Chess Anagrams

Steven Galen has played in many tournaments although he focuses mostly on problem composition. He has included this chess anagram page which is derived mainly from material he supplied to Chess Life magazine for an anagram article published in the May 2007 issue. Many of the anagrams are chess related and for those not so familiar with chess themes and terminology, commentary has been supplied to enhance the anagrams.

International Players

Michael Adams = A cash dilemma
= Has made claim

Vladimir Akopian = I nail a dim Karpov
Anatoly Karpov is a former world champion and one of the all-time greats.

Zoltan Almasi = I slam at zonal
‘Zonal’ is short for zonal chess tournament which is an early qualifying tournament in the world championship cycle.

Viswanathan Anand = Want sand in Havana
Anand is current world champion

Levon Aronian = A rival? No! None!

Etienne Bacrot = I beat on center
A hypermodern idea is to allow your opponent the center and then to strike at it.

Alexander Beliavsky = Blades very like an ax

Viktor Bologan = Loot king. Bravo!
‘Loot’ can mean to plunder as in war

Magnus Carlsen = Scans arm lunge
This could mean that a scan or study of the board is preparing for a an attack or break of some kind.

Fidel Corrales = Rallied forces
Fidel is not so well known but his anagram is excellent for a chess player.

Lenier Dominguez = Deluge in rim zone
This could suggest a flood of pieces on one of the flanks.

Boris Gelfand = Grabs on d-file
= Dragon's b-file
= Grand foibles
= Barfed losing
= Bid for angles
The newly found Grabs on d-file is an awesome anagram for a chess player.

Alexander Grischuk = Crush a relaxed king
Perfect! It stresses king safety.

Ernesto Inarkiev = Keen vision rater

Vassily Ivanchuk = I, a slick, savvy hun
                          = A savvy in his luck
Anagram #2 reflects Capablanca's idea, “A good player is always lucky.” According to Webster's, savvy can be used as a noun, so this phrasal anagram is grammatically correct.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov = I had shaky arm over army
An excellent find in a very challenging name! Galen briefly discusses this anagram in A Brief History of Galen Anagrams

Alexander Moiseenko = End a mean rook's exile
A rook, shunted out of play finds its way back into the fray.

Alexander Morozevich = Crazier move, an old hex
This would suggest a former penchant for dubious moves.

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu = I use punitive raid line

Judit Polgar = Apt judo girl

Ruslan Ponomariov = O, man pours on rival
Ruslan became FIDE world champion in 2002. He is the first top player to forfeit a game due to his cell phone ringing during play.

Teimour Radjabov = Avoid major brute

Alexei Shirov = Evil axis hero

Nigel Short = Holstering

Peter Svidler = Ripest delver

Artyom Timofeev = Move forty – I mate!

Sergei Tiviakov = I give risk a veto
If one thought that in fact Sergei was the type to take risks, than this anagram could be changed to 'I give risk a vote', since vote and veto contain the same letters.

Veselin Topalov = Plan is to evolve
Nice one for the former Fide world champ.

Loek Van Wely = Waken volley

Andrei Volokitin = Violin kind to ear

U.S. Players

Maurice Ashley = He may cruise L.A.
Maurice is a Jamaican born American grandmaster.

Camilla Baginskaite = Balk at Sicilian game
= Bail a king? I'm a castle

Walter Browne = War town rebel

Larry Christiansen = Star has inner lyric

Andrey Chumachenko = A many check hounder
Check! Check! Check!

Nick De Firmian = I find nice mark

Benjamin Finegold = Fine angle mind job

Alexander Fishbein = His need? -A brain flex

Alexander Goldin = Old dean relaxing

Rusudan Goletiani = Diagonal is untrue

Ildar Ibragimov = Do I ram big rival?

Alexander Ivanov = Love an ax invader

Gregory Kaidanov = A very good raking
Raking is a popular local term used to describe a winning position. E.g. “I was totally raking in the position and then I got cheapo’ed.”

Boris Kreiman = Break is on rim
Flank attack

Irina Krush = Ah! I run risk
= I ruin shark

Lev Milman = Mill maven
A mill, short for windmill is an alternation between check and discovered check. A maven is an expert or connoisseur.

Alexander Onischuk = Icon has deluxe rank

Semion Palatnik = Skin a polite man

Susan Polgar = A gal on spurs

Enrico Sevillano = Recall one vision

Alexander Shabalov = Love a bash and relax

Miron Sher = Norm’s heir
A norm represents a sufficient result in a tournament meeting specific qualifications such that three such results earn the player a title.

Alexander Stripunsky = I sunk next player’s raid
That suggests he defended well.

Batchimeg Tuvshintugs = The big U.S. match using TV

Stun like an ax, OK dear?

Trim a freer chess job

Denis Allan = Alien lands

Nicolas Arsenault = Secular nationals

Doug Bailey  = A boiled guy

Michael Barron = Cranial hombre
A neat chess player anagram. It is a semi-cryptic way of saying 'thinking man'.

Mark Bluvshtein = Bulk man thrives
Mark is Canada's youngest ever grandmaster.

Gabriel Brown = Gobbler in  war
A gobbler could be a player who likes capturing pieces.

Michael Buscar = Real Bach music

Pascal Charbonneau = One Capablanca rush
                                    = Uh, senõr Capablanca?
José Raúl Capablanca, former Cuban world champion is often cited as the most naturally gifted chess player ever. Pascal was twice Canadian champion.

Bindi Cheng = Big chinned

Noam Davies = Avoid Mensa

Lawrence Day = Lead any crew
Lawrence has appeared in a Canadian record 13 Chess Olympiads. He was a non-playing captain of the Canadian team at the 2006 Turin Olympiad, so he has in fact led crews.

Michael Dougherty = Rich game led youth
Chess is very rich.

Igor Dviljan = Jovial grind

Brian Fiedler = Friend bailer

Mayo Fuentebella = A beauty fell on me

Valeria Gansvind = Gives Anand rival
Viswanathan Anand is current world champ.

Stephen Glinert = Preset in length

Simon Gravel = Roving males

Andrei Gulko = Lead our king
                                  = Run like a dog (god?)

Nikita Gusev = Viking ate us
A good one for young Nikita

Dale Haessel = He seals deal

Robert Hamilton = Born math toiler
                           = Ram into brothel

Sam Haziprodromu = Zoom, raid, ram, push
4 dynamic verbs that reflect Hazi's attacking style.

Deen Hergott = The green dot
                    = End together

Liam Henry = Manly heir

Daniel Kazmaier = Lie in a dark maze

Natalia Khoudgarian = Radiating on a Kahlua

Tomas Krnan = Tank on Mars
As far as chess is concerned, to ‘tank’ means to go into a long, deep thought before finally making a move.

Alexander Le Siege = I see a legend relax
Interesting! 3-time Canadian champ retired unexpectedly and near his peak. (to play poker, according to some)

Eric Lawson = In close war

Samuel Lipnowski = Pow!  I use skill, man
One of Galen's faves.

Ron Livshits = NHL visitors

Dale McTavish = Valid matches

Goran Mikanovic = Caving main rook

Dusan Miletic = Lucid in mates
Translation: Clear minded in seeing check mates.

Goran Milicevic = Microvigilance?
= Ring a live comic
Microvigilance is not likely to be found in any dictionaries but there are instances of its use on the internet.

Andrei Moffat = I trade off man
                      = Men oft afraid
Anagram #1 describes an exchange of pieces.

Diane Mongeau = Nude egomania

Nikolay Noritsyn = Only on a tiny risk

Roger Patterson = Greet porno star
                           = Rare, strong poet

Roman Pelts = Tempo snarl
                    = Storm panel
                     = Tramples on

Sebastian Predescu = I sense bad captures
                              = Pet care business ad
'I sense bad captures' is an excellent chess related anagram.

Nenad Ristovic
Actions driven
Divine cantors
Invader's tonic
I raid convents
Acid’s inventor
Van’s direction
Cavorted in sin
Send in a victor
Don’t cave in, sir
Nenad's name is fun to study.

Thomas Roussel-Roozmon = Some honor Mozart's soul
Nice find in a challenging name with 5 o's.

Artem Samsonkin
Man's risk on mate
Skim a non-master
O, man strikes man
Man's anti-smoker

Christian Stevens = I invent chess arts
An apt anagram for the highly rated player.

Raymond Stone = Nasty doormen

Duncan Suttles = Dust clean nuts

Shiyam Thavandiran = Aha! Trim Vishy Anand
World champ Viswanathan Anand is sometimes called Vishy for short. Some day soon, he'll be squaring off against Shiyam.