Miguel (Mieczysław) Najdorf

He was born on April, 15, 1910 in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, died July, 5, 1997 in Malaga. Representant of Poland and Argentina.

At the age of 10 Najdorf revealed a great chess talent. He learned to play chess from his friend's father, Ruben Fridelbaum. He played for Poland at Chess Olympiads till 1939, when he won a gold board medal in Buenos Aires (earlier he had won a bronze medal in Munich in 1936). So, Najdorf played an important role in the successes of the Polish national team. The outbreak of the war caught him at the Buenos Aires Olympiad, and he decided to stay there. He won a lot of gold and silver medals for his new homeland.

Najdorf set several records of simultaneous play. In Sao Paulo in 1950 he played a simul on 250 boards, achieving a remarkable score: 226 wins and 14 draws.

Chess was not his only success. Najdorf achieved a similar success in insurance business and was one of the richest Argentinians after WWII. He owned one of the most presentable sky-scrapers in Buenos Aires.

The Nazi killed Najdorf's whole family, including his parents, wife and little daughter. His second daughter, born in Argentina, fulfilled her father's will visiting Grodzisk Mazowiecki a year after his death.