GMNick De Firmian

Nick de Firmian was born in Fresno, California, in 1957 and earned a physics degree at the University of California, Berkeley. He became an international master in 1979 and a grandmaster in 1985. He won the Canadian Open in 1983 and the World Open in 1986. He became U.S. champion jointly with Joel Benjamin in 1987, then won the title again in 1995 and 1998. He also shared first in 2002, when Larry Christiansen won the playoff.

De Firmian represented the United States at eight Olympiads between 1980 and 2000. He spent many years living in Denmark before returning to California. His writing includes the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth editions of Modern Chess Openings. He helped prepare Deep Blue's opening book for its 1997 match against Garry Kasparov. With John Fedorowicz, he wrote The English Attack. He was also a founding member of the grandmaster advocacy group Prochess. Around 2012, he began a scholastic chess program at San Francisco's Mechanics' Institute.