Legendary Lives That The Chess World Lost In 2023

Several important chess personalities passed away in 2023. They include the oldest woman grandmaster, a renowned trainer for a world champion, a prominent chess author and teacher, an avid blitz player, and the oldest living grandmaster. Here are some of the important world legends that we lost in 2023.

• Oldest Woman Grandmaster
• Trainer For Kasparov And Leko
• Chess Author and Teacher
• Avid Blitz Player
• Oldest Living Grandmaster

Oldest Woman Grandmaster: Verica Nedeljkovic

The world’s oldest woman grandmaster, Verica Nedeljkovic, died December 13 last year at age 94. A six-time winner of the Yugoslav Women's Chess Championship, she had five consecutive appearances in the Women's World Chess Championship Candidates Tournaments.

Nedeljkovic also played for Yugoslavia in two Women’s Chess Olympiads and achieved an unparalleled record of winning all 12 games played in 1966. Her superior play challenged the heretofore dominance of Soviet women in chess. For example, she maintained an even score (3.5-3.5) against GM Nona Gaprindashvili, the women's world chess champion from 1962 to 1978. The following win in 1966 in Leningrad is illustrative of her prowess.

In addition to noteworthy chess accomplishments, she also had a remarkable career in research and teaching. After she graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1955, she became Yugoslavia's first female shipbuilding engineer. She later had a distinguished academic career at the University of Belgrade. For more on her life, see her FIDE obituary.

Trainer For Kasparov And Leko: Andras Adorjan

A trainer for GM Garry Kasparov in his world championship matches against GM Anatoly Karpov in the mid-1980s, GM Andras Adorjan (born Andras Jocha) died on May 11 last year at the age of 74 after a long and serious illness.

The Hungarian legend won his first Hungarian Championship in 1973 just before becoming a grandmaster. At the Chess Olympiad of 1978 in Buenos Aires, he helped Hungary win the gold medal and upstage the Soviet team that had won the event 12 consecutive times from 1952 to 1974.

Also a second to fellow Hungarian GM Peter Leko in preparing for his world championship match in 1980 against GM Vladimir Kramnik, Adorjan was an expert on the Grunfeld Defense. He influenced both Kasparov and Leko to play this opening.

Later in his career, Adorjan concentrated on writing and became known for his series of books to champion the opportunities for Black and challenge the perceptions of Black's chances. The annotations in the following game are taken from Adorjan’s book Black Is Still OK!.

The contributions of Adorjan to the chess community are also described by fellow blogger Kamalakanta Nieves in his personal reflections.

Chess Author and Teacher: Jeremy Sillman

Jeremy Silman, an international master and noted chess writer, died on September 21 last year at the age of 69. He was the author of 39 books, mostly on chess but also other topics. He was particularly known for evaluating chess positions for the differences or “imbalances” between the players and encouraged players to “dream” the positions that they would like to achieve. One of his classic games, with his own annotations from 2012, illustrates his desire to dream about such positions as he “maps out territorial gains on the queenside.”

He wrote for several chess publications, and his most popular article on Chess.com is "The Best Chess Books Ever" that still attracts readers with almost half a million views. His books on the endgame in chess are classics. The winner of the U.S. Open, National Open, and American Open pursued other interests related to chess including teaching courses for The Teaching Company in its “Great Courses” series and serving as an advisor to TV shows and movies for their chess scenes. (For more on his life, see his obituary on Chess.com here.)

Avid Blitz Player: Veselin Pantev

Veselin Pantev, an international master, died on December 28, at the age of 52. He was remarkable for his passion for blitz chess and had amassed almost 19,000 games on Chess.com and a blitz high rating of 2731. He was still playing blitz games just before succumbing to cancer. His final blitz win (below) was on December 25.

A prominent member of the Bulgarian chess community and a winner of the Troyan Open, he was the husband of WGM Adriana Nikolova (the Chess.com coach of the month in July 2023). In online fundraising, the chess community contributed more than 7,000 euros to assist the family after his death. For her personal reflections with family photos, see her blog post.

Oldest Living Grandmaster: Aleksandar Matanovic

The oldest living grandmaster, Aleksandar Matanovic, died on August 9 last year in Belgrade at the age of 93. He learned to play chess from his sister when he was six. He won the Yugoslav chess championship three times and was a member of the Yugoslav Olympic team from 1954 to 1978 that won five silver and four bronze medals. He also coached the national team in 1980 that won the final Olympic medal for Yugoslavia.

In 1966, he co-founded Chess Informant, a publishing company that revolutionized how players learned and studied the game. Its publications were a leading source of games and analysis for serious chess players in the time before the internet and chess engines. Its system of codes for classifying chess openings set the international standard for organizing chess information. (For more on his life, see his obituary on Chess.com here.) 

Other Notable Players

Finally, other grandmasters who died in 2023 include the following:

• Vadim Malakhatko, a Ukrainian grandmaster and member of the gold medal-winning Ukrainian team at the 2001 World Team Chess Championship, died on June 5 at the age of 46.
• Nikola Padevsky, a Bulgarian grandmaster who played on the Bulgarian team in 11 Chess Olympiads, died on December 17 at the age of 90.
• Nukhim Rashkovsky, a Russian grandmaster who participated in the Soviet Chess Championship eight times from his first appearance in 1972 until the event's final edition in 1991, died on March 14 at the age of 76.
• Włodzimierz Schmidt, a Polish grandmaster who was national champion seven times and played for Poland 14 times in Chess Olympiads, died on April 1 at the age of 79.
• Luc Winants, a Belgian grandmaster who took part in eight Chess Olympiad tournaments with his national team, died on February 7 at the age of 60.