Miguel Illescas Córdoba is a prominent Spanish chess grandmaster and skilled writer. He was born on December 3, 1965, in Barcelona, Spain. Illescas is best known for winning the Spanish Chess Championship eight times in 1988, 1991-1995, 1998 and 2001. He earned the international master title in 1986 and the grandmaster title in 1988.
He started the thriving Spanish chess magazine, "Peón de Rey", in 1999. Aside from his competition victories, he had also been a part of the Deep Blue computer development team, and he participated and assisted in both victorious programs against grandmaster Garry Kasparov, in 1996 and 1997.
Illescas also helped train Veselin Topalov, a Bulgarian grandmaster, for his World Chess Championship 2006 match, and engaged in training Spanish youngsters, David Anton Guijarro and Ana Matnadze.
As a formidable chess authority, Illescas has been involved directly in the composition of various chess-related books, DVDs, and puzzles.