Bogdan Śliwa was a Polish international chess grandmaster and one of the leading Polish chess players during the 1950s and 1960s.
Born on February 4, 1922, in Będzin, Śliwa was introduced to chess when he was 16. He started gaining recognition when he won the championship of Upper Silesia in 1944. Playing for Poland, Śliwa participated in nine Chess Olympiads from 1950 to 1972. He got his International Master status in 1953 and became an International Grandmaster in 1965. His highest ranking on the FIDE list was 2540 in 1971.
Throughout his career, Śliwa won significant national and international competitions, including International Tournaments in Copenhagen, Hastings, and many Polish Championships. He tied for first with Ludek Pachman at Hastings 1955/56, defeated Boris Spassky at the Olympiad in Stockholm in 1962, and was an eight-time Polish Champion.
Later in his life, Śliwa devoted himself to teaching chess to Aspiring players in Kraków, before retiring from competitive chess in 1975. He was also a renowned chess author, most notably for his book about the 1963 Korchnoi vs. Spassky match.