Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker was born in Berlinchen, Germany on 24th December, 1868. He was taught chess by his elder brother, Berthold. As a child Lasker displayed a talent for both chess and mathematics. He attended a school in Berlin to develop his mathematical skills further and he later went on to study mathematics at Erlangen University. He achieved the German master title in 1889.[...]

Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born April 13, 1963) is a chess grandmaster and the strongest (highest rated on the FIDE January 2004 list at 2831) chess player in the world.[...]

Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900)
Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz (Prague, May 17, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier.[...]

Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879)
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was born on July 6, 1818 in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). He lived in Breslau most of his life, never married, living with and supporting his widowed mother and his unmarried sister. He graduated from the public gymnasium in Breslau, then attended university where he studied mathematics and philosophy.[...]

Anatoly Evgenievich Karpov
Anatoly Evgenievich Karpov was born in Zlatoust, Russia in 1951. He was taught the moves of chess when he was 4. At the age of 15 he became one of the youngest Soviet players ever to gain the title of National Master. In April 1975, a few days before his 24th birthday FIDE declared him the World Champion after Bobby Fischer, the current World Champion, refused to defend his title.[...]