title: 2006 in chess
text: # 2006 in chess
  
  Events in chess in 2006:
  
  ## Events
  
  ### May
  
  * May 5 – The world's oldest living Grandmaster, Andor Lilienthal, celebrates his 95th birthday. In his career Lilienthal played World Champions Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, and Mikhail Botvinnik.
  
  ### October
  
  * Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) defeats Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) in the 2006 World Championship title unification match to become undisputed world champion.
  
  ### December
  
  * December 26 – The All India Chess Federation imposes a ten-year ban on Umakant Sharma for using a Bluetooth device sewn into his cap to gain assistance from a chess computer during a FIDE rated tournament in Delhi.
  * December 29 – 44th Indian Chess Championship (National "A" Championship) in Atul won by GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly for the fourth consecutive year with the score 9/13. The tournament format was changed to a 13-round Swiss instead of the 22 player round-robin used previously.
  * December 30 – Iranian Chess Championship in Tehran won by GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami at 8.5/11. The women's champion is WGM Shadi Paridar scoring 9.5/11.
  
  ## Titles awarded
  
  ### Grandmasters
  
  In 2006 FIDE awarded the title of Grandmaster to the following players:
  
  ### Woman Grandmaster
  
  In 2006 FIDE awarded the title Woman Grandmaster to the following players:
  
  ## Births
  
  * March 13 – Leon Luke Mendonca
  * May 29 – Gukesh D
  
  ## Deaths
  
  * January 15 – Herbert Avram (1913–2006), 92, United States.
  * May 13 – Ratmir Kholmov (1925–2006), 80, Soviet/Russian Grandmaster.
  * May 13 – Burt Hochberg (1933–2006), 73, chess writer and editor, editor of Chess Life.
  * May 20 – Wolfgang Unzicker (1925–2006), 80, German Grandmaster, "world champion of amateurs".
  * July 2 – René Letelier (1915–2006), 91, Chilean International Master.
  * July 14 – Aleksander Wojtkiewicz (1963–2006), 43, Polish Grandmaster.
  * July 23 – Rudolf Teschner (1922–2006), 84, German Grandmaster and chess writer.
  * July 26 – Jessie Gilbert (1987–2006), 19, English Woman FIDE Master.
  * August 14 – Adriaan de Groot (1914–2006), 92, Dutch chess master and psychologist.
  * November 29 – Krystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska (1931–2006), 75, Polish Woman Grandmaster.
  * December 5 – David Bronstein (1924–2006), 82, Soviet/Ukrainian Grandmaster and renowned chess writer, challenger in the 1951 World Championship match.
  