Relatives and Spouses of Chess Masters

By Bill Wall

Agabababean, Naira (1951- )

Woman grandmaster (WGM). Her daughter, Almira Skripchenko (born in 1976), is also a woman grandmaster who married Grandmaster (GM) Joel Lautier in 1997.

Ahues, Carl (1883-1968)

German International Master. His son, Herbert (1922- ) became a GM for Chess Compositions.

Akhmilovskaya, Elena (1957- )

Woman GM. Her mother qualified several time for the USSR Women’s Championship.

In 1988, she married International Master (IM) John Donaldson. She later divorced him and married IM Georgi Orlov. She has one son.

Akhsharumova, Anna (1957- )

Woman GM. Her husband is GM Boris Gulko.

Al-Modiahki, Mohamad (1974- )

Grandmaster from Qatar, rated 2588. He married former world women’s champion and grandmaster Zhu Chen in 1999. She is rated 2574.

Alekhina, Natasha (1954- )

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Sergei Archipov

Alekhine, Alexander (1892-1946)

Former world chess champion. His father was a wealthy landowner, a marshall of the nobility, and a member of the Duma. His mother, Anisya Ivanova, was an heiress of an industrial fortune. His older sister, Varvara (1889-1944), was a chess player. His older brother, Alexei Alekhine (1888-1939) was a strong chess player. In 1913, he fathered an illegitimate daughter. In 1920, he married a Russian baroness several years older than he. In 1921, he married Annelise Ruegg, a Swiss woman journalist, who as 13 years older than he. His fourth wife, Grace Freeman Wishard (1876-1956) was a chess player. They were married in 1934. She was 16 years older than he.

Amura, Claudia (1970- )

Woman GM. She is married to GM Gilberto Hernandez of Mexico.

Arkell, Keith (1961- )

English Grandmaster. He was once married to Woman International Master (WIM) Susan Walker.

Archipov (Arkhipov), Sergei (1954- )

Grandmaster. His wife is WGM Natasha Alekhina.

Atalik, Suat (1964- )

Turkish Grandmaster, rated 2632. He is married to WGM Ekaterina Polovnikova, rated 2434.

Ault, Robin (1941-1994)

Strong chess master who played in the US Championship. His brother, Leslie Ault (1940- ), was a chess player and author. In 1961, Robin Ault was US Junior Champion. His brother, Leslie, was US Intercollegiate Champion. The both played for Columbia University, which won the nation Intercollegiate Team Championship.

Baburin, Alexander (1967- )

Grandmaster. He married Elena in 1988. They have two children, Ivan and Anastasia.

Baginskaite, Camilla (1967- )

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Alex Yermolinksy. They have a son named Edward.

Barua, Dibyendu (1966- )

Grandmaster. He is married to WIM Saheli Dhar. They both run a chess academy in Calcutta. She gave up competitive chess when they were married.

Battsetseg, Tsagaan

Woman International Master. She is married to FIDE Master (FM) Tegshuren Enkhbat.

Belakovskaia, Anjelina (1969- )

Woman Grandmaster. She married Lawrence Bernstein and has one son, Brian. She met her future husband at the Marshall Chess Club in 2001.

Belavenets, Sergey (1910-1942)

Russian chess master. His daughter, Ludmilla (1940- ), won the 4^th Women’s World Correspondence Chess Championship in 1992.

Bellin, Robert (1952- )

British IM. He is married to WGM Jana Malypetrova Hartston Miles Bellin (1947- ). They have two sons, Robert (born in 1988) and Christopher (born in 1991).

Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel (1950- )

Spanish GM, rated 2510. He is married to GM Pia Cramling, rated 2550. They have one daughter, Anna.

Benjamin, Joel (1964- )

American Grandmaster. He is married to Deborah Quinn, a strong master from Ireland. She played on the Irish Women’s Olympic Chess team.

Benko, Pal (1928- )

Grandmaster. His father was an engineer. His wife is also a chess player who played in the national women’s championship. She is a former adjunct professor of mathematics.

Bernstein, Ossip (1882-1962)

Russian GM. His son was President Eisenhower’s official interpreter because he spoke almost every European language.

Bernstein, Sheila Barth

Woman International Master. She is married to IM Bjarke Sahl.

Bilek, Istvan (1932- )

Grandmaster. He was once married to one of the top female Hungarian chess players. Both were champions of their country at the same time.

Bisguier, Arthur (1929- )

American Grandmaster. His cousin, IM Raymond Weinstein (1941- ), killed an 83-year old man in a nursing home with a razor in 1964.

Biyiasas, Peter (1950- )

Canadian GM. He is married to IM Ruth Haring.

Blackburne, Joseph (1841-1924)

19^th century chess master. He was married to Mary Jane Blackburne. They had one son, Julius.

Bolbochan, Julio (1920-1996)

Argentine GM. His brother, Jacobo (1906-1984), was an International Master.

Boleslavsky, Isaac (1919-1977)

Russian GM. He got married in 1943. His daughter, Tatiana, married GM David Bronstein in 1982.

Botsari, Anna-Maria

Woman Grand Master. She was once married to GM Igor Miladinovic.

Botvinnik, Mikhail (1911-1995)

Former world chess champion. His wife was a famous ballet dancer at the Bolshoi theater.

Bronstein, David (1924-2006)

Russian GM. He learned chess from his grandfather. His father, Johonon, was unfairly imprisoned for several years in the Gulag. He was married three times. His first wife was Olga Ignatieva, a Soviet woman International Master, and they had one son. In 1984, he married Tatiana Boleslavsky, the daughter of GM Isaac Boleslavsky. She was his third wife.

Browne, Walter (1949- )

American Grandmaster. He was born to an American father and an Australian mother. His wife, Racquel, is a clinical psychologist from Argentina.

Bruzon Batista, Lazaro

Cuban Grandmaster. He is married to National Master Yanet Cueto.

Byrne, Robert (1928- )

American GM. His brother, Donald (1930-1976) was an IM.

Capablanca, Jose (1888-1942)

Former world champion. His father was an army officer in Cuba. He had an older brother. In 1921, Jose married Gloria Simoni Beautucourt in Havana. They had a son, Jose Raul, born in 1923, and a daughter, Gloria, born in 1925. They were divorced in 1937. In 1938, he married Olga Choubaroff Chagodaeva (1898-1994), a Russian princess. They were married in Elktron, Maryland. In 1967, Olga married her fourth husband, retired Admiral Joseph James Clark.

Charbonneau, Pascal (1983- )

Grandmaster, rated 2510. He is married to IM Irina Krush, rated 2479.

Christiansen, Larry (1956- )

American Grandmaster. He learned how to play chess at age nine from his brother, James. He has a younger brother, Scott. He married Natasha Christiansen, a strong chess player, in 1989.

Cmilyte, Victoria (1983- )

Lithuanian Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Alexei Shirov. They have two children.

Cramling, Pia (1963)

Swedish GM. She is married to GM Juan Bellon. Her brother, Dan, is an international master.

Cueto, Yanet

Cuban National Master. She is married to GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista.

Dake, Arnold (1910-2000)

American Grandmaster. He met his wife, Helen, on an ocean liner coming home from the chess Olympiad in Warsaw in 1935. They had a daughter, Marjorie Metzger.

Divinsky, Nathan (1925- )

Canadian chess master. He was once married (from 1972 to 1983) to the Prime Minister of Canada, Kim Campbell.

Dlugy, Maxim (1966- )

Grandmaster. He is married to Marina Dlugy and have two children, Michelle and Matthew.

Donaldson, John (1958- )

American IM. He married WGM Elena Akhmilovskaya in 1988. They later divorced.

Eljanov, Pavel (1983- )

Ukrainian GM, rated 2716. He is married to WIM Olena Dvoretska, rated 2212.

Epstein, Esther (1954- )

Woman IM. She married GM Alexander Ivanov in 1977. Epstein’s brother, Shmuel, was jailed for over three years. His crime was reading Solzhenitsyn and meeting with Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov.

Euwe, Max (1901-1981)

Former world chess champion. He learned chess from his mother, Elizabeth. Both parents played chess. His mother once played in the Dutch Women’s Championship. His father, Cornelius, was an average chess player.

Fine, Reuben (1914-1993)

American Grandmaster. In 1942, he married Emma Thea Keesing. They were divorced in 1944. In 1946, he married Sonya Lebeaux, with whom he had two children. Reuben’s son, Benjamin, was a chess player. Together, they wrote The Teenage Chess Book.

Finegold, Benjamin (1969- )

American IM. His father was a USCF expert. His brother, Mark, is a USCF master. His wife, Kelly Cottrell, qualified for the 2006 US Championship.

Fink, Petra

Woman FIDE Master from Germany. She is married to GM John Nunn.

Fischer, Robert (1943-2007)

Former world chess champion. His mother, Regina Wender Fischer Pustan, was a medical doctor and had a Ph.D in hematology. His father was Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, a German biophysicist. There is some evidence that Bobby Fischer’s biological father was Paul Nemenyi, a Hungarian physicist with Jewish ancestry. Bobby’s parents divorced in 1945 and Hans moved to Chile. Robert’s sister, Joan, was born in Moscow in 1933. Joan married Russell Targ, an American physicist and author. Joan and Russell Targ had two children. Joan died in California in 1998. He had a wife and child living in the Philippines. In 2004, Robert Fischer married Miyoko Watai of Japan. She is a former Japanese women’s chess champion, and the general secretary of the Japan Chess Association.

Flear, Glenn (1959- )

Grandmaster. He is married to WIM Christine Leroy. They have two sons, James and Nathan.

Flohr, Salo (1908-1983)

Leading Czech chess grandmaster. His parents were Jewish. He and his brother were orphaned during World War I after his parents were killed in a massacre in the Ukraine. He got married in 1935.

Fountaine, Robert

French Grandmaster, rated 2572. In February 2009, he married GM Kateryna Lahno, rated 2509.

Fressinet, Laurent (1981- )

French grandmaster, rated 2676. He is married to International Master and WGM Almira Skripchenko, rated 2498.

Fridman, Daniel (1976- )

Grandmaster, rated 2646. He is married to International Master and WGM Anna Zatonskih, rated 2462. In 2007, they had a daughter.

Galliamova, Alisa (1972- )

International Master and Woman Grandmaster. She was once married to GM Vassily Ivanchuk.

Grinfeld, Alla

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Miron Sher.

Grischuk, Alexander (1983- )

Russian Grandmaster, rated 2748.. He is married to IM Natalia Zhukova, rated 2490.

Grosch, Maria

Woman International Master. She is married to GM Zoltan Ribli.

Gulko, Boris (1947- )

Grandmaster, rated 2644. He is married to WGM Anna Akhsumarova, rated 2400.

Gunsberg, Isidor (1854-1930)

19^th century chess master. He was married to Agnes Jane Gunsberg. They had three children, Alfred, Kathleen, Marium, Bertie, and Lionel.

Gyimesi, Zoltan

Grandmaster. He is married to WGM Nora Medvegy.

Haring, Ruth (1955- )

Woman International Master. She is married to GM Peter Biyiasas.

Hartston, William (1947- )

British IM. He was once married to WGM Jana Malypetrova.

Hernandez, Gilberto (1970- )

Mexican Grandmaster, rated 2572. He is married to WGM Claudia Amura of Argentina, rated 2405.

Hund, Barbara (1959- )

Woman Grandmaster. She was born 13 days after her mother, Juliane, played in the 1959 German Women’s Chess Championship. Her sister, Isabel, is also a strong chess player. In 1989, she married Peter Bolt, the editor of a Swiss chess magazine. They have one daughter, Sarah, born in 1998.

Illescas, Miguel (1965- )

Spanish grandmaster, rated 2640. He is married to IM Olga Alexandrova, rated 2462.

Ivanchuk. Vassily (1969- )

Grandmaster. His peak rating was 2787. He was once married to IM (and Woman Grandmaster) Alisa Galliamova. Her peak rating was 2554.

Ivanka, Maria (1950- )

Woman Grandmaster from Hungary. Her father was a goldsmith. Her father and two brothers played chess. She was married to a fellow-chessplayer named Budinsky who later became a computer engineer. They had 3 sons.

Ivanov, Alexander (1956- )

Grandmaster. He married WIM Esther Epstein in 1977.

Ivkov, Boris

Grandmaster. He is married to a former “Miss Argentina.”

Jarecki, John (1969- )

American chess master. His mother, Carol Jarecki, is one of the most active international chess arbiters in the world. His father, Richard, is a doctor.

Johner, Hans (1889-1975)

Swiss IM. His brother, Paul (1887-1937), was a noted violinist and winner of the Swiss championship 6 times.

Karff, Mona May Ratner (1914-1998)

7-time winner of the US Women’s Chess Championship. Her father, Aviv Ratner, was a wealthy land-owner, who taught her how to play chess at the age of 9. She married her cousin, an attorney named Abe Karff, in the 1930s. She later divorced and was romantically linked with Dr. Edward Lasker, International Master.

Karpov, Anatoly (1951- )

Former world champion. He has a son from his first marriage. His second wife, Natasha, was a librarian. They were married in 1987.

Kasparov, Garry (1963- )

Former world chess champion. He was originally named Garik Weinstein (Veinshtein). He was the son of a Jewish engineer, Kim Veinshtein, who died when Garry was 7. His mother is Klara Kasparyan, whose Russian name is Kasparov.

Keene, Raymond (1948- )

In 1974, Keene married Annette, the sister of IM David Goodman. They have one son, Alexander, born in 1991.

Kharlov, Andrei (1968- )

Russian grandmaster, rated 2656. He was married to WGM Elena Zaiatz, rated 2422.

Koltanowski, George (1903-2000)

Grandmaster (emeritus). He learned the game while watching his father play his older brother. In 1944, he met and marred his wife, Lea.

Kononenko, Tatiana

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Oleg Korneev (1969- ).

Korchnoi, Viktor (1931- )

Grandmaster. He was married to Bella Korchnoi, but they were later divorced in 1983. His son, Igor, was sent to a Siberian labor camp for 30 months for refusing military service.

Korneev, Oleg (1969- )

Chess Grandmaster, rated 2671. He is married to WGM Tatiana Kononenko, rated 2442.

Kosashvili, Yona (1970- )

Israeli Grandmaster, rated 2549. He married WGM Sofia Polgar, rated 2540, in 1999. They now have a son, Alon.

Koshnitsky, Gregory (1907-1999)

International master. In 1966 he won the championship of South Australia. His wife, Evelyn, took the women’s title.

Kotov, Alexander (1913-1981)

Russian Grandmaster. His father, Alexander Yegorovich Kotov, was a mechanic in an arms factory, and had 10 children. Alexander was the youngest and only 4 children survived into adulthood.

Kramnik, Vladimir (1975- )

World chess champion. In 2006, he married Marie-Laurie Germon of France.

Krupkova, Petra

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Sergei Movsesian.

Kubbel, Leonid (1891-1942)

One of the greatest Russian chess composers. His brothers, Avrid (1889-1938) and Yevgeny (1893-1942) were also famous chess composers.

Lawson, Agnes ( -1935)

Four-time British Ladies champion. She was married to Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson (1878-1943). When she died, he married world women’s chess champion Vera Menchik.

Lalic, Bogdan (1964- )

Grandmaster, rated 2600. He is married to WIM Susan Walker Arkell Lalic, rated 2405.

Lasker, Emanuel (1868-1941)

Former world champion. His father, Adolf, was a Jewish cantor in a synagogue. His mother was Rosalie Israelssohn. His brother, Berthold (1860-1928) was a chess hustler in Berlin in the early 1880s. He was a medical doctor. Berthold married Else Schuler (1869-1945), a famous poet, writer, and artist. Berthold and Else were married from 1894 to 1903. Emanuel’s sister died in a Nazi gas chamber. In 1911, at the age of 42, he Emanuel married Martha Bamberger Cohn (who died in 1937). IM Edward Lasker (1885-1981) was a seventh cousin to Emanuel.

Lautier, Joel (1973- )

Grandmaster, rated 2687. He married WGM Almira Skripchenko, rated 2498, in 1997. They later divorced.

Leko, Peter (1979- )

Hungarian Grandmaster. In 2000, he married Sofia Petrosian of Armenia.

Leroy, Christine

Five time French Ladies’ Chess Champion. She is married to GM Glenn Flear. They have two children, James and Nathan.

Levitt, Jonathan (1963- )

English Grandmaster. He is married to Tinni and they have one sone, Nicholas.

Li Ruofan

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Zhang Zhong.

Li Wenling

International Master. He is married to WIM Gao Zhiqian.

Makarov, Marat

Grandmaster rated 2560. He is married to WGM Julia Demina, rated 2405.

Malakhatko, Vadim

Ukrainian grandmaster, rated 2621. He is married to IM Anna Zozulia, rated 2412.

Malypetrova, Jana (1947- )

Woman Grandmaster. She has been married to IM William Hartston and GM Tony Miles. She is currently married to IM Robert Bellin. They have two sons, Robert (born in 1988) and Christopher (born in 1991).

Maric, Alisa (1970)

Woman Grandmaster. Her twin sister, Marjana, is also a Woman Grandmaster. They are the only two twin grandmasters in history.

Markus, Robert

Serbian Grandmaster. He is married to WGM Ana Srebrnic from Slovenia. (thanks to Goran Urosevic for this information)

Marshall, Frank (1877-1944)

Former U.S. chess champion. In 1905, he married Caroline (Carrie). She ran the Marshall Chess Club until her death in 1971.

Medvegy, Nora

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Zoltan Gyimesa.

Menchik, Vera (1906-1944)

Former world women’s chess champion. Her father was Czech and her mother was British. Her sister, Olga (1908-1944), was also a strong chess master. In 1927, Vera won the London ladies’ chess championship. Olga took 2^nd place. In 1937, Vera married Rufus Streatfeild Stevenson (1878-1943), the secretary of the British Chess Federation. In 1944, a V-! buzz bomb killed Vera, Olga, and their mother, when the bomb hit their home.

Miladinovic, Igor

Grandmaster. He was once married to WGM Maria Botsari.

Miles, Anthony (1955-2001)

British GM. He was once married to WGM Jana Malypetrova. He was divorced twice and had no children.

Mitchell, Reginald Price

Former British Amateur chess champion. He is married to Edith Mitchell, who won the British Women’s Chess Championship several times.

Morphy, Paul (1837-1884)

One of the strongest chess players of all time. His father’s (Alonzo) nationality was Spanish, but he was of Irish origin. He was a lawyer, served as a Louisina state legislator, attorney general, and Supreme Court Justice. His mother, Louise Le Carpentier, was French. She was the musically-talented daughter of a prominent French Creole family. Paul had two sisters, Mahrina (born in 1830), and Helena (born in 1839). His uncle, Ernest (1807-1874), was a strong player.

Movesian, Sergei (1978)

Grandmaster, rated 2751. He was married to WGM Petra Krupkova, rated 2362.

Nagel, Yvette (1964- )

Woman FIDE Master. She is married to GM Yasser Seirawan. She is the daughter of former Leefbaar Nederland political party president and politician, Jan Nagel.

Najdorf, Miguel (1910-1997)

Polish-Argentine Grandmaster of Jewish origin. He lost his wife, child, father, mother, and four brothers during the Holocaust. He married his second wife, Rita, and had a daughter, Mirta.

Nakamura, Hikaru (1987- )

American Grandmaster. He was born to a Japanese father and American mother. He was coached by his stepfather, FIDE Master Sunil Weeramantry. His brother, Asuka, is a strong master.

Napier, William (1881-1952)

American chess master of English origin. He married Florence Gillespie, Harry Pillsbury’s niece. They had two daughters.

Nimzovich, Aron (1886-1935)

One of the strongest players in the world. He was a son of a Danish department store keeper who taught Aron to play chess.

Nunn, John

English Grandmaster. He is married to WFM Petra Fink.

Orlov, Georgi (1964- )

International Master. He is married to WGM Elena Akhmilovskaya.

Pachman, Ludek (1924-2003)

Grandmaster. His brother, Vladimir, was a grandmaster in chess composition.

Paulsen, Louis (1833-1891)

American master. His sister, Amalie, was a strong player. His father taught chess to Louis, his two older brothers, and his two sisters. His brother, Wilfried, was a strong master.

Peng Xiomin (1973 - )

Grandmaster, rated 2657. He is married to WGM Qin Kanying, rated 2501.

Penrose, Jonathan (1933- )

English GM (emeritus). His father, Lionel, was a distinguished medical doctor, psychiatrist,geneticist, mathematician, and chess problem composer. His mother, Margaret, was a medical doctor. His brother, Roger (1931- ), was knighted in 1994 for services to mathematics and science. Roger is a mathematician, physicist, and author. His brother, Oliver, is also a distinguished mathematician.

Petronic, Jovan

Serbian International Master. He is married to Sanja, a Woman International Master. They have one son, Djordje.

Philidor, Francois-Andre Danican (1726-1795)

Best chess player of the 18^th century. His father, Andre (1647-1730), was the royal music librarian who had 20 children (three wives). Andre was 79 and his wife was in her twenties when FAD Philidor was born. Philidor belonged to a family which had been connected for three generations with the band of the Chapel-Royal in Versailles.

Plaskett, Jim (1960- )

British Grandmaster. He is married to the poet Fiona Pitt-Kethley, the author of The Literary Companion to Sex.

Pogonina, Natalia (1985)

Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and three-times European champion. She is rated 2501 by FIDE. She is married to Peter Zhdanov, rated 2038 by FIDE.

Polgar, Judit (1976- )

Grandmaster and considered the greatest woman chess player ever. The family comes from a Jewish background in Budapest. Members of her family died in the Holocaust. Her grandmother was a survivor of Auschwitz. Her father, Laszlo, and her mother, Klara, educated the family at home. Judit married Gustav Fonts, a veterinary surgeon from Budapest. Her oldest sister Susan (1969- ) is a Grandmaster. Susan married in 1994 and moved to New York. She as two sons, Tommy and Leeam. Susan is now divorced. Her other sister, Sofia (1974- ) is a Woman Grandmaster. Sofia is married to GM Yona Kosashvili. They were married in 1999 and have a son, Alon.

Polovnikova, Ekaterina (1982- )

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Suat Atalik.

Portisch, Lajos (1937- )

Hungarian Grandmaster. His brother, Ferenc (1939- ) is an International Master.

Purdy, Cecil (1906-1979)

Former world correspondence chess champion. In 1934, he married Anne Crakenthorp. His father-in-law, Spencer Crakenthorp, won the Austalian championship twice.

His son, John (born in 1935), was a former junior champion of Australia. His daughter, Diana, was a keen chessplayer. She married leading New Zealand chessplayer Frank Hutchings in 1960.

Qin Kanying (1974- )

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Peng Xiaomin.

Quinteros, Miguel (1947- )

Argentine GM. His wife is a former model from the Philippines.

Ramaswami, Aarti

Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM R.B. Ramesh. They are India’s first Grandmaster couple.

Ramesh, R.B.

Grandmaster. He is married to WGM Aarti Ramaswami. They are India’s first Grandmaster couple.

Reshevsky, Samuel (1911-1992)

American Grandmaster. He married Norma Minkick in 1941 and had three children.

Reti, Richard (1889-1929)

One of the strongest chess players in the world. Richard married Rogneda Sergeivna Gorodetskaia, daughter of the Russian poet Sergei Gorodetsky (1884-1967). Richard’s brother, Rudolph (1885-1957), was a famous musical analyst, composer, and pianist.

Ribli, Zoltan (1951- )

Hungarian Grandmaster. He is married to WIM Maria Grosch.

Rogers, Ian (1960- )

Australian Grandmaster. He is married to Woman FIDE Master Cathy Rogers. She is also an International Arbiter and a lawyer.

Root, Doug (1963- )

International Master. He married WIM Alexey Rudolph in 1989.

Rousseau, Eugene (1810-1870)

Strong chess master who settled in New Orleans. He was a distant cousin of Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Rubinstein, Akiba (1882-1961)

One of the strongest chess players in the world. He was married to the owner of restaurant in Belgium. They had two sons. One son, Sami, was a chess master.

Rudolph, Alexey

Woman International Master. She married IM Doug Root in 1989.

Sagalchik, Gennady

Grandmaster. He is married to WIM Olga Sagalchik.

Sahl, Bjarke

International Master. He is married to Woman International Master Sheila Barth Berntsen.

Sandrin, Albert (1923-2004)

American blind master. His brother, Angelo, was also a chess master. In 1961, they both tied for 1^st place in the Michigan Open.

Saunders, Elaine (1926- )

Strong British woman chess player. She married David Brine Pritchard, a strong chess master.

Seirawan, Yasser

Grandmaster. His father was Arab and his mother an English nurse. He is married to Woman FIDE Master Yvette Nagel. She is the daughter of former Leefbaar Nederland political party president and politician, Jan Nagel.

Shabalov, Alexander (1967- )

Grandmaster. He has a wife and two daughters in Pittsburgh.

Shamkovich, Leonid (1923-2005)

Russian-born Grandmaster. He was married and divorced three times. He had a son, Andrei, and two half-sisters, Sofia and Tatiana.

Sher, Miron

Grandmaster. He is married to WGM Alla Grinfeld.

Shiber, Julia

Woman FIDE Master (WFM). She is married to GM Alexander Stripunsky.

Shirov, Alexei (1972- )

Grandmaster with a peak rating of 2755. In 1994, he married Veronica Alvarev from Argentina. He was married to International Master and Woman Grandmaster Victoria Cmilyte, rated 2512, from Lithuania. Cmilyte was Shirov’s third wife. He has four children.

Skripchenko, Almira (1976- )

French Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Her mother is WGM Naira Agabababean. Her father, Fedor, was a chess coach. Almira married GM Joel Lautier in 1997. They later divorced.

Smyslov, Vasily Vasiliyevich (1921- )

Former world chess champion. His father, Vasily Osipovich Smyslov, was a strong master who once defeated Alexander Alekhine in a tournament in 1912. His father taught him chess.

Socko, Bartosz (1978- )

Polish GM, rated 2660. He is married to grandmaster Monika Socko, rated 2505.

Solak, Dragan

Serbian Grandmaster. He is married to former Turkish female champion Yildiz Cavusoglu. (thanks to Goran Urosevic for this information)

Spassky, Boris (1937- )

Former world chess champion. His sister, Irena, has been the USSR women’s checker (droughts) champion several times. In 1975, Boris married Marina Stcherbatcheff, a secretary at the French embassy in Moscow. This was his third marriage.

Srebrnic, Ana (1984- )

Slovene Woman Grandmaster. She is married to GM Robert Markus.

Sriram, Jha

Indian International Master. He is married to WGM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi.

Staunton, Howard (1810-1874)

World’s strongest chess player in the 1840s. He is reputed to have been the illegitimate son of Frederick Howard, fifth earl of Carlisle, but there is little evidence to support this cliam. In 1849, at the age of 39, he married Frances Carpenter Nethersole, a widow of a London solicitor. His marriage certificate says that he was the son of William Staunton, gentleman. They were married in Brighton.

Steiner, Lajos (1903-1975)

International chess master. He was one of four children of Bernat Steiner, mathematics teacher, and his wife, Cecilia Schwarz, both of whom were Jewish. His elder brother Endre was also a strong chess player. Lajos’ father and brother were to die in Nazi concentration camps. In 1939, Lajos married Augusta Edna Kingston, who had won the New South Wales women’s chess championship 6 times. They had no children.

Steinitz, William (Wilhelm) (1836-1900)

Former world chess champion. He claimed he was the 13^th of 13 children, which may not be true. His parents were Jewish. His father was a Talmadic scholar and tailor. He was the 9^th child. Four more children were born after Wilhelm, but they all died in childhood. His wife, Caroline, and daughter, Flora, both died in 1892. He re-married a few years later and had two more children. In 1900, his wife committed him to the insane asylum at Ward’s Island, New York.

Stripunsky, Alexander

Grandmaster. He is married to WFM Julia Shiber.

Taimanov, Mark (1926- )

Russian Grandmaster. His first wife was Lyubov Bruk, his piano duet partner. They married at age 19. Between the late 1950s and early 1970s, they were among their country’s leading exponents of the two-piano repertoire. They divorced in the early 1970s.

Tal, Mikhail (1936-1992)

Former world chess champion. His father was a medical doctor. Mikhail learned chess from his cousin and his father. His first wife was Sally Landau. They were married from 1959 to 1971.

Tarrasch, Siegbert (1862-1934)

One of the strongest chess players in the world. He had five children. He lost two sons in the early days of World War I. In 1924, he married Rosa Anna Tarrasch. From his first marriage, he had five children, three sons and two daughters. His oldest son, Fritz, was killed in action on May 14, 1915. He was a Lieutenant in the 15^th Bavarian reserve infantry regiment. Siegbert’s second son committed suicide in 1915. His third son was run over by a train in Munich in 1916 and died. He married a second time in the 1930s.

Thipsay, Pravin

Grandmaster. He is married to International Woman Master (IWM) Bhagyashree Sathe Thipsay.

Thomas, George Alan (1881-1972)

Former British chess champion. His mother, Lady Edith Thomas, was the winner of the first British women’s chess championship at Hastings in 1895. He became “Sir George” when he succeeded his father, Sir George Sidney Meade Thomas, as the 7^th Baronet in 1918. A baronet is above a knight, but below a baron. It is a hereditary title. The title is passed down to the eldest son.

Timman, Jan (1951- )

Dutch Grandmaster. His brother, Anton (Ton) Peter Timman (born in 1948), is a master.

Turov. Maxim (1979- )

Russian grandmaster, rated 2584. He is married to WGM Irina Turova (2415).

Unzicker, Wolfgang (1925-2006)

German Grandmaster. He learned chess from his father, who was a high school teacher. Wolfgang’s wife was Freia, and they had three sons, Alexander, Ferdinand, and Stefan.

Velimirovic, Dragoljub (1942- )

Yugoslavian grandmaster. His mother, Jovanka Velimirovic (1910-1972), was Yugoslavia’s first woman chess champion.

Vidmar, Milan (1885-1962)

Grandmaster. His brother, Josip (1895-1992) was a politician, literary critic, essayist, and translator. He was married twice and had several children. His son, Milan Vidmar Jr. (1909-1980) was an International Master and an electrical engineer.

Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman

India’s first Woman Grandmaster. She is married to IM Jha Sriram.

Walker, Susan (1965- )

Woman International Master. She was once married to GM Keith Arkell, She is now married to GM Bogdon Lalic.

Webb, Simon (1949-2005)

British IM. He was stabbed at least 20 times and murdered by his 25-year-old son in his 5^th floor Stockholm apartment. After the attack, his son tried to commit suicide by driving at high speed into a bus stop.

Whitehead, Jay (1961- )

American IM. His brother, Paul (1960- ), is a chess master that took 1^st place at the 1978 American Open.

Wojtkiewicz, Aleksander (1963-2006)

Grandmaster. His father was Polish and his mother, Tamara, was Russian. He had a son, Yosef, with Laima Domarkaite, a Lithuanian.

Wu Shaobin

Grandmaster. He is married to GM Xie Jun.

Wu Xibin

International Master. He is married to WIM Lou Hongyu.

Xie Jun (1970- )

Grandmaster and former world women’s chess champion. She is married to GM Shaobin Wu.

Yanofsky, Daniel Abraham (Abe) (1925-2000)

Canadian Grandmaster. His Jewish father taught him chess. His brother, Harry, was also a master

Yermolinsky, Alex

Grandmaster. He is married to WGM Camilla Baginskaite. They have a son named Edward.

Zhong Zhang (1978- )

Chinese Grandmaster, rated 2667. He is married to WGM Li Ruofan, rated 2433.

Zhu Chen (1976- )

Former world women’s chess champion. She married GM Mohamad al-Modiahki in 1999.

Zhukova, Natalia

International Master. She is dating GM Alexander Grischuk and they may be married.

Zukertort, Johannes (1842-1888)

Zukertort said that his mother was the Baroness Krzyzanovska.