The Most Famous
CHESS PLAYERS from Spain
This page contains a list of the greatest Spanish Chess Players. The pantheon dataset contains 461 Chess Players, 7 of which were born in Spain. This makes Spain the birth place of the 20th most number of Chess Players behind Austria, and Latvia.
Top 7
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Spanish Chess Players of all time. This list of famous Spanish Chess Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Ruy López de Segura (1530 - 1580)
With an HPI of 68.85, Ruy López de Segura is the most famous Spanish Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 37 different languages on wikipedia.
Rodrigo "Ruy" López de Segura (c. 1530 – c. 1580) was a Spanish chess player, author, and Catholic priest whose 1561 treatise Libro de la invención liberal y Arte del juego del Axedrez was one of the first books about modern chess in Europe. He made great contributions to chess opening theory, including in the King's Gambit and the Ruy López (or Spanish) opening that bears his name. López was also the strongest player in Spain for about 20 years.
2. Luis Ramírez de Lucena (1475 - 1530)
With an HPI of 67.08, Luis Ramírez de Lucena is the 2nd most famous Spanish Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
Luis Ramírez de Lucena (c. 1465 – c. 1530) was a Spanish chess player who published the earliest surviving chess book. He is believed to be the son of humanist writer and diplomat Juan de Lucena.
3. Arturo Pomar (1931 - 2016)
With an HPI of 57.16, Arturo Pomar is the 3rd most famous Spanish Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Arturo Pomar Salamanca (1 September 1931 – 26 May 2016) was a Spanish chess player. He was the first Spanish player to be awarded the title of grandmaster (GM), and was a seven-time national champion.
4. Juan Corzo (1873 - 1941)
With an HPI of 52.98, Juan Corzo is the 4th most famous Spanish Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Juan Corzo y Príncipe (June 24, 1873 – September 27, 1941) was a Spanish–Cuban chess master and five-time chess champion of Cuba. Born in Madrid, Corzo emigrated to Cuba in 1887. He became Champion of the Havana Chess Club in 1898. He is best known for losing to José Raúl Capablanca (4–3, 6 draws) in 1901 during that great player's meteoric rise, when Capablanca had just turned 13. But Corzo was a force in Cuban chess in his own right. With Capablanca, he founded the National Chess Federation of Cuba, and was a longtime editor of Capablanca's Chess Magazine. He won the Cuban Chess Championship five times (in 1898, 1902, 1907, 1912, and 1918).
5. Francisco Vallejo Pons (b. 1982)
With an HPI of 40.80, Francisco Vallejo Pons is the 5th most famous Spanish Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Francisco Vallejo Pons (born 21 August 1982) is a Spanish chess grandmaster. He is a five-time Spanish Chess Champion. He achieved the Grandmaster title at the age of 16 years and 9 months. He won the under-18 World Chess Youth Championship in 2000. He won the Ciudad de Leon Masters after defeating Veselin Topalov 3½–2½. In 2013 he tied for first at the European Individual Championship.
6. Anna Cramling (b. 2002)
With an HPI of 40.78, Anna Cramling is the 6th most famous Spanish Chess Player. Her biography has been translated into 25 different languages.
Anna Yolanda Cramling Bellón (born 30 April 2002) is a Swedish-Spanish chess player, Twitch live streamer, and YouTuber who holds the title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM). She had a peak FIDE rating of 2175 in March 2018. Cramling represented Sweden in the 2016 and 2022 Chess Olympiad as well as two European Team Chess Championships. Cramling grew up in a chess-playing family. Her mother is Swedish grandmaster (GM) Pia Cramling, and her father is Spanish GM Juan Manuel Bellón López. She began playing chess at age three in Spain, moving with her family to Sweden at age eleven and switching federations from Spain to Sweden soon afterwards. She participated in several European Youth, World Cadets, World Youth, and World Junior Chess Championships in different age divisions from 2015 until 2019. When representing Sweden in international team competitions, she has played on the same team with her mother while her father has served as the team captain. Cramling earned the title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM) in 2018 at age 15, the same year she reached her peak rating. In 2018, she defeated Renier Castellanos Rodriguez, a Spanish International Master (IM) with a FIDE rating of 2498 at the time. Cramling began streaming in early 2020, focusing on chess content. Her mother and father are both occasional guests on her channel. About a year later, Cramling signed with the Panda esports organization as their first chess streamer.
7. David Antón Guijarro (b. 1995)
With an HPI of 32.62, David Antón Guijarro is the 7th most famous Spanish Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
David Antón Guijarro (born 23 June 1995) is a Spanish chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2013, at the age of 18. He has competed at two Chess Olympiads.
People
Pantheon has 7 people classified as Spanish chess players born between 1475 and 2002. Of these 7, 3 (42.86%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Spanish chess players include Francisco Vallejo Pons, Anna Cramling, and David Antón Guijarro. The most famous deceased Spanish chess players include Ruy López de Segura, Luis Ramírez de Lucena, and Arturo Pomar. As of April 2024, 1 new Spanish chess players have been added to Pantheon including Anna Cramling.
Living Spanish Chess Players
Go to all Rankings
Francisco Vallejo Pons
1982 - Present
HPI: 40.80
Anna Cramling
2002 - Present
HPI: 40.78
David Antón Guijarro
1995 - Present
HPI: 32.62
Deceased Spanish Chess Players
Go to all RankingsRuy López de Segura
1530 - 1580
HPI: 68.85
Luis Ramírez de Lucena
1475 - 1530
HPI: 67.08
Arturo Pomar
1931 - 2016
HPI: 57.16
Juan Corzo
1873 - 1941
HPI: 52.98
