Chessdiagonals presents the 100 greatest players of the 20th century

Hall of Fame of the 100 strongest chess players of the 20th century
(in chronological birth order from Chigorin to Svidler and Judit Polgar)

The 100 greatest players of the 20th century sorted by decades (year of birth chronology):

Chigorin 1850

Tarrasch 1862, Mieses 1865, Janowski 1868, Teichmann 1868, Em. Lasker 1868

Maroczy 1870, Pillsbury 1872, Schlechter 1874, Marshall 1877

Rubinstein 1880, Bernstein 1882, Duras 1882, Spielmann 1883, Vidmar sr. 1885, Nimzowitsch 1886, Tartakower 1887, Capablanca 1888, Levenfish 1889, Bogoljubov 1889, Réti 1889
(11 players in the 1880s)

Alekhine 1892, Breyer 1893, Grünfeld 1893, Colle 1897, Kostic 1897

Euwe 1901, Kashdan 1905, Torre Repetto 1905, Mir Sultan Khan 1905, Menchik 1906, Stahlberg 1908, Flohr 1908

Najdorf 1910, Lilienthal 1911, O'Kelly de Galway 1911, Botvinnik 1911, Reshevsky 1911, Nezhmetdinov 1912, Eliskases 1913, Kotov 1913, Fine 1914, Keres 1916, Szabo 1917, Boleslavsky 1919
(12 players in the 1910s)

Ju. Bolbochan 1920, Smyslov 1921, Averbakh 1922, Gligoric 1923, Bronstein 1924, Pachman 1924, Geller 1925, Kholmov 1925, Unzicker 1925, Taimanov 1926, Donner 1926, Petrosian 1929
(12 players in the 1920s)

Korchnoi 1931, Ivkov 1933, Stein 1934, Polugaevsky 1934, F. Olafsson 1935, Larsen 1935, Panno 1935, Uhlmann 1935, Tal 1936, Spassky 1937, Portisch 1937
(11 players in the 1930s)

Fischer 1943, Hort 1944, Hübner 1948, Browne 1949 (only 2 players within ten years between 1938 and 1947)

Ljubojevic 1950, Andersson 1951, Karpov 1951, Vaganian 1951, Torre 1951, Timman 1951, Mecking 1952, Beliavsky 1953, Miles 1955, Nunn 1955, Speelman 1956
(11 players in the 1950s)

Jussupow 1960, Seirawan 1960, Kasparov 1963, Salov 1964, Short 1965, Gelfand 1968, Piket 1969, Ivanchuk 1969, Anand 1969

Adams 1971, Shirov 1972, Lautier 1973, Kamsky 1974, Topalov 1975, Kramnik 1975, Svidler 1976, J. Polgar 1976

 
Note: Although any period of ten years is a decade, a convenient and frequently referenced interval is based on the tens digit of a calendar year, as in using "1960s" to represent the decade from 1960 to 1969. For brevity, quite often only the tens part is mentioned (60s or sixties), although this may leave it uncertain which century is meant. These references are frequently used to encapsulate popular culture or other social widespread phenomena that dominated such a decade, for instance as in The Great Depression of the 1930s.

Because the common calendar starts with year 1, its first  full decade is the years one to ten, the second  decade from 11 to 20, etc. So although the "1960s" comprises the years 1960 to 1969, the "197th decade" Anno Domini spans the years 1961 to 1970!

A decade may also refer to an arbitrary span of ten years. For example, the statement "during his last decade, Mozart explored chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time", merely refers to the last ten years of Mozart's life without regard to which calendar years are encompassed.

The term decade often conjures not just a set of ten years but a distinct era roughly approximating those plus/minus ten years, with typical things going on at the time. (Wikipedia)

Strongest single year’s issue

1951: five players (Andersson, Karpov, Vaganian, Torre, Timman in order of birth)

1935: four players (F. Olafsson, Larsen, Panno, Uhlmann in order of birth)

1911: four players (Lilienthal, O'Kelly de Galway, Botvinnik, Reshevsky in order of birth)

Three Top-Players in a row from the same country

England (Miles, Nunn, Speelman)
 

Soviet Hegemony

Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908) was the first great Russian player who influenced the subsequent Soviet School of Chess, which dominated the chess world in the latter half of the 20th century – with Schiffers and Alapin, rising Alexander Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubov, Grigory Levenfish, Andor Lilienthal or Petrovs, the few Russian/Soviet player of a true GM strength after first World War.

Recapitulation

Hall of Fame of the players of the 20th century, *born* in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (in fact, more than one-third of the 100 greatest players!):

Chigorin 1850
(Janowski 1868)
(Nimzowitsch 1886)
(Tartakower 1887)
Levenfish 1889
(Bogoljubov 1889)
(Alekhine 1892)
(Lilienthal 1911)

Botvinnik 1911, Nezhmetdinov 1912, Kotov 1913, (Keres 1916), Boleslavsky 1919

Smyslov 1921, Averbakh 1922, Bronstein 1924, Geller 1925, Kholmov 1925, Taimanov 1926, Petrosian 1929

Korchnoi 1931, Stein 1934, Polugaevsky 1934, (Tal 1936), Spassky 1937

--  (none in the 1940s)  --

Karpov 1951, Vaganian 1951, Beliavsky 1953

Jussupow 1960, Kasparov 1963, Salov 1964, Gelfand 1968, Ivanchuk 1969

Shirov 1972, Kamsky 1974, Kramnik 1975, Svidler 1976

plus Vera Menchik 1906 (born in Moscow, British-Czechoslovak-Russian chess player who gained renown as the world's first and longtime women's chess champion, killed as reigning World Chess Championne on 27 June 1944 with her sister and their mother in a Nazi German bomb attack)

Note: Salomon (Salo) Flohr was born 1908 in Horodenka in Galicia, then part of Austria-Hungary (now Ukrainian). He and his brother were orphaned during World War I after their parents were killed in a massacre, and they fled to the newly formed nation of Czechoslovakia (declaration of independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918), Flohr settled in Prague. The German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938 had left Flohr, as a Polish-Ukrainian Jew, in grave personal danger. Flohr remained in the Netherlands in early 1939, after World War II broke out, he and his family fled to Sweden, and then to Moscow, USSR with the help of his friend Botvinnik, Flohr became a naturalized Soviet citizen in 1942.

Further great chess nations of the 20th century (with players in the all-time Top 100)

USA: Pillsbury, Marshall, Kashdan, Reshevsky, Fine, Fischer, Browne, Seirawan, Kamsky

German Empire: Tarrasch, Mieses, Teichmann, Em. Lasker, Bogoljubov
Germany: Pachman, Unzicker, Uhlmann, Hort, Hübner, Jussupow

Great Britain, England: Mieses, Menchik, Miles, Nunn, Speelman, Short, Adams

France: Janowski, Bernstein, Tartakower, Alekhine, Spassky, Lautier

Hungary: Maroczy, Breyer, Lilienthal, Szabo, Portisch, J. Polgar

Czechoslovakia: Duras, Réti, Menchik, Flohr, Pachman, Hort

Yugoslavia, Serbia: Kostic, Gligoric, Ivkov, Ljubojevic
Yugoslavia, Slovenia: Vidmar sr., Beliavsky

Argentina: Najdorf, Eliskases, Ju. Bolbochan, Panno

Netherlands: Euwe, Donner, Timman, Piket

Austria: Schlechter, Spielmann, Grünfeld, Eliskases

Poland: Janowski, Rubinstein, Tartakower, Najdorf

Latvia: Nimzowitsch, Tal, Shirov

Belgium: Colle, O'Kelly de Galway

Sweden: Stahlberg, Andersson

Denmark: Nimzowitsch, Larsen 

Iceland: F. Olafsson

Israel: Gelfand

Spain: Shirov. Note: First Spanish GM was child prodigy Pomar

Bulgaria: Topalov

Mexico: Torre Repetto

Cuba: Capablanca

Brazil: Mecking

British India / Pakistan: Mir Sultan Khan

India: Anand

Philippines: Torre

Estonia: Keres

Switzerland: Korchnoi

This survey has no political intentions! Former Soviet Republics are not listed separately, with the exception of Estonia, and Latvia (Lithuania has no all-time top player).

Estonia, in 1710 the whole of Estonia was conquered by the Russian Empire, independent Republic of Estonia since 1918/20 in the aftermath of World War I, occupation by the Soviet Union in 1940, invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II, re-occupation by the Soviet Union in 1944 (Estonian SSR), independence restored on 20 August, 1991.

Latvia, part of the Russian Empire from 1795 to 1917, independent Republic of Latvia since 1918 in the aftermath of World War I, occupation by the Soviet Union in 1940, invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II, re-occupation by the Soviet Union in 1944 (Latvian SSR), Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, finally the Soviet Union recognized Latvia's independence on September 6, 1991.

The Singing Revolution is a commonly used name for incidents between 1987 and 1991 that led to the restoration of the independence of the three baltic states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Focus is on the peak period of a player, some legal informations are left out (ie., Fischer got the Icelandic citizenship in 2005. Kasparov obtained Croatian citizenship in 2014). Some chess players were a stateless person during a considerable part of their career (ie. Korchnoi between December 1977 when declared enemy of State by the USSR, and August 1991 when he got Swiss citizenship).

Important:

The cut at the beginning and the end of the century remians difficult. 20th century, means that a chess player must have already made a significant contribution in that century, thus Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi, Vachier-Lagrave, Carlsen (all born in 1990, in order of birth), Caruana (*1992), So (*1993), or Giri (*1994), are clearly considered as players of the current century. 

Prodigies born in the late 1980s like for instance Bu, Xiangzhi (*1985), Harikrishna (*1986), Gashimov (*1986), Radjabov (*1987), or Nakamura (*1987) are also matched with the 21st century.

Morozevich (*1977), Leko (*1979), Vallejo Pons (*1982), Aronian (*1982), Bacrot (*1983), Ponomariov (*1983), or Grischuk (*1983), are partly crossing the border but had their individual career peak in the 21st century, too, as well as for instance Eljanov (*1983), Navara (*1985), Mamedyarov (*1985) and younger players, unknown at that time, raising to prominence in the current century.

Svidler took Tilburg, a supertournament, already in 1997 (first on tie-break, and beating Kasparov). He is a record eight times Russian Champion (1994, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2017). Peter Svidler (born in June 1976) is certainly a dignified choice to close the World Chess Players Hall of Fame of the 20th century, together with Judit Polgar (born in July 1976), the strongest woman of all time!

Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908), the last great player of the Romantic school style, has been a strong player until his death and especially served as a major source of inspiration for the "Soviet Chess School", which dominated the chess world in the middle and latter parts of the 20th century. Chigorin is a dignified choice to open the gallery of the male all-time-greats of the 20th century. 

You can call Chigorin the first Influencer of Chess in the 20th century!

The main contribution of the Soviet School of Chess was not the style of players but their emphasis on rigorous training and study of the game, i.e. considering chess a sport rather than an art or science, and their hegemony in the (second half of the) 20th century.

Alternatively, you could personalize the 20th chess century as from Tarrasch to Leko, but the span from Chigorin to Svidler and Judit Polgar seems more appropriate.

  Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924), strong British player and one of the world's leading players during the late 19th century, Amos Burn (1848-1925), strong British and one of the world's leading players during the late 19th century, James Mason (1849-1905), one of the world's best players in the 1880s, Emanuel Schiffers (1850-1904), for many years the second leading Russian player after Chigorin, Isidor Gunsberg (1854-1930), Hungarian chess player, best known for narrowly losing the World Championship match in 1891 to Wilhelm Steinitz from the Kingdom of Bohemia (Austrian Empire), born in Prague, died in New York in the year 1900, Semyon Alapin (1856-1923), another strong player in the Russian Empire in the late 19th century, Curt von Bardeleben (1861-1924), stong german chess master in the 1890s, and tragic Rudolf Charousek (1873-1900), brilliant Czech player from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, he had a short career, dying at the age of twenty-six from tuberculosis, are - amongst others - considered as leading players of the (late) 19th century.

Further reading:
Schools of chess

Bondarevsky, Ragozin, and Sämisch (the only three grandmasters left out from the title inaugural year 1950), Bondarevsky and Ragozin form the USSR both strong correspondence players as well. German Sämisch in retrospective somehow lucky to get the GM title, but Bogoljubov, who played then for Germany, had been left out at its first nomination, maybe some sort of compensation.

In 1950, FIDE had awarded 27 *living* chess masters as a Grandmaster (based on their previous achievements), 94 as an International Master, some of them (21 players) earned the GM title in the next following years, basically now on recent results, or were inducted much later by FIDE as a GM Honorary (decorated between 1977 and 2003), still some great players have never been honored (eg. Mir Sultan Khan), or died prior to this distinction (eg. Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine). 

Khalifman and Kasimdzhanov: lottery winners, yet lack of strength on average (a brutal decision, based on missing performance, actually both never achieved a FIDE Elo ranking above no. 10, and both have only a few tournament wins of note).

Khalifman was rated 44th of the world at the time when he was winning the FIDE World Chess Championship in knock-out, his most notable achievement. Kasimdzhanov even was just rated 54th of the world when he was winning a rapid play-off to become WCC in classical chess.

And in no particular order further 100+ chess players
belonging to the top 200 / top 250 of the 20th century,
some of them close to the top 100 (see post-scriptum):

Ilyin-Zhenevsky, Izmailov, Petrovs, Romanovsky, Bohatyrchuk, Verlinsky, Ilivitsky, Aronin, Mikenas, Tolush, Furman, Suetin, Simagin, Nei, Lipschütz, Kupchik, Ed. Lasker, Denker, Herman Steiner, Lajos Steiner, Dake, Horowitz, Wolf, Salwe, Flamberg, Przepiorka, Landau, List, Asztalos, K. Treybal, Opočenský, Foltys, Filip, Canal, Paoli, Prins, Lundin, Stoltz, Junge, P. F. Schmidt, Rellstab, Richter, Ahues, Darga, Yanofsky, Benkö, R. Byrne, Bisguier, Evans, Lombardy, Pilnik, Grau, Guimard, Rossetto, Quinteros, Letelier, Rossolimo, Czerniak, Atkins, Yates, Thomas, C.H.O'D. Alexander, Golombek, Penrose, Pomar Salamanca, Fuderer, Pirc, Puc, Barcza, Trifunovic, Matulovic, Planinc, Kurajica, Velimirovic, Nikolic, I. Sokolov, Georgiev, Gheorghiu, Csom, Ribli, Sax, Adorjan, Pinter, Kavalek, Smejkal, Ftacnik, Chandler, Sosonko, Tseshkovksky, Balashov, Romanishin, Tukmakov, Psakhis, Alburt, Gulko, DeFirmian, Christiansen, Spraggett, Rogers, A. Sokolov, Smirin, Dreev, Ehlvest, Bareev, Almasi, Illescas Cordoba, Zapata Ramirez, Morovic Fernandez, Granda Zuniga, amongst a few others

Did we mention already IM Andreas Dückstein? The Austrian (Hungarian born) chess legend who beat three World Champions: reigning Botvinnink at the Olympiad in 1958, Euwe, and Spassky!

Did we mention Fyodor Duz–Khotimirsky? In 1909, at the Chigorin Memorial in St Petersburg, the Russian chess master defeated both tournament winners Lasker (the world champion at the time) and Rubinstein in their individual games! 'Dus' was awarded the IM at its inauguration in 1950.

Or Vladimir Makogonov (IM in 1950, later GM Hon.), he never became well known outside the Soviet Union, but was highly respected in his country as a player and coach. He was one of the world's strongest players in the 1940s, with a highest historical world rank as fifth in July 1945.

And prominent / (near) equal strong players, known for a specific distinction in chess:

Kmoch (chess journalist), Barden (record chronicler), Koltanowski (promoter, organizer), Reinfeld (writer), Berliner (professor of computer science, World Correspondence Champion and OTB IM), Matanovic (main founder of the pioneering Informator), Schmid (arbiter of the century), Dvoretsky (instructor / trainer / coach), amongst a few others

Plus Hermanis Matisons (born 1894 in Riga, died 1932), a Latvian chess player (in 1924, he won the first national Latvian Chess Championship) and one of world's most highly regarded chess masters in the early 1930s, winner of the first World Amateur Championship, which was organized in conjunction with the Olympic Games at Paris in 1924. Matisons played first board for Latvia at the 1931 Chess Olympiad in Prague and defeated Akiba Rubinstein and Alexander Alekhine, then the reigning World Champion. Matisons died just a year later of tuberculosis at the age of 38.

Notable players in correspondence chess (with some strong over-the-board players, too):

 Cécil Purdy, Australian inaugural World Correspondence Chess Champion in 1953, Dr. Mario Napolitano, Olaf Barda, Harald Malmgren, Lūcijs Endzelīns, Romanas Arlauskas, Vladimir Zagorovsky, Yakov Estrin, Horst Rittner, Fritz Baumbach, Gert Jan Timmerman, Joop van Oosterom, Tõnu Õim, as well as the otherwise mentioned Albéric O'Kelly de Galway, Viacheslav Ragozin, Igor Bondarevsky, Alexander Tolush, Hans Berliner, Jonathan Penrose, Lothar Schmid

  All together more than 200 chess masters, playing high-class games in the 20th century, unforgettable for eternity!

 
Back to the World Chess Players Hall Of Fame (WCP-HOF) by Chessdiagonals:

Donner could be downgraded! Picking Pilnik or Pirc instead? Or C.H.O'D. Alexander? Or Junge? Ribli, Sax, and Adorjan, or P. Nikolic are also close to the Top 100! Integrating Canal, Rossolimo, or forgotten Foltys, too? Or the early prodigies Pomar and Yanofsky? And Bondarevsky, Ragozin or Sämisch? Further strong Soviet / Russian players (ie. A. Sokolov, the fallen meteor, the only player with a FIDE Elo peak ranking as no. 3= or better, but not in the Hall of Fame (20th century), Bareev, Petrovs, or a couple of really vigorous USSR contestants not active outside their own country), Ehlvest, or further US-Americans (ie. R. Byrne, Benkö, Christiansen, Denker)? Already about twenty accessory names. In a few cases, the choice was particularly difficult!

 (*) Donner, a brilliant and controversial conversationalist, chosen at first glance, surprisingly is showing a rather mediocre input-output ratio in statistical comparisons. His world peak ranking is only at 45th (Sonas chessmetrics), and 46= (FIDE inofficial list), respectively. He beat Fischer at the Olympiad in Varna 1962 (Bobby rather lost that game), and won at Venice ahead of the then reigining World Champion Petrosian. Donner is known for winning once the IBM-Amsterdam, and winning thrice at Hoogovens in Beverwijk, but these three wins have to be compared with an incredible amount of 24 A-invitations in the series, no less than ten times, Jan Hein Donner finished in the bottom half of the usually tough tournament at Beverwijk / Wijk aan Zee. In a way, Donner might be the virtual number One Hundred chess player of the 20th century.

Just for the statistical sake of the things: The lowest historical Chessmetrics Peak Ranking of the one hundred immortal players have Vera Menchik (#52, dominating women's chess overwhelmingly, beating Mieses, Sultan Khan, Sämisch, Colle, Euwe, Reshevsky, and many Brits, eg. Thomas, Yates, Conel Alexander, or Golombek), mentioned Donner (#45, FIDE #46=) and Eugenio Torre (#43, FIDE #20=). All other players have an individual career peak within the Top 30, mostly in the top ten or close to.

Remember, peak ranking / rating (in other words, the best momentum) is by far not the only criteria, longevity on high level, international invitation tournament wins, strong open tournament wins (Browne, for instance, has won a couple of swiss system events), strong national Championships, of course official FIDE tournaments (Interzonals and Candidate's, Challenger and World Chess Champion), and Team competitions (Torre as Mr. Olympiad), are weighted, too.

Years	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Reserves
1901 -1910	Lasker	Maroczy	Schlechter	Pillsbury	Tarrasch	Rubinstein	Janowski	Duras	Marshall	Chigorin	(diverse)
1911 -1920	Lasker	Rubinstein	Capablanca	Alekhine	Marshall	Nimzowitsch	Schlechter	Vidmar sr.	Tarrasch	Teichmann	Spielmann
1921 -1930	Capablanca	Alekhine	Lasker	Bogoljubov	Nimzowitsch	Rubinstein	Tartakower	Vidmar sr.	Grünfeld	Réti	Spielmann Euwe
1931 -1940	Alekhine	Euwe	Capablanca	Botvinnik	Flohr	Fine	Kashdan	Keres	Reshevsky	Bogoljubov	Eliskases Sultan Khan
1941 -1950	Botvinnik	Keres	Najdorf	Rehevsky	Fine	Alekhine (died 1946)	Smyslov	Bronstein	Flohr	Stahlberg	Boleslavsky Euwe, Szabo
1951 -1960	Smyslov	Keres	Bronstein	Tal	Botvinnik	Reshevsky	Najdorf	Petrosian	Geller	Gligoric	Taimanov Kotov, Szabo
1961 -1970	Fischer	Tal	Petrosian	Spassky	Korchnoi	Larsen	Keres	Geller	Smyslov	Stein	Botvinnik Polugaevsky
1971 -1980	Karpov	Korchnoi	Tal	Polugaevsky	Portisch	Spassky	Petrosian	Larsen	Hort	Mecking	Geller Ljubojevic
1981 -1990	Kasparov	Karpov	Korchnoi	Beljavsky	Timman	Ljubojevic	Andersson	Hübner	Tal	Miles	Jussupow Portisch
1991 -2000	Kasparov	Anand	Kramnik	Ivanchuk	Karpov	Shirov	Gelfand	Kamsky	Short	Topalov	Timman Salov

Hall of Fame of the strongest chess players of the 21st century
(not already part of the 20th century HOF, in chronological birth order,
and again introducing on average only one player per year)

Morozevich, Leko, Aronian, Bacrot, Ponomariov, Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Gashimov, Radjabov, Nakamura, Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave, Ding Liren, Caruana, So, Giri (as of 2018)

Women: Hou Yifan

 

Great chess nations of the 21st century

Russia: Morozevich, Grischuk, Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi

USA: Nakamura, Caruana, So

Azerbaijan: Mamedyarov, Gashimov, Radjabov

Ukraine: Ponomariov, Karjakin

France: Bacrot, Vachier-Lagrave

China: Ding Liren; women: Hou Yifan

Armenia: Aronian

Hungary: Leko

Norway: Carlsen

Italy: Caruana

Netherlands: Giri

Philippines: So

The 10 female players and pioneers of the 20th century

Hall of Fame of the 10 strongest female chess players of the 20th century

(in chronological birth order from Menchik to Judit Polgar)

Menchik, Graf, Gaprindashvili, Kushnir, Chiburdanidze,
Cramling, Xie Jun, Susan Polgar, Zhu Chen, Judit Polgar

(Menchik aka Menchik-Stephenson, Graf aka Graf-Stevenson) 

Note:

The cut at the beginning and the end of the century remians difficult. 20th century, means that a chess player must have made a significant contribution in that century, thus Antoneata Stefanova (*1979), Bulgarian grandmaster and Women's World Champion from 2004-2006, Xu Yuhua (*1976), former Women's World Champion from 2006–2008 and China's third women's world champion after Xie Jun and Zhu Chen (see above), and Alexandra Kosteniuk (*1984), Russian Grandmaster and Women's World Chess Champion from 2008-2010, are matched with the 21st century; and naturally Hou Yifan (*1994)

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Honorable mentions:

 Lyudmila Rudenko, Women's World Champion 1950-53,
Elisaveta Bykova, Women's World Champions 1953-56 and 1958-62,
Olga Rubtsova, Women's World Champions 1956-58
(She became also first Women's World Correspondence Chess Champion in 1972)

As of today, Olga Rubtsova remains the only player, male or female, to become a World Chess Champion in both over-the-board and correspondence chess!!

plus in no particular order: 

Chantal Chaudé de Silans, Clarice Benini, María Teresa Mora Iturralde,  Elaine Saunders Pritchard (née Saunders), Edith Charlotte Price, Rowena Mary Bruce (née Dew), Agnes Lawson-Stevenson, Paula Wolf-Kalmar, Edith Keller-Herrmann, Gisela Kahn Gresser, Mona May Karff, Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya, Käty van der Mije-Nicolau (born Alexandra Ekatarina Nicolau), Milunka Lazarević (later Milunka Marković), Nana Alexandria, Nana Ioseliani, Irina Levitina, Alisa Galliamova, Alisa Marić, Tatjana Lematschko, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, Sofia Polgar, and amongst others

Jana Malypetrova Hartston Miles Bellin

Dr. Jana Bellin (nee Malypetrová) was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. FIDE awarded her the WIM title in 1969 and the WGM title in 1982. In 1965 and 1967 she was the Czechoslovak Women's Champion. She was the British Women's Champion in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977 (after play-off) (as Hartston) and 1979 (as Miles). She is married to IM and 1979 British Champion Robert Bellin. Her prior husbands were IM William Hartston (the 1973 and 1975 British Champion) and GM Anthony Miles (the 1982 British Champion).
Biography from Chessgames: Jana Malypetrova Hartston Miles Bellin.
 

Warning:
The Hall of Fame listings are a best-effort, with a subjective component, 
no offense or broken 💔 intended

The 40 players from Switzerland of the 20th century

Hall of Fame of the 40 strongest Swiss *born* chess players of the 20th century

(in chronological birth order from Pestalozzi to Jenni)

Max Pestalozzi, Hans Fahrni, Moritz Hennenberger, Walter Hennenberger, William Rivier (date of birth unknown), Oskar Naegeli, Erwin Voellmy, Paul Johner, Hans Johner, Otto Zimmermann, Fritz Gygli, Henry Grob, Jules Ehrat, Paulin Lob (date of birth unknown), Maximilian (Max) Blau, Martin Christoffel, Erwin Nievergelt, Edgar Walther, Josef Kupper, Edwin Bhend, Otto Marthaler, Rino Castagna, Dieter Keller, Renzo Castagna, Hansruedi Glauser, Heinz Schaufelberger, André Lombard, Andreas Huss, Heinz Wirthensohn, Hansjuerg Kaenel, Werner Hug, Markus Klauser, Giancarlo Franzoni, Beat Züger, Markus Trepp, Richard Gerber, Lucas Brunner, Richard Forster, Yannick Pelletier, and Florian Jenni

 §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Honorable mentions: 

The Duhm brothers (Hans, Dietrich, and Andreas) 

Women: Anna Näpfer, Monika Müller-Seps

 The young ones of the 21st century
Nico Georgiadis (GM in 2017), Noël Studer (GM in 2017),
Patrik Grandadam, Lars Rindlisbacher (all four born in 1996),
Oliver Kurmann, or Roland Lötscher

Playing for Switzerland:

Viktor Korchnoi, 
and Artur Popławski (Poland, twice National Chess Champion of Switzerland), Erno Gereben, Enrico Paoli (for a brief period in the 2000s), Raphael (Raaphi) Persitz, Charles Partos, Ivan Nemet, Roland Ekstroem, Viktor Gavrikov, Joseph (Joe) Gallagher, Vadim Milov, and Sebastian Bogner (21st century)

 Women:
Tatjana Lematschko (from Bulgaria, emigrated at the Chess Olympiads in 1982),
Alexandra Kosteniuk (absolute Swiss Champion in 2013, internationally playing for Russia)

World elite, adult invitation, open, or team event, won by a player born in Switzerland:

1909 (June) Munich 2 (Quadrangular): Hans Fahrni
(ahead of Tartakower, Alapin, and Spielmann)
http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/t1235.html
Fahrni did not participate at the Munich 1 Quadrangular in January-February 1909 (Teichmann ahead of Alapin, and Przepiorka)

1911 San Remo, Italy (11 players): Hans Fahrni
 (Fahrni clear first in a field including Gunsberg, Reti, Kostic, or Fleischmann Forgacs)
http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/t1584.html
http://storiascacchi.altervista.org/storiascacchi/tornei/1900-49/1911sanremo.htm
This was the first international invitation tournament held in Italy, including a women's tournament and a Master group. In 1930, there was another and famous international chess tournament at San Remo, reigning World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine dominated the field with a score of 14/15, unbelievable 3½ points ahead of second place Aaron Nimzowitsch

1923 Scheveningen, The Netherlands (Individual best in team event): Paul Johner
A brand new formula, invented by Dr. Alexander Rueb, a Dutch lawyer, diplomat, and chess official, then chairman of the Dutch Chess Federation, and the first FIDE president (1924 - 1949), was introduced, which since then is known as the 'Scheveningen system' after the suburbs of Hague where the event took place. Two teams are build. Subsequently, every player from the first team plays against every player of the second team (i.e. Foreigners versus The Netherlands).

Paul Johner remained the only unbeaten player, scoring 8.5/10. He was individual best alongside with Rudolf Spielmann at that strong Scheveningen tournament in 1923, organised to celebrate 50th anniversary of The Royal Chess Federation, above players like Richard Réti, Géza Maróczy, Jacques Mieses, Edgar Colle, Frederick Yates, or young Max Euwe (10 players each)
http://www.thechesslibrary.com/files/1923Scheveningen.htm

1923 Trieste (12 players): Paul Johner
(ahead of Canal, Yates, and veteran Tarrasch)
http://www.thechesslibrary.com/files/1923Trieste.htm

1924 Berlin (Quadrangular): Paul Johner
(ahead of Rubinstein, Teichmann, and Mieses)
http://www.thechesslibrary.com/files/1924Berlin.htm

1937 Ostend (10 players): Henry Grob (first on tie-break)
(1st-3rd shared with Fine and Keres, both already absolute elite players and joint winners of the legendary AVRO tournament in 1938, and both, Fine and Keres, were beaten by Grob at Ostend)
http://www.belgianchesshistory.be/tournament/2nd-international-tournament-ostend/
Ostende (english: Ostend, french: Ostende) is a Belgian North Sea resort which hosted three all-time legendary chess tournaments in a row in 1905, 1906, 1907, plus further strong international invitation tournaments in 1936, 1937, and finally in 1956, as well as a series of Open Festivals in the 1980/90s

Major international tournaments (selection):

Lucerne Christmas Tournament 1949/50: Max Blau (ahead of 2./3. Rabar, Unzicker)
Reggio Emilia (inaugural edition) 1958/59: Otto Marthaler (4. Paoli, many local players)
Enschede (NED) 1961: Dieter Keller (IM in 1961) as first on tie-break, together with GM Guimard (ahead of 3. Dückstein; including Rellstab, Heidenfeld, and Wade)
Zurich 1975 (international sui-ch): 1st-3rd Guillermo García González, Cuba, as first on tie-break, Dieter Keller, Werner Hug (above Unzicker, F. Olafsson, or Keene, 14 players)
(Hug won a play-off versus Keller to become Champion of Switzerland, in fact the only national title of Hug!)

Rome (Banco di Roma) B-group 1983: Fernand Gobet (including greek Skembris, austrian Danner, and a lot of italian players). Pinter won the A-group ahead of Toth
Baden-Baden (Bank Hofmann) B-group 1992: 1st-3rd John van der Wiel, as first on tie-break, Zoltan Ribli, Lucas Brunner. Karpov won the (CS) A-group ahead of Lutz
(Despite sharing first place in this closed tournament, Brunner, IM since 1986, missed a GM norm, he got that title then in 1994)

Werner Hug was surprising World Junior Chess Champion in 1971 in Athens.

In 1932, Oskar Naegeli, a dermatologist who had a doctorate of medicine degree and also was professor of medicine, beat then reigning World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine at Bern. It was the last game win of a Swiss born player against a reigning World Champion until Yannick Pelletier (no. 357 of the world) beat Magnus Carlsen (Elo no. 1) at the ETCC in 2015 in Reykjavik.

Hans Fahrni (1874-1939) was ranked as a Top Twenty player of the World according to both, Sonas Chessmetrics in 1917, and Edo Historical Chess Ratings in 1909

Paul Johner (1887-1938) was peak ranked as no. 10 of the World according to the retrospective historical Sonas Chessmetrics Ratings in January 1921, and mostly ranked in the Top Twenty between 1917 and 1929 in both historical rankings

Verleihung 1950:        Henry Grob *1904-1974, Sieger Ostende 1937 (mit Fine, Keres)

Verleihung 1950:        Hans Johner *1889-1975, Rekord: 12-facher CH-Landesmeister

Verleihung 1952:        Martin Christoffel *1922-2001 (weltweit 14 Spieler, ua. Tigran Petrosian)

Verleihung 1953:        Maximilian (Max) Blau *1918-1984 (weltweit 12 Spieler, ua. Boris Spasski)

Verleihung 1955:        Josef Kupper *1932-2017 (weltweit 6 Spieler, ua. Bent Larsen)

Verleihung 1960:        Edwin Bhend *1931 (weltweit nur 4 Spieler, mit Bobozow, Letelier, Minev)

Verleihung 1961:        Dieter Keller *1936 (weltweit 18 Spieler, ua. Aaron, erster IM aus Indien)

Verleihung 1971:        Werner Hug *1951 (weltweit 6 Spieler, Hug gewann die Junioren-WM 1971)

Es folgen 1976 André Lombard (*1950) und 1977 Heinz Wirthensohn (*1951), welche zusammen mit Werner Hug die 1970er Jahre in der Schweiz prägen, ab 1977 unter Führung von Viktor Kortschnoi.

Anmerkungen:

Andreas Huss (*1950) erhielt den IM 1987, Hansjörg Kaenel (*1950) erhielt den IM 1995. Mittlerweile hatten auch Spieler der frühen 1960er Jahrgänge einen IM-Titel erhalten, u.a. Züger, Franzoni oder Trepp (R.I.P.), alle mit Jahrgang 1961. In der zweiten Hälfte der 1980er Jahre gehörte auch Dieter Keller trotz vollberuflicher Belastung wieder zu den stärksten Schweizer Spielern.

FIDE-Master aus dieser Zeit, die nach heutigem Massstab IM-Stärke erreicht hatten: Heinz Schaufelberger (*1947), Hansruedi Glauser (*1945-2014), Edgar Walther (*1930-2013), sowie 1950 bei der erstmaligen Titelvergabe von der FIDE für einen IM-Titel nicht berücksichtigte starke Schweizer Spieler aus den Zwischenkriegsjahren: Oskar Naegeli (*1885-1959, er schlug Weltmeister Aljechin), Erwin Voellmy (*1886-1951), unter anderen wenigen weiteren Spielern.

Hans Fahrni (*1874-1939), Sieger in München (Quadrangular) 1909 (Juni) und San Remo, Italien 1911, und Paul Johner (*1887-1938), Sieger in Trieste 1923 und Berlin (Quadrangular) 1924, waren zum Zeitpunkt der Titel-Inauguration durch die FIDE im Jahr 1950 bereits verstorben, sie hätten sicher den IM erhalten (wie Hans Johner, Bruder von Paul Johner, und Henry Grob).

Viktor Kortschnoi (IM 1954, GM 1956) emigrierte 1976 in Amsterdam, und lebte seit 1977 in der Schweiz, Wohlen AG.

Viktor Gavrikov und Ivan Nemet sind ebenso verstorbene Grossmeister, welche (zeitweise) für die Schweiz spielten.

Den Schach-Grossmeistertitel der FIDE tragen Bogner (Spieler aus Deutschland), Gallagher (britischer Landesmeister, Heirat in der Schweiz), Milov (starker Spieler mit internationaler Reputation aus der UdSSR, später Israel, vom Schweizer Schachverband ignoriert), sowie die in der Schweiz geborenen Brunner (aufgewachsen und Jugendmeister in Deutschland, als Profi früh zurückgetreten), Jenni (mit Comeback nach zwischenzeitlichem Rücktritt) und Pelletier (später in Frankreich lebend, jetzt in Luxemburg). 

Wichtig: Es gibt über heute 1'500 (!) lebende Schach-Grossmeister, bei der Titel-Inauguration im Jahr 1950 waren es weltweit genau 27 (davon etwa die Hälfte rein rückwirkend ernannt), in den ersten zwanzig Jahren von 1950 bis und mit 1969 (übrigens das einzige Jahr ohne neuen Schach-Grossmeister) wurden total nur 101 GM-Titel vergeben.

Mitte der 1970er Jahren gab es rund 100 aktive Grossmeister, Mitte der 1980er Jahren waren es rund 250. Seither kam es zu einer Inflation der Titel (GM, IM, FIDE-Meister, etc.), das heisst, Hans Fahrni, Paul Johner oder Henry Grob sind im (historischen) Ranking-Vergleich stärker als Werner Hug, Lucas Brunner, oder Yannick Pelletier.

Erster Schweizer Fernschach-Grossmeister (Weltverband ICCF) wurde 1973 Josef Steiner (Wohlen AG), später gefolgt von Ernst Eichborn (Zürich), Matthias Rüfenacht (Basel), und weiteren.

PS: Zum Elo-Wertungssystem, welches um 1970 eingeführt wurde, siehe  Elo rating & ranking - www.chessdiagonals.ch