Of more than 450 international grandmasters, only six are women.

Peter, who knits his eyebrows in a continual scowl and speaks in a tense, slightly raised voice, is an international grandmaster who may or may not be a serial killer.

Nine of chess's 950 international grandmasters are female, and there is just one woman, Judit Polgar of Hungary, ranked among the world's top 100 players (she is No. 8).

In 1964 Mr. Yanofsky was awarded the highest title in chess: international grandmaster.

The bridegroom, 42, is also an international grandmaster of chess.

There are many international grandmasters and masters among Zheliandinov's apprentices.

Sponsored by the Cruise Time Chess Club, a tour operator, and by the Manhattan Chess Club, the voyage will offer a series of seminars and clinics led by Lev Alburt, an international grandmaster.

His boyhood feats set the pace for a long and successful career as an international grandmaster, but, though he scored some spectacular defeats, Reshevsky never became a close challenger for the world championship.

He plays two hours each night on his computer and an additional seven hours on Saturdays and on Sundays at a Manhattan chess club, and hopes to become an international grandmaster by age 20, 6 years from now.

Schwarzman is the only grandmaster in three types of draughts: Brazilian, Russian and international.