Mikhail Chigorin
Chess Player
Russian chess legend who is perhaps most responsible for chess' immense popularity in Russia and throughout the former Soviet Union.
He ended his career as a government officer to pursue chess full time.
He is considered to be the last notable romantic-style chess player and his best performance is considered to be the Hastings 1895 chess tournament, where he placed second, ahead of reigning world champion Emanuel Lasker,
His parents died when he was just a boy.
He theirly competed against the legendary Emanuel Lasker.