29 Facts About Miguel Najdorf

Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-Argentine chess grandmaster.

Miguel Najdorf was a leading world player in the 1940s and 1950s, and is known for the Najdorf Variation, one of the most popular chess openings.

At the beginning of his chess career, around 1930, Miguel Najdorf defeated a player believed to be named "Glucksberg" in a famous game often referred to as "The Polish Immortal".

Miguel Najdorf was Jewish, as were two of his teammates, Tartakower and Frydman.

Miguel Najdorf decided to stay and settle in Argentina.

Miguel Najdorf played a record 40 opponents in 1943, and increased the record to 45 in 1947.

Miguel Najdorf set these records in the hope that the news would be reported in Europe and his family would learn of his whereabouts, but they had perished in concentration camps by the time the information arrived.

In September 1939, after the Olympiad, Miguel Najdorf emerged as one of the top players in the chess world.

Miguel Najdorf never succeeded in qualifying for the Candidates again.

Miguel Najdorf did come close in the next cycle, narrowly failing to qualify from the 1955 Interzonal, held at Gothenburg, Sweden.

Miguel Najdorf played in both Piatigorsky Cup tournaments, held in 1963 and 1966.

Miguel Najdorf remained active in chess to the end of his life.

Miguel Najdorf was an exceptional blitz player, remaining a strong player into his 80s.

Miguel Najdorf regarded Capablanca and Fischer as the greatest players of all time.

Miguel Najdorf played eleven times for Argentina in Chess Olympiads from 1950 to 1976.

Miguel Najdorf played first board in the 9th Chess Olympiad at Dubrovnik 1950, as well as at Helsinki 1952, Amsterdam 1954, Moscow 1956, Leipzig 1960, Varna 1962, Havana 1966, Lugano 1968, Siegen 1970, and Haifa 1976.

Miguel Najdorf took eleven Olympic medals: seven for teams Poland and Argentina, and four individuals.

Miguel Najdorf made contributions to the theory and praxis of other openings such as the King's Indian Defense.

Miguel Najdorf was a well-respected chess journalist, who had a popular column in the Buenos Aires Clarin newspaper.

When Miguel Najdorf boarded the ship for the Buenos Aires Olympiad in 1939, Genia was ill with influenza, and chose not to accompany him.

Miguel Najdorf had studied Latin at college, so easily picked up Spanish.

Miguel Najdorf spoke eight languages; in addition to his native Polish and adopted Spanish, he spoke English, Russian, Czech, Serbo-Croat, Dutch, and Yiddish.

Miguel Najdorf describes her father as a mixture of extremes: violent-tempered, but compassionate and loving, selfish at times but generous to a fault, jovial and a bon vivant, but sad because of the terrible losses of the Holocaust.

The family kept the diagnosis secret from her, while Miguel Najdorf consulted the best oncologists in the US to no avail.

Not long after Adela died, Miguel Najdorf married again, to Rita, who had been a widow for 12 years.

Miguel Najdorf had met Rita and her husband Jacobo, a socialist attorney and keen chess player, soon after he arrived in Argentina.

Rita later developed Alzheimer's disease, and Miguel Najdorf became physically frailer.

In 1996, Miguel Najdorf had a serious heart attack in Seville, which required a pacemaker insert.

Miguel Najdorf went to the hospital, and she recognized him despite her Alzheimer's, and begged him to take her home, while he kissed her tenderly.