The Most Famous

CHESS PLAYERS from Belarus

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This page contains a list of the greatest Belarusian Chess Players. The pantheon dataset contains 461 Chess Players, 10 of which were born in Belarus. This makes Belarus the birth place of the 11th most number of Chess Players behind Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Belarusian Chess Players of all time. This list of famous Belarusian Chess Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Belarusian Chess Players.

Photo of Dawid Janowski

1. Dawid Janowski (1868 - 1927)

With an HPI of 54.21, Dawid Janowski is the most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages on wikipedia.

Dawid Markelowicz Janowski [ˈd̪avʲit̪ ˈmaʁkəlɔvit͡ʂ ˈjanɔfski] (25 May 1868 – 15 January 1927; often spelled David) was a Polish chess player. Several opening variations are named after Janowski.

Photo of Lev Polugaevsky

2. Lev Polugaevsky (1934 - 1995)

With an HPI of 52.49, Lev Polugaevsky is the 2nd most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky (Russian: Лев Абрамович Полугаевский, IPA: [pəlʊɡɐˈjefskʲɪj]; 20 November 1934 – 30 August 1995) was a Soviet chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1962 and was a frequent contender for the World Championship, although he never achieved that title. He was one of the strongest players in the world from the early 1960s until the late 1980s, as well as a distinguished author and opening theorist whose contributions in this field remain important to the present day.

Photo of Boris Gelfand

3. Boris Gelfand (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 48.09, Boris Gelfand is the 3rd most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 48 different languages.

Boris Gelfand (Hebrew: בוריס אברמוביץ' גלפנד; Belarusian: Барыс Абрамавіч Гельфанд, romanized: Barys Abramavič Heĺfand; Russian: Борис Абрамович Гельфанд, romanized: Boris Abramovich Gel'fand; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, making him challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012. Although the match with defending champion Viswanathan Anand finished level at 6–6, Gelfand lost the deciding rapidplay tiebreak by 2½–1½. Gelfand has won major tournaments at Wijk aan Zee, Tilburg, Moscow, Linares and Dos Hermanas. He has competed in eleven Chess Olympiads and held a place within the top 30 players ranked by FIDE from January 1990 to October 2017.

Photo of Viktor Kupreichik

4. Viktor Kupreichik (1949 - 2017)

With an HPI of 40.82, Viktor Kupreichik is the 4th most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Viktor Davidovich Kupreichik (Russian: Ви́ктор Давыдо́вич Купре́йчик, Belarusian: Віктар Давыдавіч Купрэйчык, Viktar Davydavič Kuprejčyk; 3 July 1949 – 22 May 2017) was a Belarusian chess grandmaster.

Photo of Evgeny Agrest

5. Evgeny Agrest (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 37.30, Evgeny Agrest is the 5th most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Evgeny Agrest (born 15 August 1966 in Vitebsk, Belarus) is a Soviet-born Swedish chess grandmaster (1997). In 1994, he graduated with a degree in Economics and in the same year emigrated to Sweden. He is four-time Swedish champion (1998, 2001, 2003, and 2004), and thrice Nordic champion (2001 jointly with Artur Kogan, 2003 jointly with Curt Hansen, and 2005). In 2010 Agrest tied for 1st–6th in the European Union Championship, taking third place on tiebreak. He played for Sweden in the Chess Olympiads of 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2014. As of August 2015, he has been Nils Grandelius's trainer since 2013. Agrest is married to Woman International Master (WIM) Svetlana Agrest with both his wife and his daughter playing for the Swedish Women's chess team.

Photo of Ilya Smirin

6. Ilya Smirin (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 36.34, Ilya Smirin is the 6th most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Ilya (or Ilia) Smirin (Hebrew: איליה יוליביץ' סמירין; Belarusian: Ілля Юльевіч Смірын, romanized: Illa Juljevič Smiryn; Russian: Илья Юльевич Смирин, romanized: Ilya Yulievich Smirin; born January 21, 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990.

Photo of Alexei Fedorov

7. Alexei Fedorov (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 32.13, Alexei Fedorov is the 7th most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Alexei Fedorov (Russian: Алексей Дмитриевич Фёдоров, Aleksey Dimitriyevich Fyodorov, Belarusian: Аляксей Фёдараў, Aliaksey Fyodarau; born 27 September 1972) is a Belarusian chess player. He was awarded the titles International Master in 1992 and Grandmaster in 1995 by FIDE. Born in Mogilev, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he briefly played for Russia and from 1993 for the Belarusian Chess Federation. Fedorov won the Belarusian Chess Championship in 1993, 1995, 2005 and 2008 and participated in seven Chess Olympiads (1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008) with a performance of 54.3% (+22=32-16). Fedorov competed in the FIDE World Championship in 1999, 2000 and 2002. In 1999 he was knocked out in the fourth round, while in 2000 and 2002 he was eliminated in the first.

Photo of Aleksej Aleksandrov

8. Aleksej Aleksandrov (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 30.72, Aleksej Aleksandrov is the 8th most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Aleksej Aleksandrov (born 11 May 1973) is a Belarusian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1997. Aleksandrov is a five-time Belarusian champion and played on the Belarusian national team at the Chess Olympiad, the World Team Chess Championship and the European Team Chess Championship. He competed in the FIDE World Championship in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2004, and in the FIDE World Cup in 2017.

Photo of Yury Shulman

9. Yury Shulman (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 30.54, Yury Shulman is the 9th most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Yuri Markavich Shulman (born April 29, 1975) is a Belarusian American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). He is married to the Woman International Master (WIM) Viktorija Ni.

Photo of Sergei Zhigalko

10. Sergei Zhigalko (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 27.12, Sergei Zhigalko is the 10th most famous Belarusian Chess Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Sergei Zhigalko (Belarusian: Сяргей Жыгалка, Syarheĭ Zhyhalka; born March 28, 1989) is a Belarusian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster. He is a three-time national champion and also a European and world champion in his age category. Zhigalko competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2017.

People

Pantheon has 11 people classified as Belarusian chess players born between 1868 and 1989. Of these 11, 8 (72.73%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Belarusian chess players include Boris Gelfand, Evgeny Agrest, and Ilya Smirin. The most famous deceased Belarusian chess players include Dawid Janowski, Lev Polugaevsky, and Viktor Kupreichik. As of April 2024, 1 new Belarusian chess players have been added to Pantheon including Alexei Fedorov.

Living Belarusian Chess Players

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Deceased Belarusian Chess Players

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Newly Added Belarusian Chess Players (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Chess Players were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Chess Players since 1700.