Miguel Illescas

Miguel Illescas
Illescas (2013)
Full name	Miguel Illescas Córdoba
Country	Spain
Born	(1965-12-03) December 3, 1965 (age 51) Barcelona, Spain
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2602 (February 2017)
Peak rating	2640 (July 1996)

Miguel Illescas Córdoba (born December 3, 1965 in Barcelona) is a prominent Spanish grandmaster of chess.

He was a highly skilled player as a youngster and became junior champion of Catalonia at the age of 12. A trained computer scientist, chess remained his real passion and continued progress brought him an International Master title in 1986, followed by the Grandmaster title in 1988. Illescas rapidly became Spain's strongest and most consistent player over many years, registering his country's highest ever Elo rating (2620) in 1993, making him at the time, world number 26. His 1993 match with Ljubomir Ljubojević ended 4-4, with all eight games drawn.

Around this time, he established his own chess school - La Escuela de Ajedrez de Miguel Illescas, or EDAMI for short. The school is flexibly structured and allows for students to learn at sessions held in the schools around Barcelona, or on the internet or as private lessons. EDAMI also acts as a chess supplier and not unlike the London Chess Centre, provides a shop, publishes a regular chess magazine and arranges events such as tournaments, simultaneous displays and the like.

As a young man, Illescas' tournament results were noteworthy; 1st= Las Palmas 1987 and 1988, 1st Oviedo 1991, 1st= Pamplona 1991/92 (with Leonid Yudasin), 2nd= Leon 1992 (after Boris Gulko), 3rd Chalkidiki 1992 (after Vladimir Kramnik and Joël Lautier), 1st Lisbon Zonal 1993 and 2nd Wijk aan Zee 1993 (after Anatoly Karpov). He kept winning during the latter part of the nineties also; 1st Linares (MEX) 1994, 1st Linares (ESP) Zonal 1995, 1st= Madrid 1996 (with Veselin Topalov) and 1st= Pamplona 1997/98 (with Ulf Andersson). More recently he finished 1st= at Pamplona in 2003, this time sharing victory with Luke McShane and Emil Sutovsky.