Through the 19th century

Ruy López de Segura was a Spanish Renaissance author and player who pioneered systematic opening study.

Gioacchino Greco was a seventeenth-century Italian master and author whose manuscripts spread attacking ideas, traps, and forcing combinations.

An eighteenth-century French master who made pawn play and strategy central subjects in the systematic study of chess.

Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais was the leading player of the 1830s and winner of the famous series against Alexander McDonnell.

A leading nineteenth-century English player, writer, and organizer whose surname also identifies the standard tournament chess-piece design.

A nineteenth-century German master, winner of London 1851, and an emblematic figure of attacking chess.

A nineteenth-century American prodigy whose brief career showed the value of rapid development, activity, and well-prepared attacks with unusual clarity.

The first official World Chess Champion and a thinker who helped replace automatic attacking with a more systematic evaluation of the position.

Johannes Zukertort was a leading nineteenth-century player and Steinitz's opponent in the first recognized world championship.

A nineteenth-century Russian master, twice a world title challenger, and a founding figure of Russian chess.

Harry Nelson Pillsbury was a rapidly rising American master, Hastings 1895 winner, and exceptional blindfold player.