Andre Lilienthal News Today

Take a look at this picture. It is not a Hollywood star, but a chess celebrity. Can you recognize him? Capablanca, Nezhmetdinov, Frank Marshall? No, not any of them! The answer is Andor Lilienthal, an extraordinary chess grandmaster, born in Moscow, but moved to Hungary. In his career, he played against ten world champions, and defeated six of them. Retrospect by Himank Ghosh. | Photo: Edward Winter's Chess Notes archives.

Early this year GM Yuri Averbakh turned 100 and set a world record. He became the oldest ever grandmaster in chess history. Sadly, he passed away in May. Averbakh led a rich and extraordinary life that he narrated himself in his autobiography, "Centre-stage and Behind the Scenes". In the series here our columnist draws on this important work and also explains much that was left unsaid. | Photo: Averbakh at the match USA vs. USSR, New York City, 1954 (via D. Griffith)