List of Jewish chess players

[3] Of the first 13 undisputed world champions, six were Jewish or had some Jewish ancestry: Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov.

The Modern School of Chess espoused by Steinitz and Siegbert Tarrasch, the Hypermodernism influenced by Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti, and the Soviet Chess School promoted by Botvinnik were all strongly influenced by Jewish players.

Other influential Jewish chess theoreticians, writers and players include Johannes Zukertort, Savielly Tartakower, Akiba Rubinstein, Gyula Breyer, Rudolf Spielmann, Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, David Bronstein, and Miguel Najdorf.

[4][5][6] Arpad Elo, the inventor of the scientific rating system employed by FIDE, analysed some 476 major tournament players from the 19th century onward, and of the 51 highest ranked players, approximately one half were Jewish.

The list also includes Judit Polgár, widely regarded as the strongest female chess player ever.