Hugh Myers
Hugh Edward Myers (January 23, 1930 – December 22, 2008) was an American chess master and author. Born in Decatur, Illinois, he learned chess around age 10 from Lasker’s Chess Manual and later became a dedicated player and teacher.
He won or tied for first in several state championships: Illinois (1951), Wisconsin (1955), Missouri (1962), and Iowa (1983). He also shared first in the USCF Region VIII championship in 1983. Myers spent the mid-1960s to late-1960s as the top-rated player in the Dominican Republic and played on the first board for its team in the Olympiads of Lugano 1968 and Haifa 1976.
Myers is best known for his writing on unusual chess openings. He produced multiple editions of a book on the Nimzovich Defense (1.e4 Nc6) and wrote several other opening books, including New Strategy in the Chess Openings (1968), Reversed King Pawns, Mengarini’s Opening (1977), and Exploring the Chess Openings (1978). His most famous contribution is the Nimzowitsch Defense, and he also advocated the line 1.c4 g5, now known as Myers’ Defense.
He edited the Myers Openings Bulletin (1979–1988) and the New Myers Openings Bulletin (1992–1996), which became a home for articles on offbeat openings. Myers was involved in chess politics as well, supporting Florencio Campomanes during the controversy over the termination of the 1984–85 World Championship and helping Campomanes’ bid for reelection in 1986.
Myers achieved a peak Elo rating of 2350, and he remained above 2200 in the United States for about a decade starting in 1983; his rating later declined to 2054 by 2003. He passed away in Davenport, Iowa, in 2008.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:34 (CET).