Reuben Fine was a renowned American chess grandmaster, psychologist, university professor and author. He was born on October 11, 1914, in New York City and died on March 26, 1993.
Fine was considered one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mid-1930s until his retirement from the game in 1951. He achieved numerous successes in international competitions, often sharing or sweeping first place. Noted for his book, "Basic Chess Endings" (1941), he made significant contributions to chess opening theory, endgame study and authored over half-dozen books about psychoanalysis.
During World War II, Fine was employed by the navy to calculate where enemy submarines might surface. In 1951, he was invited to compete in the Candidates Tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship, but declined the invitation and retired from competitive play. He instead decided to pursue a career in clinical psychology and earned a doctorate from the University of Southern California.
Fine combined his interests in psychology and chess by writing articles and books which discussed the psychological aspects of the game, such as "The Psychology of the Chess Player" (1956). He also worked as a professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Fine was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1993. Despite his numerous achievements, Fine’s erratic play led some to question the depth of his chess understanding, but many aspects of his game have been examined and praised by contemporary players and chess scholars.