Henrique Mecking

Henrique Mecking (born 23 January 1952; first name spelled Enrique in some references, also known as "Mequinho" in Brazil) was a leading Brazilian chess Grandmaster in the 1970s. He was a very strong player at an early age (see sample game below), drawing comparisons to Bobby Fischer, although he did not achieve the International Grandmaster title until 1971. His highest FIDE (International Chess Federation) rating was 2635, achieved in 1977, when he was rated as the third best player on that year's rating list, behind Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi. He was the first Brazilian to reach the rank of Grandmaster. Despite winning his first national championship at the age of 13, he played in very few tournaments. He won at Vršac in 1971 and finished third with Robert Byrne (after the co-winners Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi) at Hastings in 1971/2. In 1975, he twice shared second place behind Ljubomir Ljubojević, firstly at Las Palmas with Ulf Andersson and Mikhail Tal and then at Manila with Lev Polugaevsky, Bent Larsen and Helmut Pfleger. Mecking played for Brazil in the Chess Olympiads of 1968, 1974, 2002 and 2004.