58 American chess writers

Jude Frazier Acers is a chess master, showman, and chess author/writer.

Lev Osipovich Alburt is a chess Grandmaster, writer and coach. He was born in Orenburg, Russia, and became three-time Ukrainian Champion. After defecting to the United States in 1979, he became three-time U.S. Champion.

Maurice Ashley is a Jamaican-American chess grandmaster, author, and commentator. In 1999 he earned the grandmaster title (GM), making him the first black person to attain the title of grandmaster.

Todd Bardwick, is an American author, chess teacher, and US National Chess Master from Denver, Colorado. He was recognized by the United States Chess Federation with the highest lifetime title for a chess teacher, Professional Chess Coach, for his lifetime work running the Rocky Mountain Chess Camp through the Denver Chess Academy continuously since 1995.

Pal Benko was a Hungarian-American chess player, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.

Arthur Bernard Bisguier was an American chess grandmaster, chess promoter, and writer.

Robert Eugene Byrne was an American chess grandmaster and chess author. He won the U.S. Championship in 1972, and was a World Chess Championship Candidate in 1974. Byrne represented the United States nine times in Chess Olympiads from 1952 to 1976 and won seven medals. He was the chess columnist from 1972 to 2006 for The New York Times, which ran his final column on November 12, 2006. Byrne worked as a university professor for many years, before becoming a chess professional in the early 1970s.

Hartwig Cassel was a chess journalist, editor and promoter in Great Britain and the United States of America.

Larry Mark Christiansen is an American chess player of Danish ancestry. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1977. Christiansen was the U.S. champion in 1980, 1983, and 2002. He competed in the FIDE World Championship in 1998 and 2002, and in the FIDE World Cup in 2013.

John William "Jack" Collins was an American chess master, author, and teacher.

William Cornwall is an American chess coach, educator, and journalist best known for his long-running weekly chess column, "Chess: A Knight's Tour".

Arnold Sheldon Denker was an American chess player and author. He was U.S. champion in 1944 and 1946. In later years he served in various chess organizations, receiving recognition from the United States Chess Federation, including in 2004 the highest honor, "Dean of American Chess".

William John Donaldson is an American chess player, author, journalist and chess official. He was awarded the title of International Master by FIDE in 1983. Donaldson was captain of the US team in six Chess Olympiads from 1986 to 1996.

Larry Melvyn Evans was an American chess grandmaster, author, and journalist. He won or shared the U.S. Chess Championship five times and the U.S. Open Chess Championship four times. He wrote a long-running syndicated chess column and wrote or co-wrote more than twenty books on chess.

John Peter Fedorowicz is an American International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer from The Bronx, New York.

Reuben C. Fine was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mid 1930s until his retirement from chess in 1951. He was granted the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, when titles were introduced.

Benjamin Philip Finegold is an American chess grandmaster.

Robert James Fischer was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion.

Daniel Willard Fiske was an American librarian and scholar, born on November 11, 1831, at Ellisburg, New York.

Benjamin Franklin was a British American polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a leading writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Susanna (Sonja) Graf was a German and American chess player. She was a women's world championship runner-up and a two-time U.S. women's champion.

Hermann Helms was an American chess player, writer, and promoter. He is a member of the United States Chess Hall of Fame, organized as part of the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Asa Hoffmann is a FIDE Master in chess, chess teacher and author from the United States of America. He is known as "the sparring partner of champions". His peak regular USCF rating is 2471, his peak quick rating is 2515 and his peak blitz rating is 2414.

Israel Albert Horowitz was an American International Master of chess. He is most remembered today for the books he wrote about chess. In 1989 he was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Charles Jaffé (Jaffe) was a Belarusian-American chess master and chess writer.

Isaac Kashdan was an American chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was twice U.S. Open champion. He played five times for the United States in chess Olympiads, winning a total of nine medals, and his Olympiad record is the all-time best among American players.

Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek is a Czech-American chess player. He was awarded both the International Master and International Grandmaster titles by FIDE in 1965. He won two Czechoslovak and three U.S. championships, and was ranked as the world's no. 10 player in 1974. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2001. Kavalek is also a chess coach, organizer, teacher, commentator, author and award-winning columnist.

Johann "Hans" Joseph Kmoch was an Austrian-American chess player, chess journalist and author, for which he is best known. He was awarded the title of International Master in 1950 at its inauguration and in 1951, he also received the title of International Arbiter.

George Koltanowski was a Belgian-born American chess player, promoter, and writer. He was informally known as "Kolty". Koltanowski set the world's blindfold record on 20 September 1937, in Edinburgh, by playing 34 chess games simultaneously while blindfolded, making headline news around the world. He also set a record in 1960 for playing 56 consecutive blindfold games at ten seconds per move.

Daniel Kopec was an American chess International Master, author, and computer science professor at Brooklyn College.

Edward Lasker was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author of books on Go, chess and checkers. Born in Germany, he emigrated to the United States in 1914. He was distantly related to Chess World Champion Emanuel Lasker with whom he is sometimes confused.

Samuel (Sml) or Salomon (Slm) Lipschütz was a chess player and author. He was chess champion of the United States from 1892 to 1894.

William James Joseph Lombardy was an American chess grandmaster, chess writer, teacher, and former Catholic priest. He was one of the leading American chess players during the 1950s and 1960s, and a contemporary of Bobby Fischer, whom he coached during the World Chess Championship 1972. He won the World Junior Championship in 1957, the only person to win that tournament with a perfect score. Lombardy led the U.S. Student Team to Gold in the 1960 World Student Team Championship in Leningrad.

Samuel Loyd, was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician. Loyd was born in Philadelphia but raised in New York City.

George Henry Mackenzie was a Scottish-born American chess master.

Napoleon Marache was born in France and moved to the United States at around 12 years of age. He learned the game of chess around 1844, and immediately became a devotee. He began composing chess problems and writing about chess the following year. In the mid-19th century, he was both one of America's first chess journalists and one of its leading players. In 1866, he published Marache's Manual of Chess, which was one of the country's first books on chess, and also one of its first books on backgammon. He is perhaps best known today for having lost a famous game to Paul Morphy.

Frank James Marshall was the U.S. Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936, and one of the world's strongest chess players in the early part of the 20th century.

James Mason was an Irish-born British-American chess player, journalist and writer, who became one of the world's best half-dozen players in the 1880s. Mason was ranked the number 1 player in the world during 11 separate months between August 1877 and June 1878.

Edmar John Mednis was a Latvian-American chess player and writer of Latvian origin. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1980.

Hugh Edward Myers was an American chess master and author. He won or tied for first in the state chess championships of Illinois (1951), Wisconsin (1955), Missouri (1962), and Iowa (1983), as well as the USCF Region VIII championship (1983). He played first board for the Dominican Republic in the 1968 and 1976 Chess Olympiads.

Daniel Naroditsky is an American chess grandmaster. He has been a published chess author since age 14.

Bruce Pandolfini is an American chess author, teacher, and coach. A USCF national master, he is generally considered to be America's most experienced chess teacher. As a coach and trainer, Pandolfini has possibly conducted more chess sessions than anyone in the world. By the summer of 2015 he had given an estimated 25,000 private and group lessons. Pandolfini's playing career ended in 1970 after a loss to Grandmaster Larry Evans at the National Open in Las Vegas in 1970. After his final tournament game, his official USCF rating was 2241.

John (Jack) Peters is an American International Master of chess. He currently teaches at University of Southern California, and is known for his weekly Los Angeles Times chess column which ran from September 19, 1982 to November 28, 2010.

Susan Polgar is a Hungarian and American chess player. Polgár was Women's World Champion from 1996 to 1999.

Samuel Herman Reshevsky was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid 1930s to the mid 1960s: he tied for third place in the 1948 World Chess Championship tournament, and tied for second in the 1953 Candidates Tournament. He was an eight-time winner of the US Chess Championship, tying him with Bobby Fischer for the all-time record.

Anthony Saidy is an International Master of chess, a retired physician and author. He competed eight times in the U.S. Chess Championship, with his highest placement being 4th. He won the 1960 Canadian Open Chess Championship. The same year, he played on the U.S. Team in the World Student Team Championship in Leningrad, USSR. The U.S. team won the World Championship, the only time the U.S. has ever won that event.

Donald Schultz was a president and a vice-president of the United States Chess Federation (USCF). He was elected vice-president on August 14, 2005. He was defeated by the Susan Polgar-Paul Truong slate when he ran for re-election in July, 2007. He was a rated chess expert.

Yasser Seirawan is an American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author and commentator.

Jennifer Shahade is an American chess player, poker player, commentator and writer. She is a two-time United States Women's Champion and has the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster. Shahade is the author of the books Chess Bitch and Play Like a Girl and co-author of Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess. She is the Women's Program Director at US Chess, MindSports Ambassador for PokerStars and a board member of the World Chess Hall of Fame in Saint Louis.

Jeremy Silman is an American International Master of chess and writer. He has won the American Open, the National Open, and the U.S. Open, and was the coach of the US junior national chess team.

Samuel Howard Sloan is an American perennial candidate and former broker-dealer. In 1978, he was the last non-lawyer to argue a case pro se before the United States Supreme Court before the court prohibited non-lawyers from arguing cases before them in 2013.

Raymond Merrill Smullyan was an American mathematician, magician, concert pianist, logician, Taoist, and philosopher.

Andrew Eden Soltis is an American chess grandmaster, author and columnist. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in September 2011.

Herman Steiner was a United States chess player, organizer, and columnist. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 1948 and became International Master in 1950. Even more important than his playing career were his efforts promoting chess in the U.S., particularly on the West Coast. An exemplar of the Romantic School of chess, Steiner was a successor to the American chess tradition of Paul Morphy, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, and Frank Marshall.

Theophilus Augustus Thompson is the earliest documented African-American chess expert recognized in the United States. In addition to competing in tournaments, he wrote a book Chess Problems: Either to Play and Mate published in 1873.

Joshua Waitzkin is an American chess player, martial arts competitor, and author. As a child, he was recognized as a prodigy, and won the U.S. Junior Chess championship in 1993 and 1994. The film Searching for Bobby Fischer is based on his early life.

John Leonard Watson is a chess International Master and author.

Norman Tweed Whitaker was an American International Master of chess, a lawyer, a civil servant, and a chess author. He was convicted of several crimes, was disbarred from the practice of law, and served several terms in prison. His most infamous criminal escapade was a confidence trick involving the Lindbergh kidnapping in 1932.