The Week in Chess

RIP Mihai Suba (Bucharest 1 June 1947 - Spain 26 October 2025, aged 78) Suba was a Romanian-born chess player who became an International Master in 1975 and a Grandmaster in 1978.

Suba didn’t begin playing chess until the unusually late age of 19, yet within just a few years he had risen to become a formidable competitor. He was crowned Romanian Champion three times - in 1980, 1981, and 1985 - and narrowly missed qualifying for the Candidates Tournament after finishing third at the 1982 Las Palmas Interzonal.

Among his tournament triumphs were first place at Dortmund 1983, and shared first at Prague 1985 and Timisoara 1987. In 1988, during the Lloyds Bank Masters in London, Suba defected from Romania to England, though he would soon represent his home country again after the fall of the communist regime. In 2017, he transferred his federation to Spain, having spent much of his life there.

His book Dynamic Chess Strategy, first published by Pergamon Chess in 1991, offered a distinctive and personal perspective on chess through his own games. It has since become a classic, with a new edition released by New In Chess in 2016.

Mihai Suba Wikipedia entry