The Most Famous
CHESS PLAYERS from Sweden
This page contains a list of the greatest Swedish Chess Players. The pantheon dataset contains 461 Chess Players, 1 of which were born in Sweden. This makes Sweden the birth place of the 45th most number of Chess Players behind Réunion, and Portugal.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Swedish Chess Players of all time. This list of famous Swedish Chess Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Gideon Ståhlberg (1908 - 1967)
With an HPI of 51.09, Gideon Ståhlberg is the most famous Swedish Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages on wikipedia.
Anders Gideon Tom Ståhlberg (26 January 1908 – 26 May 1967) was a Swedish chess player. He was among the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. He won the Swedish Chess Championship of 1927, became Nordic champion in 1929, and held it until 1939. Ståhlberg came to fame when he won matches against star players Rudolf Spielmann and Aron Nimzowitsch in 1933 and 1934 respectively, and came third (after Alexander Alekhine) in Dresden 1936, and second (after Reuben Fine) in Stockholm 1937. In 1938 he drew a match against Paul Keres. Following the Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires 1939, he stayed in Argentina until 1948, where he won many tournaments, some of them in competition with Miguel Najdorf: Mar del Plata 1941 (ahead of Najdorf and Erich Eliskases), Buenos Aires 1941 (tied with Najdorf), Buenos Aires 1947 (ahead of Najdorf, Eliskases and Max Euwe). His best results after returning to Europe were: the Interzonal of Saltsjöbaden 1948 (6th, becoming a candidate), the Candidates tournament of Budapest 1950 (7th), Amsterdam 1950 (3rd), Budapest 1952 (3rd), the Interzonal of Saltsjöbaden 1952 (5th, again becoming a candidate) Ståhlberg umpired in the five World Championships between 1957 and 1963. In 1967 he travelled to Leningrad to take part in an international tournament but died before playing his first game. He was buried in Gothenburg. Ståhlberg published more than ten chess books (some of them originally in Spanish): Schack och schackmästare, 1937 (Chess and Chess Masters, 1955) El gambito de dama, 1942 (Queen's gambit) Partidas clásicas de Capablanca (La perfección en ajedrez), 1943 (with Paulino Alles Monasterio) (Classic games of Capablanca, perfection in chess) I kamp med världseliten, 1958 (In battle against the world elite) Strövtåg i schackvärlden (Excursions in the world of chess, 1965) Tal-Botvinnik II match, 1969 Modern spelöppningsteori i schack Svenska schackmästare
2. Tiger Hillarp Persson (b. 1970)
With an HPI of 29.10, Tiger Hillarp Persson is the 2nd most famous Swedish Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Tiger Hillarp Persson (born Tigger Christopher Robin Hillarp Persson, 28 October 1970) is a Swedish chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Swedish Chess Champion. In Go he attained the level of 1-Dan on KGS in 2015 and 3-Dan in the EGF ratings in 2023.
People
Pantheon has 2 people classified as Swedish chess players born between 1908 and 1970. Of these 2, 1 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Swedish chess players include Tiger Hillarp Persson. The most famous deceased Swedish chess players include Gideon Ståhlberg. As of April 2024, 1 new Swedish chess players have been added to Pantheon including Tiger Hillarp Persson.
