Nick De Firmian is an American chess Grandmaster and three-time U.S. chess champion. He was born on July 26, 1957, in Fresno, California. He earned the International Master title in 1979 and the Grandmaster title in 1985.
De Firmian secured victories at the U.S. Chess Championship in 1987, 1995 and 1998. He represented the United States in several Chess Olympiads from 1980, contributing to the team's overall success. In 1998, he also won the American Open Champion title.
Notably, De Firmian has made significant contributions to chess literature, particularly with his detailed and influential work on the classic opening manual, Modern Chess Openings. He served as the chief editor for the 13th, 14th, and 15th editions.
In the 1990s, he assisted the IBM team who developed the Deep Blue chess computer that defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997.
De Firmian has broadened his work into academia, teaching a course on the history of chess at the University of California, Berkeley.
Since 2019, he has been a Trustee of the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco, where he also plays.