Miguel Ángel Quinteros (born December 28, 1947, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

) is an Argentine

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player who received the

FIDE title FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

of Grandmaster (GM) in 1973.

Chess career

He won the

Argentine Chess Championship The first Argentine Chess Championship was held in 1921. The Champion's title was granted after victorious or drawn match between previous champion and challenger, a winner of ''Torneo Mayor'' (this or the next year). The matches were done away in ...

in 1966 at the age of 18, the youngest player to ever win that event. In 1969, he took eighth place at the

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

Zonal tournament Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the C ...

(ZT). In 1972, he tied for second/third place at the

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

ZT, earning him a place at the

Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the Ca ...

tournament in Leningrad the following year and finishing 11–12th. At Torremolinos 1973, he tied for first place with

Pal Benko Pal Charles Benko (; July 15, 1928 – August 25, 2019) was a Hungarian and American chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. Early life Benko was born on July 15, 1928, in Amiens, France, where his ...

. The same year at Bauang he tied for second place (+6 −2 =1) after

Lubomir Kavalek Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek (, August 9, 1943 – January 18, 2021) was a Czech-American chess player. He was awarded both the International Master and International Grandmaster titles by FIDE in 1965.Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 195. He won two Czechos ...

. He finished first (+6 −1 =6) at Lanzarote 1974. In 1975 at Orense, he tied for fourth (+7 −2 =6), and took second place at the

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

ZT and qualified for the 1976

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Interzonal, where he managed only 14th place. He shared second place (+4 −1 =4) at London 1977. He won (+10 −1 =4) at Morón 1982, took second place (+5 −1 =5) at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

1983, and won at

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

1983. Quinteros played for Argentina six times in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

s of 1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1982 and 1984. He won an individual silver medal for his third-board performance at

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

in 1976. In 1987, he was barred from playing in

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

events for three years for playing in South Africa in defiance of FIDE sanctions. Quinteros was the first grandmaster to visit South Africa since 1981 and he gave simultaneous exhibitions in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, Sun City and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. Quinteros was awarded the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM) title in 1970, and the GM title in 1973. He won the

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The p ...

in 1980 as one of the five best chess players of the decade in his country, and the Platinum Konex Award in 1990 as the most important chess player of the decade. Quinteros is married to Benjie, a former Filipina model whom he met at the 1976 Manila Interzonal.

Eugenio Torre Eugenio Oliveros Torre (born November 4, 1951) is a Filipino Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. In 1974, at 22 years old, he became the first Filipino and non-Soviet Asian to qualify for the title Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster. Torre di ...

was his best man at the wedding.

Quinteros Variation

The rare

Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. e4 c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. The opening 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for Whi ...

line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Qc7 is sometimes known as the Quinteros Variation, after it was introduced into first class play by Quinteros against

Henrique Mecking Henrique Costa Mecking (born 23 January 1952), also known as Mequinho, is a Brazilian chess grandmaster who reached his zenith in the 1970s and is still one of the strongest players in Brazil. He was a chess prodigy, drawing comparisons to Bobb ...

in 1971.

References

Notes Bibliography *

External links

* * * * * 1947 births Living people Argentine chess players Chess Grandmasters Chess theoreticians Chess Olympiad competitors Chess players from Buenos Aires {{Argentina-chess-bio-stub