appearance

### *Raya and the Last Dragon*

500 years ago, dragons lived in harmony with humans however the people of Kumandra were turned to stone when the Druun attacked in a final stand to save the world he along with Amba, Pranee and Jagan combined their magic forging the Dragon Gem and in trusted it to Sisu before being taken by the the sinister force.

Upon Sisu collecting his gem, she gained Pengu's powers to bring the rain. As seen at the end of the film, all dragons possess an unique ability to fly using rain drops to hop through the sky. So when Sisu made it rain for the first time, she also flew through the sky using the rain.

### Abilities:

**Rain powers:** Pengu seems to be able to bring the rain, according to Sisu.
Romain Edouard

**Romain Édouard** is a French chess grandmaster.

Born in Poitiers, Édouard has been playing chess since the age of five, and joined his first tournament in 2001. He was trained by fellow French Grandmaster Olivier Renet during his adolescence. He won the 2006 European Youth Chess Championship U16 category at the age of 15, and in 2007 earned his International Master title.
Max Pavey

**Max Pavey** was an American chess master.

After graduating from City College of New York in 1937, he studied medicine in Glasgow, and while a student won the Scottish Championship at Aberdeen 1939, with 7.5/9. Pavey would leave Scotland soon after this tournament, in June 1939, just before World War II. He was U.S. Lightning Champion in 1947. In 1948, he placed tied 5-8th place in the U.S. Open Chess Championship at Baltimore with 8.5/12. He was New York State Champion in 1949. During this time he also earned a master's degree in chemistry at Brooklyn College.

In 1951, he took third in New York (United States Chess Championship with 7/11; Larry Evans won). Also in that year, Pavey gave a simultaneous exhibition in Brooklyn, and faced a seven-year-old Bobby Fischer in the future World Chess Champion's first attempt at serious chess; Pavey won in about a quarter of an hour.
Árpád Vajda

**Árpád Vajda** (2 May 1896, Rimaszombat (Rimavská Sobota) – 25 October 1967, Budapest) was a Hungarian chess master.

Vajda was Hungarian Champion in 1928.

He tied for 4-7th at Vienna 1921 (Friedrich Sämisch won); tied for 5-7th at Budapest 1922 (6th HUN-ch, Kornél Havasi won); won at London 1922; took 2nd at Portsmouth 1923; tied for 4-5th at Györ 1924 (7th HUN-ch, Géza Nagy won); tied for 11-12th at Debrecen 1925 (Hans Kmoch won); took 5th at Budapest 1926 (Endre Steiner won); took 11th at Budapest 1926 (1st FIDE Masters, Ernst Grünfeld and Mario Monticelli won); tied for 5-7th at Kecskemét 1927 (Alexander Alekhine won); shared 5th at Budapest 1928 (José Raúl Capablanca won); tied for 4-5th at Budapest 1929 (Capablanca won); shared 1st with Adolf Seitz at Ramsgate 1929 (B tournament); tied for 4-7th at Sopron 1934 (Rudolf Spielmann won).
William Rivier

**William Rivier** was a Swiss chess master.

He played for Switzerland in the 2nd Chess Olympiad at The Hague 1928, where he put up a remarkably good score and took individual prize for 6th place. He also played in the 4th Chess Olympiad at Prague 1931. He tied for 9-12th at Bern 1932 (Alexander Alekhine won).
Pranee

**Pranee** is a female dragon and the older sister of Sisu. She once perished fighting the Druun to save mankind. Her unique magic power is shapeshifting. As far as we know, she can only shapeshift into a human, as found out when Sisu holds another piece of the dragon gem and turns into a human. We do not know the reaches of her shapeshifting abilities, like whether or not she could shapeshift into other animals.

As seen at the end of the film, all dragons possess an unique ability to fly using rain drops to hop through the sky.
Alexander Shabalov

**Alexander Anatolyevich Shabalov** is an American chess grandmaster and a four-time winner of the United States Chess Championship (1993, 2000, 2003, 2007). He also won or tied for first place seven times in the U.S. Open Chess Championship (1993, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016).

He was born in Riga, Latvia, and like his fellow Latvians Alexei Shirov and Mikhail Tal, he is known for courting complications even at the cost of objective soundness.

In 2002 he tied for first place at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow with Gregory Kaidanov, Alexander Grischuk, Aleksej Aleksandrov, and Vadim Milov. In 2009 Shabalov shared first place with Fidel Corrales Jimenez in the American Continental Chess Championship.
Richard Teichmann

**Richard Teichmann** was a German chess master. He was known as "Richard the Fifth" because he often finished in fifth place in tournaments. But in Karlsbad 1911, he scored a convincing win, crushing Akiba Rubinstein and Carl Schlechter with the same line of the Ruy Lopez. José Raúl Capablanca called him "one of the finest players in the world".Edward Lasker recounted the witty way in which Teichmann demonstrated the Schlechter win in his book *Chess Secrets I learned from the Masters*, and generally admired Teichmann's mastery.

Throughout his chess career Teichmann was handicapped by chronic eye trouble. He had only one eye, and eye trouble caused him to withdraw from the 1899 London Tournament after only four rounds.
Ivan Radulov

**Ivan Radulov** is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster.

As a chess player, he was most prominent during the 1970s, winning the Bulgarian Championship in 1971, 1974, 1977 and 1980. He just missed out at the 1976 event, finishing 2nd (with Peicho Peev, after Evgeny Ermenkov). It was during this decade that Radulov took over from Georgi Tringov as Bulgaria's leading player, eventually giving way to Kiril Georgiev in the 1980s.
Levon Aronian

**Levon Grigori Aronian** is an Armenian chess grandmaster playing for the USA. He was awarded the title by FIDE in 2000. On the March 2014 FIDE rating list, he was ranked number two in the world and had an Elo rating of 2830, making him the fourth-highest rated player in history.

Aronian won the FIDE World Cup in 2005 and 2017. He led the Armenian national team to the gold medals in the Chess Olympiads of 2006 (Turin), 2008 (Dresden) and 2012 (Istanbul) and at the World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo 2011. He won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, qualifying him for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012, where he was knocked out in the first round. He was also world champion in Chess960 in 2006 and 2007, in rapid chess in 2009, and in blitz chess in 2010.
Aronian announced his decision to transfer from the Armenian chess federation to the United States federation in late February 2021, citing a decline in government support for the sport as his motivation.
Alexei Shirov

**Alexei Shirov** is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994.

He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classical world championship match with Garry Kasparov. However it never took place for lack of sponsorship.
Jonathan Speelman

**Jonathan Simon Speelman** is an English Grandmaster chess player, mathematician, chess writer and Twitch streamer.

A winner of the British Chess Championship in 1978, 1985 and 1986, Speelman has been a regular member of the English team for the Chess Olympiad, an international biennial chess tournament organised by FIDE, the World Chess Federation.
Samuel Factor

**Samuel Factor** was a Polish-American chess master.

During World War I, Faktor was one of the strongest chess players in Łódź . In 1916, he lost a match to Hirszbajn. In 1917, he took 3rd, behind Gersz Salwe, and Teodor Regedziński. In 1917/18, he took 2nd, behind Regedziński. In 1919, he won the Łódź Chess Club Championship. Then, he emigrated, via Holland, to America.

In the end of 1919, he drew a mini-match with Richard Réti in Rotterdam. In March 1920, he tied for 2nd-3rd with Abraham Speijer, behind Akiba Rubinstein, in Rotterdam. In July 1921, Factor tied for 5-7th in Atlantic City (8th American Chess Congress). The event was won by Dawid Janowski. In October 1921, he took 2nd, behind Edward Lasker, in Cleveland, Ohio (22nd WCA). In August/September 1922, he won in Louisville, Kentucky (23rd WCA). In 1922, Factor won the Championship of Chicago.

In 1928, Factor represented USA at third board in the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague. He won team silver medal.

In August 1932, he tied for 7–10th in Pasadena, California (Alexander Alekhine won).
Carlos Maderna

**Carlos Hugo Maderna** was an Argentine chess master.

He was twice Argentine Champion; in 1940 he won a match for the title (of 1939) against Luis Piazzini (8 : 6), then lost a match to Carlos Guimard (1 : 8) in 1941 (for the title of 1940), and won the title (of 1950) after play-off with Jacobo Bolbochán and Heinrich Reinhardt in 1951.

In 1928, he tied for 4-5th in Mar del Plata International Chess Tournament (Roberto Grau won). In 1931, he won ahead of Savielly Tartakower in Buenos Aires (Geniol it). In 1934/35 he took 16th in South American Chess Championship in Buenos Aires (Piazzini won). In 1938, he tied for 5-6th in Montevideo (Carrasco, Alexander Alekhine won). In 1948, he won in Santa Fe.

He participated in first and second South American zonal tournaments. He took 3rd, after Erich Eliskases and Julio Bolbochán, at Mar del Plata / Buenos Aires 1951, and tied for 11-12th at Mar del Plata / Buenos Aires 1954 (Oscar Panno won).

Maderna played for Argentina in two Chess Olympiads:

* In 1928 at second board in 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague;
* In 1935 at fourth board in 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw.
Garry Kasparov

**Garry Kimovich Kasparov** born **Garik Kimovich Weinstein** is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion. From 1984 until his retirement in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world No. 1 for 255 months overall for his career. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. Kasparov also holds records for the most consecutive professional tournament victories (15) and Chess Oscars (11).
Loek van Wely

**Loek van Wely** is a Dutch chess player and politician. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1993, and was rated among the world's top ten in 2001 with a rating of 2714.

He has won the Dutch Chess Championship on eight occasions: six consecutive times from 2000 through 2005, in 2014 and in 2017.

In 2002, in Maastricht, Netherlands, van Wely took on the computer program Rebel in a four-game match, scoring 2/4 (+2–2=0). In 2005, he led the Dutch team to victory at the European Team Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Samuel Sevian

**Samuel Sevian** is an American chess prodigy. He earned the title of Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 10 months and 27 days, making him the youngest ever Grandmaster in American history, beating all previous records of Fischer, Nakamura, Caruana and Robson by more than a year. He also broke all US age records when reaching the titles of National and International Master.