JEWISH CHESS PLAYERS

JINFO.ORG

GM = Grandmaster (same as the former title IGM: International Grandmaster)
WGM = Women's Grandmaster


SHORT LIST
  • Semyon Alapin
  • Yuri Averbakh
  • Alexander Belyavsky
  • Ossip Bernstein
  • Arthur Bisguier
  • Isaak Boleslavsky
  • Mikhail Botvinnik
  • David Bronstein
  • Rudolph Charousek
  • Reuben Fine
  • Robert (Bobby) Fischer 7
  • Salo Flohr
  • Semyon Furman
  • Boris Gelfand
  • Efim Geller
  • Isidor Gunsberg
  • David Janowski
  • Garry Kasparov 9
  • Ignatz von Kolisch
  • George Koltanowski
  • Viktor Korchnoi 10
  • Emanuel Lasker
  • Andrei Lilienthal
  • Miguel Najdorf
  • Ian Nepomniachtchi
  • Aron Nimzowitsch
  • Judit Polgar
  • Lev Polugaevsky
  • Samuel Reshevsky
  • Richard Réti
  • Akiba Rubinstein
  • Rudolf Spielmann
  • Leonid Stein
  • Wilhelm Steinitz
  • Peter Svidler
  • László Szabó
  • Mark Taimanov
  • Mikhail Tal
  • Siegbert Tarrasch
  • Saviely Tartakover
  • Simon Winawer
  • Johannes Zukertort
LONG LIST
  • Gerald Abrahams 1
  • Yochanan Afek 17 [GM/Composition]
  • Semyon Alapin 1, 5, 6
  • Lev Alburt 2, 3 [GM]
  • Aaron (Albert) Alexandre 1, 5
  • Boris Alterman 17 [GM]
  • Levon Aronian 22 [GM]
  • Lev Aronin 2, 4
  • Yuri Averbakh 1, 2, 4 [GM]
  • Boris Avrukh 17 [GM]
  • Valery Beim 17 [GM]
  • Alexander Belyavsky 2 [GM]
  • Joel Benjamin 3, 13 [GM]
  • Hans Berliner 13
  • Ossip Bernstein 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Arthur Bisguier 3, 4 [GM]
  • Benjamin Blumenfeld 2
  • Mark Bluvshtein 17 [GM]
  • Jacobo Bolbochan 4
  • Julio Bolbochan 4 [GM]
  • Isaak Boleslavsky 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Mikhail Botvinnik 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Julius (Gyula) Breyer 1
  • Vladimir Bron 1, 2, 4
  • David Bronstein 1, 2, 4 [GM]
  • Victor Buerger 1
  • Avigdor Bykhovsky 2 [GM]
  • Horatio Caro 23
  • Rudolph Charousek 1, 4, 5
  • Vitali Chekhover 2
  • Irving Chernev 3
  • Erich Cohn 1
  • Wilhelm Cohn 5
  • Moshe Czerniak 1, 4
  • Arnold Denker 1, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Nathan Divinsky 6
  • Maxim Dlugy 2, 3 [GM]
  • Iosif Dorfman 2 [GM]
  • Arthur Dunkelblum 1, 4
  • Semyon Dvoiris 2 [GM]
  • Mark Dvoretsky 2
  • Roman Dzindzichashvili 2 [GM]
  • Vereslav Eingorn 2 [GM]
  • Berthold Englisch 1, 4, 5
  • Esther Epstein 2
  • Sergey Erenburg 17 [GM]
  • Yakov Estrin 2 [GM]
  • Larry Evans 3, 4 [GM]
  • Ernst Falkbeer 1, 5
  • Stephan Fazekas 1, 4
  • Reuben Fine 1, 3, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Alexander Finkel 17 [GM]
  • Robert (Bobby) Fischer 7, 1, 3, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Salo Flohr 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Paulino Frydman 1, 4
  • Semyon Furman 2, 4 [GM]
  • Boris Gelfand 2 [GM]
  • Efim Geller 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Erno Gereben 1
  • Alik Gershon 17 [GM]
  • Leonid Gofshtein 17 [GM]
  • Alexander Goldin 2 [GM]
  • Vitali Golod 17 [GM]
  • Harry Golombek 1
  • Alon Greenfeld 17 [GM]
  • Gisela Gresser 4
  • Yehuda Gruenfeld 17 [GM]
  • Eduard Gufeld 2, 4 [GM]
  • Boris Gulko 2, 3 [GM]
  • Isidor Gunsberg 1, 4, 6
  • Dmitry Gurevich 2  [GM]
  • Ilya Gurevich 2 [GM]
  • Mikhail Gurevich 2 [GM]
  • Abram Gurvich 1
  • Lev Gutman 2 [GM]
  • Vitaly Halberstadt 2
  • Daniel Harrwitz 1, 4, 5
  • William Hartston 4
  • Ronen Har-Zvi 17 [GM]
  • Robert Hess [GM]
  • Leopold Hoffer 1, 5
  • Israel (I. A.) Horowitz 1, 4
  • Bernhard Horwitz 1, 5
  • Alexander Huzman 17 [GM]
  • David Janowski 1, 4, 5, 6
  • Max Judd 8
  • Gregory Kaidanov 2 [GM]
  • Ilya Kan 1, 2, 4
  • Boris Kantsler 17 [GM]
  • Julio Kaplan 1, 4 [GM]
  • Isaac Kashdan 1, 3, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Garry Kasparov 9, 2, 3, 6 [GM]
  • Alexander Khalifman 2  [GM]
  • Ernest Klein 1
  • Gyula Kluger 4
  • Artur Kogan 17 [GM]
  • Ignatz von Kolisch 1, 4, 5, 6
  • George Koltanowski 1, 4 [GM]
  • Imre König 1, 4
  • Viktor Korchnoi 10, 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Yona Kosashvili 17 [GM]
  • Boris Kostić 1 [GM]
  • Yair Kraidman17 [GM]
  • Michal Krasenkow 24 [GM]
  • Sergey Kudrin 2 [GM]
  • Abraham Kupchik 1, 6
  • Alla Kushnir 2, 4, 6 [WGM]
  • Salo Landau 1, 6
  • Edward Lasker 1, 4
  • Emanuel Lasker 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 [GM]
  • Anatoly Lein 2, 4  [GM]
  • Konstantin Lerner 2   [GM]
  • Ronen Lev 17 [GM]
  • Grigory Levenfish 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Irina Levitina 2, 4, 6 [WGM]
  • Vladimir Liberzon 2, 4 [GM]
  • Andrei Lilienthal 1, 2, 4 [GM]
  • Samuel Lipschütz 5
  • Eran Liss 17 [GM]
  • Johann Löwenthal 1, 4, 5
  • Moshe Lowtzky 6
  • Ilan Manor 17 [GM]
  • Jonathan Mestel 14 [GM]
  • Victor Michalevski 17 [GM]
  • Jacques Mieses 1, 4, 5 [GM]
  • Vadim Milov 18 [GM]
  • Jacob Murey 17 [GM]
  • Miguel Najdorf 1, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Daniel Naroditsky 26 [GM]
  • Ian Nepomniachtchi 25 [GM]
  • Aron Nimzowitsch 1, 2, 4, 6
  • Michael Oratovsky 17 [GM]
  • Sam (Semion) Palatnik 2 [GM]
  • Julius Perlis
  • Nikita Plaksin 2
  • Ernest Pogosyants 2
  • Judit Polgar 6 [GM]
  • Sofia Polgar 6 [WGM]
  • Susan Polgar 6 [GM]
  • Lev Polugaevsky 2, 4, 5, 6 [GM]
  • Moritz Porges 5
  • Evgeny Postny 17 [GM]
  • David Przepiórka 6
  • Lev Psakhis 2, 17 [GM]
  • Abram Rabinovich 2
  • Ilya Rabinovich 2
  • Teimour Radjabov 20 [GM]
  • Naum (Nukhim) Rashkovsky 2 [GM]
  • Gad Rechlis 17 [GM]
  • Fred Reinfeld 1, 3
  • Samuel Reshevsky 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Richard Réti 1, 4, 6
  • Isaac Rice 1, 5, 11 
  • Maxim Rodshtein 17 [GM]
  • Kenneth Rogoff [GM]
  • Michael Rohde 3 [GM]
  • Michael Roiz 17 [GM]
  • Samuel Rosenthal 5
  • Georg (Gersh) Rotlewi 2
  • Eduardus Rozentalis 2 [GM]
  • Akiba Rubinstein 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Efim Rukhlis 2
  • Georg Salwe 2, 6
  • Gabriel Schwartzman  [GM]
  • Samuel Schweber 1, 4
  • Grigory Serper 2 [GM]
  • Tal Shaked  [GM]
  • Leonid Shamkovich 2 [GM]
  • Miron Sher 2 [GM]
  • Alexandr Shneider 2 [GM]
  • Eliahu Shvidler 17
  • Jeremy Silman
  • Ilya Smirin 2, 17 [GM]
  • Ram Soffer 17 [GM]
  • Gennady Sosonko 2 [GM]
  • Jonathan Speelman 14 [GM]
  • Rudolf Spielmann 1, 4
  • Michael Stean 14 [GM]
  • Leonid Stein 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Endre Steiner 15
  • Herman Steiner 1, 4
  • Lajos Steiner 1, 4
  • Wilhelm Steinitz 1, 3, 4, 5, 6
  • Emil Sutovsky 17 [GM]
  • Peter Svidler  2 [GM]
  • László Szabó 1, 19 [GM]
  • Mark Taimanov 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • Mikhail Tal 1, 2, 4, 6 [GM]
  • James Tarjan 21 [GM]
  • Siegbert Tarrasch 1, 4, 5, 6 [GM]
  • Saviely Tartakover 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 [GM]
  • Mark Tseitlin 17 [GM]
  • Mikhail Tseitlin 2 [GM]
  • Anatoly Vaisser 2 [GM]
  • Boris Verlinsky 2
  • Vladimir Vuković 1, 4
  • Max Weiss 1, 5
  • Michael Wilder 3 [GM]
  • Simon Winawer 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
  • Heinrich Wolf 6
  • Daniel Yanofsky 1, 4 [GM]
  • Leonid Yudasin 2, 17 [GM]
  • Mikhail Yudovich 1, 2, 4
  • Gennady Zaichik 2 [GM]
  • Dov Zifroni 17 [GM]
  • Yaacov Zilberman 17 [GM]
  • Dan Zoler 17
  • Johannes Zukertort 16, 1, 4, 5, 6
NOTES
1. See Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 5 (Keter, Jerusalem, 1972, pp. 401-410).
2. See http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/rje_a.htm.
3. See Jewish-American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia, edited by Jack Fischel and Sanford Pinsker (Garland, New York, NY, 1992, pp. 83-85).
4. See The Jewish Lists, by Martin Greenberg (Schocken, New York, 1979, pp. 210-214).
5. See The Jewish Encyclopedia (Funk and Wagnalls, New York and London, 1903, pp. 16-21).
6. See Jewish Chess Masters on Stamps, by Felix Berkovich  (McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2000).
7. According to FBI files unsealed in 2002 and other independent archival sources, Bobby Fischer's biological father was not the German physicist Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, as previously supposed, but rather the Hungarian-Jewish  fluid dynamicist Paul Nemenyi, making both of his parents Jewish.  See "Life is not a Board Game," by Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 8 February, 2003.  Additional information can be found in Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Exraordinary Chess Match of All Time, by David Edmonds and John Eidinow (HarperCollins, New York, 2004, pp. 313-321).  This reference, incidentally, states (p. 39) that Boris Spassky told its authors that there is "no truth" to the widely reported claim that his mother was Jewish.
8. See The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography: Volume One, edited by Jacob Rader Marcus and Judith M. Daniels (Carlson Publishing, Brooklyn, NY, 1994, p. 304).
9. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
10. "Of mainly Jewish descent"; see The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, edited by Gershon David Hundert  (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2008, Vol. 1, p. 316).
11. See The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography: Volume Two, edited by Jacob Rader Marcus and Judith M. Daniels (Carlson Publishing, Brooklyn, NY, 1994, p. 513).
13. JEWHOO.com.
14. Jewish Chronicle (London, 16 August 1985, p.1).
15. Brother of Lajos Steiner.
16. There are many conflicting stories in circulation concerning Johannes Zukertort's background.  A Polish language biography, Arcymistrz z Lublina (Grandmaster from Lublin: Truth and Legend about Johannes Hermann Zukertort), by Cezary Domanski and Tomasz Lissowski (Wydawnictwo Szachowe "Penelopa," Warsaw, 2002), makes it clear, however, that Zukertort was the product of an apostate Polish-Jewish family.  Zukertort’s father, Jakub (or Yankel) Ezechil Cukertordt (or Cukiertort), was a missionary in the employ of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, according to William Thomas Gidney's history of the Society.  Domanski and Lissowski report on p. 16 of their book that Jakub Cukiertort converted from Judaism to Christianity on August 28, 1831.  JRI-Poland (Jewish Records Indexing – Poland) contains a record of the 1833 divorce of Jakub Ezechil Cukertordt and his first wife, Etla (or Etty) Cukertordt (née Margules or Margulis).  Etla has been mistakenly identified as the mother of Johannes, who was born nearly a decade after her divorce from Zukertort's father.  Domanski and Lissowski report on pp. 19-20 that shortly after the divorce, Jakub married another convert, Pauline Heilbronn, who would become Johannes’ mother. The Baroness Krzyzanowska as Zukertort's supposed mother is pure fantasy.
17. Israeli.
18. Former Israeli GM, presently Swiss.
19. See Ismerjük''oket?: zsidó származású nevezetes magyarok arcképcsarnoka, by István Reményi Gyenes (Ex Libris, Budapest, 1997, p. 192).
20. Jewish father (Boris Sheinin), non-Jewish mother.
21. Son of Dr. George Tarjan, 112th President of the American Psychiatric Association, who "was raised in an intellectual, liberal Jewish family" in Hungary, where his parents and younger brother Endre perished in the Holocaust; see obituary in the American Journal of Psychiatry  (150:5, May 1993, pp. 691-694).
22. Jewish father (Grigory Aronov), non-Jewish mother.
23. Buried in East Ham Jewish Cemetery; see http://www.theus.org.uk/gravesearch.
24. See Learn from Michal Krasenkow, by Michal Krasenkow (Thinkers Publishing, Belgium, 2019, pp. 9, 12).
25. See 2021 article in the Guardian: "Nepomniachtchi sets up World Chess Championship date with Carlsen."
26. See here and here.


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