David Bronstein

A top-ranked player for 30 years, David Bronstein tied with Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1951 World Chess Championship match. He also distinguished himself as one of the greatest thinkers and innovators in the history of chess. Bronstein pioneered the King’s Indian Defense, transforming it from an unknown and discredited defense into one of the most popular and dynamic openings. He was an early advocate of speeding up competitive chess and in 1973 introduced the idea of adding a time increment for each move made. Bronstein’s Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 (1979) routinely appears on lists of the greatest chess books ever written for its insights into how top players think.