Hate the
Game…

Chess will ruin your everything. Your mood, your evening, your relationship and occasionally your self-esteem. Hate it all you like. But not the players. Not the champs, or the prophets, nor the hustlers, the artists, the magicians, or those who never got a statue. Without them there wouldn’t be us. Here’s our ongoing, and never finished list:

Meet the
players.

001. Robert ‘Bobby’ Fischer

Black and white illustration of Bobby Fischer with slicked-back hair, serious expression, wearing a suit and tie. Text in the upper left corner reads "The Board 001: Bobby." 
1943 - 2008

Bobby Fischer was always chasing the truth—tried to eat it! Each game was a position he’d already totally absorbed. But in the end, the game ate him.

002. José Raúl Capablanca

Black and white illustration of a man with slicked-back hair, wearing a suit and tie, on a black background. Text reads 'The Board 002: José' in the upper left corner. 
1888 - 1942

Capablanca didn’t calculate — he just removed options. Once said he could beat any amateur blindfolded. No one dared test it.

003. Anatoly Karpov

Black and white digital illustration of a person with medium-length hair, wearing a suit and tie, with a serious expression on their face. 
1951 - present

Played like water finds a crack (Look up: ‘24. Ba7!!’). World Champion for a decade. Karpov never needed brilliance — just inevitability.

004. Mikhail Tal

Black and white illustrated portrait of Mikhail tal, with the text "The Board 004: Mikhail" in the top left corner. 
1936 - 1992

Tal laughed in the face of the game and attacked how others breathe —with dangerous ease. Once won a championship with pieces hanging 17 times.

Black and white illustration of a woman with long, wavy hair looking to the side, with text 'The Board 005: Judit' in the top left corner.

005. Judit Polgár

1976 - present

Judit didn’t just play into theory — she rewrote where it ends. She is the first woman to break the world top 10. And stay there for many years.

006. Marcel Duchamp

Black and white illustrated portrait of Marcel Duchamp with slicked-back hair, wearing a suit and tie, with text in the top left corner reading "The Board 006: Marcel." 
1887 - 1968

After checkmating the art world with a urinal, Duchamp moved on to harder opposition at (amongst others) Four chess Olympiads(!)

Black and white illustration of Stanley Kubrick with unkempt hair and a beard, looking to his left.

007. Stanley Kubrick

1928 - 1999

Before he made his early films, Kubrick hustled chess to fund them. He never stopped playing, and on set he rarely lost. Just ask George C. Scott.

008. Vladimir Nabokov

Black and white illustration of a man with slicked-back hair, partly wearing a suit and tie, with a serious expression, set against a solid black background. Text in the top left corner reads "The Board 008: Vladimir." 
1899 - 1977

Not only wrote The Defense (maybe planet earth’s finest chess novel) he composed the most beautiful chess problems in between chapters.

009. Sergei Prokofiev

1891 - 1953

At twenty-three, the composer of Peter and the Wolf beat Capablanca in a simul. He played seriously all his life. The music was sharp for a reason.

010. Humphrey Bogart

Black and white illustration of Humphrey from The Twilight Zone series, with a serious expression, dressed in a suit and tie. 
1899 - 1957

Bogey learned the game hustling in New York parks. He later held grandmaster Reshevsky to a draw. Film was his day job, chess the part he took seriously.

Black and white illustration of a man with glasses, furrowed brow, and a serious expression, with text "The Board 011: Vladimir" in the top left corner.

011. Vladimir Kramnik

1975 - present

Vladimir built a wall in Berlin even Garri couldn’t get through. Took the title without losing a game, then spent his retirement accusing everyone else of cheating.

012. Nona Gaprindashvili

Black and white illustration of a woman with short hair, looking to the side. 
1941 - present

Sixteen years women’s world champion. First woman ever to be named GM. Netflix celeb. And the reason Georgian women teams were reigning for over three decades.

Black and white digital illustration of a woman with glasses, medium-length hair, and a serious expression, wearing a blazer and a collared shirt.

013. Pia Cramling

1963 - present

Pia won Olympiad gold on board one in 1984, and again in 2022. In between, she became world number one among women and GM. 38 years apart: same result.

014. Viswanathan Anand

Black and white illustration of Vishal, a young man with glasses, short dark hair, wearing a collared shirt and blazer, facing slightly to the right. 
1969 - present

Vishy became India’s first GM in 1988. Went on to become the last world champion before The Goat. Today India has GM’s growin’ on trees. But all grew up watching Anand.

Black and white illustration of a man with disheveled hair, a mustache, and a goatee, wearing a patterned shirt.

015. Hikaru Nakamura

1987 - present

At 15, Hikaru broke Fischer's record as youngest American GM. Became the first elite player to be a real ‘streamer’ and has been adding Hikarisms to chess lingo ever since.

016. Manuel Bosboom

1963 - present

Bosboom is the type of underdog-savant who plays 1.a4 … 2.h4 and wins with a smile on his face. Not just in da club: ask Kasparov. Or Leko (only lasted 26 moves!)