List of Jewish chess players
Jewish players and theoreticians have long been involved in the game of chess and have significantly contributed to the development of chess, which has been described as the "Jewish National game". Chess gained popularity amongst Jews in the twelfth century. The game was privileged by distinguished rabbis, as well as by women. Of the first 13 undisputed world champions, over half were Jewish, including the first two. The Modern school of chess espoused by Wilhelm Steinitz and Siegbert Tarrasch; the Hypermodernism influenced by Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti; and the Soviet Chess School promoted by  Mikhail Botvinnik were all strongly influenced by Jewish players. Other influential Jewish chess theoreticians, writers and players include Zukertort, Tartakower, Lasker, Rubinstein, Breyer, Spielmann, Reshevsky, Fine, Bronstein, Najdorf, Tal and Fischer. Professor Arpad Elo, the inventor of the scientific rating system employed by FIDE, analysed some 476 major tournament players from the nineteenth century onward, and of the fifty-one highest ranked players, approximately one-half were Jewish. One of the strongest ever players is Garry Kasparov, who was world No. 1 from 1985 until his retirement in 2005; or the considered strongest female chess player in history Judit Polgár . Beersheba in Israel is the city with the most chess grandmasters per capita in the world. Israel has also won one silver and one bronze medal at Chess Olympiads. List. The list refers to chess players who are Jewish and have attained outstanding achievements in chess.