Oscar Panno

Oscar Panno first came to the chess world’s attention when he won the 1953 World Junior Championship ahead of Boris Ivkov, Bent Larsen, and Fridrik Olafsson. Two years later, he qualified for the Candidates by placing third in the Interzonal ahead of Efim Geller, Tigran Petrosian, and Boris Spassky. The first strong player born in South America, Panno never played professionally but won many strong international events and represented Argentina in eleven Olympiads, winning team medals in 1954 (silver), 1958 (bronze), and 1962 (bronze). A major line in the King’s Indian variation bears his name.