Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born November 26, 1911, Ozorkow, Poland - died April 4, 1992, New York, USA) was a leading American chess grandmaster.

Born Szmul Rzeszewski, he learned to play at age four, and was instantly aclaimed a child prodigy. At age eight he was beating accomplished players with ease and giving simultaneous exhibitions.

In the 1920s, his parents moved to the US where they made a living off the talent of their child. As an adult, however, Reshevsky was never a professional chess player. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1933 with a degree in accounting, and worked as an accountant.

He won US championships in 1936, 1938, 1940, 1942, 1946, 1969 and 1970. His international carreer began in 1935 at Margate, where he won, beating, among others, Jose Raul Capablanca. A year later he shared third place at Nottingham. In 1937 he shared first at Kemeri , Latvia, and in 1938 shared fourth in a super gradmaster AVRO tournament.

He was one of 5 chess grandmasters to compete for World Championship in 1948 and finished tied for 3rd place with Paul Keres. Then he was second in a candidates tournament in Zurich (1952). He also qualified from an interzonal tournament in Sousse, but lost in the quarterfinal to Viktor Korchnoi in 1968.

He was a regular top board for USA at the Chess Olympiads. He won gold in 1937 and bronze in 1974 and an individual gold in 1950. Overall he played in eight olympic tournaments.

His books include Reshevsky on Chess (1948) and How Chess Games Are Won (1962).

External link

• Reshevsky's games at muljadi.org http://www.muljadi.org/Reshevsky.htm